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.
It's nice to hear from 80s aidoru Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）after a while. I found her 6th single from March 1983 titled "Chinese Kiss". Starting with some pre-recording banter that probably had the fans hitting their knees in bliss (and the producer slapping his forehead in frustration), it's a typically adorable Iyo tune.
Written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, composed by Toshio Kamei（亀井登志夫）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, it's a plucky aidoru song with a hint of Chinese flavor, a soupcon of City Pop, and plenty of whimsy. I'm not sure whether this date is taking place in Hong Kong or Yokohama but wherever the couple is, they are having one happy day interspersed with the titular sign of affection. I especially like the guitar when they make the transition from verse to chorus. "Chinese Kiss" hit No. 12 on Oricon and by the end of 1983, it was the 92nd-ranked single.
When I had my happy reunion with Makkin & The New Music Stuff in my previous article, I also discovered the indies rock band Zanzow Cafe（残像カフェ...Afterimage Cafe）. And so I was able to place Makkin's "Kimi ga Suki"（君が好き）and one song by Zanzow Cafe into the backlog.
I did find a website for Zanzow Cafe which has its discography dating as far back as December 2001, although Genki Ohmori（大森元気）and his group officially released music starting from 2002. In April 2004, the band released "Shi-gatsu no Kotoba"（４月のことば...Words of April）, a concept album going through one full cycle of the four seasons.
One track is the rock ballad"Yuugure Toki"(At Dusk) or could it be "Yuugure Ji"...just not sure but let's go with the former for now. Set in autumn, despite all of the crashing electric guitars, it's quite the tenderhearted love song about a man talking a walk during the titular sunset and remembering a past romance. I'm not a huge rock expert but listening to the arrangement, I'm sure that someone more well versed in the genre can compare this song to something recorded over in the West at around the same time.
I've only taken a quick glimpse through the website but it seems as if Ohmori has gone to a new project in recent years called "Zanzow no Bouquet"（残像のブーケ...Afterimage Bouquet）.
Well, I've got one final challenge as we all rush to the end of 2025. I'm not too far away in terms of the number of articles for this year to reach 1000. However, I'm gonna have to increase my output by a fair bit to reach that goal before Wednesday the 31st and I figure by that point, I'm going to be busy watching this year's Kohaku Utagassen.
Anyways, let's begin the push with a band that I've been fascinated by for some years. Unfortunately at the time, I had only been able to find one complete tune on YouTube by Makkin & The New Music Stuff and that was back in 2019. Bassist Toshiro "Makkin" Matsuki（松木俊郎）began this solo project of bringing together a lot of the groovier stuff from the 1970s such as soul, funk and other New Music influences to show some of the really nice old-school stuff once more.
Happily, one YouTube channel cba abc was kind enough to upload Matsuki's first album of this project, "Makkin & The New Music Stuff" from June 2006, and though this was a solo thing for him, he did love his collaborations with various other professionals. Case in point, the second track from 33 seconds is "Kimi ga Suki"(I Love You) with Genki Ohmori（大森元気）from the indies band Zanzow Cafe（残像カフェ）handling the vocals. As expected from the sound that Makkin had wanted to bring back, "Kimi ga Suki" is one nostalgic sunny and summery trip that would probably have the good folks at Sugar Babe smiling in approval. And the way Ohmori sounds here, I'd think that his girlfriend was right in the studio with everyone else. She would be smiling in approval, too.
It was almost a month ago that I posted up enka singer Mitsuko Nakamura's（中村美津子）March 2025 72nd single, the brio-laden "Uta da yo! Jinsei"（歌だよ!人生）that should have a certain generation of karaoke enthusiasts singing its praises, especially in the final week of this year.
Well, the coupling song is a bit less fiery but it's also quite wholesome and reassuring just like a veteran custodian of an old-fashioned bar in Japan. In fact, the title of this enka ditty is "Izakaya Banashi"(Izakaya Talk) which sounds like two enka tunes in one. There is the main major-chord song with a slight diversion into a minor-chord number for one verse, as if composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）were musically bringing to life Reiji Mizuki's（水木れいじ）lyrics of that mama-san in the izakaya welcoming back an old customer who'd been transferred from Osaka to the Tokyo branch and then listening to his grievances on work and women for a bit before bringing his spirits back up.
I figure that with the Holidays now in full swing in Japan, folks may be having their share of parties including those that occur at the karaoke boxes and bars of the nation. Maybe franchises such as Big Echo are doing volume business this week which may be quite long for people...perhaps as long as a week (yeah, I'm being a little sarcastic there). Of course, depending on the size and the average age of the group along with the type of songs that they tend to sing, there will be the duets to tackle.
