Cassiopea Live in Los Angeles -2026

The YouTube algorithm works in mysterious ways.

I discovered CASIOPEA completely by accident when I was in high school, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I listen to their self-titled 1979 debut album religiously—at least once a month. Seeing them perform live has been on my bucket list for years, and on September 12, 2026, that dream finally came true when CASIOPEA performed at The Wiltern in Los Angeles’s Koreatown.

The September 12 and 13 concerts marked the legendary Japanese jazz-fusion band’s long-awaited return to Los Angeles. After decades of watching old performances through a computer screen, I was finally going to see Issei Noro (野呂 一生) shred in person. Truly, this was a moment for the ages.

Man, when I tell you the line was long, I mean it wrapped around the building like a rattlesnake. People showed up for this performance.  Apparently, the Los Angeles Japanese-fusion community travels as a unit, because I recognized a lot of the same crowd from the Masayoshi Takanaka (高中 正義) concert earlier this year.

Thankfully, the line moved quickly, and I was inside within minutes. The Wiltern is a beautiful historic venue, with an interior that makes any concert feel like a special occasion. Naturally, there was also a bar waiting for me in the lobby—with $20 drinks and some impressively overpriced popcorn.

Once I reached my seat, however, that was when the real magic began.

The current CASIOPEA lineup features founding member Noro—the GOAT—on guitar, Jun Abe (安部 潤) on keyboards, Yoshinori Imai (今井義頼) on drums, and Yoshihiro Naruse (鳴瀬喜博) on bass. Abe joined the band in 2025, when CASIOPEA returned to its original name after performing as CASIOPEA-P4.

The opening portion of the concert felt like a primer on the band’s long history. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t recognize nearly half of the songs—I clearly need to catch up on my jazz fusion—but hearing classics such as “Eyes of the Mind” and “Dazzling” performed live was something special.

One of the highlights was hearing four songs from the band’s latest album, TRUE BLUE. Released in August 2025, it was the first CASIOPEA album to feature Jun Abe on keyboards. Of the four new songs, my favorite was easily “Eagle – Fly Around.”

This was definitely the toughest song in the set. It was bombastic and action-packed while still carrying that signature CASIOPEA whimsy. I could easily imagine it playing during the middle of an anime fight sequence.

Then these cheeky geezers tried to walk offstage as if the concert were over.

Come on now. They obviously weren’t going to end the show with only their new material. They knew their audience, and after a roaring standing ovation, the band returned for an encore featuring “Domino Line,” “Tokimeki,” and “Asayake.”

This was my first time hearing “Tokimeki,” but I was very familiar with the other two. There probably isn’t a CASIOPEA fan alive who hasn’t heard “Asayake.” I would have been completely satisfied if the concert had ended there—but after yet another standing ovation, Issei knew exactly what he had to do.

He brought out the big guns.

“Take Me” is the quintessential CASIOPEA song. It would have been a crime not to play it, and for a moment, it seemed as if they had saved the best for last.

Or did they?

Enter “Fight Man.”

I remember watching the old CASIOPEA vs. T-SQUARE performance and being flabbergasted by how epic that version was. Thankfully, the band did not disappoint here either. 

Before I forget, I have to emphasize just how energetic Issei Noro is onstage. This man was 69 years old and still shredding his guitar like it was 1982. Watching him command the stage was worth the price of admission by itself.

Surely, CASIOPEA would end the concert of a lifetime with their most epic live song.

Nope.

We got one final track.

I’ll be honest—“The Sky” was another song I didn’t recognize. It was good, but I probably wouldn’t have chosen it as the final performance. It simply didn’t have the same explosive energy as “Fight Man.” Still, that is a minor complaint about an otherwise unforgettable show.

CASIOPEA live in Los Angeles was everything I hoped it would be: energetic, funky, exciting, playful and technically ridiculous. Honestly, there are too many words I could use to describe it. My only regret is that they did not play my favorite song of theirs ever; Midnight Rendezvous. C'est la vie.

The best part may have been connecting with other CASIOPEA fans in real life and getting together for some good old-fashioned Korean barbecue after the show. It felt great to talk about Japanese music outside the confines of internet forums and YouTube comment sections. For one night, the little online community surrounding this music became something tangible.

Most importantly, I made my bucket list a little shorter.

Lord willing, this will not be CASIOPEA’s final journey to the West. Hopefully, after seeing the reception they received in Los Angeles, they’ll make a quick return. The audience made one thing perfectly clear: America loves CASIOPEA.

Special thanks to all the friends and fellow fans from the Masayoshi Takanaka Discord Server who attended the concert with me—and who provided these excellent photographs!

Kyoko Koizumi -- Yokosuka Daydream（横須賀デイ・ドリーム）

 

I kept seeing this Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）album "Today's Girl" up on the racks at Wah Yueh, the old Chinatown record store that I used to frequent as a university student back in the 1980s. I never splurged the cash on it, so my loss.

