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 can say that the above looks just like the first telephone that I ever saw in my apartment in the late 1960s. The good ol' rotary phone. Never got to use the even older model where people had to crank it up and yell "Maisie! Is that you? I'm calling Pennsylvania 65000!".
Earlier today, the first article for Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP was Mariko Tone's（刀根麻里子）"Private Number" and that got me thinking that among the many different themes I've had for Author's Picks, one common object that I had yet to highlight was the telephone. And yet, as soon as I put up "Private Number", suddenly all these phone-themed tunes came back to mind. So, to finish my contributions today, I'm putting up my telephone or denwa songs. Not all of them are City Pop, mind you, but enough of them are including the one with City Pop's most famous number.
It's approaching the third anniversary since Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）passing and listening to this particular ballad brings about some more of that poignancy.
"Shiroi Gogo"(White Afternoon) from Ohashi's 1976"Paper Moon" album starts with some ominous drops onto piano keys, and though I haven't been able to access any of Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics, I get the impression that the titular white afternoon may refer to a very lonely afternoon that used to be filled with someone. The melody and arrangement by Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）, is wonderfully slow and soulful with some added rock/fusion by guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto（杉本喜代志）and an ending breeze-like backup chorus that hints at something hopeful around the corner.
It appears that we may be having one of those KKP situations in which one singer or band's file is basically based on one album.
And yep, I'm talking about Kenichi Fujimoto's（藤本健一）"Aperitif" album from 1986. But it does say lots about the album especially if one's a City Pop or sophisticated pop fan. This time, the track is "Alone", and for a track titled "Alone", it sure doesn't feel alone. As written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composed by the singer himself, it's the equivalent of a fancy dinner out in Aoyama...crisp white linen, sparkling champagne flutes and bone-white china, and all that. Fujimoto may have been channeling some of his inner Henry Mancini when he came up with this one. Those strings approach a near-boogie level of emanation and of course, the sax is cooking up some richness.
Several years ago, I posted an article about the 1981 debut single, "Koi no Kirakira Dance"（恋のキラキラダンス） , by an obscure aidoru named Keiko Nishina（二科恵子）. As mentioned there, she only released four singles in 1981 and 1982.
Well, I found a succeeding single titled "Koi no Shocking Town" (Shocking Town of Love) sometime in 1982 (maybe Nishina loved her 恋). Written by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, compared to the more conventional "Koi no Kirakira Dance", "Koi no Shocking Town" infuses a bit of Doobie Bounce for a more AOR flavour. Meanwhile, the B-side which begins at 4:08 of the above video, "Umi no Ue no Restaurant"(The Restaurant on the Top of the Ocean) has that popular 50s or 60s girl pop arrangement. Dapper singer-songwriter Ryohei Yamanashi（山梨鐐平）provided words and music for that one.
Happy Friday! Well, things are supposedly falling into place for Toronto's contribution to the World Cup next week. I'm casually interested in the soccer that's to be played but to be honest, I was looking more at what restaurants representing the other nations in Canada's group will be cooking up.
Speaking about what someone is cooking up, it looks like Mariko Tone's（刀根麻理子）protagonist in her song "Private Number" is getting quite hot and bothered about her beau. Must be early times in the relationship but she's more than happy to give the lad her special phone number. "Private Number" starts out a bit tinny tropical but then the synth thrums in along with the persistent percussion before things get all funky and even some Motown. Of course, gotta have that City Pop saxophone and the horns in there, too.
"Private Number" is available on Tone's June 1986 3rd album"Naturally". It was written by Linda Hennrick, composed by Goji Tsuno（つのごうじ）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）.
As KKP readers know, I do the weekly Reminiscings of Youth on Thursday and I did provide the one for Nik Kershaw earlier this afternoon. However, considering what I've heard in the last 24 hours or so, I feel that I have to write one more ROY tonight especially in the light of the passings of a few Japanese representatives in the music industry within the last month: songwriters Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）and Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）along with singer Yoichi Sugawara（菅原洋一）.
Singer Peabo Bryson passed away on June 2nd a couple of days ago at the age of 75 due to what may have been a stroke. The obituaries on television often mentioned his 90s duets for "Aladdin" and "Beauty of the Beast", but I had known him for a decade prior because of his songs coming onto radio frequently. And he's already got representation on KKP through two of those wonderful melodies from his work with Roberta Flack via the 1983 album"Born to Love".
The following year, another wonderful ballad was released by Bryson titled "If Ever You're in My Arms Again", which came out in April 1984. It's a lush Quiet Storm ballad of second chances that was created by Cynthia Weil, Michael Masser and Tom Snow, and listening to it once more reminded me that they don't come up with this sort of love song anymore. Some of those notes he hits! From the list of musicians involved, I notice that at least a few of them have worked with Japanese singers such as guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. and bassist Neil Steubenhaus. On the Adult Contemporary charts in both Canada and the United States, the song hit No. 1 with it staying at the top of the US chart for four weeks. I'm glad that a new generation is discovering his wonderful abilities.
My condolences go out to Bryson's family, friends and many fans.
What else was coming out as singles in April 1984 in Japan?
As is the case with many people, I appreciate a swig of ice-cold orange juice in the morning, just before I plow into breakfast. That tang of citric acid is part of what I need (along with the cup of coffee) to rev myself up from too little sleep.
Now, let's go back to the morning of December 31st 2025. Because of the 14-hour time difference between Toronto and Tokyo, the Kohaku Utagassen that started broadcasting at 7:30 pm JST was shown live here in my humble abode at 5:30 am EST. Of course, since the Japanese TV service Jme is a streaming service, I couldn't save the show into storage. Sure, the New Year's Eve special was also being shown at later times and dates up to January 3rd but I just had to see it live. Not exactly in the most alert or happiest of moods, I set everything up and the Kohaku began as scheduled. Then I saw this performance:
If I'm not mistaken, the aidoru group CANDY TUNE started the ball rolling for the 2025 edition and, boy did it wake me up...or maybe the better expression is that it blew me awake! All that cheerfulness and high-pitched voicing had a much more excessive effect on me than anything that orange juice could provide. The group only came into being in 2023 but around a year later in April 2024, they released their digital single "Bai Bai Fight!" (Double Double Fight!) as this dempagumi march of hyperspeed energy and happiness but for some reason, the ladies didn't get their invitation to the Kohaku until over a year later.
Couldn't quite sink down into my armchair to doze off after that and I actually held off on writing anything about this pure adrenaline of a song. But then, a few weeks ago when I was watching an excerpt on the national broadcaster's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information program that dealt with the comedic duo Sandwich Man traveling to various hospitals to cheer up and talk with patients, I saw one conversation they had with one young man. Several months earlier, he had suffered a major stroke which left his left side paralyzed. To be sure, those were tough times but he stated that he stuck with the difficult rehabilitation regimen while listening to "Bai Bai Fight!" as an aural tonic to keep him putting up the fight, and he made it through perfectly. The power of music, eh? I found my hook to bring it onto the blog.
"Bai Bai Fight!" was written and composed by Tamaya 2060%（玉屋2060%）. May this energize you up!
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