Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos -- Ame no Ginza （雨の銀座）

Had a nice brief lunch with the anime buddy earlier today. We haven't done our usual biweekly Sunday routine for a number of weeks due to scheduling difficulties on both our ends so the outing at Olde York Fish N' Chips was quite good. Even got some of the good stuff for my parents since they also like the place.

It was quite summery this morning with a touch of humidity but we've been getting some fairly wet weather in the last several minutes. I'm sure folks out on the patios aren't too thrilled with the sudden change but having the humidity washed out for a little bit doesn't bother me.

Y'know, I don't quite remember all that much of a rainy Ginza when I was living in Japan. My memories of one of Tokyo's most expensive neighbourhoods have usually been quite sunny ones. Of course, Sundays have been the days when the main drag is closed down to vehicular traffic for about 6 hours so that the pedestrians can enjoy more walking and sitting space. Unlike old Akihabara which had a lot of the weird performance art and Akiba aidoru concerts, Ginza was pretty sedate with all of those tables and deck umbrellas covering them. However, I did remember seeing one Akiba-centric thingie with a cosplay girl playing dead on Chuo Avenue while her rabid partner as photographer was taking shots like a soldier on a machine gun. It's safe to say that the surrounding folks were mildly scandalized.

In any case, I did find this November 1967 Mood Kayo titled "Ame no Ginza" (Rainy Ginza) by Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）. This was their 5th single written by Masako Tokaki（冨樫政子）and composed by Hiroyuki Nakagawa（中川博之）, and deals with a heartbroken woman standing on a Ginza corner in the rain, bereft of her man since the louse apparently found a replacement. I guess constant precipitation is also a good sign for the sad end of a romance along with falling leaves.

Now as for the lyricist 冨樫政子, I couldn't be completely sure of the reading of her name since I had never heard of her before and both her first and last names have different readings. So if Noelle or anyone well versed in her music can correct me, that would be greatly appreciated.

(empty karaoke version)

Ahhh...one of my old stomping grounds. I do hope that Yamano Music is still there when I visit the area next time.

Not sure how "Ame no Ginza" did on Oricon but the main vocalist here was Shoji Mori（森聖二）who became the 2nd leader of Los Primos after Kurosawa's departure in 1980. Kurosawa passed away in 2009 just before his 75th birthday (and again, this isn't the famous movie director Kurosawa) with Mori himself leaving this mortal coil a little more than 6 months later at the age of 70.