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.
Yes, I realize that 85% to 90% of all plants have flowers but I hadn't been aware that the typical daikon was one of them. Of course for me, when it comes to daikon, I always think of the root part being grated into that pungent-tasting condiment for fish and tempura.
That is why question marks popped up around my head while I was watching enka legend Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）perform "Daikon no Hana" (Daikon Flowers) on the weekly broadcast of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）a couple of days ago. How would one make a song about these blossoms that I hadn't heard about?
Well, feel free to ask lyricist Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）since they were the ones behind Ishikawa's 97th single from March 2010. Yoshioka's lyrics read like a gentle treatise on how to approach life with all of its hills and valleys; the daikon blossoms only show up in one line as Ishikawa sings about how they will still be there as constantly as the sun rising up. Often when I've heard the singer perform recently, there's been a certain playfulness in her delivery but with "Daikon no Hana", that's been replaced by a reassuring grace and wisdom.
I've also realized that this is the first time that Ishikawa has been on the byline for an article since 2022. Good to see her again in the pages of KKP.
Not to say that I'm an X-Man or anyone like that, but earlier today as I was entering my usual digestion-induced nap, I got a little spark in my head about whether there would be an obituary regarding someone in the music industry, and annually, there have been a few. As it turns out, less than an hour ago, I was watching the morning news on NHK and the report came out that veteran lyricist Jun Hashimoto had passed away on May 21st at the age of 86 due to cirrhosis.
Since I began this blog back in 2012, as someone who hadn't been too up on lyricists, arrangers and composers at the time, Hashimoto's name was one that I came across fairly often especially in the early years of KKP. And according to both J-Wiki and NHK, he had written approximately 2000 songs of which a little over 70 have been covered here. He worked with a number of composers during his career which lasted close to 60 years but it was his collaborations with the late Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）that produced a lot of those kayo kyoku hits.
Born on July 8th 1939, Hashimoto was born Junsuke Yoda（与田凖介 ）, the son of famed poet and children's book author Junichi Yoda（与田凖一）, in Tokyo. He started learning about lyric writing on his own while studying at Aoyama Gakuin University, and he eventually came under the wing of composer Koichi Sugiyama（すぎやまこういち）in 1961. Some years later in 1966, his first stint at lyrics which ended up as a record was "Kiiroi Lemon"（黄色いレモン...Yellow Lemon） by another Sugiyama protege, singer Koichi Fuji（藤浩一）who would later become Masato Shimon（子門真人）. It was also Tsutsumi's first stint at composing a record as well under Sugiyama's wing. Thus, the source of all those Hashimoto/Tsutsumi hits can be tracked back here.
Of course, a couple of years later, Hashimoto and Tsutsumi would pen their first evergreen kayo hit, "Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）by Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）.
The lights of the city are really beautiful, aren't they? Yokohama, Blue Light Yokohama The two of us are so happy
As always, those words of love Yokohama, Blue Light Yokohama Give those words to me
A year previously though, Hashimoto with Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets member and composer Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）came up with "Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）, arguably the Group Sounds band's most famous hit from 1967. In fact, NHK reported that Hashimoto was instrumental to the GS boom of those late 1960s.
Surrounded by the woods and the springs There quietly sleeps the Blue Chateau You are waiting for me The dark and lonely Blue Chateau
Another Group Sounds hit that Hashimoto wrote was "Amairo no Kami no Otome"（亜麻色の髪の少女）by The Village Singers (ヴィレッジ・シンガーズ) in 1968 with his mentor and composer Sugiyama behind the melody.
The wind gently folds the long flaxen hair The girl holds the white bouquet to her chest As she comes down the hill as if with wings To her kind boyfriend she goes Her singing voice cheerful because she's in love
Even with the end of the Group Sounds period in the early 1970s, Hashimoto would continue to pen the hits including the popular duet song "Canada Kara no Tegami"(カナダからの手紙）in 1978 with Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃） , who also composed it, and Yoko Hatanaka（畑中葉子）. Yeah, to think I pummeled the heck out of that one at karaoke, and it was a Hashimoto classic!
