Miyuki Kawanaka -- Futari Zake （ふたり酒）

One of my other memories from that very first Kohaku Utagassen I watched in 1981 was seeing a vivacious young woman walking up to the microphone in a nice bright dress and huge smile. The singer was Miyuki Kawanaka（川中美幸）, someone that I've seen on TV as actress, TV personality and, of course most of all, enka performer.
Born in Metropolitan Osaka in 1955 as Kimiko Kawanaka（川中岐味子）, she started her music career with the stage name of Harumi Kasuga（春日はるみ） in 1972. At that time, her management company was grooming her to be an aidoru but when that plan failed, she made a second debut as Miyuki Kawanaka with "Anata ni Inochi Gake"（あなたに命がけ） in 1977. Then in March 1980, her career got a huge boost when she recorded "Futari Zake"(Sake For Two), a song written by Takashi Taka（たかしたか） and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, who would later create another enka hit, "Amagi Goe"（天城越え） for Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, another failed aidoru-turned-successful enka singer.

When I was doing my Japanese Studies major at U of T, one of the things I read about my target country was that it had something called a "bar culture". Yup, the Japanese definitely love to drink. Whereas over here, it would often be a weekly visit to the local bar/pub, I think the folks back in my adoptive country like to make it a near-nightly ritual (depending on hepatic conditions). Although "Futari Zake" has a rather calming beat, the lyrics have this lusty feeling reflecting bar culture: life may be rough but nothing beats that drink with friends at the end of the day. And even though the song is enka, I think the feeling fits anything from the tiniest nomiya in Shinjuku's Golden Gai to the vast beer hall in Ebisu Garden Place. Although I was never anything more than a social drinker when I went out to the bars and izakayas of Tokyo and Chiba, I enjoyed the jovial atmosphere of men and women pouring for each other beer, shochu and sake....mind you, in my case, I relished the food that came out like yakitori and sashimi and karaage even more

Kawanaka sings "Futari Zake" from the male point of view according to the masculine personal pronouns that are written into the lyrics, although I've met my fair share of women who could potentially drink their male counterparts under the table just like Indiana Jones' old flame, Marion Ravenwood, did in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". But no matter. The song is a proud statement on enjoying each other's company while knocking back a few.

For someone who had been in the music business for almost a decade at the time, I can understand the huge smile Kawanaka sported when she strode up to the microphone at the Kohaku Utagassen, her first of 24 appearances on the NHK stage, the latest one being in 2011. "Futari Zake" peaked at No. 9 on Oricon and was Kawanaka's first million-seller. She would sing the song two more times on the Kohaku in 2006 and 2009. For 1981, it was the 31st-ranked song....quite the upward odyssey, considering when it debuted.