Ataru Nakamura -- Hadaka Denkyu（裸電球）

 

I haven't heard very much from her since her first and, I believe, only appearance thus far on the Kohaku Utagassen in 2007 but singer-songwriter/actress Ataru Nakamura（中村中）made quite the splash even for someone who had been invited onto NHK's New Year's Eve special. The Tokyo native became the first transgender woman to appear as a participant on the show after announcing her status the previous year.

Although I hadn't been aware of it until recently, Nakamura's Wikipedia profile states that she has performed both rock/pop and enka tunes. I've known just her pop tunes so I would be interested in checking out her enka material. However for her first article on KKP, I wanted to give her "Hadaka Denkyu" (Bare Light Bulb) some focus.

Her 6th single was released in November 2007 and "Hadaka Denkyu" is an elegant love ballad about one person trying to persuade another to take the relationship to the next level. At this point, I'm not quite sure where the bare light bulb comes in as an analogy but the song is wonderful as a tenderhearted and reassuring invitation (with a hint of country) for those who are reticent and/or fearful of romance.

The single ranked in at No. 87. It's also included on Nakamura's 2nd album "Watashi wo Daite Kudasai"（私を抱いて下さい...Please Hold Me） which came out a month after the single. It peaked at No. 38 on the album charts. The above video has the album version which has an extended outro. "Hadaka Denkyu" wasn't the song that she performed on the Kohaku but let's see about getting that one covered soon enough.

Kazuhiko Shima/Naomi Chiaki -- Etsuraku no Blues（悦楽のブルース）

 

Around this time in 2017, I wrote about "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru"（雨の夜あなたは帰る）by singer Kazuhiko Shima（島和彦）which ended up as a hit that earned him a place at the 1966 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen and then it was later covered by smoky-voiced Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）some years later.

However, "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru" wasn't the first song by Shima. His debut single, "Etsuraku no Blues" (Pleasure Blues), was released in August 1965 but it hit a wave of controversy. Obviously the single was made and sold (and just to warn listeners, the above recording gets a little jumpy near the end), but it was banned from being broadcast on radio and, I'm also assuming, television. According to one Japanese blog, it was given the evil eye by the government for 1) being the theme song for a Nagisa Oshima（大島渚）movie titled "Etsuraku"（悦楽...Pleasure） which was considered an adult flick, and 2) it was considered to give off unwanted images of moral decay, nihilism and pessimism. 

The same songwriting duo behind "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru", lyricist Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）, was also responsible for "Etsuraku no Blues". Listening to it now, it comes off as the prototypically languid Mood Kayo with the usual bluesy saxophone and a softly galloping beat. If I've understood Yoshioka's lyrics correctly, the story is of a woman, most likely a hostess, languishing in a bar as she waits for a client that she's fallen for but knows that he'll end up leaving her as her past paramours have.

The above is the trailer for Oshima's "Etsuraku", and the music used certainly seems to take it into psychological horror territory. I notice that one of the cast is a very young Mariko Kaga（加賀まりこ）who would become one of the hosts on Fuji-TV's long-running "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）music program. In any case, having his debut single shot down from the radio and television must have been quite a blow to Shima's prospects but obviously things got much better with his next few recordings.

If anything, Naomi Chiaki's cover of "Etsuraku no Blues" sounds even jauntier with an even deeper-sounding saxophone intro. The arrangement makes the song come across as an ironically cheerful Mood Kayo with its slightly faster tempo. Chiaki's delivery has her protagonist hostess feeling more wistfully resigned to her fate and standing in society as if she's saying "Well, tomorrow is another day". I don't know when her version originally came out but it is included in that 2007 album of hers giving tribute to the late composer Funamura that I mentioned in the article for "Ame no Yoru Anata wa Kaeru".

Ryokuoushoku Shakai -- Alright!!/Character（キャラクター）

 

As I've often said, one can throw a figurative rock through the Japanese TV zeitgeist and the odds are that it'll hit a food-based show whether it be a cooking program or something on visiting the trendiest restaurants in town. The national broadcaster NHK is no different in that regard and we've certainly seen our share of them via TV Japan, including "Umai!"（うまいッ!...Delicious Japan!）which currently runs during the noon hour. 

The current hosts for "Umai!" are comedian Hiroyuki Amano（天野ひろゆき）and NHK announcer Ai Tsukahara（塚原愛）with guest reporters ranging from young budding tarento to members of any of the alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB48. "Umai!" has the reporters visiting the local farms and ports to check out the edible flora and fauna before they're either put out on sale or used in the usual scrumptious dishes.

"Umai!" also has its own theme song and to be honest, when I first saw the credits for the song "Alright!!" and its band, I was a bit intimidated about how to pronounce that name since it was a fairly long 5-character string of kanji. Well, getting over my laziness, I found out that the band's name is Ryokuoushoku Shakai (緑黄色社会...Green-Yellow Society) and it's a pop-rock unit hailing from Aichi Prefecture. "Alright!!" was a coupling song for their debut single, "sabotage", back in November 2019 and it peaked at No. 32 on Oricon. True to those spring colours in their band name and the happy synthesizers in the song, it fits the happy and optimistic nature of "Umai!". There's nothing like enjoying your food with the right emotions.

The reason that I finally got onto the blog for Ryokuoushoku Shakai was that the band had appeared a couple of nights ago on "Uta Con"（うたコン）, and with that spring theme in mind, they performed a track from their most recent album "Actor" from January 2022 which has hit No. 4 on the charts. "Character" is another bouncy and smiling number about yelling out that one is truly loved and missed for their character. My first thought was that it was the theme song for an anime but it's actually the tune for a supplement jelly commercial. I've enjoyed the early 70s-style wacka-wacka guitar in there.

