A Tribute to Hen 'Ai (Particular Hobbies)

 

Yesterday, I was watching NHK's daily morning information show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）and the theme was hen'ai. I'd never heard of the term before but was wondering if it were transcribed thusly: 「変愛」. Of course, seeing that kanji in my mind, I went "Oh, geez...I didn't think these guys would go into fetishism this early in the day...and on NHK, no less!" . But then, I saw the proper kanji: 「偏愛」. According to jisho.org, the definition is favoritism or partiality, but for the purposes of "Asaichi", it actually referred to particularly unusual hobbies. So, the reporters visited a housewife who has been collecting bags from stores and restaurants for decades, another lady who often spent two hours a day enjoying removing aphids from her plants, and another woman who thrilled at admiring/passing through iron bridges. 

Perhaps then, the whole thing about non-Japanese people collecting Japanese City Pop albums can be considered hen'ai as well. I used to collect newspaper articles on Japan and astronomy when I was a kid until all that browning newsprint became too much of a fire hazard. 

Anyways, it is Hump Day and so to relieve the usual stress that comes in the middle of the week, I thought that I could provide some examples of those rarefied pastimes via music.

(1984) Akiko Yano -- Ramen Tabetai （ラーメン食べたい）

I love my ramen but I'm not quite on the same level as some of these other folks who make going out for ramen a daily ritual. I've even seen magazines devoted to the dish in the convenience stores.

(1984) Taeko Ohnuki -- Metropolitan Museum （メトロポリタン美術館）

This wasn't covered in "Asaichi", but I can imagine people who would just adore visiting the various museums in a particular city. Tokyo has no shortage of those historical and artistic institutions. 

(1993) Chisato Moritaka -- Watarasebashi (渡良瀬橋)

As I mentioned above, there is that middle-aged lady featured in "Asaichi" who loves iron bridges, even right down to the rust patterns.

(2007) Uruma Delvi -- Oshiri Kajiri Mushi（おしりかじり虫）

Of course, there is also the lady who has an affinity for going aphid-hunting. It was even reported in "Asaichi" that she's got a good battle comrade in the form of a praying mantis.

(2023) Ryuusei -- Oute!（王手!）

Board game enthusiasts such as players of shogi can be included. And perhaps it can include those who love to simply collect the tile sets.

Asqua -- Blue Lullaby（ブルーララバイ）

 

Up until recently, I had never heard of this singer-songwriter Asqua（明日香）who hailed from Aichi Prefecture but then I listened to her wonderful song which was released as her third single from December 1983, "Blue Lullaby". Thanks to her gentle piano and string-led melody and Yoko Oshita's（大下洋子）lyrics, her "Blue Lullaby" sounded as if it had been created and recorded from at least half a decade prior to its early 1980s release date. In addition, Asqua had a comforting voice that reminded me of the golden tones of Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）who would soon be making her own debut within the next few years.

Born Minako Suga or Kan（菅美奈子）, Asqua took her first steps into a career in music through the annual Yamaha Popular Song Contest in 1981 and then released her debut single in late 1982. She released a total of eleven singles, three albums and six mini-albums. Sadly, her life would come to an end in October 2013 at the age of 49 due to cancer. A couple of live albums were posthumously released in 2014. 

Yoko Akino with KINTA -- Ima wa Dakishimete（今は抱きしめて）

 

Yoko Akino（秋野暢子）has been an actress, tarento and singer, but I've usually only seen her at the middle occupation because of her appearances on variety shows and commercials such as the one above. Looks like she's touting the wonders of consommé cubes while a doo-wop song is being played in the background.

Now, to be frank, Akino's discography only seems to consist of six songs which were released between 1977 and 1989. This one here is just her second foray behind the recording mike and it's the first song she'd released since that first song in 1977. Her 1985 "Ima wa Dakishimete" (Hold Me Now) has her partnered up with KINTA, the leader and drummer of the band Twist（ツイスト）which has been associated with rocker Masanori Sera（世良公則）. 

