Shizuko Kasagi/UA -- Kaimono Boogie （買物ブギー）

This was a song that has popped up on NHK's "Kayo Concert" a couple of times including the previous episode last night (so glad that it's back)...and no surprise; it just seems to be tailor-made to be performed on stage.

"Kaimono Boogie" (Grocery Shopping Boogie) is a rapid-fire report on the craziness of doing the daily shopping by kayo boogie queen Shizuko Kasagi（笠置シヅ子）. Written and composed by Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）in June 1950 for some Nichigeki revue show (ah, no wonder it's great on stage), the song gained a great reputation so it got its own single release. I think Kasagi was definitely the big factor here as she sings out the role of a harried-but-tough-as-nails housewife hitting the fish market and fruits-and-vegetable shop while bantering about in the Osakan dialect non-stop...and if there's a group of people who can talk and shop at the same time, it's the Osakans. There was no Oricon at the time (and there wouldn't be for the better part of a couple of decades), but I can only wonder how it would have done on the charts since "Kaimono Boogie" managed to sell about 450,000 records.

As I've said before, nostalgia has had a huge hand in Japanese pop culture, and when something as snappy as "Kaimono Boogie" is created, it's pretty much rendered immortal. So unsurprisingly, the 1950 song has been covered by a number of artists including Osaka-born UA for her 2010 album "KABA". Here she is performing it on stage.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Glad to see you again, Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）. She was actually on Tuesday night's "Kayo Concert", and this is her performing "Kaimono Boogie" on stage with all of the trappings of mid-Showa Era living. I'd say that it was a tribute to Kasagi when she performed it as part of the stage show, and Kobayashi plays it up to the hammy hilt. It would be nice if she could come back to the Kohaku Utagassen to act out something like this on the Shibuya stage and leave the planet-sized costumes to posterity.

One of my supermarkets in the neighbourhood: Y's Mart.
Good ol' Minami-Gyotoku was truly blessed with no less than
4 supermarkets and a good sprinkling of convenience stores.