Yuko Tomita -- Yokohama Monogatari（よこはま物語）

 

Do I have a favourite spot in Yokohama? Well, I haven't explored the entirety of the famous port city but within what I have seen, I would have to go with Minato Mirai 21 because I get to walk all around Yokohama Bay and see some wonderful structures such as Landmark Tower and the Nippon Maru Museum Ship. I also have to point out that a friend and I once had dinner inside a restaurant inside Landmark Mall, and it was a garlic-themed establishment. Had a roasted garlic bulb with butter, garlic pizza, garlic salad, garlic pasta, garlic steak and even garlic ice cream. Surprisingly, we were able to get some empty seats on the train ride back home to Chiba Prefecture.🧄

For a lady who hails from Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, singer-songwriter Yuko Tomita（とみたゆう子）did have her love for Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. A little over a year ago, I posted a song by her titled "Yokohama Kaze no Station"（YOKOHAMA風のステイション）from 1986 from which I noted that it possessed "...the intriguing combination of 1960s romantic pop balladry through the synths, some Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）quirky pop and even a bit of Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）Fashion Music." Quite the heady combination, indeed.

Well, even earlier, Tomita had released an April 1983 single titled "Yokohama Monogatari" (Yokohama Story) whose words and music had been taken care of by her. Once again, it's a song that has quite the tantalizing melange that made things initially hard to categorize. Eventually though, I decided that the song captures the soaring phrasings of an 80s Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）ballad, some underpinnings of City Pop (especially through that bass) and some hard-to-grab feelings of New Adult Music although I can't say that it approaches enka. Perhaps kayo kyoku?😕 Whatever it is, "Yokohama Monogatari" is a pleasant tune.