I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
When I saw the name of Yuko Mizutani（水谷優子）on YouTube, I wondered where I'd seen it before and then I remembered that she was the first seiyuu who voiced Sakiko Sakura（さくらさきこ）, the long-suffering older sister of Momoko Sakura（さくらももこ）, aka Chibi Maruko-chan（ちびまる子ちゃん）for the long-running anime "Chibi Maruko-chan" on Fuji-TV. I also remembered that sadly Mizutani had passed away back in 2016 from cancer at the age of 51.
Over the last few days, I've written about a seiyuu, Mami Koyama（小山茉美）, who contributed her own brand of pop music in the 1980s and a fresh-voiced 90s pop singer, Mutsumi Inoue（井上睦都実）. I guess that I can then put the two observations together for Mizutani since she put out an album in March 1994 titled "Vibit". There's very sparse information on her CD output in an otherwise voluminous J-Wiki article on Mizutani so I'm not sure whether "Vibit" was her only album of songs or not.
However, the first track "Drive Planet" is a pretty nice pop song to start things off. Lyricist Yuri Asada（浅田有理） and composer Katsuki Maeda（前田克樹）were behind this short-and-sweet tune that rather represents what happy middle-of-the-road pop music by female singers sounded like in the early 1990s. It's kinda why I am also reminded of singers like Inoue, although Mizutani's vocals have a bit more nasality.
Those two police officers must have had some explaining to do at the precinct after taking this photograph with the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）of Pizzicato Five. The vocalist for one of Shibuya-kei's prominent bands was using her model looks and fashion daring to the max that day.
I'm a bit surprised that I hadn't included this track when I was writing about their 12th album, "Romantique 96" which was originally released on this day in 1995. Yep, it's been 26 years! However, and speaking of fashion, "Catwalk" is now getting its own article here. Written and composed by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, I'm not so convinced that this is a completely Shibuya-kei tune. I think that it has some of that mixed in with some of that contemplative Pet Shop Boys feeling as Nomiya sings about enjoying as much of the glamourous life that she can before finally settling down.
Perhaps to either Nomiya or any models involved in the lyrics, life in the big city is one huge catwalk. And maybe there's a saying hidden in the message: If you look good, you feel good, you are good.
Well, I figure that if I've just put up an article connected to Batman earlier this afternoon, then why not give equal time to The Man of Steel?
Now, both "Batdance" and "Superman" by Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）have been given the J-R&B label but that is where the similarities end. Whereas "Batdance" is the epic funkiness by the late Prince, "Superman" is some cool and smooth soul written and composed by Furuuchi.
A track from her March 2004 album"Futsu no Koto"（フツウのこと...The Usual Thing）, "Superman" is an upbeat urban tune about a fellow who feels like Superman himself as he drives the long distance in his jalopy to see his significant other, presumably after a period of time following a disagreement. I can imagine Clark doing the same with Lois although in his case, he obviously doesn't need the mechanical contrivance or even frequent flyer points. Will always appreciate some fine horns in the mix and generally the happy beats. Plus, it's a nice way to close out September in a season where the older Japanese music likes to usually take the melancholy road.
Whaddaya know? I found the Japanese dub of the opening credits for "Adventures of Superman" which was my own first exposure to the superhero as a toddler.
Being a member of a certain generation, the first Batman that I got acquainted with was the TV version from the 1960s with the late Adam West as a campy Caped Crusader fighting with fists, batarangs and day-glow onomatopoeia on the screen. I hadn't known that Batman first appeared in comic books as a much darker and dangerous hero, but all that changed with Frank Miller's 1986 comic miniseries "The Dark Knight Returns" when the World's Greatest Detective was given his old obsessed personality back.
And that led to the stylishly gothic and ambitious Tim Burton 1989 film with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. That year was indeed the Year of the Batman with all sorts of news features, trailers, merchandise and talk about how a comic actor who was the goofy Beetlejuice the year before could ever become cast as the Dark Knight. There were tons of howling protest about Keaton's casting but apparently all that went away when the movie came out during the blockbuster season. Still, the actor and character had a mighty duel to fight against Nicholson's Joker who almost stole the entire movie.
Interestingly that year was the same year that I graduated from University of Toronto and headed over to Japan to start my very first full-time job as a teacher on the JET Programme. In fact, I left Canada just a few weeks after "Batman" was released in theatres and it was the final film for me and my friends to watch together before leaving on my Japan odyssey.
There are all those YouTube videos of frenzied audience reactions for "Avengers Endgame". I remember watching "Batman" on the big screen and the audience then was just screaming and cheering right from the start when the title came on to Danny Elfman's epic theme. And it simply continued when key scenes came on such as the "Get in the car" scene. It was quite the experience and a fine cinematic sendoff for me to Japan. Incidentally, "Batman" didn't get out into theatres over there until December.
The JET briefing manual which I had received as part of my kit to get ready to teach the masses instructed me on how to use pop culture to make English more palatable to the kids. So I tried to infuse some of Batman and Joker into the lessons instead of Dick and Jane but the sage observation was that the superhero and supervillain were still more (not-Adam) West-centric, so perhaps Anpanman and Baikinman were better. The whole "Dick Tracy" thing the following year fared even worse, though I tried.
Within all of the Batman hoopla in 1989, only one incredible artist could make his contribution stand out and apart from everything Bat. Prince already has representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" because he provided dynamic singer Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）with a couple of tracks for her "Time The Motion" album which had come out the same year. Well, he also provided the film with his own creation "Batdance" which got the regal welcome in June 1989 when "Batman" was released.
Perhaps just like the movie, "Batdance", the song and the video, is epic and bizarre...and in addition, it's Princely! Naturally I was listening to plenty of Prince songs throughout the 1980s (and I'll have to cover "When Doves Cry" sometime soon as a ROY article), and therefore when I encountered "Batdance" on MuchMusic here in Canada, I just thought that this song could have only come from the mind and soul of Prince. It's got all of the rock, the funk, the dance beats and excerpts from the movie itself all smashed into a chaotic whole and visually expressed in the music video which could have played every night on stage off or on Broadway if Prince had desired it. Not surprisingly, "Batdance" hit No. 1 in both Canada and the United States.
