Ayaka -- Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta nara （やさしさに包まれたなら）

 

Ahhh..."Yasashisa ni Tsutsumaretara nara" (If It Could be Wrapped in Kindness), a classic Yumi Arai（荒井由実）New Music song from the 1970s. It also served as the ending theme for the classic Studio Ghibli anime film, "Kiki's Delivery Service", from 1989. If Yuming（ユーミン）songs could be analogized into animals, it would be a farm puppy or kitten, something to be relentlessly hugged.

It's not surprising then that the song has probably been covered over and over again throughout the decades. And I remember singer-songwriter Ayaka（絢香）performing it on an "Uta Con"（うたコン）episode a few months ago. As such, I thought her vocals were quite close to the young Yuming when singing this one in particular. 

Tracking her version down, I found it on her September 2013 album of covers "Yuuon Club - 1st Grade"（遊音倶楽部 〜1st grade〜...The Playful Sound Club）. In fact, it starts the album with an arrangement that is quite close to that of the original: an amiable country jazz tune to accompany a drive through the farmland. Maybe it's even got a bit more pep thanks to what sounds like some whisk drumming in there.

Junko Sakurada -- Misty（ミスティー）

 

As I mentioned in my first posting of a Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）song, the September 1981 single "This Is A 'Boogie'", that song was my introduction to her with all of its jazzy pizzazz. 

Well, the previous 35th single from June that year is "Misty", and certainly from the single's cover, she was looking rather coyly kittenish and leggy in the pink outfit. This song which was written by Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）, composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）is quite different in that it sounds like a New Wave aidoru number with the synths and the wailing nostalgic electric guitar. Plus, Sakurada takes on a breathy and just-as-kittenish vocal approach.

For her live performances of "Misty", she was able to sport a tight shocking pink leotard which probably had fans lollygagging; it was an outfit that Sakurada had requested herself, inspired by Olivia Newton-John's concert costume. A few weeks following its release in early June 1981, Sakurada even pulled off a June 26th campaign called "Junko’s Airwave Takeover: Misty Day" during which she blitzed the television airwaves from morning to night with appearances, presumably in that shocking pink. Her peak No. 53 ranking on Oricon would mark the final time that Sakurada would chart in terms of her singles.

Mayumi Kojima -- Tango（タンゴ）

Wikimedia Commons

If I were to ever take up social dancing, I would probably start with the waltz. I mean, the steps seem easy enough but it's the improvisation that scares me. 

But for some strange reason, the next dance that I would tackle is the tango. That seems like a huge jump from the waltz but I guess maybe it's because of the class and grace involved. I don't particularly possess either in any great degree but perhaps I can gain some.

Now, before I end up going into some ambling rambling, let's take you to singer-songwriter Mayumi Kojima（小島麻由美）. I hadn't written about her for a few years and she has always struck me as one of the more eclectic Japanese pop singers. She's been described on Wikipedia as a Shibuya-kei singer but aside from my first article on her, I haven't really seen her do a lot of that genre. In fact, I've treated her as a chanteuse in the jazzier areas of town. 

In September 2026, she released her latest single "Tango" and yep, she's given her own fun and sultry take on Latin jazz, presumably in tribute to the titular dance. I love those familiar illustrations of herself along with her simian buddy on the cover. It makes me wonder whether there is a music video for "Tango". Alas, I have yet to find one. Anyways, I also have to give some belated congratulations to her for celebrating her 30th anniversary in the music business last year.

Haruo Minami -- Tanaka Ondo（田中音頭）

 

During my decades being interested and then living in Japan, I knew my fair share of Japanese Prime Ministers ranging from Yasuhiro Nakasone (good buddy to US President Ronald Reagan) to the current PM, Sanae Takaichi. But before all that, as a little kid, I had really only known of one Japanese Chief Executive and that was Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka（田中角栄）...basically because he had been involved in the Lockheed bribery scandals back in the 1970s. As time passed though, I came to realize that he had been a very powerful politician and that certain comedians loved to do impressions of him...usually by speaking in a very high-pitched crackly voice and pretending to flutter a hand fan in front of his own face.

