I failed to mention this yesterday but April 29th is part of the Golden Week holiday season in Japan and it's currently known as Showa Day. It had been celebrated as Emperor Hirohito's (the Showa era emperor) birthday until his death in early 1989 and then it was known as Greenery Day until 2007, when it was given its current name (Greenery Day is now May 4th).
Since there has been some nostalgic attraction for the culture of the Showa era (1926-1989), that's how I've usually seen Showa Day...not so much for the veneration of the late emperor but for what the times and trappings were like for ordinary people in Japan. Apparently, there is a Showa era museum in Aichi Prefecture as you can see above via MEGULOG's video. My particular examples of Showa era culture that regularly pop up in my memories are the old public phones of different sizes and colours, and the old-style kissaten as you can view in Mikki Café & Life below. Personally, my Showa era café will always be Café Renoir, the long-running franchise.
But of course, this being a kayo kyoku blog, I wanted to give my own contribution to Showa Day in terms of culture by providing some of the old songs. I'd wondered if I could find some sort of Top 5 list regarding memorable kayo kyoku but really couldn't find anything, so I've decided to come up with my own list of six songs representing each decade from the 1930s to the 1980s (sorry, couldn't remember anything from the 1920s). There wasn't any great research or all-night brain wracking for these songs...they just popped into my head and together they can perhaps show how music changed during the Showa era. So, without further ado...
(1936) Ichiro Fujiyama -- Tokyo Rhapsody（東京ラプソディ）
(1949) Hibari Misora -- Kanashiki Kuchibue （悲しき口笛）
(1959) Frank Nagai & Kazuko Matsuo -- Tokyo Nightclub （東京ナイトクラブ）
(1968) The Tigers -- Hana no Kubi Kazari (花の首飾り）
(1976) Momoe Yamaguchi -- Yokosuka Story （横須賀ストーリー）
(1983) Anzen Chitai -- Wine-Red no Kokoro （ワインレッドの心）
Hard to understand such a long period of time having a unified theme.
ReplyDeleteIs Showa moreso considered say ~1960-1989 instead of the full span of time? Meaning the earlier period not covered as much...
Yeah, the Showa era lasted over 60 years so there had been a wide variety of music flowing under the bridge. As for the usual image of Showa culture with the cars and television sets, I could probably say that would be within the 60s and 70s, but my comments would most likely be construed by professors and historians as being somewhat simplistic.
DeleteWhat an interesting question! But, year I think whenever I watch shows about the Showa music it tends to be about music from the late 60's to 1989. I really haven't seen any shows or programing about the top Show hits from the 1940s or 50s.
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