I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
This will be my final entry for this month; just wanted to bump up the monthly number. I'm still feeling rather ambitious about beating the yearly total we had last year.
It's rather intriguing about the thumbnail for the video above since this had been uploaded back in 2020, and yep, it's by the official Especia channel. That looks like an ideal poster for last year's sci-fi/horror flick "NOPE".
Anyways, I wanted to feature "Danger", Especia's final single from December 2016. Words (all in English) and music were supplied by LUCKY TAPES' Kai Takahashi（高橋海）, and though both aidoru group Especia and LUCKY TAPES have dabbled into the Neo-City Pop, "Danger" is more of a straight bass-driven funk disco number as one of the members sings about salvaging a relationship in a chaotic time although the currently lost lover may be the danger.
Y'know...I may have to consider doing an Author's Pick on the Burt Bacharach-influenced Japanese pop songs that I have encountered over the years. The famed composer and producer passed away only a few months ago but I guarantee that the songs that he created during the 1960s and beyond have already immortalized him. However, there may be other nations' pop output which may have indeed followed the master's carefree and swinging style. I know that Japan is one of them.
Case in point: Yumi Tanimura's（谷村有美）"Rush Hour no Adam & Eve" (Rush Hour Adam & Eve) from her May 1990 4th album"Prism". A story of a couple who hadn't officially been a couple until a fateful night before, this was written by Tanimura and composed by Tatsuya Nishiwaki（西脇辰弥）. The Bacharach arrangement is very loud, clear and fresh. I can almost say that Tanimura and Nishiwaki had wanted to create a mini-1960s rom-com movie with this arrangement and the story about how the aforementioned couple has handled the sudden coupling as the guy heads back to work on the train somewhat in shock.
Speaking of rush hours, now that Golden Week is just about back to normal, folks traveling may be expecting those 50 km-long traffic jams on the expressways and 120% capacity Bullet Trains. Ironically, the regular rush hours in the metropoles will be a lot less stressful for those who are still working this week.
Yuko Tomita（とみたゆう子）is someone that had her singing career mostly in the 1980s going into the early 1990s. Her material wavered among the pop, City Pop and technopop spheres of influence so generally I thought of her as hovering over and around the urban contemporary.
However as an 18-year-old, her singing career began with the December 1979 single "Midori no Kazoku no Go-Shoutai"(Invitation from the Green Family). Judging from that cover of the young Tomita sitting in some outdoor café with a drink and what I feel is an adorably 1970s kayoarrangement, though, I thought that the lass had been training to become an aidoru. Another revelation is that the words and music about a really friendly family of plants were provided by folk singer Iruka（イルカ）for which I went "Ah, naruhodo..." because I remember a similarly whimsical song which had been created and performed by the singer-songwriter, "Sarada no Kuni kara Kita Musume"（サラダの国から来た娘）the previous year.
Last November, I wrote about singer-songwriter Vaundy for the first time via his "Tokyo Flash"（東京フラッシュ）, his debut single from November 2019.
However, the first Vaundy song that I had laid eyes (and ears) upon was through the music video for his "Odoriko"(Dancer), his November 2021 digital single. Now, as an aside, I have to say that I had some confusion making identifications here along the same lines as I did when I first heard Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）via her 1979 hit "September". Because of all those high-toned vocals from aidoru before then, I'd gotten accustomed to the idea that all young Japanese female singers only sang as sopranos, so hearing Mariya for the first time with those lower and mellower vocal cords, I had initially thought that she was actually Mario Takeuchi.
Well, oh, goofy me! When I saw the music video for "Odoriko", I had never seen Vaundy before so I naturally assumed that it was the young lady prancing about in the video who was the mystery singer-songwriter. Y'know...vocals can take on all sorts of shapes and timbre. As it turns out, the lady in the video is actress and model Nana Komatsu（小松菜奈）; Vaundy himself kept out of the eye of the camera.
Words and lyrics were by Vaundy and the tale seems to be about a re-encounter of a duo after what is perhaps an initial meeting that didn't go too well. However, at least one of the potential couple is willing to give things another go. The music strikes me as being gleefully sneaky and surreptitious as if the couple were willing to trip the light fantastic without their parents' approval although that tasty booming bass in the beginning may threaten to wake everyone up.
Ooh...classy, very classy. But to me, that was how 70s aidoru-turned-80s chanteuse Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）appeared to me.
That was certainly the case with her "Saisho no Koibito-tachi"(The First Lovers), a track on her April 1987 18th album"Yokubari"（よくばり...Avarice）. Written by Arisu Sato（佐藤ありす）and composed by Keiichi Oku（奥恵一）, the song also served as Iwasaki's 42nd single released on the same day as the album. There are some flutterings of refined languid sophisticated pop but they all surround the main rhythm of a tango as the singer relates the story of a couple going through the motions and emotions of a relationship as if they were the very first pair to go through this. I gather that the circumstances were very raw and new.
"Saisho no Koibito-tachi" managed to get as high as No. 84 on Oricon.
