Junko Yagami -- Omoide wa Utsukushi Sugite （思い出は美しすぎて）

Another one of my lovely musical memories of songbird Junko Yagami（八神純子）. Of course, the title is "Omoide wa Utsukushi Sugite"(The Memories are So Beautiful), her 3rd single, and the song, according to J-Wiki, that got her on the map. Yagami was a regular addition on the poppier broadcasts of "The Sounds of Japan", so I got to know her late 70s and early 80s stuff. One of them is the one I'm profiling now.

The song, written and composed by Yagami, is another pleasant mix of bossa nova rhythm and her soaring vocals. That period of the 20th century seemed to have been a fruitful time for the Brazilian genre to percolate into a number of kayo kyoku tunes, including those sung by Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美） and Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. "Omoide wa Utsukushi Sugite"was released in January 1978, and managed to peak at No. 25 on the Oricon charts and sold a little over 100,000 singles.

The single was also a track on her very first album which had the same title. It was released in June 1978.