I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Back on Thursday, I covered a song titled "Night Hike", a synthy but warm and elegant song by Yoshinori "HARCO" Aoki（青木慶則）that came out in 2005 but was also a track in the 2022 compilation "City Music Tokyo: Junction" that I received recently. In trying to find out more about HARCO and this song, I also discovered that his wife is also a singer-songwriter under the stage name of Quinka, with a Yawn (her real name is Michiko Aoki/青木美智子). With that stage name, I couldn't help but be reminded of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Darmok"in which the guest of the episode was a Tamarian named Dathon whose race only spoke in metaphors such as "Sokath, his eyes uncovered!" and "Shaka, when the walls fell!".
Well, consider my curiosity sparked! I made the decision to look up Ms. Aoki's career. Originally under the name of Mikko sky（ミッコ sky）, she was the vocalist for the band esrevnoc which lasted between 1995 and 2001, after which she became Quinka, with a Yawn in her ambitions to have a solo career. According to her J-Wiki profile, she's so far released nine albums of which the most recent one is "Sayonara Tristesse"（さよならトリステス）which came out in April 2013.
From "Sayonara Tristesse" is the track "Futarikiri"(Just the Two) which was written and composed by the singer. With a bit more jangly electric guitar, I would have considered it shoegaze but it's more of a relaxing pop number with a lone horn providing some warmth from the cold in the music video above. Not sure whether Quinka, with a Yawn walking alone in the snowy woods is signifying a certain form of loneliness but her whispery vocals give some comfort and reassurance.
Between 2007 and 2010, Quinka, with a Yawn released a set of cover albums under the name Dog’s Holiday of Yawn, and then in late 2008, she and her husband HARCO formed the duo HARQUA, coming up with a self-titled album. I can honestly say that Ms. Aoki has had more Roman alphabet letters attributed to her than three turns at Scrabble. Still, I'd like to thank and her husband for some interesting and out-of-the-ordinary music and offer them both the new Tamarian phrase of "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel".
It was good that I discovered that "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit） was on yesterday afternoon on Jme. Not only are my parents big fans of the kayo kyoku show but yesterday's episode commemorated veteran enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi's 60th anniversary in the music industry (many congratulations to her). Plus, I was able to find a small treasure trove of new kayo kyoku to write about in the coming days.
At first, I'd planned to go dive into those new songs and not give any more to Kobayashi since the songs which she sang on yesterday's program are ones that I've already covered on the blog. But then, I realized that I had yet to give my own Author's Pick on her tunes. I may have been way too young to appreciate her brand of enka and Mood Kayo to attend that one-and-only concert in Toronto decades ago, but the following decades were able to have me gradually cherish a few of her tunes through television and karaoke. In any case, here are my three favourites by her:
Whether it be Japan or Canada, I've been stymied about which type of potato chips I've preferred all these years. Pringles is available in both nations and I've always enjoyed it for that uniform stackable shape and the various flavours but at the same time, I've enjoyed Calbee in Japan and Frito-Lay Chips in Canada because of the randomness of each chip along with the increased greasiness and delectably rough crunch.
Now, why am I talking about junk food on a Saturday night? Well, the song of this article was used for a Calbee potato chip commercial in 1994, and it strikes me as a bit unusual since "Lady's Melody" by singer-songwriter Hitomi Yuuki（又紀仁美）sounds quite a bit more refined in voice and arrangement...even more than Pringles chips. To be honest, I would have thought the breezy pop song would have made for a better fit for a cosmetics ad, but here we are.
In any case, "Lady's Melody" was released in September 1994 as Yuuki's 3rd single. It was written by Kyohei Natsume（夏目涼平）and the singer and composed by Kazuya Izumi（和泉一弥）. As for Yuuki, she was born in Tokyo as Hitomi Tsuburaya（円谷 一美）, and if that family name sounds familiar to you, then you must love your tokusatsu TV shows and movies because indeed she is part of the family in control of Tsuburaya Productions, the producer of the "Ultraman" series. I can only speculate that the name change was for Yuuki to be able to stand on her own two feet in terms of her career without needing the Tsuburaya name as a crutch. On the other hand, her sister, singer Yuko Tsuburaya（円谷優子）, kept hers. As well, Yuuki returned to her original name after 1997.
