I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Unless I get a real blast of inspiration in the remaining hours of 2021, this will be my final article of the year on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as Article No. 1051. It's been a full year of COVID but it's also been a banner twelve months for the blog. As such, I was looking for some sort of kayo that would best reflect the end of the year...not the easiest thing to do since most of the Japanese pop music for this certain period of the year usually favours Christmas more than New Year's.
Crazily enough, though, it didn't take me too long at all. I found this song by the rock band Remioromen（レミオロメン）whose setting is Todoroki（等々力）, a quiet neighbourhood that pretty much straddles Tokyo and Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture. And I have a personal connection with Todoroki since I had a student living there who used to attend my second school during my 17-year-odyssey in Japan and then asked me to teach her and a friend at her apartment privately once she graduated.
The only thing was that she asked me to come over on Monday nights at 10:30 pm! Yeah, that was a stretch for me especially since I lived all the way on the other end in Chiba Prefecture. But I was doing my own private practice by that point and I needed all of the students that I could get, and she asked for me specifically. I couldn't exactly turn her down despite the fatigue and the long commute which had me risking missing my last Tozai subway home because of the lateness of the hour. As it was, though, the stint didn't last too long.
Anyways, Remioromen's "Ohmisoka no Uta" (Song for New Year's Eve) comes from the band's 5th original album"Kachoufuugetsu"（花鳥風月...Natural Beauties） released in March 2010. Written and composed by vocalist Ryota Fujimaki（藤巻亮太）, he's described the song as rather slim and trim with no frills of fancy. It's simply a wistful ballad about a guy celebrating December 31st by himself in his small apartment after buying some of that toshikoshi soba at the konbini, perhaps finally coming to terms that his romance is now definitely in the past but still cherishing the good times with his ex-girlfriend in his memories. Knowing the dimly-lit path that I took from tiny Todoroki Station to my student's apartment at night, the song does hit home although I thankfully never had to teach a lesson on New Year's Eve.
"Kachoufuugetsu" peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and ended the year as the 92nd-ranked album of 2010. On that note, I'd like to wish everybody a Happy New Year and I'll see you all tomorrow in 2022!
As I type this, there are less than six hours left before my family, myself and the eastern part of North America enter 2022. I won't mind seeing 2021 leaving for good but we've been warned that January in the new year may not be too pleasant in terms of the pandemic.
Under these circumstances, why not go for something that's very listenable and enjoyable? It's been a while since I've seen singer-songwriter Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）, so let's have a go at her "Chance" from her May 1979 sophomore album"Show me your smile". Written and composed by the singer herself, I've seen one comment comparing "Chance" to a Japanese cousin of anything that Earth Wind & Fire were whipping up at the time. However from what I've heard in the arrangement, I get more of that Cheryl Lynndisco vibe, perhaps along the lines of her "Got To Be Real". I know that Dreams Come True's"Kessen wa Kin'youbi" (決戦は金曜日）has paid some tribute to it.
Regardless of the influences, it's a mellow strut down Chuo Dori that even includes some vocal harmonization and a smooth guitar solo. Who wouldn't want to get their chance to take a walk arm-in-arm with Ms. Kuwana?
I hardly do a lot of double takes when it comes to this blog, but I had to do so here.
Almost three years ago, I was swooning a fair bit after discovering singer-songwriter Kyosuke Kusunoki's（楠木恭介）1985"Just Tonight" album. The tracks were sweet and silky urban contemporary at their best in Japan, and aside from the beard and mustache, Kusunoki looked quite preppy. I swear that the right hand that's not showing on the cover of "Just Tonight" must have been holding a bottle of Perrier or a pink yuppie-friendly cardigan.
But then, some months later, I come across this other album called "Choose Me" from 1987 by a fellow named Yukoh Kusunoki（楠木勇有行）. The guy on the cover there looked completely different and since the name Kusunoki is neither supremely common nor supremely rare, I assumed that there was another singer with that last name.
Uh-uh. It's the same guy.😮 According to J-Wiki, Yukoh Kusunoki is the singer's original name while Kyosuke was the 1985 stage name that he took. I mean, did this guy regenerate like a Time Lord between 85 and 87?! It was like seeing him go from Bobby Caldwell to Gino Vannelli and I just don't mean the appearance. The first track from "Choose Me", "Fun Night", still has that urban contemporary nature but it's now amped up with funk and rock. I don't see any Perrier or fluffy cardigan around Yukoh; it's more like a leather jacket and a six-pack of beer. However, the vocals are still familiar. The 1987 Kusunoki composed "Fun Night" while Jessie provided the lyrics about that special Friday night.
Welcome to the last day of 2021. Yup, it has been a typical New Year's Eve in the J-Canuck household. Cleaning up things here and there, getting ready for the toshikoshi soba later tonight, and catching the last third of NHK's annual Kohaku Utagassen, the 72nd edition(there was at least one major change to the schedule since I first put up the list), via TV Japan when I woke up this morning. Of course, Happy New Year to all of those folks in Japan; I did catch "Yuku Toshi, Kuru Toshi"（ゆく年くる年...The Departing Year, The Approaching Year） afterwards.
