Sakura Fujiwara -- Watashi no Life（わたしのLife）

 

Happy Monday! Plus, of course, for all American readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I'm hoping that you are all enjoying your Fourth of July holiday.

While I was writing up the final article last night which involved Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）collaboration with music legend Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, I saw to the right of my YouTube page, a video containing a couple of radio broadcasts on InterFM, a station based in the Tokyo area that I remember getting its big premiere in 1996. I would have loved to have listened to the English-and-Japanese-language station since it was and still is dedicated to showcasing most of its service to music from around the world with some Japanese pop music; unfortunately for whatever bizarre reason, my neighbourhood in Ichikawa was absolutely horrible to pick up any radio reception. Otherwise, my Onkyo setup was perfectly fine. Maybe my interest in radio that had once thrived in the 1980s could have been extended some more if I was able to pick it up in my apartment. Certainly, having listened to shows like these two programs on the video above would have made things very enticing.

The two shows on InterFM here are Sakura Fujiwara's（藤原さくら）"Here Comes The Moon" and Harry Hosono's "Daisy Holiday", both featuring music and talk. They are also "neighbours" on the InterFM schedule with Fujiwara's "Here Comes The Moon" broadcasting on Sundays at midnight for an hour followed by Hosono's show coming on at 1 am for 30 minutes. It just so happens that the two of them decided to guest on each other's programs on April 17th 2022. My impression is that both programs are very attractively chill and velvety-voiced, nice for midnight shows.

Now, Fujiwara isn't just only a radio DJ. She's also a singer-songwriter (she can also play the guitar and ukulele) and an actress with her music career beginning in 2013, and her first single coming out in 2016. According to her J-Wiki file, the Fukuoka-born artist covers a whole range of genres in her music: country, blues, folk, jazz, City Pop, indies, funk, hip-hop and just straight-ahead pop.

Her most recent digital download was released earlier in March. "Watashi no Life" (My Life) is that soft, unassuming but cheerful pop song that I appreciate on Monday mornings, and the video of Fujiwara taking care of things on her apartment balcony is the right setting. I kinda like to know where that apartment is located; the old but renovated buildings are always quite nice.

To finish off, I also liked that opening song for Fujiwara's "Here Comes The Moon", so J-Wiki was nice enough to give a list of the songs used during her broadcast. It just so happens that the opening theme is "Summer" by English musician and producer Tom Misch. The track can be found on his 2014 release "Beat Tape 1". Time to make those Brown Cows!