Ryokuoushoku Shakai is currently a 4-piece band consisting of vocalist/guitarist Haruko Nagaya（長屋晴子）, guitarist Issei Kobayashi（小林壱誓）, keyboardist peppe, and bassist Shingo Anami（穴見真吾）. Nagaya and Anami were behind words and music respectively for "Alright!!" while the entire band worked on "Character". The band had also included drummer Yasuchika Sugie（杉江泰周）until his departure at the end of 2015. They first formed within the light music club of Chukyo University High School in Nagoya in 2011 with them getting 2nd Prize at the Senko Riot rock festival for teen musicians.

With five CD singles, six download singles, and three albums among other releases under their belt, the band has already provided a ton of songs associated with commercials and other TV shows. As for their name, according to the J-Wiki article for them, Ryokuoushoku Shakai came about when guitarist Kobayashi noticed vocalist Nagaya drinking vegetable juice and blurted out "ryokuoushoku yasai?" (green and yellow vegetables). The other members misheard what Kobayashi had said and said "ryokuoushoku shakai" (green and yellow society).

Sade -- Smooth Operator

 

Well, nice to finish off the turbulent month of March with something soothing for this week's Reminiscings of Youth.

Sade's "Smooth Operator" isn't the first song by the band that I heard when it was released in August 1984, but it was indeed the first song by them that got my undivided attention. It's classy, smoky and oh-so-velvety as the vocalist Sade Adu silkily sings about the love 'em-and-leave 'em con artist who even leaves her with his next victim as she's on the stage. Couldn't get more scoundrel than that (but no need to worry; in the extended version of the video, he does get his comeuppance).

"Smooth Operator" was created by Adu and Raymond St. John and it was the first single by Sade to break into the Top 10 in the USA by hitting No. 5, as it also did on the equivalent chart in Canada. It was also included in Sade's debut album "Diamond Life" that had been released a month earlier than the single.

I do love the percussion, the saxophone and the vocalist's recitation in the beginning of the extended version.

So, which songs were in the Top 3 of Oricon in August 1984?

1. Akina Nakamori -- Jikai (1984) (十戒 (1984))

2. Seiko Matsuda -- Pink no Mozart （ピンクのモーツァルト）

3. Asami Kobayashi -- Ame Oto wa Chopin no Shirabe （雨音はショパンの調べ）

(cover by Yuming)

TOKIO -- Hanauta（花唄）

Last night, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）returned after a brief hiatus and this time, it came out as an extended 75-minute show. It's been a long while since I've seen an extended episode due to the pandemic and appropriately enough, the theme was the season of spring.

One of the acts who came on was Johnny's Entertainment aidoru group Snow Man and they performed a cover of the song "Hanauta" (Flower Song), originally recorded by their grand senpai, TOKIO. Their 25th single from March 2002, it's certainly one jaunty tune about loving the spring and the arrangement has that feeling of Beatles and Queen. I swear that there is one riff which was borrowed from the "Sesame Street" theme.

The lyrics are by TAKESHI and the music is by keyboardist and songwriter Akinori Suzuki（鈴木秋則）, formerly of the band Sentimental Bus（センチメンタル・バス）. "Hanauta" reached No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 54th-ranked single of the year. TOKIO was even able to perform it on the 2002 Kohaku Utagassen. As well, the song was included on the band's 8th original album "glider" released in February 2003 which also hit No. 5 on the album charts. 

"Hanauta" was also used as the theme song for the 2002 NTV drama "Nurse Man"（ナースマン）which starred TOKIO member Masahiro Matsuoka（松岡昌宏）.

Serani Poji -- Yoru no Kissaten（夜の喫茶店）

 

I don't know of many cafés that were open late into the night during my time in the Tokyo area. Often was the case when some of those coffee shops made the transition past 5 or 6 pm into full-fledged bars.

For those anime fans, one good example is Rabbit House from the oh-so-moe franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）with the girls' hangout and part-time workplace which is folksy café by day and moody bar at night. The only place that I've been to in Japan that is like that is the Café de Crie chain although I'm sure that there are likely mom-and-pop shops that have that double role. Another place that I frequented in Ichigaya, Tokyo was the Museum Tea Room (unfortunately, closed down now) but that always stayed a tea room into the evenings. Mind you, the waitresses all dressed up like maids, years before the maid café became a huge pop cultural thing in Akihabara (and no, I didn't go all moe there).

This is just the thing to introduce pop unit Serani Poji's（セラニポージ）"Yoru no Kissaten" (Night Café). A track from their June 2004 album "Ochamekan"（オチャメカン）, it's got that shaki-shaki Latin feeling infused into some light Shibuya-kei, and perhaps there's even a hint of the City Pop of the 1970s thanks to one particular keyboard. "Yoru no Kissaten" may sound a little too fast-paced for the evening soundtrack within a coffeehouse, but it does come across as perfectly fine during a hot cuppa in the afternoon. I do miss those places from time to time because it's been quite a few years since I've been in one.

Eri Morishita -- Blue Jean Boy!（ブルージン・ボーイ！）

 

In the mid-2010s, I wrote about a Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）winter-themed song titled "Mafuyu no Date" （真冬のデート）that had originally been recorded by a singer named Eri Morishita（森下恵理）although I got to know the Takeuchi cover first. I realize that I didn't contribute much information on Morishita, who was born Eri Nobori（登恵里）in Sapporo in 1967, so let me make amends. 

