Rumi Shishido -- Konbini Tengoku （コンビニ天国）

Really, I bought it for the songs!

Slowly going through the various CDs that I purchased for the Holidays. I managed to buy a compilation titled "Techno Kayo -- The Ultimate Collection 1". Being a fan of Yellow Magic Orchestra and reading nikala's article on the genre, I became interested in finding out some more examples so I was finally able to get this album this month. As for the cover of a bikini model by the name of Rie Amano standing in the middle of a sento (public bath), I will leave that to your fertile imaginations.

There were a number of songs that stood out on the album and a few of them I have already covered such as Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Kinku"（禁区）and Chika Takami's（高見知佳）"Kuchibiru Nude"（くちびるヌード）, but the final track also caught my eye...I mean ear (Ms. Amano caught my eye). This would be "Konbini Tengoku" (Convenience Store Heaven) by cute aidoru Rumi Shishido（宍戸留美）.

Marcos V. first talked about her in his article for her song "Otoko no Ko Ga Naichau Nante/Dance no Kamisama"（男のコが泣いちゃうなんて・ダンスの神様）as this aidoru who explored the more technopop side of things. I found out about her through the above commercial (sorry but that particular commercial has been taken down) in which her twinkling eyes and her hip-shifting moves were the two things that stood out for me. But I had no idea about her singing career.

"Konbini Tengoku" was not an official single but a track on her debut album from 1990, "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do-Shi-Shi-Do-Ru-Mi"（ド・レ・ミ・ファ・ソ・ラ・シ・ド・シ・シ・ド・ル・ミ）. And as limited as her vocal abilities were, there is something adorable about how she delivers her paean to all things konbini via Yumiko Ishijima's（石嶋由美子）lyrics such as the cakes and ice cream and shampoo available there, and screaming with her buddies when they try to sneak a peek into the porn mags. Plus the melody by Hirohiko or Yasuhiko Fukuda（福田裕彦）is catchy as all heck.

As someone who used to live within walking distance to 5 or 6 convenience stores, the Japanese konbini (7-11. Lawson's, am/pm, etc.) is truly convenient. Not only can you get bento and other household goods, but you can pay just about all of your bills, purchase airplane and concert tickets, send parcels out, copy documents and even recharge cellphone batteries. As Rumi bleats out, it is really konbini tengoku.