I've read that Keaton is putting on the cowl again for "The Flash" which is scheduled to come out in a little over a year from now. Can only imagine the cheering that he will get when he shows up again to say "I'M BATMAN!".
If I'm not mistaken, this is one of Mari Hamada's（浜田麻里）biggest hits that I had yet to cover so allow me to do that right now.
Ought to be giving myself a Gibbs slap upside the head since it was Marcos V. who put up the first Hamada article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" all the way back in 2013. I should have written something about it sooner. But I'm rectifying the oversight here by writing about "Return to Myself ~ Shinai, Shinai, Natsu"(Won't Do It, Won't Do It, Summer). This was Hamada's 9th single released in April 1989, and armed with her own lyrics of change and empowerment along with Hiroyuki Ohtsuki's（大槻啓之）pop/rock melody, I still couldn't help but feel a bit of the rockier side of 1980s AOR from the West Coast.
At the same time, listening to "Return to Myself", I'm also reminded that the end of the 1980s was the time of Japanese female rock bands coming of age such as Princess Princess（プリンセスプリンセス）and Lindberg among others. Yep, those were quite the days. Hamada's hit was at the top of the Oricon Singles chart and achieved Platinum status before ending the year as the 15th-ranked single. It also became the title track for her 10th album released in June 1989, another No. 1 hit that was the 23rd-ranked album. It shares space with "Emotion in Motion", which was the topic of Marcos' article.
I figured that I would be incorporating the weather forecasters from Japan's Weathernews at some point. For over a year, one corner of YouTube viewers has been following forecasters including Saya Hiyama（檜山沙耶）, Yui Komaki（駒木結衣）, Ayame Muto（武藤彩芽）and others not particularly because they are desperate to hear about the weather over Japan but because they are desperate in getting their daily dose of the cute and adorable talk and reactions from the ladies themselves. Hiyama, who hails from the city of Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture, was probably the first Weathernews forecaster that the fans fell in love with and I think that she remains the most popular because of her distinctive laugh, her love of cosplay, and the fact that she seems to melt into a puddle whenever famed seiyuu Natsuki Hanae（花江夏樹）speaks.
Not sure whether the Weathernews forecasters have reached the point of cutting a song in the recording booth yet but perhaps it's just a matter of time. Even if they did, though, they wouldn't be setting any sort of precedent because another group of female weather forecasters beat them to the punch decades earlier.
I can't quite believe that TV Asahi had that many forecasters in their weather department but then again, regular announcers in the network (or any of the commercial networks) have often been assigned to do the weather for a few years at least. Anyways, seven of them: Fumiyo Sako（迫文代）, Satomi Hama（浜さとみ）, Naomi Hasebe（谷部なをみ）, Mari Kurita（栗田眞里）, Asako Yoshida（吉田麻子）, Yuka Aoki（青木ゆか）and Mami Inoue（井上摩美）all got together to form a group called Rainbow Sisters（レインボー・シスターズ）to do a one-off song titled "Kanashiki Weather Girl"(Sad Weather Girl). By the way, I'm not completely sure about my transcriptions for the names above so if any of you have any concrete corrections or confirmations, please let me know.
Written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composed/arranged by Toshiyuki Omori（大森敏之）, I gather that everyone involved wanted to get a bit of that 60s Spector pop flavour in "Kanashiki Weather Girl". As it is, the performances by the announcers aren't too bad at all...kinda along the lines of an Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）tune.
Returning to the present, this whole YouTube phenomenon surrounding the staff at Weathernews over the past several months reminds me of another Japanese pop cultural explosion which detonated on the same platform a few years ago. Sure enough, one uploader made the connection. Such is the wondrous power of the YouTube algorithm.
Well, that was the last time I ever used the sparkle function on my old Casio camera while under the influence. Incidentally, that was...barely...Tokyo Tower.
Speaking of one of the megalopolis' prominent landmarks, I have this debut single by singer-songwriter Mutsumi Inoue（井上睦都実）titled "Boyfriend" and its coupling song "Tokyo Tower" from October 1992. I actually first wrote about her last month when I featured her "Nitamono Doushi"（似たもの同志）from July 1994 and that particular number was quite the smooth summery tune and it does distinguish itself from the two songs from Inoue's first single.
For one thing, both "Boyfriend" and "Tokyo Tower" have varying levels of Shibuya-kei in there. There's some swinging jazziness in "Boyfriend" which was written by Inoue and composed by Tsugumi Kataoka（片岡嗣実）from the duo Parquets. The marimba does help too in conveying that Shibuya-kei although I think it's more of a light dusting over a jaunty pop feeling. From what I hear from Inoue's lyrics, it seems like the most cheerful kiss-off of a relationship that I've heard in a while.
At 4:04 is "Tokyo Tower", another fairly rollicking song with some deeper Shibuya-kei imbued in its genes, thanks to Takao Tajima（田島貴男）from Original Love providing the melody this time around, and the marimba is still there along with a happy electric organ. To remind folks, Tajima had also been a vocalist for genre icon Pizzicato Five some years earlier. Inoue also penned the lyrics here. For both songs, Inoue has got some fine crisp and clear vocals as she would for "Nitamono Doushi".
This morning on NHK News, I found out that the creator of manga's currentlongest-running series (since 1968), "Golgo 13"（ゴルゴ13）, Takao Saito（さいとう・たかを）, had passed away from pancreatic cancer last week on September 24th. He was 84.
Compared to anime, I was never a huge manga fan although I've gone through the "Dr. Slump"（ドクタースランプ）series and a few books of "Ultraman"（ウルトラマン）. A large chunk of that has been due to the language barrier; I still can't say that I can read Japanese all that well and I was even worse back on the JET Programme when I encountered my first "Golgo 13" manga. My host father in Gunma ran a chiropractic clinic so he had a ton of those books on the shelves. I gave them a go but as Saito himself described it years ago in an interview, he had always wanted to create a manga and a character for adults. As such, there was a lot of sex and violence, but there was also the international intrigue involving politics, international relations and economy, so you can imagine me trying to navigate the rich language without a dictionary. Frankly, I couldn't generate enough of an interest to read manga.