Love letter from Canada If by chance, we were together How much fun we would have on this trip Love letter from Canada
Hashimoto and Hirao would work together again soon after and this time, it would be for the theme song of one of the most famous anime series ever created, "Ginga Tetsudo 999"（銀河鉄道999）as sung mightily by Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）.
The train comes out of the darkness into the sea of light It's the endless universe where dreams scatter Let's cross the bridge of stars People will always search for happiness As if they were voyagers
My last entry here involves Hashimoto's dalliance with City Pop, and I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole he went but he and Tsutsumi worked together here as well to make Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美)"Street Dancer" in 1980.
As I keep my sunglasses on I gaze at the flow of time Weekend The neon at noon, the glittering streets Stuffing my face with a hamburger Seeking the sprit of youth Together
Of course, this article isn't anywhere near as comprehensive as I would like it to be. However, I did want to pay homage to the man in some fashion and hopefully some of you can take a look at the other articles of songs that Hashimoto wrote over his decades in the music business. My condolences to his family, friends, fans and many fellow songwriters in the industry.
One song by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）within her long and varied discography that has always stuck with me all these years is her "Kuro no Clair" (Black Clair) which begins her 1982 album"Cliche". It's that lush Fashion Music creation sent up to the max as if the genre had been forced to watch every televised or cinematic version of "Wuthering Heights" or read some of the Gothic plots in a Harlequin romance.
Over the decades since the introduction of "Kuro no Clair" in the early 1980s, the song has been covered by at least ten artists including Kirinji（キリンジ）and Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）. Another one is Ritsuko Kazami（風見律子）who included her more contemporized version of the song within her 1986 album"Aventurier"（アヴァンチュリエ）. It's more like enjoying that glass of wine in a Parisian bar of that decade rather than savoring one in a castle a couple of hundred years prior.
Then we have singer and actress Mayumi Hara's（原真祐美）take on "Kuro no Clair" from her second album"Vert Clair"（ベール・クレール）from February 1984. It starts with a melody that could be a remnant from the previous track or just a whimsical little interlude that fades out 40 seconds later before the familiar strings of "Kuro no Clair" elide in. The way that Ohnuki had woven one of her masterpieces, it would be very difficult to excise the Fashion Music essence, and I think Hara's cover is somewhere between Ohnuki's original and Kazami's more contemporary version. I can get that seaside castle-under-an-overcast-sky vibe from this one.
I heard a rather interesting piece of news last Friday via NHK. Today, June 1st (and indeed, welcome to June 2026!), is the 900th anniversary of the founding of Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. 1126...what a year! Chiba Station right in the heart of Chiba City was a regular stop for me on Monday afternoons since I had a regular class at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; I was picked up by the regular company bus at one corner and spent a 20-minute ride to the factories in the suburbs.
I didn't explore too much of the city outside of the immediate station area, but I do recall having a couple of dinners there and having a quick bite to eat at the station hamburger shop (and no, it wasn't a McDonalds) along with buying a few CDs at the music shop...also in the station. Of course, the monorail was always zipping by above me.
Anyways, in commemoration of Chiba's 900th birthday, I'm bringing in some "city" songs: songs that have the word "city" or "tokai" in them. I would have included Anri's（杏里）"Surf City" here but it had already gotten a shoutout in last week's "HANDS Down!" article. So, without further ado:
I actually placed this news as an addendum to the article on Reiko Takahashi that I had written back in early February this year regarding "Let me into your place ~Sunset Road~"（サンセット・ロード）. However, I then decided that I just didn't want Takahashi fans to just bump into this fact days, weeks or even months down the line through an article that they had already seen, and I gather that for these same fans, this is a "Stop the presses!" moment. So I've given the news its own article.
