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.
I may have mentioned this before but singer-songwriter Yuko Kawai（河合夕子）was someone that I discovered because of my work on the blog and the good folks at YouTube. Did not know of her existence in all my years in Japan. My impression of her thus far is that she was one of the more eclectic and fun-loving singers out in the pop field when it came to her showmanship and compositions.
Case in point: her "Persian Rouge", a track from her June 1983 4th and final album to date "Fumin Shoukougun"（不眠症候群）which basically means "Insomnia". She was behind words and music with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）also helping out on the lyrics, and "Persian Rouge" has that playful mix of technopop and exotic kayo as if Kawai was out on the Silk Road somewhere with her synthesizer and a camel.
I do love my steak! In fact, I whip up a few of them for my family on the occasional Friday. My father and I prefer medium-rare while my mother will accept nothing rarer than well-done. What has gotten rarer for me these days are any trips to a steakhouse here in Toronto. Price is one factor. When I have to start snarking about how much of a down payment I'm obliged to put down for my tenderloin, then it's time to avoid places like The Keg.
Earlier today, I came across this steak franchise that I'd never heard about called Smith & Wollensky. When the name of a steakhouse sounds like either a Manhattan brokerage firm or a law office, that's when I begin to worry. And according to the founder of this place, Alan Stillman, there is no real-life Smith or Wollensky involved...he just pulled the names out of a phone book. Apparently S&W restaurants can be found all across America and around the world, and perhaps the newest one opened up in Tokyo...naturally Ginza. Good golly...they do pull out all the stops.
Well, seeing it is Hump Day...I got to think about whether there are any steak-related kayo out there, someone who really loves the meat and the music. Noting that Japanese songwriters can and have written about anything under the sun, it certainly is possible. I did find one character who goes by the name of Melody KicK, and perhaps they come up with short instrumental ditties along the lines of Nash Music Library or it's a whole AI thing.
First off, I found their short 2025 EP "Oishii Steak ya-san de Nagareru Kyoku"（おいしいステーキ屋さんで流れる曲...A Song Played at a Good Steak Restaurant） on Apple Music, and up on YouTube, I could come across one of the tracks "Steakhouse Master". It's done in the rip-rousin' American country style as are the rest of the tracks. Having noted that however, the music up in the Smith & Wollensky video is distinctly in the jazz oeuvre; I definitely heard "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck in there. Maybe "Oishii Steak ya-san de Nagareru Kyoku" is more for the Ponderosa or Outback Steakhouse set.
Once again, it is July 7th and that means, it's Tanabata in Japan. The holiday surrounding those star-crossed lovers has gotten folks to write wishes on those colourful strips of paper to be tied to tree branches. And there are also a lot of festivals taking place throughout the nation so perhaps Tanabata is the first major festival of the season.
A year ago, I posted a commemorative article in tribute to Tanabata（七夕）...a bit tortuous getting to the final product but I got there regardless. This time though, I'll be going with just one song. I was searching the Yahoo Japan engine for a song that has a connection with Tanabata. There were quite a few but one that stuck out to me was Ai Otsuka's（大塚愛）5th single from August 2004.
"Kingyo Hanabi"(Goldfish Fireworks), about summer festival love, seems to be more about finding that special someone at any summer festival taking place throughout July and August, but hey, I'm not going to complain. Plus, it was Otsuka's stab at a calmer love ballad compared to the very upbeat and perky songs that she's been known for such as "Sakuranbo"（さくらんぼ）and "SMILY". Written and composed by the singer, its arrangement seems to be in that contemporary healing music style that Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）was recording at the time. Its contemplativeness matches the goldfish-like swishes of emotion that are flashing within a young lady's heart.
"Kingyo Hanabi" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and ended up as the 59th-ranked single of the year, going Gold in the process. The song was also included as a track on Otsuka's 2nd album"Love Jam" from November 2004 which reached the top of the charts and became the 30th-ranked album for 2005. "Kingyo Hanabi" was also a theme song for the long-running NTV Monday night documentary series "Super Terebi: Jouhou Saizensen"（スーパーテレビ情報最前線...Super TV: Information Frontline）.
The above is a Very Berry Shake that I got at a place called Petit Potato. It was indeed very flavorful and thirst-quenching. However, the theme isn't on the contents but the container. Early this year, I came up with an Author's Picks called "Substance Kayo" which focused on those kayo titled with various substances. But then, I realized after writing up one recent article and remembering a couple of oldies that I'd written early in this blog's history that a subset can be made of kayo kyoku containing the word "glass" in their titles. As such, let me start this Tuesday edition of KKP with some glass kayo.
Before Napster and Internet, there're 4 ways you can dub a song onto a cassette tape without buying it.
1. Find a friend who owns the song and ask him to dub it for you. Or borrow it and dub it yourself.
2. Go to a record shop that rents LPs or CDs. Rent the one you want and dub it yourself.
3. If you happen to make friends with the record shop staff, ask them to dub it for you. You may have to pay a small fee but the good thing is you can pick and choose. This is the ORIGINAL playlist.
4. Dub the song as you're listening on the radio station.
I have done all four back when I was in secondary school in Hong Kong but no. 4 was by far my most used method when I found a song I like.
Back to the future. In the past few days, a melody suddenly popped up in my mind and it wouldn't go away. Not only the melody but I remember the lyrics as well. "How are you my friend? da da da da da da da," it sang in my head.