Perhaps for the younger generation, that doesn't happen so often, since a lot of those duets occur in the enka and Mood Kayo genres. Plus, there is the matter of harmonizing which isn't all that easy. Not being a particularly great singer in my karaoke days in Japan, I don't think I ever dared ask any lady for a duet. However, listening to those duets on the stereo and now on YouTube is more my speed. Here are some of my favourites.
(1959) Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo -- Tokyo Nightclub （東京ナイトクラブ）
(1982) Hiroshi Itsuki and Nana Kinomi -- Izakaya （居酒屋）
I figure that this coupling song, "Boku ga Inakute mo"(Even If I'm Not Here), on the late Chigiri Akiyoshi's（秋吉契里）July 1997 3rd single"Atsukunarakya Dame Kore mo Koi dakara"（熱くならなきゃだめ これも恋だから...It Has to Be Passionate, Cause This is Love, Too） can be compared to a lot of different songs from the United States. However, when I first heard this mix of country and rock, I suddenly got these vibes of the earliest incarnation of Steely Dan such as with their "Do It Again". Great guitar solo, by the way.
Written and composed by Akiyoshi, "Boku ga Inakute mo" has got a really cool rhythm underlying the singer-songwriter's steady but fervent vocals. And perhaps it's one more outta-left-field observation from me, but the chorus even strikes me as having a bit of kayo kyoku although it's represented by some of that roots rock guitar and bass.
Just a small matter but here I was thinking that I had plenty of female singers named Haruko up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", only to realize that I merely have the one: Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）. Mind you, she's a fine soulful chanteuse so not complaining there.
However, there are now two on the blog. Haruko Sagara（相楽晴子）had her initial time in the limelight for about a decade...between 1984 and 1995...as an actress, aidoru and a tarento. Her family originally hailed from the city of Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture but following the premature death of her father and growing business debts, her mother promptly closed down the store and took everyone to Tokyo. In 1980 when she was around 12, she was scouted out in Shibuya by a photographer and young Haruko became a successful model.
In the mid-1980s, acting and singing arrived on her entertainment doorstep with the latter part of her career beginning with her debut single"Virgin Heart"（ヴァージン・ハート）being released in May 1986. For this article, we have her 7th single, "Tokyo Marionette", from April 1989. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Masato Ishida（石田正人）, the song was arranged by Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）as this fairly dramatic number with a bit of rock n' roll which had me thinking of a teenage gang moll riding on the back of her boyfriend's Kawasaki as they are fleeing something or someone. Her fate is his fate.
Fortuntely, Sagara's fate was far more benign. In 1992, she started a relationship with one of the staff while she was in Los Angeles on a location shoot for one of her photo books. A few years later, they would get married in the United States and in 2019, there was a move to the state of Hawaii.
It's certainly one of the more unusual titles I've ever heard for a City Pop song but "Doukeshi no Tsunawatari"(A Clown's Tightrope) is still some classy urban contemporary to finish this week's and this year's groovy tunes.
Sung by actress and singer Yumi Takigawa（多岐川裕美）for her October 1981 album"Sayo II"（小夜Ⅱ...Evening II）, this feels like a relaxing cruise along the French Riviera with its Latin rhythm and cool horns. Written by Yuriko Matsuda（松田侑利子）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, the title is more figurative than literal as a woman finds herself in a romantic bind.
Always nice to have Kirinji（キリンジ）once more on the board as we approach the end of the year. And this one came out about a month ago as a track on their latest album"Town Beat".
"Suteki na Yoru"(What a Night) starts out with some really tight guitar and keyboards before things get into a fun and funky party jam...kinda reminiscent of Original Love. Written and composed by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）, I had assumed that the lyrics would be about a couple having the time of their lives painting the town red, but actually, it centres around some bizarre misunderstandings and misidentifications at a party. Time to lay off the absinthe of malice.
The crazy thing is that there was an original version when Kirinji offered the song to the aidoru group V6 to record as part of their 14th and final album"Step" from September 2021. The arrangement is slightly different but it's still a banger. "Suteki na Yoru" was apparently also used in the "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）kids' song show but the only footage I could find was in this cute kid's living room. In any case, V6 ended things well...the album hit No. 1.
From PR Times
Ah, PS here...since we are covering an R&B song, one of the commenters for a recent article mentioned that Disk Union will be releasing a book called "Japanese R&B Disc Guide" on February 10th 2026. This will cover the R&B from the 1990s up to today. Having witnessed the initial big boom at the end of the 20th century firsthand with singers such as Hikaru Utada, m-flo, and Misia, I think it would be interesting picking this one up.
