On a recent episode of the information variety show "Don't Sleep Through Life" with the CG Chiko-chan（チコチャン）on NHK, there was a segment which involved the city of Toyota in Aichi Prefecture. During their annual summertime O-Bon festival, the locals have been dancing to the go-touchi song "Kyoto no Onna no Ko" (Kyoto Girl) for decades although Kyoto is obviously located outside of Aichi Prefecture. As for the reason, one resident simply replied that it just sounded good to dance to. End of story.
"Kyoto no Onna no Ko" was recorded by veteran singer-actress Naoko Ken（研ナオコ）as her 4th single in July 1972, and it's been seen as a nostalgic throwback to the Group Sounds days of the late 1960s. Indeed, the intro especially reminded me of Pinky and Killers' "Koi no Kisetsu" (恋の季節）of 1968. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Koichi Morita（森田公一）, it's a 60s jangly cool tune about falling for that cool beauty of Kyoto. The interesting thing is that I've heard of the reputation (true or not) of Kyoto women being outwardly polite and hospitable but concealing some haughtiness and a razor-sharp tongue as a verbal shiv.
The single reached No. 52 on Oricon. As far as I know, those Toyotans will continue to be dancing to Ken-san later on this summer.
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