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'd like to introduce the above character Peanuts-kun（ピーナッツくん）. He's a virtual YouTuber who's been around for about a decade and although he looks a little constipated, he seems like a nice sort. Peanuts-kun also has a flair for rapping well.
A couple of months ago, he and the band Suiyoubi no Campanella（水曜日のカンパネラ）collaborated to release their own single "Ichigo Got it"(Strawberry Got it). It's a techno dance beat-heavy duet with Peanuts-kun and Utaha（詩羽）rapping at about Warp 1 about the wonders of strawberries. I've got no complaints about that at all since I love Japanese strawberries which are so sweet that they don't need the condensed milk that accompanies them whenever folks go strawberry picking in Japan. The sugar spike those two ingredients create could have customers racing all over the countryside.
The above is apparently the very first appearance of Peanuts-kun back in 2017. A little warning though that it gets a little scatological.
The above comes from Cufon Fonts, a website from which you can apparently download fonts for free, and I hope that I can use their image above at the same rate as well. Feel free to take a look. But I wanted to start this article with this since Delication is not only a new font that actually celebrated its first birthday last month, it also happens to be the name of Etsuko Sai's（彩恵津子）January 1986 album. Other than that, it doesn't really exist in the English language.
Getting back to Sai's album, one track there is "Hitomi no Kirei na Lover Man"(Lover Man with the Beautiful Eyes). I've had this one on the backlog for so long that I was really feeling the pressure to finally get this one posted so here it is. Written by Sai herself, it's quite the breezy nighttime-sounding City Pop ballad (with lovely background chorus harmonies to match). Composing was a double-duty affair with Ichiro Hada（羽田一郎）and Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）working on the melody. Yep, it's THAT Toshinobu Kubota very early in his R&B career, and apparently he and Hada had worked on some of the former's early songs.
Summer has came and went in the northern hemisphere, but I'd like to talk a little bit about my annual solo summer trip this year. Going against my tendency to head north, I decided to head towards western Japan this time. The destination was the port city of Kobe in Hyogo prefecture. I've been to Kobe a couple of times when I was younger, but it was only ever for a day trip when touring the bigger tourist spots in the Kansai region like Osaka and Kyoto with my family. But with the allure of meat and dairy products, the nearby Suma Sea World, and the balance of ocean and mountain views, I was all ready to revisit it for a proper trip.
But, now, you know me - my domestic travels choices are always led by kayo-related ulterior motives. So, what is it this time?
1. Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴). The jazz man spent his formative years in the city due his father's (a pastor) work transfer, before moving back to his home prefecture of Ehime for middle and high school.
2. Haruo Minami (三波春夫). The man with the most welcoming of smiles has a few Hyogo and Kobe-related entries from his rendition of the entirety of the Tale of Heike. I also had to get a bit of Minami-based research work done in Kyoto a prefecture over - I wasn't too keen on staying in the old capital with its searing summer temperatures, so Kobe with its slightly lower temperature was the perfect spot to set up camp.
Despite the 36 and 37 degree Celsius days (38/39 on that one day I was in Kyoto) that made me understand how a popsicle feels under the sun, I had a great time checking out historical spots and checking out coffee shops that have been around for a very, very long time - apparently, Japan's first coffee shop opened in Kobe's Motomachi district in the 1800s! I also headed out to Suma for the aquarium on my last full day. I spent quite some time at Sea World watching the orca shows and just staring at the vast Pacific ocean, so I didn't get to explore much of the coastal town. After all, I needed to head back to Kobe for a Minami song-based history tour featuring Kahei Takadaya and Taira no Kiyomori.
From what I understand, Suma with its pine tree-dotted sandy beach and clear waters had been a prime holiday destination since the early 20th century. I suppose it's what Kamakura or Shonan is to those in the Tokyo region. But despite its idyllic image now, it was the stage for one of the major battles in the Tale of Heike, the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani, where the Minamoto clan claimed victory. From this, the duel between Minamoto retainer Kumagai Naozane and the teenaged nephew of lord Kiyomori Taira no Atsumori, has been adapted into Noh and even pop music. What a place the Suma bay was, huh? Quite nicely bringing these two sides of the beach town is Nakano's Suma Koshinkyoku (Suma march).
Suma Koshinkyoku was released in June 1933. The young Nakano breezily belts out this ditty that cleverly blends Suma's modern day image with the above fragment of ancient history. Yaso Saijo (西條八十) even peppered a few puns throughout his lyrics to concoct a fun atmosphere fit for the beach town - e.g. Suma no matsubara kimi wo matsu(Suma's pine-lined coast awaits), Suma wa nihon no Ichi-no-tani (Suma is Japan's number 1/Ichi-no-tani). Masao Koga (古賀政男) ties everything together with a delightful summery melody that has his signature mandolin sound.
