Shinji Maki -- O-furo de Mambo（お風呂でマンボ）

 

Yes, I would agree that the above photo is a rather odd one. However, I have to clarify that this is basically the bathroom that I had in my old Ichikawa apartment years ago although the picture above is of a 1st-floor unit in the same building that I'd made my home in, and I used to live on a higher floor. It's called a unit bath and all of the elements are in there: sink, bathtub and toilet. Usually though, the toilet is kept separate from the sink and bathtub in its own narrow room.

I only learned just now from one of the weather forecasters on "Weathernews Live" that February 6th is known as "furo no hi"（風呂の日）in a bit of a Japanese pun on 「2月6日」. I'm saying that it was Bath Day in Japan and considering that much of the Kanto area got socked with major snow in the last couple of days, perhaps a lot of folks have been looking forward to that soak in the hot water. As much as I am a tad embarrassed to admit, I never really got into the furo culture. I've always preferred a short hot shower because I've never been too patient just sitting in the bathtub for several minutes. Thirty minutes has basically been my limit before I got too bored, jumped out and went for my daily Yakult. I did try things such as powders and even a bath-friendly radio but it simply didn't take.

So, once again, I was looking for themed songs...this time on the tradition of bathing and I quickly discovered this rather odd novelty tune "O-furo de Mambo" (Mambo in the Bath). It's a track on an album titled "Nonsense Island"（ナンセンス・アイランド）and from my initial looks at it, I'd assumed that it was produced in the 1960s but instead, it was released in March 1993. The singer taking care of the album is the late ukulele-armed comedian Shinji Maki（牧伸二）.

Written by Sakae Ishikawa（いしかわさかえ）and composed by Wataru Hozumi（穂積航）, the other big clue that the song was a far more recent tune was the gloppy synths involved in this otherwise Perez Prado-esque Latin happy fest. In fact, I'm even wondering if due to the 60s lounge style in those 1990s, "O-furo de Mambo" can even be considered to be a Shibuya-kei tune. Hozumi's melody is indeed happy-go-lucky while Ishikawa's lyrics go straight to salaciousness as Maki lustily sings about a couple doing "the mambo" in the bath (nudge nudge, wink wink).😝

Born in Tokyo in 1934 as Moritsune Oi（大井守常）, Maki was the pioneer of one stream of Japanese comedy as the comedic storyteller with a ukulele. His long career began in 1957 and he had his own apprentices who took on the stage family name. One apprentice didn't though but she had her own long illustrious career as a comedienne and actress by the name of Pinko Izumi（泉ピン子）. 

On April 28th 2013, there had been some suspicions raised regarding Maki and several thousand dollars' worth of yen in a possible embezzlement scheme regarding the Tokyo Entertainment Association for which he served as president. He was supposed to have attended a meeting on that night to answer the allegations but never arrived. His body was found floating in the Tama River early the next morning in what has been suspected to be a suicide. He was 78 years old.