Yasuko and Keiko Haru -- Heartbreak Hotel wa Man'in（ハートブレイクホテルは満員）

 

My first impression when I heard the aidoru manzai comic duo Yasuko and Keiko Haru（春やすこ・けいこ）was "Man, they are Osakan to the core!". It was like they'd stepped out of my relatives' home as unknown cousins. But no, Yasuko and Keiko are not related to me...or each other, for that matter.

Yasuko Nakajima（中島泰子）and Keiko Kobayashi（小林恵子）as they are known now indeed hail from Osaka and they first met in their teens when both were with the Shochiku Geino Talent Agency in 1973. Their act as Yasuko and Keiko Haru began in 1976 after which their star rose steadily. Another Kansai-based sister act Senri and Mari Unabara（海原千里・万里）were ending their time in 1977, so expectations were high and the Harus were seen as "the post-Senri and Mari". Moreover with the aidoru song-and-dance duo Pink Lady（ピンク・レディー）riding the waves of popularity at the time, Yasuko and Keiko were also dubbed the Japanese comedy world's equivalent of Pink Lady. They hit a lot of the variety shows and of course, they were called upon to do their part for commercials as you can see above.

Naturally once celebrities reach a certain level of fame in the country, many of them are called upon to show off their singing prowess (or lack of). So Yasuko and Keiko released two singles in 1981, the first of which was "Heartbreak Hotel wa Man'in" (Heartbreak Hotel: No Vacancy). Nope, it has nothing to do with Elvis Presley but the good ol' 50s and 60s rock n' roll that was part of kayo's soundscape at the time was fully imbued thanks to composer and arranger Ichinen Yamazaki（山崎稔）with lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）. Itoi made sure that the Osakan was also in there with the dialect's exhortation of "NO GOOD!": Akan（あかん）. Yeah, I heard plenty of that in my childhood. Gotta also say that those hairdos are really nostalgic and the ladies did quite well in the recording.

Yasuko and Keiko Haru won the Best New Artist prize (!) at the 1981 edition of the Kamigata Manzai Comedy Awards and a Hope prize at the 1982 Japan Broadcasting Entertainment Awards. The act though broke up in 1985.