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.
Amaterasu is a name that I've been hearing since I began university in the mid-1980s. I've heard about her in lectures within my Japanese Studies major and read about her in books on religion and mythology in Japan. In Shintoism, she is known as the sun goddess and the mythical ancestor of the Imperial family.
But enough of the professorial lecture from me. This is "Futari no Amaterasu" (The Amaterasu of Two), the latest single by Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）that was released last month, and according to the good folks at the Otomo website, it's "...an urban pop song focusing on the inner workings of people whose days shift under the influence of the weather". Man, considering the weather that Toronto and Tokyo have been wrestling with over the past few days, I'm hoping that our collective inner workings are hanging on for dear life.
With vocals provided by Yo from the duo Natsudaidai (about whom I posted about back in 2024), it's a cute and blippy tune whose modern arrangement may actually hold an old-fashioned melodic vibe of optimistic American sitcom spunk theme tunes, along the lines of "That Girl" and "The Doris Day Show" from the 1960s. Not sure if Tomita Lab had meant it to be so, but that's how I'm taking it. Then as we approach the grand finale, things go all techno jazzy harmony. Maybe "Futari no Amaterasu" should be looking for a cute Japanese rom-com somewhere. While Tomita took care of the music, Sasuke Haraguchi（原口沙輔）provided the lyrics.
It's been said that Level 42's"Something About You" from 1985 remains as the band's biggest accomplishment, and I couldn't disagree since it was the first song that I heard by the English group on the radio and it really grabbed me by the shoulders and has never let go. However, having said that, I think Mark King and his guys released a lot of other great tunes as well, some of which I'll be writing about on this week's Reminiscings of Youth...this time as an album, namely their March 1987"Running in the Family".
Buying the LP and then recording it onto audiotape, "Running in the Family" became one of those go-to albums that I played whenever I had to pull an all-nighter during university. In fact, it was one of three LPs that I put onto tape, the others being Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）1986"Wagamama"（わがまま）and "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu II"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編 テーマ音楽集Ⅱ）, one of the soundtracks for the 1983 anime movie "Final Yamato". Yes, it's a rather eclectic musical triumvirate but I was playing these guys non-stop while typing away to desperately get my thesis done and keep away that bothersome gnat called sleep. The cups of green tea helped as well.
I just wanted to feature my three favourite tracks from "Running in the Family" although the entire album is great. These three were all released as singles with arguably the most famous one being "Lessons In Love" that had actually been released almost a year before the album itself. The album, by the way, has been categorized as a sophisti-pop creation which I'm not sure about. Sophisti-pop is something that I actually think has plenty of champagne-clinking strings and brass along the lines of Swingout Sister. "Lessons In Love" certainly sounds more like funk-rock plus pop, and it's an infectiously fun piece either in its original four-minute-and-change form or the longer extended take, and I think it was the latter where I first heard "Lessons In Love" which was another grab of my shoulders. I got to know more about the famous King slap-bass technique through this one, too.
"Lessons In Love" reached No. 14 in Canada and No. 12 in the United States while it reached No. 1 in nations like Denmark, Finland and Spain.
The second of my favourites is the title track. "Running in the Family" is a cheerful melodic treatise on the average family with average rambunctious kids. In a way, although the band's description of the family is not really dysfunctional, I've often wondered if this could have made for a pretty cool theme tune for a movie on a really dysfunctional family such as "The Royal Tenenbaums". The blasting synth riff will always live rent-free in my head. The single was released in February 1987 and it was also hitting the Top 10 in several countries including the band's own UK.
"To Be With You Again" starts off on Side B of the original LP and it has such a great intro that I was always looking forward to it on the tape to get my eyes and brain fully awake once more in the overnight hours. It's quite the soaring piece and I have to mention here that I've always liked the vocal combination of keyboardist Mike Lindup with his high voice and King's deeper and grounded tones. The song was also the first single from "Running in the Family" to be released after the album's release by coming out in April 1987. It did more modestly than the aforementioned songs although it did come in at No. 6 in Italy and the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, the album reached No. 6 in Canada, No. 23 in America and No. 2 in the UK. I haven't done all-nighters since the first George Bush was US President but wouldn't it be nice to place that audiotape into the machine again (although I'm still worried about Jaws!)? Then again, I have a perfectly benign record player that can handle the LP.
So, what were three singles in Japan that were being released in the merry month of March 1987?
For me, the entertainment district of Roppongi in Tokyo consists of the still-somewhat grimy and original Roppongi Avenue and the two modern complexes of Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. It's quite the neighbourhood but I never saw it as an island unto itself.
Well, Pearl Kyodai（パール兄弟...The Pearl Brothers） apparently did...at least enough to create a song that was the title track to the band's June 1990 5th album, "Roppongi Tou" (Roppongi Island). I first wrote about Pearl Kyodai back in 2017 when Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and his group came up with the New Wave-y"Sugar Sugar Tengoku"（シュガシュガ天国 ）for their 4th album"TOYVOX" in 1989.