The first time I ever landed in the Big Apple was in 1993, so I was several years too late for disco and certainly as a minor (and a very uncool one, at that), I would never have gotten past the entrance into Studio 54 in Manhattan in those 1970s. But somehow, even as a kid in elementary school and then junior high school, I heard about this club which attracted all sorts including the celebs.
I was reminded of that haven of hedonism as I was listening to Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street's single "Star" from 1980. Yep, by that year, disco was already becoming a music pariah although acts such as Earth Wind & Fire were still holding the torch and apparently, Japan never got the memo. Drummer and R&B singer Hiro Tsunoda（つのだ☆ひろ）was responsible for words and music for this one that sounds like the aforementioned EWF and ABBA's love child as the lady in the song wants to become a star...maybe of the dance floor. The arrangement is such that she could have grabbed that brass ring simply on the melody alone.
There's nothing like a Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）arrangement to soothe listeners and let them know that all can be right with the world...that is, as long as the song is playing at least.
I received those cool and warm and fuzzy feelings while listening to "Atatakai Ame" (A Warm Rain) which is a track from his February 2006 album"Shiplaunching", something that I posted about several years ago, but apparently didn't bother putting down the year of release aside from Labels. Bad, J-Canuck, bad!
Composed by Tomita Lab and written by the late Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, who also has his own vocal contribution to "Shiplaunching", that familiar chorus and the strings bring the present and the past in equal measure while Hirokuni Tanaka（田中拡邦）of the band MAMALAID RAG croons comfortably. It almost makes one want to sit outside at a cafe while the rain is coming down...almost. Can't get much smoother than this one.
Ohhh...still digesting my meal from last night. All that roast beef, roast turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes have continued to keep me fairly sleepy, so typing on the keyboard has taken on some rather hilarious tendencies. However, the show must go on as I complete the final 2025 day for Urban Contemporary on KKP.
And there's nothing better than a fine emulation of the old days of music. As soon as I heard the opening notes of Uwanosora's（ウワノソラ）"Heart no Tekagami"(Hand Mirror of Heart Shape) from October 2021, I immediately thought Sakanaction's（サカナクション）"Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）and felt that both bands were plucking from the optimistic synthpop songbook of the 1980s.
"Heart no Tekagami", which was written and composed by Uwanosora's leader Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）, is definitely pulling one page out of the "Heart Cocktail" book by that design on the CD cover. The use of those particular keyboards (and the melody they spell out) is thrilling to hear as an old City Pop fan, and vocalist Megumi Iemoto's（いえもとめぐみ）singing style reminds me of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）in the late 1970s when she took on a peppier approach to her music once she got married. It contrasts quite nicely with the previous Uwanosora song I posted, "Autumn Ballad" , from 2023.
The final regular Reminiscings of Youth article lands on Christmas Day today and it will be on the theme song for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" from December 1966. It's a special, just like "A Charlie Brown Christmas", that I used to see every year on CBS on the old tube telly. By this point, pretty much everyone in North America knows about the green Grinch with his heart being two sizes too small (initially at least) and his willingness to ruin everybody's Christmas.
As a little kid, I didn't know who the narrator was and wouldn't finally find out for quite a few years. At first thought, I'd assumed that it was Dr. Seuss behind the narration but then I discovered it was Boris Karloff, Frankenstein's Monster himself, behind the mike when I'd known about his time many decades earlier as a horror movie icon. And dang it! He had a great voice for the theme song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" which was given lyrics by Dr. Seuss and composed by Albert Hague as this classic comically villainous composition. Karloff chewed the heck out of this tune like a zombie on bone.
I never saw the Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" from 2000, but he one-ups Karloff in his rendition of the song. Some fine Canadian ham there!
Anyways, we have a couple of singles in Japan that got released at around the same time as the original cartoon.
Well, Merry Christmas to everyone out there. I just popped in the turkey so I won't have to worry about that for a few hours, and therefore I've got some time to blog here before the entire family shows up for dinner.
For Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）fans, it looks we all got a very nice present in our stockings yesterday when the lady herself released her latest digital single "Merry Christmas, My Heart". Composed by Akina herself and written by HZ Village, it's a contemplative piano ballad that rather hits the Xmas heart in the right spot. No Santa Claus, no raucous partying and hopefully no major mourning due to heartbreak. Simply a clear night and prayer to the loved one.