I did PVR the broadcast so I'll watch the entire thing at my leisure over the next few days, and perhaps some of us will give our opinions on No. 72. But in the meantime, I had been thinking of putting up another Kohaku-themed article to start off the New Year's Eve 2021 batch of KKP articles. At first, I had thought about doing another Fantasy Kohaku Utagassen as I did back in 2019 but that was my second round at it, and I eventually felt that...well...a second round was enough. Then, I mused about going all the way back in history to the very first Kohaku Utagassen on NHK Radio on January 3 1951. However, there was only one song on the lineup there that I knew about, and I just didn't want to smash in a whole bunch of new songs with descriptions when they could eventually get their own articles.
But I did get some more luck with the 4th annual Kohaku which was the very first televised edition on NHK on December 31 1953. It was held at the Nihon Gekijo（日本劇場）facility in Yurakucho, Tokyo which is only a few minutes' walk away from the 72nd edition's venue of the Tokyo International Forum. Broadcast between 9:15 pm and 11:45 pm with Red and White teams consisting of 17 performers each, actress Takiko Mizunoe（水の江瀧子）was the captain of the Red team while NHK announcer Keizo Takahashi（高橋圭三）led the White team. Another NHK announcer, Seigoro Kitade（北出清五郎）was the overall emcee.
For those who may have wanted to find out any footage of the 4th edition, don't bother. According to J-Wiki, because of the technology at the time, no audio or video exists of that show...only some stills which are probably stored away in the NHK archives. However, although I don't know many of the songs listed for that Kohaku, I can put up at least three that I do know since they're already included in the KKP family, and introduce one more by Chiemi Eri（江利チエミ）who appeared for the very first time on the NHK special.
Eri had debuted in January 1952 but her version of "A Guy is a Guy" was her 10th single from February 1953. This was a cover of the Oscar Brand-written standard in 1952 although according to the Wikipedia article for the song, its origins may go all the way back to a 1719 British tune; at this point, though, there is no definitive proof connecting Brand and the UK ditty. Getting back to Eri, she does sing the original English lyrics in the second half of the song but Japanese lyrics were provided for the first half and those were provided by Takashi Otowa（音羽たかし）, the collective pen name for any directors representing King Records.
There have been a number of versions of "A Guy is a Guy" but the most popular one was recorded by Doris Day in 1952.
To finish up, Wendy Tokunaga tweeted about an article at Sora News 24 regarding the future of the Kohaku Utagassen which I found quite interesting and probably already has garnered some very differing opinions.
Keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya（向谷実）was one of the founding members of the smooth and cool jazz fusion band Casiopea（カシオペア）in the late 1970s and so he was front and centre whenever I wrote about any of their songs such as "Eyes of Mind".
However, I'd had no idea that he was so much into trains. In fact, after his Casiopea days, he became the head honcho for the company Ongakukan（音楽館）which has produced professional train simulators for Japanese transit systems and has even provided video game and train enthusiasts with the "Train Simulator" series of games beginning in 1995. My anime buddy, who also possesses his own love for trains, has said that he's even played the game. I'm pretty sure that Mukaiya has provided the music for them.
As well, I discovered on his Wikipedia page that he has concocted various chimes for trains and stations such as the one for the Sanyo and Kyushu Bullet Trains at 1:30.
I'll be honest with you folks and say that I have never heard of this Mukaiya mix that he made as the departure melody for the stations along Tokyo Metro's Tozai Line（東西線）, and my station was Minami-Gyotoku（南行徳）which was right on the line. It's very pleasant, though, and I think that if I had heard it, maybe my own departures in the morning wouldn't have been quite as grumpy.
I gather that Mukaiya's love for trains must have sprouted all the way back when he was a kid; I think that a lot of kids fall for two things from early in their childhood: trains and dinosaurs. So, perhaps it's no surprise that when he took a hiatus from his time as Casiopea's keyboardist in 1985, he included a track on his first solo album released in August, "Welcome to the Minoru's Land" that was dubbed "Take the SL Train".
The keyboardist also incorporated the sounds of escaping steam and chugs into this bright, jazzy and cheerful track. Instead of it being fusion (although it's been categorized as such on J-Wiki), though, I think it does sound more along the lines of the technopop that Yellow Magic Orchestra whipped up, and on the J-Wiki page for "Welcome to the Minoru's Land", he got together his toys of the latest sequencers and drum machines to help him out. In fact, I swear that there is at least one passage in the song that comes across as downright Sakamoto-esque. And you know, I wouldn't be surprised if "Take the SL Train" was actually used in the early versions of "Train Simulator".
One definite musical presence in my childhood and youth was singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. After first hearing his "I Write the Songs" on some K-Tel record commercial, it seemed as if he had become a permanent resident on the airwaves with chart-toppers such as "Mandy" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again". And then even going into the 1980s when music videos were all the rage, Manilow had another hit with his 1981 "Read 'Em and Weep"; I was surprised by that release year since I didn't hear about the song until the video came out in 1983, so I gather that it was truly one of the longest slow cookers in pop.
However with all of those songs that he created, the one hit that has always stood out in my mind (and is this year's final ROY article for KKP) is "Copacabana". Released in June 1978, I'm guessing that it was one of the last great disco hits of the era and it was one song that got plenty of airplay on the radio whether I was at home or in the car. At the time, I had no idea where Copacabana was; at first, I'd assumed that it was somewhere in Africa before I learned that it was in Brazil.
