Kyoko Koizumi -- Hitori Machikado（ひとり街角）

 

Well, first off, I should recognize the fact that 80s aidoru and actress Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）celebrated her 60th birthday earlier this year. Hopefully, her kanreki has gone well. 

Less than a month ago, I featured Kyon-Kyon in techno dance mode through her 1989 song "Micro Wave"（マイクロWAVE）. Today, I'm heading back to her early days as an aidoru with her third single "Hitori Machikado" (Alone on the Corner) which was released in September 1982. I'd been accustomed to hearing Koizumi as this rather sassy-sounding teenybopper so hearing "Hitori Machikado", a song of being alone once again with only a seashell brooch as the final symbol of a former relationship, was interesting because the lass sounds less sass and more conventional high-falutin' aidoru.

Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, I'm never going to turn down a disco beat in an aidoru tune and it's got those fleet-footed strings that occupied many of such a tune. "Hitori Machikado" peaked at No. 13 on Oricon. Another piece of trivia is that this single was Koizumi's first truly original song since the first two singles including her debut "Watashi no 16-sai" (私の16才）were actually cover songs of previously recorded tunes by other singers.

According to the J-Wiki article on the song, it picked up a number of awards including a Gold Prize at the Shinjuku Music Festival for that year. During the finale of that festival though, Koizumi was pelted with a raw egg which hit her on the head by some disgruntled person in the audience. Apparently, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, who had been the runner-up for the Gold, immediately came to her assistance.

Hibari Misora -- Tsugaru no Furusato（津軽のふるさと）

 

Almost two hours before this typing, we were watching NHK News when the announcers went to Red Alert to announce a major tremor hitting the Tohoku region, especially Aomori Prefecture which registered a Shindo 6+. Not sure how people and infrastructure are faring right now but daily commenter Brian Mitchell and his family live in Aomori, so I'm hoping that everyone there is doing OK.

Under the circumstances affecting Aomori Prefecture and to acknowledge the fact that the most recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）celebrated the 80th anniversary of the late Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）debut in the music industry, I'm bringing in a go-touchi (regional/local) song from the area as sung by the Queen of Kayo Kyoku, "Tsugaru no Furusato" (My Home, Tsugaru) which was originally released as a double-A-side single "Umakko Sensei"/Tsugaru no Furusato"（馬っこ先生/津軽のふるさと）back in January 1953.

Written and composed by Masao Yoneyama（米山正夫）, the video above seems to have Misora singing it in her later years but "Tsugaru no Furusato" sounds like a very melancholy paean to the old hometown area of mountains and apples. I remember reading that in the postwar period, there was a massive movement of young people as young as junior high school graduates from the rural regions to the cities to help out in driving the Japanese economy back to prosperity. I'm sure that songs like "Tsugaru no Furusato" must have tugged on the heartstrings and tear ducts of all those from the Tohoku or even other regions who were toiling away in Tokyo.

Hitomi Kaga -- Tokyo Flamenco（東京フラメンコ）

 

Feeling a bit dozy right now since I'm still digesting a hearty ramen lunch along with a gelato dessert. My gastrointestinal fortitude has been faltering of late, I'm afraid.

Anyways, commenter YMOfan04 has been giving me some names of rather obscure kayo kyoku singers from long ago, so I've been perusing them. One such person is Hitomi Kaga（加賀ひとみ）. There is a J-Wiki article on a Hitomi Kaga (same kanji) but it turns out that the name belongs to a mezzo-soprano opera singer whose high school years were in the 1980s, and looking at the thumbnail featuring the single cover above, this is definitely not the same Hitomi Kaga.

Nope, this Hitomi Kaga, whose real name is Masako Nishikawa（西川雅子）from Ishikawa Prefecture, released seven singles in the latter half of the 1960s before taking a long sabbatical until 1984. She then put out another three singles up to 1989 also throwing in her first album. Koga's third single was "Tokyo Flamenco" and not surprisingly it's got quite the Latin beat within the Mood Kayo setting although its intro sounds like a rather dramatic beginning to an ancient European war movie. "Tokyo Flamenco", which came out in November 1966, was written by Sakae Kouda（幸田栄）and composed by the legendary Minoru Endo（遠藤実）.

Kiyoshi Hikawa-- Tabi de Gozansu Ojarumaru（旅でござんす おじゃる丸）

 

A few years ago, I noted that the anime "Ojarumaru"（おじゃる丸）has a long-running list of theme songs to match its own longevity on television. It would seem that anyone who's anyone in the music industry has given their contribution to the purin-loving title character. Eclectic rock diva Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）is one of those people.

