Modern Choki Chokies -- Uebe Yoshiko-san（上辺よし子さん）

I haven't heard Mari Hamada's（濱田マリ）singing voice in many years, and nope I'm not referring to the rock singer Mari Hamada who has a different set of kanji for her name（浜田麻里）. Actually, I'm talking about the current tarento and actress who used to be the vocalist for the eccentric band Modern Choki Chokies（モダンチョキチョキズ）way back when. Still, I used to remember her well for being the unseen narrator for the TV Asahi 5-minute series known as "Ashita Manana"（あしたまにあ〜な） which would show any upcoming movies, TV series, CDs and DVDs. Hamada has always been known for that perky voice of hers.

The last time that I wrote about Modern Choki Chokies, it was for their February 1994 single "THE Zetsubou Koushinkyoku"（THE絶望行進曲）, a grand swinging jazz kayo. It was also part of the band's 3rd album from June of that year, "Bessatsu Modachoki Rinji Zoukangou"（別冊モダチョキ臨時増刊号...Separate Modern Choki Chokies Extra Edition）.

Well, the 4th album was released even later in November. Titled "Kuma-chan"（くまちゃん...Bear-chan）, I did find one track titled "Uebe Yoshiko-san" (Ms. Yoshiko Uebe). A very different animal from "THE Zetsubou Koushinkyoku", "Uebe Yoshiko-san" is an urgently running technopop piece with a feeling of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）. Hamada herself was behind words and music and those distinctive vocals of high-pitch are instantly recognizable. Not quite sure what the song is on about even though I've seen the lyrics, and Ms. Uebe isn't even mentioned once. To be honest, I'm not even sure if the name has been transcribed correctly since the kanji for that last name can be read as either "Uebe" or "Uwabe". So, if anyone can help out, that would be greatly appreciated.