Still, Golgo 13 is one of the most recognizable pop culture figures from Japan. With that short haircut, death glare eyes and intimidating figure, the mystery man of assassinations may not even need a ballistic or bladed weapon. He can probably down his targets with a glance. I read that he got his own anime treatment in 2008 for about a year with none other than TV tough guy Hiroshi Tachi（舘ひろし）voicing him.
According to the J-Wiki article for the character, the anime had a couple of opening themes but several ending themes. The ending theme for the first twelve episodes was "Glass no Highway" (Glass Highway) by the band doa...and no, it's not pronounced D-O-A as in Dead On Arrival but simply dough-ah. The band delves in various types of rock music including country rock and hard rock. This 10th single of theirs from April 2008 seems to feel like more of the former, although parts of it had me remembering "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", the theme song from Michael Bay's"Armageddon".
"Glass no Highway" was written and composed by doa leader and band co-vocalist Akihito Tokunaga（徳永暁人）, and the lyrics could almost come across as a message by Golgo himself to a former lover (of whom he has many) about the necessities of his life and the memories of theirs. Although the recording company was GIZA studio, there is something about the delivery and the arrangement which faintly hints at a BEING tune, and interestingly enough, before the band formed in 2004, Tokunaga had provided arrangements for songs created at BEING. The song reached No. 14 in the Oricon weeklies and was also a track on doa's 4th album"Prime Garden" which was released later in November 2008 and peaked at No. 31.
The Wikipedia article for doa states that the name came about from the initials of the three members: Daiki Yoshimoto（吉本大樹）, Shinichiro Ohta（大田 紳一郎）, and Akihito Tokunaga. Between 2004 and 2011, they released 15 CD singles but since then, doa has decided to go for digital download for which they have put out 14 up to 2020. The band has also released 12 albums and 4 BEST compilations.
As for Saito, he stated that he would like "Golgo 13" to keep on going beyond his death and apparently the Saito Production Group will now take the baton to do exactly that.
Back on City PopFriday, I mentioned about veteran actress and the voice behind delicious superhero Anpanman（アンパンマン）, Keiko Toda（戸田恵子）, and her dalliance into pop music. Well, although for Ms. Toda, I've put up her first two articles in the past few days, yet another veteran seiyuu/singer/actress Mami Koyama（小山茉美）has had representation on the blog for a few years, and she was the voice behind the cute but naughty android Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）from "Dr. Slump"（ドクタースランプ）.
The Koyama file here on KKP isn't a long one. However, aside from her contribution in character to a theme song from "Dr. Slump", I've found that she's done her fair share of pop, City Pop and New Wave during the 1980s. In fact, some months ago I discovered that she also performed this unusual tune called "SUGAR DADDY".
I actually had to refer to Koyama's own music library on her website to get anywhere near a complete discography (her discography on J-Wiki only lists her character songs), and from there and the YouTube video, I found out that "SUGAR DADDY" was originally from her 1984 live album"Mami A La Mode". Written by Kayoko Fuyumori（冬杜花代子）and composed by guitarist Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）, it's a weird combination of bright and happy City Pop and some odd New Wave. Strangely enough, that New Wave part has Koyama doing a lower-voiced stomp which reminds me a little of what Nina Hagen did with "Smack Jack" (OK, I'm probably stretching a little there but that is what it reminds me of). Anyways, although I don't know whether a recorded version made it onto one of her 1980s studio albums, it apparently did make it onto a recent BEST compilation titled "Rencontre～Histoire de Mami～" from June 2006.
I think that singer-songwriter Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）has a very loyal cadre of fans but she's one of the more underrated talents that have in the kayo world. She's gone through the gamut ranging from folk to City Pop, and a few years ago, I mentioned her in that list of Fashion Music singers since she can provide some of that laconic baroque version of kayo along with contemporaries such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）.
Strangely enough, it is Kurahashi that I get reminded of when I listen to Nishijima's "Tentai Bouenkyou" (Astronomical Telescope),her 13th single from January 1982 and the lead track from her November 1981 album, "Lost Hour". Composed by the singer and written by Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二）who has worked with her a number of times, "Tentai Bouenkyou" has that adorably folksy and innocent lilt to the melody. In fact, it's one of those tunes that I can't quite categorize within one genre. That squealing electric guitar that comes halfway adds some rock, of course, but I surmise that I can perhaps place it in either the straight pop or New Music veins.
In any case, it's a pleasantly relaxing song by Nishijima that doesn't so much talk about the wonders of astronomy but the circumstances surrounding the reason to visit the observatory. This time, a couple of students who may be on a school trip to see the stars realize as they share views through the telescope that there may be love coming between the two. Couldn't ask for a better opportunity to say "Awww!" than this one.
"Sakura Sakura" (Cherry Blossoms) has been one of those traditional Japanese folk songs that I have probably known since birth, and it's likely that it's the one song of Japan that is known even by folks who don't listen to any of the genres of Japanese music. When my family was first introducing me to Japanese cuisine not created by Mom via the general Japanese restaurants in downtown Toronto, the delicate koto-driven sounds of "Sakura Sakura" often greeted me through the speakers. And forgive my primal Pavlovian reaction, but because of the above, whenever I hear the song, I get that old taste of either teriyaki beef or tempura in my mouth. By the way, the first Japanese restaurant that I ever visited was Nikko Gardens.
Information on the song can be found at Wikipedia and the points that got to me were the fact that the songwriter behind the iconic "Sakura Sakura" doesn't seem to be identified and that it's been popular since the Meiji Era! I assumed all this time that it had been created many more centuries before the 19th century.
I did find a version of "Sakura Sakura" from famed composer and jazz musician Hachidai Nakamura's（中村八大）1961"Rainy Night in Tokyo" which I bookmarked since whoever arranged this version (Nakamura himself?) seems to have imbued it with a certain amount of drama as if it were meant to be a romantic movie in itself. I have to say that I really like the cover on that album (sorry the video was taken down and replaced) with a precipitation-soaked Ginza; lends to the intrigue and mystery of the capital city, I gather.
