Iyo Matsumoto -- Otona ja nai no（オトナじゃないの）

 

I first heard the news on Twitter yesterday morning and then it was confirmed through a November 26th "Nikkan Sports"（日刊スポーツ）article via her J-Wiki profile, but 80s aidoru and current tarento Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）suffered an injury to her back while appearing on the TBS variety game show "Ohkami Shonen"（オオカミ少年...Wolf Boy/Lie or Truth） on the 24th. At the one-minute mark in the above video, the show displays the series of hatches which opens over piles of sponges below for which I'm assuming wrong answers will earn celebrities a quick trip down. 

Unfortunately, something apparently didn't work but when Matsumoto fell through the hatch, she ended up seriously injuring her lower back requiring at least three months of treatment. In that J-Wiki article, it is also stated that in 2021, she had suffered the same injury while doing exercise, so what happened a few days ago may have been a complication on that issue. Regardless, I'm hoping that Matsumoto is resting as comfortably as she can and that she will make a swift recovery. The incident has reminded me of an injury that another former aidoru, Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）, had suffered earlier this summer.

Since I am writing about Iyo-chan, why not go into one of her early singles? In fact, let's go into her 4th single from August 1982, "Otona ja nai no" (I'm No Adult). With one of the more raucous intros to an aidoru tune that I've ever heard, the song almost seems perfect as an anime theme as a so-called teenage witch tries to bewitch a high school boy. It could almost be the Japanese version of "Bewitched" for the youth set.

I had initially thought that "Otona ja nai no" was going to be a techno-aidoru tune because of that intro, but it quickly became that usual sprightly early 80s teenybopper song with those shimmering strings and horns. And of course, Iyo-chan's vocals are instantly recognizable. Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）was responsible for the melody, while Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）took care of the lyrics and Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）was behind the overall arrangement. 

"Otona ja nai no" took in quite a few awards along with that No. 16 peak ranking on Oricon (ended up as the No. 85 single for 1982). It took the silver award at the 12th annual Ginza Music Festival, a silver award at the 9th annual ABC Kayo Shinjin Grand Prix（第9回ABC歌謡新人グランプリ...ABC Kayo Rookie Grand Prix）, yet another silver award at the 15th annual Shinjuku Music Festival, and Best New Artist honours at the 8th annual Zen Nihon Kayo Ongaku Sai（全日本歌謡音楽祭...All Japan Kayo Music Festival）.

Ah, this was Article No. 9200!