Characters of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" have finally been happily and safely retired and that includes Data the android who has finally reached his desired goal of being fully human. We Trekkies can return to those old scenes of TNG and look fondly on Data when he was still grasping on what it meant to be human and causing unwitting embarrassment and humour. The character, just like Mr. Spock and Constable Odo, was just one of many of the "alien" crew members on the various shows in the "Star Trek" franchise to point out the strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of humanity from the outside.
I never saw the drama myself but I think the premise that I described above for "Star Trek" was what has been imbued into the 2003 manga and then its 2008 live-action adaptation "Zettai Kareshi"（絶対彼氏。...Absolute Boyfriend）, starring Mocomichi Hayami（速水もこみち）as the titular robot created to be the ideal beau for anyone.
Strange thing is that I've known Hayami more as a handsome fellow with mad cooking skills on his own NTV show, "MOCO's Kitchen", whipping up all sorts of wonderful goodies.
Anyways, getting back to the drama, singer-songwriter Ayaka（絢香）was the one who performed the theme song for "Zettai Kareshi". "Okaeri"(Welcome Home) had struck me even before I knew about its status as a drama theme tune as something that was probably used in that fashion. It just sounds so wistful and uplifting. Ayaka was responsible for words and music with Yoshihiko Nishio（西尾芳彦）also helping out on the composition. Released as her 8th single in May 2008, "Okaeri" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon. It was also a track on her 2nd album"Sing to the Sky" which came out a month later.
I'm starting the KKP articles for the final day of April 2023 from a different angle due to a significant event in our city last night. I've often spoken about my hometown of Toronto in the blogand a lot of it admittedly has been about the weather because I believe that the largest city in Canada has had some very wacky meteorological phenomena to make weathercasters around the world swoon. However, sports is not a big thing with me usually and in this city, hockey is all. It's kinda like the love that Osakans have for their baseball Hanshin Tigers. No matter how often the Tigers lose, the folks there will always have their backs. And for the fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's been a long winter of discontent with many years of not making the playoffs and then after finally getting some elite talent on the team several years ago, they inconceivably couldn't get past the first round of the playoffs. Decades ago, when the hockey team was in another losing funk, there was the expression "Toronto is the only place on Earth where the Leafs fall in spring". Ouch!
Well, some of the monkey finally came off all of our backs last night. For the time since the spring of 2004, the Leafs finally won a playoff round in dramatic fashion. They won it in a low-scoring affair in overtime. There was supposed to have been a planned power outage in a huge area of the province of Ontario last night but the electric company promised that if there were overtime, it would hold off on the outage. I'm sure that it kept the promise. It's the Leafs, after all.
Players, coaches, and fans went berserk. It felt as if the Leafs won the Stanley Cup championship instead of just a mere opening round. But then again, a man who had been dying of thirst getting those precious gulps of water would taste them as some of the sweetest wine ever produced. For the journalistic angle in the past several hours, the reporters have been openly wondering what was happening out in the world when the Leafs had won their previous playoff round nineteen years ago.
Facebook was launched in February.
"Kill Bill, Vol. 2" was No. 1 at the box office during the week of April 18th 2004. And as for the Japanese music scene, I have a few things to add.
Hinano Kamimura（上村ひなの）of Hinatazaka 46（日向坂46）was born on April 12th that year.
The aidoru group Berryz Kobo（Berryz工房）would make its debut in January 2004 although the above is one of their later singles, "cha cha SING".
J-Pop crooner Ken Hirai（平井堅）released his April 28th 2004 single"Hitomi wo Tojite"（瞳をとじて）which would eventually become the No. 1 single of the year.
In any case, many congratulations to the team and their fans. I can only hope that I will be inspired to write about what happened in the spring of 1967 in several weeks' time since it was 56 years ago that the Leafs had last won the Stanley Cup. Maybe I had learned how to walk by then.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find much information on anything regarding musician Rei Sakuma except that she's not to be mistaken for the voice actress who was born in 1965. Unless that cover above for her first album"Pure Magic" (2022) is using a model, I think this Sakuma is a whole lot younger.
She does have a Twitter account and apparently she's a fan of Yellow Magic Orchestra. In fact, the song that I have by her today is "The Broken Drum" from "Pure Magic", and it sounds like something that YMO, and perhaps specifically the late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, could have concocted back in the early 1980s. It does sound like analog synths are in play along with the good old-fashioned vocoder.
If anyone can provide any further information on Ms. Sakuma, that would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I figured that if I could come up with a Yonin Musume（四人娘）of my days on the JET Programme in Gunma Prefecture between 1989 and 1991, I should have my own Goyonke（御四家...The Big Four） during that time as well, as opposed to the traditional Gosanke（御三家）; permit me my whimsical side. Of course, I'm referring to the quartet of male performers that garnered the attention of my ears and memories from that time.
