Azumi Inoue -- Yume Hiko（夢飛行）

 

Spoke to a couple of friends over the past few days, both of whom have plenty of Japan experience, and at least one of them is really itching to head over there again for vacation, perhaps later this fall. I really hope that his wish comes true although I really doubt that I'll be able to get there again anytime before 2023. By that time, it'll have been 6 years since my last flight out to my old stomping grounds.

Speaking of those long-awaited dream flights, I have one here with that very title in Japanese. "Yume Hiko" (Dream Flight) was the B-side to Azumi Inoue's（井上杏美）debut single "Star Storm" in April 1983. At first, that name didn't quite hit the recognition circuits, because she was going full kanji at the time, but when I noticed that she'd already had an entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I realized that it was the Azumi Inoue（井上あずみ）who'd been responsible for singing the theme songs for the Hayao Miyazaki（宮崎駿）classic, "Tonari no Totoro"（となりのトトロ）in 1988. The Kanazawa native was actually born Midori Miyazaki（宮崎みどり）but took on her stage name based on a book written by a Kanazawa-born author Saisei Muro（室生犀星）titled "Anzukko"（杏っ子）.

That jingly synthesizer which starts "Yume Hiko" is really quite nostalgic for me and it does remind me of those really cute aidoru tunes from the early 1980s, additionally enhanced by Inoue's high-and-clear vocals. I also can't forget that wailing electric guitar which finishes things off. Written by Rie Ohtani（大谷リエ）, the melody was composed by Toshiaki Matsumoto（松本としあき）, a pianist and composer who also later changed the transcription of his name（松本俊明）and has since become even more famous for a couple of Xmas tunes, Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）"Merry Xmas ga Ienai" （メリークリスマスが言えない）and Misia's "Everything".