Seiko Matsuda -- Jikan Ryokou （時間旅行）

It's been a lot of years since I heard this one by Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. "Jikan Ryokou"(Time Travel) was a track from her 13th album, "Supreme", released in June 1986. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆） and composed by Seiko herself, this is a bittersweet ballad about a seemingly permanent parting between a man and woman: he's off to the West Coast while she's headed for Paris. A couple of days ago, I wrote about Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜） "Kita Wing"（北ウィング）, one of her big early hits as the young lady in that song is running through Narita Airport on her breathless way to meet her lover in a foreign land with all of the drama that would entail....it was the beginning (and perhaps an end) to a phase of life.

"Jikan Ryokou" is more about the ending of a romantic period. The music is sad but not mournful as the woman remembers her past life with her former beau at the airport but at the same time, she takes that step into a new life in a new country. Since it had been some years since I listened to the song, I was reminded that Seiko Matsuda in the mid-80s had been making her own transitions professionally and personally; she got married (for the first time), had Sayaka and took some time off before returning to a more American pop mode in her music. Her voice was still unmistakably Seiko, though.

Seiko Matsuda -- Seiko Box