Here is another song of the city that sings of the hustle and bustle there when "...the twilight is drenched by the wind" (from the lyrics). The setting of a secret crush on a woman whose footsteps send a man's heart a-flutter is quintessentially Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）the Romanticist, so his own handling of the guitar solo has that excitement imbued into the musical notes to send them flying into the crimson sky. After "Ashioto", when you listen to his "Mokusou"（黙想）and "Christmas Eve" in succession, that feeling will further increase.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
I actually found out about this song from the "Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100" section of the 2020 edition of "Japanese City Pop" as curated by Yutaka Kimura, so this will be getting handled for next Friday's Yutaka Kimura Speaks session.
"Anata kara Tooku e"(From You to Beyond) apparently was selected to also go into Sony Music's own City Pop compilation, but I think that there's more going melodically here than just some 1990s City Pop. As sung by tarento and former 1980s aidoruMarina Watanabe（渡辺満里奈）for a track on her 9th original album"Ring-a-Bell" from March 1996, I can hear the mellow bossa nova in there but there's some pretty old-style sophisticated pop as well thanks to Akira Inoue's（井上鑑）strings arrangement, so I'm starting to think Shibuya-kei, too, especially with some of the keyboard work. There's also a fellow by the name of Tarao Bannai（多羅尾伴内）who was in on the overall arrangement and, for that matter, the production of the album itself. It turns out that it's Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）.
Watanabe's song was actually a cover of the original as written, composed and performed by folk singer Sachiko Kanenobu（金延幸子）. I first wrote about her almost a couple of years ago when I covered her "Aoi Sakana"（青い魚）from her first album, "Misora"（み空...Beautiful Sky） released in September 1972. Arranged by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, the original version of "Anata kara Tooku e" which also resides on "Misora" has a folk/pop feeling which reminded me of the works of Carole King. The lyrics relate the tale of a woman who's struggling a bit as her significant other is no longer beside her in bed.
California singer-songwriter Cameron Lew who has led the Ginger Root project has not only been providing some new groovy songs of nostalgia over the past few years, he's also been producing the music videos stringing together a narrative of an 80s aidorunamed Kimiko who could no longer stand the rigors of stardom and putting up a false front. She literally runs away back to normalcy and anonymity while her songwriter Ginger Root himself is suddenly thrust into the limelight and revels in his new position in life and career.
"Nisemono"(Imposter) is the title track from his September 2022 EP. Waves of nostalgia crashed over my ears and eyes as I first heard the synths and percussion seemingly being filtered through a diaphanous but steady time field dividing the 2020s and the 1980s. The video this time has Kimiko wondering whether her sudden decision to leave show business had been a little hasty. Will there be a final confrontation between her and Ginger or will there be collaboration? Stay tuned.
I used to remember some of the girls in my junior high school coming to class wearing hot pants like the one that this young lady was wearing on the cover. Not that I stared...much.😎
Anyways, this song is coming down as one of the rarest of the rare. I couldn't find anything on Izumi Sara（沙羅いづみ）online outside of this one October 1980 single she released called "Spacy Love"（スペーシィ・ラブ）, but for today I am covering the B-side, "Heartbreak City". Virtually the only thing that has been written about her is that she was a B-class aidoru although considering her lower vocals and the nature of the song, you'll forgive me if I don't see her that way.
"Heartbreak City" is indeed a City Pop tune written by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）and composed by Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）. It's got that refined disco style with the strings and the boppy bass and once again after listening to this one a few times, I think Sara's vocals make me feel as if she were more of an urban siren rather than a cute aidoru.
I realize that it's just been a few short weeks since the last article regarding Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）but when the God of Love Songs beckons, I simply cannot refuse the call.
For one thing, his newest original album came out on April 12th. "SOUL NAVIGATION" boasts a goodly amount of collaboration with other artists resulting in songs such as this soul-funk track "Michishirube"(Guideposts). Martin may be 66 years old as of this writing but he's still swiveling like a pro in ways that would have had me reaching for my Salon-Pas within a few minutes. Written and composed by YOASOBI's Ayase (with a bit of Jamiroquai reminiscings), the music video reflects the lyrics of two kids growing up into adults with all of the trials and tribulations expected, and happily they both get together.
Suzuki had actually performed this on "Uta Con"（うたコン）a few weeks ago but when I initially searched for the song on YouTube, it hadn't arrived yet. Patience is indeed a virtue.
Also from "SOUL NAVIGATION" is a love letter to all of those "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai"（かぐや様は告らせたい...Kaguya-sama: Love is War） fans, especially where Martin has left his immortal mark via his opening themes for the first three seasons and a movie including "Love is Show". Sound producer CARTOON + YELLOCK has mashed together snippets of all of the themes to form a funk fest remix.
It's already Saturday April 29th in Japan so that means that the annual Golden Week holidays have begun there. Apparently all of the COVID measures have been lifted so the hordes of tourists will be engorging every source of transportation around the country. My friend will be headed to Japan himself but he's making sure that he will be avoiding Golden Week.
