Takako Minekawa -- Fantastic Cat

Once again, I have to marvel at some of the things that I have learned in the years of doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Even the little things make me want to go "Oh-HO!". Case in point, the Japanese voice that pops up whenever the Sony Playstation logo appears. The voice belongs to one Takako Minekawa（嶺川貴子）, singer-songwriter.

Now I've heard the name off and on over the years but never bothered to research about her. But then last night, I was listening to one of the "Japan Top 10" podcasts hosted by Ethel about Shibuya-kei (Episode 245: August 2018). There were the familiar sounds of Flipper's Guitar and Pizzicato Five, of course, but then came Takako Minekawa who hadn't automatically registered as someone who was in the Shibuya-kei genre. But from reading her Wikipedia profile, I found out that she loved French pop and the works of Kraftwerk. Incidentally, that is also where I realized her Playstation connection.

"Fantastic Cat" was the song played on the podcast and it's this catchy love child of the theme from the old "Batman" TV show and cute minimalist technopop ditties delivered with a breathy sex appeal, reminiscent of Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）....if Karie had grown up as a Valley Girl. Looking at the music video, I would definitely nominate it as a "City Limits" entry.

This ode to this amazing cat was also a track on Minekawa's 3rd album "Roomic Cube" released in May 1996.

I also read on Wikipedia that "Fantastic Cat" had also been used in a commercial for Miller Beer. Happily, I was able to track down that ad and wondered about the possibilities of recursive environments and Dyson Spheres afterwards.