Although she's been cited by J-Wiki as a singer-songwriter, I think that her early works were in the aidoru vein just from what I've heard of her discography back in those first years and the fact that she was the runner-up to aidoru Hidemi Ishikawa（石川秀美）in a 1981 audition contest sponsored by Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）. You can read some specifics on that contest on that singer's article. But even though she missed out on the top prize, she was able to be signed up to a contract with her debut single being "Blue Jean Boy!" released in June 1985 (although that's a pretty long time between contest and debut).

Along with "Mafuyu no Date", "Blue Jean Boy!" has that feeling of a 50s sock hop night (despite the synths), albeit in a much more uptempo arrangement, so perhaps Morishita was seen as a rock n' roll teenybopper. Kazumi Yasui and Kazuhiko Kato（安井かずみ・加藤和彦）were behind lyrics and music respectively for this song which hit No. 29 on Oricon and would be her most successful hit.

During her first run in the geinokai as an aidoru, Morishita released 6 singles and 2 albums up to 1988 during which she also started writing her own tunes. She also became a popular TV personality appearing on several variety shows, but in 1989, she retired due to marriage and a family. But in 1996, she re-entered show business under the new stage name of Eri and then later began a band known as moneji.

Cubismo Grafico -- Mississippi One

 

A couple of months ago, I was introduced to the band Neil & Iraiza via their "Middle Man", a relatively languid piano pop piece with a psychedelic rock guitar coda. Indeed, there is also that feeling of indies rock that Neil & Iraiza has been categorized under on J-Wiki.

Well, one of the two members of the band, percussionist Gakuji Matsuda（松田岳二）decided to have his own solo project beginning from 1999 under the name of Cubismo Grafico which doesn't sound totally artsy at all.😉 In that same year in September, he came out with his first album "TOUT!" from which I present to you the third track "Mississippi One". And nope, there is nothing Delta Blues here.

Cubismo Grafico has been classified on its own J-Wiki page as alternative rock, guitar pop, jazz and reggae, and at least for "TOUT!", Discogs has stated that this is an album of House, Breaks and Downtempo, so I gather that it's all about the dance and techno stuff here. However, the way I see "Mississippi One", although it does have some of that technology thwacking away in its arrangement, I also believe that perhaps Matsuda had wanted to bring in some additional Shibuya-kei a la Fantastic Plastic Machine with the French words and the light and fluffy soundscape that we can hear in the song.

Since 2003, though, Matsuda's project had also been known as Cubismo Grafico Five with the addition of four other members pulled in from other bands. Even with the departure of one of them in the middle of 2009, it's still been Five.

Yomeiriland & PR0P0SE -- Shiawase ni Narou yo（しあわせになろうよ）

 

In the last few days, the YouTube video that I've been stuck on is the one for the fun funk fest "Hip Hop Lollipop" by Bootsy Collins featuring German hip-hop artist Fantaazma, and you can read about it "Rolling Stone". Fantaazma strikes me as being a combination of a really bright-eyed Cyndi Lauper and Nina Hagen.

But that song that I've been playing on repeat for the last little while reminded me of another funky party in the form of "Space Dandy" （スペース☆ダンディ）, the special ending theme for the amazing titular anime with the soundtrack to match. Over there, we had hip-hop MC ZEN-LA-ROCK and the all-female rap group Yomeiriland（嫁入りランド）whipping up listeners into a froth over their favourite sci-fi pompadour-wearing hero of the cosmos.

Listening to "Space Dandy" again, I then got curious about Yomeiriland since up to now, it's just been that particular song that has them represented here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". So I tried to look them up online but there is precious little information although I could find a "Vice" article on them in English from over half a decade ago which describes the three members as DJs who have been around since at least the early 2010s. Known as Mechummmm, Uuuuukakaka and Mieuxxx, they've apparently placed their rap on various music sub-genres, and the reason that the article exists was that Yomeiriland did a noteworthy cover of Novelist and Mumdance’s "Take Time", a song representing grime music which is new to me.

But the song that I'd like to feature here today is "Shiawase ni Narou yo" (Let's Get Happy) that has Yomeiriland and another duo by the name of PR0P0SE overlaying their rap and beats over a cutting-a-rug Big Band jazz melody along with other bloops and bleeps. The song came out in 2013 and everyone sounds as if they were indeed having a party in the recording booth. As for PR0P0SE, according to an interview, they consist of Onomatope Daijin（オノマトペ大臣...The Minister of Onomatopoeia）, who's worked with tofubeats, and trackmaker Thamesbeat who went to university with tofubeats.

Hideki Saijo -- Ao ni Nare（青になれ）

 

Over the past several Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）articles on KKP which means almost two years, I've been going back into the early period of his time as a lanky teenage aidoru. Well, of course, there was that time in the mid-1980s going forward when he was embracing his inner City Pop such as "City Dreams From Tokyo".

However, it seems as if I was focusing a lot on the albums "Twilight Made...Hideki" (1985) and "From Tokyo" (1986) when it came to his time with the urban contemporary. So, recently I did find this lovely track from his February 1987 album "Private Lovers", "Ao ni Nare" (Be Blue), and though it's the only entry that I've listened to on this release thus far, I'm fairly sure that this is another in his City Pop LPs.

"Ao ni Nare" sounds like it picks up where the tracks of "From Tokyo" left off with its classy city arrangement by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）of singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa's（滝沢洋一）melody. It's certainly an attractive number with elements of early 80s and mid-80s City Pop, and perhaps even something in there that's reminiscent of Mood Kayo. Yumi Morita（森田由美）provided the lyrics but I'm not quite sure what it means to be blue in this case. Does Hideki want someone to be sad or does he want them to be cheerful? I don't really have a clue but I may have to ask the Twitter Hideki followers for guidance in this case.

