I was putting the finishing touches on the tribute article to mangaka Akira Toriyama（鳥山明）when I came across the news on Yahoo Japan that seiyuu and singer Tarako, most famous for her voice behind the title character in "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）, passed away on March 4th at the age of 63. The news is literally only a few hours old so there really hasn't been any YouTube footage of any announcements of her passing but I've now been noticing expressions of condolences in the comments underneath any video to do with Tarako. When I saw the news, my jaw just fell along with my posture. First Toriyama and now Tarako.
My most recent article on Tarako as a singer was posted back in August of last year and it was a City Pop tune "Tasogare"（たそがれ）from her September 1984 album "Warawanai Koibito"（笑わない恋人...The Unsmiling Lover）. For today, I am also putting up a track from that same album, "Only Goodbye" which has that same City Pop vibe. Written by Tarako and composed by Sho Suzuki（鈴木晶）, it's got that certain "lone wolf" feeling in a lonely city, and I have to say that Tarako's singing remind me a lot of singer-songwriter Iruka（イルカ）who's given her own contributions to the urban contemporary in the 1980s.
I'm sure that we will all get some further information about the sudden death of Tarako in the next several hours. However, I would like to send my condolences to her family, friends and fans.
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