According to her J-Wiki article, Yuuki made her debut in January 1994 and she released 12 singles and 5 albums up to 1999. Upon getting married, she moved to Saudi Arabia and then also lived in Syria and England before returning to Japan and resuming her music career.
In all of the years that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been around, I've done my fair share of Author's Picks based on certain themes that some of that kayo kyoku has covered such as food and particular regions. But I don't think I have ever encountered an old Japanese pop song that was based on the barbershop experience.
As a bit of an aside, I have to say that one of the many pleasures of living in Japanese society for about a third of my life thus far was going to the barber or hair salon. Was it inexpensive? By no means. My old barber cost me close to 3900 yen a trip and then when my girlfriend at the time introduced me to her friend's salon not far away from my station, that expenditure took things to about 5000 yen. But in both cases, they were worth every yen for me. From the haircut, the shampoo, the shave, the scalp massage and the styling to the seasonal servings of coffee or cold oolong tea, this was simply a regular trip for a haircut in Japan that would probably be considered a top-notch treatment at Truefitt & Hill in downtown Toronto.
By the way, the above video has an Avengers-like meeting between two popular YouTubers. HairCut Harry got to have his experience at the Yamaguchi Barbershop last year.
"Awate Tokoya" (Busy Barbershop) first saw the light of day about a century ago in 1923. Written by Hakushu Kitahara（北原白秋）and composed by Kousaku Yamada（山田耕筰）as a children's song, it was performed by Ayako Miyashita（宮下禮子）*. The lyrics talk of a couple of crabs in the wilderness operating their own barber shop serving customers such as a rabbit, and apparently the business is a thriving one.
Almost forty years later in April 1961, "Awate Tokoya" was brought into the NHK's children song series "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）as one of its earliest, if not its earliest, entry with a special brand of animation and the vocal group Bonny Jacks（ボニージャックス）giving a hearty rendition of the animal-based barbershop. Future electronic music master Isao Tomita（冨田勲）handled the arrangement.
Then in 1966, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）gave her rendition of the song via a snazzy orchestra with a bit of Latin pizzazz and haircut-like percussion. I also picked up on some interesting keyboard work in there, too; not sure whether Tomita was already working with some of those electronics on Misora's version. Of course, others have covered "Awate Tokoya" over the decades.
*According to Jisho.org, there are multiple ways to say the first name. Ayako happens to be the first on the list, so if anyone out there can tell me the proper way to say the singer's name, please let me know.
With towers and skyscrapers hidden in low rain clouds, "Ni-sen Ton no Ame" depicts a scene only found in the big city. For people who have quietly loved hearing this song since the 1970s, there isn't a doubt in the world that no one could have imagined it to be used as the theme tune for a movie in the 21st century. There have been many revivals of hit songs but for an album track to do so is extremely unusual. It's especially a miracle since it is a famous Tats song.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
The above is the burger that I had at Toronto's Pearson Airport back in 2017 as I waited for that Air Canada flight to Tokyo. Peering into that photo, I gather that it was a bacon cheeseburger.
In the last number of years of my time in the Tokyo area, those hamburger joints (and I mean, the ones with the buns and not the ones served on black iron plates) were popping up like rabbits all over the area, as the locals realized that they had an interest and a taste for the American classic fast food. Earlier in my time, hot dogs tried to make a play for the Japanese market but fizzled out for some reason, but hamburgers arrived and have stayed.
Then in July 2020, TV Tokyo presented atled late-night Friday drama titled "Joshi Gourmet Burger Bu"（女子グルメバーガー部...Women's Gourmet Burger Club） which had a plethora of young ladies exploring high and low all over the city for the many different kinds of hamburgers that could be made and eaten. Considering that this was early in the scourge of the pandemic, the show must have been one of reassurance and torture at the same time.
