Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Midnight Downtown

 

Despite the romantic tang that midnight downtown in Tokyo might produce in folks, I usually noted the time differently. Mostly, like a lot of other commuters, I was panicking and racing for the last train home to Chiba Prefecture and other areas beyond the 23 wards. If I didn't catch the last train, then it would be a far more pricey taxi ride to the suburbs.

However in the wonderful world of Japanese City Pop, midnight downtown must be a wondrous intersection of time and space whether it be in a sports car rumbling down the Bayside Highway at 12 am or strolling with that significant other on an empty and yet very safe sidewalk. But in Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe's（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）"Midnight Downtown" from their debut album "Aqua City" (September 1983), it's more wistful as a fellow in that existential intersection on his walk alone reminisces about a past paramour.

But "Midnight Downtown" is far from a love-done-me-wrong song. On the contrary, the music and arrangement by Omega Tribe regular, Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, is as lively as anything heard in the prime time hours. In addition, Yasushi Akimoto's（秋元康）lyrics in the second half of the song describe getting back on that saddle again and enjoying life in the late night and early morning hours once more. The overall effect is as similar as understanding and embracing the expression "There are other fish in the sea".🐟

Another track from the album is "Transit in Summer" created by Hayashi and Akimoto once more. "Aqua City" got up to No. 4 on the Oricon weeklies. One query about "Midnight Downtown" is the mention of a place called Cha Cha House. Was that ever a real place in Tokyo and if it was, where was it located?