Masa (Sora Satoh) -- Komorebi（木洩れ日）

 

When I was doing all those translations for Japanese tourism brochures, one common expression that popped up was shinrinyoku（森林浴）or forest bathing. Now, before all of us get all sorts of nasty thoughts, the expression refers to forest therapy...namely, taking a walk through the forest to relax and recharge. I'm uncertain about which types of forests would be great for this sort of thing: bamboo, coniferous or deciduous? But I gather that all of that oxygen coming out of the leaves can't hurt at all.

The sunlight filtering through the trees must also add to the ambience and that's where I write about Masa's latest single "Komorebi" which actually does mean "sunlight filtering through the trees". Late last year, I did write about his first single "No Matter What, No Matter Where" which had some comparisons to American AOR band Pages and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）. Well, with "Komorebi", I get some more of a Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）vibe in a very spacey manner. Also, with his lyrics, it almost feels like a batch of musical shinrinyoku. I could use with a bit of forest therapy myself but I just have a can of pine air freshener.