Well, at least, I can capture some lost glory thanks to YouTube. One track on Kyon-Kyon's February 1985 top-ranking 6th album is "Yokosuka Daydream" which is the final track on Side A, given the nickname of "Funny Face" as opposed to Side B's "Serious Face". When it comes to any song with the seaside city of Yokosuka in the title, I always think of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）"Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）from around a decade prior.

Unlike the Momoe classic though where the aidoru of the 1970s is handwringing over a certain love, Kyon-Kyon seems to be having some vicarious fun playing hard to get at the expense of her boyfriend when he gets a little serious in the love department while in the titular city. But that was her image back then as the naughty pixie aidoru. Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）was responsible for the lyrics while Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）took care of the rapid-fire synth-and-string melody and arrangement respectively. 

the Po -- Uh-oh!（おっおー）

 

The latter half of the 1980s was known for a more dynamic segment of the Golden Age of Aidoru and it was also when Japanese music in general was beginning to diversify with more genres coming into the mainstream such as ska and glam rock. Another trend throughout those years was the advent of mellow pop created and performed by female singer-songwriters such as Miki Imai（今井美樹）and Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）; still have a fondness for that music.

Recently, I listened to this singer-songwriter who hails from Osaka but currently resides in London and I wondered whether she and some other fellow female singers could bring a second wave of mellow music back into Japan. I'd be all for that. Her stage name is the Po（ポー）and with her background love being Western music and musicals, she apparently first began her career by posting cover versions of other acts' songs onto YouTube.

Then in July this year, she released her first bona fide single in the form of "Uh-oh!", a mellow English and Japanese pop tune with a touch of soul that has had me thinking about those aforementioned singers of yesteryear. The tone is not only great but I also appreciate the undulating presence of the title throughout the tune as she sings what I think is her message of having a potential couple not needing to fit together like perfect pieces in a puzzle. There can be rough edges or an unexpected ridge or notch but that's part of the process of getting together.

Suiyoubi no Campanella feat. Peanuts-kun -- Ichigo Got it（いちご Got it）

 

I'd like to introduce the above character Peanuts-kun（ピーナッツくん）. He's a virtual YouTuber who's been around for about a decade and although he looks a little constipated, he seems like a nice sort. Peanuts-kun also has a flair for rapping well.

A couple of months ago, he and the band Suiyoubi no Campanella（水曜日のカンパネラ）collaborated to release their own single "Ichigo Got it" (Strawberry Got it). It's a techno dance beat-heavy duet with Peanuts-kun and Utaha（詩羽）rapping at about Warp 1 about the wonders of strawberries. I've got no complaints about that at all since I love Japanese strawberries which are so sweet that they don't need the condensed milk that accompanies them whenever folks go strawberry picking in Japan. The sugar spike those two ingredients create could have customers racing all over the countryside.

The above is apparently the very first appearance of Peanuts-kun back in 2017. A little warning though that it gets a little scatological. 

Etsuko Sai -- Hitomi no Kirei na Lover Man（瞳のきれいなLover Man）

 

The above comes from Cufon Fonts, a website from which you can apparently download fonts for free, and I hope that I can use their image above at the same rate as well. Feel free to take a look. But I wanted to start this article with this since Delication is not only a new font that actually celebrated its first birthday last month, it also happens to be the name of Etsuko Sai's（彩恵津子）January 1986 album. Other than that, it doesn't really exist in the English language.

Getting back to Sai's album, one track there is "Hitomi no Kirei na Lover Man" (Lover Man with the Beautiful Eyes). I've had this one on the backlog for so long that I was really feeling the pressure to finally get this one posted so here it is. Written by Sai herself, it's quite the breezy nighttime-sounding City Pop ballad (with lovely background chorus harmonies to match). Composing was a double-duty affair with Ichiro Hada（羽田一郎）and Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）working on the melody. Yep, it's THAT Toshinobu Kubota very early in his R&B career, and apparently he and Hada had worked on some of the former's early songs.

Tadaharu Nakano -- Suma Koshinkyoku (須磨行進曲)

Summer has came and went in the northern hemisphere, but I'd like to talk a little bit about my annual solo summer trip this year. Going against my tendency to head north, I decided to head towards western Japan this time. The destination was the port city of Kobe in Hyogo prefecture. I've been to Kobe a couple of times when I was younger, but it was only ever for a day trip when touring the bigger tourist spots in the Kansai region like Osaka and Kyoto with my family. But with the allure of meat and dairy products, the nearby Suma Sea World, and the balance of ocean and mountain views, I was all ready to revisit it for a proper trip.

But, now, you know me - my domestic travels choices are always led by kayo-related ulterior motives. So, what is it this time? 

1. Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴). The jazz man spent his formative years in the city due his father's (a pastor) work transfer, before moving back to his home prefecture of Ehime for middle and high school. 

2. Haruo Minami (三波春夫). The man with the most welcoming of smiles has a few Hyogo and Kobe-related entries from his rendition of the entirety of the Tale of Heike. I also had to get a bit of Minami-based research work done in Kyoto a prefecture over - I wasn't too keen on staying in the old capital with its searing summer temperatures, so Kobe with its slightly lower temperature was the perfect spot to set up camp.

Despite the 36 and 37 degree Celsius days (38/39 on that one day I was in Kyoto) that made me understand how a popsicle feels under the sun, I had a great time checking out historical spots and checking out coffee shops that have been around for a very, very long time - apparently, Japan's first coffee shop opened in Kobe's Motomachi district in the 1800s! I also headed out to Suma for the aquarium on my last full day. I spent quite some time at Sea World watching the orca shows and just staring at the vast Pacific ocean, so I didn't get to explore much of the coastal town. After all, I needed to head back to Kobe for a Minami song-based history tour featuring Kahei Takadaya and Taira no Kiyomori.

From what I understand, Suma with its pine tree-dotted sandy beach and clear waters had been a prime holiday destination since the early 20th century. I suppose it's what Kamakura or Shonan is to those in the Tokyo region. But despite its idyllic image now, it was the stage for one of the major battles in the Tale of Heike, the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani, where the Minamoto clan claimed victory. From this, the duel between Minamoto retainer Kumagai Naozane and the teenaged nephew of lord Kiyomori Taira no Atsumori, has been adapted into Noh and even pop music. What a place the Suma bay was, huh? Quite nicely bringing these two sides of the beach town is Nakano's Suma Koshinkyoku (Suma march).

Suma Koshinkyoku was released in June 1933. The young Nakano breezily belts out this ditty that cleverly blends Suma's modern day image with the above fragment of ancient history. Yaso Saijo (西條八十) even peppered a few puns throughout his lyrics to concoct a fun atmosphere fit for the beach town - e.g. Suma no matsubara kimi wo matsu (Suma's pine-lined coast awaits), Suma wa nihon no Ichi-no-tani (Suma is Japan's number 1/Ichi-no-tani). Masao Koga (古賀政男) ties everything together with a delightful summery melody that has his signature mandolin sound. 

Around 1933 and 1934, there was a bit of a koshinkyoku, shin min'yo, and ondo boom in the Japanese record industry. So, Suma Koshinkyoku was one of the hundreds produced at the time. Centering on Japan's countryside towns and prefectures, they were essentially made for local tourism PR. These ditties, which point out the sights and sounds of its locale in question, are pretty much the predecessors of the go-tochi song that became all the rage in the 1960s and, eventually, and enka theme staple. I don't usually actively listen to these domestic marches, so I was quite surprised with how much I enjoyed Suma Koshinkyoku. Perhaps it's because the ditty's vibe perfectly captured my short but memorable time at Suma. Perhaps it's because I can imagine a grinning Tadaharu-san giving me a tour of the sunny Suma. Either way, one thing's for sure: I need to give Suma another visit.

Minako Ito -- Portrait

 

City Pop specialist singer-songwriter Minako Ito（伊藤美奈子）has had plenty of representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" throughout a number of years. However, one year that has yet to be represented is 1985 which is when she released her third album "Portrait" in November.

I've heard a few tracks on this one and just like my wishes for the album that I referred to in my previous article, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on this one, too. The first track is "Mitsumete Hoshii"（見つめてほしい...Look At Me） whose lyrics were provided by Ito (and she wrote all of the songs) and the melody was also composed by her. A song of longing, "Mitsumete Hoshii" has that atmosphere of whirlwinds and the intrepid hunt for that guy punctuated by the electric guitar and bongo percussion. 

"Mullion no Mae de"（マリオンの前で...In Front of Mullion） is the second track. Now, for those who may not have visited Tokyo before, Yurakucho Mullion is an old shopping complex located just up the street from the main intersection of Ginza and people like to meet friends and lovers in front of the place where a huge clock is situated. Yoichi Shimada（嶋田陽一）has composed this one as a synth-driven sophisticated pop number reflecting the neighbourhood.

One more track that I'll show here is Track 5 "Ku-gatsu no Yakusoku"（9月の約束...September Promises） which is pleasingly notable for how smooth and gliding it is through the chords. Thank you, Fender Rhodes! And also thanks to the jazzy saxophone solo by Jake H. Concepcion. Ito wrote and composed this pensive City Pop track, and supposedly Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, who was also helping out on keyboards, may have been responsible for all arrangements of the tracks (I did pick up some Yuming in this one as well). For some reason, I'm a sucker for September songs in September so my eyes locked in on this one immediately. 

You can also listen to the whole album right here.