The theme song for "Joshi Gourmet Burger Bu" was "Odorasenaide" (Don't Make Me Dance) by singer-songwriter eill (pronounced as "ale") as a single released when the show came out. Written and composed by the Tokyo-raised artist with Ryo "Lefty" Miyata also helping out on the music, this is some heavenly R&B to help you digest those burgers, and the official music video above even has eill flipping some patties before the riverside dance party begins. I'm hoping that the video did bring comfort and hope to all those who had to be stuck in their homes during those dark times.
Sorry, I'm being a fuddy-duddy Dad here but make sure you give enough time to those burgers sitting in your belly before trying those dances as shown above in the Dance Music Video version of "Odorasenaide". But dang, those kids are really cutting up a rug!
eill herself was once known as ENNE when she was a part of the acoustic session unit Plusonica（ぷらそにか） for a couple of years in 2016 and 2017. She had begun her songwriting when she was fifteen in the early 2010s and since taking on that new name of eill in 2018, she has released a couple of mini-albums and full albums and around 25 digital singles up to 2024. That also includes a cover of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love" from September 2021.
Through this video, I've read that Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）"Natsu Arashi"(Summer Storm) is available on his compilation "Twin Best". But that was from 1998 and this song sounds like one of his bouncy tracks from his 1981 mega-hit album "Reflections".
As it turns out, "Natsu Arashi" is indeed a much earlier creation. In fact, it hails from his December 1983 album"Atmosphere", which has also been dubbed "Reflections 2". Sounding like it could have easily been included in "Reflections", "Natsu Arashi" also has the same folks from that album: Terao himself composing it, Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）behind the lyrics and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）taking care of the arrangement. Accordingly with that bouncy homegrown City Pop beat, the lyrics also take on a similar form as to those from the singer's classic "Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）in that they don't describe a happy situation as a couple's relationship seems to be coming apart at the seams, so that storm isn't really a meteorological one. Too bad about the kids but dang, is it fun to listen to!
Decided to apply some Art Deco to a future metropolis via Bing. I've always liked my Art Deco.
It's been a while since I've posted this underrated singer, Minako Ito（伊藤美奈子）, who embraced the City Pop scene in the 1980s. The last time was back in November 2022 when I wrote up on her "Velvet Blue"（ベルベット・ブルー）. Today, it's on one of the tracks from her October 1982 debut album"Tenderly", "Kinou kara no Eshaku" (A Tribute from Last Night).
Composed by Ito and written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）, I'm fortunate to have found the English translation of the lyrics at Genius.com, and it deals with a woman who suddenly remembers a past love affair that is most definitely in the past tense but she still has fond memories. Being a sucker for City Pop Fender Rhodes, "Kinou kara no Eshaku" definitely had me in its spell right from the intro. The bass and the shimmery strings didn't hurt either. Thanks, arranger Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, especially for that key change into the coda.
To start off this week's round of urban contemporary music on KKP, I've put up a photo of Mr. Calico driving Kayo Grace in a Toyota Cressida during a rainy afternoon, although I was aiming to have them actually parked in a lot somewhere...the photo doesn't make that really clear. I've only been in a Cressida once and that was back in 1981 when my host father was driving her daughter and me to their home in Nara.
Back in 2018, I posted a couple of songs by the band Motoyoshi Iwasaki（岩崎元是）& WINDY, another wonderfully summery addition to my Japanese pop-addled mind which already has TUBE, Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）and Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）on board. As I also mentioned there, Iwasaki & WINDY only hung out together for a couple of years in the late 1980s but they enjoyed a pleasant summer of sorts.
Their first single was "Natsu no Tsubasa" (Wings of Summer) which was written and composed by Iwasaki with the band arranging everything. Coming out in May 1986, it's as summery as the Shonan beach and I think with the twanginess and the harmonies coming out of the speakers, I get some Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）but at the same time, Iwasaki also reminds me of yet another summer-singing fellow, the late Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）. By the way, that is one lovely video above.