Even there, I was wrong. "Copacabana" wasn't referring to anywhere in Brazil but the real-life Copacabana nightclub in New York City..."the hottest spot north of Havana" and the setting of a tragic love suspense thanks to Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman's lyrics paired with Manilow's tropical disco. In a way, this pairing of a sad story with one heck of a happy disco-dancing melody should have earned it honourary kayo status in Japan. At the very least, it did get its own J-Wiki page where I discovered that "Copacabana" has even been used as the cheer song for the Chiben Wakayama High School（智辯和歌山高校）baseball team...and interestingly enough, the team won this summer's Koshien tournament. Thank you, Barry!
"Copacabana" hit the Top 10 in a number of countries including the United States (No. 8) and Canada (No. 7). From what I've read of the Wikipedia article for the song, although it was all about the intrigue at the nightclub in New York, the seed for it was germinated between Manilow and Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro. Speaking of the legendary club, it was closed down in May 2020 due to the pandemic and although there were plans to open it up again in a new location this year, nothing has happened. Still, 80 years of history are nothing to sneeze at.
So, what was coming out in June 1978 or thereabouts according to Showa Pops?
Earlier this month, I put up articles for dynamic singer Miho Morikawa（森川美穂）, who has been featured on the blog since its beginnings in 2012, and Saori Saito（斉藤さおり）who got her first article on KKP back on December 4th this year. As I mentioned in the article for the latter singer, Saito did go through a couple of stage name changes so that by the year when the song in question for this particular article came about, she was then known as Akira Asakura（麻倉あきら）.
From what I've heard from both Morikawa and Asakura back in the early 1990s, they were singers who liked to traverse along the borderline between pop and rock, and so I guess that it was kismet that they would both collaborate as a duo under the name DIVA X DIVA to create a rollicking theme song for the 2006 anime adaptation of the manga "Shijō Saikyō no Deshi Ken'ichi"（史上最強の弟子ケンイチ...Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple）.
I've never seen the anime myself but the premise is all about a much-bullied high school student getting his game going by striving to become the best of the best at fighting. And DIVA X DIVA's"Yahho", which was their one and only single, was actually the second opening theme for the show which was released in August 2007. Despite that year, "Yahho" sounds more reminiscent of an early 1990s pop/rock tune. Written and composed by Joe Rinoie（ジョー・リノイエ）, Morikawa and Saito seem to be having a great time singing out Rinoie's lyrics of tackling life and adventure head-on like a really triumphant sack of the opposing team's quarterback. Incidentally, the exclamation yahho has been translated at Jisho.org as yoo-hoo or howdy, but really I think that considering what the song is all about, perhaps it's best to translate it as "YEAAAAAH!".
The first of four official ending themes for "Shijō Saikyō no Deshi Ken'ichi" was "Kimi ga Iru kara"(Thanks to You) as sung by Issey Eguchi（江口一声）who was an anison performer but is currently a hair stylist according to his Twitteraccount. Speaking of those early 90s, I also get some Being rock vibes while listening to this one. Rinoie and Hiromi Uchida（内田広海）wrote the lyrics while Rinoie also composed the music.
DIVA X DIVA provided their one other song as an accompaniment to "Yahho" in the form of their own cover of "Kimi ga Iru kara". It's somewhat softer and more poignant than the Eguchi original, and maybe there's even a bit of 80s pop balladry in the arrangement, too.
Strangely enough, the inspiration for this Author's Pick came from that Sanma Akashiya（明石家さんま）special that I referred to in Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）"Tokubetsu na Ichi Nichi ~ a special day"（特別な一日）back on Xmas Eve. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the video for the entire show got taken down in the last couple of days (although I was able to replace it with Milet's talk with the comedian) but it did show not only Martin's chat with Sanma but also a karaoke performance of the cool singer's famous 80s"Lonely Chaplin" with R&B chanteuse AI. Apparently, AI was so nervous performing with Suzuki that her microphone was about to slip from her hands due to sweat.
But on seeing that performance, a light bulb sparked off over my head. All these years, I've been telling readers that my sources on finding about all this kayo and J-Pop have included CD shop browsing, the old "Sounds of Japan" radio broadcasts on CHIN-FM, and watching anime. But I have neglected to mention that I've also discovered songs through my old karaoke visits to Kuri in Yorkville and then those karaoke sessions in Japan, notably Gunma Prefecture. So I have decided to put down a short list of songs that I first found out about from those visits since after all, I've already talked about my favourite karaoke tunes and the ones that I utterly failed at. As well, Noelle Tham has given her karaoke experiences here, too.
By chance, if any of you commenters have any songs that you discovered through a trip to your friendly neighbourhood karaoke joint, please feel free to share. It's the Holidays, after all.🎉
Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）
For the first time in a couple of years, I was able to accomplish a couple of things: 1) meet up with an old friend and KKP contributor Larry Chan here in Toronto and 2) slurp down a bowl of ramen that I didn't make out of a store-bought package. It was good to see Larry again during these dark times and share some good conversation and ramen/gyoza at the midtown branch of Touhenboku Ramen. Initially, I'd been a little worried since the two other ramen franchises in the area, Kinton and Santouka were both closed for some "emergency maintenance", but when I saw the lit OPEN sign at Touhenboku, my spirit and hunger were raised considerably.
Getting to tonight's batch of songs on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we're starting off with singer-musician Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）"Hyakku Watt no Koibito" (100-Watt Lover) off of his debut solo album "Band Wagon"(March 1975). Written by his old Happy End bandmate Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Suzuki himself, I thought it was a rather odd title since I didn't think that a 100-watt bulb was particularly all that radiant, although according to Matsumoto's lyrics, Suzuki sings the world of that girlfriend.
