Ahhhh....the cute early days of Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）.... although I knew her back then as one of the suffer-no-fools-period tough girls on "Be Bop High School". Couldn't get cuter than with her 4th single, "Iro-White Blend" (Colour - White Blend). Still not quite sure what the titular white blend was all about although it was interesting to hear all of the phrases that could be hashed together with the word "white". But true to a typical Mariya Takeuchi-penned creation, the song is still an adorable pop confection of cotton candy and pink ribbons.
"Iro-White Blend" came out in February 1986. It was used for a Shiseido commercial starring Miporin herself as shown below, and during the recording of the single, Takeuchi（竹内まりや） left her little daughter with hubby Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and visited the studio to help the aidoru on how to sing and pronounce the English phrases. Mariya....you are welcome at Berlitz anytime!
The song was the first time that a Miporin single broke the 200,000-record level and peaked at No. 2 on Oricon. It also became the 38th-ranked single for 1986.
The song was so catchy that Mariya herself had to do a cover version on her 1987 "Request" album. It's vintage Mariya...Tatsuro is in the background while the arrangement has that 60s Phil Spector/Eiichi Ohtaki sound. For all those Mariya fans out there, try NOT to bob your head while either her version or the Miho original is playing!
And perhaps Mariya could've made a small house call to Miku for a bit of coaching as well.
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