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've mentioned a few times in past articles about one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto, Kingyo. I still go to the place now and then but usually just for lunch. It was one of the great izakaya when I first visited the place on the recommendation of a friend and eventually it was often the case that our group year-end dinners took place there. However, during the COVID lockdown, Kingyo took a right turn and evolved into a half-Japanese grocery shop and half-eatery, so those dinners were no longer viable due to the lack of seating space.
Well, in the early days, in keeping with its name, Kingyo did have some goldfish in one specialized large table. Unfortunately, one night, a drunken moron opted to have some really fresh sashimi by swallowing the goldfish whole which may have signified something for the future of the restaurant.
Anyways, my memories of Kingyo were sparked by this song that I saw performed on a recent edition of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. My family noted audibly about the whereabouts of former singer Shin Kouda（香田晋）, and more on that later. However, Kouda was the one behind this song titled "Sakaba no Kingyo" (The Goldfish at the Bar) which struck me not only as something quite kayo kyoku...rather interesting considering that this was his 16th single from April 1998, far into the J-Pop era. I figured that there was more of a hybridization of sorts in terms of genre.
Then, when I took a look at this J-Wiki profile, it showed that he sang both enka and folk songs. Maybe the jaunty "Sakaba no Kingyo" was a nice mix of the two genres or another example of New Adult Music. In any case, this was an example of songwriting pedigree with Yu Aku（阿久悠）handling lyrics, Takashi Miki（三木たかし）as the composer and Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）arranging everything. I'm just not sure whether the goldfish is an analogy for the flitting in and flitting out of customers over a usual day at this bar or whether real goldfish are just living their aquarium lives while human drama is playing out outside of the water.
On seeing the thumbnail of the video above, I could recognize Kouda as someone that I used to see on television a fair bit. Kouda was born Koji Washizaki（鷲崎孝二）in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1967, In 1985, young Koji was scouted by famed composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）after the teenager had sung in a karaoke contest held via the composer's radio program. A few years later in 1989 after having served as Funamura's apprentice, the new Shin Kouda debuted with "Otoko Doushi"（男同志...Male Comrades）. In 1994, he would even get onto the Kohaku Utagassen to perform "Yume Ichido"（夢いちど...Dream One Time）.
However, after releasing his 40th single in October 2011, Kouda basically fled show business in early 2012. Through a magazine interview, he admitted that he had decided to retire without any official announcement due to pent-up stress which affected his ability to sing. At the time, he felt that he was being pushed into becoming more of a TV personality which wasn't what he wanted to be. In the end, he had to seek psychiatric care. Kouda is now very much a past name for Wakazaki and after marrying someone outside of the entertainment industry, he is now a Buddhist monk, helping to run a restaurant and a wellness studio. His only regret is that he couldn't give an official explanation to his fans.
From what I could witness briefly through the Shibuya live cameras this morning on YouTube, things have become somewhat more regulated at Shibuya Crossing during Halloween to stem the risk of overcrowding and chaos compared to what you can see above in this photo of the 2017 celebrations there (Dick Thomas Johnson). Still, looking at the masses there this time around, it's awfully hard to feel free although seeing the dedicated cosplayers and Halloween costume wearers must have been fun.
Speaking of being free, let's go with "Jiyu ni Narimasho"(Let's Become Free), a track from singer-songwriter Yuko Shibuya's（渋谷祐子）March 1979 sophomore album"Pop Lady II". Written by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）, composed by the singer and arranged by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）, it's a grand funky horn-happy number featuring a generous dollop of Latin percussion here and some disco there. At the time, it probably did feel that the sky was the limit for folks in Japan to push the envelope and have a happier and perhaps more well-off station in life.
I remember when Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek", held the press conference to announce that his sci-fi magnum opus would come back to television. This was surfing on the fact that at the time, the 1986 film "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" starring the original cast had been a major hit which finished with Captain Kirk and company manning a new starship called the USS Enterprise-A to major cheers from the audience (yep, I was there).
However, the caveat was this: this new TV series would take place several decades after Kirk and would feature the USS Enterprise-D with a totally new cast. And I (and presumably millions of other Trekkies) went: How could they replace Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the main bridge crew?! That's absolutely scandalous! But Roddenberry and a new production team plowed through with the plans and several months later, I bought the above "Starlog" issue showing the new Enterprise crew (my copy has long since disintegrated).