A few days ago, a Canadian YouTuber by the name of Goosebumps Radio was able to interview Takahashi (now known as Rayco) for a little over half an hour on her career, the whole City Pop boom and even the mysterious Akiba Tape. So, why not give them a listen if you haven't already done so? It's definitely not too late (inside joke).
Come to think of it, that picture of Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）above does remind me of 90s dance-pop singer Cathy Dennis.
And speaking of Dennis, I remember that Kyon-Kyon had once released a May 1989 album titled "KOIZUMI IN THE HOUSE" which involved her delving into House and Acid House music. In fact, the last article that I did regarding the former 80s aidoru singer was for her "Fade Out" which is also included in the album. Well, this time, it's all about its track mate on the album "Micro Wave" which brings out the dance beats alongside the story of getting a bento nuked at the convenience store. I'd gotten that done so many times at my local 7-11, Lawson's and am/pm for my karaage bento and hanbaagu bento that the cashiers didn't even bother asking me anymore after a while.
Yoshimasa Inoue（井上ヨシマサ）handled lyrics, melody and arrangement for "Micro Wave", quite the trippy little song. I didn't think that I would ever hear something from a dance DJ booth about a microwave oven warming something up for dinner but as both commenter Brian Mitchell and I agree upon, songwriters could and did write about anything and everything.
In the last few days, one of the commenters informed me that Arashi（嵐）was going to have their final concert at Tokyo Dome on May 30th...which they did, and I'm sure it was a whopper with plenty of cheering and weeping fans.
My somewhat befuddled response was: Wait! They were still together?!
OK, my apologies to Arashi fans everywhere, but I'd thought that the group disbanded back in 2021 with a fair bit of pomp and circumstance including a final performance on the Kohaku Utagassen. But as it turns out, I misinterpreted the announcement from Arashi back then. Back then, the guys had actually opted for a hiatus and not a permanent breakup. Well, the permanent breakup was sealed last night. I had a regular Wednesday night student at my final school who was a huge Masaki Aiba fan. I can only imagine the lengths she went to secure a ticket and get all glammed up for the final concert.
When it comes to some of the (former) Johnny's Entertainment groups over the years, I had placed descriptors on them. The Tanokin Trio（たのきんトリオ）of Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）, Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）and Yoshio Nomura（野村義男）from the 1980s were the cheeky high schoolers while Hikaru Genji（光GENJI ）was all about the roller skates. SMAP was a group I saw as being the Voltron of the Johnny's mountain (each member with their own distinct personality and characteristics joining together to become this entertainment colossus in Japan)
But Arashi was the group that followed SMAP at the peak, and I saw them as being the quintet of good buddies who loved to hang out together not only at work but also during their precious free time. And that's the vibe I got from their final single "Five" which came out in March. It's an upbeat and satisfying coda to their 59-strong list of singles. It sounds...for the lack of a better term...just all-so-very Arashi and the music video, which seems to have been partly filmed in 1970s Kodak memories colour filters with some Beatles-esque silliness thrown in, shows Ohno and the guys looking rested and ready for the next step forward in their professional and personal lives while riding a bus that looks to have been inspired by the Partridge Family.
"Five" was created by songwriters HIKARI and Tomoki Ishizuka（石塚知生）. It has hit No. 1 on Oricon Streaming. All my good wishes go to Satoshi Ohno（大野智）, Sho Sakurai（櫻井翔）, Masaki Aiba（相葉雅紀）, Kazunari Ninomiya（二宮和也）and Jun Matsumoto（松本潤）, especially to leader Ohno who I hope will be able to catch tons of fish and make those art gallery-fresh paintings now. However, I am wondering whether Arashi can be tempted to make one more trip to the NHK Shibuya stage on New Year's Eve.
Meanwhile, you can get really nostalgic by looking at the article I wrote for Arashi's debut single"A-RA-SHI" back in 2013.
