Remioromen -- Ohmisoka no Uta（大晦日の歌）

 

Unless I get a real blast of inspiration in the remaining hours of 2021, this will be my final article of the year on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as Article No. 1051. It's been a full year of COVID but it's also been a banner twelve months for the blog. As such, I was looking for some sort of kayo that would best reflect the end of the year...not the easiest thing to do since most of the Japanese pop music for this certain period of the year usually favours Christmas more than New Year's.

Crazily enough, though, it didn't take me too long at all. I found this song by the rock band Remioromen（レミオロメン）whose setting is Todoroki（等々力）, a quiet neighbourhood that pretty much straddles Tokyo and Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture. And I have a personal connection with Todoroki since I had a student living there who used to attend my second school during my 17-year-odyssey in Japan and then asked me to teach her and a friend at her apartment privately once she graduated.

The only thing was that she asked me to come over on Monday nights at 10:30 pm! Yeah, that was a stretch for me especially since I lived all the way on the other end in Chiba Prefecture. But I was doing my own private practice by that point and I needed all of the students that I could get, and she asked for me specifically. I couldn't exactly turn her down despite the fatigue and the long commute which had me risking missing my last Tozai subway home because of the lateness of the hour. As it was, though, the stint didn't last too long.

Anyways, Remioromen's "Ohmisoka no Uta" (Song for New Year's Eve) comes from the band's 5th original album "Kachoufuugetsu"（花鳥風月...Natural Beauties） released in March 2010. Written and composed by vocalist Ryota Fujimaki（藤巻亮太）, he's described the song as rather slim and trim with no frills of fancy. It's simply a wistful ballad about a guy celebrating December 31st by himself in his small apartment after buying some of that toshikoshi soba at the konbini, perhaps finally coming to terms that his romance is now definitely in the past but still cherishing the good times with his ex-girlfriend in his memories. Knowing the dimly-lit path that I took from tiny Todoroki Station to my student's apartment at night, the song does hit home although I thankfully never had to teach a lesson on New Year's Eve.

"Kachoufuugetsu" peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and ended the year as the 92nd-ranked album of 2010. On that note, I'd like to wish everybody a Happy New Year and I'll see you all tomorrow in 2022!