March 29, 2022: And sure enough, those Hideki fans came to the rescue. Quite the learning experience, actually. A couple of them, Ruru and Crystal Love have mentioned about the "blue" in the title referring in truth to the "green" of a green light giving the go-ahead for love and/or calming down in the face of that emotion. I have heard over the years that a green traffic light has been called "ao" (blue) instead of "midori" (green). Many thanks to them!

Miharu Koshi -- Belle Tristesse ~ Myo naru Kanashimi（妙なる悲しみ）

 

As much as I remember the wonderful working partnership between Taeko Ohnuki and Ryuichi Sakamoto（大貫妙子・坂本龍一）of Yellow Magic Orchestra during the early 1980s with their eclectic mixture of synthpop and French-feeling music, I also have in mind another fascinating tandem. That would be the relationship between Miharu Koshi and Haruomi Hosono（コシミハル・細野晴臣）, also of YMO, starting from around 1983 in which Koshi transformed from the good-time City Pop lady into a New Wave gamine, heavy into the synths but with a different aural sensation, more along the lines of Old Europe in general for the lack of a better description.

I found a good representative of that new Koshi sound in the 1980s through "Belle Tristesse ~ Myo naru Kanashimi" (Strange Sadness). This wasn't a part of her albums or singles under her name but it was a track on a November 1983 compilation album by Alfa Records titled "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" produced by the Takahashi Brothers, Nobuyuki and Yukihiro（高橋信之・高橋幸宏）, the latter of whom completes the YMO trio.

The words, music and arrangement were all handled by Koshi and Hosono, and the feeling that I get from "Belle Tristesse" is some sort of weird technopop drama occurring within a toy shop based in Germany or Austria. Perhaps the toys come alive and are now pondering existence...maybe it's an emo version of "Toy Story"? In any case, it's quite the 80s Koshi tune and just from the title alone, I can understand the potential melancholy that can arise in folks around the Yuletide, and after all, it's a common trope in J-Xmas songs.

If "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is hard to come by, then "Belle Tristesse" can be found as a bonus track in Koshi's remastered CD "Epoque de Techno" which came out in 2009.

Ms.Machine -- Nordlig Ängel

 

Yesterday, I woke up to a frosting of snow on the ground. This morning, I found out that the wind chill factor was -18 degrees Celsius so it was time to throw on the long johns, toque and scarf for the regular grocery run. Nothing like living in my area to remind me that winter is truly not over until about May.

I discovered the rock band Ms.Machine some months ago and according to one article on the website Chorareii, their first self-titled album in January 2021 is "...cold and solid for both its Nordic-inspired sound and its gender claims". The band formed in 2015 and calls Tokyo its home. Ms.Machine's members are vocalist/lyricist SAI, bassist RISAKO and guitarist/composer MAKO.

Listening to one of the tracks from "Ms.Machine", "Nordlig Ängel" (which probably came out as a single sometime in 2020 according to the release date for the YouTube video) strikes me like a malevolent icicle: jagged, sinister, clear and hard. Now, I have even less knowledge about the various sub-genres within contemporary rock music than I do with techno, but according to another site in Japanese, Ms. Machine has an industrial beat with Hardcore roots and SAI's vocals are grounded in Witch House and Dark Wave. With "Nordlig Angel", I feel that there is that bridge being drawn between goth rock and the harder forms of techno, but again I'm straying into territory that I'm not very knowledgeable about although it is a fascinating song to me.

Also, to quote from that Chorareii article: Ms.Machine (@ms.machine) is the band of three women who decided to rip out everything dark and unfair that they kept inside and unleash it ruthlessly through punk. Despite embodying anger and non-conformism, his music is not fast-paced or chaotic. It’s firm, hard, structured, with spaced verses and heavy, cyclical rhythms that immobilize. Ms.Machine does not shout her complaints at you heatedly, but holds your gaze coldly and decisively, without you daring to look away until what they have to say slowly sticks with you.

You can check out the link above to Chorareii to read the interview with the band.

Takako Ohta -- Kanashimi wo Koete（悲しみをこえて）

 

To remind us that although all of us here in the Greater Toronto Area are done with winter, winter is certainly not done with us (and probably won't be until May as is often the case here), we woke up to a few centimetres of snow this morning. Well, at least, it was neither frigid nor windy out there. Incidentally, the photo above is of the bridge between Tokyu Hands and Kinokuniya Book Store in the Times Square complex in South Shinjuku.

(19:50)

Up until today, I had only the one article regarding 80s aidoru Takako Ohta（太田貴子）on KKP and that was for her cute "Goodbye Mr. Extra" (Goodbye Mr. エキストラ) from late 1984. Today I am upping that number with another song a few years down the line of her discography, "Kanashimi wo Koete" (Farewell to Sorrow).

A track from her 6th album from May 1987 "Pop Station", "Kanashimi wo Koete" takes Ohta into a more pop/rock direction perhaps a la Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）and very early Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）, and her voice goes a little deeper. I can almost imagine Ohta in leather atop a motorcycle riding down the highways and byways of California as I hear this. The lyrics by Kei Hayakawa（早川渓）proudly declare the endurance of a romance even if their surrounding acquaintances aren't too happy with the association. Rebels to the end!

