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.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Kyoko Koizumi -- Yasashii Ame(優しい雨)

 

It's been a few years since I've put up a Kyoko Koizumi(小泉今日子)song article. Not sure what the former 80s aidoru has been up to since her role in NHK's "Ama-chan"(あまちゃん )a decade ago.

But I did have my memory jogged when I heard this 34th single of hers from February 1993 once more. "Yasashii Ame" (A Gentle Rain) is a ballad that I remember hearing from time to time although I was still living here in Toronto at the time between Japan stints. I guess that I could have first heard it on rental videos of music shows or perhaps through the TBS J-Drama that it was linked as the theme, "Ai Suru to Iu Koto"(愛するということ...What It Means to Love)

The song penned by lyricist Kyon-Kyon herself and composer Shoko Suzuki(鈴木祥子)has that feel of a contemporary pop tune. Its languid pace belies the story of a woman's growing love for someone in the hopes that her potential partner feels it too. There's something about the arrangement by Ryomei Shirai(白井良明)from the Moonriders that kinda reflects the pop/rock music that was coming out in Japan in those 1990s. "Yasashii Ame" managed to hit No. 2 on Oricon and later became the 18th-ranked single of the year. It was also placed as a track on Koizumi's BEST compilation "anytime" from December 1994 which peaked at No. 12, going Double Platinum.

A lot of commercials in the above but at 5:02, there is a playful little promotion for "Ai Suru to Iu Koto" before the more dramatic teaser for the show.

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