Tonight's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, which only finished here a mere 10 minutes ago, took the geographical kayo way outside of Japan to countries like Turkey and even my nation of Canada.
America was also included in the musical whirlwind tour and it was represented by Hamako Watanabe's（渡辺はま子）"San Francisco Chinatown". There were a lot of songs that got my memories going but I never knew the title and the original singer for this number that also sparked my engrams. And what specifically sparked them was the cheerful singing by Watanabe that was almost a yodel.
Released in November 1950, "San Francisco Chinatown" was written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Shunichi Sasaki（佐々木俊一）. And it was a song that was performed by Watanabe on the very first Kohaku Utagassen on January 3rd 1951 when it was only broadcast on NHK Radio. The singer would perform it three more times on the televised versions of the New Year's Eve special in 1956, 1964 and 1973.
I only got to visit San Francisco once in 1990 so far, and although I missed out on getting that wonderful view of the Golden Gate Bridge because of...and it's no surprise...fog, my group and I were able to enjoy a fine dinner in Chinatown. I would proudly put up Toronto's Chinese cuisine against any of the equivalent fare around the world, including that in Hong Kong, but I have to say that dinner in San Francisco that one night was one of my finest culinary experiences ever. I would say more but I don't want to have Larry blush too much.😋
Watanabe also sang a song about a place closer to me: Ah, Muntinlupa no yo wa fukete (あゝモンテンルパの夜は更けて), Muntinlupa being the place where the New Bilibid Prison is located.
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