According to one blog, the CD version of "Pop Station" comes with a bonus 11th track which is the English version of the song under that title of "Farewell to Sorrow", although I'm not sure whether it was Hayakawa behind those as well. The melody was provided by singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）and the arrangement was taken care of by none other than Sentimental City Romance（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）.

s**t kingz -- Suudara Bushi feat. BUSINESS FISH（スーダラ節）

 

A few months before the pandemic rushed in and destroyed the Routine that my anime buddy and I had every couple of Sundays, the two of us had been watching a Fall 2019 anime called "Africa no Salaryman"（アフリカのサラリーマン...African Office Worker）, a slice-of-life show featuring the indigenous animals of that continent involved as cogs in the corporate machine. I wasn't aware that there had been something similar earlier in the year called "Business Fish" adapted from a web comic series which had a more ichthyic emphasis.

Never saw an episode of "Business Fish" which isn't only the title but also the name of the main character, but I was drawn to what was probably the special ending theme for the final episode. After all, "Sudara Bushi" (The Suudara Song) is one of the classic kayo originally done back in 1961 by the late Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）of comical band Crazy Cats, and it had a resurgence in popularity one year in the 1990s to the extent that Ueki showed up on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.

Well, "Sudara Bushi" got a rap/hip-hop update for "Business Fish" courtesy of XLII and Dotama as that special ending theme with Ueki still helping out and the snappy choreography by four-man group s**t kingz. I wrote about the guys several months ago because of their "Egao!"（えがお！）and their dancing keeps me coming back for more.

But it wasn't enough for Business Fish to get all of the dancing glory. s**t kingz themselves also got to do the live-action version of the dance in their own video, and it is quite glorious to see them bust a move while dressed in those 60s sober-sided suits and hairdos.

As for the original ending theme and credits, the song is "Don't Stop Moving" by Sarah Kelly.

Kohei Matsushita -- Tsuyogari（つよがり）

 

As I type this, it's currently Earth Hour so the lights are down very low. I figure that I could be just lying in bed for the hour but frankly I prefer typing to risking ruining my usual sleep so here we are.

Since I no longer watch Japanese dramas anymore, I have never heard of actor Kohei Matsushita（松下洸平）but he hails from Hachioji, Tokyo and has been a thespian since 2009. But a year earlier than that, he had started a singing and songwriting career under the mononym of Kohei under which he released a couple of official singles, a few digital download singles and a limited concert CD in the late 2000s.

I found out about Matsushita when he appeared on a recent episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）and performed his first single under his full name. "Tsuyogari" (A Show of Courage) was released in August 2021 and it's a light soulful ballad written by Kiyoshi Matsuo（松尾潔）and composed by Yoshihiro Toyoshima（豊島吉宏）. What got me interested in the song was that initially because of the arrangement, I'd assumed that this was another sweet Tomita Lab concoction but of course it wasn't from finding out the songwriting credits at JASRAC. There is also something about Matsushita's vocals that remind me of the R&B duo Chemistry.

As for Matsuo's lyrics, I gather that one-half of a soon-to-be ex-couple is reminiscing, perhaps sadly-if-wisely, about the good times of the romance, and how it has to take a show of courage to admit that the relationship has to end. I can understand that feeling perfectly. "Tsuyogari" broke into the Top 10 on Oricon by peaking at No. 8. Matsushita released a mini-album close to Xmas last year and he put out a digital download single almost a couple of weeks ago, "KISS".

Iruka -- Mama no O-sara（ママのお皿）

 

Happy Saturday...and no...not Merry Xmas. I realize that we are still 9 months away from another Yuletide celebration but yesterday I was listening to Scott's "Holly Jolly X'mas" podcast and the subject there was singer-songwriter Iruka's（イルカ）"Bohemia no Mori kara"（ボヘミアの森から...From The Bohemian Forest） from November 1977. 

The thing about "Bohemia no Mori kara" is that it was Iruka's first Xmas-themed album and there is one song there that got my attention immediately. The track "Mama no O-sara" (Mom's Dishes) checks all of the boxes about the Xmas songs that I have liked in the past: it's jazzy, happy and it brings all of the wonderful memories of childhood during the Holiday season (I can smell the nutmeg and cinnamon right now). Written and composed by the singer, Iruka is happily celebrating the fact that not only does December contain Christmas but also her birthday (December 3rd) and that she always cherished a couple of theme plates of the season. Perhaps it's no surprise then that the room that I think about when this song is playing in my head is the kitchen.

Until Scott told me about the album, I'd had no idea that Iruka had even put out an Xmas album in 1977. That was the year that she also released the single "Ame no Monogatari"（雨の物語）, the very first Iruka song that I had ever heard and one of the tunes that made me realize that Japanese popular music was more than aidoru, enka and YMO. So, many thanks to Scott!🎄

paris match -- Koi Iro no Machi（恋色の街）

 

If that "Yokohama Fantasy" set that I purchased last month had been compiled many years later than its actual 2004 release date, I think that this particular song would have been a shoo-in as a track.

I am talking about "Koi Iro no Machi" (City of the Colours of Love) which is a track on paris match's June 2020 "Round 12" album that I've already written about. Once again, I've been treated to the rich chocolate vocals of Mari Mizuno（ミズノマリ）through this song created by lyricist Tai Furusawa（古澤大）and composer Yosuke Sugiyama（杉山洋介）.

As is displayed in the music video, the setting is Yokohama which is the titular town as a woman commiserates about her last meeting with her now ex-paramour in the Japanese port city. It may be a lyrically sad tune but the typical paris match warm and mellow groove comes out from "Koi Iro no Machi", and I have to say that those horns have me reminiscing of Bobby Caldwell's classic "What You Won't Do For Love".