I think for this song, the photo of my Eggs Benedict with Hash Browns and other vegetation was appropriate. Eggs Benny isn't exactly a common sight at my home, and I had these ones on the Harmony of the Seas in the American Icon Grill during the 2017 cruise, but whenever I partake in the brunch classic, I know that it's a pretty sunny and fine day out there.
The song is "Toe to Toe" (and aren't you relieved that I don't have any photos of toes to put in as the thumbnail [or toenail]?), and it was actually the second track of jazz bassist Teruo Nakamura's（中村照夫）1985 album"Super Friends". Due to the admitted accidental swap of the first two tracks by the uploader though, "Toe to Toe" is the first song to be heard on the video above.
Earlier this summer, I put up Nakamura's first article on KKP, the beefy and boisterous New York jazz-funk of "Mr. & Mrs. Funk"from 1979. With "Toe to Toe", though, this is jazz paired with Sunday comfortable AOR. As I said up above, the song is a nice accompaniment for that brunch with friends. It's stylish, relaxing and elegant, and it does have some big names in the recording booth including Steve Gadd on drums, the late Michael Brecker on tenor sax, and Gary Herbig on soprano sax. We can always do with some aural Eggs Benedict from time to time.
The last time I wrote about Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）, it was for her 1982 "Ame no Requiem"（雨の鎮魂歌）, which was about as City Pop as one could get.
Well, it's time to get back to her early aidoru late 1970s period and to start off the last few days of September 2021, let's go to the cheerful 8th single, "Do it BANG BANG" which hit the record shop shelves in October 1978. In all honesty, when I first read the title, a very naughty part of me suddenly envisioned the words "Wham" and "Bam", and then the phrase "Thank you, Ma'am". This had to have been some innocently giggle-worthy double entendre.
Ahhh...actually, the answer is a resounding no. Thanks to Jun Kasama's（笠間ジュン）lyrics, "Do it BANG BANG" is a straight-out demand by an impatient young lady to her boyfriend to ravish her. Stop with the kind and polite courtship, she's yelling. All that sexual frustration is swaddled in a cute aidoru melody from Ben Sasaki（佐々木勉）and an arrangement by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）. Not sure whether Nippon Columbia's switchboard lit up like a Xmas tree with a ton of complaints about the message being sent here...not that I'm having any complaints myself.
Whaddaya know? She even got to perform it on the music shows, but then again, Ikue's star as an aidoru was definitely on the upswing because her previous single was the July "Natsu no Ojosan"（夏のお嬢さん）, her defining hit which had also been created by Kasama and Sasaki. There was no way that she was not going to appear on the shows and the stage from now on especially with that cute countenance of hers. "Do it BANG BANG" didn't do quite as well as "Natsu no Ojosan", but it was still a good earner by hitting No. 15 on Oricon and selling around 125,000 records.
And thus, another weekend comes to an end...the last one for September 2021, to be specific. Got to talk with a few translator friends over Skype earlier this evening which was nice. It's always good to catch up.
(8:43)
One other nice thing is encountering another Ritsuko Kazami（風見律子）tune. The songs that I've covered on her so far have that cool urban contemporary sensation, but they also possess some of that quirky technopop at times, too. So, from her third and final album to date, "Nouvelles" (July 1987), I give you "Swindler" with lyrics by Kazami herself and music by Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）. I heard the song a few times before finding out the melody maker but when I did learn that it was one-half of Tohoku Shinkansen behind it, I did go naruhodo. Yamakawa just has that great touch with making music.
"Swindler" has got that nice techno jazz in there which sounds somewhat comical and even a bit spooky in the intro but then it progresses gradually into some Big Band. I also pick up on some of that Matt Bianco swing as we seem to be hitting the Mos Eisley cantina once again with this one, but I think "Swindler" is too classy. Maybe some jazz club on Coruscant is the ideal venue.
The first time that I wrote about Kochi Prefecture-born singer Yoshito Machida（町田義人）back in 2017, it was for his "Senshi no Kyuusoku"（戦士の休息）, a mellow and reflective ballad from August 1978. The song was used for the movie "Yasei no Shomei"（野性の証明...Never Give Up） starring the late Ken Takakura（高倉健）. Although I never watched it myself, I could imagine "Senshi no Kyuusoku" being the ideal number for a battle-hardened and world-weary person, whether a spy, soldier or office worker, taking a respite while also taking a long drag from a cigarette on a balcony overlooking the landscape as the sun is going down.
However, the previous month, Machida had released another single, "Akai Karyudo"（赤い狩人...Red Hunter） but it's the B-side to that July 1978 single that we're focused on here. "Ame wa Knife no You sa" (The Rain Cuts Like a Knife, Man) is quite different from the relaxing "Senshi no Kyuusoku" since it sounds like it's meant to accompany that person from the above paragraph in the middle of the battle itself. It's got the downtown funk thanks to the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）helping out in the music, and what better group to help out since that band's vocalist and songwriter Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）was responsible for the cool melody.
As for the lyrics, they were provided by movie director and producer Junichi Mimura（三村順一）, who was behind the 1978 documentary "Kita Kitsune Monogatari"（キタキツネ物語...The Story of the Ezo Red Fox） whose theme song was "Akai Karyudo", and lyricist Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子）. They seem to establish a setting for any hard-bitten lone wolf ranging from police detective Baretta to "Cowboy Be-Bop" bounty hunter Spike Spiegel knee-deep in the middle of a case and all of the existential sludge that comes with it. Cold rain hurts much harder when folks are in a bad mood, after all. What adds to the tension is the wah-wah guitar, Machida's seemingly hushed and rushed vocals and that rollicking piano.
If it weren't for this pandemic, I would most likely be over at my anime buddy's house right now watching the finales for the 2021 summer season of anime. Naturally, that hasn't been the case for over 18 months so a lot of anime that I could have seen throughout 2020 and 2021 up to now has gone by the wayside. However, by my own volition, I've been catching a little of the stuff that has been within my "like" range and that has included the second season of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid）.
