Vacation Songs

 

Although the next couple of days following Showa Day are technically regular days, the Golden Week holidays have begun and apparently folks could have as many as twelve straight days off depending on how nice the bosses are. I knew that GW was on when I saw NHK show the annual Bullet Train capacity percentages and shots of highways showing a packed route going away from Tokyo and a relatively empty one going to Tokyo. From what I've seen so far, it looks like a lot of the Japanese may be keeping things within the nation instead of flying overseas due to the yen looking rather middling and the rise in a lot of things such as airplane fuel.

So I gather that it's time for an Author's Picks on vacations, and I'm surprised that I hadn't already done this in the past but I can rectify this right now.

(1962) Mieko Hirota -- Vacation

(1972) Takuro Yoshida -- Tabi no Yado （旅の宿）

(1986) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Chiisana Tabi (小さな旅）

(1990) Kome Kome Club -- Roman Hiko (浪漫飛行）

(1997) Yumi Yoshimura -- V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.

Hiroko Kasahara -- Tooi Natsu no Kyujitsu（遠い夏の休日）

 

This article's song title illustrates our feelings about those hot vacations...far away. We're well into spring but it sure doesn't feel like it today. We even saw a few snowflakes a few days ago flying about like gnats.

Anyways, allow me to bring back actress and singer Hiroko Kasahara（笠原弘子）. She's been in show business just about her entire life with her acting career beginning when she was around five years old in 1975 and then getting into the seiyuu industry in 1983 before finally going into recording in 1986. She's got quite the long discography despite it being the aspect of her overall career starting the latest.

From her June 1992 7th album "Tooi Natsu no Kyujitsu" (Distant Summer Holidays), I introduce the title track itself. Written and composed by Minori Hotate（保立稔）, it's a breezy and brassy contemporary version of 60s girl pop punctuated hard by a sax solo bent on jazzy excursions. It would make any current Torontonian swoon for the hot sunny days along the beach.

Barbee Boys -- Makeru mon ka（負けるもんか）

 

Well, that was quite the happy ending sequence for Episode 4 of "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）as you can see above. Nakamura saves the love of his life, Hirose, from some photography-crazed punks and he's celebrating his win at home. Meanwhile, the ending theme cavalcade of oldies continues apace and cheerfully for fans. Episode 5 had quite the explosion of delight with an old City Pop fave, Yasuha's（泰葉）"Fly-Day Chinatown" (フライディ・チャイナタウン).

As was the case with Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）& Scha Dara Parr's "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back"（今夜はブギー・バック）which was the ender for Episode 3, Barbee Boys' "Makeru mon ka" (Like Hell I'm Giving In), which was Nakamura's celebratory tune at the end of Episode 4, is also a song that I hadn't covered on the blog or heard at all. I was never all that much of a Barbee Boys fan although we do have a couple of their songs on KKP and up to now, my impression has been that the band loved to create songs showing conflict of all sorts whether it be internal or external.

"Makeru mon ka" was released as Barbee Boys' 5th single in April 1986 and as soon as I heard it, I knew it was a signature Barbee Boys song with those sparkly guitars, soprano saxophone and Kyoko's（杏子）vocals. Written and composed by band guitarist Tomotaka Imamichi（いまみちともたか）, it's about a guy's battle with himself about how to handle the potential consequences of his very assertive girlfriend wanting to drop by his place late at night. Methinks that the angel and devil on his two shoulders are having an Avengers level of fighting.

That's quite the music video for "Makeru mon ka" as well. There's nothing like ancient Soviet-era propaganda showing the populace actually having fun to attract viewers. Anyways, the song peaked at No. .47 on Oricon, and it was a track on Barbee Boys' 2nd album "Freebee" from November 1985. It hit No. 18.

J-Canuck's Reps for Showa Kayo（昭和歌謡）

via Wikimedia Commons

As I noted in my previous article, due to Wednesday the 29th being Showa Day in Japan (and thus the official start to Golden Week), NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）devoted a good chunk of its broadcast tonight to some of the Showa Era kayo kyoku which I was plenty grateful about. After all, this is what we're all here for when it comes to this blog. 

I recollect that I may have done something in the past to commemorate Showa Day via an Author's Picks but I decided to still go ahead with another try at a list. Initially, I'd thought about bringing over some of a list of most popular Showa Era karaoke songs but when I realized that most of those songs originated in the years 1985 to 1987, I jettisoned that idea for being a little too centralized, time-wise. Then, after some more thought, I blurted out "Oh, what the heck!". I'll just let my memories pick out one song that immediately comes to mind when I think of a certain decade or period within Showa (1926-1989) and let the chips fall where they may. 

