Kirinji -- Saikai（再会）

 

If I've read the J-Wiki comment on Kirinji's（キリンジ）current status properly, it has been existing as a solo project with singer-songwriter Takaki Horigome（堀米孝樹）since 2021, although members from their full-fledged band days have come in to help from time to time.

A digital download single, the first of any single by Kirinji in about four years, was released in April 2021. Titled "Saikai" (Reunion), the Takaki Horigome-penned song is a pretty gentle mid-tempo piece which still retains some of that spaciness from recent works such as "Jikan ga nai"（時間がない）but also has that stylish AOR that has been with Kirinji since forever.

It can also become a bit of a time capsule since Horigome even refers to one ubiquitous pandemic countermeasure within the lyrics as former flames see each other at an intersection and decide to share a meal for the first time in a long while. There's no indication that they will ever go back to being a romantic couple again, but it looks like the much better status of friendship is looming over the horizon. 

I've been reading that inbound tourism is about to return to Japan in limited numbers as of next month. Maybe there is a chance that I could have my own reunions again with old friends there in the not-too-distant future but I can understand the nation's slowly, slowly approach. Let us all hope that we can make it back.