Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Kiyoshi Hikawa -- Ojii-chan Chi e Ikou (おじいちゃんちへいこう)

Well that's a cute drawing.
musicman-net.com/artist/59488.html

Well, would'ya look at that, Kiyoshi Hikawa's (氷川きよし) now on NHK's "Minna no Uta" (みんなのうた) too. His first ever contribution to this 5 minute music program that's directed at the kids is "Ojii-chan no Chi e Ikou", which translates to something like "going to grandpa's house", and it's being featured from August to September. It will also be coupled with Hikawa's earlier single, "Miren Gokoro" (みれん心) to form the F-type of said single - yes, F-type - which will be released on 27th September 2016.



"Ojii-chan no Chi e Ikou" is supposed to be about how a young Hikawa would spend his summer vacations at his grandfather's place in the Fukuoka countryside town of Yame. Putting that into simple but cute lyrics was Koyu Kure (暮醐遊). The activities the singer did with his grandfather included hunting for giant stag beetles in the nearby forest and munching on watermelon, as seen in the bright, colour pencil art animated short, and the sunny melody - brought to you by Kyogo Kawauchi and Natsumi Hirai (川口京吾 . 平井夏美) - that accompanies it aptly represents the fun little Hikawa must've had. According to this interview with Hikawa on the Oricon site, he was close to his grandfather, whom he would introduce to his audience during promotional campaigns in Yame when he had debuted. Unfortunately, his grandfather had passed away three years into his music career. So "Oji-chan no Chi e Ikou" is sort of a tribute to his grandfather.

It's been a really long time since I had spent time with my grandfather and I can't remember much of what I used to do with him. However, one thing that I can't forget is a tiny me plucking tiny purple flowers from this small shrub from his house garden and putting them in his palm. The flowers even had a little surprise: ants - panicking ants. Then when it was time to go back into the house, I asked him why he washed his hands, to which he simply replied, "Because it's dirty." (or something like that). After that I begrudgingly washed my hands too. Ah, it's been twelve years... ...


Those were the same type of flowers, but till this day I have no idea what it's called. I took the picture when in Taiwan last year.

5 comments:

  1. Hello, Noelle.

    I'm not sure what an F-type single is but that little boy on the cover there does look a tad like young Hikawa. :)

    Thanks for the reminiscences of you and your grandfather. I still remember our family visiting my grandparents back in the early 1970s in a very tiny village in Wakayama Prefecture. My gramps used to take me riding on his old motorcycle around the rice paddies all the time.

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    Replies
    1. Hi J-Canuck.

      Yup, the little guy does kinda look like Hikawa - wonder if they drew inspiration from pictures of him as a kid. And thanks, too, for sharing your anecdote about your grandparents; sounded like a good time. :)

      As for F-type singles, it's basically what would happen when the A-side of a single - e.g. "Miren Gokoro" - is paired with a different B-side in each version, thus forming the various types of singles (starts from A and ends at... whenever the record company stops reusing that same A-side). An example is the A-type "Miren Gokoro" single that has "Setouchi Blues" as it's B-side, and the C-type "Miren Gokoro" single that has "Tokyo Ondo" as it's B-side. Usually the most types of a single I've seen are three (A to C), but apparently now there can be even more (D to F). At this rate we'll probably see a Z-type single...

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    2. Well, I guess the recording companies have to increase income somehow.

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    3. Hikawa's record company must be swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck then, judging by how zealous his fans are - I'm sure that a good 75% (at least) of them will buy the D, E, F singles just like they bought the A, B, and C ones - all, in other words.

      Oh yeah, I'd like to tell you that I just started my internship just yesterday at the aquaculture services sector of AVA (Singapore's food & vet authority). So fewer articles will come from me for the time being until I get a more stable footing on the job (and used to waking up early). I'll still be reading stuff here and possibly commenting though.

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    4. Hi, Noelle.

      Congratulations on getting that internship and I totally understand about not being able to contribute as much as before. First and foremost, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" should always be seen as a hobby or a hub for those folks who love the old J-Pop and not an obligation.

      Whenever you have time to put up an article, feel free to do so or leave comments. Thanks very much for all of your hard work up to now.

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