Kenjiro Sakiya -- ROOMS

As I was discovering who Kaya Saeki（佐伯伽耶） was and writing about her debut single last night, I also came across this lovely ballad by J-AOR crooner, Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. The two of them share something in common in that both this song and Saeki's "Perfume wo Nokosenai"（パフュームを残せない） were used as the ending themes for Fuji-TV's "Rooms" late-night TV show, and Sakiya can even beat that by the fact that this song's title is that show's title.

Released in May 1994, Sakiya's 16th single has that nighttime downtown sound that has always appealed to me within the big world of J-Pop, so it reminds me of some of the works of folks like Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘） and Sing Like Talking. As for Sakiya himself, he hails from Hiroshima Prefecture and debuted as a singer in 1987 with "Omoi Gakenai SITUATION"（思いがけないSITUATION...Unexpected Situation） , although he had started a couple of years earlier as a songwriter for people like Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一） and Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）. I also just heard one of his other ballads from his debut year, "Mou Ichido Yoru wo Tomete"（もう一度夜を止めて...Stop The Night Once More）, and wouldn't mind exploring some more of his stuff further.

In fact, you can take a listen to "Mou Ichido Yoru wo Tomete" right now. I did come across one of Sakiya's albums, "Realism" in "Japanese City Pop", but maybe I will take a search for one of his BEST albums.