Chris Hart -- Boku wa Koko de Ikiteiku （僕はここで生きていく）

(Sorry but the "Minna no Uta" video was taken down.

Instead, here's the shortened version of the music video.)

Nope, it doesn't have the best sound quality but I was quite charmed by this video from NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた...Songs For All）music vignette program for the kids. It is about a moving guy just getting started in the craft and having to pay his dues but also slowly finding his feet...a typical story arc that has been in tons of dramas especially when it comes to those morning 15-minute serials on the national network.

(karaoke version)

I also like the song that Chris Hart（クリス・ハート）sings for the video, "Boku wa Koko de Ikiteiku" (I Will Keep On Living Here). This is his 5th single from February 2016 which was written by him and Yoichiro Takagi（高木洋一郎）and composed by Ryo (?) Nakamura（中村僚）and Yu (?) Nakamura（中村友）. It has that inspirational and joyous feeling which was probably why it was on one of the final episodes of "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）when the theme of the evening was songs to cheer one up. And I believe it was on the same program that Hart announced that he was now a Dad for the first time...in a way, I think the song could be rather autobiographical.

"Boku wa Koko de Ikiteiku" managed to hit as high as No. 37. Hart has been one of the non-Japanese singers to make a splash in the J-Pop scene alongside Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）and Jero over the past several years, and hopefully they will be able to make further inroads and perhaps inspire other folks from other nations to join in.