Nope, this isn't another Reminiscings of Youth article. My personal opinion has always been that Christmas and jazz go together like hamburgers and French fries, and one fast food restaurant that has often brought that together is The Manhattan Transfer. And on this Christmas Eve, I've decided to finish off tonight's round of KKP stuff with one of my favourite music acts doing what they do best.
In November 1992, the famed vocal quartet released "The Christmas Album" which is filled with plenty of stylish jazz renditions of some of the most popular Christmas hits with the backing of an orchestra that would have Nelson Riddle smiling from the great beyond.
One fine example is the Transfer's take on "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!". A lot of folks would know this 1945 classic by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne from its Vaughn Monroe original when it was used at the end of "Die Hard". That one was quite the bouncy tune about snuggling up with the significant other as the fire and repeated ingestion of popcorn added to the warmth. The Transfer's rendition takes the jauntiness out and replaces it with silky-smooth and slowly simmering romance to really get those feelings of nestling up in the lodge. I wouldn't blame the happy couple in the song if they didn't get off the sofa until the 27th.
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" already has representation on the blog through Tony Bennett's most wonderful version from 1968. But this one by the Manhattan Transfer is also plenty of fun with the orchestra going all snazzy and swingy. With the additional subtitle of "Santa Man", it's very hep, and all of the gang have put their vocalese on full. It's just a shade over three minutes but they have managed to pack in a lot of melodic dynamite.
Speaking of Tony Bennett, he makes a guest appearance on "The Christmas Album" via his and the Transfer's take on "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)", a chestnut that probably has even more articles on KKP such as the iconic version by Nat King Cole. As with all of the other versions, this collaboration between Bennett and the Transfer brings up the nostalgic warm-and-fuzzies and the Normal Rockwell images of Christmas at home surrounded by a nightly winter scene and lots of family and friends.
Let me take this opportunity then to wish all of the readers, commenters and contributors to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a very Merry Christmas.
Ten days ago on the 14th, I posted a Nash Music Library Xmas-themed song titled "Kamakura de X'mas" from the October 2024 compilation by NML titled "Christmas Avenue". It got the two labels of Xmas and Traditional Instrumental which would certainly explain the title.
Another track from "Christmas Avenue" is more conventional. Well, at least the song itself. The title has made me wonder, though. "Tipsy Reindeer" sounds more like an occupational hazard for Santa Claus after his eight employees and perhaps Rudolph got too much into the egg nog. Still, the actual song is a very pleasant pop tune that almost approaches Smooth Jazz status. The entire album would make for some fine kitchen cooking accompaniment.
I only came across the above video yesterday during my usual YouTube browsings. It's the annual Turner Movie Classics"TCM Remembers" which pays musical tribute to the entertainers around the world that have passed on during the calendar year. We did lose quite a few famous folks from film such as Gene Hackman, Robert Redford and Tatsuya Nakadai（仲代達矢）.
However, during the tribute, I was surprised to find out that Argentine musician and composer Lalo Schifrin had passed away months ago in June at the age of 93. I didn't know a lot of his work but what I do remember has stuck with me as two of the most iconic theme songs in American TV history. There was the cool jazz theme for private eye "Mannix" and then the far more famous one for "Mission: Impossible" which got its most recent unveiling when the final movie in the Tom Cruise version of the franchise (I'm confident that there will be at least a try to revive it with a new lead) hit the theatres some months ago.
"T.H.E. Cat" was a short-lived series on NBC that lasted only a season, premiering in September 1966, the same month when "Mission: Impossible" launched on CBS. It starred a leopard-lithe and quick Robert Loggia (I had to really look up my sources to make sure that this was the same burly Robert Loggia from "Big" and "Mancuso") as a former acrobat and master thief-turned-security guy named Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat who helped clients who were in over their heads.
Although "T.H.E. Cat" started its brief run when I was not even a year old, this would still apply as a Reminiscings of Youth article for me because I only found out about the series when it ran on a local gonzo late-night show during my teenage years, appropriately titled "The All-Night Show" (which I will feature as a ROY probably sometime next week) that often unearthed long lost shows from the heap of TV history.
Schifrin came up with the theme for "T.H.E. Cat". It's not nearly as famous as his themes for "Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible", but it does have that sinewy downtown coolness which describes Mr. Cat to a tee. And the jazz orchestra reminds me of some of the stuff that Henry Mancini had created for projects such as "Peter Gunn".
Tomorrow on Christmas Day will have the usual and holiday-themed ROY but I wanted to provide this special Xmas Eve ROY in tribute to the great Schifrin. There were two Japanese singles that were released when "T.H.E. Cat" made its debut in September 1966.
