Akemi Kakihara -- September Tokyo Tower

Well, the Labour Day weekend is over, the kids are back in school and the weather may or may not be starting to tilt towards a cooler mode. In Toronto, we got two out of three. It's pretty darn warm now after virtually the entire summer was going to be written off as a cool one, and we're looking at a Humidex of 40 degrees Celsius on Friday as if Japan decided to toss over some of their weather. To be honest, I wish I could toss it back. After going through several years of Tokyo heat and humidity, I think I'm due for some cool summers for the next number of years.

In any case, now that we are in September, I was able to encounter this nice little ballad titled "September Tokyo Tower" by singer-songwriter Akemi Kakihara (柿原朱美...now known as ak over in the United States). I've made it a bit of a tradition since I started the blog to bring in a song with the word "September" in its title whenever the 9th month arrived...I believe Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや） "September" was the beginning. Well, unlike Mariya's jaunty semi-disco tune, Kakihara's "September Tokyo Tower" is a much more wistfully reflective song about reminiscing over a past romance with the famed Tokyo Tower as the backdrop. Songwriters in Japan, no matter the genre, seem to associate the loss of romance with the fall season (for me, it's always been the season when the fine foodie fare of the country pops up, but I digress), and there is no exception in this case.

Listening to "September Tokyo Tower", I can just feel the coolness of the coming fall wafting in and that need to put on that light sweater. Kakihara's voice is quite similar to someone she has written a number of songs for, Miki Imai（今井美樹）, so I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Imai could have covered this song during one of her concerts.

I was able to track the song down to her 7th album from 1995, "Mermaid Kiss". As for Tokyo Tower itself, it may have been eclipsed by Tokyo Sky Tree in terms of its utility, but I think the orange-red structure still is a very viable architectural symbol of the metropolis. It wouldn't be the same without seeing it as part of the skyline.

And if you wanna try listening to another wistful autumn-tinged song, try Off Course's "Aki no Kehai"（秋の気配）.