Kumahachi Morino -- Koi no Napolitan Rock（恋のナポリタンロック）

 

One of the things about Japanese pop culture that I've learned over the decades is that the Japanese have borrowed various aspects of Western culture and given them that several-degree twist. That also goes for the culinary arts. Tonkatsu and Hayashi Rice are a couple of examples. Napolitan Spaghetti is another. For years, I had assumed that this postwar Japanese take on pasta was straight from Naples but nothing could be farther from the truth. Supposedly, the dish was invented by chef Shigetada Irie（入江茂忠）at the Hotel New Grand in Yokohama according to Wikipedia. Since then, it's been available in supermarkets and basically just about every family restaurant in the nation. And yep, I've had my fair share of the Japanese pasta as well.

By the way, the above video comes from the YouTube channel No Recipes as the ever-cheerful Mark Matsumoto shows how to make the Napolitan. I used to see him on a cooking program on TV Japan at noon until about a few years ago.

Now to segue into the song of note here, Kumahachi Morino（森野熊八）is not one that would usually be on a music blog such as "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but he's not your ordinary singer. In fact, his main profession is as a chef who has specialized in French and Italian cuisines but he also has a like for singing. According to his J-Wiki profile, he decided back in 1990 that he wanted to put his recipes into song lyric form and sing them, something that he showed at the Yamaha Popular Song Contest.

And one of those recipes was for Napolitan Spaghetti which he not only provided lyrics but also the rock n' roll melody for his 2009 "Koi no Napolitan Rock" (Napolitan Rock of Love). He probably provided a lot of swing into his fans while cooking the dish although the tempo is such that it could get a bit dangerous in the kitchen. Incidentally, "Koi no Napolitan Rock" was the coupling song for the second ending theme, "Mizonoguchi Forever"（溝の口Forever）, of the anime "Tentai Senshi Sunred"（天体戦士サンレッド...Astro Fighter Sunred）. 

The jovial Morino has also been a tarento on television and in this video of footage dated 1996, he gives his musical touch to his takes on curry rice and an omelette.