Hiromi Iwasaki -- Matenrou （摩天楼）

According to the J-Wiki article on "Matenrou", the song is still classified as an aidoru tune for Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, although I think her age (nearing 22 at the time), looks, gorgeous vocals and the arrangement of the song belie that status. Mind you, Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）latter hits were still considered aidoru despite her deeper voice and the maturity of the lyrics but then again, the 70s aidoru and the 80s aidoru were perceived quite differently.

In any case, I digress. Right from the get-go, "Matenrou" has that City Pop beat provided by composer Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）, a singer who has known his way through the metropolis in a musical sense. The guitar, keyboards and strings all work together to create that Tokyo atmosphere; in a way, the arrangement evokes some of what singer/actor Akira Terao（寺尾聡）would offer in the most Oricon-successful City Pop album, "Reflections" in 1981. And I also get a bit of early Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）rock from that guitar work.

Additionally, there is the title itself which translates as "skyscraper". And even back then, there was a fair agglomeration of the tall buildings amassing in Shinjuku threatening to poke through the cumulus clouds....one of the big symbols of Big City Life in Japan. Lyrically, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）brings in the words of intrigue as Iwasaki trips the tongue fantastic about a woman who unfortunately and suddenly finds out that her beau isn't totally devoted to her when she hears another feminine voice coming from the heel's bathroom. Both Iwasaki's vocals and the music zip along quite urgently as if to hint at the poor young lady running away from the heartbreak that has already caught up with her.

"Matenrou" was Iwasaki's 22nd single from October 1980. It did rather modestly on the charts, getting as high as No. 22 (there is something rather eerie about how that number has popped up in this article), although of course, the Tokyo native would gain some higher Oricon success in the following years. 

In the city, I'm staring, staring, staring...