Kaoru Sudo -- Shiawase no Basho（幸せの場所）

 

Lost one of my happy places as of Halloween. Not long after having returned from Japan in 2011, a good friend of mine, Danny, introduced me to the new izakaya Kingyo in the Cabbagetown district of Toronto. For the years afterward, it provided me with some fine tasty fare in a comfortable atmosphere, and in fact, it ended up that my group of friends would have their Xmas parties there for a number of years. Fellow KKP contributor Larry Chan and I often got together at the place for lunch or dinner during the Holidays.

But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and after about nine years of service, I was told in September that Kingyo's days were indeed numbered. I think that the pandemic was one factor, but also the owner has apparently wanted to take things in a new direction. In what new direction I have no idea although Danny feels that it will still be cuisine-oriented. Anyways, we will find out early in 2022, but in the meantime, Danny, his wife and I had a final repast at Kingyo on October 23rd, and it was difficult for me to choose which of my favourites that I wanted to have, but in the end, I decided to opt for the limited Makunouchi bento that you see at the top. Yes, I did engorge myself and drank things down with their homemade ginger ale which I will also never see again.

As I said, Kingyo was a happy place and that is enough of a segue for "Shiawase no Basho" (A Happy Place), a track from the late Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）November 1983 album "Drops". It's been a long time since I've put up a Sudo article so I'm happy to reacquaint everyone with her musical stylings. A trackmate with "Mayonaka no Shujinko"（真夜中の主人公）, this is certainly a mellow City Pop ballad about someone's happy place being the memories stored in their heart while their significant other is elsewhere, temporarily or forever. It has an interesting combination of the usual City Pop Fender Rhodes and beefy bass along with a disco flute and a jazzy muted trumpet. Quite a classy number and certainly seeing that album cover for "Drops" adds to the atmosphere.

"Shiawase no Basho" was written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）, composed by Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）, and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）. I can hear a bit of Yuming（ユーミン）taste in that arrangement, in fact, because of her husband's involvement. "Drops" peaked at No. 49 on Oricon.

The final homemade ginger ale!