Motohiro Hata -- Himawari no Yakusoku （ひまわりの約束）

Nope, those are tulips above...couldn't find any pictures of sunflowers that would have been able to show up as thumbnails when I published this one.

One of the highlights of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）tonight was hearing this ballad by singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata（秦基博）. I had never heard of this fellow from Miyazaki Prefecture until tonight but when he performed his "Himawari no Yakusoku" (Sunflower Promise), I was instantly entranced by both the melody and lyrics devoted to love and friendship. The last several years seem to have seen its fill of male pop singers with these high soulful voices but this particular singer and song simply kinda struck me from the get-go.

"Himawari no Yakusoku" is actually Hata's 17th single since his major debut in 2006. Released in December 2014 as the theme song for one of the "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）movies done up as a 3D CG feature released back in the summer of that year, it managed to peak at No. 10 and break through the million-seller barrier.