I believe there have been a number of songs detailing the plight of the working man during his decades acting as the tiniest of cogs in the corporate machine of Japan. But sometimes when I think about some of the guff that the working woman has to endure, I imagine one singer-songwriter: Eri Hiramatsu（平松愛理）.
This is not to say that Eri Hiramatsu made it her mission to sing about office ladies and company life all the time but when it comes to her music videos, they often seem to have her as the main character in one of those Japanese comedies about the nuttiness that goes on in the corporations. That was true about her 11th single "Single is Best?!" and that is true about her 10th single "Mou Waraushikanai" (I Can Only Laugh) from September 1992.
Despite the video that should have gotten Hiramatsu her own starring role in a Fuji-TV comedy, her lyrics from "Mou Waraushikanai" are a mild admonishment to that significant other to shape up more in the romance department. She's been trying to hold her end of the bargain so it's only fair that the guy do so as well. And that slight chew out is made more appealing due to the singer's usual bouncy pop music. I would almost loved to have been her boyfriend simply to get a musical earful from her.
The song got as high as No. 17 and was the opening track to Hiramatsu's 5th album "Erhythm" which came out at the same time as the single. That album did hit No. 1. Listening to the song again fired off some memory engrams so when I checked out the J-Wiki article, I found out that I probably had heard at least the beginning of the song over and over again since it was used as the theme song for a segment on Fuji-TV's "Waratte Ii Tomo"（笑っていいとも!...It's OK To Laugh） noontime variety show.
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