At the beginning, I was somehow convinced that it was from Matsuda Seiko 松田聖子 but didn't follow up further. As the melody played again and again in my head, the memories of my "dubbing days" came back and it felt so nostalgic that I wanted to listen to the whole song. So, this morning, I asked Gemini AI which Japanese song in the 80s included the lyrics "how are you my friend". Voila! It's NOT Seiko but Shojotai 少女隊! What a surprise. I immediately listened and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm pretty sure I dubbed this song when I was in Hong Kong but I forgot whether it's through method no. 3 or no. 4. I threw away all my tapes (regret!) 10+ years ago so there's no way I can find out anymore. There's a good chance that it's no. 4. I still remember that in the 80s, Radio Hong Kong had a weekly program that published a top 10 chart for Japanese songs. It could be from that.
For those of you who are interested in knowing more about Shojotai, J-Canuck already wrote an article here. As expected, it's very hard to find a Japanese singer or group that has not been covered by Kayo Kyoku Plus.
Going back to the song itself, given the Aidoru background and the atmosphere, the story of the song likely happened in a high school. A young girl was having a small fight with her boyfriend who's her senior i.e. her senpai. She's still thinking of him and wanted to speak to him. So, "how are you my friend?" was the message she had been keeping in her heart.
The song was written and arranged by Tokura Shunichi 都倉俊一. Obara Jouji 小原丈二 penned the lyrics. The single was released January 1985 and so this was one of those songs that included Chiko チーコ, an original member who left the group later the same year.
One more thing, I just saved the YouTube video on my playlist 😉
Every now and again, I would pick up a popular do-enka (a very “enka-like” enka, if you will) song out of curiosity or nostalgia, realise or remember why it was a massive hit, and then have a phase of obsessively listening to it. It had been a while since that's happened, but my recent enka obsession has been Osaka Shigure.
This was one of the many jewels in the crown of enka royal Harumi Miyako (都はるみ). Written by Osamu Yoshioka (吉岡治) and composed by Shosuke Ichikawa (市川昭介), it was released on 1st February 1980 during the genre's and the singer's golden ages. It's a languid tune with a nice rhythm based in a rainy Osaka. Miyako plays the role of woman who would give her all to the one she loves even if it hurts her because she can't live without him. It ticks all the boxes for a quintessential enka song, and it's really easy on the ears. I've owned a Miyako compilation album for quite some time now, and Osaka Shigure was always one track I've enjoyed when I remember that it's there. However, what sparked my recent hyper-fixation on it?
Na Hoon-a (羅勲児/ナフナ).
A little while ago, I talked about my introduction to the South Korean trot star, and I've been getting into his music as of late. Having broken into the Japanese enka scene in the mid-1980s, Na covered a number of well-known enka/kayo hits in his distinct, highly emotive style that somewhat resembles the do-enka manner of singing. Among these covers, I picked Osaka Shigure to sample first simply because of the aforementioned fact that I know I enjoyed Miyako's original. Boy, was I hooked immediately by the way Na handled the song.
In terms of vocal delivery, Miyako very lightly glides over the words, and her signature high-pitched trill is not as prevalent here as it is in some of her other hardcore enka hits. It paints our protagonist as delicate, but still having the resolve to devote herself to her lover. Na, on the other hand, takes his time with each word and pours them out with great deliberation, the effect of which makes the protagonist's aforementioned desire and anguish stemming from her self-perceived ineptitude feeling a lot more raw and heavy. I’d been told that one of Na’s appeals is that he can sound as though he’s sobbing, which I assume serves to accentuate a song protagonist’s sadness and longing. In the case of this cover, at least, you can certainly feel this effect. His voice is cathartic to listen to, and at least for me, it can feel a little like a proxy for releasing pent-up feelings.
I'm not certain as to when Na released his cover of Osaka Shigure, but I know that it was at least included in his some of his Japanese album releases between the late 1980s and 1990s
I've known that coffee jelly has been a sweet of desire in Japan for over a century since the Taisho Era but wasn't aware that its origins go back to the United States and England. Apparently, the dessert still gets served in New England but not much farther out than that. I've had coffee jelly on occasion when I was living in Japan. It doesn't pop up in my Top 5 of favourite desserts but it's fine enough with me.
But one figure in the music industry that does love his coffee jelly? It's DJ and New Wave dandy Makoto Francis Ori（小里誠）. I just referred to him in my previous article focusing on aidoru Emiri Kanou（加納エミリ）since she and Francis collaborated on "Sabakaru Emiri"（裁かるゝエミリ）a few years ago.
I am rather curious about Francis and what else he's done. On the way, I learned to my surprise that he'd been the bassist for the bands Original Love and The Collectors. According to his biography on his website, he'd formed The Red Curtain (Original Love's immediate predecessor?) with OL OG Takao Tajima（田島貴男）as the bassist there, and they were apparently making music that couldn't be readily categorized even though the band was known as a psych/garage group.
So, perhaps Francis' penchant for avant pop has continued onto his 2021"VIVA! Coffee Jelly". And the man does love his coffee jelly when one looks at his Instagram account. With him cooing into the microphone like a satisfied man following some nocturnal activities with a partner, I can hear a bit of Shibuya-kei and music that got me thinking of famous Swiss duo Yello (and it's not just because of the repeated "Oh yeah!") but it's indeed a technopop creation. As commenter Brian Mitchell has stated, Japanese songwriters can base their works on literally anything and everything. So, why not coffee jelly?