Well, a few weeks ago, I saw enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）provide his own song to this current season of "Ojarumaru", and though Hikawa has been dabbling into other genres over the years, he has come back to his genre roots for this one. His "Tabi de Gozansu Ojarumaru" (It's a Journey, Ojarumaru) is a spritely old-school enka tune with a nice amount of brass. Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, the song takes me back when Hikawa began his career as the Boy Prince of Enka.

Ryuichi Sakamoto -- Photo Music（フォト・ムジーク）

 

Well, how about that for a coincidence? Just last week, I posted up an article regarding NHK-FM's late-night radio show "Crossover Eleven"（クロスオーバーイレブン）which focused on a lot of the popular non-Japanese music. And then just now, I discovered the radio program that immediately preceded it.

"Sound Street"（サウンドストリート）was a show which focused on both Japanese and foreign music that played in the 10-11 pm hour for about 45 minutes Mondays to Fridays. Lasting from 1978 to 1987, it was hosted by a number of folks in the music industry including the amazing Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）who held the Tuesday night slot for about five years in the 1980s. The above broadcast from June 1st 1982 had Sakamoto inviting his good friend Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）for a round of songs and laughs. Tats himself would host the Thursday program between 1983 and 1986.

The opening theme for "Sound Street" was Sakamoto's own creation "Photo Music" although I'm not sure whether it had been played right from the beginning of its run in 1978 (perhaps before its release on vinyl in 1981, there had been no official opener). Of course, that was also the same year that Yellow Magic Orchestra launched so I'm sure he and his fellow bandmates, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, were fully in thrall to the technopop sound, and so not surprisingly, The Professor's dreamy and whimsical "Photo Music" is right up that YMO alley. "Photo Music" actually didn't get released until it found itself as a B-side to the light and fun "Computer Obaachan"（コンピューターおばあちゃん）which was released in December 1981.

Marie (folk duo) -- Orange House ni Sayonara（オレンジハウスにさようなら）

 

An orange house somewhere in Japan, eh? Well, I can think of a place with an orange sign and that would be the family restaurant Royal Host.

I was so glad that there was one right by the R&B Hotel where I stayed during my last trip to Japan almost a decade ago. Good for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Well, apparently the orange house in "Orange House ni Sayonara" (Goodbye to the Orange House) was a cafe where a lass and her now erstwhile boyfriend used to frequent during their relationship. Now, she can only sneak a peek outside at her ex with a new girl on her arm in the coffeehouse. 

"Orange House ni Sayonara" was the 2nd single for the folk duo Marie（麻里絵）released in June 1977. From listening to this song whose words and music were provided by up-and-coming singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）, it's got that rather upbeat chorus accompanied by melancholy verses which I guess could represent the ups and downs of a typical romance life. Not sure if this had been used as a theme for a certain cafe (or family restaurant), although I don't think any commercial establishment would ever appreciate being associated with heartbreak. Heartburn, maybe, but not heartbreak. In any case, I had initially thought about writing on Marie's debut single "Ki ni Naru Anata"（気になるあなた ）, only to find out that I had already posted about it back in 2023.

Aya Shimazu -- Tokai no Suzume（都会の雀）

 

Enka singer Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）has been a frequent presence on shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and for good reason. She's one of the best chanteuses out there who also possesses a hint of soul in her delivery. But I feel a bit regretful that I seem to have usually posted articles which include her doing cover versions of other singers' songs. Maybe the last one I posted which was on a Shimazu original was "Natsu Tsubaki"（夏つばき）back in 2022.

Well, she was on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta" last night and she sang her 25th single from March 1999, "Tokai no Suzume" (Swallow of the City). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, I'm kinda on the fence on whether the song is a contemporary enka or whether it's a blend of enka and urban contemporary which would then put it into the category of New Adult Music. Whichever genre I ultimately decide upon, it is a song that shows that soulfulness in her vocals

When I first heard the song last night on NHK, my impression of the lyrics was that the swallow, being a migratory bird, was a metaphor for any wayward ex-boyfriend or new boyfriend being invited (back) into the fold as it were by a lonely hope-deficient woman. However, seeing the official music video above, "Tokai no Suzume" may actually be more about a wayward buddy in arms stuck in a criminal crisis.