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.
Well, now that we're in early August 2026, I might be introducing this song a month late. After all, the Tanabata festival is an early July event in Japan. But still...better late than never.
Yukiko Haneda（羽根田征子）is a singer that I first introduced back in 2020. The reason I found out about her was due to her 1989 cover of the late great Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）"It Isn't Easy" from his 1982 "Awakening" album. That particular cover can be found on Haneda's 2nd album"Sora", which was produced by Sato. I've also found another really pleasant track from that one, and it's called "Milky Way". Again composed by Sato and written by Yui Masaki（真沙木唯）, it's an urban and urbane synthpop number with a touch of bossa nova. Haneda's strong and silky vocals are given some backup by Sato himself.
Looking at the above public domain-friendly photo from Wikimedia Commons, he's got considerably less hair and he's got more of a paunch but he'll always be Billy Joel to me (ha, ha). Yup, the Piano Man turned 77 a few months ago but I will always see him in that work-a-day suit tickling the ivories.
A few weeks ago, I did a Reminiscings of Youth posting on Level 42' s"Running in the Family" album, one of those EPs that I put onto audiotape as one of the go-to listenings during those times overnight when I just had to get a thesis done or cram for an exam during university. Well, I forgot that Joel's July 25th 1986 album"The Bridge" was another one of those musical energy drinks that I had also transferred to tape. Incidentally, it is a holiday here in Toronto so I'm doing the usual special ROY post.
"The Bridge" isn't up there with Joel's absolute best such as "The Stranger" or "Turnstiles" or "An Innocent Man", and even Billy himself agreed with his critics that "The Bridge" wasn't the greatest work he's created. But I have to state that even a self-professed not-so-great album by Billy Joel is still not a bad thing at all. Having said that, I'm not giving "The Bridge" the same treatment as my two-parter on "The Stranger" in which every track was deserving of some comment.
One reason that I ended up buying Joel's 10th studio album was because of "Big Man on Mulberry Street", a Big Band jazz blast that was the Piano Man's contribution to a "Moonlighting" episode in which Maddie Hayes, played by Cybill Shepherd, dreams an epic old Hollywood song-and-dance sequence starring his love-and-hate detective partner David Addison, played by Bruce Willis.
Yep, you (who are younger than 40) read that correctly...Bruce Willis. As with Joel, he now has less hair and more of a paunch, but back then, who knew that he could trip the light fantastic with a bunch of choreographers? But seeing that sequence and hearing "Big Man on Mulberry Street", the story of a nebbish in New York City who punched way too high above his station in life, I was just so impressed that this 70s pop-and-rock guy could swing jazz as well that I knew I had to get "The Bridge" just for this track.
Tracks from the album did make it out as singles. And I did hear "Modern Woman" and "A Matter of Trust" on the radio all the time, but to be honest, they never really stuck with me. However, if "Big Man on Mulberry Street" was the reason that I purchased "The Bridge", then the first track "Running on Ice" was the reason that I've kept "The Bridge" all these years.
"Running on Ice" is the equivalent of Charlie Brown skating and failing horribly as he takes out every single Peanuts character on the frozen pond and with everyone from Lucy to Snoopy out to get him, he just causes more mayhem. I heard it has been used in a spoof drama on the US version of "The Office" and perhaps it can be used for some sort of comedic ice hockey montage. The drums by Liberty DeVitto are incredible and absolutely vital for the song to work.
I've known that Joel is a singing chameleon of sorts. He's done Ray Charles on "New York State of Mind", Mick Jagger on "It's Still Rock n' Roll to Me" and even Frankie Valli for "Uptown Girl". But I had no idea that Joel was channeling The Police for "Running on Ice". I had been wondering why he clipped his vocals so high on that one and it turned out he was trying to emulate Sting.
The last song I'm featuring here is another jazzy one and speaking of Ray Charles, he finally and successfully got associated with Joel on "Baby Grand". Billy may not have been able to get the legendary Charles to do "New York State of Mind" initially but a decade later, the two of them were having fun with their ballad in tribute to the baby grand piano.
In Canada, "The Bridge" made it up to No. 10 on RPM while it reached No. 7 on America's Billboard. Its highest rankings came in Australia and Japan where it peaked at No. 2 in both nations. So, as usual, let's find out what singles were coming out onto record store shelves in Japan in June 1986.
I was watching "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）last night when I saw the ever-beaming enka veteran Mitsuko Nakamura（中村美津子）appear on stage to perform a song that I'd initially assumed was one of her oldies. As it turned out, it was her latest (her 73rd) single from May this year.
