Harumi Miyako -- Harumi no Sandogasa（はるみの三度笠）

By Miguel Discart via Wikimedia Commons

Ah, yes...the sandogasa. According to Jisho.org, it's described as a "type of traditional Japanese conical hat", although I can't really see anything conical about the hat itself. However, I have seen this on many a Japanese pate in historical TV shows and movies, and it can be quite the introductory device as a lordless ronin of justice travels the byways of Japan with the sandogasa covering his eyes until it's time ​to reveal the whole face...and usually a whole ton of sword-flashing kickass.

NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit） was back on for the first time since the Holidays and I got to see someone sing a Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）song that I hadn't heard before (or at least for a very long time). Apparently, lyricist and composer Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）, one of Miyako's main songwriters in her first decade as a singer, was tickled pink about seeing the young enka chanteuse in a sandogasa that he just went and whipped up her 39th single "Harumi no Sandogasa" (Harumi's Sandogasa) for April 1969. 

The whole lyrical premise is that young Harumi wants to go around everywhere wearing that sandogasa so that she's not recognized, although I have to say that even in the latter half of the 20th century, I think she would have still stuck out like a sore thumb wearing that archaic hat. Perhaps if she kept her person in the Asakusa district, she would have a chance...

Well, then again, if she had been able to head back in time to the Edo era via TARDIS and completely submerge herself into a warrior's role, she may just get away with it...of course, while wearing the titular hat. Back in 1969, she got plenty of fame though by scoring a No. 25 ranking for "Harumi no Sandogasa" and even getting her 5th appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen to sing the song at the end of the year. Of course, her high but steely and growly vocals were one of the highlights.

Plus-Tech Squeeze Box -- Dough-nut's Town's Map

By Angeldm via Wikimedia Commons

Well, I never thought I would ever see a video combining the hilarity of a "Looney Tunes" cartoon the macabre nature of a particularly sour "Outer Limits" episode. But perhaps I haven't seen a "Simpsons" or "Family Guy" entry recently.

I am referring to the above music video created by YouTuber xchemix for the Plus-Tech Squeeze Box song "Dough-nut's Town's Map", a track on the band's second album "CARTOOOM!" from 2004. The track itself is one friendly ball of looniness that sounds like an especially insane and grand soundtrack to one of those old Warner Bros. cartoons from the 50s or 60s. And apparently, the gaggle of singers, represented by the catch-all group name of The People of Dough-Nuts Town, includes Chinatsu Furukawa from the duo Sonic Coaster Pop.

The melody reminds me a bit of "Heigh-Ho", the famous work song performed by The Seven Dwarfs in the 1937 animated feature "Snow White" by Walt Disney. That makes the "Gotcha" moment in the video all that startling when it arrives at the end. There is something quite "Soylent Green" about that. One-half of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, Tomonori Hayashibe（ハヤシベトモノリ）, was responsible for words and music.

Chiemi Kai -- Ite-za no Kare（射手座の彼）

Wikimedia Commons

 

I'd never heard of Chiemi Kai（甲斐智枝美）before but I saw the above video and decided to check it out. "Ite-za no Kare" (Sagittarius Guy) was the B-side to her 7th and penultimate single "Sasotte Runna"（誘って・ルンナ...Invite Me, Runna） which hit the record shelves in January 1982. Written by Kyoko Matsumiya（松宮恭子）, composed by Tetsuya Furumoto（古本鉄也）and arranged by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, it's quite the swinging rock n' roll boogie for an aidoru tune. Considering one of the first words in the lyrics is Harajuku, I can guess that there was a shoutout to the whole rock n' roll scene there.

Kai hailed from Fukuoka Prefecture and got into show business by becoming the 29th Grand Champion on the audition show "Star Tanjo!"（スター誕生!...A Star is Born!）in 1979. She had been seen as one of the up-and-coming aidoru alongside other ingenues such as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）in the post-Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）era. However, among her three albums and eight singles released between 1980 and 1982, the highest ranking that any of her discography attained was No. 103 on Oricon, although she had her other duties as a tarento and actress.

In 1990, she retired from showbiz and got married to Toru Hasebe（長谷部徹）who was a studio musician and drummer for the fusion band The Square after which they had two boys. She became a housewife and helped out at a flower shop but kept in touch with her senpai, former aidoru and celebrity Ikue Sakaibara（榊原郁恵）. However according to a Daily Shincho article, in July 2006, her eldest son who was in high school at the time discovered her hanging in the second-floor room of their house. It was suspected that Kai had committed suicide due to financial worries and health issues. She was 43 years old.

Five Favourite Songs by Sing Like Talking

Amazon.ca

Well, it's been quite a day already although I'm typing this before noon. The Winter Olympics are on, the Super Bowl will probably upstage that later tonight, Japan's Lower House elections have resulted in an LDP steamroller, and our long-awaited and long-suffering LRT here in Toronto finally launched about six years late. All a little overwhelming on a Sunday to be sure and I wouldn't mind a little solace right now.

I haven't posted a Sing Like Talking article for well over a year although Chikuzen Sato's（佐藤竹善）group is one of my favourite bands, and with all of the attention on singers' career anniversaries in last year's Kohaku Utagassen, SLT, which I believe has yet to be seen on NHK's Shibuya stage on New Year's Eve, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Unfortunately, any celebrations were probably muted to a great degree due to the passing of SLT guitarist Tomohiko Nishimura（西村智彦）in June 2025.