I heard this one several weeks ago on an episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）and it was my first time with it. Not only that, I hadn't heard a Masako Mori（森昌子）song in quite a while, so I just had to add it to the KKP collection.
"Tachimachi Misaki"(Cape Tachimachi) is Mori's 39th single from August 1982 and it's a go-touchi song of the titular geological formation found just southeast of Mount Hakodate in Hokkaido (officially, it represents the city of Hakodate). As soon as I also read in its J-Wikipedia article that it juts out into the Tsugaru Strait, I realized right there and then that this would be an enka/kayo kyoku regarding lost love. After all, the Tsugaru Strait seems to be the go-to spot for sighing over heartbreak as in perhaps what is the most famous example, Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）.
Written by Ou Yoshida（吉田旺）, composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）and arranged by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）, "Tachimachi Misaki" has certainly got the dramatic brio as Mori pines for that one that got away (the wailing chorus helps). But then again, something as dramatic as this cape should get something equivalent. And it was lauded for it as the song reached No. 36 on Oricon and won the Grand Prize at the Masao Koga Memorial Music Awards for that year. Plus, it would serve as Mori's invitation for her 10th consecutive appearance at NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.
We've got KKP representative Kayo Grace Kyoku all gussied up for Christmas as she's traveling in a sleigh, so that does mean Christmas Eve is here. I'm under the assumption that Santa Claus is already making his way over Japan and much of the Pacific at this point while we here in the Eastern Standard Time zone are racing around for that last-minute shopping. Did my final forage in the supermarket earlier this morning.
Model/actress/singer Elaiza Ikeda（池田エライザ）was someone that I had first encountered earlier this year on the "Premium Talk" segment of NHK's"Asaichi"（あさイチ）show, and I found out that she has contributed some music to the Neo-City Pop field. At around the same time, I realized that ELAIZA had also released a single back in December 2022 just in time for the Yuletide titled "Catch Up SANTA".
Feeling pretty soulful, Justin Reinstein and Mayu Wakisaka were behind the music while ELAIZA and Yui Mugino took care of the lyrics. The singer gets all sultry here and "Catch Up SANTA" sounds like something that Mariah Carey would cover, and apparently, the video director must like Chippendales.
Sunday evenings at 6 pm in Ichikawa usually meant dinner time for me. Television choices varied almost as much as my cooking at that time. Fuji-TV was always "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）, but there was also a program on TV Tokyo at the same time called "Drive A Go-Go!"（ドライブ A GO!GO!）.
Japanese TV will never fail to fascinate me when it comes to the breadth and depth of ideas and new angles to apply to programs based on edutainment. "Drive A Go-Go!" was a half-hour travelogue featuring tarento and other celebrities taking a drive together with one of the stars behind the wheel as the gang for that week (could number between three and five folks per episode) head for a certain area in Japan to explore and nosh. The above video is labeled as a 1998 episode and that's when "Drive A Go-Go!" began as it went through its odyssey of eighteen years. The duo above (if it doesn't get deleted) is the late singer-songwriter KAN and former aidoru Wakako Shimazaki（島崎和歌子）.
Of course, a long-running TV show like "Drive A Go-Go" will have had lots of ending themes by various bands and singers, and sure enough, somewhere in the middle of its run, the program had the duo metro trip come up with one such ending theme. I've already spoken on metro trip back in October when I introduced their tune "BABYBABY" from 2006. "Driving" hails from metro trip's 2nd and final album"Lovers" which was released in July 2007. Written and composed by one-half of the duo, Taka Aoki（青木多果）, it's a suitably breezy and funky piece for the highways and byways.
Got some more Xmas shopping done today...this time for dinner on the 25th. Not as many people as there were at the mall on Saturday, but still a lot more than usual for a weekday morning. I still think I'll probably need a few more supplies tomorrow.
It's been a fascinating time exploring the career of Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）, one of the more underrated Japanese singers that I've come across in my many years of exploring kayo kyoku and J-Pop. The beginning of her career in the early 1980s was one of refined older pop with an orchestra often backing her up as a creation that hovered between Fashion Music and City Pop. But then going into the 1990s, it seems as if Kurahashi went for a lighter, breezier and more contemporary sound.
