Yujiro Ishihara -- Brandy Glass (ブランデーグラス）

He was known as The Tough Guy, The Boss (all due respect to Bruce Springsteen) and The Big Man. He went from a rebellious James Dean type to a seen-it-all wiser and older Robert Mitchum elder statesman.There are several bars around the country which are devoted to his fans a quarter-century after his death. And his older brother was the irascible governor of Tokyo.

Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎） pretty much cemented his legend as an all-round entertainment bigwig right from an early age as he played the tall (at 178 cm, he really did stand out in those days) young, devilishly handsome rebel in postwar movies. Then, 30 years later, he was probably the most trusted police squad leader on TV with the most dedicated officers under his command. In real life, he commanded Japan's own version of The Rat Pack, the Ishihara Gundan (石原軍団...The Ishihara Army）, some of whom were part of the casts of the two police shows he starred in. One of them. Masaki Kanda（神田正輝） was the first husband of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子） and the father of current singer/TV personality, SAYAKA.

Crooning enka was one of Ishihara's other activities, and one of his prototypical songs was this 1977 single called "Brandy Glass". Just from the title, you know that this was something to be sung in a karaoke bar while swishing around the eponymous container since the lyrics hint at drowning one's sorrows in drink. It's also a notable song for the orchestral arrangement and the female chorus throughout it, since I kinda wonder if the producer recruited her from the classic "Star Trek" theme song. Yoko Yamaguchi and Mitsuru Kotani（山口洋子・小谷充）were responsible for the creation of "Brandy Glass".