Perhaps one small advantage that I've gotten from choosing my own anime to try out is that I've been able to see shows that my buddy probably wouldn't have chosen for the biweekly viewings. One such show is "Kanojo mo Kanojo"（カノジョも彼女...Girlfriend, Girlfriend）. It's within the same genre of slice-of-life comedy as "Kobayashi-san" but this one is far more in the farce category. I mean, if "Kobayashi-san" is the "I Dream of Jeannie" of anime then "Kanojo mo Kanojo" is "Three's Company" for those who are in the know regarding old American sitcoms.
For my anime buddy, "Kanojo mo Kanojo" is probably too farcical for his liking. But I've enjoyed watching the first two episodes so far and it has one seiyuu who I've known since I came back from Japan a decade ago. Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）has been in the business since 2010 and some of the earliest anime that I've seen since getting back into the animated tangled web have featured her in programs such as "Joshiraku"（じょしらく）and "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）. With "Kanojo mo Kanojo", she's playing closer to her short-tempered rakugo-ka in "Joshiraku" as the suffering but bi-curious girlfriend to a fellow who is insanely honest to the point of potentially ending up at the bottom of the Sumida River someday.
Listening and watching the opening and closing credits to "Kanojo mo Kanojo" has gotten me to write about the opening and closing themes today. As for the former, it's "Fuzaketenai ze" (Not Fooling Around) by Necry Talkie（ネクライトーキー）, a rock band which I wrote about less than two weeks ago, so it is with some coincidence that I'm talking about them again. With words and music by guitarist Asahi（朝日）, it begins with an appropriately sultry rock beat which continues into something more upbeat and innocent, probably reflecting the overall harem situation among the characters.
The ending theme is "Pinky Hook" by seiyuu/singer Momo Asakura（麻倉もも）, a funkier tune with some light and breezy synthpop involved which was written and composed by Sho Watanabe（渡辺翔）. I mentioned his name earlier in the summer since he composed a Tokyo Girls' Style（東京女子流）song a decade ago. If I'm not mistaken, the title refers to the Japanese custom of intertwining pinky fingers between two friends to confirm a promise.
And the "Three's Company" award for double entendres goes to...
Not too long ago, I was writing about sumo wrestlers who also decided to make some of their mark in the entertainment world via the recording booth such as Jesse Takamiyama. Along a similar path, comedy duos have also sung up a storm over the decades and "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has encountered a few of those manzai combi such as Tetsu and Tomo（テツ and トモ）with their "Horoyoi Blues" (ほろ酔いブルース) and Saruganseki（猿岩石）with "Shiroi no Kumo no You ni"（白い雲のように）.
Since coming back home a decade ago, I haven't kept up too well with the up-and-coming duos since any TV shows featuring them don't show up on NHK via TV Japan all that much, but occasionally I come across them when they appear on commercial network variety programs such as "VS. Arashi". I have no idea who they are aside from the fact that they look funny and they run off at the mouth at warp speed.
One such duo is EXIT which hail from the Osaka-based Yoshimoto Kogyo stable of comedians, perhaps comparable to comedy troupes in the United States such as The Groundlings or Second City. Consisting of Rintaro（りんたろー）and Daiki Kanechika（兼近大樹）, they started out in 2017 and seem to be one of those duos on the way up according to the number of shows that they've appeared on as regulars and how deep the boys have gotten in the M1 Grand Prix, the big contest to pick the best manzai duo. Also, according to their Wikipedia page, Rintaro and Kanechika came up with their duo name from the fact that they "...can be the exit to everyone's pain and stress". You can take a look at the act above.
Well, in the same vein as their fellow duos Tetsu and Tomo plus Saruganseki, EXIT has also been releasing music on their own since 2018 through digital download and tangible CDs. In fact, almost a couple of weeks ago on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, the duo showed up in outfits that neglected proper trousers to prove that they are a zany couple of comedians. Aside from that clothing-related attempt at comedy, Rintaro and Kanechika came on the show to perform a song, "SUPER STAR", a track from their first CD album"Genesis" released on the 15th this month.
Written by Shizuka Kuwabara（桑原静香）and EXIT with music by Markus Bogelund, Gabriel Brandes, Kevin Charge and Hide Nakamura, it's a dance-beat tune which is pretty well sung by the guys. The music video isn't too bad either although the CG versions of EXIT are along the lines of the characters from "The Polar Express" from 2004, but maybe that's part of the humour.
Yesterday, I provided actress/seiyuu/singer Keiko Toda's（戸田恵子）introduction into "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with her "FADE IN", very much a City Pop tune of 1983. However, I also mentioned that she did have a past incarnation as aidoru Akemi Ayu（あゆ朱美）in the early 1970s, so I wanted to include one of her songs from that period. In fact, here is "Hitori Uranai" (Fortune Telling Alone), her fourth and final single under that stage name from November 1976. It's quite the wistful pop tune especially with that haunting background chorus and Ayu's high-pitched voice delivers a rather sad tale of a relationship that is on the rocks and probably will end up staying there getting further battered by the waves.
"Hitori Uranai" was written and composed by singer-songwriter and TV personality Masashi Sada（さだまさし）, and Ayu's rendition of it was actually a cover of the original B-side for the third of six singles, their October 1974"Tsushin"（追伸...Postscript）, by the folk duo Grape（グレープ）, which consisted of Sada and Masami Yoshida（吉田正美）. Their "Hitori Uranai" has a rich-as-mahogany folk arrangement that underlies the tempestuous situation with this particular couple. Never has romantic trouble sounded so warm and comfortable.
Thankfully, the dancehall denizens of Tokyo and Gunma were largely spared from my antics on the dance floor since I basically left all that behind with my university days and nights in the 1980s. Still, I did attend a few of the dance clubs during my two stints in Japan with the biggest one being Velfarre in Roppongi but I was merely a chaperone for the much younger students for that one. When I went in with them and a few of other other teachers, I hovered around the outer ring of the dance floor to make sure everyone was OK; an employee then approached and spoke to me as if I were a parent and reassured me that I could still keep tabs on my kids from one of the tables. I shuffled back there on my imaginary cane. The young'uns did appear considerably more youthful than me.
