Shizuka Kudo -- FU-JI-TSU

I'd always wondered about what the deal was with the hyphens between each syllable in the title "FU-JI-TSU" for Shizuka Kudo's（工藤静香） 4th single. Apparently the story goes that Kudo and company didn't want the fans to mistake the aidoru for necessarily endorsing the electronics manufacturer, Fujitsu, so in went the hyphens. Yeah, like the hyphens really helped. I was kinda wondering if her apartment had been filled with the company's products.

Anyways, "FU-JI-TSU" kept on the tradition of maintaining that urgent beat which characterized Kudo's early singles right from her debut, "Kindan no Telepathy" （禁断のテレパシー）. Released in June 1988, the song was Miyuki Nakajima's（中島みゆき） first contribution to the Kudo discography, and apparently the title itself came from an essay in one of Nakajima's written works titled "Ai wa Suki desu II"（愛は好きですＩＩ....I Love LOVE 2）. The galloping melody was provided by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）.

It had been a while since I heard this one, but today, I came across an old audiotape which contains her 1st BEST album, "Gradation" which has the A and B sides for her first five singles. "FU-JI-TSU" hit the top spot on Oricon and was the 23rd-ranked song for 1988, selling more than a quarter of a million copies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TDAndBFT5E

The video above has what looks like a whole bevy of male and female aidoru, including Shizuka-chan talking about the meaning of fujitsu (不実...insincerity) and then trying to make a calligraphy session of it before she goes on stage to perform the titular song.

Now, just to make sure that no one reading this has the impression that the manufacturer Fujitsu was trying to shoot itself in the foot by picking that name, the company actually started corporate life as Fuji Tsushinki Seizo（富士通信機製造）, or Fuji Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturing. As have a lot of Japanese firms, the company simply shortened the name.