Kenji Ozawa -- Tenki Yomi（天気読み）

 

I've said this from time to time because I do have the penchant to talk about the weather in my hometown. Toronto is predictably unpredictable, meteorologically speaking. Probably meteorologists around the world would love to come here for a spell. And today is one of the best days since this morning we began with a +14 C high but the temperature will be plummeting like an anvil in a Warner Bros. cartoon for a wind chill factor of -12 C! On top of that, we've had some sun, some cloud, some rain and later on, we'll most likely get some snow. All I can say is that maybe we're getting the weather version of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Well, I figure that perhaps I can put up a J-Pop tune or kayo on the weather. It took me a bit but I did find singer-songwriter Kenji Ozawa's（小沢健二）solo debut single following the breakup of the Shibuya-kei duo Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）. Titled "Tenki Yomi" (Reading/Gauging the Weather), this was released in July 1993, this was written and composed by Ozawa.

Described in the J-Wiki article for "Tenki Yomi" as a rock number, I would actually go with something like a mixture rock song. Weaning himself off of his Shibuya-kei roots, I believe the song still has some of that Shibuya-kei groove combined with a bit of jazz and straight pop. Lyrically, it doesn't have anything to do with climactic conditions, but it is about a man's dealings with some existentially stormy weather in his romance life although it appears that there is a break in the clouds by the end with a ray of welcome light piercing through.