Sachiko Nishida -- Furusato no You ni (故郷のように)

(karaoke version)

Usually when I see the word furusato in a kayo title, I think of a sentimental ballad with the singer warbling emotionally about heading back to the old hometown after years toiling away in the big city. However, such is not the case here with Sachiko Nishida's（西田佐知子）"Furusato no You ni" (Just Like My Hometown).

Released in March 1963, Nishida goes through this like a boogie-woogie march on the same level as anything by the Andrews Sisters back in World War II. "Furusato no You ni" was created by the same duo, Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura（永六輔・ 中村八大）, who had come up with the classic "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）...aka "Sukiyaki"...for the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）a couple of years earlier in 1961. Nishida sings about how much she wants to hold onto her guy like her memories of home, and dang it, if that arrangement is any indication, she will probably end up asphyxiating him in the process.

If I understood the J-Wiki article on the song correctly, the song got its fame during its introduction on a segment of the old NHK program "Yume de Aimashou"（夢であいましょう...Let's Meet In A Dream）.