Akiko Ikuina -- Mugiwara de Dance（麦わらでダンス）

 

The House of Councillors elections were held a few weeks ago, and of course with those, there tends to be a number of celebrities who get bitten by the politics bug and run for office before getting voted into the Upper House. Among those famous people are former singers such as Eriko Imai（今井絵里子）of the dynamic girl group SPEED and 80s aidoru/actress Junko Mihara（三原じゅん子）. 

Possibly for the first time, the most recent set of elections has welcomed a former Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）member, aidoru Akiko Ikuina（生稲晃子）. Her real name is listed in J-Wiki as Akiko Sayama（佐山晃子）but I gather that it's never too bad to use the star name while in the Diet. On Monday, I was watching NHK News when I saw the lady give a few statements to the media in Nagatacho and when I saw the name on the screen, I first thought "Oh wow! Is that really her?" and sure enough, her article confirmed that she was one of the newbie Councillors for this session of Parliament.

So, in tribute to Ikuina's new role as a Japanese parliamentarian, it's time to add to her file on KKP with her solo debut single "Mugiwara de Dance" (Dance in the Straw) which was released in May 1988. It's a fairly fleet-footed tune created by lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer/arranger Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, and if I've gone through the lyrics correctly, I think that it involves a pretty demanding young lady who wants the world from her paramour.

The song was used as the third opening theme for the 1987-1988 anime adaptation of the comedy manga "Tsuide ni Tonchinkan"（ついでにとんちんかん...Anyway It Doesn't Matter） whose synopsis on "My Anime List" reads as "A gang decides to play at burglary without the knowledge of their schoolmates, each masquerading at different times as the master thief Tonchinkan." Ikuina's debut did very respectably by hitting No. 8 on Oricon.

All the best to Councillor Ikuina of the Liberal Democratic Party.