Marie Igarashi -- Kibouhou made（喜望峰まで）/Mujin Ressha（無人列車）

 

Just a little over a year ago, I introduced singer and host Marie Igarashi（五十嵐麻利江）who I encountered through a snazzy City Pop number titled "Juu-roku-sai no Aki"（16才の秋）from her 1979 album "Umi wo Kanjiru Toki"（海を感じる時...When I Feel the Sea）. Eventually, Igarashi would direct her musical talents toward opera in the middle of the 1980s.

But before her training in Italy, she had a couple of pop albums to get through. One song from her 1981 album "Daydream" was "Kibouhou made" (Up to the Cape of Good Hope) which comes across as a breezy and optimistic pop number providing a romantic travelogue through South Africa. The tour is definitely at a brisk pace. Igarashi, Masato Kai（甲斐正人）and Takayuki Inoue（井上尭之）were behind the melody while Takashi Nakahata（仲畑貴志）and Kazuko Katagiri（片桐和子）took care of the lyrics. 

Speaking of "Umi wo Kanjiru Toki", I also found this basically short instrumental "Mujin Ressha" (Empty Train) which has some chorus-like vocals. Written and composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）, it's dominated by electric guitar and hard-hitting piano as I get some Linda Ronstadt rock vibes in the arrangement. 

Keizo Nakanishi -- Love Again

 

Why this particular song didn't make it as a jingle for a Camellia Diamonds commercial is beyond me.

"Love Again" is from the golden-voiced singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）early in his career. It served as the coupling song to his debut single "Tangerine Eyes"（タンジェリン・アイズ）from March 1991 and it was written by Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）against Nakanishi's and Takao Konishi's（小西貴雄）melody. It's a cool and groovy ballad about second chances at love when a man meets his old flame by chance on the stairs leading into the subway. Just hearing the singer's voice soar in the refrain is enough to give me some of the chills that the couple must have felt on those stairs during the rainy evening.

Both "Love Again" and "Tangerine Eyes" are also on Nakanishi's May 1991 debut album "KEIZO ~ Kanawanai Yume mo Atta"（かなわない夢もあった...There Were Also Unfulfilled Dreams） which peaked at No. 57. I'll have to cover "Tangerine Eyes" sometime soon.

GANGY -- Slow Dancer（スローダンサー）

 

Nice little photo above of a walk towards Roppongi. Maybe it could be used as the cover of one of those discs from the "Light Mellow" series.

Perhaps this particular song could have been placed on one of the CDs from that series as well. GANGY, aka Ganji Itokazu*（糸数元治）, seems to have been a one-and-done person when it came to his discography. He's another in the line of very obscure Japanese singers that I've come across over the years so I had to look through a number of webpages to get any information about the fellow. But in all of them, they mention that one single of his, "Slow Dancer", from June 1982.

"Slow Dancer" is definitely in the City Pop/J-AOR vein with those different mellow and sparkling keyboards playing the jazzy melody by GANGY himself with Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）providing the arrangement. In a way, the song reminds me of the some of the material from 70s wunderkind Shinji Harada（原田真二）. As for the lyrics by Akira Kogure（木暮陽）, the singer lays out his story of that beautiful but perhaps unapproachable slow dancing lady on the floor.

On one page, the author stated that he recollects hearing "Slow Dancer" quite a lot on the radio in his youth, and it did fairly well on the charts by hitting No. 25 on Oricon, selling about 120,000 records. But after that, he faded into obscurity...at least when it comes to any other success on the charts. If anyone else has any information about the rest of his discography, let me know.

From the Takechas website, I did find out some intriguing trivia in that the Okinawan GANGY was married to the late singer-songwriter Lily（りりィ）. On my first article for Lily, "Watashi ga Naiteimasu"（わたしが泣いています）, I mentioned that her son, Juon Kamata（鎌田樹音）who is the lead vocalist for the alt-rock band FUZZY CONTROL, is married to Miwa Yoshida（吉田美和）of Dreams Come True. Apparently, GANGY is Juon's father, although on the J-Wiki article for FUZZY CONTROL, the father is simply mentioned as being a guitarist, but it was because of Juon seeing GANGY perform that he himself decided to take up the electric guitar.

*Itokazu has another reading, according to Jisho.org. The kanji can also be read as "Shisuu", so if anyone can confirm GANGY's real name's pronunciation, that would be most appreciated.

Quruli -- Tokyo（東京）

 

Contributor nikala was the first one of us to introduce the band Quruli（くるり）onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and it was a most entertaining tune since its 2014 "Liberty & Gravity" was one eccentric lallapaloosa of a mix of Okinawan music, Moldovan trumpets, and rap among other influences as nikala stated. Then several years following that article, I provided my own Quruli article with their 2016 single "Kohaku Iro no Machi, Shanghai Gani no Asa"（琥珀色の街、上海蟹の朝）which was a more conventionally cool soul groove number.

Now, from what I've read in their J-Wiki article, there have been eight iterations of Quruli since their inception in 1996 which included slight lineup changes and perhaps also their type of music during their time. Apparently, for the two songs that I've mentioned in the above paragraph, that was in their most recent iteration. I'd also read in nikala's article that Quruli identifies itself as an alternative rock band which I didn't see in those above songs.

However, I decided to go as far back as possible and so I did find Quruli's first single as a major act, "Tokyo" which was released in October 1998. Indeed, it's as different as one can get from "Liberty & Gravity" and it's a song that was from their first iteration. At the time, the band centered around the three members of Shigeru Kishida (岸田繁) (vocals and guitar), Masashi Sato (佐藤征史) (bass), and Nobuyuki Mori（森信行） (drums), and together on "Tokyo", they provided that 1990s jangly alternative rock that I remember hearing from the United States from the early part of that decade.

