Hiroshi Murai -- Video Days

 

In my Minami-Gyotoku neighbourhood in Ichikawa City...as was probably the case in most neighbourhoods, we had a wealth of convenience stores and supermarkets. Around the station within a radius of several hundred metres, there were four supermarkets and at least as many convenience stores. The supermarkets of course were where I got my ingredients for home-cooked meals but I visited the konbini when I was satisfied enough to get a microwavable bento or snacks. Although I think I went mostly to the local Am/Pm and 7-11, Sunkus was also just a few minutes down from the station exit so when I did come home early, I would also drop by there for food and drink.

Well, this song by Hiroshi Murai（村井博）was apparently used as the commercial jingle for Sunkus back in the early 1990s. "Video Days" was released as his 4th single; depending on where you look, it was supposed to have come out either in 1990 or 1991 but I'll go with the former year since it was more specific with the release month being June that year. Not sure how video comes into this song but it's a summery pop tune that has me thinking of the band TUBE and even Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）when I'm musing about Murai's delivery. 

"Video Days" was written by Anju Mana（真名杏樹）, composed by Takashi Tsushimi（都志見隆）and arranged jointly by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）and Yasuhiro Kido（木戸やすひろ）. It was also a track on Murai's 4th and final album to date, "Natural" (1990) which shares space on the CD with "Natsu no Kakurega ~ Weekend Resort"（夏の隠れ家）. Up to now with the other three Murai songs that I've posted including "Natsu no Kakurega", it's been about the 1990s City Pop but "Video Days" is bright ol' pop...happy enough to persuade folks to pick up some bento and Pringles and milk tea perhaps.😋