Nowadays, it's not easy to find a Kurahashi song that hasn't already been covered by me since I've been a big fan of hers, but I managed to do so. My collection of her singles and albums stopped in 1991, so this one is a new one for me since it was released in December 1992. Titled "Atarashii Asa ni..."(On a New Morning), it is as expected: enjoyably light, breezy and more contemporary as described above. Used as the ending theme for the NTV newsmagazine program "The Sunday", I'm sure that this was the type of song the network desired as something audibly hopeful after some serious topics. Kurahashi herself took care of the lyrics while Makihiko Araki（荒木真樹彦）was the composer.
My one and only time in Hollywood was in the summer of 1989 when our plane, due to technical issues, was stuck at LAX for the night so we actually got to spend an accidental night in Los Angeles. Our hotel's manager took pity on us JET teachers and he got us a tour through the LA area including Hollywood and Beverly Hills, so we got to see how people in a higher income tax bracket got to live. In some parts, it really did feel like an illusion worthy of a holodeck.
And this gets me to segue over to "Hollywood Illusion" by jazz pianist Himiko Kikuchi（菊池ひみこ）. A track from her 1984 album"Reverse It", it really does sound like our whirlwind tour through Los Angeles...seeing those familiar landmarks in person and not through television such as Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Venice Beach, the Hollywood sign and even a few celebrity mansions including the one belonging to Elizabeth Taylor.
Yes, that not-quite-5-minute "Hollywood Illusion" manages to smash in disco, jazz, funk and even some of that Golden Age melodic sophistication to illustrate the craziness of life in the Hollywood area. The intro even sounds like the beginning of the Oscars ceremony from decades ago, and at the same time, I got those eerie reminders of Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）classic "Kawa no nagare no youni" (川の流れのように), five years before the song was even released. It's a long way from 1989 to 2025 but I wonder how much Hollywood has changed.
Completely off-topic here but from a humorous interview with Sir Patrick Stewart on The Graham Norton Show, I learned about the swanky Tower Bar & Restaurant in LA which is part of the Sunset Tower Hotel. I can only wonder what going there would be like. By the way, I first posted about Kikuchi back in 2020, so you can also check out her "Sevilla Breeze" which sounds like the name of a cocktail that could be served at the Tower Bar.
The above is a shot of a menchi katsu（メンチカツ）shop on one of the back streets of Asakusa in Tokyo. One of my friends had recommended it to me as one of the best in town. Considering how big Japan's capital is, that's saying quite a lot, but getting a freshly deep-fried one in that paper sleeve and taking a bite, I could understand my friend's endorsement. Basically, think of a croquette without the mashed potato and just a loose conglomeration of ground beef. It makes for a nice snack before dinner.
Now, this song's appearance on the blog all came about from a request from commenter YMOfan04 who had asked me whether I knew some 70s or 80s kayo kyokuwith an Eastern European flavour; perhaps something with a polka rhythm. I pointed her toward some of the Fashion Music and exotic kayo songs, but at the same time, I also plugged in a request into the Yahoo Japan search engine.
One of the songs that popped up was Koji Tsuruta's（鶴田浩二）"Uramachi Polka" (Backstreet Polka). Just from listening to it, I knew that this wouldn't fit into YMOfan04's parameters since it sounded quite old. And that was the problem there...I couldn't track down when this jaunty kayo was first released. My first attempt was met with failure since the song apparently didn't show up in Tsuruta's J-Wiki discography and the YJ search engine couldn't give me any answers either.
However, I wouldn't take NO for an answer and I gave it another go. This time, I could find out from the images shown in the search engine that "Uramachi Polka" had been the flip side to another Tsuruta song "Ame Shitatare Chanson"（雨滴れシャンソン...Raindrop Chanson） which had been released in July 1954. It isn't 100% proof but I'll take it. In any case, "Uramachi Polka" sounds like a 1950s kayo about the sweet magic of a polka to massage the spirit and soul of a person who's suffering from heartache. Written by Tetsuo Miyagawa（宮川哲夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, it certainly has that jaunty rhythm of a polka but also has that familiar kayo melody.
Well, the Winter Solstice arrived at around 10 am here yesterday morning, so we had the shortest day of the year. The good news of course is that now the days are going to get progressively longer until June. Even better is that Christmas is now in the homestretch. I've basically completed this year's Xmas shopping. Just a couple of more items and I'll be done.
80s aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）was pretty ambitious when she put out an album which was not only her first one with a Christmas theme but also one that was a concept creation. Titled "Snowflakes", it was released in December 1988 and each track covered the following things: dreams, hope, tears, sadness, joy, loneliness and love. Mind you, there are eight tracks so a couple of them shared one of those concepts.
