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.
It was about a couple of months ago that I posted Mai Yamane's（山根麻衣）"Kibun wa Fairness"（気分はフェアネス）,her August 1982 5th single and a most congenial pop/rock song that was used as a commercial jingle for a Shiseido brand. As I said in that article, the song seemed to be a transitional one between her early City Pop material and her later jangly blues-rock stuff.
Well, today, I have the B-side from that single. "Doyou no Yoru to Nichiyou no Asa"(Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) was written and composed by Yamane, and this time around, it tends toward a more AOR line (although I'd been leaning toward New Wave in the first few measures initially), but is no less congenial. Although the titular days of the week aren't mentioned in the lyrics, Yamane relates a tale of a woman apparently smitten through a weekend encounter with a man of her dreams via a romantic car ride. Now, whether things pan out to her benefit is unknown but for right now, she's more than happy to keep the swooning up. I do love the combination of Fender Rhodes and guitar here.
I barely remember watching the 1995 anime feature "Ghost in the Shell"; there was the iconic scene of Major Kusanagi flying off the roof and going into stealth mode and the scene where a row of techs had their fingers disjoint to show a whole bunch of metal rods typing at warp speed. But that was it for my memories. I guess the movie was so mesmerizing in how everything and everyone moved that it left me mind blind.
Then in 2017, there was the live-action version of "Ghost in the Shell" starring Scarlett Johansson which I also caught with some friends, but it frankly left me a little cold. I kinda thought it was like the "Black Widow" movie before the actual "Black Widow" movie of 2021, except that it had some special guest appearances by Beat Takeshi and Kaori Momoi.
So I gather that if I were a member of a fictional Iconic Anime Enthusiasts Association, there would be a demand that I shamefully hand back my card and lose my executive washroom privileges right now, because I have never been an avid fan of the "Ghost in the Shell" franchise. And to be honest, there are certain well-regarded Studio Ghibli movies that I never cottoned onto either.
And this brings us to the newest addition to the franchise which is titled "The Ghost in the Shell"; gotta have that definite article for emphasis. The anime series began running from last month and apparently the animation style is pretty much along the original manga style that Masamune Shirow had gone with. I've only seen some excerpts and reaction videos. Episode 2 got quite the number of whoops, and I'm glad that this iteration shows a sense of humour.
I haven't written on the mixture rock band King Gnu in a few years, but here they are providing the opening theme for "The Ghost in the Shell". "Go Ghost", which was written and composed by vocalist Daiki Tsuneta（常田大希）, is a propulsive story of the life of the Major with blippity-bloppity percussion and a haunting digital tribal chorus to contrast with the futuristic city that is the setting for the show. At a length of merely 2:50, it's quite short and sweet. I've got a feeling that the Kohaku may call on the band to show up on December 31st once more.
When I was writing up the Author's Picks article for the works of lyricist Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）a few years ago, I was able to find some more of her songs for other artists that I decided to save up for future entries. This is one of them.
Outside of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）, vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）had his solo career which I've so far represented on KKP with his 1979 "Happiness"（ハピネス）. That song was used for a Suntory commercial. Well, "Doki Doki Summer Girl" (Hubba Hubba Summer Girl) was his 6th single from 1982 and it was also used for an ad for Kose Cosmetics back in the day. Written by Okada and composed by Takekawa with arranging help from his old bandmate Mickey Yoshino（ミッキー吉野）, it's the playful and twangy summery tune that has listeners thinking of beaches, beautiful girls in skimpy bikinis and billowing brews of beer.
There was an English-language version of "Doki Doki Summer", also performed by Takekawa but with the lyrics written by Will Williams. Also backing Takekawa up was the band TALIZMAN which had a brief fun between 1979 and 1983.
I was a kid raised on action movies, particularly of the cop variety. Rush Hour 2, Bad Boys, The Naked Gun, Beverly Hills Cop—all of these movies delivered great action and even better laughs. They really don’t make ’em like they used to.
So color me surprised when I discovered that Japan had its own answer to the buddy-cop formula in the form of Abunai Deka (あぶない刑事; “Dangerous Detectives”).
Between 1986 and 1987, viewers followed the adventures of Hiroshi Tachi—of COOLS Rockabilly Club fame—as Toshiki “Taka” Takayama, alongside Kyōhei Shibata as Yūji Oshita. The two play detectives working out of the fictional Minato Police Station in Naka-ku, Yokohama.
The show definitely feels like it took a few cues from Miami Vice: two hardcore detectives who don’t play by the rules, taking down serious criminals while looking impossibly cool doing it. There are plenty of explosions, car chases, playful banter, and angry police chiefs to go around. And considering the series was originally pitched as a Japanese take on Starsky & Hutch, that influence makes a lot of sense.
What really stood out to me, though, was the phenomenal soundtrack.
You can tell composer Takashi Shōji was a big fan of Blaxploitation soundtracks, because several tracks sound like they could have come straight out of Shaft. Funky basslines, horns, dramatic guitar—the whole soundtrack gives Yokohama this stylish, larger-than-life crime-drama atmosphere. Arguably the most iconic song from the show is the love theme, “Wait and See,” sung by Kiyomi Suzuki (鈴木聖美).
