Mariko Nagai -- Zutto

Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）was one of the artists who stood out from my time in Japan between 1989-1991. The pixieish singer often came up with happy pop music. However, "Zutto"(Forever & Always) was her hit love ballad released in October 1990. It was used as the ending theme song for one of my favourite variety shows on Fuji-TV starring veteran comedienne Kuniko Yamada（山田邦子）. The song was composed by Takayuki Negishi（根岸貴幸）and written by Airin aka Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）. It hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up becoming the 30th-ranked song of 1991. 

The show was "Kuniko-chan no Yamada Katsutenai Terebi"（邦子ちゃんのやまだかつてないテレビ.....Kuniko-chan's Yamada Unprecedented TV) which was televised on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. from 1989 to 1992. It had the usual skits and musical interludes but was also a welcome stopover point for pop singers such as Nagai, KAN and Senri Oe（大江千里）. They practically became semi-regulars on the show. And sometimes, the odd anime character would show up.