SHE IS SUMMER -- Donuts（ドーナツ）

 

There was that one Friday in December 2009. The news about it arriving had been coming at us for a few months but Krispy Kreme was ready to make its move into Japan via Tokyo, and then it did. Krispy Kreme Branch No. 1 was set up in South Shinjuku across the pedestrian bridge from Takashimaya Times Square. The famous American donut franchise had already tickled the taste buds of many Japanese when they visited Hawaii and saw it there, and now they really didn't have to polish off their passports to get access to what was perhaps their first time eating yeast-raised donuts instead of the cakey variety that they known for years via Mister Donuts.

I had missed out on the brief mania about these sugar bombs in Canada. The brevity was due to some rotten timing on KK's part from media reports of the high amounts of cholesterol killing Canadians so people rather soured on the donuts fairly quickly. So Krispy Kreme in Japan was my first opportunity to taste what all the hoopla was about, and even then it took literally months before I was even able to set foot into Branch No. 1 or even a few of the other branches that popped up all over Tokyo because the lineups were absolutely insane. Easily, there were folks lining up for 2 hours to get their box of a dozen icing-coated donuts. However, I finally got my opportunity late into 2010 and had that potent ring with a cup of coffee. The coffee threw me for a loop since it was so strong but I gather that it had to counteract the teeth-shivering sweetness of the donut. I couldn't deny it...it was good stuff but sleep was largely lacking to me that night. In any case, the remainder of my time in Japan had me visiting the various branches from time to time.

The Krispy Kreme craze lasted probably a good half-decade, long after I had left Japan for Canada, but by the time I returned for my first trip back to my old stomping grounds in 2014, the donut franchise was slowly disappearing. However, there was still one branch over in Odaiba at Tokyo Bay as you can see at the top, and it was still there when I visited once more in 2017, although Branch No. 1 went the way of the dodo.

My preamble ramble was to introduce the latest by solo project SHE IS SUMMER with songwriter MICO as the vocalist. Last year, I discovered for the first time through a 2018 song. Just a few days ago, she released her digital download single "Donuts", and the video seems to be about her most normal relationship with a tasty donut. The biggest thing that I noticed though was her riding a bicycle. I haven't ridden one in over thirty years, and I gather that I should have been more involved with that than with Krispy Kreme donuts.

"Donuts" is as sweet and satisfying a technopop tune to my ears as one of those KK donuts was to my belly, and considering the darker times that we now live in, it's nice to hear something as happy-go-lucky as this one. Despite all the bleeps and bloops, there is a good dollop of warmth in "Donuts" especially in the refrain. Ah, incidentally, if you want to check out another donut-related J-Pop song, try this one out.

The former site of Branch No. 1. Now supplanted
by a café.