When I was thinking of writing up an article for this particular song, it was due to the fact that the title was quite familiar to me. There is actually a rather tony street going up to the northern edge of the Ginza district with the name Marronier Douri (although the sign is spelled Maronie as you can barely see in the thumbnail) I also remember seeing a big shiny complex called Marronier Gate in the area. I'd assumed that Tokyo lifted the name from a similar avenue in Paris but actually the street was named after the fact that "marronier" is French for "horse chestnuts" and horse chestnut trees line that particular street in Ginza. So, my life is now complete.
I've probably walked on Marronier Douri a number of times as a shortcut between Ginza and Yurakucho and one time, a student was generous enough to take me out for lunch at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant in one of the buildings along the street. It was one of the few culinary experiences that I've had in Ginza that didn't involve a couple of golden arches.
Anyways, allow me to introduce Akie Yoshizawa（吉沢秋絵）to KKP. A member of Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）for a little over a year (August 1985 ~ September 1986), her ID number was 25, and she was even able to become part of the "Sukeban Deka"（スケバン刑事）franchise as an actress. Apparently, actor Tadanobu Asano（浅野忠信）of "Thor" and "Ichi the Killer" fame was a big fan of hers.
During her time with Onyanko Club and afterwards, Yoshizawa released 8 singles and 3 original albums of which her final single was "Marronier Douri" (Marronier Street) which came out in November 1988. Written by Chiroru Yaho（谷穂ちろる）and composed by Mioko Yamaguchi（山口未央子）, the fact that Yamaguchi was behind the melody had me interested immediately. Sure enough, the music is dreamy and wistful as if the titular street had been transplanted into the City of Lights and a boy-meets-girl romance had been taking place there. Considering that the song came out in the middle of the Bubble Era, the boy probably had one heck of a wallet to afford the date in Ginza.
Yoshizawa retired from show business in 1991 but then went into publishing for at least a while.
She was my favorite member of Onyanko, although not the best singer (even by Onyanko Club's standard lol), but I can overlook her singing skill because of her cute looks. She does sound better in her latter singles and does have a few gems in her discography.
ReplyDeleteApparently she was supposed to be the 2nd Asamiya Saki (the lead character in Sukeban Deka), but the producers switched her with Nanno last minute. I wonder how her career (and Nanno's) will pan out if she stayed as the lead character..
Hello there. Yeah, it's interesting how the wind can shift directions in terms of a person's life. I'm kinda reminded of actor Tom Selleck when he'd had the opportunity to become Indiana Jones but possibly due to his contract with his show "Magnum PI", he couldn't film the movie which became one of Harrison Ford's classics. Could Tom have become a worldwide superstar in movies instead?
DeleteYoshizawa left show business in 1991 but it seems as if she hasn't done too badly afterwards, going into publishing and even living overseas for a while.