Anyways, that was about the time when this BEST album by the fantastic Fantastic Plastic Machine made its presence known on the store shelves. "Les Plus" was released in December 2001 (according to J-Wiki and Discogs) and not 2004 as stated on YouTube. Even back then, I knew that I wouldn't have been able to keep up even with the beats on the original FPM mix of "Take Me To The Disco" that launches "Les Plus". Dance stuff and Shibuya-kei are rolled up in this rollicking piece and at 37:05, there is the even more frenetic/funky and extended Malibu mix of the song.
For all those dancehall denizens in Japan, past and present, were FPM's works common things to hear in the discos of the nation? Enquiring minds (or my mind, anyways) want to know.
Occasionally, another source website that I view for anything interesting in the world of Japanese popular music is "90s City Pop Record Book", and that's what I did yesterday. Sure enough, I did find a couple of songs of note, one which is the topic of this article.
Now to be honest, the song "Lemonade" isn't a purely 90s City Pop song and even the author for the article talking about it has said as much. I would say that it is a gryphon of a tune by the band Flying Kids mixing in those 90s City Pop, regular pop and funk elements.
One reason that I'm including "Lemonade" today is that I haven't written anything on Flying Kids in well over 6 years since I covered "Boku de Aru Tame ni"（僕であるために）which is a stylistically different animal and a much beloved anison for "Taiho Shichauzo" (逮捕しちゃうぞ...You're Under Arrest)."Lemonade" just happens to be the title track for the band's 6th album released in December 1992, and as I said above, it's an amalgam of styles with those 90s-sounding City Pop keyboards bringing listeners in. Then vocalist/lyricist Takashi Hamazaki（浜崎貴司）brings in the pop with his delivery and the melody by Flying Kids' keyboardist Tatsuhiko Iino（飯野竜彦）before things get all funky with the horns. By the end, the City Pop and R&B sides begin competing for breathing room.
Although the author at "90s City Pop Record Book" didn't seem too complimentary about Hamazaki's singing vis-à-vis the City Pop aspect, I don't have any particular beef about the vocalist or for the song, for that matter. Perhaps Hamazaki isn't what I would call a buttery crooning master along the lines of Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）or Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）but his voice is still favorably distinctive and goes well enough with what isn't a purely City Pop tune to begin with.
The one thing that I've noticed about all of my Rie Nakahara（中原理恵）songs on the blog is that they were all released in 1978! I guess she was one really busy singer or I really ought to be searching for more of her output in the later years.
Hey, though. It is City Pop Friday so I'm good with it. And so here is "Togire Togirete" which I believe is an expression referring to "Disconnection", although hearing those moans by the singer and the boppy bass which seems to have gone on to even better fame on the theme song for "Law & Order", I don't get the feeling that there was much disconnection going on that night...nudge nudge wink wink, know what I mean?
"Togire Togirete" is a track on Nakahara's debut album"Touch Me" from February 1978 and it's simultaneously downtown and dreamy, maybe the perfect environment for an adventure in Roppongi which is why I put up the photo of the Mori Building in that neighbourhood. It really does have that 1970s urban contemporary feeling especially with the horns and the chorus in there. Speaking of the chorus, I think that is keyboardist/singer Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉）since she was also the one behind the melody while Nakahara provided the words.
Wow, Anpanman! I knew that you could fly and save friends and defend against the scourges of Baikinman, but you could sing City Pop?! You are truly a tasty superhero of the world!
Yup, actress/singer/seiyuu Keiko Toda（戸田恵子）has voiced a number of characters in the anime world but probably her most famous role is that of Anpanman（アンパンマン）. Also in the live-action series forum, she's also been known as the sidekick to tall and tough Makiko Esumi's（江角マキコ）character in the Fuji-TV franchise "Shomu-Ni"（ショムニ）.
Frankly, because I've had theme songs of both "Sore Ike! Anpanman"（それいけ！アンパンマン....Let's Go! Anpanman） and "Shomu-Ni" written up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I'd assumed that Toda was already represented here but such was not the case up to today. And yet, the Nagoya native has had a singing career which has probably been overshadowed by her long list of achievements on TV, cinema and anime; as I mentioned in the "Anpanman" article, Toda had started out as the 1970s aidoru Akemi Ayu（あゆ朱美）. But I was a bit hasty when I remarked that she then went swiftly into acting since even under her real name, which is indeed Keiko Toda, she still released many singles and several albums.
Case in point: Toda released a 1983 album titled "Naturally" and I managed to find one track called "FADE IN ~ Youmei" (Melting) which is about as City Pop as all get out. Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, if you like your sweet bean paste-filled buns served on a table next to a glass of wine on a balcony overlooking West Shinjuku with a wonderful sunset, THIS is your song. There are synth-horns, that necessary bass and a nighttime piano all coming together for a round of nocturnal classiness in the megalopolis.
Under the name of Akemi Ayu, Toda released just four singles between 1974 and 1976 but I will have to take a look among those very soon, too.
From penning this week's ROY article on Little River Band's"Reminiscing", I did find another single that came out in June 1978 but didn't include it among the three Japanese pop songs that I usually provide at the bottom of the piece because I had yet to even write about that one here. Well, I'm writing about it now.
I have already provided articles on a couple of tracks from singer-songwriter Yasuhiro Kido's（木戸やすひろ）first album"Kid" from 1978: "Kimi ga Soba ni Ireba"（君がそばにいれば）and "Love Magic". Well, I'm now also including the first track "Mr. Music" which was Kido's debut single, too.
With Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）providing the lyrics, Kido's melody has been said on one site to be similar to Sugar Babe's（シュガーベイブ）"Parade"（パレード）, and indeed there is that similarity and that feeling of happy-go-lucky walking on the park path. However before I read that comment on that site, I had my own opinions on what "Mr. Music" sounded like. I can compare it to either The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" or a certain Electric Light Orchestra song which I cannot remember right now. Anyways, "Mr. Music" really does come across as fresh and innocent as a boy running around with a butterfly net in the summer, especially with that title of "Kid" on the album and the cute album cover with those toys.