Mind you, though, he does mention that she can be very tardy and that she rattles off her words at the speed of a machine gun (not unlike my East Asian Studies professor in 1st Year), but perhaps Suzuki thinks of them as adorable idiosyncrasies rather than weaknesses. In any event, I really like "Hyakku Watt no Koibito" because of that downtown funkiness which for some reason reminds me a bit of "Black Magic Woman" by Santana. There's also some of that prog rock underlaid by some groovy 70s City Pop smeared with that synthesizer "haze". The titular lass should be very grateful for Suzuki's city serenade.
Tin Pan Alley's (which also had Suzuki within its ranks) cover of "Hyakku Watt no Koibito" can be found on the band's BEST compilation "Yellow Magic Carnival" from 1980. I don't think that there is much of a difference between Suzuki's original and this newer version.
However, there is that distinctive arrangement touch of Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）in his own cover of "Hyakku Watt no Koibito" in "MORE DESIRE 〜TOSHIKI KADOMATSU SPECIAL LIVE '89.8.26", an album released in December 1989. At over eight minutes long, this is basically an extended remix with Kadomatsu enjoying his jazzy flights of fancy (and indeed, he flies high) with the original. Most of the songs on the album are the musician/producer's covers of not only Suzuki's songs but also those of Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）and Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）. "MORE DESIRE" hit No. 23 on Oricon.
Back in June this year, I wrote up an article on capsule's 2021"Hikari no Disco"（ひかりのディスコ）that celebrates some of that bracingly nostalgic 80s synthpop, and I found that the music video for the song was a shoutout to an earlier production for the duo of Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）and Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）. That particular video was for the title track of capsule's May 2011 album"WORLD OF FANTASY" which sounds like either a Disneyland pavilion or a first-person adventure game.
Yup, Koshijima had driven the cool sports car in Tokyo back then for "WORLD OF FANTASY" as she did for "Hikari no Disco". But little did I know that the basic rhythm for both songs are basically the same (at least, that's how it sounds to me). As I said above, "Hikari no Disco" has the 80s synthpop vibe, but "WORLD OF FANTASY" had the club techno (Electro House as categorized in the Wikipedia article for the album) adorning that rhythm back in 2011, and up to now, I hadn't covered capsule in its absolute techno period since I was covering their Shibuya-kei days up to now. Well, I get my opportunity at last.
As Nakata's thumping electro beats away, Koshijima, who looks like the most formidable hedonist in Roppongi on a Friday night, hops into the Tony Stark-designed car (actually a Lamborghini Gallardo, according to the J-Wiki article for the album) and takes off onto the highways. And I gotta say that whoever thought of just using a simple mirror effect for the cityscape of Tokyo deserved to get a huge year-end bonus. The capital of Japan has frequently been called futuristic but the video basically has literally reflected the megalopolis as a mixture of a "Blade Runner" city, Coruscant and the inside of the second Death Star in "Return of the Jedi". I wonder how tourism exploded for Tokyo after this video got out. Truly a world of sci-fi fantasy. The album, by the way, hit No. 3 on Oricon.
We got a nice sprinkling of snow yesterday but generally speaking, winter lovers have probably been somewhat disappointed in the start of this season so far due to the unseasonably warm temperatures and the rain that has been washing away the white stuff. Ah, well...as I've said to folks outside of the GTA, weather in Toronto is predictably unpredictable.
The above video for Dual Dream's"Winter Kiss" doesn't have the greatest resolution but it's perhaps for this reason that there's even more nostalgia imbued here. All that adorable fuzziness and all that. In any case, Dual Dream consisted of the duo of vocalist/guitarist Kenji Kojima（小島健二）and vocalist/keyboardist Michiaki Koike（小池道昭）. Koike actually became the new partner as of January 1994, replacing guitarist Makoto Nishiyama（西山誠）who had been part of the original tandem with Kojima when they started up the band in 1987 in Osaka.
Dual Dream's debut single came out in August 1990 but the duo didn't hit their peak until well into 1994 when their 8th single, "Winter Kiss", released in November, hit the airwaves and hit the charts by peaking at No. 13, their best showing with sales over 300,000 units. I wouldn't say that it was a Xmas song but it was more of a happy winter song for folks to enjoy themselves in the great outdoors, probably skiing or skating. Kojima handled the melody while Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）provided the lyrics.
"Winter Kiss" was also used in the commercial for Sapporo Beer's"Fuyu Monogatari"（冬物語...Winter Tales）, and after watching that music video above, that ad really hits the eyes with clarity! The smiling young woman back then was tarento Noriko Kato（加藤紀子）, a very familiar presence when I first got into Japan for my second stint. Personally, though, I would prefer a hearty bowl of barley soup to a can of wheat juice in the winter.😋
The duo continued to release 14 singles up to 1998 and four full albums up to 2006. After 2010 which was their 20th anniversary in show business, Dual Dream's activities came to an end.
The above photo is of the massive Shidax karaoke emporium in Shibuya, Tokyo. I never went to that particular branch (or judging by its size, tree) but some of us did go to the one in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture not too far away from my apartment. Not that I was ever a rabid connoisseur of karaoke boxes during my time in Japan, but comparing the Big Echo franchise with Shidax, I usually saw Big Echo as the family favourite whereas Shidax was kinda like the Beverly Hills of karaoke. When we went that one time to the Urayasu branch, I felt like I was in some sort of Las Vegas showroom hotel right out of "Ocean's Eleven" (2001). Luckily, I didn't have to pay anything that night.
When I checked out its website, though, I found out that Shidax had gotten out of the karaoke business in 2018 although its pages show that the company still has plenty of fingers in plenty of other businesses. Apparently, one complaint that it was too expensive. It certainly looked expensive inside.
Anyways, I hadn't realized that I would be able to squeeze out so much story out of that one photo. The reason for the photo is that I wanted to bring in another Shibuya-kei song since I hadn't featured one in several weeks, and this time around, I was looking for a new band other than Pizzicato Five or Fantastic Plastic Machine. Indeed, I did find one through the J-Wiki article for Shibuya-kei, Roboshop Mania, although the band's J-Wiki page identifies it as a Neo-Acoustic group. Consisting of university classmates, vocalist/guitarist Takayuki Tonegawa（利根川貴之）, guitarist/back chorus Takashi Manabe（眞鍋卓嗣）and drummer Ryoji Abe（アベ・リョージ）, Roboshop Mania had its time from 1995 to 2002. They came up with six singles and eight albums.
Their fourth album from July 1999 was "Pop The Question?" and I discovered one of the tracks, "Secret Words". Actually, it's the first track and I think when it comes to any potential debate about its status as either a Shibuya-kei or a Neo-Acoustic band (of course, the genres can overlap as in a Venn Diagram), I believe that "Secret Words" fairly firmly falls in the former although I've yet to hear the rest of the album. It's quite the rollicking song, thanks to the guitars and percussion, created by Tonegawa and the overall effect is reminiscent of an even-higher pitched Flipper's Guitar.
Following the breakup of Roboshop Mania in 2002, although I don't know what happened to most of the band, Tonegawa has continued songwriting but has also become a music producer and director. He's also provided music for a number of game apps for smartphones.
The final Monday for 2021 has been a dreary start to this week. I have the right sort of song, though.
Mind you, "Ame no Uta"(Rain Song) is actually quite the cheerful tune with the hint of 80s West Coast AOR. This is a track from Yuko Tsuburaya's（円谷優子）debut album"Colors" from April 1989. Written by Rui Serizawa（芹沢類）and composed by Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）, the arrangement and Tsuburaya's clear vocals has me thinking of ironically far sunnier days in California than a damp cloudy one in Toronto.
According to J-Wiki, Tsuburaya started her career as a part of the regular membership of girls on the TBS variety show "Momoco Club"（モモコクラブ）, based on the weekly aidoru pinup magazine "Momoco". There are excerpts of the show (October 1986 to September 1987) on YouTube, and there are some similarities to 1980s aidoru supergroup Onyanko Club's（おニャン子クラブ）representative TV program "Yuyake Nyan Nyan"（夕焼けニャンニャン）; the lasses of "Momoco Club" even had had their membership numbers as in the case of Onyanko Club's members and, as can be seen below, they even showed up to do musical numbers although my impression is that "Momoco Club" was more about how photogenic its members were than how musically inclined they were.
Incidentally, Tsuburaya's number was 1980 which I had initially mistook for the starting year of her career. Another interesting point that I saw in her J-Wiki profile was that her senpai in her talent agency KEN-ON（研音）, none other than the Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, made a point on "Music Station" to introduce and promote Tsuburaya when she did make her debut in late 1988 as someone with a lovely voice. I can only imagine the gratitude and pressure that the young singer must have felt at the time.
Going into the late 1990s, Tsuburaya would release 10 singles and 3 albums including one single under the aegis of Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）which became a big hit. But I'll have to do that one sometime in the New Year.
From what I've heard and read, Boxing Day in Canada and the United States (December 26th) isn't really all that much of a bargain day to be had anymore, now with sales extravaganzas on earlier days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And to be honest, I was never all that much of a bargain hunter to begin with. If I needed to buy something right away, sale or not, I just got it. Boxing Day isn't a thing in Japan although there are sales periods in my old stomping grounds, but sales have certainly happened in areas such as Ginza (pictured above) especially via the department stores on the main strip. Still, the ritzy neighbourhood is not known for its low low prices.
It can be called fashionable, though, and that is why I have my last article for tonight, "Fashionable Lover", the title track from Hi-Fi Set's（ ハイ・ファイ・セット）June 1976 2nd album. This is also my fourth and final article for the vocal trio for 2021 which is a pretty banner year.
Words and music were by two of Hi-Fi Set's members, Shigeru Ohkawa（大川茂）and Toshihiko Yamamoto（山本俊彦）with arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, a good associate of theirs since some of the Set's songs were also provided by Matsutoya's to-be wife Yumi Arai（荒井由実）. It's quite the mellow party-hearty tune with everyone including remaining member Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）having a fine time behind the mike giving out their famous harmonies. In addition, it seems as if everyone involved indeed had quite the ball from the jazzy brass to the members themselves when they suddenly went into a somewhat bizarre vocal rave at one point in "Fashionable Lover".
And yet, according to Ohkawa's lyrics, the party is really going on in one fellow's head as he's gone head-over-heels because one lovely young lady apparently has shown signs of interest in him. Right from the first line, no fashion magazine can contain her full beauty and she's graciously rejected a lot of other suitors. Yep, I can understand him being over the moon.🌜 Let's just hope that this isn't all a grand delusion.
"Fashionable Lover" is something that I can't quite define through one genre. Of course, pop is dandy but considering what Hi-Fi Set was singing during the 1970s, I can also place it within the City Pop and New Music categories as well. Whatever the case, it's a fun tune which brings images of that sunset drive through Tokyo back in the day.
Thus far, there have been more Mami Kikuchi（菊地真美）contributions on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as a songwriter rather than a singer. In fact, I only wrote about one where she is behind the mike back in the middle of 2019 for her City Pop"Neo Silk Road"（ネオ・シルクロード）. That was a track from her 2nd album "Morning Dew" in 1982.
I did mention about her debut album, also from the same year, "Shimauma ni Notta Secretary"（縞馬に乗ったセクレタリー ...The Secretary who Rode a Zebra）, and here is the actual title track which begins the album (the video actually contains Side A). The title itself gave me some pause and the song itself is some great hook. Punctuated by some peppy percussion and chorus work, this is one appealingly quirky tune that has its piano taking us on quite a pop adventure through Africa apparently. Perhaps it's not that surprising then that Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）was the composer while Kikuchi took care of the lyrics.
Just from that title track, I am curious about acquiring my own copy of "Shimauma ni Notta Secretary" for what other wonders I can find. Already, the second track "Walkman Baby" has my attention, too.
Hope wherever you are, you are still digesting your bountiful repast from last night peacefully and satisfyingly. Our family had a very pleasant Xmas dinner and did the usual exchange of presents.
Back on December 13th, when KKP hit its 1000th article in one year for the first time in its history, I opted to create a "The First" article showing what some of my first aural experiences were with the singers that I've come to truly enjoy over the decades. However, since my list was going to be a fairly long one, I separated it between men and women. So for No. 1000, I dedicated that to what were the first songs that I'd heard from female kayo singers back then.
Now, thirteen days later, Article No. 1036 for 2021 will cover the first songs that I'd heard from the male kayo and J-Pop singers.
As I mentioned just a tad earlier, I've been listening to Rocket Brown's J-Xmas mix and within the opening minutes, I've been able to listen to some really fine material, some new and some old.
One other song that I got to hear for the first time in a long time was 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi's（菊池桃子）"Yuki ni Kaita Love Letter" (Love Letter Written in the Snow). My memory engrams really do need quite a bit of jogging now since I had completely forgotten about this one. For one thing, that cover of her 3rd single from November 1984 is probably one of her most famous ones as she wondrously looks over the Earth.
For another, there is that melody that I immediately pegged as a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. Good heavens! I've been listening to Japanese pop music and writing this blog so long now that I'm referring to songs and their composers as if they were works and artists at The Louvre. Anyways, as soon as I heard the song, I just had to go "Aw, man, I remember this one!". So what made me identify "Yuki ni Kaita Love Letter" as a Hayashi? I think that it's just that combination of those innocent strings and certain keyboards being involved; I've heard them used for bands such as Omega Tribe back in that decade.
The lyrics are by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）who would come up with the big aidoru supergroups in different decades, Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）and then AKB48. A few days ago, when I wrote about Toko Okabe's（岡部東子）"Kata ni Fureta Christmas Eve"（肩にふれたクリスマス・イヴ）, I cited the Japanese penchant for Xmas songs there to have a sad component, lyrically speaking. "Yuki ni Kaita Love Letter" is also rather melancholy, although Hayashi's music and his arrangement keep things moving forth at a peppy and pretty happy pace, since it deals with a one-way love situation at the worst time...Christmas Eve. Another December 24th all alone.😢 The song managed to peak at No. 3 and then it ended up as the 49th-ranked single of 1985.
This being the 8201st article for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I bid you a Merry Christmas for 2021 and I'm hoping that readers have been enjoying December 25th if they do celebrate the holiday. It's been fairly quiet today for us and I'm more than grateful for that, but in a few hours, some of my family will be showing up for dinner tonight.
I got the Twitter notification last night that my good friend Rocket Brown of Come Along Radio had put up his latest mix which of course centered on the Yuletide titled "City Pop Christmas Marathon". So if you're into the Japanese urban contemporary and you need some music while you're cooking in the kitchen or just resting on the sofa before the potentially voluminous dinner, feel free to have a listen to it at Rocket's Mixcloud page.
Late last night, I was able to hear the first 20 minutes of the marathon before deciding to turn in but I was already hearing some good stuff that I hadn't come across before. One example was the bouncy "Hikari no Spur"(Ski Tracks of Light), aidoru group Negicco's December 2014 single. Not as much about Christmas as it is about potentially making romance while hitting the slopes, the song does have a truly upbeat and fun melody that does make one feel like jumping into the SRV and head for Naeba Ski Resort (eat your heart out, Yuming!). By the way, the sunny music video was apparently filmed in Finland.
"Hikari no Spur" was written and composed by connie who has been the group's music producer but I think that delicious beat is also due to the arrangement by Takao Tajima（田島貴男）, aka Original Love, and I've trusted him to make some really catchy songs over the past few decades.
I'd initially wondered about that last word in the title "spur" since the usual image in my head for such a thing has been that of those tiny spiked wheels near the heels of a cowboy's boots. At the same time, I also thought that it could be "spoor" which refers to the scent of an animal or a human being but I didn't want to imagine what the lyrics would be about in that case. Luckily when I checked on Jisho.org, there was just the one definition for "ski traces", originally from Germany. Anyways, "Hikari no Spur" hit No. 5 on Oricon and was a track on Negicco's January 2015 studio album"Rice & Snow".
I realize that it is December 24th but I didn't want to completely ignore the fact that I like to profile the urban contemporary stuff on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" on Fridays so at least I'll put in one here that is completely devoid of the Yuletide.