I'm pretty confident in my guess that the penultimate track on "Snowflakes" takes care of the "joy" theme. "Lift no Shita de Aimashou"(Let's Meet Under the Lift) was written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, composed by Minoru Komorita（小森田実）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光男）and neatly covers the two things that occupy a lot of young Japanese minds during this special time of year: Christmas and skiing. There's probably nothing better than enjoying the Holidays while shushing down the slopes at resorts such as Naeba. And yup, this song is just perfect for Nanno's effervescently skippy vocal stylings. The album itself reached No. 2 on Oricon.
As soon as I saw the title for Track 2 of Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）"Mint" album from 1983, I knew that it was either going to be a ballad or some song about lost love. In Japanese music, rain is often not conducive for a happy romantic relationship.
"Futari no Rainy Day" (Rainy Day for Two), I admit, is one snazzy and upbeat tune that was written and composed by Nakahara. It's got that Latin mixed in with a high-life city arrangement but the lyrics which are sung in that distinctively Nakahara weepy style contain the aftermath of a romance that has not only gone on the rocks but its detritus has long washed away and dissolved into the vast ocean. Still, Nakahara has played around with her arrangement by putting in a fadeout and one full stop in the middle of the song...just to make sure that folks were paying attention perhaps.😁
The other observation is that the chorus sounds a bit like Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" from 1967.
For the longest time up to around university, I was a regular purchaser of "MAD" and "Cracked" satirical magazines since I enjoyed especially reading the parodies of TV shows and movies. Of course, the mascot for "MAD" was Alfred E. Neuman, the redhead goofball with his favourite saying "What, me worry?".
It does make me wonder whether Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer, singer and songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）had been a "MAD" fan himself since his 4th album from June 1982 was titled "What, Me Worry?". However, his visage on the cover looks far more serious and less fancy (or thought) free.
The last time I had Takahashi up on the byline by himself was back in 2023 when I posted his giddy "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker"（悲しきブルーカラーワーカー）. That was just after hearing of his untimely death on January 11th that year. This time around, I have his track "Disposable Love" from "What, Me Worry?" which is more contemplative yet whimsical at the same time. Written and composed by Takahashi with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, it seems the man in this story is wrestling in his mind whether the ardor he's had for someone was real or imagined. Sounds like the premise for a sci-fi flick.
On vocals, Takahashi is helped out by singer and producer Tony Mansfield. On the Wikipedia article for the album, he's been listed for his backup vocals, but I think his contribution was more than that, so I'm treating "Disposable Love" as a duet. As for the album itself, it reached No. 35 on Oricon.
It's been almost five years since I last put up a posting for 80s aidoru Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）. My last article on her was for the light and mellow "Sincerely" which was on her 3rd album, "Hitomi ~ Sentimental"（瞳・センチメンタル...Eyes - Sentimental） from December 1981. It's about as AOR as she could get as a teenybopper singer.
Well, about a year earlier, Hamada released her 2nd single "Anata ni Necchu" (Crazy About You) in October 1980. In the article for "Sincerely", I mentioned that producers everywhere were looking for the next Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）when the real Momoe Yamaguchi happily decided to call it a career at the tail end of the 1970s, and Hamada had been one of the potential targets as the post-Momoe Momoe. With "Anata ni Necchu", I can see how the powers-that-be could have been pointing her into that direction with the addition of those wailing electric guitars for that rock music edge within the rollicking arrangement...much like how Momoe's music had sounded in the latter part of her career.
Lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）and composer Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）were behind the creation of "Anata ni Necchu" which only broke in at No. 100 on Oricon. Hamada didn't become the next Momoe (no one really did or should have) but those attempts to bring in the Momoe-esque latter 70s sound would shape the music for a number of early 80s aidoru such as Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）.
Not sure if I'm totally accurate here but unlike here in Canada, there seems to be a distinct obligatory style when it comes to Christmas cake. Those guys at Fujiya might have finalized it, but I think it's the golden cake covered in white icing with strawberries on top to represent the colours of the Yuletide. Mind you, there's also the Yule Log which is also pretty popular in Japan.
I only found out about Mariko Murai（村井麻里子）through the J-Xmas compilation album "CHRISTMAS COLLECTION FOR FRIENDS★JAPANESE VOCALISTS SING" which showed up on the Internet Archives back in 2021, although I'm fairly sure that the original album was put up on the shelves some years previously. There's very little about Murai on J-Wiki, only stating that she hails from Tokyo, graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design Junior College, and had a career as a City Pop singer which lasted only between 1988 and 1993.