"Jinsei Banzai"(Here's to Life) was released to commemorate Nakamura's 40th year in the music industry and I'm pretty sure when it comes to the annual Kohaku Utagassen, her name will probably be in the Red team lineup. Written by Kyosuke Kuni（久仁京介）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, it's a very genki song showing off her satisfaction and gratitude to everyone over the past four decades. The enka is in there of course, but I could hear a rumbling rhythm reminiscent of a 50s Latin-tinged number.
Usually a song title containing the word "highway" in it would conjure up the genres of City Pop or rock n' roll in my mind...the latter especially as some lone wolf rides out on his Harley into the sunset on that titular road to nowhere and everywhere.
However, we have Hikashu's（ヒカシュー）2nd single from 1980 titled "Shiroi Highway"(White Highway) which was written and composed by leader Koichi Makigami（巻上公一）. I wrote about the B-side"Puyo Puyo"（プヨプヨ）back in January 2024 and then there was my previous posting on the band which happened to be on their 1979 debut single"Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni"（20世紀の終りに）, so I figured it was time to close the circle, so to speak.
"Puyo Puyo" had that New Wave mixed in with the technopop but the A-side I think is more on the technopop, and strangely enough, Makigami did come up with a story of that loner on the endless titular highway that I mentioned in the top paragraph; there's even a synth version of that famous whistle from "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" coming in at points. Makigami's vocals make the song sound like a heroic tokusatsu theme so that lone wolf vibe is even more enhanced. But instead of a Japanese superhero show, "Shiroi Highway" was used for a car stereo commercial.
When it comes to Yasuko Naito（内藤やす子）, I will always remember her for "Roppongi Lullaby"（六本木ララバイ）from the mid-1980s whether it be the refined urban lullaby version or the one with a bit more of rock kick to it.
However, let's go to her debut single from November 1975, "Otouto yo"(Hey, Kid Brother). From the cover of that single, Naito gave a first impression of someone who didn't suffer fools gladly and could carve flesh out verbally or physically. Even the way the title is displayed, it looks like quite the rough life in the city.
Although nothing of the kind is mentioned in its J-Wiki article, I wonder whether "Otouto yo" could have been an answer song of sorts to folk band Kaguyahime's（かぐや姫）"Imouto"（妹...Younger Sister） which had been released the previous year. Lyrically speaking, and those were provided by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）, whereas "Imouto" was the touching story of an orphaned young man proudly if sadly giving away her younger sister to his best friend through marriage, "Otouto yo" is the more pensive tale of a young woman trying to get her estranged younger brother back on the straight and narrow path, presumably pleading with him not to end up like herself. The music by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）is dramatic and somewhat foreboding, but there's an ever-present ocarina blowing away as if it represents one lone ember of innocence and goodness in the man.
For a debut, "Otouto yo" was an auspicious one for Naito as it broke the Top 10 of Oricon by peaking at No. 8, becoming the 24th-ranked single for 1976. The singer also earned Best New Artist honours at the 5th annual FNS Kayo Festival, also in 1976. The single sold around 650,000 records.
I've seen my fair share of shimmering mirages in the past including the one for a non-existent body of water. Nothing more exciting than that.
Looks like Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）was in the middle of a Danny Thomas spit take in that cover photo for her October 2006 album"NUNKI". The track I'm covering here is "Mirage" which doesn't really come across as anything Shibuya-kei, the genre that I've always associated her with. The soft and kittenish French vocals are there but I think there's more of an intriguing indies pop feeling with some adventurous percussion blasting away. Karie took care of the lyrics while American musician and longtime Japanese resident Jim O'Rourke was the composer and arranger.
I bumped into this video purely by accident yesterday when it was released onto YouTube, and I know that the band Mrs. GREEN APPLE has been known for participating in some really snazzy music videos. However, although the song was another supremely upbeat tune by the guys, I was rather marveling at the very ambitious parkour the three were doing all over the city in their latest video.
And then I saw the title: "Brand New". Then, 2+2 started popping up in my head immediately after which I checked the relevant J-Wiki article and sure enough, my rushed suspicions were verified. Mrs. GREEN APPLE's latest digital download single from July 13th was indeed the theme song for the Japanese release of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day". Reading that all three members were big fans of the superhero, they must have had the time of their lives acting like the webslinger.
Written and composed by vocalist Motoki Ohmori（大森元貴）, "Brand New" isn't actually the first time that Mrs. GREEN APPLE has come up with a theme song for people with super powers. I recall writing about another song of theirs that fits the bill years ago. In any case, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has come out here and in Tokyo, so I gather that my old movie viewing buddies there are already planning their big outing to see it. I will be catching it myself pretty soon.
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