Beat Takeshi -- Asakusa Kid（浅草キッド）

Well, will wonders never cease? Even one of the top three comedians in Japanese pop culture history, Beat Takeshi（ビートたけし）, will be making his singing debut on this edition of the Kohaku Utagassen.

The previous article was on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Inochi no Uta"（いのちの歌）which relates the ups and downs of life shaping a person. I could think that the song could also apply to Beat Takeshi considering his upbringing in a tough family in a tough neighbourhood in Tokyo, working all sorts of jobs such as waiter, airport baggage handler, product demonstration man, taxi driver, etc., entering university to study as an engineer before dropping out, and reaching success as one half of the manzai comedy duo Two Beat（ツービート）before also making his mark as an actor, director and TV commentator. Even at the top, though, there were some incidents that he had to plow through such as a serious motor scooter accident in 1994 which left lasting damage to his face, and some controversy about some of his jokes that even got him banned from NHK for a time.

What I hadn't known was that Beat released his fair share of music starting from 1981. However, the song that he will perform tomorrow night is "Asakusa Kid" which was the title track for his August 1986 album. He himself came up with words and music for this bluesy ballad about paying his dues during his time in Asakusa as he went up the entertainment industry ladder. According to the J-Wiki article on "Asakusa Kid", he had gotten the idea behind the song while working on the film "Yasha"（夜叉）in Fukui Prefecture before completing it at a hotel.

In "Asakusa Kid", Beat makes a reference to the cheap old restaurant in the area that he used to eat at to keep expenses down with the main dish being stew. According to Livedoor News, that stew was gyu motsu nikomi（牛もつ煮込み）or cow intestine stew or simmered beef giblets, if you prefer.

Took me years to brave eating chopped intestines but I eventually became OK with the grilled version at Korean BBQ restaurants in my last several years in Tokyo. Never got around to eating the stewed variety, although I have to admit that looking at the above recipe video for the dish, it may not be too bad to try.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing ol' Beat hitting the microphone at NHK Hall.