Translation of Liner Notes for Tohoku Shinkansen's "Thru Traffic" Originally by Toshikazu Kanazawa (Part 1)

 

I'm starting off this week's edition of Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with something a little unusual. A few years ago, City Pop podcaster Rocket Brown had asked me some questions about certain passages within the liner notes of the wonderful 1982 City Pop album "Thru Traffic" by the duo Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）consisting of songwriter Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）and the late great guitarist Hiromi Narumi（鳴海寛）. Yamakawa and Narumi and their one-and-only "Thru Traffic" are a fine example of what can happen when something miraculous and wonderful emerges from the unexpected.

The last time I wrote about Narumi was last September when I posted an article on the digital album, "Around the Thru Traffic", from June 2022 which was a tribute to the guitarist who had passed away in 2015. Last week, I threw "Thru Traffic" into the CD player, lied down in bed and listened to those 40-or-so minutes of pure audio pleasure for a City Pop and J-AOR-loving guy like me. Remembering some of the translation I did for Rocket Brown at that point, I then decided "Why not provide the translation of the whole kit-and-kaboodle for everyone on KKP?". Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the notes also include the reason for the unusual naming of Yamakawa and Narumi's duo.

My copy of "Thru Traffic" is the 2017 remaster in the conventional plastic case. Music journalist Toshikazu Kanazawa（金澤寿和）, the man who was also behind the "Light Mellow" series of CDs in the 2010s, not only included the original 2007 commentary and interview with Tohoku Shinkansen from the first version of the "Thru Traffic" CD which had then been sold in a cardboard jacket, but the first few paragraphs in the 2017 notes consisted of new insights in the two years since Narumi's death in 2015. For Part 1, which will begin below the video of "Summer Touches You", I will provide the translation for those first paragraphs from 2017 and then in the weeks to follow, I'll add on the 2015 translations.

Of course, some of you may have already taken a shot at translating the liner notes yourselves and may come across errors and omissions in my work. If that is the case, please let me know and I'll do my best in correcting them. But that's enough from me since I will now hand it over to Mr. Kanazawa.

It's been two years since the brains behind Tohoku Shinkansen, Hiroshi Narumi, suddenly passed away in 2015. For that reason, much of his music that had not been released for a long time has suddenly appeared as if a dam had burst, something that I’ve witnessed with mixed feelings. Works by someone of his innate musical artisanship bring about the sad reality that people are drawn to his death, making me feel a little helpless. However, when it comes to this one and only album by Tohoku Shinkansen, that’s a topic for another day. I think this new CD reissue of this “unknown miracle masterpiece” is simply something to be celebrated. As for the first-ever CD issue (in cardboard sleeve) in 2007, both Narumi and his partner Etsuko Yamakawa had been extremely thrilled and I was able to receive a great amount of cooperation from them.

Afterwards in 2014, just before the analog boom arrived, “Thru Traffic” was given an analog reissue. Undergoing a limited release, even through reservation, almost all of the LPs were sold out and regrettably, very few of them made it to stores. On top of that, the 7-inch single “Summer Touches You/Up and Down”, which had only been produced as a promotional record back in 1982, was made commercially available with new artwork for the first time which also garnered a lot of praise. It was soon after that when Narumi died. His treasured music was then gradually brought all together and released in series under the Narumin Music label. Actually, at the same time that “Thru Traffic” was reissued once more in 2017, Narumi’s early music collection “Boku wa Shi Tsukuri” (I am a Poet) featuring the man’s genius in full display from 1975 to 1978, and Junko Yagami’s（八神純子）backing band Melting Pot featuring Hiroshi Narumi’s “Live at Egg-Man+” were also put on sale. Especially in Melting Pot’s live record, the popular song “Summer Touches You”, which was performed by them at Yagami's own concert, is included, so you may want to check that one out.

Now, without further ado, I would like to present this revised commentary from ten years previously when the first CD version of “Thru Traffic” came out including an interview with Narumi and Yamakawa which will now have some added poignancy.

Toshikazu Kanazawa

May 2017

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra feat. Sakana-kun -- Paradise Has NO BORDER

Man, am I glad that I got to see NHK's morning talk show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）today. Usually, I don't stick around to watch the Friday morning version because it has their Premium Talk segment which usually focuses on actors and actresses, and I've never been much for the Japanese thespian element. However, the guests this time around was Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra（東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ）...all nine of them filled up the set and kinda intimidated the hosts with their charisma...and of course, their music. From the old-fashioned faxes that were probably flooding the floor to the Twitter tweets, today's episode definitely got everyone up and at 'em and the morning was unusually wild with the music of Ska-Para.

