The Hanshin Tigers had their victory parade after winning the Japan Series several days ago. Good on them and I'm sure that Osakans were even more boisterous than usual.
Maintaining the baseball theme, I've seen singer-songwriter Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）sporting garb including a yukata and even an animal tail, but this is the first time that I have ever seen her in a baseball uniform for her 2nd single "Ike Yanagida" (Go Yanagida!). Released in 1977, her lyrics tell her story of admiring Masahiro "Viper" Yanagida（柳田真宏）who at the time was an outfielder for Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants (1969-1979). At one point, the Viper was even known as the best No. 5 hitter in history (well, as far as Japanese baseball was concerned).
The uploader for the YouTube video mentioned that "Ike Yanagida" is one of Yano's famous songs from her early years, and I think it's perhaps telling of what her music would sound like going forward. We get to hear some of Yano's famous and funky vocal gymnastics as she sings the praises of Yanagida. I'm not sure if she had intended to make "Ike Yanagida" a technopop tune but with that certain keyboard in there, maybe the song can be considered to be a prelude to some of the synthy songs that she would produce a few years later. However it's treated, that keyboard riff in the beginning has managed to infuse itself into my head and I've ended up whistling it in the past 24 hours.
It's in Japanese, but below is a video describing the great Yanagida whose playing career lasted around 15 seasons between 1967 and 1982.
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