The reason that I've come to pick WINDY up once again is that the B-side to "Natsu no Tsubasa", "PARKING", is going to be next week's entry on Yutaka Kimura Speaks (which is also why I put up that photo with Mr. Calico and Kayo Grace). The entire band worked on this one, too, and it's a slightly more relaxing Resort Pop or even City Pop medium-tempo tune, and as Kimura will also explain, there seems to be some inspiration from Ohtaki's famous "Ame no Wednesday"（雨のウェンズデイ）.
I have to give credit where credit is due and say that the above photo is from the online site "Streets of Toronto". Somewhere in my home, there is a picture of the old Silver Snail but I couldn't be bothered to sift through drawers and other nooks and crannies to track it down. Now, for all those in my hometown who are into the comics and other aspects of pop culture like anime, the Silver Snail was the emporium for all of that. It used to be located in the bohemian Queen West neighbourhood in an old-fashioned house for the first 36 years of its life.
My first visits to the Silver Snail happened while I was at University of Toronto. My friend introduced me to it and it was only a 15-minute walk down from campus. It was definitely an eye-opening experience just for the wonderful interior décor, the tons of comics and most importantly, the examples of Japanese pop culture I could actually physically buy in the years before the now-customary habit of getting them online. Coincidentally, this all went down when that same friend introduced me to the Chinatown record stores a few blocks north in between the Silver Snail and U of T where I could actually buy Japanese records. I'd say it was a darn fine year. And so, I bought my fair share of J-Merch including the following:
Yup, just like that copy of Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Train" album that beckoned me to buy it at Wah Yueh in Chinatown, this beauty was also calling my name in Silver Snail. I'd already purchased my fair share of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato" guidebooks at $20 CDN a shot including the one for the supposedly final entry of the original franchise, the film "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト 完結編...Final Yamato） which was first released in March 1983. So, they put an end to the story of the mighty battleship, eh, I thought. I had no idea until a couple of years later.
Well, it only took a few more longing gazes between the soundtrack and me before I finally pulled the trigger on my wallet. I forgot how much cash I forked out; I remember that it wasn't cheap. At first, I'd assumed that "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu II" (Theme Music Collection II) was the one-and-only soundtrack for the movie. I guess I couldn't read the "II". Apparently, the music for the film was so grand and epic that the record company had to make release it all via two albums. Mind you, I think "II" has the more dramatic cover with a wrecked Yamato making one final rise above the water.
Being unaware of it at the time, with this album, I began the tradition of listening to movie soundtracks before even seeing the movie itself. That was the case with J.J. Abrams'"Star Trek" in 2009 and then "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019 (although I never bought the soundtrack...thank you, YouTube). However, getting back to "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu II", the first impression that I got from the album was that, except for one track, there was nothing in there that tied me back to the old music that I got to know and love from the TV series. It was all very John Williams, Gustav Holst, Sergei Rachmaninoff and any other classical composer that would create music for an 18th-century ball.
And that was true right from the first track, "Futatsu no Ginga"（二つの銀河...Two Galaxies）. Now, actually the above video is playing a truncated version that was on a later release called "YAMATO SOUND ALMANAC 1983-Ⅳ" and perhaps even "Uchuu Senkan Yamato Kanketsuhen Tehma Ongakushuu I". I couldn't find the copy from "II" but at least this video will still give you an idea of what hit my ears with a bang when I first put the record onto the turntable. Man, what kinda mess did the Yamato get into now, I thought.
Well, as it turns out, the album was a collaboration between Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）, who was the go-to guy for all things Yamato, and Kentaro Haneda（ 羽田健太郎）who had a lot to do with another major anime franchise "Macross"（マクロス）including the Lynn Minmay song "0-G Love". I was curious about what got Miyagawa and Haneda to take such a different approach with the soundtrack for the final movie, and they simply said that they didn't want to get stuck in a rut with variations on the old stuff; they wanted the franchise to go out with a bang of new compositions. By the way, Miyagawa was responsible for "Futatsu no Ginga".
