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.
Looks like I have my second insert song for a Japanese TV show today following "Aventure wa Gorgeous ni"（アバンチュールはゴージャスに）...just by coincidence, I assure you.
I was doing my usual maintenance rounds yesterday when I came across the tribute article for Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）after his passing on October 8th 2023. At the bottom of the article, I mentioned about the great balladeer's eldest daughter, Shiori Tanimura（谷村詩織）, who has also become a singer-songwriter like her father.
Not having posted anything about her thus far, I decided to search for some of her discography and happily, it didn't take me long to find a pleasant creation of hers. Back in 2011, there was a Fuji-TV comedy-drama called "Marumo no Okite"（マルモのおきて...Marumo's Rule） whose kiddie-friendly main theme song "Maru Maru Mori Mori!"（マル・マル・モリ・モリ!）became one of the catchiest tunes released that year. Well, an insert song for the program had been written and composed by Shiori called "Kimi no Tonari de" (By Your Side) . It's a laidback and more mature love song that has a hint of an old-fashioned pop arrangement, maybe even with a touch of country in there, to boot. I'm not sure if it had been ever released as an official single but perhaps it was included on any official soundtrack of the show.
Starting off this week's Reminiscings of Youth on a sad note, I saw the news scroll yesterday state that Frank Beard, the drummer and founding member of the rock groupZZ Top, had passed away at the age of 77 on August 17th. My condolences to his family, friends and fans.
I wasn't a huge ZZ Top fan but there were a few songs that I remember during my youth in the 1980s. One especially was "Legs" which came out in 1984 and had one memorable video. Beard and his two main mates, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill in their iconic hats, sunglasses, long coats...and beards as they carried their furry guitars, acted as the scruffiest guardian archangels while their leggy and beautiful angels helped out a mousy young lady (and her admirer by association) somewhere in an American suburb to succeed over a lot of resistance. It was basically a contemporary rehashing of Cinderella and the classic tale of the bullied getting some revenge on the bullies. I saw the music video for the first time last night and remarked "Yep, that was some fashion back then!"
"Legs" was a song and video that held onto the charts and television screens for a very long time as I recall. I thought it was just a propulsive rock song but according to its Wikipedia article, it's got a lot of genre labels: blues rock, electronic rock, synth-pop, boogie rock, pop rock and new wave. But I'll stick with the rock label. The video itself won the 1984 MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video and the song managed to hit No. 9 on the Canadian charts while in America, it peaked at No. 8.
Since Wikipedia only gives the release year for "Legs", let's find out which two acts won Best New Artist honours in that year's Japan Record Awards.
The above is a video put up by YouTuber atsu M which introduces a shot from the 1985 hardboiled series "Hokori no Houshuu"（誇りの報酬...The Reward of Pride） with Masatoshi Nakamura（中村雅俊） and Jinpachi Nezu（根津甚八）as two veteran detective sergeants. The music is what I assume to be the opening theme composed Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）.
A song that was neither used as an opening or closing theme but was played within one of the episodes of "Hokori no Houshuu" was Ritsuko Kazami's（風見りつ子）2nd single"Aventure wa Gorgeous ni"(A Gorgeous Adventure) which was released in December 1985. Considering Kazami's presence on this blog as a singer, it might be easy to forget that she was also an actress, but as it turns out, she never appeared on this particular series.
One thing about "Aventure wa Gorgeous ni" was that it has nothing to do with Kazami's 3rd single"Aventurier"(アヴァンチュリエ) which came out in the summer of the following year. And "Aventure wa Gorgeous ni" also stands out in that compared to at least some of the discography that has been noted on KKP thus far, it has more of a conventional pop feeling although it still retains Kazami's high and floaty vocals and that vibe of sophistication. Takekawa was also responsible for the melody while Ako Kunikida（国木田あこ）was the lyricist. I guess in a way, this particular song was typical of breezy yet introspective songs that became ending themes for Japanese cop shows in the 1980s.
About a month ago, I brought aboard Teresa Noda（テレサ野田）and her third and final single from 1979,"Tropical Love". She may not have had a long career under her stage name (her real name is Tamaki Saionji（西園寺環）) but she did bring an interesting mix of reggae and disco into this particular single.
The same folks behind "Tropical Love": lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and arranger Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, were also responsible for the B-side, "Yellow Moon". This one still keeps things within that relaxing mixture of reggae and disco but the pacing is even more laidback and Noda's voicing is more intimate as if the setting were an intentionally isolated table in some breezy bar in Falsworth. However, from Yasui's lyrics, the relationship has gone kaput and those vocals, though remaining soft and pliable, throw out a rather solid message of rejection.