Murai released 9 singles and 5 albums during that time with her third album being "Faith" from November 1989. From that album is "Amidana no Christmas Cake"(Christmas Cake on a Wire Rack) which was written by Mitsuko Shiramine（白峰美津子）and composed by Naoto Kine（木根尚登）, one-third of TM Network. Although by this point, I believe that the era of J-Pop had already begun, "Amidana no Christmas Cake" feels a bit like an old kayo kyoku when it comes to the contrast between the music and the lyrics. The music sounds rather triumphant and cheerful and yet Shiramine's lyrics tell of a woman seeing that titular cake sitting on the rack in a show window of a bakery and remembering when she was much happier some time before when she and her now erstwhile beau had shared a similar Christmas cake together at home. Now, she's musing that he's doing the same thing with another woman. Yep, that's a Japanese Christmas song for you.
I guess today's been the Urban Contemporary Friday with the songs of mixed genres coming in fast and strong. All the better and no complaints here.
This one is no exception either. Straight from Etsuko Sai's（彩恵津子）2nd original album from March 1985, "All I Need", I give you "Keredo Only You" (But Only You). Short and sweet at just a shade over three minutes, it still manages to contribute some upbeat music with some of that Motown magic mixed in with the regular City Pop. Bobbysoxers can slip and slide in their socks to this one. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）was responsible for the lyrics while Masakazu Togo（東郷昌和）from the 70s duo Buzztook care of the music.
Just for the curious, the above is a shot of Mito Station at night. I stayed at the hotel right by the station after heading out of Oarai, the anime pilgrimage town for all things "Girls und Panzer".
One of the strange things about my two postings regarding actress-singer Mayumi Asaka（朝加真由美）is assuming that I first wrote them years and years ago. But crazily enough, the two of them that I've written about her so far only date back as far as 2023. In fact, my more recent article up to now was her "Sasowarete..."（誘われて...）from this May. Well, the mind does go a bit hinky after a certain age, but the excuse I'll use in my defense is that the music of Asaka is simply so nostalgic that my memories played a trick on me.
In any case, we have the country-blues of "Sasowarete..." and the City Pop of "My Endless Scene", both from Asaka's one-and-only album"Yasashii Kankei ~ Mayumi I"（優しい関係...A Gentle Relationship）, from October 1981. "Hold On Me" is also from that album but it was also the B-side of the singer's seventh and final single from January 1981, "Yasashii Kankei". "Hold On Me", not to be confused with one of Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）classics, is an intrepid nocturnal City Pop entry with a boffo bass bopping away to Kazushi Inamura's（稲村一志）melody (and I'm assuming that it is him who is providing the background vocals) along with some spicy electric guitar. Asaka herself wrote the lyrics.
I don't have a lot of information on this group unvivid except for these facts: 1) they have been around since at least 2022, 2) their vocalist is Shino Honma（ほんましの）and 3) they were once known as Mini Mikke before the name change.
Their single from just a couple of months ago, "Break Free", sounds mighty nice. In addition to that soulful groove, I can pick up on some blues and jazz. If unvivid had been a band back in the 1950s or 1960s playing this, they would have gotten their fair share of appreciative finger snaps in the beatnik clubs. The music video has a slightly tongue-in-cheek cooler-than-thou atmosphere which plays up the song. Mind you, Honma and company look like they could be advertising for a mixture of MUJI and Eddie Bauer for most of the video until they go all United Colors of Benetton at the end.
I've seen a Mobius strip before on paper and now in solid 3D form as depicted in the above photo. It's a rather endless story so I shall let it be before I lose my fragile little mind.
Luckily, singer-songwriter Atsuko Hiyajo's（比屋定篤子）"Mobius" is a lot more soothing and acceptable to the senses. Coming out as her November 1998 5th single, this was written by Hiyajo and composed by Jiro Kobayashi（小林治郎）, this is another fascinating song that can't be easily categorized since I get bits of a number of genres here and there. There is soul, funk, City Pop and maybe some Shibuya-kei, and the craziest thing is that right from Note One, I think "Mobius" could have been inspired by the 70s works of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. At the very least, the Ohnuki of that decade could have covered this song and it would have fit her perfectly. It goes on for over seven minutes, but the last couple of them are devoted to a generous jam by the instruments backing Hiyajo up.
"Mobius" made itself known once more through the 2009 album "Natural Woman", a result of a collaboration between Hiyajo and Ryusenkei（流線形）. The leader of the latter band, Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, took care of the arrangement which gives this somewhat shorter "Mobius" that quintessentially effervescent Ryusenkei urban contemporary touch.
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