Miyagawa was also behind "Lugal Soutou no Sensou"（ルガール総統の戦争...Supreme Ruler Lugal's War） which is one massive battle song starting with the strings falling down the equivalent height of the Empire State Building. Again, I hadn't seen the movie yet but listening to this track, I could imagine one heck of a firefight between the Yamato and Lugal's forces.
A quick aside from me, but I couldn't help but see the evil Emperor Lugal as looking a whole lot like actor Kelsey Grammer from "Frasier" and "Cheers". I wonder how far the commute was between Boston and the planet Denguil?
"Shima wo Omou"（Remembering Shima） was another Miyagawa composition. I had already seen what was to become of Chief Navigator Shima through the "Final Yamato" guidebook, and then I finally saw the scene many years later. It's naturally going to be very dramatic and tragic but I kinda wished that they hadn't made the piece so loud in the movie since it rather distracted from the very sad outcome.
I mentioned earlier about that one familiar track. Well, it was this one, "Fight Cosmo Tiger II"（FightコスモタイガーⅡ）. It certainly starts with the razor slash of brass that launched a major attack by the Yamato's air corps in the old series, but then Miyagawa replaces the rest of it with an epic disco orchestra number that sounds like it flew in from a "Lupin III" soundtrack.
I've been really trying to find any of the tracks that had been composed by Haneda, and I finally found one, "Hisou no Bolero"（悲愴のボレロ...Sorrowful Bolero）. To let you in on one thing about this soundtrack...I had actually recorded it onto audiotape and I used to play it all the time whenever I was pulling an all-nighter during high school and university. "Fight Cosmo Tiger II" and "Hisou no Bolero" were the two tracks that blew me awake whenever I was in danger of nodding off, especially the latter track. Ravel would probably be proud of Haneda's own take on a bolero and when it was time for this song, I would usually bonk my desk with my fist when I heard the timpani hit.
How very convenient of you to come back to life, Captain Okita! I was never all that sold on the plot device of the original commander of the Yamato being in a coma all that time just to return for that one final mission. But hey, Captain Kodai had to have his happy ending with Ms. Mori at the end (and boy, did they), so Okita was the guy to take the Yamato to her final fate. And all that was accomplished with the accompaniment of the huge Haneda piece "Symphony of the Aquarius" that seems to encapsulate one climactic battle sequence in its arrangement and time of nearly 10 minutes! If there were ever an opera version of "Yamato", this is the one track that would have to be incorporated.
I'm not usually a classical music fan so it took me some time to get accustomed to this soundtrack but thanks to time, maturity and a lot of all-nighters, I can happily accept this album into the pantheon of Yamato music. As for the Silver Snail, I now realize how long it's been since I visited the place. Back in 2012, the emporium moved out to Yonge Street for the next nine years as a squeezed-in walk-up above a burger joint. I got used to it but it wasn't the same anymore. Then, I literally found out a few minutes before starting this article that the place had moved back to Queen West almost three years ago. It's not at the same old address but a little further west but at least it's got a proper storefront again. I will have to drop by someday.
Depending on the neighbourhood, Tokyo can provide plenty of pleasant night walking including the Odaiba area which is presented to you above. Probably the closest that I ever got to a night hike though was back in July 1999 when a bunch of us ended up seeing "The Phantom Menace" at the special midnight first showing in Shinjuku (I tried to rationalize my feelings before ultimately failing).
Back then, the transit system tended to close down just a little after midnight so all of us "Star Wars" viewers had to figure out transportation home without subways, trains or buses. In our case, we simply hit a nearby ramen joint for about half an hour before taking a night hike of sorts (pretty safe walking) north of Shinjuku toward Takadanobaba. Some of us opted to take an expensive taxi ride home while me and two others decided to spend the next few hours at an all-night manga kissa until the subways opened up again. Luckily, it was a Saturday.
