Naoko Kawai -- Straw Touch no Koi（ストロー・タッチの恋）

 

The veteran sibling songwriter duo of Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお）as lyricist and composer respectively has given me the image of lush and introspective balladry for a lot of their songs. One prime example is Hiroko Yakushimaru's（薬師丸ひろ子）"Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu"（セーラー服と機関銃）from 1981. 

Of course, I'm sure that the Kisugis have brought somewhat more upbeat fare to other singers but it was still a bit surprising to hear something like "Straw Touch no Koi" (Straw Touch Love). This was aidoru Naoko Kawai's（河合奈保子）12th single from March 1983 and it is a song that is perfect for the ever-beaming teenybopper singer from Osaka. It is also a very light and airy tune about going on that promising beach date which has struck me as being a bit atypical for a Kisugi-penned tune. 

According to J-Wiki, this was the Kisugis' first time with Kawai in terms of writing a song for her. One question that I would ask the songwriters though would be about the title itself. Does the "straw touch" have anything to do with the straw hat that Naoko-chan is wearing in the performance above? Etsuko's lyrics did mention a hat blowing off toward their beach destination. There's nothing else indicating straw anything so I can only assume it was the hat. There is also that Japanese obsession about two people sharing one drink with two straws which would have their contemporaries hooting with glee at a possible new relationship in the school or at work, but there was no mention of taking it easy at a café in the song. Regardless, "Straw Touch no Koi" was another Top 10 hit for the singer by reaching No. 9 and ending up as the 90th-ranked single for 1983, selling around 142,000 copies. Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）took care of the arrangement.