Mayumi Itsuwa -- Jungle Gym（ジャングルジム）

Certain things have different names depending on geography (which leads to dialects). Apparently, when it comes to that long piece of furniture in your living room, Americans might call it a couch while Canadians would prefer the term sofa (that is the case in my household) or chesterfield. Perhaps that may also be true when it comes to one of the perennial favourites in any playground: monkey bars or jungle gym. Not sure if these are geographical variants.

It was rather odd to me then that the lovely singer-songwriter Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）would come up with a tune titled "Jungle Gym". Considering her rich and ardent songs of love gained or lost, the title struck me as being rather kiddie. However, then I realized that compared to my country or the United States, the jungle gym perhaps has a deeper sentimentality in Japan. I've often seen scenes set in jungle gyms at night, such as the one above for "Tokyo Love Story", where one of the main characters heads to contemplate a troubling decision made or to be made.

Depending on your emotional state, the intro to Itsuwa's 10th single from April 1976 can have you tearing up. It sounds just like a mother's lullaby. And the singer's lyrics talk of the jungle gym as a metaphor for happier days of the past or a former lover or even Mom...all things that brought comfort when things were down. After hearing this ballad, I can now understand why jungle gyms have been the go-to objects for folks feeling down on their luck in J-Dramas.