Akiko Wada -- Sono Toki Watashi ni Nani ga Okitta no?（その時わたしに何が起ったの?）

It's the end of April here but in Japan as of now, it's the beginning of a new era: Reiwa（令和）. Mind you, I was disappointed with TV Japan and its broadcast of all of the hoopla surrounding the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the accession of Emperor Naruhito since it didn't bother with live NHK footage of the change at midnight (11 am here) but went with the several hours of preamble programming on the national network. I saw the YouTube livestream of Shibuya and saw a whole bunch of umbrellas over the people so the weather was unfortunately not too good for a celebration.

Well, it may be Reiwa but I will introduce the first "Kayo Kyoku Plus" article of this new era as one for a Showa（昭和）song. The husky-voiced Akiko Wada（和田アキ子）has been one of the mainstay pillars in Japanese show business for decades as a TV personality as well as a singer, but I have to admit that I had never known about this particular song by her.

It's a very early single, her third to be exact, and it's titled "Sono Toki Watashi ni Nani ga Okitta no?" (What Happened to Me Back Then?). Released in October 1969, Wada was only 19 years old and exactly one year into her singing career when she came up with this whimsy-laden but punchy song about getting that wanderlust to go with a handsome guy and flee from her sleepy hometown. It's definitely Wada but considering her youth back then, her voice really does sound like her as a teenager. The singer was called the Queen of Japanese-style R&B but although I don't think this song is particularly R&B, it still has some of that hip-swiveling swagger in its arrangement, in my opinion.

"Sono Toki Watashi ni Nani ga Okitta no?" was written by the legendary Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Fusae Taguchi（田口ふさえ）. It did rather modestly on the charts, only getting as high as No. 52. The song was also placed on Wada's 3rd album "Sotsugyo sasete yo"（卒業させてよ...Let Me Graduate）which came out in 1971.