The list below only consists of five songs...yes, very inadequate (I've left out City Pop and Group Sounds, for instance) but take this as an opportunity for folks to chime in with their representative kayo choices. Anyways, anything that would seem adequate would probably force me to make a new blog. Plus, Labels would throw a major tantrum at me. Still, allow me to mention the Blue Comets' "Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）from 1967 and Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Mayonaka no Door" （真夜中のドアー）from 1979.

(Prewar) Ichiro Fujiyama -- Tokyo Rhapsody （東京ラプソディ）

(Postwar/1950s) Frank Nagai -- Yurakucho de Aimashou (有楽町で逢いましょう）

(1960s) Hibari Misora -- Kanashii Sake （悲しい酒）

(1970s) Pink Lady -- UFO

(1980s) Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Rydeen (雷電）

Kaori Mizumori -- Koi no Owari no Nagoya ni Hitori（恋の終わりの名古屋にひとり）

 

I've been to Nagoya a few times and despite all the flak and indifference toward this major city in Japan, I think it's a perfectly nice metropolis to visit. Nagoyans and, on a larger scale, residents of Aichi Prefecture really bring the goods at wedding parties. Plus, the area is famous for all sorts of dishes that have been categorized as B-class. Ten-musu（天むす）in particular is one of my favourites. Just imagine...the combination of shrimp tempura and rice ball. Culinary match made in heaven ranking alongside peanut butter and chocolate to form Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! By the way, thank you Japanese Cooking 101!

As with a lot of other television programming, "Uta Con"（うたコン）is going on Golden Week hiatus but it still gave us one more episode. Since Wednesday is the beginning of the whole mess of national holidays in Japan with the first one being Showa Day, the NHK kayo kyoku show devoted a lot of its time to the Showa Era hits which was great.

Near the end, we got the usual new stuff from the guests. Enka singer and go-touchi song master Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）came up with her latest single last month. "Koi no Owari no Nagoya ni Hitori" (Alone in Nagoya After the Love is Gone) is one song that makes it very nakedly plain that it's the typical number about recovering after heartbreak in the city of ten-musu. Written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, it's quite upbeat and reassuring though and the ever-smiling Mizumori is more than happy to be the happy guide through the city in the music video.

Shogo Hamada -- Kayaku no You ni（火薬のように）/Momoe Yamaguchi -- Ai no Twilight Time（愛のTWILIGHT TIME）

 

It was less than a week ago when I posted up "Tokyo Songs" which of course would have to include Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）"Tokyo"（東京）, a not-so-positive but probably more realistic account of what life in the big city could be like at the time. Maybe it was released as a counterpoint to Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）hit "TOKIO" which was also out there in the same year.

Well, I was curious then to hear what the B-side of Hamada's "Tokyo" was like, so I came across "Kayaku no You ni" (Like Gunpowder). With that title, I had been expecting something quite hard rock and explosive, but it's actually quite the cordial rock n' roll story about a couple of high school buddies who choose to skip class and hop onto the motorcycle and hit the beach to play music and scope out the ladies. Ahhh...life in 1980 Japan...or maybe even 2026 Japan, I don't know.🤷 Hamada was behind words and music with Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranging everything.

Time for a crazy coda for this article. As I was looking over the information on "Kayaku no You ni" on J-Wiki, I found out that the song was actually Hamada's own self-cover of a track that he'd provided aidoru Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）all the way back in August 1977 when her 12th studio album "Golden Flight" was released. It was titled "Ai no Twilight Time" (Twilight Time for Love) at the time, had different lyrics about lost love by Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）, and though Hiroshi Kato's（加藤ヒロシ）arrangement kept things in rock, it had more of a honky-tonk style with a bit more in the production. "Golden Flight" hit No. 3 on Oricon. Always fascinating to hear a new Momoe tune and this one is no different.

bird -- Bitter Sweet Friday

 

Happy Monday! And perhaps that goes especially for the Japanese since the Golden Week holidays are right around the corner. It'll be interesting to see where a lot of folks will be headed this year. When I was living in Japan, I basically treated each GW as a staycation because I appreciated an empty Tokyo even more.

"Bitter Sweet Friday" might sound more appropriate for the day when we handle the urban contemporary material on KKP, but it's been in the backlog long enough. A track from bird's May 2011 7th album "New Basic", this one sounds anything but bittersweet. If anything, it sounds quite hopeful along that arrangement that brings to mind the Motown sound and Stevie Wonder. The singer was the lyricist here while Yoshito Tanaka（田中義人）took care of the zesty melody.