Another track from the "City Music Tokyo: Junction" that I wrote about back on the 1st is Yoshinori "HARCO" Aoki's（青木慶則） "Night Hike". I hear it as a technopop tune created by the musician from Kanagawa Prefecture but I also get that urban contemporary feeling in the arrangement, too. As well, I enjoy the flowing and mellow keyboard work that gives "Night Hike" a warmth and elegance to something this synthy.
"Night Hike" may have been introduced me to me via the 2022 compilation album but it originally showed up as the title track to HARCO's 6th album from April 2005. He has had his music career since 1990 but between 1997 and 2017, he primarily used HARCO as his nom de guerre before returning to Yoshinori Aoki since that time. Aoki has also done work on commercial jingles and narration, and his wife is fellow musician Michiko Aoki（青木美智子）, aka Quinka, with a Yawn.
About a week ago, I heard that veteran Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, born in New Brunswick and trained at the University of Toronto, passed away last week at the age of 88. I've known him for his huge presence, that wide-as-a-mile Cheshire Cat grin and that distinct voice which reminded me of a slow-burning crackling fire.
I remember seeing him as the youngest member of "The Dirty Dozen" and then as one of the many doomed characters on the 1978 remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Of course, in recent years, Sutherland gained a new generation of fans for his portrayal of President Snow in "The Hunger Games" franchise. Still one other cackling evil role he had that still pops up in my memories whenever the actor's name is mentioned is the one for homicidal pyromaniac Ronald Bartel in "Backdraft": child-like and axe-crazy.
One other movie that I associate Sutherland with is the original movie version of the war comedy "M*A*S*H". For years and years, I had been accustomed to watching the CBS adaptation on TV on Monday nights and then reruns with Alan Alda as the snarky surgeon Captain Hawkeye Pierce and his buddies. At the time, I'd only remembered that there had been a movie version with the famous poster of a peace sign-giving hand under an army helmet and over a couple of woman's legs.
Then, I finally got to see the 1970 movie by Robert Altman on telly one night and got to see Sutherland's original take on Hawkeye. It was a bit weird seeing not only these familiar roles such as Pierce, Trapper John, Frank Burns, Father Mulcahy and Hot Lips being played by different thespians (although always-dependable Radar O'Reilly was played by Gary Burghoff in both the movie and television show) but getting this very rough-and-ready version of the M*A*S*H 4077. If anything, Sutherland's Hawkeye was even more flippant with a sense of a slithery demeanor, and it's far better having him as your friend and not your enemy.
Though the TV show gradually changed from a sitcom with dramatic elements to a drama with comedic elements through its eleven seasons (with the cast changes, to boot), the one thing that basically stayed constant (other than a few scenes here and there) was the opening credits with the famous instrumental theme song. I would always see the choppers bringing patients into the 4077, the overhead shot of the hospital, and the doctors and nurses rushing to triage them and have them go through the best of their meatball surgery. Meanwhile, the theme song was about as far from being a brass march that one could get for a show based in the middle of the Korean War.
But then when I did watch the original movie, I was surprised to find out that the theme song actually had a title, "Suicide is Painless" and lyrics that were sung by an uncredited foursome: John Bahler, Tom Bahler, Ron Hicklin, and Ian Freebairn-Smith. With harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys and a wistful and slightly mournful melody by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman, I realized that the theme back then was a hymn of sorts for the futility of war and the price paid in body counts, something that didn't quite translate to the weekly instrumental version in the TV series, especially when it was given the cheery arrangement during the ending credits.
Interestingly, "Suicide is Painless" was also released in Japan as a single with the title "Moshi mo, Ano Yo ni Yuketara"（もしも、あの世にゆけたら...If I Could Go to the Afterlife） in March 1970, just a couple of months following the movie's release. As for my even more personal connection to the song, our junior high school band regularly performed the song during concerts. It was getting to the point that "Suicide is Painless" was actually painful.
My condolences to Sutherland's family, friends and many fans.
Now, what had won the Best Performance prizes at the Japan Record Awards in 1970?
