Yasuha -- Fly-Day Chinatown (フライディ・チャイナタウン)

No, I didn't goof up on the title up there. It is indeed "Fly-Day Chinatown" and not "Friday Chinatown" according to the write-up on J-Wiki. I gather that singer-songwriter Yasuha（泰葉）wanted to further illustrate the excitement of a night in Chinatown through the title although I think Friday nights in Chinatown can be quite jaunty.

This was another discovery on YouTube and I was automatically drawn in by the booming disco melody by Yasuha Ebina（海老名泰葉）and the interesting horns which start things off. Plus, I also like Yasuha's vocals which are in the same vein as Junko Yagami（八神純子）and Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. With the setting being Chinatown, my brain couldn't help but pull out some of my times in good ol' Yokohama. Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）provided the lyrics.

"Fly-Day Chinatown" was Yasuha's debut single from September 1981 which managed to peak at No. 69 on Oricon and was also a track on her debut album, "Transit" which was released a couple of months later. The singer is a Tokyo native and the daughter of a rakugo storyteller and an essayist. Apparently, she has also been a tarento although my memory is a bit fuzzy on whether I actually saw her on TV or whether it was another television personality by the name of Otoha（乙葉）.

Including "Transit", she has released 10 singles up to 2009 and 7 studio albums.

This was actually a Friday and the photo seems
good for City Pop!

September 27th 2020: Ms.OOJA has provided a nice cover of "Fly-Day Chinatown".

April 29th 2026: Well in the last ten years since I first posted "Fly-Day Chinatown", the catchy-as-all-heck City Pop tune has become quite the source of meme legend.

We've had the whole Rounds 1 and 2 thing.

Then, there was the Eggdog Dance Battle.

And just last week, "Fly-Day Chinatown" was used as the ending theme for Episode 5 of  the anime "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）which may have gotten the biggest reaction out of all of the Showa and Heisei Era songs utilized so far. If the powers-that-be actually go to Miki Matsubara（松原みき）, that corner of the show on YouTube will positively explode. The viewership for this article has soared as well...to over 6,500 views thus far.