Miki Imai -- Doshaburi Wonderland（どしゃ降りWonderland）

While folks in Japan are going through an early version of a typically torrid summer over there, we here in Toronto have been having cold and wet weather to the extent that it seems as if spring had been cancelled. But it seems that over the past couple of days, despite all the rain last month, we may have a sliver of spring in between the big guys of winter and summer.

Although I don't think that April was basically the re-enactment of the climate that launched Noah's Ark, the rain was fairly steady. However, it seems like the story in Miki Imai's（今井美樹）"Doshaburi Wonderland" (Downpour Wonderland) has one lady who's more than happy to traipse around like Gene Kelly in the famous scene of "Singing in the Rain" (and yep, Imai even gives a shout out to him in the song). And that's because she in L-O-V-E! Nothing like that particular emotion to make anyone completely oblivious to changes in the weather.

"Doshaburi Wonderland" isn't going down as one of my very favourites in the Imai oeuvre but it's fun and snappy enough. This was the first track in her 2nd studio album "elfin" from September 1987 and was created by Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）and Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）. It's interesting enough with a Prince-like funk guitar riff launching things and some rather nostalgic synthesizer. Moreover, considering some of her later, more dramatic-sounding hits, hearing the light-as-meringue "Doshaburi Wonderland" early in her career can bring a smile to my face.