It’s a cheesy ballad that absolutely sounds like it was written for a television drama, but it still manages to be genuinely heartfelt. For some reason, Suzuki sings the entire song in English, which admittedly makes it sound a little hokier, although she does a pretty good job with it.
You’ll probably recognize Kiyomi Suzuki as the sister of Masayuki Suzuki, particularly from songs like “Lonely Chaplin.” That makes me curious why they never recorded a Japanese version of “Wait and See”—or, better yet, turned it into a duet between the two of them.
Funny enough, Suzuki did eventually perform the song as a duet with none other than Michael McDonald, which somehow feels both completely bizarre and appropriate.
Another fun connection for any gamers out there: the song’s lyricist, Linda Hennrick, also worked on music for the Mother/EarthBound series, including songs such as “Pollyanna (I Believe in You),” “Eight Melodies,” and “Bein’ Friends.”
It's been an interesting ride thus far with singer-songwriter Masami Urabe（浦部雅美 or うらべまさみ）, someone that I first discovered earlier this year. I first heard her 1976 debut single, the congenially country "Sukoshi Tōde wo Shitemimasen ka"（少し遠出をしてみませんか）and then there was her City Pop"Tomadoi"（とまどい）from 1982.
Yup, it's been observed that a number of singers made a leap from folk or country over to the more urban sounds of City Pop between the 1970s and 1980s. I think Urabe is just one of them. Now, I've come across her 5th single from 1981 which is "Aishuuza" that I can only speculate as meaning "Constellation of Sorrow" but perhaps one of you can confirm or deny this. In any case, this was written by Mariko Ogi（荻まりこ）, composed by Urabe herself and arranged by Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）. I wouldn't say that this is a wholly City Pop song although there seems to be a sprinkling of it hovering over everything like stardust, but I'd say that this is an urbane kayo kyoku, something to be savored with a cocktail rather than a tumbler of Old Parr.
Well, this one crept on me fairly quickly. I guess it's because this week at least is part of the O-Bon Holiday season but I had completely forgotten that August 11th is Mountain Day in Japan, a national holiday.
Of course, folks visited their nearby mountains. My old English conversation circle's members are all mountain-hiking enthusiasts although I'm glad that none of them invited me to any of their journeys up the slopes. My heart would have exploded.😨
So, on this Mountain Day, I went searching for whether there was a song that commemorates the most famous mountain of them all in Japan. And sure enough, it didn't take long before I encountered "Fuji no Yama"（Mt. Fuji）which is also known as "Fuji-san"（富士山）.
Designated as a children's song sanctioned by the Ministry of Education, "Fuji no Yama" made its first appearance in a 1910 elementary school student book of songs. Although the composer remains unknown, the lyricist was Sazanami Iwaya（巖谷小波）who was also a children's book author and a scholar of German literature. The song of course proudly boasts of the magnificence of Japan's most famous peak.🗻 The translation below is from Google Translate.
Rising high above the clouds,
Looking down upon the surrounding peaks,
Hearing the thunder roll far below—
Mount Fuji is Japan's greatest mountain.
Towering high in the blue sky,
Clad in a robe of snow,
Trailing a hem of mist far into the distance—
Mount Fuji is Japan's greatest mountain.
In 2007, almost a century after the first appearance of the song, "Fuji no Yama" was accepted as one of the songs in Nihon no Uta Hyakusen（日本の歌百選...Collection of 100 Japanese Songs）. During the past century, it's been sung by various people and bands including school choruses. I did find this rather interesting take on "Fuji no Yama" by veteran vocal group Bonny Jacks（ボニージャックス）. Their soulful cover (I almost thought that they were going to be joined by a few Pips) comes from their 1997 album"Bonny Jacks no Nihon no Shouka"（ボニージャックスの日本の唱歌...The Songs of Japan by Bonny Jacks）.
I haven't really watched a J-Drama in many many years although I know of the usual types of drama that get onto the commercial networks such as TBS and Fuji-TV. There are the medical dramas, the ones dealing with cops and also the legal battles, and to be honest, they sound a lot like what's on American prime-time television.
Frequent commenter Brian Mitchell told me about this drama that he and his family are currently watching on TBS called "T-shirt ga Kawaku made"（Tシャツが乾くまで...Until the T-shirt Dries） which began its run a month ago. It sounds innocent enough but peel the layers back and one can discover that this is actually a romance mystery regarding two people seemingly losing their respective spouses in the same tragic accident but then finding out something shocking as a result.
But before I go any further, this is after all a music blog and not a drama blog. Brian asked me to write about the theme song for "T-shirt ga Kawaku made", "Mishiranu Ito" (Unknown Thread), which was released a few days ago as Spitz's（スピッツ）48th single. Now, I've always enjoyed the vocals of Masamune Kusano（草野正宗）and his band has always been symbolic of one aspect of 1990s J-Pop...guitar rock via hits such as "Cherry" and "Namida ga Kirari"（涙がキラリ☆）, so it was great to know that Spitz is still there strumming away with that same comfortable sound from 30 years ago. By the way, Kusano took care of words and music.