Around 1933 and 1934, there was a bit of a koshinkyoku, shin min'yo, and ondo boom in the Japanese record industry. So, Suma Koshinkyoku was one of the hundreds produced at the time. Centering on Japan's countryside towns and prefectures, they were essentially made for local tourism PR. These ditties, which point out the sights and sounds of its locale in question, are pretty much the predecessors of the go-tochi song that became all the rage in the 1960s and, eventually, and enka theme staple. I don't usually actively listen to these domestic marches, so I was quite surprised with how much I enjoyed Suma Koshinkyoku. Perhaps it's because the ditty's vibe perfectly captured my short but memorable time at Suma. Perhaps it's because I can imagine a grinning Tadaharu-san giving me a tour of the sunny Suma. Either way, one thing's for sure: I need to give Suma another visit.
City Pop specialist singer-songwriter Minako Ito（伊藤美奈子）has had plenty of representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" throughout a number of years. However, one year that has yet to be represented is 1985 which is when she released her third album"Portrait" in November.
I've heard a few tracks on this one and just like my wishes for the album that I referred to in my previous article, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on this one, too. The first track is "Mitsumete Hoshii"（見つめてほしい...Look At Me） whose lyrics were provided by Ito (and she wrote all of the songs) and the melody was also composed by her. A song of longing, "Mitsumete Hoshii" has that atmosphere of whirlwinds and the intrepid hunt for that guy punctuated by the electric guitar and bongo percussion.
"Mullion no Mae de"（マリオンの前で...In Front of Mullion） is the second track. Now, for those who may not have visited Tokyo before, Yurakucho Mullion is an old shopping complex located just up the street from the main intersection of Ginza and people like to meet friends and lovers in front of the place where a huge clock is situated. Yoichi Shimada（嶋田陽一）has composed this one as a synth-driven sophisticated pop number reflecting the neighbourhood.
One more track that I'll show here is Track 5"Ku-gatsu no Yakusoku"（9月の約束...September Promises） which is pleasingly notable for how smooth and gliding it is through the chords. Thank you, Fender Rhodes! And also thanks to the jazzy saxophone solo by Jake H. Concepcion. Ito wrote and composed this pensive City Pop track, and supposedly Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, who was also helping out on keyboards, may have been responsible for all arrangements of the tracks (I did pick up some Yuming in this one as well). For some reason, I'm a sucker for September songs in September so my eyes locked in on this one immediately.
You can also listen to the whole album right here.
Back around four years ago, I posted an article featuring the future soundtrack composer of "Evangelion" and the future husband of City Pop chanteuse Junko Yagami（八神純子） as a duo called Sagisu/Stanley. "Let Me Be Myself" is a smart and sophisticated tune on "Sagisu/Stanley" that brings all the nostalgic feelings I've had for AOR years ago.
Well, I'm back to the album and this time, I'm presenting the first track titled "Music and You". Once again, written by singer-songwriter John J. Stanley and created by composer/arranger/producer Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, this one has got a Beatles-ish beginning and then a run-like-the-wind disco arrangement that has me thinking of Electric Light Orchestra. The two may not be Hall & Oates but these guys are pretty darn slick and if I can still get this 1980 release, I would be more than happy to unleash my credit card.
The last article I wrote regarding the rock band Mari Kaneko & Bux Bunny（金子マリ & バックス・バニー）was for their "Serenade":（セレナーデ）, a track from their 1978 album"Shoot the moon". In it, I'd mentioned that it had been a year since I last put up a song by them. Well, this time, it's over three years so I've really been lagging.
"Serenade" is quite the sipping whiskey-friendly tune. And it looks like I've found another similarly-feeling track, "Owari Naki Hajimari" (Endless Beginnings). With lyrics by Kaneko and Yasukiyo Taniguchi（谷口康清）along with the Yoshihiro Naruse（鳴瀬喜博）melody, "Owari Naki Hajimari" is perfect for that day-off dalliance on the hammock or couch while the sun is going down. Basically, it's Margaritaville time with the Janis Joplin of Shimo-Kitazawa and we do hear some of those very vocal gymnastics from Kaneko this time around. Still, it's relaxation time on the boardwalk.
I'm not sure what it is...maybe it's her arrangers or her pleasantly feathery voice, but Michiru Kojima（児島未散） has always struck me as this very wholesome lady throughout her music career. You'd probably expect her face to adorn a box of healthy cereal.
Case in point: I found another wonderful number by her. It's her 4th single from August 1989, "Yume no Temae de" (On the Verge of a Dream), a love song which starts out sounding faintly like an old Chicago (the band) ballad but goes into a mid-tempo beat with some breezy vocals and arrangement by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）who also took care of the core melody. Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）provided the lyrics about falling in love and getting ready to make that catch.
I was surprised to find out that such a mature and dramatic song was used as the ending theme for the 1989 remake of the anime "Konchu Monogatari Minashigo Hacchi"（昆虫物語 みなしごハッチ...The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee） which I used to read as a little kid in manga form.