Anyways, let's begin Urban Contemporary Friday here on KKP with some 70s City Pop. Just by coincidence, it's almost been a year since I put up a song by Mari Kaneko & Bux Bunny（金子マリ & バックス・バニー）. The band has been categorized as a rock group and indeed Kaneko has been called the Janis Joplin of Shimo-Kitazawa (a cool bohemian neighbourhood in Tokyo), but I think that this particular song from their 1978 album"Shoot the moon" is something quite different altogether.
"Serenade" is a mostly laidback, sip-the-whiskey, sunset sort of City Pop tune of the 1970s with that characteristic haze effect on the synths, some bluesiness and comforting vocals by Kaneko. It was written by the late gospel singerYuka Kamebuchi（亀渕友香）with melody by keyboardist and sci-fi writer Hiroyuki Namba（難波弘之）, who had also been one of the other founding members for Bux Bunny. I would love to know who was on the trumpet.
When I saw jazz pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi's（秋吉敏子）name appear on NHK's 9 pm evening broadcast this morning, I assumed the worst considering the number of musicians that have passed away even in the first few months of 2023 and frankly the lady is 93 years old. However, I was happy to find out that the feature on Akiyoshi was a piece on her longevity and her jazz prowess. Whew!
However, I did have one beef about the five-minute piece on Akiyoshi. The pianist has been married to tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin since 1969 and together they formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band in 1973 covering Big Band and BeBop. Tabackin himself was shown wielding his instruments during some of the performance coverage on NHK. And yet, in their home, Tabackin was merely introduced via graphics as "Husband: Lew" and the short snippet of conversation merely had Tabackin answer his wife's query on what he was going to have for dinner (pork). Yeah, I know the focus was on Akiyoshi, but still...
One of the songs by Akiyoshi that was played during the report at a recent concert at Lincoln Center in New York City last month was "Kogun"(Forlorn Force) which apparently was based upon those Japanese soldiers who had been so deep in their lives in the jungle that they never found out about the end of World War II and just kept on maintaining their posts for decades. What the report didn't say was that "Kogun" had been the title track of the first album by Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band, released in August 1974.
Listening to "Kogun" (which lasts for a little over 8 minutes) a few times already, it seems to melodically describe the old forgotten soldier waking up to his usual day but then somehow getting discovered by society and thrown pell-mell into the world of the 1970s. To match the fear and bewilderment of the soldier, I would have thought the jazz to be have been more free and cacophonous but the tight swing in the arrangements had me thinking that he was probably OK surrounded by a group of supporters to help guide him back into civilization. In the last quarter of the song, I'm assuming that it's Tabackin on the flute illustrating the soldier's processing of what he's seen, heard, felt and smelled of late 20th-century society before there's a melding of the intro's traditional and the jazz.
Before "The Simpsons", there were "The Flintstones", that modern Stone Age family. It was a daily ritual for me and my brother as kids to watch the antics of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble as they got through the daily grind in Bedrock while sometimes taking on side gigs which would usually end badly in front of their long-suffering spouses, Wilma and Betty respectively. Fred and Barney's favourite pastime of bowling wasn't lost on me since my father was also a fan of hitting the pins.
I always got a kick out of the snarky comments out of the animals that were used as appliances. Hanna & Barbera wouldn't get anywhere near the toilet though.
Of course, the other running gag on "The Flintstones" was how they brought on the celebrities and named them in their own hilarious way. The first time that I got to actually see Ann-Margret was through her appearance on the show as Ann-Margrock. And there were Stony Curtis and Cary Granite. If I had got onto the program, maybe my name would have ended up as J-Canucklestone.
A good chunk of my childhood was spent watching "The Flintstones" and I had assumed that I pretty much knew everything there was to learn about this program. But I was wrong. It was only in the last decade that I discovered "The Flintstones" had been the first animated program to get a prime-time slot on ABC; that's quite something considering that I had only seen Fred and Barney as afternoon cartoon characters.
On top of that, I only found out in the last few months that there had been a very different opening and closing sequence and a different theme song for "The Flintstones" in the first two seasons of its 1960-1966 run. The theme song used for both the opening and the ending was "Rise and Shine", a jazzy and upbeat instrumental by Hoyt Curtin. It was actually a song that I had heard as background music in the episodes but I never knew that it was the first theme. I also have to give thanks to YouTube and the uploader Steven Brandt for showing me the opening and ending credits for the very first time in my life.
Ah, as of Season 3, this was the opening credit sequence that greeted me after getting home from school or finishing off lunch. It was the swing jazz orchestra by Curtin and the Randy Van Horne Singers behind one of Western animation's most famous theme songs "Meet the Flintstones" right when Fred happily screams "Yabba-dabba-doo!" when work is done and it's time to head home.
Although "Meet the Flintstones" wouldn't become the official theme until late 1962, Wikipedia has reported that its composition by Curtin along with Hanna & Barbera had taken place in 1961 so for this ROY, I'm gonna go with that latter year and find out what were the big hits in Japan during that time.
