ZARD/Aika Ohno -- Get U're Dream

Yes, folks, we've now passed the 1-year mark in the countdown toward the Tokyo Olympics, something that NHK has not failed to inform us about. I figure that there will be features on the athletes and venues every day on the national network from now til late July 2020.

To be honest, when it comes to my benchmarks for Olympic theme songs, and all of the Japanese TV networks have loved coming up with such tunes for the past couple of decades, I have to go with Maki Ohguro's（大黒摩季）blood-pumping "Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）for the Summer Games in Atlanta 1996 for the uptempo stuff, and the epic ballad "Hatenaku Tsuzuku Story"（果てなく続くストーリー）by Misia for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, both from NHK.

Now, it seems as if when it came to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, hitomi's "LOVE 2000" became the popular tune associated with those Games due to marathon runner Naoko Takahashi's（高橋尚子）love for it. But that wasn't the official NHK theme. Actually, it was "Get U're Dream" by ZARD that was her 32nd single released in September 2000.

I'm not sure but perhaps "Get U're Dream" may have gotten overshadowed by "LOVE 2000". Still, ZARD's contribution to the Olympic theme songs isn't too bad. With lyrics by the singer under her name of Izumi Sakai（坂井泉水）, and music by singer-songwriter Aika Ohno（大野愛果）, "Get U're Dream" won't get listeners wanting to run the 100-metre dash or do a clean-and-jerk like "Atsukunare", but it's a fun enough song to get folks in the mood for some sports viewing. The single managed to peak at No. 4 on Oricon and was also placed as a track on ZARD's 9th album "Toki no Tsubasa"（時間の翼...Wings of Time） from February 2001. It went Platinum and hit the top spot on the charts.

On Xmas Day 2013, Ohno released her own 3rd album "Silent Passage" which contained a cover version of "Get U're Dream" (the entire album consists of covers of songs that Ohno had composed for other artists including ZARD). When it comes to her Ohno's own presence on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", she's just been listed as being the songwriter for Mai Kuraki's（倉木麻衣）tunes including that singer's debut "Love, Day After Tomorrow", so it's nice that I can have Ohno show up here again this time as a singer herself.

Ohno's "Get U're Dream" has got the same level of cheer but with its synth orchestral arrangement, it sounds like something more attuned as a theme for a story of gothic intrigue. "Silent Passage" went as high as No. 110.