I was watching NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit） earlier this afternoon, and I saw enka singer Takeshi Kitayama（北山たけし）performing his father-in-law's New Year's Day 1991 single as a tribute to the late composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）.
Of course, when that father-in-law is the legendary Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）, there's a lot to live up to, but Kitayama did him proud today. "Kita no Daichi" (The Great Land in the North) has got that quintessential Sabu-chan sound: the grand and muscular enka stomp, the epic chorus and Kitajima's proud proclamation about his home prefecture of Hokkaido as this vast area of nature and goodness, thanks to the lyrics provided by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）. It doesn't surprise me that the single was released right on New Year's Day since I could imagine if it had been a sunny day up there in Hokkaido on January 1st, the blue sky, the snow-capped mountains and the sea of white would have been spectacular.
Peaking at No. 33 on Oricon, "Kita no Daichi" won a Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards that year and Kitajima made his appearance on the 1991 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to perform the song. The paper snowflakes must have been in especially great supply during that performance.
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