Yuzo Kayama -- Umi, Sono Ai （海、その愛）

As much as 60s Big Man on Campus Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三） crooned the women onto the beaches and into his arms in his movies, I was surprised to hear that one of his other great songs was actually released in the mid-70s. "Umi, Sono Ai"(The Ocean, That Love) was written by Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子） and composed by Kayama himself under his pseudonym of Kosaku Dan（弾厚作）in 1976, and the target of his affections was not some girl, but the sea herself.

Yesterday, Japan enjoyed one of its long weekends via the holiday July Monday of Marine Day or Umi no Hi（海の日）. The holiday was created just within the last several years and plugged into the formerly holiday-less 7th month so that the government could encourage citizens to have a bit more summer fun in their lives. Perhaps, someday, it can even make this song the official anthem to Marine Day. Kayama's ode treats the ocean as the giver of life and as the granter of wishes....something that can transport everyone to faraway lands and make them forget about any emptiness in their lives. The Pacific must have been blushing like mad!(Or perhaps that was the red algae.)

I've heard the song performed by Kayama over the years on various programs, including three times on the Kohaku Utagassen, and it's usually brought in as one of the showstoppers. And those performances don't even top the original in terms of time, since the song was almost 8 minutes long! I think it also shares a bit melodically with The Beatles' "Hey, Jude" near the end of the song. It was never released as a single, although the titular album came out in May 1976. The album managed to finish the year at the No. 30 position. However, the song itself has managed to add to the Kayama legacy for decades.