Megumi Asaoka -- Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki （わたしの彼は左きき）

To be honest, I first came across this song when it was used in a parodic way for a curry rice commercial several years ago. I've heard and seen the middle-aged Megumi Asaoka（麻丘めぐみ） on TV as an actress and a personality, but never made the connection between her and this song until I watched one of those Showa-era music retrospectives, and a young Asaoka showed up to sing "Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki"(My Boyfriend is a Lefty).

Written by Kazuya Senke（千家和也） and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it was released as Asaoka's 5th single in July 1973. This would be one of the Osaka-raised aidoru's most successful songs, peaking at No. 1 on the Oricon charts, and earning the Popularity Award at the Japan Record Awards. The song was also a track on her 4th album, "Megumi to Wakai Nakama Tachi" (めぐみと若い仲間たち....Megumi and Her Young Friends) which peaked at No. 13.

The then-18-year-old also earned her spot on the 1973 Kohaku Utagassen . What also helped her was her cute princess-style haircut (as has been described on J-Wiki) and the choreography involving her left hand. But of course, the song itself was infectiously bouncy and bubbly enough as well.....which explains why it was re-made into a commercial jingle decades later.

As for the significance of the title, I think it rather ironic since even now there is a feeling amongst a lot of Japanese families that any child born left-handed should be "trained" to change to a proper right-handed ability. It seems that Senke's song hints in the second verse that even if that boyfriend remains left-handed, his girl will still love him all the same. Awwww...