I believe that I've had this Reminiscings of Youth gig going for the better part of two years, so it's a natural that I should have this particular song as the topic for this ROY article.
"Reminiscing" was a song by Little River Band that had a lot of airplay on the radio stations in Toronto when I was a kid, and before I picked up on all of the jargon that goes with music genres, I thought it a rather strange tune initially since it was a pop tune that suddenly got jazzy for a couple of seconds. Of course, being that age, reminiscing was a concept that I had yet to cotton onto with so many decades ahead of me.
Now that I'm at the proper age to reminisce and I've gone through years appreciating and re-appreciating a lot of the AOR from way back when on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, Little River Band's most famous single from June 1978 strikes me as something that is as smooth as silk and goes down like a glass of really good sake...Hakkaisan, perhaps. And I've figured out why the band's guitarist, Graeham Goble, who created "Reminiscing" put in that Big Band riff.
"Reminiscing" hit No. 1 on Canada's RPM Adult Contemporary chart and No. 7 on the regular singles chart while in America, it was up to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. No wonder I got to hear it so often on the old radio. For me, the other big surprises regarding this song is realizing that Little River Band actually hails from Australia and not the United States as I had assumed and that John Lennon himself regarded "Reminiscing" as one of his favourites while he was dating May Pang during a time when he and Yoko Ono had called a temporary timeout on their relationship. I didn't even know that there was an official music video for the song.
Well, checking out the Showa Pops singles release chart for June 1978, I did find a few singles that are already up here on KKP, although they were supposedly released in the previous month of May according to their J-Wiki articles.
Well, the second season of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid） finished this week, and I was able to catch it yesterday. It was somewhat surprising because I had been expecting something a little more dramatic and action-packed as was the case for the finale of Season 1, but instead, it turned out to be a very relaxing and humour-filled ending (I guess the penultimate episode was going for the drama). No complaints on my part, however, and it was nice to see the show cover not just one but two annual Japanese outdoor traditions. We can only wait for Season 3 to come out sometime in the next couple of years, I hope.
I'd thought that my article on "Ishukan Relationship"（イシュカン♡リレーションシップ）, the special ending theme for one episode in Season 2 as sung by Yuki Kuwahara（桑原由気）, the seiyuu behind the chipper-but-powerful Tohru, would be the final one for the "Kobayashi-san" file for the foreseeable future. However, I'm happily wrong since while browsing through YouTube late last night, I encountered a track from that necessary part of any successful anime franchise merchandise: the character song album.
Sure enough, the Lantis label released "L・O・V・E" yesterday with the main seiyuu providing various songs. The track that I heard was the very first one that starts off the album, "Give Me Love", featuring Kobayashi-san herself, Mutsumi Tamura（田村睦心）, along with Kuwahara, and seiyuu Tomomi Mineuchi（嶺内ともみ）as the new character of Ilulu. fhana's Hideki Hayashi（林英樹）and Junichi Sato（佐藤純一）were responsible for words, music and arrangement of this short-and-sweet-and-fun song with a mix of cute rap, dance beats and Latin. Maybe for next season, instead of just Kanna heading to New York City, it could be the whole gang vacationing in Rio.
From what I see of "L・O・V・E" at the Lantis website itself, it also has Super Chorogons'（スーパーちょろゴンず）version of "Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）, the opening theme for the first season, and "Maid with Dragons"（めいど・うぃず・どらごんず︎❤︎）, the ending theme for the second season, as sung individually by the seiyuu.
When I was writing up the article, I'd assumed that this would be Tamura's first appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I had completely forgotten that she was already up here as of 2015, thanks to her singing for the anime"Kill Me Baby".
Should've realized that fhana did do the original as the coupling song for "Ai no Supreme"（愛のシュプリーム！）.
Autumn has arrived and it's been a month since school restarted. I have to say that my first summer away from home went by pretty decently. Aside from having long-awaited hang-out sessions with friends, I took advantage of my school library's decent collection of Japanese Studies books (and air conditioning) and got to reading. It was partially to study up (as sad as it sounds) for the coming semester, but also to satisfy my interests in certain topics in Japanese society. Oddly enough, the plight of domestic day labourers piqued my interest.
Beginning with the book "Men of Uncertainty: the Social Organization of Day Laborers in Contemporary Japan" (2001) by Tom Gill, and subsequently "San'ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo" (1996) by Edward Fowler, I got a look into how fellows eking out a living via day contracts of hard physical labour (particularly construction work) got by in the 90s. Many reside in particular spots in some major cities where such work is advertised (simply put) and rent is dirt cheap, A.K.A yoseba and the surrounding doyagai.
Gill and Fowler gave me a fascinating insight into the life and times of labourers in Kotobuki-cho, Kanagawa and San'ya, Tokyo respectively. Kamagasaki, the "famous" yoseba of Osaka, was more of an honourable mention. But from what I gathered, it's easily the roughest and tumbliest among the few left in Japan since the postwar era. Surely, "Kamagasaki yabai" as one of the top results when one searches for "Kamagasaki Osaka" on Google does not do it any favours. The researchers' accounts do make Kamagasaki seem like the Wild Wild West, what with the lax laws, the network of gangs, rough sleepers, shochu lovers and violently passionate unionists confined in a small square district opposite the Shinsekai. Not unlike the other yoseba/doyagai, but perhaps the stereotypical boisterous Kansai/Naniwa spirit does bring the chaos up a notch.
That said, it was the mention of San'ya and even Kamagasaki that enabled me to finally understand the significance of a couple of songs I'd often come across on YouTube sung by an enka singer or another. Those songs are "San'ya Blues" (山谷ブルース) by Nobuyasu Okabayashi (岡林信康) and, the topic of the article, "Kamagasaki Ninjou" by Eiji Mine (三音英次). Among the two, the latter was the one I tended to see more often. Plus, Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) had done a cover of it in his 1975 album "Kasuga Hachiro no Osaka Joucho" (春日八郎の大阪情緒) featuring Osaka songs. I think I may have given that a listen long before reading the books but I had no impression of it.
