Ai Otsuka -- Kingyo Hanabi（金魚花火）

 

Once again, it is July 7th and that means, it's Tanabata in Japan. The holiday surrounding those star-crossed lovers has gotten folks to write wishes on those colourful strips of paper to be tied to tree branches. And there are also a lot of festivals taking place throughout the nation so perhaps Tanabata is the first major festival of the season.

A year ago, I posted a commemorative article in tribute to Tanabata（七夕）...a bit tortuous getting to the final product but I got there regardless. This time though, I'll be going with just one song. I was searching the Yahoo Japan engine for a song that has a connection with Tanabata. There were quite a few but one that stuck out to me was Ai Otsuka's（大塚愛）5th single from August 2004.

"Kingyo Hanabi" (Goldfish Fireworks), about summer festival love, seems to be more about finding that special someone at any summer festival taking place throughout July and August, but hey, I'm not going to complain. Plus, it was Otsuka's stab at a calmer love ballad compared to the very upbeat and perky songs that she's been known for such as "Sakuranbo"（さくらんぼ）and "SMILY". Written and composed by the singer, its arrangement seems to be in that contemporary healing music style that Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）was recording at the time. Its contemplativeness matches the goldfish-like swishes of emotion that are flashing within a young lady's heart.

"Kingyo Hanabi" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and ended up as the 59th-ranked single of the year, going Gold in the process. The song was also included as a track on Otsuka's 2nd album "Love Jam" from November 2004 which reached the top of the charts and became the 30th-ranked album for 2005. "Kingyo Hanabi" was also a theme song for the long-running NTV Monday night documentary series "Super Terebi: Jouhou Saizensen"（スーパーテレビ情報最前線...Super TV: Information Frontline）.

Glass Kayo

 

The above is a Very Berry Shake that I got at a place called Petit Potato. It was indeed very flavorful and thirst-quenching. However, the theme isn't on the contents but the container. Early this year, I came up with an Author's Picks called "Substance Kayo" which focused on those kayo titled with various substances. But then, I realized after writing up one recent article and remembering a couple of oldies that I'd written early in this blog's history that a subset can be made of kayo kyoku containing the word "glass" in their titles. As such, let me start this Tuesday edition of KKP with some glass kayo.

(1977) Yujiro Ishihara -- Brandy Glass (ブランデーグラス）

(1981) Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

(1983) Seiko Matsuda -- Glass no Ringo （ガラスの林檎）

(1997) Kinki Kids -- Garasu no Shonen （硝子の少年）

(2009) Cheuni -- Glass no Tokyo Tower（ガラスの東京タワー）

Shojotai 少女隊 - How Are You My Friend? お元気ですか？マイフレンド

Before Napster and Internet, there're 4 ways you can dub a song onto a cassette tape without buying it.

1. Find a friend who owns the song and ask him to dub it for you.  Or borrow it and dub it yourself.

2. Go to a record shop that rents LPs or CDs.  Rent the one you want and dub it yourself.

3. If you happen to make friends with the record shop staff, ask them to dub it for you.  You may have to pay a small fee but the good thing is you can pick and choose.  This is the ORIGINAL playlist.

4. Dub the song as you're listening on the radio station.

I have done all four back when I was in secondary school in Hong Kong but no. 4 was by far my most used method when I found a song I like.

Back to the future.  In the past few days, a melody suddenly popped up in my mind and it wouldn't go away.  Not only the melody but I remember the lyrics as well.  "How are you my friend? da da da da da da da," it sang in my head.

At the beginning, I was somehow convinced that it was from Matsuda Seiko 松田聖子 but didn't follow up further.  As the melody played again and again in my head, the memories of my "dubbing days" came back and it felt so nostalgic that I wanted to listen to the whole song.  So, this morning, I asked Gemini AI which Japanese song in the 80s included the lyrics "how are you my friend".  Voila!  It's NOT Seiko but Shojotai 少女隊!  What a surprise.  I immediately listened and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm pretty sure I dubbed this song when I was in Hong Kong but I forgot whether it's through method no. 3 or no. 4.  I threw away all my tapes (regret!) 10+ years ago so there's no way I can find out anymore.  There's a good chance that it's no. 4.  I still remember that in the 80s, Radio Hong Kong had a weekly program that published a top 10 chart for Japanese songs.  It could be from that.

For those of you who are interested in knowing more about Shojotai, J-Canuck already wrote an article here.  As expected, it's very hard to find a Japanese singer or group that has not been covered by Kayo Kyoku Plus.

Going back to the song itself, given the Aidoru background and the atmosphere, the story of the song likely happened in a high school.  A young girl was having a small fight with her boyfriend who's her senior i.e. her senpai.  She's still thinking of him and wanted to speak to him.  So, "how are you my friend?" was the message she had been keeping in her heart.

The song was written and arranged by Tokura Shunichi 都倉俊一.  Obara Jouji 小原丈二 penned the lyrics.  The single was released January 1985 and so this was one of those songs that included Chiko チーコ, an original member who left the group later the same year.

One more thing, I just saved the YouTube video on my playlist 😉

Harumi Miyako/Na Hoon-a -- Osaka Shigure (大阪しぐれ)

Every now and again, I would pick up a popular do-enka (a very “enka-like” enka, if you will) song out of curiosity or nostalgia, realise or remember why it was a massive hit, and then have a phase of obsessively listening to it. It had been a while since that's happened, but my recent enka obsession has been Osaka Shigure.