During my years in Japan, I got to know most of the comedians and TV personalities who became familiar presences on the tube. They can be those who have that year of fame due to some particular quirk or turn-of-phrase before largely disappearing from show business or they can be ones who seem to be part of a permanent televised tapestry. Shinnosuke "Peter" Ikehata（池畑慎之介）is one that belongs to the latter category
The real name is something that I've only known about since I got back to Canada over a decade ago; back when I was still living in Ichikawa, I only knew them as Peter（ピーター）because that's how they were introduced each time. I only found out recently via the J-Wiki article on the entertainer that Ikehata got that nickname while they were working at a go-go dance club in Roppongi as a teenager. Their gender-ambiguous beauty had them compared to Peter Pan, and Ikehata adopted the first name as a stage name. However, I also found out that they repealed the name in 2019 and now usually goes by either their real name or Pii（ピー）.
My impression of Ikehata has basically been just through their appearances on television where they have always come across as so elegant and vivacious that I had wondered whether they had actually attended the Takarazuka Academy. To me, Ikehata strikes me as that wealthy good buddy who just loves to regale everybody with stories and shower them with presents. A fine friend, indeed.
As for their acting career, I gather that Ikehata was up for pretty much anything. They not only appeared on Akira Kurosawa's（黒澤明）"Ran"（乱）in 1985 but in 1986, they also portrayed the host and drag queen physician/torturer in the fourth entry of the notorious "Guinea Pig" series. Yes, that "Guinea Pig" series of absolute stomach-turning horror from the early 1980s that had Charlie Sheen call the FBI after seeing one of the grueling earlier entries. Evidently, the fourth entry, "Devil Woman Doctor", could be compared to "Jason X" in the "Friday the 13th" franchise in that both movies were approaching self-parodic comedy. I'm squeamish about horror but even the excerpt above from "Devil Woman Doctor" had me going just "Oh...OK, well then...".
Now, as for their singing career, I probably have heard Ikehata singing on television but those appearances were too far and few between for me to remember. But I was able to track down their debut single from October 1969 titled "Yoru to Asa no Aida ni"(Between The Night and The Morning). I figured from listening to them speak, they would have a great smoky voice for singing and indeed they do. With lyrics by the great Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）, the song was composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）and arranged by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）as something classy and jazzy that reminds me of Henry Mancini's works. It just seems to be the right song for Ikehata to begin their career with.
A couple of tidbits of trivia were gleaned from the article for "Yoru to Asa no Aida ni". One was that their catchphrase at the time of their debut was "The boy brought from the moon by Apollo". No pressure there. The second was that at the 1969 Japan Record Awards, Ikehata won Best New Artist for the song.
Not sure what's gotten singer-songwriter Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）so shocked on the cover of his May 1984 album "Mistone". Maybe he just saw the latest trailer for "Avengers Doomsday".
Anyways, I have here one of the tracks from "Mistone", "Terra". Y'know...I don't think I had ever heard a New Wave pop tune from Sugi (usually he tended toward the old-fashioned pop of the 1950s or 1960s) but here is one song that sounds just as if it really does belong to 1984. It's got that nice bouncy little synthpop rhythm to add to the singer's high-falutin' vocals. And there are also those certain nostalgic guitar chords of that decade.
Hard to believe but "Reservoir Dogs" is over 34 years old now. That iconic power walk with the robbers has probably been emulated all over the place, especially during Halloween. I should know...since some of my friends and I actually dressed up in black suits and strutted down one of the main streets of Toronto one October 31st. I should've exercised more.
Anyways, it wasn't just me and my buddies who got all "Reservoir Dogs" fashion-crazy. The two hip-hop groups m-flo and RIP SLYME got together (maybe for the first time?) in 2025 to record "ARIGATTO" and make a video where they all looked like snazzy-looking heist folks just dying to be recruited by Quentin Tarentino himself.
Released in September 2025 as a digital download single and as the most recent entry in the 2020s slate of the "m-flo loves" series, "ARIGATTO" is basically a rapping volley among the members of the two groups including Lisa, Verbal and Ilmari. The back-and-forth starts things off before a fun and funky 70s melody joins the heist and heck the guys even have a grand old time singing away over the supposed victim in the trunk.
I remember the "m-flo loves" series which came out in the early-mid-2000s with Verbal and the gang collaborating with singers such as melody. & Ryohei, so it was nice to hear that m-flo came back with the concept during the early 2020s. This single managed to reach No. 17 on Oricon.
