Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

When I first heard this song on the radio, it just smacked me in the chops since it didn't sound anything like the typical kayo kyoku tune. It had this rather exotic and mysterious Middle Eastern feel to it which launched right from the first note. Saki Kubota(久保田早紀）, who had written and composed "Ihojin"(The Stranger), made an impact with her debut single which also had the subtitle of "Theme of The Silk Road". Originally, the title was to have been "Shiroi Asa"(白い朝....White Morning), but that was thankfully thrown out for being too weak.

Apparently, listeners also agreed with Kubota's exoticism. It was released in October 1979 and reached the No. 1 spot in December where it stayed for 6 weeks. It eventually became the 2nd-best selling song of 1980.　The song was also included on her first album, "Yumegatari"（夢がたり....Dream Story), which reached No. 1 and became the 4th-ranked album of that year.

"Ihojin" has become a kayo kyoku classic in that it has been covered by several singers such as Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）and the lead singer of Kome Kome Club, Tatsuya Ishii（石井竜也）.

Kubota's career was short. Once she got married, she retired from music in 1984, and is currently a Doctor in Sacred Music at Kernel University in the United States under her real name of Sayuri Kume（久米小百合）.

January 22, 2021: I saw and heard this last night on the NHK educational variety show "Naming Variety - Nihonjin no O-namae!"（ネーミングバラエティー 日本人のおなまえっ!...Japanese Names!） when the episode was focusing on three particular kayo of which "Ihojin" was one. Apparently, not only did the song once have that rather light title of "Shiroi Asa", but Kubota had originally meant the song to be about a bunch of kids playing around at a school by the Chuo Line in Tokyo!