This was one of the many jewels in the crown of enka royal Harumi Miyako (都はるみ). Written by Osamu Yoshioka (吉岡治) and composed by Shosuke Ichikawa (市川昭介), it was released on 1st February 1980 during the genre's and the singer's golden ages. It's a languid tune with a nice rhythm based in a rainy Osaka. Miyako plays the role of woman who would give her all to the one she loves even if it hurts her because she can't live without him. It ticks all the boxes for a quintessential enka song, and it's really easy on the ears. I've owned a Miyako compilation album for quite some time now, and Osaka Shigure was always one track I've enjoyed when I remember that it's there. However, what sparked my recent hyper-fixation on it?

Na Hoon-a (羅勲児/ナフナ).

A little while ago, I talked about my introduction to the South Korean trot star, and I've been getting into his music as of late. Having broken into the Japanese enka scene in the mid-1980s, Na covered a number of well-known enka/kayo hits in his distinct, highly emotive style that somewhat resembles the do-enka manner of singing. Among these covers, I picked Osaka Shigure to sample first simply because of the aforementioned fact that I know I enjoyed Miyako's original. Boy, was I hooked immediately by the way Na handled the song.

In terms of vocal delivery, Miyako very lightly glides over the words, and her signature high-pitched trill is not as prevalent here as it is in some of her other hardcore enka hits. It paints our protagonist as delicate, but still having the resolve to devote herself to her lover. Na, on the other hand, takes his time with each word and pours them out with great deliberation, the effect of which makes the protagonist's aforementioned desire and anguish stemming from her self-perceived ineptitude feeling a lot more raw and heavy. I’d been told that one of Na’s appeals is that he can sound as though he’s sobbing, which I assume serves to accentuate a song protagonist’s sadness and longing. In the case of this cover, at least, you can certainly feel this effect. His voice is cathartic to listen to, and at least for me, it can feel a little like a proxy for releasing pent-up feelings.

I'm not certain as to when Na released his cover of Osaka Shigure, but I know that it was at least included in his some of his Japanese album releases between the late 1980s and 1990s

Francis -- VIVA! Coffee Jelly（Viva! コーヒーゼリー）

 

I've known that coffee jelly has been a sweet of desire in Japan for over a century since the Taisho Era but wasn't aware that its origins go back to the United States and England. Apparently, the dessert still gets served in New England but not much farther out than that. I've had coffee jelly on occasion when I was living in Japan. It doesn't pop up in my Top 5 of favourite desserts but it's fine enough with me.

But one figure in the music industry that does love his coffee jelly? It's DJ and New Wave dandy Makoto Francis Ori（小里誠）. I just referred to him in my previous article focusing on aidoru Emiri Kanou（加納エミリ）since she and Francis collaborated on "Sabakaru Emiri"（裁かるゝエミリ）a few years ago.

I am rather curious about Francis and what else he's done. On the way, I learned to my surprise that he'd been the bassist for the bands Original Love and The Collectors. According to his biography on his website, he'd formed The Red Curtain (Original Love's immediate predecessor?) with OL OG Takao Tajima（田島貴男）as the bassist there, and they were apparently making music that couldn't be readily categorized even though the band was known as a psych/garage group.

So, perhaps Francis' penchant for avant pop has continued onto his 2021 "VIVA! Coffee Jelly". And the man does love his coffee jelly when one looks at his Instagram account. With him cooing into the microphone like a satisfied man following some nocturnal activities with a partner, I can hear a bit of Shibuya-kei and music that got me thinking of famous Swiss duo Yello (and it's not just because of the repeated "Oh yeah!") but it's indeed a technopop creation. As commenter Brian Mitchell has stated, Japanese songwriters can base their works on literally anything and everything. So, why not coffee jelly?

Emiri Kanou -- Koi se yo Otome（恋せよ乙女）

 

Happy Monday! The last time I wrote about contemporary aidoru and singer-songwriter Emiri Kanou（加納エミリ）was just a little over a year ago when I encountered her nifty collaboration with New Wave dandy Makoto Francis Ori（小里誠）, "Sabakaru Emiri"（裁かるゝエミリ）from 2023. However, it still feels as if an eternity has gone by since that last one.

Well, I've decided to start this KKP business week with another Kanou song, but this one goes back all the way to her beginnings in the late 2010s. In fact, this is the opening track from her debut album "GREENPOP", which was released in November 2019. "Koi se yo Otome" (Fall In Love, Maiden) is fully in love with 80s synthpop and the music video makes sure everyone knows that this is no coincidence. That intro even reminds me a tad of Madonna's "Borderline". Kanou took care of both words and music.

Do As Infinity -- Rakuen（楽園）

 

Although I knew of it, I never read the original manga of "Inuyasha"（犬夜叉）or watched its various anime adaptations throughout the 2000s. I only knew about it as some sort of sword-and-sorcery epic.

Just within the last hour, I encountered a tweet where the person, to their delight, had seen the members of the band Do As Infinity come back together to perform. The band lasted between 1999 and 2005 in its initial run and then started a new run from 2008 according to J-Wiki. 

Remembering that KKP still has a few DAI entries including my last one dating back to late 2019 for their 2001 8th single "Tooku made"（遠くまで）, I decided to see if I could dig up another one of the band's songs. I was able to track down their 18th single from December 2004, "Rakuen" (Paradise), which was used as the theme song for one of those "Inuyasha" movies, "Inuyasha ~ Guren no Houraijima"（犬夜叉 紅蓮の蓬莱島...Inuyasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island）that was released a couple of days shy of Christmas 2004.  After listening to "Rakuen" a few times, I realized that it's been quite a while since I heard one of these contemplative pop/rock numbers from Japan. The song peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and went Gold. DAI guitarist and vocalist Ryo Owatari（大渡亮）was behind the lyrics while the entire band took credit for the composition.