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.
I mentioned in my most recent article on singer-songwriter Miki Hyodo（兵藤未来）that I've enjoyed her City Pop/J-AOR stuff because of her approach. Well, this time around, I wouldn't really consider this particular song of hers as an example of either genre, but it's still pretty catchy.
What I'm writing about is the track "Melancolie Jungle" from her 1979 album"Hyodo Miki". From the title of the song, which was written and composed by her, there is that certain Gallic joie de vivre as Hyodo sounds as if she were musically skipping down the Champs-Elysees (I don't think that the Champs-Elysees would have any jungle-like areas but then perhaps some of you who have been to Paris can either confirm or deny this). Nope, neither City Pop nor AOR, I'd probably peg this one as New Music with a hint of jazz.
I'm not totally up on what former Chiba Prefecture governor Kensaku Morita（森田健作）has been up to in the years since his retirement in 2021. I know that he has appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）once in the past year or so but that's about it. However at the age of 76, I think he deserves some of that rest and relaxation after a career of politics and then before that, a career in entertainment as an actor and singer.
Let's go back to his early days as the amiable guy-next-door type in the geinokai, shall we? He released his 16th single in January 1974, "Namida no Ato kara Hohoemi ga" (The Smiles Come After the Tears), which was written by Mitsuhiko Kuze（久世光彦）under his pseudonym of Natsu Kotani（小谷夏）and composed by Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）. In the song, Morita sings sagely about life being like that plastic horse on a merry-go-round; it has its ups and downs but as long as there are ups, it shouldn't be too difficult. Not only do I like the governor's reassuring voice but also Suzuki's arrangement which includes a bit of funk and rock and a nice & groovy electric piano.
There's unfortunately no sound to this minute-long video which shows stills from the cinematic adaptation of "Namida no Ato kara Hohoemi ga" which got released only a couple of months following the single's first appearance in the record shops. Not surprisingly, Morita was the star. Hopefully, he used the song's message in his future endeavors in entertainment and politics.
As I've mentioned before, I found a lot of the songs created for aidoru and other young pop music ingenues in the late 1980s were especially lush and beautifully crafted to surround their voices which may not have been of the highest quality.
Then, just imagine if the voice belonging to the young lady was pretty darn good. I think that was the case for then-teen actress Mika Muramatsu（村松美香）in the late 1980s. Her career as a thespian only lasted around thirteen years between 1983 and 1996 according to her J-Wiki profile (born in 1969), and she only released one single and that was probably for her 1987 NHK drama "Tabi Shojo"（旅少女...Traveling Girl）.
Yup, it was just the one-and-done single for Tokyo native Muramatsu. Titled "Yume, Hito, Tabi"(Dreams, People, Travel), it starts out rather lovingly fancy and Muramatsu's light and lilting voice automatically reminded me of the vocals of Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）. In fact, the entire song has the pace of a slow and refined waltz and I kinda went "C'est dommage" when I realized that it was just this song and the B-side of this July 1987 single for the recording part of her career. The songwriter here wasn't Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）, though; it was actually singer-songwriter Toshihiro Ito（伊藤敏博）behind the words and music. Ito also had his own hit from 1981: "Sayonara Moyo"（サヨナラ模様）.
Maybe the only other interesting piece of trivia that I could get regarding Muramatsu was that she had attended the famous Tokyo-based Horikoshi High School with a number of her fellow students going the celebrity route including Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）and Mami Yamase（山瀬まみ）.
I discovered this trailer on YouTube for a 1990 thriller movie called "Remains: Utsukushiki Tsuwamono-tachi"（リメインズ 美しき勇者たち...Remains: Beautiful Heroes） although its official English title was "Yellow Fangs". It starred Muramatsu and a young Hiroyuki Sanada（真田広之）. From what I've read on Wikipedia and seen on screen, it seems like a cross between "Jaws" and a typical J-Horror flick.
I was watching the local news here when the breaking news hit the screen that singer Bonnie Tyler had passed away at the age of 75 today. Apparently since the information came out regarding her death, her 1983 hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart" has been getting a lot of looks. Tyler already has recognition on this blog for that very song and I'd been thinking of using today's ROY slot to give tribute to her 1984 "Holding Out for a Hero", but then, I realized that when I had posted Miki Asakura's（麻倉未稀）cover of the song, I basically treated the article also as a proto-ROY one.
So, I've gone back several years before her really large feathery hair music video days in those 1980s and back to her 1970s days to listen to her "It's a Heartache". Released on November 4th 1977 as her 5th single, this was created by Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe and I remember it as this genteel country ballad that got a lot of airplay on AM radio. And strangely enough, I only heard it on radio and never saw the face behind the song. At the time, I wasn't much for remembering names so I was surprised years later that it was indeed Bonnie Tyler who had sung this one although it should have been recognizable because of her famously husky voice.