The above video is a shortened version of "Tokyo". Written and composed by Kishida, the story is about a fellow living his life in the capital while still having feelings for a former flame and wondering whether to dare give her another call. The single got as high as No. 64 on Oricon and was also placed on Quruli's first album "Sayonara Stranger"（さよならストレンジャー...Goodbye, Stranger） which came out in April 1999; it hit No. 16.

Akiko Wada -- Tasogare ni Encore（黄昏にアンコール）

 

It's just a few weeks away from Akiko Wada's（和田アキ子）birthday and it's been a long career for her since starting out with her first single in 1968.

Wada is still seen as one of the interpreters of Japanese-style blues, and I think "Tasogare ni Encore" (Encore at Sunset) is a good fit with that arrangement of gospel blues. The video is also a touching one as the life of a couple is played out through the good and bad times, but in the end, it all works out as their elderly versions have a swing together.

This track was part of a mini-album that was put out in December 2021, "WADASOUL2", and "Tasogare ni Encore" was written by Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）of Nona Reeves and composed/produced by Yu Sakai（さかいゆう）. "WADASOUL2" also has the previous Wada song that I wrote about last year, the very different "YONA YONA DANCE".

Yello -- Oh Yeah

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article and the interesting thing about this old chestnut from my memories is that the refrain (there are some other lyrics, mind you) consists of two words and those two words reached meme status to seemingly express a comically orgiastic bass-voiced reaction to something or someone. Indeed, it's been used in commercials such as the one above and TV shows such as "The Simpsons". And of course, the reaction to the reaction has been something like "Get that cold shower now!".

To be honest, I don't quite remember when I did first hear Yello's "Oh Yeah" but apparently the song got its big boost when it was used in a key scene in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986), and that was actually for a Ferrari...not for any gorgeous man or woman. It kinda reminds me of Rodgers and Hart's "Lover" which had me thinking that it had always been used for a romance when it was actually first used as a comical song of affinity for a horse in an old movie musical.

Regardless of the target of love, "Oh Yeah" became a Hollywood go-to musical cue for falling hard for that particular noun in the 1980s. And yet, I didn't find out much about this Swiss electronic music band for several years after the release of this July 1985 (US) single and its video. For one thing, I hadn't realized that there were more lyrics aside from the drawn-out OH YEAHs which illustrated that the love being shown here was actually for natural phenomena. Plus, I didn't think that the two fellows could look any more goofier and any more cooler at the same time in the video.

Pretty interesting background for these Yello fellows once I looked them up. Dieter Meier is the industrialist millionaire and lyricist while Boris Blank is the instrumentalist and sound smith. The above goes into how "Oh Yeah" had its origins. And Yello is still at it.

So, what was being released in July 1985 in Japan? Well, the three that I have here are on the Showa Pops list although according to what I've written about them in their individual articles, all three of them came out in April, so perhaps there were re-releases? Anyhow, "Oh Yeah" isn't the first song of its titular nature to come onto the blog although there are differences in terms of the number of exclamation marks. Ask Princess Princess and Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）.

Minako Honda -- Satsui no Vacance (殺意のバカンス)

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Soshite....Meguri Ai （そして。。。めぐり逢い）

Koji Kikkawa -- Nikumaresouna NEW Face（にくまれそうなNEWフェイス）

Yumi Kojima -- Comme Des Garcons（コム・デ・ギャルソン）

 

Let me self-quote from the end of one article that I wrote back in August 2021: "I've just heard one track on YouTube from that album, and I will cover it next month."

Now, allow me to give myself multiple Gibbs slaps! Yup, once again, I broke a promise about providing an article since it is now March 2022 and I've yet to cover singer-songwriter Yumi Kojima's（児島由美）"Comme Des Garcons" that I said that I would do in September last year.

That article in 2021? It was for Kojima's rendition of the cute and jazzy "Feel so Nyan-Nyan" which had Kojima at her kittenish best, and so I said back then, I would cover "Comme Des Garcons". Well, better much later than never. In any case, this was Kojima's debut album from April 1979.

I did mention this song in that "Feel So Nyan-Nyan" article, but Track 2 from Side A is "Yume no Tabi"（夢の旅...Dream Trip） which wasn't her debut single but the song that she had won a prize for at the Yamaha Popular Song Contest. It's a happy-go-lucky pop song about a couple getting that travel to far-flung places such as America and Portugal among many other places. To add to that exotic feeling, there is even an instrumental bridge with what sounds like a mandolin in there.

Her debut single was "Otoko no Ko Mitai ni"（男の子みたいに...Like Boys or Comme Des Garcons）, and as that French translation indicates, it's the title track for the album. It starts off the album and it does have that rather intriguing intro with a slight hint of progressive rock before jumping into something like 1970s piano pop and a thimble of disco. What also strikes me is how Kojima's lower-range vocals here remind me of another Yumi from a slightly earlier age: Yumi Arai（荒井由実）.

The shocker though is this video which has two tracks from "Comme Des Garcons", and it was this video that has the track that had me promising to write about this album in the first place. That track is "Sexy Shade"（セクシィシェイド）, Kojima's 2nd single which was released in July 1979. After listening to "Feel So Nyan-Nyan" and then coming into the romantic bossa-tinged City Pop of "Sexy Shade" with the singer's more velvety and huskier vocals was quite the revelation. Following this song on the video is the languid "Doukei"（憧憬...Longings） that has more in common with the string-laden Fashion Music of folks like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Chika Ueda（上田知華）.

From what I'm guessing is that "Comme Des Garcons" may have quite the variety of songs and genres thanks to Kojima. It's a good New Music album to finish off the decade.