The other surprise is that I have yet to put up an Author's Picks on my favourite Sing Like Talking tunes. And this one was difficult because the band is so smooth in a number of genres, whether it be funk, AOR, straight pop, etc. and they've had a lot of great songs in my estimation. But I've got my five favourites here...although realistically, they are four favourites by SLT itself and one by Sato from his "Cornerstones" album series (it is too cool to pass up).

(1988) Juu-Ichi Gatsu no Kioku ～Raining Blues （11 月の記憶）

(1991) Steps of Love

(1994) Together

(1995) Mitsumeru Ai de (みつめる愛で) 

(2007) Hatsukoi (初恋）

Michiya Mihashi -- Muteki (霧笛)

Hello! It's hard to believe that we're in February already. I hope this new year's been going well for you guys.

I, though, didn't have the best start to 2026. I'd come down with a horrendous case of the flu since New Year's day. Perhaps it was all the residue fatigue from 2024 and stressors of 2025 compounded with a particularly serious flu season this winter, but I was put out of commission for almost two weeks. My sinuses were the main source of grief; that in turn caused my ears to become rather sensitive, so much so that I couldn't stomach listening to music. The dynamic rhythms and the emotive voices of the singers I ordinarily listened to caused me discomfort. That's saying a lot, because I can't remember a day where I didn't listened to a single song. It was two kayo-less days before I finally had the desire to listen to something. This song was Michiya Mihashi's (三橋美智也) Muteki (Fog whistle). 

Yes, only Muteki. 

Muteki is an 80's enka written by prolific lyricist Hiroshi Yokoi (横井弘) and composed by Toshiyo Kamata (鎌多俊与). According to the J-Wiki, it first surfaced in Michi’s 1982 album, Furusato Zessho (ふるさと絶唱), before being sold as a single in December 1983. Admittedly, I came across this just a few months ago while sampling as many of the Toshi-san-composed Michiya bushi (みちや節). Based on the comprehensive discography in Hiroshi Ogino’s (荻野広) Michiya Mihashi: Sengo kayo ni miru Showa no sesou (三橋美智也: 戦後歌謡に見る昭和の世相), Muteki seemed to be their final collaborative piece. 

As for why I could stomach this singular song (I must've listened to it at least 6 times on the day I broke my music fast), it's because it's an extremely easy-listening enka. Toshi-san's melody of a medium-ish tempo is pleasantly jaunty, yet not too intense; the plucky notes of the acoustic guitar and whistling flute making it lively enough. Even the dramatic segments were arranged in such a way that isn't too jarring while still working as intended. Later-day Michi's more subdued delivery still holds a level of despondence that carries the sadness within Yokoi's story - that of an ill-fated pair whose tragic love story began at a foggy wharf. Every aspect of Muteki just melded together so seamlessly, ill me could enjoy it without a shred of discomfort. Even after recovering, I still listen to Muteki fairly frequently since it fits almost any mood I'm in. I guess I found my kayo equivalent to chicken soup, although I wouldn't have foreseen it being a Michiya bushi.

Seiko Tomizawa -- Colonial Hotel no Dekigoto （コロニアルホテルの出来事）

 

When I first saw this title, I immediately thought that this should be the title for the next Benoit Blanc movie. Yep, my impression of any Colonial Hotel is that it must be located somewhere near the bayous of Louisiana. And yet, there is a Colonial Hotel located right in my currently icy province of Ontario in the community of Grand Bend.

Anyways, moving onto that song, "Colonial Hotel no Dekigoto" (Incident at the Colonial Hotel) is another example on KKP where I start with the B-side of a single before going to the A-side. And indeed, this was the A-side for Seiko Tomizawa's（富沢聖子）1984 single that I'm getting to today more than a year after having tackled the B-side of "Anata to Southern Island"（あなたとSouthern Island）.

For something titled "Colonial Hotel no Dekigoto", one would imagine something rather zydeco in the arrangement, but instead, we get something on the order of jazzy sophisticated pop and Brazilian...namely, bossa nova. This is a nice contrast to the tropical breeziness of "Anata to Southern Island". It's almost the same cast of characters for both songs: lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）but for the A-side, it's composer Takuya Takahashi（高橋拓也）. A Benoit Blanc movie is something that I don't hear here...it's more Henry Mancini-esque with dashing romance in this one, and it fits the type of music that Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）tackled with aplomb in those 1980s.

Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd -- Mystery Cat

Łukasz Ciesielski via Wikimedia Commons

Really cold out there. The wind chill factor was in the mid-thirties below zero Celsius this morning. Still had to get some errands done but at least, we got our scrumptious lunch at our favourite diner. My double-patty smash burger warmed me up nicely and put me to sleep just as quickly when we got home. If I'd ordered a milkshake, I would have been in a coma for several hours but I settled for multiple cups of coffee instead.

Well, I have to wake up sometime since I still have many more hours to go before I sleep properly. I'd say that the following is a good form of getting those energies up. This is "Mystery Cat", a track on a 1980 album called "Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd Plays Chikara Ueda ~ Big Stuff" by the jazz-fusion band Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd（宮間利之＆ニューハード）. I had never heard of these guys before but indeed they can cook on "Mystery Cat" which was originally composed by Chikara Ueda（上田力）. It sounds like something ideal for the soundtrack of a "Lupin III" movie with all of the bold brass.

I had assumed that Miyama and his crew had their origins in the 1970s just like Casiopea and The Square, but I was surprised to read on Discogs that the man had this ensemble since 1950 called Jive Ace which expanded its roster and got renamed New Herd in 1958. I don't know much about how many albums the band put out but they've been performing now for well over half a century even after Miyama's passing in 2016.