After what my anime buddy told me about heading to the Tohoku region of Japan, especially to the northern city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture, I've been getting a bit of interest in making my way up north. The train routes show that it's not all that difficult to get up there and when I heard about the famed apple pie in Hirosaki, I kinda felt that it may be my type of place. Now, just above this paragraph is a video of the grand Ōu Mountains in Iwate Prefecture, another part of Tohoku.
Speaking of that mountain chain, I'm drawn to enka singer Kouhei Fukuda's（福田こうへい）"Furusato Sanga" (The Mountains and Rivers of Home). The lyrics by Takashi Maki（万城たかし）speak of the Ōu Mountains in very glowing terms, something that is given more significance by Fukuda himself since he hails from Iwate Prefecture. The melody is provided by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, and it's a proud enka filled with brio and enhanced by horns and shakuhachi that would make Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）swell with pride.
"Furusato Sanga" was paired with "Ichiban Maguro no Uta"（一番マグロの謳）to become a single that was released on New Year's Day this year. It reached No. 5 on Oricon.
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