Yukari Yamamoto -- Watashi MAILUWA（私 MAILUWA）

 

Happy Sunday! Looks like we're in the middle of an election-packed period. Japan's Lower House elections are taking place as I type this, Election Day in America is just a smattering of days away, and Canada might have its own soon enough depending on how cranky the Opposition gets over the next couple of weeks.

It's one of those rare times when I encounter different singers with the exact same name in romaji, at least. I already have one Yukari Yamamoto（山本由香利）, an aidoru of the 1970s up on KKP, but just recently, I discovered another Yukari Yamamoto（山本ゆかり）who had her own aidoru career, mostly in the 1980s. Plus, her kanji depiction is somewhat different, but I've had to make some adjustments in the Labels as you can see way down below.

Anyways, this native of Sasebo City in Nagasaki Prefecture debuted with the single "Watashi MAILUWA" from June 1984. Seeing that romaji there, I had first assumed that Yamamoto promised to send a letter, but actually, the songwriters, consisting of lyricist/composer Takashi Tsushimi（都志見隆）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, got a little cute and the title means in current vernacular "I'm So Done". "Watashi MAILUWA", a tune about a teenage girl pining for a lone wolf kid, begins promisingly with some of that jangly guitar and boppy bass as Yamamoto delivers in a slightly sing-songy exotic Asia way in the first verses and then does some vocal fancy dancing before she hits the chorus. It was quite the snazzy way to begin her recording career. The song also got onto her debut album "The MAJI" which was released in October.

As I mentioned above, most of her seven singles and three albums came out between 1984 and 1988 with her final single and album being released in 1996. In recent years, Yamamoto has been splitting her time among being a radio DJ, an event emcee and a voice trainer in Tokyo.