Well, I kinda figured one thing. I know that there were quite a few songs associated with these various popular words of their year so I just considered scrolling through the official website for the awards and seeing what I could find. Of course, with the Heisei Era finishing up at the end of April, I decided to keep my focus from 1989 onwards for the most part so here are 9 songs attached with some of those Heisei trendy words and 1 that I decided to throw in for nostalgia's sake.
1. Koichi Sakata -- Theme from "Oshin" (1st edition ~ 1984)
Not being a serial drama fan, I was always in my room studying but I could hear my parents sniffling away as they watched another tear-drenched episode on their rental VHS tapes. And each episode would being with that wistful instrumental theme song by Koichi Sakata(坂田晃一). I heard that "Oshin" became a huge hit even in Southeast Asia, and I even saw then-President Ronald Reagan give an address to Japan, making reference to the show although he pronounced the title as "ocean".
2. Saburo Tokito -- Yuuki no Shirushi (6th edition ~ 1989)
Yup, in the first (not-whole) year of Heisei, just as the first cracks were appearing in that Big Shiny Bubble, this commercial jingle for the Regain vitamin drink exhorted the masses to work their asses...off under the slogan "24-ji kan tatakae masu ka?"(24時間タタカエマスカ...Can you battle it out for 24 hours?). It didn't stop the Bubble from bursting but "Yuuki no Shirushi"(勇気のしるし)was a huge success and probably got actor Saburo Tokito(時任三郎)his first hit as a singer. It even got attention from CNN.
3. B.B. Queens -- Odoru Ponpokorin (7th edition ~ 1990)
"Chibi Maruko-chan"(ちびまる子ちゃん)the anime and manga by the late Momoko Sakura(さくらももこ) became a thing in this year, and even the famous ending theme (now the opening theme) by B.B. Queens ended up as the No. 1 single of the year on Oricon and in the karaoke rooms. Watching the show on Sunday nights, the anime has become as indispensable as "Sazae-chan"(サザエちゃん)on the Fuji-TV schedule.
4. Chage and Aska -- Say Yes (8th edition ~ 1991)
5. EAST END×YURI -- DA.YO.NE (12th edition ~ 1995)
6. Namie Amuro -- Don't Wanna Cry (13th edition ~ 1996)
7. Pirates -- INCANTATION (15th Edition ~ 1998)
One of the reasons that I decided to come up with this list was this comical duo of busty tarento known as Pirates(パイレーツ)who gained their 15 minutes of fame for this one catchphrase, "Dachuuno!"(だっちゅーの...What I'm Saying Is)as they bent over in their low-cut wardrobe. Again as any of the trendy words for that year proved, it was one of those phrases that was everywhere in the media zeitgeist, and therefore, Yoshimi Asada and Haruka Nishimoto(浅田好未、西本はるか)were everywhere as well.
Plus, I vaguely remember that their fame meant going into the recording booth to spit out some singles. Their first one of four singles was "INCANTATION" released in March 1998. Written by Sho Saegusa(三枝翔...not sure about the pronunciation of the last name) and composed by Kazuhisa Yamaguchi(山口一久), it had that slightly sultry feel, but that's all I can really say about it.
8. Dango Gasshodan -- Dango San Kyodai (16th Edition ~ 1999)
9. Re:Japan -- Ashita ga aru sa (18th Edition ~ 2001)
At a time when corporate workers were getting mightily worried about getting laid off, perhaps the cover of Kyu Sakamoto's(坂本九)"Ashita ga aru sa"(明日があるさ)by Re:Japan's motley crew of Yoshimoto Kogyo comedians may have helped provide some solace. Plus, the friendly nature of the song must have made for a fine trigger for a massive singalong that year at the karaoke boxes.
10. Pikotaro -- PPAP: Pen-Apple-Pineapple-Pen (33rd Edition ~ 2016)
Well, considering that "PPAP" went well beyond Japan's borders and tickled the humour of one Canadian superstar and dragged one other Canadian superstar into a parody, I think that it was a done deal for the song to get a prize a couple of years ago. Reading the description at the website for the trendy words, even those guys aren't sure what triggered the song's popularity.😁
From May, it will be a new reign era. I'm sure that there will be some buzzwords, catchphrases and trendy words formed and bandied about like candy from May to December, though.
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