Hokkaido-born Ryoko Sakaguchi（坂口良子）was an actress and a TV personality who appeared in movies and TV programs ranging from the iconic 70s cop show "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ!）to a second series real-life adaptation of the manga "Sign wa V"（サインはV）and a numbers of variety shows. Tragically, she left this mortal coil prematurely at the age of 57 in March 2013 from pneumonia and cancer. YouTube channel makotosaito put up the above video of some of her commercials as a tribute to her just a couple of days after her passing.
Sakaguchi also put out her fair share of singles from the early 1970s but only one full album and one mini-album were released by her. The full album was "Kajitsushu"（果実酒...Fruit Wine） which came out in March 1979. One track is "Shitsuren Collage" (Heartbreak Collage), a pretty funky number by lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）, although I'm not sure whether it would fall into the City Pop category although that underlying rhythm and honky-tonk piano are making me think about that. However, I've categorized it as New Music for now. Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）arranged all of the tracks on "Kajitsushu".
However, I have to say that the arrangement for her "Persona" is good for that City Pop tag. A track from that May 1982 mini-album "Silky"（シルキー）, this was written by Ryo Shoji（東海林良）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, and it's got that touch of class, thanks to some moody strings, jazzy instruments, dreamy keyboards and Sakaguchi's even breathier vocals. I'd be inclined to check out "Silky" over "Kajitsushu" at this point, but both albums have gotten me to go "Hmmm....".
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