Music genre-wise, Roppongi has in the past evoked Mood Kayo and jazz. With "Roppongi Tou", a breezy description of life on the island, it's actually showing some refreshing tropical jazz. I don't really see Roppongi at night here (as I would usually do); instead, it's bright daylight in Roppongi (despite the repeated mentions of "midnight") with some different attractions, thanks to the fervent Latin jazz rhythms and the crystalline synths. Saeki provided the lyrics while fellow Pearl BrotherHaruo Kubota（窪田晴男）took care of the music.
I'd been ready to treat this song by the late great Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）as one of her originals, but thanks to some checking back within the archives, I've realized that this is actually a cover by the Queen of Kayo Kyoku. Good to do that from time to time.
Jazz was one of Misora's go-to genres during her long career as a singer so it was natural for me to assume that "Futari de O-sake wo" (Let's Have a Drink Together) was one of her own as she cheerfully fronts all of that Dixieland jazz. However, the fact is that she was giving her rendition of the original by Michiyo Azusa（梓みちよ）which was released all the way back in March 1974, and listening to the original again, it was definitely more in the swinging kayo vein.
I couldn't find out when Misora had recorded her "Futari de O-sake wo" although it was a track on her 2007 "Cover Song Collection"（カバーソング コレクション）, coming out some eighteen years following her untimely death. The songwriters are of course the same: lyricist Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and composer Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）.
A friend of mine went to Japan for vacation about a month ago. Last time we spoke he was on the train headed to Osaka. While he was planning his trip he had asked me to hook him up with a Osaka playlist for when he got there. Of course I included the essential hits by Masaki Ueda, but I also found him some other great artists like Takajin Yashiki, and Masahiro Kuwana. One common theme I find with Osaka music is that they really love the blues. Which makes sense since I'm pretty sure they had a big Blues Rock scene back in the 70s, spearheaded by bands like West Road Blues Band, Funny Company, and Ukadan. Here's some of my favorites, let me know if I should have recommended others.
Osaka Big River Blues (大阪ビッグ・リバー・ブルース) by Ukadan
Sweet Home Osaka by Funny Company
Your Osaka (あんたの大阪 ) by Hako Yamazaki (She's from Oita Prefecture but its still a nice song)
Since coming to Osaka (大阪へ出て来てから) byJunji Ariyama (有山じゅんじ) and Masaki Ueda 上田正樹
おそうじ Obachan by Ukadan
As a bonus, here's an updated version of Since coming to Osaka from 2007. much jazzier while still retaining the honky-tonk nature.
Well, it's been over six years since I wrote about 80s aidoru Maiko Okamoto's（岡本舞子）sophomore and final album to date, "Fascination", from July 1986. As was the case back then, I only wrote about a few of the tracks there but was...well, fascinated by the fact that some bigwigs in the industry such as singer-songwriter Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）were behind the production, especially since City Pop was involved.
Happy to say that I've reopened the Okamoto file thanks to this track from "Fascination" that I hadn't covered. Titled "Aoi Summertime", this was written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）with the aforementioned Yamakawa behind composition and arrangement. It's quite the zippy aidoru tune with the sparkly synths and Okamoto's genki vocals singing about young love in the hot season. I'm just glad that I could find a song with "summer" in the title especially when things have been blazing both here and in Japan. As for the colour mentioned in the title, aoi（蒼い）, I had initially assumed that it was "Green Summertime" but apparently considering the lyrics, I think it might be better to say "Sky-Blue Summertime".
A few months ago, I decided that I would become a tourist in my own hometown of Toronto. And as such, I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario for the first time in half a century back in April. Well, today, I visited Casa Loma, the castle-style mansion that's now well over a century old and has been a popular site for film shooting such as "X-Men", "Cocktail" and "Chicago". You can take a look at the Wikipedia article for some of the other movies that have been filmed there.
Of course, I had to go on a day that was deemed to have one of the worst levels of air pollution on Earth today (a hot and sticky day, to boot) and I actually had to climb the Baldwin Stairs to reach Casa Loma. I'm surprised that I actually survived. To be fair, the number of steps is probably a mere fraction of the stairway to heaven needed to access some Japanese temples but I wonder if architect E. J. Lennox had some sort of sadistic streak in him.
The above shot here is of the Group of Seven Room, named after the famous Canadian group of painters including A.Y. Jackson. I wonder if this is where Professor X (Sir Patrick Stewart) held court with his students.
Well, seeing that I did visit Casa Loma for the first time in 46 years, I figured that I ought to post an article having to do with castles. At first, I'd considered an Author's Picks consisting of castle kayobut considering that I'm doing this late at night, I just don't think I have the time or energy. But while I was searching, I did encounter this Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）enka titled simply "Shiro" (Castle).
Man, for a June 1993enka, "Shiro" is mightily old-fashioned without any sign of an electric guitar. It's got the traditional koto and shakuhachi along with some epic chorus and timpani to really set down the feeling that Kitajima is really paying tribute to the overall Japanese castle right down to its parts and construction. And yet, he looks downright Bing Crosby-ish in his cardigan on the cover of the single. Daisuke Shiga（志賀大介）was in charge of the lyrics while the composer was none other than Sabu-chan himself under his usual pseudonym of Joji Hara（原譲二）.
