Daisuke Kitagawa -- Hama no Odoriko (横濱の踊り子)

It's been a while since I've picked out a song from the Oricon enka-yo charts, so I thought I'd do so on Wednesday since the new weekly list was out. A couple of the singles I saw had been there for about half a year and I'm still trying to fathom how they are still within the Top 20, some are new releases that came out just last Wednesday, and some have been there for about a month or so. Falling into the last category is "Hama no Odoriko", sung by one of enka's Ikemen 3, Daisuke Kitagawa (北川大介). Frankly, I don't think the Ikemen 3 are particularly good-looking. I mean, Kitagawa is sort of cute with that snaggle-toothed, dimpled smile, but the other two - Keisuke Yamauchi (山内惠介) and Hiroshi Takeshima (竹島宏) - are... well... not much to behold. And then again, I have hugely differing standards for what is considered a handsome dude from the typical Japanese woman, as you already may have noticed.

Moving on, ever since it's release on the 1st of July 2015, I've seen "Hama no Odoriko" floating up and down the enka-yo charts - it did well on the regular charts too, peaking at 25th - and since it was one of the few singles up there that left me curious as to how it sounded like every time I left the ranking page, I finally decided to give it a listen.

"Hama no Odoriko" is a catchy, jaunty and very cabaret-ish enka tune. The disco ball and that clubby beat at the start of the MV already gives you a pretty clear indication of what you're in for. And then you have two ladies joining the husky-voiced Kitagawa in a Michael Jackson-like blazer that's as shiny as the disco ball dancing up a storm - choreographed by afroed dancer and talent Papaya Suzuki (パパイヤ鈴木), who also made a cameo. It's actually quite cheesy when I think about it. However, from what I saw in the video's description, the song focuses on nightclubs anyway and is supposed to be a throwback to the mid 50's, so I guess they are on point.

Well, he looks cooler in a black blazer.

Makoto Kitajo (喜多條忠) was the one responsible for writing the lyrics to "Hama no Odoriko", and Gendai Kanou (叶弦大) composed it. Ah dang it, now I want to see Kitagawa sing this on "Kayo Concert" or "Nippon no Uta".

Shiny.

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