I believe that it's every singer's dream to come up with a distinct personality or style for oneself. Perhaps I'm watching one example of this right here. Over the past few years, I've noted the enka singer, young Naoki Sanada（真田ナオキ）, who's learned his craft under singer-songwriter Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）, carving out this niche of a stylish man-about-city with oodles of growly verve and passion. His song titles have involved the general imbibing of mass quantities along with certain metropolitan areas.
Well, his latest single which came out on April 19th is "Yoe Nee yo!"(Ain't Getting Drunk!). Once again, his mentor Yoshi was behind words and music and if I've got my understanding in check, it's about a guy trying to get through a rough patch while ensconced in his bottle with the love of a good woman, although it's up in the air whether he'll succeed. Yelling out the title in his vocals, he only promises that he won't get drunk today.
Sanada seems like a chip off the old block with that low and raspy delivery and emotional rough-hewn oomph that Yoshi has used in his own songs like his trademark "Yukiguni"（雪国）. Melodically, I've categorized the other songs by Sanada as either Mood Kayo or enka, but "Yoe Nee yo!" is especially difficult because it has elements of different genres: the garrulous brio of enka and maybe even rock but with those punchy horns which takes things into a more soulful direction. Could this be what Neo-Mood Kayo sounds like or is it more along the lines of the New Adult Music blend of enka and rock that I mentioned in Sanada's "Yoi no Blues"（酔いのブルース）?
Whatever the case may be, I think Sanada's persona in his videos is the type of guy you'd want to take you on a barhopping tour in Tokyo...provided that he picks up the tab.🍷
I didn't know anything about the Tokyo-born Maya Okamoto（岡本麻弥）at first, but I did learn that her first role as an anime seiyuu was as Emma Sheen in "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam"（機動戦士Ζガンダム）and also a role in "Megazone 23" in 1985. Since then, she's been working up to the present day in various shows such as "Sakura Taisen"（サクラ大戦）and even one of the "PreCure" shows.
Okamoto has also been an actress and a singer. Her discography is far smaller but she did put out a couple of full albums and a couple of mini-albums. One of the latter is "enfant" in November 1993 and I have here the track "l'oiseau bleu". It's a nice mix of contemporary pop and some twangy 1950s pop that was written by Okamoto herself and composed by Katsuhiko Kamioka（上綱克彦）.
The above photo is of a Double Chocolate cake that I purchased for the family at a nearby bakery. Indeed, it did live up to its name. Perhaps it was just a tad too rich for some of my clan because since then, I've been getting the just-as-popular Carrot Cake there. However, I will always have a sweet tooth for chocolate.
Speaking of chocolate, I did find this song "Milk Choco" (Milk Chocolate) by the pop-rock band yonawo. In fact, this was the November 2019 debut single for the group which hails from Fukuoka Prefecture. There is that initial indies rock buzz in vocalist/songwriter Shota Aratani's（荒谷翔大）delivery but the song takes on a most congenial and spacy jazzy feel to accompany the lyrics of a modern-day Alice falling into a Wonderland after nibbling a bit on that titular milk chocolate. In a way, there is a similar feeling to some of Ego-Wrappin's more esoteric creations although the band has been put alongside groups such as Suchmos and Yogee New Waves.
yonawo consists of Aratani, guitarist Yuya Saito（斉藤雄哉）, bassist Satoshi Tanaka（田中慧）and drummer Takafumi Nomoto（野元喬文）. Aratani and Saito both were in their junior high school soccer club and one day, Saito popped over to Aratani's house and ended up getting into his world of music with Saito learning how to play the guitar from his buddy. Aratani's parents were both musicians and Aratani himself could also handle the piano and has been a Beatles fan since elementary school. Although the two of them ended up in different high schools, Saito became friends with Tanaka and Nomoto and later introduced them to Aratani.
Soon after graduating high school in 2016, Aratani headed off to Vancouver on a working-holiday visa but still remain connected through SNS communications, and soon after he had come back to Japan, the four decided to start up yonawo in 2017. As for the band's name, a mutual friend for all of them, Yonao（ヨナオ）, told them about legendary band Happy End's"Kaze wo Atsumete"（風をあつめて）. Aratani, who had been writing lyrics in English up until then, listened to the song and concluded that Japanese lyrics weren't bad either. I would gather that in tribute to their good buddy, the band adopted his name.
It’s Oliver Ebisuno, coming back to Kayo Kyoku Plus after a long break. For some time now, in spite of work and personal stuff, I wanted to make an update on the blog, but always felt either unmotivated or drained from strength when sitting in front of an open draft editor. I think the time is right for a special post; to be specific, an Author’s Pick text. Shamelessly, I admit that J-Canuck’s Driving to City Poptwo-parter provided me with much needed dosage of inspiration.
Evidently, I do not live in Japan and there are no prospects of me visiting the country in the nearest future, but I thought it would be fun to mix my love for Japanese music with my personal experience, that is, commuting to work.
The city I live in is such a hole in the middle of nowhere (and forgotten by the Almighty) that basically right after finishing high school I had to get used to commuting. I had to undergo a one-hour trip by bus while studying for 5 years, the same applied to PhD studies, and my first employment. Last year, I switched jobs and now I also commute by bus, but this time to a different city, which is located roughly an hour away from my place of residence.
Being on the bus for two hours per day (please bear in mind that this is a “there and back again” route) gives me a lot of time to do various sorts of stuff like reading, browning the web, but also listening. For years, I was never that keen on the idea of listening to music outside of the comfort zone of my home, but I warmed up to the idea after the pandemic.
Now, en route to work (and most importantly coming back from it) I can’t help but listen to Tomoko Aran. Her albums Fuyuu Kuukan and Last Good-bye really calm me down and put me in a positive mood, especially in the morning. The same also goes for Toshiki Kadomatsu’s After 5 Clash and Hitomitoi’s City Dive albums.
When I am in a more adventurous mood, then I reach for music that is more charged with Synth-Pop or Rock. In such instances, Yoko Oginome’s Route 246 Connexion and Chisato Moritaka’s Mi-ha prove to be invaluable. Very rarely, when I feel deeply melancholic, I decide to desperately turn to Wink’s Best of selection or Naomi Akimoto’s Poison 21. Please refer to the selection of my favourite songs from the aforementioned albums here:
That’s it for the moment, I sincerely hope that you enjoyed my list of suggestions. I should also add that apart from the aforemtioned songs/albums, I also tend to listen to either Pet Shop Boys or Animotion while commuting. Thank you for reading.
Image sources: The feature photograph at the top of the post was taken by me on a bus to work on wintery night at 5 AM. I usually sit at the back, so it was easier for me to make sure that the faces of other commuters won’t get caught by the phone camera. The image of Akina Nakamori next to Mercedes was found on Pinterest. All the hyperlinks lead to previous Kayo Kyoku Plus posts.
Well, I noticed on Twitter that Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）is celebrating a birthday right now in Japan so I would like to wish her all the best on the special day.
So, it may be a bit early for the City Pop this week but in tribute to Ohashi who's given so much to the umbrella genre, I would like to feature "Love Machine" which was officially recorded by Ohashi and her backing band Minoya Central Station（美乃家セントラル・ステイション）. This was actually the B-side to the singer's August 1978 hit single"Tasogare My Love" (たそがれマイ・ラブ）, a song that was more in line with straight pop or kayo kyoku.
"Love Machine", which has nothing to do with Hello Project's premier group Morning Musume's（モーニング娘。）really big hit "Love Machine"（LOVEマシーン）from 1999, is wonderful City Pop of the decade which was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）. Like a number of other urban contemporary tunes in Japan, this sounds as if it were meant for the car stereo as the vehicle smoothly makes its way through Tokyo on the various highways. In any case, once again, a Happy Birthday to Junko!🎂
The weather has become a bit more seasonal now. It's nothing like those prematurely summery days that we had a couple of weeks ago, but thankfully, we're no longer getting frozen into icy stalagmites on the pavement anymore. We're basically hovering at around 10-12 degrees as a high temperature these days.
I heard this song on Weathernews Japan's new music segment a few days ago, and even before seeing the singer's name and song title in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, I could identify Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）voice right then and there. The very calming and seasonal "Haru no Tegami"(Spring Letter) was a delight to listen to.
With a bit of country twang in there, "Haru no Tegami" was Ohnuki's 19th single from February 1993 which was written and composed by the singer and arranged by Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）. Reaching No. 40 on Oricon, "Haru no Tegami" was also a track on her 15th studio album"Shooting star in the blue sky" which came out later in September that year. The song was used as the theme for a 1993 TBS drama titled "Kasai no Hito"（家栽の人...Family Court Judge） based on the 1988-1996manga by Jinpachi Mouri（毛利甚八）and Osamu Uoto（魚戸おさむ）.
I was sorry to hear that singer-activist Harry Belafonte had passed away earlier today at the age of 96. His name and face were familiar to me when I was a child since I remember him appearing on a number of variety shows on American television. For that matter, he also used to show up on a number of those K-Tel record compilations.
The legendary Belafonte has had a long discography but of course, I will always know him for "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)". I didn't know the song's origins as a Jamaican folk song which possibly go all the way back to the beginnings of the 20th century with it being covered by various artists over the years. However, it will always be the Belafonte cover that I know best when it was released in 1956 (it premiered several years before my time so it's not a ROY article).
"Day-O" had already reached immortal status by the late 1980s but it incurred further pop culture legend status when it was used in "Beetlejuice" in 1988. The Halloween-themed classic was filled with hilarious scenes so it says something when much of the cast was induced to sing and dance to Belafonte's trademark song to become the standout scene of the movie. Catherine O'Hara can make everyone laugh (and has shown to be an adept dancer as well on "SCTV") but I was stunned to see famed television interviewer Dick Cavett in on the joke, too.
All the way back in the 1950s and 1960s, it was common for Japanese singers to cover the hits from the West, and so was the case with "Day-O". Known as "Banana Boat" in Japan, it was released in March 1957 as sung by 19-year-old Michiko Hamamura（浜村美智子）from Kagoshima Prefecture as her debut single. The Belafonte version had lyrics written by Lord Burgess and William Attaway, but the one for Hamamura who sang it in both Japanese and English had the Japanese portion provided by Seiichi Ida（井田誠一）. Although other versions of the song were released at around the same time, the Hamamura cover was the one that had the most success by selling around 300,000 copies; she would appear on the Kohaku Utagassen that year to perform it. She even became known as either "The Banana Boat Girl" or "The Calypso Girl" because of "Day-O", although in her J-Wiki file, she admitted at one point that she really wasn't into calypso but was more of a jazz fan.
Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）also contributed her vocals to the song at least once. My condolences to Belafonte's family, friends and fans.
Well, anime's Spring 2023 season has gotten underway, and of course, my anime buddy has kept me informed on what has caught his eyes and ears. One has been "Edomae Elf"（江戸前エルフ...Otaku Elf）, a slice-of-life about a teenage miko of a shrine in Tokyo who has to take care of the enshrined but still-living deity, Elda, a ne'er-do-well elf of over 600 years in age who has become somewhat of a lazy game-loving shut-in. The interesting thing about Elda is that she's played by veteran seiyuu Ami Koshimizu（小清水亜美）, the star from the wacky and violent "Kill La Kill"（キルラキル）, and she's someone that I've usually associated with tough-as-nails characters although I realize that a seiyuu has to be able to play all sorts of roles.
I guess that I've become a fan of these specific slice-of-life anime that deal with the residents of a shrine or temple in a friendly neighbourhood. While the main characters can bicker a whole lot, they're in the middle of a group of warm side characters. I've seen a few of these over the past decade that I've been back in the anime saddle including "Kamisama Hajimemashita"（神様はじめました）. For that particular show, the theme song which has the same title as the show was performed by Hanae（ハナエ）and it has that mix of traditional instruments playing a very pleasant but distinctly Asian rhythm although it is clearly not enka or minyo. In that article as well, I noted some similarities with Japanese-American band Hiroshima's "One Wish".
And that is also the case with "Edomae Elf". Its theme song is the catchy and skippy "Kien Romance"(Romance of Strange Coincidence) by Osaka pop/rock singer and YouTuber Akari Nanawo（ナナヲアカリ）who's been working since 2011. As much as the opening theme for "Kamisama Hajimemashita" fit that show, "Kien Romance" slots in nicely with "Edomae Elf" because of that combination of the traditional arrangements and the syncopated beats. Nanawo not only sings the song but also trips the light fantastic over the lyrics like a ballerina. Words and lyrics were provided by singer-songwriter Wanuka（和ぬか）.
I swear that the music video for "Kien Romance" should get its own anime series since it looks so distinct and good. If I'm not mistaken, the animator is known as Juu-hachi Bancha（十八番茶）, although their YouTube channel also has the names niyoru and mado listed in there.
Happy Monday to you all, especially since we're on the final Monday for April 2023. I thought that we can start this KKP week with something mellow once more. Bossa nova has always been one of my favourite genres anywhere around the planet, and so, I often think of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 and their classic "Mas que Nada" which I will really have to cover on a future Reminiscings of Youth. I actually have covered a Mendes song through ROY but it was one of his AOR hits, "Never Gonna Let You Go" from 1983 which still retains a lot of sentimental value to me.
I read that Mendes, who at one point was on the same level as the late legendary Pele in terms of world-class popularity among Brazilian celebrities, had changed the double digits for his band as the decades passed. Therefore in 1971, Brasil '66 changed to Brasil '77 with Mendes' promise that the music would come out with a bit more rock and a bit more Brazilian authenticity.
Bossa nova was and is a popular genre in Japan although I'm unsure whether Mendes and his band have that same sort of Big-in-Japan love that The Carpenters and The Ventures have enjoyed for years and years. Regardless, I was surprised to find out yesterday that Mendes & Brasil '77 had put out a Japan-only single in 1975 titled "Aisareta Ato de" (After Being Loved). Written by the late Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, it's certainly got the genre vibes in there including the flute and those delectable rhythms, but something inside me also believes that there is some of that kayo feeling as well.
If I'm not mistaken, the vocals are provided by Bonnie Bowden and maybe Mendes' wife Gracinha Leporace, but perhaps someone can confirm that one for me. They were both responsible for vocalizing Nakanishi's Japanese lyrics on the A-side and then the English version on the B-side under the title of "The Magic Wheels".
Glad to have found out about this single since there is nary any information about Brasil '77 on either Wikipedia or J-Wiki, let alone anything about this one-off single for Japan. It's finding this gem that has always made me grateful for the blog.
Back on my wistful and whimsical imaginary Gosanke（御三家）series where I come up with my own trio of singers depending on my own times and experiences. Last week, my musings took me to the harmony-laden vocal groups of my past. Today though will be more about four (!) individual female singers that I remember fondly while I was on the JET Programme between 1989 and 1991. Now of course, I knew more than four female singers but these are the ones that hit my psyche the best during my time in Gunma Prefecture.
Now, I was just going to go with Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）, Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）and Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）as would be the case for the typical trio of singers. But then, I recollect that I got to know Miki Imai（今井美樹）for the very first time while I was having tea in a stylish lodge-style café on the way home after a JET seminar, and I was absolutely smitten. So, you'll forgive me if I push the envelope a tad and extend beyond the usual Sannin Musume（三人娘）to Yonin Musume（四人娘）.
One of the first Japanese folk tales that I learned about was through a picture book which told the story of "Urashima Taro"（浦島太郎）, a stalwart young boy who saves a sea turtle and for his troubles, he is taken to the wondrous undersea Palace of the Dragon King or Ryuuguu-jo（竜宮城）. Well, he loses track of the time and he pays dearly for it at the end.
I'm assuming that is indeed the inspiration behind techno duo Testpattern's"Ryuuguu" which is actually written as "Ryugu". A grand, shiny and inviting number that has me thinking of the palace as depicted through the imaginations of Fumio Ichimura（市村文夫）and Masao Hiruma（比留間雅夫）as a gleaming futuristic undersea city of silicon with tons of advanced technology and activity bursting everywhere. The palace would impress Captain Nemo and the Nautilus, let alone a lone Japanese fisherman.
I've written about Testpattern via two of their songs: "Techno Age" and "Crescent Moon", both from their lone 1982 album"Après-Midi". This time though, "Ryuuguu" was a part of a compilation album of technopop tunes called "Yen Manifesto Vol. 1" which was released in September 1983 under the production of Yellow Magic Orchestra'sHaruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）. Testpattern shared track space with Koji Ueno （上野耕路）and the band Interiors.
April 26 2023: I was given the correction for the title earlier today from commenter Yurihan on the proper reading of the title. It is indeed "Fuyuko to Iu Onna" according to the romaji reading of the single cover as located on the Amazon site given to me in the comments below. However, I am leaving the text that I had originally typed in as is so that you can see why Yurihan made the comment without any confusion although the title on the byline has now been corrected.
Hmmm...usually it's been with the names of the singers or songwriters that I've sometimes run into reading problems. This time, though, it's the title although I think I may have a handle on it due to coming across similarly titled kayo over the years.
By the way, I am talking about a 1964 single by the late Frank Nagai（フランク永井）, "Fuyuko to Iu Hito"(A Woman Named Fuyuko). I tried searching for the proper reading of that original title as you can see above as usual but I couldn't find anything and the lyrics by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝雄）don't have the title in there. The title if read directly would come out as "Fuyuko to Iu Onna" but I know that enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）has had his "Hito" (which actually means "person" in English) series of songs based on a woman and a certain geographical area in Japan. For example, there is "Hakodate no Hito"（函館の女...Woman of Hakodate） and "Onomichi no Hito"（尾道の女...Woman of Onomichi）.
Although I hadn't been too sure about why the furigana would say "hito" over the kanji of "onna" when I wrote about Sabu-chan's "Hakodate no Hito", perhaps now I can give a theory. Maybe to refer to "onna" instead of "onna no hito" in the title is a little too rude and abrupt, but the full expression may just be a bit too long for titular purposes. And so, a compromise was made, but again, that's just my theory.
In any case, Nagai's "Fuyuko to Iu Hito" was created by kayo veterans, lyricist Saeki and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, in the form of a stringent tango. The cover has Nagai looking rather pensive over this drink and that's because he is worried and he cares greatly for Fuyuko, a woman that he's probably seen in the drinking joints doing her duties all the while she's hiding great pain inside. He would love to help her but circumstances may indeed be preventing him from doing so. Isn't that a typical kayo for you?
It's an occupational hazard but it's been the case with a lot of the singers and/or songwriters over the years on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but their files have been so long that I've forgotten at times whether I actually included a certain song of theirs or not. Well, that's the aging process for you.
Case in point: Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）. I know that I did put up his 1983 album"Melodies" all the way back up in 2017, but as usual, I didn't throw in the entire track list. So, what I hadn't realized was that I didn't include "Ashioto" (Footsteps) into that article or its own individual article as far as I know. Scrolling up and down the Tats file didn't show me anything of an "Ashioto" which is downright shocking since I've found it to be one of his most amiable tunes.
(fine cover version)
I found out from the translation that I did for one of his recent interviews that the singer-songwriter could have become an astronomer if the singing thing hadn't panned out (and aren't we glad that it did?). However, looking at his most congenial "Ashioto", I think Yamashita could have had a promising career as a scriptwriter for rom-coms. According to the description for "Melodies" up on J-Wiki, he admitted to having a soft spot for all of those shy guys in love with the supposedly unattainable lass with a heart of gold. Well, this was the love song he wrote in tribute to those fellows as he describes a florist quietly swooning over a female office worker who happens to pass by his shop every day after work. And all that is happening over a Chicago soul arrangement. Listeners can only hope that "Ashioto" is merely Episode 1 of a love story that will more or less end happily by the end of Episode 12.
