Los Indios -- Como Esta Akasaka ?（コモエスタ赤坂）

The subgenre of Mood Kayo（ムード歌謡）evokes and is evoked by scenes of tipsy businessmen crawling throughout the bar districts. In Tokyo, one such pricey area is Akasaka where bars, nightclubs and restaurants are squeezed in together so tightly that they've probably secretly made a Guinness World Record in the category of "Most Densely Populated Bar District". For some reason, Mood Kayo often incorporated jazz, Latin or even Hawaiian melodies. It all started in the 50s when such music was played for Occupation forces and then later moved into the bars and nightclubs of Tokyo districts such as Ginza and Akasaka.

Los Indios was one such band that specialized in Mood Kayo. It formed in 1962 with Shizuo Tanahashi（棚橋静雄） as the lead vocal. One of their representative hits is "Como Esta Akasaka"(How Are You, Akasaka?), a tribute to the famed drinking area where love can be found and lost. It was written by Takashi Nishiyama（西山隆） and composed by Kazunori Asano（浅野和典） in 1968.

I'm also leaving you with the karaoke video for the song since it gives a nice view of what Akasaka is like in the evening. Yes, night is the best time to just even walk through the area and admire just all the lights (yes, even in post 3/11 Tokyo). A couple of my farewell parties were in the area last December. Had one nice dinner and drink in an izakaya with one student, and then a bunch of friends took me to the local Hooters there....very pleasant young waitresses....yes, they were.

A fine evening in Akasaka.

It is as the sign says.