And this one has got plenty of atmosphere. From her 5th single of October 1979"Yukikurete"（行き暮れて...Overtaken by Darkness）, I give you the B-side, "Umi ga Mitai" (I Want to See the Ocean) by singer-songwriter Tazumi Toyoshima（豊島たづみ）. From that 15-second introduction, though, a first-time listener might think that those strings were going to bring on something rather ominous from a 1950s Hollywood melodrama but then there comes that electric organ and a really twangy guitar that sounds as if Duane Eddy had gotten his hands on it.
Written and composed by a sultry-singing Toyoshima with arrangement by Eiji Kawamura（川村栄治）, "Umi ga Mitai" does have that City Pop beat, but I think it's also overlaid with some of that classy Henry Mancini soundtrack feeling that almost demands a movie of mystery and intrigue to be produced around it. I think that the electric organ jazz solo puts the cherry on the sundae here. If "Umi ga Mitai" is the B-side, I'm curious enough to find out what the A-side "Yukikurete" is like.
Since I did mention December 24th, I might as well put in another plug for one of the great City Pop Xmas combos, "December 24th" by Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）.
Of course, Santa Claus flies. He's got that sleigh all kitted out by Tony Stark, a TARDIS-like interior fitted by The Doctor through dimensional transcendentalism for all of those packages, and impulse engines sponsored by Starfleet. Yesterday, there was a cute Canadian government-sanctioned commercial of one minister giving St. Nick air clearance to fly over the Great White North in a matter of hours, and I'm sure NORAD has eternal standing orders to always allow the man flight privileges over North America, at least.
There's even a song called "Flying Santa Claus" by the late singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）who was usually known for his City Pop or summer pop songs. But this time, he's in Xmas mode with this seasonal song about having Kris Kringle cure all that ails folks. "Flying Santa Claus" is a track on his October 1988 album"Go Pop", and it's a pleasant and at times flying number heightened by Murata's vocals and the arrangement of the singer's melody by Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）provided the lyrics.
Let's all hope that Santa has been having a safe trip. I think that he passed Hokkaido hours ago.
Japan is already on Christmas Day and we're on Christmas Eve so hopefully folks are getting prepared as best as we can during this COVID era for Santa and all that.
Earlier this month, I provided an article on a 1987 Christmas song by GWINKO called "Gwinko's Christmas Carol" with its Motown taste. Good ol' Scott (who has a bunch of his J-Xmaspodcasts out at his site, so why not give those a gander?) then recommended me a November 1988 album of J-Xmas tunes titled "Dance to Christmas".
"Dance to Christmas" has its own J-Wiki article and I discovered there that singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大沢誉志幸）and a number of singers under the CBS/Sony banner decided to get together on the work for this special project to celebrate the 10th anniversary of EPIC/Sony. Therefore, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, his sister Kiyomi（鈴木聖美）, along with Osawa, GWINKO, Masatoshi Nishimura（西村麻聡）of FENCE OF DEFENSE and others all put on their Santa hats and got busy.
The second track is "Merry Christmas Go Round", a boppy City Pop boogie of the Yuletide involving a duet between GWINKO and Osawa himself. Written by K. Inojo and composed by Osawa, the song also has a touch of jazzy swing in there as the two singers act like a couple of flirty lovers dancing around a good old date over the Holidays. If all of the couples around Christmas time acted like these two do, cars would have ended up being banned off the roads because of all of the boogying around. I couldn't find out any liner note information but I do wonder whether the Suzuki siblings themselves were providing background vocals.
With 2021 coming to a close, I think it'd be a good time for me to add my own yearly round-up. I had been thinking about some theme I wanted to go with, and rather than a singer specific list, I thought I'd go with a list that narrates significant going-ons I had throughout this bumpy year - when is it ever not, though? Without further ado, let's begin.
Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) -- Ruten no Yoru (流転の夜)
I'd spent the majority of 2020 back in Singapore due to the pandemic, so coming back to Japan exactly a year later in March 2021 needed some readjustments. There was definitely some loneliness (though a lot less than my first year), having to deal with noisy neighbours, and I'd saddled myself with a particularly arduous class that new semester (a few of you might know what I mean...). Basically, it was draining.
Sometimes, particularly at night, be it from out of the window of that old apartment or on strolls through deserted streets in the middle of the night, I would just look up at the night sky. Being in a faraway land and roaming around trying to do my thing, Hachi's "Ruten no Yoru" of an exhausted wandering soul felt oddly fitting and would put me in a reflective mood. The slightly lonesome-sounding flute, delicate strings and Hachi's delicate vocals were the perfect medicine for my frazzled nerves.
Perhaps it's because I'm in a better head-space now and because I'd been hooked by other songs since then, so "Ruten no Yoru" doesn't resonate as strongly as it did half a year ago. Those memories of watching the stars and the feelings I held at the time had become imprinted on this song, though, and it does come back whenever I listen to it now.
I'd mentioned a number of times that sumo is one of the new hobbies I'd acquired. Spectating it, of course. Rallying behind Tochinoshin who I'd seen on NHK news long before understanding the sport; learning archaic sumo terms and practices; watching Terunofuji destroy the competition and become yokozuna on his return from injury - it was all new, weird, and yet oh, so fun! So, it was cathartic when I was able to watch the tournaments live at the Ryogoku Kokugikan when I was back in Japan. The raw power of seeing these giants tackle each other was amazing, and new yokozuna's Teru-chan's dohyo-iri in September was awesome. Plus, I even got a photo with the now-retired Ikioi, a pretty strong fighter with the voice of an enka singer!
