Hikashu -- Puyo Puyo（プヨプヨ）

 

Well, let's see...the last time I had my physical, it was the usual diagnosis: gotta lose weight, no high blood pressure but not too far away from becoming a Type 2 diabetic, and I ought to consider laying off the red meat. Uhhh...I'll get back to you on that.😞

The gentlemen from the slightly avant-garde technopop band Hikashu（ヒカシュー）apparently have had their own issues with medical checkups and that is interpreted simply here with their "Puyo Puyo" (Jiggly or Squishy...adjectives that I'm fairly acquainted with). It is the B-side to their 2nd single "Shiroi Highway"（白いハイウェイ...White Highway） and a track from their first album "Hikashu", both from 1980. Written by vocalist Koichi Makigami（巻上公一）and composed by synthesizer operator Yasushi Yamashita（山下康）, it's a rather hippity-hoppity (enhanced by Makigami's repeated whoops) tune about two fellows (or a split-personality person) giving very different descriptions of their health: one jiggling his way down to the ground and the other guy literally hopping around in peak condition.

According to Yamashita on J-Wiki, the song took only ten minutes to get its melody. The music video probably took a fair bit longer but it really looks like an early 80s production by someone who had an ambitiously tongue-in-cheek story in mind about the risks in the Japanese corporate lifestyle. During my teaching days, I would often hear from the adult students about having to take a day off because of the annual company physical. Makigami seems to have enjoyed his time as a Method actor in these videos and concert performances with his deadpan ultra-serious approach.