How that partnership was generated, I don't know but I guess in keeping with that doo-wop tune for that Akino commercial, "Ima wa Dakishimete" also has an old-timey rock n' roll/pop feeling from the 50s or 60s. Neither of their vocals are in the awe-inspiring range but kudos to them for putting together this pleasant number; the lyrics were by Akino while KINTA took care of the melody. To finish off, "Ima wa Dakishimete" was the B-side to their single "Yoroshikattara Yon'nasai yo"（よろしかったらお寄んなさいよ...Feel Free to Drop By If You'd Like）.

Yuri Sato -- Lonely Girl（ロンリー・ガール）

 

I only discovered this particular song within the last day or so, but it's interesting when I encounter a phenomenon where two totally different songs of the same title get released within a couple of months of each other.

The song in question is "Lonely Girl". I remember the title track from Junko Yagami's（八神純子）February 1983 album with the same name which was this mid-tempo introspective City Pop tune. Now I've come across this "Lonely Girl" which was released as the sophomore single of Yuri Sato（佐東由梨）only a couple of months later in April 1983. Listening to this one, I'd also wondered if this could also fall under the City Pop umbrella but aside from an urbane intro and a sharp horn section, Sato's "Lonely Girl" is more of an especially funky strut aidoru tune. The song also had some of the big songwriting powerhouses behind it: lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）.

However, the song didn't make any sort of dent...it actually reached No. 186 on Oricon (I wasn't aware that Oricon would broadcast songs scoring that low), and unfortunately for Sato, her singing career was limited to just four singles from November 1982 to December 1983. Believe it or not, according to her J-Wiki article, one reason for the fact that she never really caught fire within the music zeitgeist may have been partly due to her hair. She had just won the Miss Seventeen contest (sponsored by the teen magazine "Seventeen") which led to her path into music and opted to have her hair cut really short into something rather boyish, but with the fandom going gaga at the time over fellow aidoru Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）famous Seiko-chan cut, Sato didn't really garner much interest. By the time she grew it out again (to resemble more of a Seiko-chan cut), it was the time of her fourth and final single and the writing was probably on the wall. She would retire from the geinokai after March 1984.

Rumiko Koyanagi -- Limelight（来夢来人）

 

Two of my more memorable Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）songs are her early 1970s song "Watashi no Joukamachi" (わたしの城下町）and then her 1983 brassy hit "Ohisashiburi ne" (お久しぶりね）. Both of them are very different in arrangement with "Watashi no Joukamachi" being a poignant ballad and "Ohisashiburi ne" being about a lady who's come back to town all cosmopolitan and man-hungry.

I'm also falling for the charms of this single by Koyanagi, "Limelight", which was released as her 30th single from January 1980. Imbued with some traditionalism in the introduction and then a lot of typical Japanese imagery such as fluttering cherry blossom petals, "Limelight" still strikes me as this hybrid of kayo kyoku, disco groove and rock guitar. 

It had initially been titled "Samidare Onnazaka"（五月雨女坂...Gentle Path to a Shrine in an Early Spring Rain） and was going to be given lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）but for some reason, plans changed and it ended up with Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）as the word weaver. Okada's words seem to analogize a romantic relationship to the everchanging seasons throughout the year. Can't imagine what winter is going to be like. Meanwhile, Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）took care of melody and arrangement respectively and my compliments go to them for this disco kayo, especially with the impending crescendo before the chorus comes crashing in. Finally, Koyanagi's vocals seem to take this serene roost above all of the melodic mixture. The song reached No. 22 on Oricon.

Mayumi Asaka -- Niji Iro no Yume（虹色の夢）

 

Since I began the Mayumi Asaka（朝加真由美）file back in 2023, I've learned that the Hokkaido-born entertainer had been a singer of City Pop and then jazz in the 1980s. She was also and remains an actress and according to her J-Wiki article, her first dramatic role was in a 1973 episode of "Ultraman Taro"（ウルトラマンタロウ）as heroine Saori Shiratori（白鳥さおり）when she was a teen.

