Yuiko Tsubokura -- Tsukanoma Yotogi Bito （一瞬夜伽伴侶）

I saw this video last night as someone's YouTube collection of Japanese Funk...and boy, does the song have plenty of funk. Fell in love with it immediately because of that thrumming bass synth and Yuiko Tsubokura's（坪倉唯子）sultry vocals. As I did my second listening to "Tsukanoma Yotogi Bito", I started tracking down when and where it was released via J-Wiki. I could peg the sound to mid-1980s and since the song didn't show up on the J-Wiki articles on the albums that were featured which went into the 90s, I figured it had to be on her debut album, "Always In Love" from 1986.

Sure enough, checking at Amazon.jp and the Japanese music blog "Music Avenue", that cool-as-peppermint song with the long title was indeed the 2nd track on "Always In Love". It has quite a different sound when compared to the other song that I've written about by her, "Shooting Star" which came out in 1990. I was also intrigued by the title; it was only written in romaji at YouTube. When I tracked it down on "Music Avenue", that string of kanji came on out, and the best I could do in terms of translation was "Sudden Bed Partner". Well, it IS a nighttime urban contemporary song.

Given the opportunity, I'd like to get a copy of "Always In Love" myself. I tried looking it up on at CD Japan and Tower Records, but no dice there. No worries, though...it'll pop up somewhere eventually. Ah, did forget the usual information. The lyrics were provided by Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）and the funky music was by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）...man, I gotta get that retrospective album about him!