Nevertheless, with the earlier description of Kamagasaki in mind, I tuned in to Mine's original take (first video in the article) expecting something moderately upbeat at the least. Suffice to say, I was slightly taken aback by how grim it sounded with the deep trumpets and haunting drone of the synths. Then came Mine's rustic vocals with a slight raspy quality. It's as if a seasoned day labourer, after a swig of shochu and guitar in hand, broke out into song at the local hole-in-the-wall bar. He seems to exalt the day-labourer life in good ol' Kama, even though it's a fate many would associate with falling into the pits. But at the same time, fitting with the theme of struggles so prevalent in the books above, it could also be viewed as a hopeless lamentation of being resigned to toughing it out in the notorious slum.
On a less depressing note is Hachi's rendition of "Kamagasaki Ninjou". With a faster tempo and an overall more urbane and groovy vibe, this was kind of what I had expected the song to be. Well, the refreshing grooviness may be due in part to this cover coming out in the 70s. Here our Kamagasaki resident sounds less like he's having a post-drink depression/existential crisis and just got paid handsomely for the day's job. Quite the contrast to the original, and I'd say both are good for different listening moods.
"Kamagasaki Ninjou" was written by Shohei Mozu (もず唱平) and composed by Bin Miyama (三山敏) - not too sure on the name pronunciation here - and was released in 1967. It was a pretty big hit, selling around 600,000 copies and being covered often by many a notable (enka) singer.
To round off, here's some background info on Mine: Originally an Oita native born in 1939, he was orphaned at a young age, he went north to Osaka's Kamagasaki for work and resided there. In late 1962, he joined the Shinsekai Shinkagetsu (新花月) theatre as a performer. 5 years later came "Kamagasaki Ninjou". There's not much else on Mine on the J-Wiki, but it seemed like his music career didn't continue and he settled as a taxi driver. Unfortunately, he did have some run-ins with the law and did jail time for setting the cop car that caught him speeding on fire. In 2003, he passed away from cancer. What a life! I reckon that's what gave the original an "authentic" flavour.
I didn't think that I would be writing an article on Hideaki Tokunaga's（徳永英明）6th studio album from October 1990, "JUSTICE", tonight. However, I popped it into the TEAC last night and then afterwards decided, "Why not?". One of the tracks, Tokunaga's 10th single, "Kowarekake no Radio"（壊れかけのRadio）, already has its own article so you can have a look at that one.
Listening to the first track "NEWS" for the first time in a long time brought back some nostalgia for me since this is a pretty dramatic way to start "JUSTICE". With the music by Tokunaga (all of the tracks were composed by him, in fact), the lyrics are by Hitoshi Shinohara（篠原仁志）which describe an uncertain world but a man and a woman feel as long as they are together, they can overcome anything.
Looks like the Greek island of Mykonos has been given the Casablanca treatment by Tokunaga as "Mykonos". The singer was responsible for words and music here as it's all about the romantic intrigue on the island. I think "Mykonos" is probably the track that solidly hits the City Pop beats on "JUSTICE"; the lyrics might be thousands of kilometres away, but the music keeps things solidly in Tokyo.
I think that there is also a bit of the urban and the urbane with "Kaerenai Futari"（帰れない二人...The Couple Who Won't Return）, a ballad also created by Tokunaga. A couple shares what could possibly be their final night together as they walk along the beach, hoping that the night lasts forever since the inevitable coming of the next day will mean the first day of their lives no longer together. It's poignant especially with that saxophone coming in near the end.
Before I forget, almost all of the tracks were arranged by folk singer and songwriter Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. The one exception is this one, "Douhyou"（道標...Signpost）, which was taken care of by musician Ryoichi Kuniyoshi（国吉良一）. I have to give my compliments to the uploader for this B-side to "Kowarekake no Radio" since his thumbnail of an empty classroom is appropriate for this innocent song of gratitude as a couple remember that one day in high school when they realized that they were meant for each other. As was the case for the far sterner "NEWS", Shinohara and Tokunaga were behind this one.
I'll finish this with the title track itself which finishes the album. "JUSTICE" is an appropriately heroic anthem by Tokunaga about pushing through all of the obstacles of life and the city to realize that love is all. Yup, the sentiments are pretty sentimental but "JUSTICE" is the type of song to finish off one of his concerts and have the audience roaring and sobbing into their handkerchiefs. Plus, it's a reminder to me that Tokunaga has one heck of a voice.
"JUSTICE" hit No. 1 on Oricon. I have to also mention that Tokunaga had a mighty crew of musicians contributing their talents such as guitarists Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）, drummer Jun Aoyama（青山純）, the aforementioned Kuniyoshi on both keyboards and sax, and a backup chorus consisting of Rajie（ラジー）, Yasuhiro Kido（木戸やすひろ）and Junko Hirotani（広谷順子）.
Good heavens! I almost forgot that autumn officially flew in earlier this afternoon at 3:21 and I did save a song for this occasion.
For this fall's kayo selection, I have here Toshihiro Kirigaya's（桐ヶ谷俊博）"Aki ~ Anata ni"(Autumn ~ To You), the final and title track from his lone album of 1979. Almost a season ago, I introduced Bobby, as he also likes to go by, as the younger brother for singer and songsmith Jin Kirigaya（桐ヶ谷仁）, and as I mentioned in that article for "Hitomi wo Tojite"（瞳をとじて）, his own discography was fairly short at just four singles and that album, but he has been helping out other artists including his older brother.
His track "Aki ~ Anata ni" has that Western AOR sense backed up by some lush piano and strings, and he really does sound similar to Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）from Off-Course（オフコース）especially here. But I also get some Eagles vibes along with that sense from a number of other AOR singers. At the same time, "Aki" also has that melancholy feeling that often accompanies an autumn-themed kayo reflecting the end of romance.
The younger Kirigaya was responsible for words and music while bassist Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）handled the arrangement. It's quite the hidden little jewel in the kayo sandbox.