Personally, my thrill was seeing Original Love himself, Takao Tajima（田島貴男）, make a rare TV guest appearance on "Asaichi" to perform his 2001 collaboration with Ska-Para, "Mekureta Orange" (めくれたオレンジ). 

One of the many other songs that perked up "Asaichi" was the title track from the band's 20th original album, "Paradise Has NO BORDER" from March 2017. Composed by NARGO, the ska is of course in there but it also starts out with a bit of salsa and then mixes it with a comely layer of surf rock. It's the type of song that will get everyone bopping about on the dance floor.

Even this song originally had some collaboration, too, with none other than popular pop ichthyologist Sakana-kun（さかなクン...Mr. Fish） helping out in the brief music video with another bass saxophone. No idea how those two got together but "Paradise Has NO BORDER" was used for a Kirin commercial starring them.

Erika Ikuta -- Laundry

 

I was trying to search for a photo of my old Ichikawa apartment balcony with the washing machine outside, but I couldn't track it down. Therefore, I opted to have Kayo Grace Kyoku take the baton and give us one of her shots of her doing the laundry. Her place is so much more stylish.

Now, if the name Erika Ikuta（生田絵梨花）rings a bell, you're either a fan of Nogizaka 46（乃木坂46）of which she had been a member or you were into the whole "Beat de Tohi"（ビートDEトーヒ）thing last year. Well, she appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）a couple of days ago to perform her debut digital single "Laundry" which I believe was released last month. With words and music provided by Ikuta and Junji Ishiwatari also helping out in the lyrics department, "Laundry" was apparently inspired by some music entering Ikuta's head as she was staring at the washing machine one time. 

There's a lot of simple and clean fun listening to "Laundry" which is nice, light and airy...just like the scent coming off the clothes line after a wash. I do like the addition of jazz in there and I get reminded of some of the flair of singer-songwriter aiko when I listen to this. Her debut album, "capriccioso", was released about a week ago.

Men At Work -- Down Under

 

In the last several months, I realized that I'm once again a late bloomer. All these years, these YouTube videos of the Australian morning show "Today" have been showing up and it's amazing how loose these fellows are in terms of their humour and laidback manner. It's gotten to the point that I frankly know these broadcasters by their first names now: Lisa, Georgie, Sylvia, Ben, Steve, Brooke, Ally among others, and of course, the heart of the show, Karl. I can honestly say that there is no one like Karl in any of the morning shows that I've seen in Canada or the United States. Just for the record, the first "Today" video I caught was the infamous "Pussy! Get out of my pants." one.

When I was but a wee lad, geography wasn't particularly my forte and I kept wondering about nations such as Australia and Austria and what the big difference was between them. And it was quite interesting when I found out about the switch in seasons and the Coriolis force and that magnificent accent down under. Well, guess what? This week's Reminiscings of Youth article will be on "Down Under" by Australian band Men At Work.

I remembered Men At Work and their hit song "Down Under" as closer to being a mid-1980s tune so it was a surprise to get a memory check and realize that it was actually released in November 1981 as an official single, some time after first getting onto vinyl as a B-side to a 1980 release. Of course, back then my vocabulary for music was embryonic at best so I had just treated it as a catchy quirky pop number with a flute, years before I read on Wikipedia that it's been categorized as New Wave, reggae, pop rock and pub rock. Vocalist Colin Hay and lead guitarist Ron Strykert came up with the melody with Hay also providing the lyrics. I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics being more of a melody man but there was plenty of Aussie terminology in there. For example, what I'd thought was "...and gave me a a bite of his sandwich" was "...and gave me a Vegemite sandwich". I wouldn't have my first taste of Vegemite for many years afterwards in Japan, and to be honest, I actually prefer Vegemite over natto (sorry, Japan).

"Down Under" was up and over on the charts and in a number of nations including Australia, Canada and America, it hit No. 1. Though the song and the weird music video didn't give me any concrete insight into the country at the time, it did provide a bridge to Paul Hogan and his popular commercials regarding Australia.

Speaking of Aussie slang, I have to admit that I never knew that completely innocuous terms here in Canada such as "Dutch oven" and "muff" could elicit wails of laughter down under.

