Mariko Ashibe -- Hodou no Ballerina（舗道のバレリーナ）

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The above is a shot of one of the photos inside Mariko Ashibe's（芦部真梨子）1984 album "Street Scandal ~ Machikado wa Kiken ga Ippai"（ストリート・スキャンダル –街角は危険がいっぱい...The Street Corners are Filled with Danger）. It's nice to get the full title at last. Regardless, I guess Ashibe, which was the name that the Hyogo Prefecture jazz singer was adopting at the time, enjoyed a bit of perilous intrigue back then.

I've already spoken on a couple of other tracks from "Street Scandal": "Highway Dancer"（ハイウェイ・ダンサー）and "Private Friday"（プライベート・フライデー）. For today, let's go with "Hodou no Ballerina" (Ballerina on the Pavement), and maybe that's what Ashibe was trying to attain with her photograph. Considering that the song was written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）, the high-falutin' suspense was most likely guaranteed. The background strings give "Hodou no Ballerina" a touch of elegance and the overall arrangement makes the song feel like a pop adventure among the bright lights of Paris.

City Craft -- Shiroi Ame（白い雨）/Omoide Tsuzure Ori（想い出つづれ織）

 

I started the file on the folk duo City Craft（シティ・クラフト）back in 2021 and I'm still none the wiser on who these guys were although a few of their records have shown up on YouTube in the last little while.

But one thing is true. A lot of their activity happened during the year of 1981, including the revelation of their song "Niji wo Kakete Miseru"（虹を架けてみせる）which was one track on their album released in the same year "Kisetsufuu"（季節風...Seasonal Winds）. Two other tracks on "Kisetsufuu" were flip sides from an 1981 single.

That single was "Shiroi Ame"（White Rain）. I recall posting something on the 1977 "Gin no Ame"（銀の雨）by folk singer-songwriter Chiharu Matsuyama（松山千春）a few days ago. Well, this is the white variety and it depicts a bossa nova rhythm written and composed by Shunichi Tomori（戸森俊一）with Motoki Funayama（ 船山基紀）handling the arrangement. I gather that this is another example of a folk singer of those times pushing past genre boundaries and trying something more cosmopolitan although I think Tomori and partner still manage to retain their folksy delivery.

The B-side, "Omoide Tsuzure Ori" (A Woven Tapestry of Memories), handled by the same songwriter and arranger, is more of a return to folk although one of more dramatism and classical influences. I even hear a bit of Pachelbel and perhaps a bit of The Eagles in there. 

BLU-SWING -- We'll Be Right Back

 

It wasn't too long ago when all of these visual memes were popping out of the woodwork like crazy. One example was "We'll Be Right Back" when certain scenes suddenly stopped just when things were about to get really interesting.

So I was a little amused when I saw this January 2023 single by New Jazz and Neo-City Pop group BLU-SWING with the very same title of "We'll Be Right Back". There's no cute flute-and-piano riff to signal a potential crazy effect stopped at the critical moment. Instead BLU-SWING keyboardist Yusuke Nakamura's（中村祐介）brief words and music provide an unstoppable groove and guitar churning like an engine to showcase a scenario of a potential romantic effect stopped at the critical moment. What is next to come? Enquiring minds want to know.

Juice=Juice -- BLOODY BULLET

 

If I'm not mistaken, this song came out on a recent episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）as performed by the aidoru group Juice=Juice. I've been paying a bit more attention to them because of their occasional predilection for the old City Pop stuff like "Downtown".

Well, Juice=Juice released their first official EP titled "MORE! MORE! EP" in June 2026 and one of the tracks is "BLOODY BULLET". With that title, I get images of flicks from Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie, and to be honest, the music video above reminded me of "Thelma & Louise". But as written by Konnyaku Nishino（西野蒟蒻）and composed by Sho Hoshibe（星部ショウ）, "BLOODY BULLET" keeps the blood away and instead brings in the disco and some of the lively discography that I remember Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）doing a couple of decades ago. Some of the members go on a road trip and become tough gals (or as tough as a Hello Project idol is allowed to get) while the cops are hot on their tail. Someone in the gang has to toughen up if they're gonna make it.

Shozo Ise -- Nagisa Yuku（渚ゆく）

 

Initially, I'd decided to post an article on the B-side of singer-songwriter Shozo Ise's（伊勢正三）scintillating February 1981 2nd single "Moonlight", just to see how it was like. Unfortunately, I could only find an empty karaoke version of "Portugal Keel" on YouTube and I did want to have Ise's voice in there. However, I was able to find the title track from his 2nd album "Nagisa Yuku" (Going to the Beach) which was released a month later.

Also, the first track of the album, Ise took care of words and music for this relaxing mid-tempo song that hovers between City Pop and J-AOR. It really does feel like an aural version of that barefoot stroll along the beach as the sun dips below the horizon. There's nothing like the lovely inclusion of Fender Rhodes and shimmering strings. Incidentally, the album also includes "Moonlight".

Chikara Ueda & The Power Station -- Urban Sunrise（アーバン・サンライズ）

 

About a month ago, I featured an article regarding Chikara Ueda & The Power Station（上田力＆パワーステーション）and their music contribution to the 1981 TV Asahi detective series "Keishichō Satsujin-ka"（警視庁殺人課...Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Division）, "Breeze in Memories". Well, I've got another piece related to the show.

Actually, I should say that it is the opening theme to "Keishichō Satsujin-ka", "Urban Sunrise" which was the B-side to star Bunta Sugawara's（菅原文太）ending theme "Nemure Tokai yo"（眠れ都会よ...Sleep, My City）. Ueda and his band take care of this one as well although Asei Kobayashi（小林亜星）is the composer behind this dynamic and even hopeful fusion number which includes a sparkling trumpet lead. Maynard Ferguson would be proud! It's rather coincidental that this and the previous article both involve bands that have the word "station" in their names and the two songs have something to do with sunrises.

Junko Ohashi & Minowa Central Station -- Journey to the Mind ~ Pamir no Yoake（パミールの夜明け）

By AmanovDmitry via Wikimedia Commons

I'll be honest and state that it was because of this song that I had even heard of the Pamir Mountains located in Central and South Asia. Geography and City Pop...what a combination!

Strangely enough, this might be my first example of a hybrid between Exotic kayo and City Pop via "Journey to the Mind ~ Pamir no Yoake" (Dawn Over the Pamirs), the first track on Junko Ohashi & Minowa Central Station's（大橋純子＆美乃家セントラル・ステイション）June 1978 album "Shalom"（沙浪夢）. As written, composed and arranged by Masami Tsuchiya（土屋昌巳）with Ohashi helping out on lyrics and Kenjiro Oda（小田健二郎）assisting on the music, it's certainly got the funkiness of Ohashi's brand of City Pop, but at the same time, there is also something indeed rather exotic about it, as if all this was playing out on some sort of Cessna hundreds of metres above the titular Pamirs themselves. It's also got some rock in there and a weirdly filtered boozy saxophone that pops up at times. It contrasts quite nicely with the second track "Kisetsufuu Tayori"（季節風便り）.