Kanta Ichijo -- Tabiji no Saki ni（旅路の先に）

 

Can't quite remember anymore where I first saw young enka singer Kanta Ichijo（一条貫太）perform his latest single "Tabiji no Saki ni" (End of the Journey). Was it on "Uta Con"（うたコン）or "Songs of Japanese Spirit"? Anyways, released in January 2022, it's one of those enka songs that simultaneously sounds fresh and old-fashioned as this time, the usual lyrical trope within the genre of going on a trip to forget about a lost love is inverted somewhat. Written by Takashi Maki（万城たかし）, if I've read those lyrics correctly, it's about a man who comes back to his love after a journey of soul-searching and realization that his significant other is indeed his significant other. The music was provided by Kenji Miyashita（宮下健治）.

It is a very relaxing enka that is listed as Ichijo's 7th single. Although his voice sounds nothing like the vocals of the legendary Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）, there is something about his bearing and hairstyle in the music video above that reminds me of good ol' Sabu-chan in his much younger days. Sure enough, taking a look at his profile on his website, Ichijo lists Kitajima and Ichiro Toba（鳥羽一郎）as the singers that he admires.

The singer was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1996 and one of the triggers for his entry into the professional world of enka was entering the championship finals on NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）amateur singing contest in 2015. In March 2018, he made his debut with his single "Futari no Shihatsu Eki"（ふたりの始発駅...The Starting Station for the Two of Us）.

Ruiko Kurahashi -- Kiseki（軌跡）

 

I can always rely on singer Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）to provide something nice and soothing in the evening. As I've mentioned in its own special article, Kurahashi is one representative of that Japanese pop sub-genre that has been called Fashion Music or perhaps baroque pop in the West.

Found another example of this via Kurahashi's October 1984 album "RUIKO". The track here is "Kiseki" (One's Path) and it was written and composed by none other than Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. It is indeed very elegant but it doesn't sound like an Ohnuki song of that time period at all; it meshes perfectly with the type of music that Ruiko was singing all throughout the decade: soft, classy and rather melancholy. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）was responsible for the arrangement.

It's not all that easy to find a great variety of her songs online so when I do track down something like "Kiseki", it's always a joy to behold.

Devil Masami -- Star Jazz Waltz

 

A few years ago, I wrote about a popular women's wrestling tandem known as Beauty Pair（ビューティ・ペア）consisting of Jackie Sato（ジャッキー佐藤）and Maki Ueda（マキ上田）who also released some songs. Then afterwards, although I can't think of the name right now, there was also an aidoru who decided to change her career and go into the wrestling world as she still put out singles.

But way before this blog, and in fact, back in my university days in the 1980s, I'd bought a compilation tape from the Chinatown record store Wah Yueh which had a plethora of J-Pop tunes, and one of them was by a singer by the name of Devil Masami（デビル雅美）nee Masami Yoshida（吉田雅美）. With that name, I'd assumed that this was some sort of hard rock singer but instead her rendition of the song "J" was actually quite tenderhearted. Still I had assumed that singing was her main profession and it wouldn't be until many years later that I realized that Devil Masami was a professional wrestler who started out in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. The other interesting point was that the Fukuoka Prefecture-born wrestler had a pretty darn fine voice for singing and not just for "J", as I know now.

In fact, Devil Masami has a small discography of 5 singles (of which "J" was the final one) and 1 album titled "Rain of Tears" produced by Mark Goldenberg. Released in December 1985, one of the tracks is "Star Jazz Waltz" which is quite the polished and classy mellow tune, and again I'm impressed by her delicately husky and elegant vocals. In comparison with her nom de guerre, she certainly doesn't sound devilish here; quite the opposite, actually.

"Star Jazz Waltz" was written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Katsu Hoshi（星勝）, according to the JASRAC database, and though I'm not quite sure about the jazz part, it does have that waltz-like lilt in the arrangement. I'd even say that this could fit the Quiet Storm sub-genre. So, I'll have to see if I can track down "J" now.

Arisa Mizuki -- WILD-ERS -ワイルダーズ-

In Arisa Mizuki’s (観月ありさ) debut album, “ARISA” (December 1991), I think she went into a full cute aidoru look and sound, with singles like “Densetsu no Shoujo” (伝説の少女) and “Eden no Machi” (エデンの都市) giving a nice idea of what I’m saying here. As for “ARISA II SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME”, which was released in October 1992, the girl aimed for a more edgy output, with the hit “TOO SHY SHY BOY!” serving as a prime example of the new and fresh sound she was pursuing.

While half of “ARISA II SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME” was composed by Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉) when he was experimenting with house music, including a busy extended house remix of “TOO SHY SHY BOY!”, some of the other songs by different composers are also great, as they give the album some variety in sound, while also maintaining its overall dance and upbeat mood.

“WILD-ERS”, for example, was composed by Anri (杏里) and it really shows, since I can’t help but think of Miho Nakayama’s (中山美穂) marvelous “VIRGIN EYES” or even her own “BOOGIE WOOGIE MAINLAND” when it starts playing. The funky groove and horn arrangement are just irresistible, and I always find funny how the background vocalists sound like the ones in Mariah Carey’s “Emotions”. In the end, Komuro’s sound may be a good treat for any pop lover, but Anri’s “WILD-ERS” offers a breath of fresh air in the middle of his house party.

“ARISA II SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME” reached #6 on the Oricon charts. Lyrics for “WILD-ERS” were written by Yumi Yoshimoto (吉元由美), while music was composed by Anri. As for the arrangement, Yasuharu Ogura (小倉泰治) was the responsible.

ARISA II SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME