Akari Machi -- Ramen wa Keihanzai（ラーメンは軽犯罪）

 

The above is a steaming bowl of Spicy Miso ramen at Santouka that I had when a few friends got together back in April. It was good but perhaps a bit too spicy even for me. Fortunately, there was a gelato parlour across the street so that I could calm my gastrointestinal tract.

Well, that photo above should tip off the veteran viewers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that I managed to find yet another ramen-themed song. Tokyo-born singer-songwriter and tarento Akari Machi（町あかり）is someone that I mentioned several months ago when she helped out the techno band Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）for their "Denki Groove San-juu Shuunen no Uta"（電気グルーヴ30周年の唄）back in 2019.

Machi is a pop singer who also likes the old kayo style, and for this song of hers, "Ramen wa Keihanzai" (Ramen is a Misdemeanor), she's plugging into a bit of that old bright disco-pop...and some rap at that. Written and composed by Machi, it's about savoring that bowl of ramen or some of the instant stuff quietly without tipping off the significant other. However, the music video for the song has the now boyfriend-less lass in somewhat more uncertain times with the gas company clamoring at Machi to pay her monthly bill and turning the utility off. 

But it's all good...she still has the portable gas burner and a saucepan (which looks exactly like the one that I had in Ichikawa) to get her favourite dish ready. Still, that apartment she occupies doesn't look like she's in dire straits so I hope that she will pay Tokyo Gas posthaste. "Ramen wa Keihanzai" is on her most recent studio album released in June 2022, "Soutenzenshiki Tsuukai Ongaku"（総天然色痛快音楽...Technicolour Thrilling Music）. Why not give the karaoke track below a try?

Machi began her career in 2010 and has had many releases including 8 original albums. According to her website, she's been influenced by Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）, Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, and songwriter Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）.