The crew was different alright. The only actor I could recognize was Levar Burton as Geordi LaForge because of his acclaimed time in "Roots" and "Reading Rainbow". Everyone else was new. And the new captain: he's bald and French? I would think that in the 24th century, baldness would have been cured. In any case, I had no idea who this Patrick Stewart was, although before "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiered in September 1987, I'd heard that he was this Shakespearean actor who had appeared in "Excalibur", "Dune" and "Lifeforce", none of which I'd seen.
Well, the premiere episode "Encounter at Farpoint" showed up on CITY-TV here in Toronto, and my initial impression was that it was OK...interesting...a bit hammy at points. But Roddenberry and the writers made sure that all of us knew what Captain Jean-Luc Picard was like: definitely not the relatively easygoing James T. Kirk. He was stern, tense and didn't suffer fools gladly. He kept a very frosty distance even from his closest officers and hated kids. And as the first season progressed, I was wondering if Captain Le Grumpy and the show would survive. There was a certain 80s cheesiness in the early episodes to the extent that when the final episode of the season, "The Neutral Zone", played out, I internally remarked "Well, nice try, Gene...guess you can't capture lightning twice in a bottle".
I'm glad that I was wrong. TNG would continue for another six seasons to great acclaim especially in the middle. And soon, the camera and the interest would start to focus a lot on Captain Picard (although of course, Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Worf had their time in the spotlight) because of Stewart's portrayal of him. Shakespearean training, eh? Season 2 showed the series and cast gradually gelling with Picard himself slowly losing some of that frostiness although he still maintained that very commanding presence. "The Measure of a Man" from that season was the first time that I truly realized that the man could act everyone else off the stage. He actually moved me.
I think it was from the third season that TNG finally came out of the original series' shadow, and we all got to know Stewart's abilities, especially in episodes like "Sarek" where he was more than willing to show off his vulnerabilities as well as his strengths. His speeches were always things to look forward to and I have to admit looking at the below scene from "The First Duty", it was the first time that I'd wished I could actually get reprimanded by Captain Picard!
By the time TNG had ended, Stewart's reputation had become even more well known in Hollywood although of course, he'd already fashioned a successful career on stage long before. But a few years later, a likeness of him appeared as Professor X in an "X-Men" graphic novel; the illustrator knew who his Charles Xavier should be like. I guess the fans locked onto this brilliant idea which then transferred to the producers at 20th-Century Fox and Stewart was now truly the leader of the X-Men when it premiered in 2000. I saw the first movie at a theatre only a couple of stations away from my apartment on the Tozai Line. Although there have been a few good movies in that franchise, I have to say that the only scene that I return to regularly on YouTube is the one where we see Xavier and Erik "Magneto" Lehnsherr meet briefly in what is actually Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto. After that scene, I was convinced that Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen could spend a night on stage in front of a captivated audience reading an old-fashioned phone directory and make millions.
I would have thought that such an actor with a formidable presence on stage and screen was arrogant and self-absorbed. But from what I've heard over the years, Stewart was just the opposite. He was kind and generous, and I've seen some of the outtakes from TNG where he got all muggy with the camera. Moreover, I think that what got him even more admiration and respect was that he didn't hesitate to take the piss out of himself and his roles as starchy heroic leaders. I've seen the above scene from "Extras" and of course, he's shown up on "Family Guy" and "American Dad" fairly regularly. I also heard about his love for "Beavis and Butthead".
I heard about the actor's passing about twenty minutes after the bulletins had first come out online yesterday. And I just couldn't believe it! I knew that in the years to come that the passings of the original and perhaps even TNG crew would eventually happen but I just wasn't expecting to find out about Stewart's passing so soon and only a few days after Walter Koenig's death. I first assumed that it was some sick joke but when I checked up on it, it was sadly true. "Star Trek" and Marvel and Hollywood had lost one of the best. I would be seeing a lot of Trek-based YouTube channels put out videos in tribute of the man.