"It's a Heartache" was a No. 1 hit in several countries including Canada and France. In the United States, it got as high as No. 3 while in the UK, it reached No. 4.
Speaking of her husky voice, that all came about from a surgical procedure earlier to remove some nodules from her vocal cords. "It's a Heartache" was one of her first recordings following that surgery and from what I've read on the article for the song, her "new" voice made the song and most likely her entire career from that point onwards. Of course, I was interested in how Tyler had sounded in her first few singles before surgery so I pulled out her debut single"My! My! Honeycomb" from 1976. To be honest, I find her voice here to be a smoother version without the extra burr.
The Oricon rankings had their weekly report on November 7th 1977. So, what was up at the top of the list? Also, my condolences go out to Tyler's family, friends and fans throughout the world.
I may have mentioned this before but singer-songwriter Yuko Kawai（河合夕子）was someone that I discovered because of my work on the blog and the good folks at YouTube. Did not know of her existence in all my years in Japan. My impression of her thus far is that she was one of the more eclectic and fun-loving singers out in the pop field when it came to her showmanship and compositions.
Case in point: her "Persian Rouge", a track from her June 1983 4th and final album to date "Fumin Shoukougun"（不眠症候群）which basically means "Insomnia". She was behind words and music with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）also helping out on the lyrics, and "Persian Rouge" has that playful mix of technopop and exotic kayo as if Kawai was out on the Silk Road somewhere with her synthesizer and a camel.
I do love my steak! In fact, I whip up a few of them for my family on the occasional Friday. My father and I prefer medium-rare while my mother will accept nothing rarer than well-done. What has gotten rarer for me these days are any trips to a steakhouse here in Toronto. Price is one factor. When I have to start snarking about how much of a down payment I'm obliged to put down for my tenderloin, then it's time to avoid places like The Keg.
Earlier today, I came across this steak franchise that I'd never heard about called Smith & Wollensky. When the name of a steakhouse sounds like either a Manhattan brokerage firm or a law office, that's when I begin to worry. And according to the founder of this place, Alan Stillman, there is no real-life Smith or Wollensky involved...he just pulled the names out of a phone book. Apparently S&W restaurants can be found all across America and around the world, and perhaps the newest one opened up in Tokyo...naturally Ginza. Good golly...they do pull out all the stops.
Well, seeing it is Hump Day...I got to think about whether there are any steak-related kayo out there, someone who really loves the meat and the music. Noting that Japanese songwriters can and have written about anything under the sun, it certainly is possible. I did find one character who goes by the name of Melody KicK, and perhaps they come up with short instrumental ditties along the lines of Nash Music Library or it's a whole AI thing.
First off, I found their short 2025 EP "Oishii Steak ya-san de Nagareru Kyoku"（おいしいステーキ屋さんで流れる曲...A Song Played at a Good Steak Restaurant） on Apple Music, and up on YouTube, I could come across one of the tracks "Steakhouse Master". It's done in the rip-rousin' American country style as are the rest of the tracks. Having noted that however, the music up in the Smith & Wollensky video is distinctly in the jazz oeuvre; I definitely heard "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck in there. Maybe "Oishii Steak ya-san de Nagareru Kyoku" is more for the Ponderosa or Outback Steakhouse set.
Once again, it is July 7th and that means, it's Tanabata in Japan. The holiday surrounding those star-crossed lovers has gotten folks to write wishes on those colourful strips of paper to be tied to tree branches. And there are also a lot of festivals taking place throughout the nation so perhaps Tanabata is the first major festival of the season.
A year ago, I posted a commemorative article in tribute to Tanabata（七夕）...a bit tortuous getting to the final product but I got there regardless. This time though, I'll be going with just one song. I was searching the Yahoo Japan engine for a song that has a connection with Tanabata. There were quite a few but one that stuck out to me was Ai Otsuka's（大塚愛）5th single from August 2004.
"Kingyo Hanabi"(Goldfish Fireworks), about summer festival love, seems to be more about finding that special someone at any summer festival taking place throughout July and August, but hey, I'm not going to complain. Plus, it was Otsuka's stab at a calmer love ballad compared to the very upbeat and perky songs that she's been known for such as "Sakuranbo"（さくらんぼ）and "SMILY". Written and composed by the singer, its arrangement seems to be in that contemporary healing music style that Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）was recording at the time. Its contemplativeness matches the goldfish-like swishes of emotion that are flashing within a young lady's heart.
"Kingyo Hanabi" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and ended up as the 59th-ranked single of the year, going Gold in the process. The song was also included as a track on Otsuka's 2nd album"Love Jam" from November 2004 which reached the top of the charts and became the 30th-ranked album for 2005. "Kingyo Hanabi" was also a theme song for the long-running NTV Monday night documentary series "Super Terebi: Jouhou Saizensen"（スーパーテレビ情報最前線...Super TV: Information Frontline）.
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