Representing this experience is Kiyoshi Hikawa's "Ninjou Toridejuku". Sure, the wrestler presented in this popular tale used in this song is a hapless fool, but the melody that's grand and filled with vigour just fits the sport so well.
Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴)/Tokyo Taishu Kayo Gakudan (東京大衆歌謡楽団) -- China Tango
So, I have this jolly professor whose focus is on China studies and I'd taken a number of his classes this year. From my understanding of international politics in recent years from his classes, it's been nothing but a China Tango... ROLL CREDITS.
My introduction to my new muse (muses?), the ode to early Showa music Tokyo Taishu Kayo Gakudan, was facilitated by Tadaharu Nakano's "China Tango". I'm glad to have come across these Kotaro Takashima and his brothers because not only do they provide fantastic and authentic-sounding covers of ryukoka but through them, my interest in this part of enka/kayokyoku had been revived. In fact, the next few entries had also been introduced by them. They also have the honour of being the first artists below the age of 40 I have really gotten into... if that can be considered an honour at all...
As for "China Tango" itself, for some reason, the premises of the song, its fun tango rhythm and Ko-san's hearty vocals are just so alluring. At the moment, it's probably my favourite cover tune by the quartet. And, as I had mentioned, I was in the midst of that class international politics class while I was getting into the song. Couldn't have asked for better timing.
Bin Uehara (上原敏) -- Tsuma-koi Dochu (妻恋道中)
Cycling is one of my favourite things to do when I'm in Japan. Perhaps it's because I stay out of Tokyo and away from the mad traffic. Plus, living in the suburbs do provide incredibly scenic routes along rivers, through rice fields, and, when weather permits, Mt. Fuji can be seen looming in the distance. In the new area I'm living in, I get longer stretches of uninterrupted routes like these. I do like to sing to myself while doing so, and what better type of song to sing along to on such cycles than some dochu-mono? Somehow, Bin-san's stuff feels the most appropriate. Maybe's it's the minyo element in it? Either way, even though I'm on a modern albeit run-of-the-mill utility bicycle and not trudging around with straw sandals, I can't help but feel like one of those early Edo era travellers humming away to keep oneself entertained on a long journey. Plus, autumn foliage just made everything look 10 times as picturesque.
Bin-san has lots of matatabi enka under his belt, but, as implied in an earlier article, I have a soft spot for "Tsuma-koi Dochu". Have to thank the Takashima brothers for this too, though.
Haruo Oka (岡晴夫) -- Shiawase Wa Ano Sora Kara (幸福はあの空から)
As somewhat of a perfectionist who stresses wanting to live up to expectations, a particularly difficult lesson I had to learn this year was that it is okay to be wrong and not get things right all the time. Of course, I'm still learning how to do so and to apply it to not just school but social interactions as well. But, at the end of the day, things somehow worked themselves out and, to balance out the bad moments of the year, great moments were around the corner... You could even say, the happiness came from the sky. ROLL CREDITS. AGAIN.
Okkapal's "Shiawase Wa Ano Sora Kara" is probably not one of his notable works but with a title like that and the words of hope and endurance embedded in the lyrics, it is quite a pick-me-upper. It's almost as if he's encouraging you to hang on. I reckon everyone needs something like this in this current situation too. Hopefully, things will get better in the coming year.
And with that, we've come to the end of the article. Thanks for making it to the end. I'm not sure if I'll be posting anything between now and the new year, so let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Well, Christmas Eve is less than 6 hours away and perhaps folks are now rushing to the stores, brick n' mortar or online, to get their last presents for folks. It would seem that in Japanese popular music, there may be a subgenre of sorts within the J-Xmas circle which could be called the "Sad Christmas Eve" songs. To explain, I have encountered some tunes which are lyrically centered around a very blue time for the protagonists on December 24th due to being alone instead of being with that significant other thanks to a lovers' spat or just not being lucky in love.
A couple of good examples of those are "Christmas Eve" by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and then Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）"Kimi ni Merry Xmas"（君にMerry Xmas). Both of them have wonderful melodies of the season but the lyrics may have certain listeners heading for the bottle.
I discovered another one recently and it's by someone that I've only found out about within the last year. Back in June, I was introduced to singer-songwriter Toko Okabe（岡部東子）and her "Vacancy", the lead track from the second of her two albums"Stay the Sun" which was released in October 1989, and it seems like Okabe had wanted to try some R&B or late 80s/early 90s City Pop for that album.
However, with her debut album earlier in February that same year, "Amnesia", there is this second track "Kata ni Fureta Christmas Eve" (Christmas Eve on My Shoulder). It's actually quite a lovely and poignant ballad written and composed by Okabe and arranged by Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）about not only being alone during the Yuletide (which is seen as the second Valentine's season of the year in Japan) but simply unable to get across her feelings of love to a certain someone. In comparison with "Vacancy", "Kata ni Fureta Christmas Eve" has more of an ethereal pop flavour which reminded me of singers such as Chicaco Sawada（沢田知可子）and a 1990s Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）. Maybe in a way, there's even an underlying layer of 70s soft rock balladry in there as well.
Ah, I did find out that "Kata ni Fureta Christmas Eve" was actually released as a debut single for Okabe in 1988, according to her page on "Idol.ne.jp".
