Keiko Fuji -- Kyoto kara Hakata made （京都から博多まで）

I heard this torch song, "Kyoto kara Hakata made" (From Kyoto to Hakata) last night on NHK's "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）sung by one of the guest performers, and on hearing that this was a Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）song during the introduction, the Yu Aku（阿久悠）lyrics pretty much cemented that fact. Fuji once again brings forth a story of womanly woe about going on a seeming fool's errand by getting on that train from the ancient capital to one of the major cities in western Japan to go after that man that she's fallen for.

Kosho Inomata（猪俣公章）was responsible for the cool urban feel of Fuji's 11th single from January 1972, and as usual, I'm a sucker for a lonely trumpet. I could imagine the singer in that trenchcoat as a lonely figure waiting for that last train on a rain-soaked platform. Apparently, the supposedly quixotic voyage was patterned from an actual train run by the Matsukaze (now known as the Super Matsukaze according to Wikipedia), a limited express service operated by JR West. Inomata, by the way, was also behind Fuji's big hit from a couple of years previously, "Onna no Blues"（女のブルース）.

"Kyoto kara Hakata made" peaked at No. 20 on Oricon and first appeared as a track on Fuji's 8th album, "Shiranai Machi de"（知らない町で...In a Town I Don't Know）from December 1971 before it got its official single release. Several months later, she would perform it on the Kohaku Utagassen of 1972 which is shown above.