Sanae Jounouchi -- Kanazawa no Ame（金沢の雨）

 

The Japan FAQ

Can't say that I have ever been to Kanazawa City in Ishikawa Prefecture although I've heard all about it. My impression was that it was a resort city but perhaps I mistook it for Karuizawa（軽井沢）. However, Kanazawa is famous for having one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, Kenroku-en（兼六園）which was a place for which I once had a translation assignment years ago, and I've read on Wikipedia that it's famous for its traditional architecture.

Not sure what weather conditions are like in Kanazawa in the fall but Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）aidoru-turned-enka singer Sanae Jounouchi（城之内早苗）had her feelings about the city through her "Kanazawa no Ame" (Kanazawa Rain) which was released as a single in October 1987. Marcos V. was kind enough to first open the Jounouchi file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with her first single "Ajisaibashi" (あじさい橋) and then I followed up with her second single "Ryuuhyou no Tegami"（流氷の手紙）.

So I figured that it was natural to come up with her third single, "Kanazawa no Ame". Created by the same songwriters behind her debut single, lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer/arranger Akira Mitake（見岳章）, I have to echo in a way what my friend Marcos said about "Ajisaibashi" in that this particular outing by Jounouchi doesn't come across as the prototypical enka tune. For the lack of a better description, it sounds airy and perhaps even somewhat mystical thanks to how those traditional instruments are used. The story behind the song uses the oft-used trope of post-romantic breakup travel with the poor lass riding alone on that train which stops at Karuizawa Station but the way it sounds, it could have been made as a theme tune for "Kimetsu no Yaiba"（鬼滅の刃...Demon Slayer）. Personally speaking, it even feels like some of that languid Fashion Music even got into Mitake's arrangement.

I'm not sure how common it was for an aidoru to make that shift from teenybopper music to serious enka back in the 1980s, but I have to say that Jounouchi was off to a solid start. Nope, her voice obviously didn't have the gravitas of veteran enka singers, but her delivery of "Kanazawa no Ame" can make me forget that she was ever an aidoru.