Anyways, what else was coming out as singles in Japan in November 1981?

Sugar -- Wedding Bell

Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu （セーラー服と機関銃）

Junko Ohashi -- Silhouette Romance（シルエット・ロマンス）

Kozo Murashita -- Suna no Onna（砂の女）

 

I guess that title "Suna no Onna" (Woman in the Dunes) must have unlocked something within the Japanese to make it reusable over and over again. I know that I just wrote about Nako Mizumura's（水村なこ） "Suna no Onna" a few minutes ago, and perhaps there was at least one other song with that same title lurking somewhere in the annals of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Of course, there is the 1962 novel "Suna no Onna" along with its cinematic adaptation.

Well, after finishing with Mizumura's song, I noticed that there was a song titled "Suna no Onna" by the late singer-songwriter Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）. I've taken this as an opportunity since I've always enjoyed his material and I haven't actually written up anything about his music in a few years...at least not since his 1991 "Kono Kuni ni Umarete Yokatta"（この国に生まれてよかった）. And hey, let's make this a thing with the "Suna no Onna" bandwagon.

Murashita's "Suna no Onna" was written and composed by the singer and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）. It was the first track on Murashita's 7th original album "Hidamari"（陽だまり...Sunny Spot） from October 1987. The singer first started out as the amiable folk balladeer but going further into the 1980s, he apparently did like his work on the synthesizers including his big 1983 hit, "Hatsukoi"（初恋）. "Suna no Onna" has got the technology in spades so that I couldn't help but place it as a technopop tune although it doesn't go too hard into YMO territory. "Hidamari" managed to peak at No. 33 on Oricon.

Nako Mizumura -- Suna no Onna（砂の女）

 

Welcome to another Hump Day on KKP! It's been a fairly dreary Wednesday so far here in Toronto. We're not getting soaked but neither are we getting any sun today.

To start off our middle-of-the-week session of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we have another singer who's a mystery lady. I couldn't find a stitch of information about Nako Mizumura（水村なこ）outside of the fact that she did release some singles here and there, one of them being the 1971 record "Suna no Onna" (Woman in the Dunes). The melody by Yasumi Matsuo*（松尾安巳）with arrangement by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）has that late 1960s and early 1970s kayo rumble that I've often associated the more upbeat songs with, and it was interesting when I saw terms such as "kayo soul" and "kayo disco" to describe it. Hmmm...maybe I should have used those in Labels right from the start. In any case, if anyone out there has any information on Mizumura, please let us know. Even the Yahoo Japan search engine couldn't give me anything. By the way, Mieko Arima（有馬三恵子）came up with the lyrics.

*That first name is an educated guess by me.

Okamura Kazuyoshi -- Same to Ningyo（サメと人魚）

 

To refer back to the previous article regarding enka singer Kouhei Fukuda（福田こうへい）, also on "Uta Con"（うたコン）was singer-songwriters Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）and Kazuyoshi Saito（斉藤和義）. Knowing that the NHK Tuesday-night kayo kyoku program has long proven that it's been far more open than its predecessors in allowing current J-Pop singers and bands onto the show (outside of hard rock and metal acts), it was still a little surprising to see Okamura (I believe Saito has appeared once before). Both Okamura and Saito in their Business Casual gear looked very calm and collected when they were being interviewed, and my albeit wrong impression of Okamura had been of him being super jittery based on his performances on stage for songs like his great "Viva Namida"（ビバナミダ）.

Actually, this is the first time that Saito has gotten onto KKP since my knowledge of his discography is still rather embryonic. He was singing the ending theme for the anime "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）in the most recent episodes to be seen on the now-defunct TV Japan.

Apparently for the past several months, Okamura and Saito have been together as a duo dubbed Okamura Kazuyoshi（岡村和義）. Because it is a name of a duo and not a real person in this case, I haven't done the switching of the names into English fashion as I would for any other individual singer on the byline. They've released other songs but this time (and actually, this digital single will be ready for release as of tomorrow on April 17th), "Same to Ningyo" (A Shark and A Mermaid) is a heartfelt rock ballad. With Saito handling the lyrics and both men tackling music and arrangement, it seems to be a song about two people on opposite sides of the track with one of the couple beseeching the other desperately and perhaps in vain to escape together into a better fate as the titular shark and mermaid. But maybe fate has a sadder if more realistic option for them. Incidentally, the music video stars actress Mai Kiryu（木竜麻生）.