Well, I guess we've come full circle then, because I am providing her very first single which was released in August 1973. Her name back then was rendered all in hiragana（あさかまゆみ）and stayed so for the first couple of years in her career before reverting to the whole kanji route. But getting back to that debut song, it was "Niji Iro no Yume" (Rainbow Dreams) and as the title sounds, the down-home country-style melody by composer Koichi Morita（森田公一）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）is a very upbeat tune fit for an aidoru of that time although she hasn't been categorized as such on J-Wiki. However, I still get these Mari Amachi（天地真理）vibes after listening to the song a few times. Yu Aku（阿久悠）was responsible for the lyrics.

Nobue Kawana - のぶえの海 (Nobue's Sea)

Oh brother, grab your tissues.

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Nobue Kawana(河名伸江). Born on June 21, 1954, Nobue developed a passion for music early in life. She began studying violin in kindergarten, attended

Todoroki Elementary School, and later went to Higashi-Fukasawa Junior High School. She was a competitive swimmer, too. In 1970, she entered Jissen Girls’ High School, but soon became ill and spent the following years going back and forth between the hospital and her room.

Even then, she kept making music. Nobue spent long stretches recording songs onto cassette tapes and playing with her friends. She wrote about the sea, love, illness, and whatever else was on her mind. She died on June 21, 1974, her twentieth birthday.

While she was taken from us too soon, thanks to some faithful friends, Keiko Saitou & Ryohei Suzuki, they helped gather the songs she had recorded into のぶえの海 (Nobue no Umi, or Nobue’s Sea), a privately made album released in 1975, made as a parting gift for the people who knew her. Branco Label gave the record a wider audience with a CD reissue in 2013, followed by a vinyl reissue in 2023.

Listening to Nobue’s Sea feels like watching someone’s childhood home videos. Ryohei’s narration appears between some of the songs, sharing memories of Nobue and her love of the ocean. The recordings have an amateur quality, but there’s an innocence to them that makes them endearing and deeply melancholy. Often, it’s just Nobue singing with a guitar and a friend beside her. It melts your heart really.

The opening song, “Hajimete no Asa,” sets the tone for the whole album. There’s a purity in her voice that draws you in immediately. But the song that always brings me to tears is “Anata wa Umi” (“You Are the Sea”). It’s one of the most sorrowful piano songs I’ve ever heard. I remember hearing it before I knew Nobue’s story, and somehow I already felt like I was mourning someone.

You can't really review this record... I mean, technically you can, but assigning a verdict to something this personal feels dirty. The recordings aren’t polished studio productions, yet Nobue’s gift for songwriting still shines through. The tape hiss gives the album an almost ghostly atmosphere, as though her songs have traveled to us from another room and another time. I don’t mean that insensitively. It’s part of what makes the music feel so intimate.

Listening it also reminds me that tomorrow is not promised. I've heard plenty of stories about artists dying before they get to see their work fully realized. For me this one is the most tragic, as it's someone so young. I'll admit it puts a fear in my hear that I might die before completing my own creative endeavors. Yet, at the same time, I feel encouraged to not live in fear and to simply create to the best of my ability while I'm still here, in spite of my own struggles. 

There isn’t much reliable information about Nobue herself. But thanks to the liner notes and some helpful Discogs comments, we can get a glimpse of her character by the people who knew her best.

I can’t do Nobue’s Sea justice with words. But maybe her friend can.

Keiko Saitou, recounts:

“I met her first when I was 16. I would go over to her house all the time to sing and record music onto cassette tapes. She had perfect pitch and could play any instrument she touched- violin, guitar, and composition as well. I would harmonize with her, and play piano, as well as help with lyrics.

My parents greatly disapproved of our friendship, they would scold me for not applying my every second to my studies. But I still spent much of my time practicing my abilities in songwriting and going over to her house to play.

She was fashionable and influential to her friends in a positive sense. Despite a sickness that had wrecked her health since early teenhood.

On her 19th birthday, in 1974, she passed away.

I independently attempted to have a physical LP of her music released, and in 1975, it was done. With the help of a male mutual friend who told her life story in segments sandwiched between the tracks. These copies were given to our friend group as almost a parting gift for us all.

I still think about how every day, after school, I would visit her in her room as she was always sick in bed because of the untreatable cancer. We sang of love, sickness, and a longing for the sea.”