I have the impression that he had been quite the popular Parliamentarian before he took the reins as PM in 1972 and I take it that he's one of the prime examples of a rags-to-riches story after being born poverty-stricken in Niigata Prefecture to eventually reach the highest position in the land. In fact, I guess he was so popular that the legendary enka and minyo singer Haruo Minami（三波春夫）wrote the glory-filled lyrics and recorded a minyo in tribute to him titled "Tanaka Ondo" (The Tanaka Song). Composed by Futoshi Satogawa（佐藤川太）, the song was released sometime in 1972 (maybe it was meant to commemorate his achievement of the prime ministership) and it sounds like any sort of traditional summer festival song. I think the back of the single cover page even had dance instructions. Couldn't quite find out whether Tanaka himself appreciated the musical gesture.

GAL -- Magnet Joe ni Ki wo Tsukero（マグネット・ジョーに気をつけろ）

 

It was a dozen years ago that I first posted on the short-lived aidoru trio GAL（ギャル）. Lasting between 1977 and 1979, just to refresh folks' memories, GAL consisted of Mayumi Kuroki（黒木真由美）, Hitomi Meguro （目黒ひとみ）and Michiyo Ishie（石江理世）initially. Ishie left the group in 1978 with Akiyo Nakaseko（中世古明代）taking her place for the remaining time into 1979.

That article that I posted back in 2014 was for their debut single "Bara to Pistol"（薔薇とピストル）in October 1977. Well, for this long-awaited grand reunion on KKP, I have their second single "Magnet Joe ni Ki wo Tsukero"（マグネット・ジョーに気をつけろ...Watch Out for Magnet Joe） from February 1978. I had no idea who Magnet Joe was and I'd assumed that he was some sort of anime or manga character but actually I think he's just an especially charismatic cad who pulls the women in and repels them once they've served their purpose. Created by the same songwriting team behind "Bara to Pistol", lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）, composer Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, the music is nice and disco kayo, and in a way, I think the ladies dressed the part as well. In fact, I could even say that they kinda hit a refined middle ground between the more girl-next-door types of Candies（キャンディーズ）and the hyperactive dancing duo Pink Lady（ピンクレディー）.

Teruhiko Aoi -- Epilogue（終章）

 

The songwriting sibling team of lyricist Etsuko and singer-composer Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお）is pretty much legendary through the annals of Japanese pop music. I don't quite know how far their history goes back. Brother Takao starts from 1976 but his elder sister Etsuko has it mentioned in her J-Wiki profile that it's sometime in the 1970s. 

This particular song recorded by Teruhiko Aoi（あおい輝彦）will probably go down as one of the Kisugis' earliest joint works. "Epilogue" (although the kanji is formally read as "shuushou") was arranged by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）and it's appropriately the final track on Aoi's October 1977  2-LP BEST album "Aoi Teruhiko ~ Anata dake wo -- Johnny's wo Kikinagara"（あおい輝彦 – あなただけを～ジャニスを聴きながら...Only You -- While Listening to Johnny's）.

When it comes to the Kisugis, I've usually said that they can come up with some nicely lush ballads, and "Epilogue" is perhaps one of their earlier successes in this mold. It sounds proud and elegiac and there's a hint of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" in terms of the overall feeling as the protagonist seems to be looking back on a life well fed and well led.

Sandii -- Hey Rock-A La La

From deepsonic via Wikimedia Commons

I think I may have mentioned it before but one of my regrets was that I never learned how to play the piano. But then again, considering how much I struggled with the French horn and the clarinet, perhaps it was just as well that I didn't bother with keyboards. The number of piano teachers who would have ended up in a fetal position because of me scarcely bears imagining.

Still, I wonder from time to time about handling something like a synthesizer like the folks in Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk did. Nope, neither of those two groups is directly involved here, but Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, one-third or one-quarter of YMO, did produce Sandii's 1980 solo record "Eating Pleasure" and arranged this track "Hey Rock-A La La". Compared to the more technopop track "Idol Era" which starts the album off, this particular one, which has Sandii starting off like a squeaking dolphin, has more of a body-thrashing B-52s tribal rock vibe although I think we're still firmly within the New Wave. Ronnie Barron and Jim Nash were responsible for the songwriting here.