Mika Hino & Shiro Aoi -- Otoko to Onna no Love Game (男と女のラブ・ゲーム）

I've heard this song so many times at the karaoke boxes/karaoke bars at the various enkai (drinking parties) in Japan over the years (and it's probably still being sung right now [at least among the older folks] at the year-end parties) that I was surprised to find out that it was actually created in the late 80s and not a decade before.

"Otoko to Onna no Love Game"(A Man and A Woman's Love Game) is a classic Mood Kayo duet in that the lyrics by Tsutomu Uozumi（魚住勉） can have the male and female singers do that verbal give-and-take, thrust-and-parry, tease-and-flirt while they pretend (or not pretend) to be drunk. The music by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, despite my initial thoughts about its origins, has some of that synthesized City Pop/J-AOR that might give away its debut date of December 1986. The song actually made it up to No. 41 in the 1987 yearly singles.

I can honestly say that I have only been witness to this song and not an active participant. Not that I would've declined the opportunity if asked, but I think my karaoke days have gone the same way as my skinny ties and silvery gray suit.

Although probably a number of artists have covered the song on various TV shows over the decades, Mika Hino（日野美歌）and Shiro Aoi（葵司朗）are the originals, and though they seem to be as sober as we karaoke singers in this video, Hino has the role of the gently chiding female half while Aoi is the bumbling sot, drunk in both drink and love.