Yes, the above is the main drag for Omotesando, one of the tony streets in Tokyo. On weekends, you can see down the boulevard and observe the masses of humanity going up and down. My friend and I tried to navigate Omotesando during my first Xmas Eve in Japan in 1994. However, it was literally wall-to-wall people so it certainly didn't feel like Christmas and with a policeman on the pedestrian bridge exhorting us to keep moving, it felt more like going through Shinjuku Station at rush hour. But on most days, it's a nice little walk on a fashionable path.
Nanpa（軟派）is the act of picking up women. I've known for years some of the pickup lines that Japanese guys liked to use back in the day such as "Hey, Miss, how about grabbing some coffee at this café nearby?". I never got to use them myself since back when those lines actually had traction, I was an absolute nerd just starting junior high school. Usually when I hear of nanpa, the nightclub and bar-heavy Roppongi and the youth mecca Shibuya come to mind.
Strangely enough though, actor and singer Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）released his 3rd single in March 1978, "Omotesando Nanpa Street" (Omotesando Pick-Up Street). Tony Omotesando never gave me an impression that it was some place for men to make their moves on unsuspecting women but I wasn't there in 1978. Maybe it had a very different atmosphere back then. Anyways, this was written and composed by the songwriting husband-and-wife team of composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）, the same duo behind Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）biggest hits such as "Imitation Gold"（イミテイション・ゴールド）, and everything was arranged by Happy End's（はっぴいえんど）Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）.
As Mizutani takes on the character of a young punk trying to make the rounds of picking up a couple of lasses in Omotesando, Uzaki and Suzuki have arranged "Omotesando Nanpa Street" to sound a bit like a folksy Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）tune but with some City Pop. Still in the end, I categorized the whole effect from the song as New Music, and while Mizutani's form of Joe Cool doesn't quite succeed in getting that female companionship, the song has that cheerful and happy-go-lucky vibe which probably means that the big lug has plenty of confidence to try again the next day.
I think you might have still been in Japan when the 'Star bucks' crazy started! If so then you could have re-used some of the Nanpa pickup lines. It seems Start bucks was cool! Although Japan has long had Doutor Coffee, Excelsior Caffé, normal coffee shops, and 喫茶店!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember when Starbucks Japan No. 1 opened up in Ginza in the 1990s. I saw the lineup snaking out for several dozen metres. Excelsior Caffe was good although it was a Japanese carbon copy of Starbucks. Café Renoir is notable for its retro look in some of their branches.
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