Yutaka Oe & Hiromi Yamaguchi -- Takoyaki Biyori ~ Fuufu Yatai（たこやき日和～夫婦屋台～）

 

I've had takoyaki, the great Osakan street food, from time to time when I was living in the Tokyo area and have even tried the Toronto variety. Of course, I'm no expert on it but I believe that the ideal takoyaki is piping hot and creamy on the inside while the outside is pleasantly doughy with all of the nori, mayonnaise and thick sauce covering the balls. We've got commenters on this blog who live in Japan, so would like their input on the ideal takoyaki. One other point that I'd like to add is that whenever NHK shows tourism in Osaka, they always put up scenes of the folks navigating their palates through the searing hot snacks.

Now with the Holidays over, regular programming has continued to return. "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）is another NHK stalwart that has come back onto screens this week and the crew was in Takatsuki this time around. One of the songs that an old couple performed was indeed takoyaki-themed.

Well, you can't get more obvious than the title of "Takoyaki Biyori ~ Fuufu Yatai" (A Good Day For Takoyaki ~ Husband & Wife Stand). This is a duet between enka singers Yutaka Oe（大江裕）and Hiromi Yamaguchi（山口ひろみ）, the latter of whom is getting onto the blog for the first time and for the former, it's about the earliest in his discography that I've come across. Released in December 2015, it's a grand old enka about the ups and downs of a husband and wife making their way through life and finances by cooking up and selling takoyaki. They sing and speak so sugary sweetly at each other in their Kansai dialects that I figure that there must be something behind the heavenly veil, and sure enough at the very end, I get to hear some of Yamaguchi's razor-like tongue.

"Takoyaki Biyori" was written by Miwa Ito（伊藤美和）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）. As for Yamaguchi, she hails from Osaka and her mother and aunt were a postwar comedic duo named Kamogawa Kamome and Chidori（加茂川かもめ・ちどり）. While in university, Yamaguchi was introduced to the enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）and shortly after became one of his many apprentices with her debut in 2002. Up to last year, she has released 29 singles and a couple of original albums.