Of course, Sir Patrick Stewart was even more of a star on the stage doing all of those Shakespearean roles, but I can only speak from where I've known him from...as a dignified and tough starship commander and an idealistic leader of mutants, and I was truly fortunate to have seen and heard him from even those roles. His final role is in the upcoming "Avengers: Doomsday" movie in a couple of months' time. I can't imagine what the reaction will be like when we see him one last time.
Anyways, all my condolences to Stewart's family, friends and many fans around the world.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.” -- As You Like It
Yes, this is still a special ROY article and as was the case with Walter Koenig, I'll show a few Japanese singers who shared the same birthday as Stewart: July 13th!
I gather that since we have a couple of songs today, "Saishuubin"（最終便）and "Attention Please", that are set at an airport, and "Sentimental Journey", which was recorded by a band known for their travel-linked J-Pop, I guess that today's theme on Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP has been travel. I certainly didn't intend to do that but now that the three are up on the blog, we can continue that way.
Case in point: Yuko Imai's（今井優子）"Escape" which is the first track on her December 1988 3rd album"Voyager" which has the theme of traveling according to her J-Wiki file. And with the stresses of everyday life including work, who wouldn't want to escape to more exotic climes?
"Escape" was written by Yuuho Iwasato（岩里祐穂）and composed/arranged by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）as this theme to hit the plane and head out, and by the sounds of the relentless samba in there, Brazil seems to be the destination. That boppy synth paired with the tenor saxophone gives the impression of a Matt Bianco tune.
I only discovered the duo sucola a few months ago. They apparently started in 2021 in Nagoya during the height of the COVID pandemic, and according to their website, vocalist-songwriter KiBi and producer yopeco opted to create a sound and words that they describe as "traveling J-Pop" which would make listeners want to take a look out the window and go off on a journey. Considering all of the lockdowns, KiBi and yopeco probably attracted a lot of sympathetic attention.
The YouTube video for their single "Sentimental Journey" came out in February earlier this year. sucola has said that their sound transcends the usual genre labels...something that at least some of the commenters agree upon. Listening to this one, I get Neo-City Pop groove and indies pop (without a lot of jangly guitar). A song about a couple slowly finding each other and realizing the need for each other in a crowded and troubled world, there is a feeling of dreaminess, helped along by KiBi's soft, caressing vocals, that can resemble the sensation of traveling on a train for hours on end while staring out the window at the speeding landscape.
I've written on some of the discography of the late actress/singer Ryoko Sakaguchi（坂口良子）and found her to be thus far someone who had liked to sing some of the more refined material hovering around City Pop, Fashion Music, bossa nova and New Music.
Coincidentally enough, I'm posting this song by her just a week past what would have been her 71st birthday (she unfortunately passed away back in 2013). "Sayonara no Shitagaki" (Rough Draft of Goodbye) doesn't have absolutely strong vocals by Sakaguchi but I think that works in her favour considering the lyrical theme of the tune. The poor lass within the lyrics must have been wracking her brains and crying her eyes out over how to come up with a "Dear Jane" letter.
Those lyrics were provided by Takemi Shima（島武実）. Meanwhile, Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）came up with the melody which was arranged into a refined sunset bossa nova style by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. I can't really see the letter being tearfully written and signed on a wooden desk in a lonely room. With this sort of music, I'm thinking well-constructed hotel desk with a bottle of vintage wine nearby. "Sayonara no Shitagaki" was Sakaguchi's 6th and penultimate single from February 1978.
Y'know, although I have heard (but never watched) a couple of J-Dramas titled "Attention Please" based on the seeming vagaries of the airline industry, I don't think I've ever heard an actual announcement at either a station or airport in Japan starting with "ATTENTION PLEASE". Maybe at Narita or Haneda, I have heard "May I have your attention please?" but nothing more terse than that.
Interestingly enough though, in my prep work to bring this song with this very title to a KKP posting, I've encountered a few songs titled "Attention Please", but let me focus on the one that I'd already pegged. This "Attention Please" hails from the No. 50-ranking May 1982 album"Image" by underrated singer and songwriter Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）. Written by her frequent songwriting partner, lyricist Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二）and composed by the singer herself, it seems to be another dramatic City Pop number based at an airport; I just wrote about another similarly-set song a few hours ago. This one though has a goodly amount of Latin percussion to add a bit more spice to the proceedings. Nice chord progressions in the chorus, to boot.
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