It's been a good long while since I've seen former 80s aidoruand tarento Mami Yamase（山瀬まみ）on Japanese television because it seems that TV Japan and the new Jme don't have the programs that feature her. She was always known for that strangulated voice which I've always thought was more of an affectation for show business rather than her real voice. And I believe that in recent years, the squeakiness has possibly mellowed down.
For that matter, it's been five years since I posted the last Yamase article onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus". That was for the zany "Go!"（ゴォ）from 1989 which took more advantage of her stage speaking voice. However, as mentioned in that article, her earlier aidoru tunes had her sounding much more pleasant and creamy. In fact, I got another demonstration of her singing prowess through her 7th single from September 1987, "Starlight Serenade" which also served as the second opening theme for the mecha anime"Kikou Senki Dragonar"（機甲戦記ドラグナー...Metal Armor Dragonar）.
Composer Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）and arranger Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）went for a loud-and-proud pop/rock arrangement that could be considered to be Pat Benatar-lite. Meanwhile, Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）provided lyrics about pining for that hero out there while reminiscing about more innocent times when the lad was still within arm's distance. And Yamase sounds like she was channeling her inner Ayumi Nakamura（中村あゆみ）singing this.
Supposedly, we're only a month away from the Paris Olympics, so I guess this can be considered a tribute article to the major sporting event. However what got me to write about this song wasn't the Games.
Yesterday, we got to see NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）for the first time in a couple of weeks on June 25th. Actually, the show hadn't been pre-empted on the source network on the 18th but when I saw the hosts announce on the 11th that the episode on the 18th would have a Disney theme, faster than the NHK copyright troll yelling, "No Uta Con for you!", I knew that we wouldn't be getting an episode for that week. For the past couple of years, the general rule on TV Japan and now Jme has been that Disney songs simply can't be heard via NHK.
Let me just stop the rant there, though. The theme for the show yesterday was the genre of chanson and overall French pop which has had its fans for decades now. So, of course, it was also an indirect theme for the late chanson singer Fubuki Koshiji（越路吹雪）who had given her covers of songs such as "Sans Toi M'amie"（サン・トワ・マミー）and "Hymne A L'Amour". At first, I'd assume that I could do an article on "Les Champs-Élysées", but I had already done so all the way back in 2016.
However, I didn't give up there. Although the song hadn't been presented on "Uta Con" last night, there was the famous "La Vie en rose", the 1945 classic by Edith Piaf, and sure enough, Koshiji did cover it via her 1968 album"Chanson no Subete"（シャンソンのすべて...All Chanson） under the translated title of "Bara Iro no Jinsei" with Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）as the lyricist for the Japanese words. Considering how iconic it is as one of the representative songs of the City of Lights, I was surprised that it didn't get its due on the episode. It's a gorgeous cover with a brilliant jazz trumpet reflecting the late night of Paris. In an odd way, despite the volume, I can also treat it as a lullaby.
1930s film quality will be in like 1p and I'll still be like, "This is the most adorable thing I've ever seen." From 松平晃、ミス・コロムビアらが参加した、コロムビア芸 術団の慰問風景を収めた貴重映像！(YouTube)
I have to admit that Akira Matsudaira (松平晃) has grown on me considerably, which was the last thing I was expecting considering my initial cold reception of him. I wasn't a fan of his voice because it had a quality that, to my ears, made it sound dull on cursory listens for the longest time. But that ironically became what I like about it, and I now find it endearing. I don't really enjoy songs in the minor key very much, and his major hits were mainly in minor. But I came to realise that his softer and more forlorn tone complemented the darker sort of melodies, and slowly began to uncover his jolly tunes that were mostly hidden. I thought he always looked bored/mildly annoyed, or had the dopiest of smiles. But I now find that awkwardness cute in a warped way, especially after seeing how adorkable he seemed to have been.
I compare Akira-san to his Columbia Records senior Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴) A LOT. It's mostly because when I see one I would inevitably see the other, and lately I've just been seeing a lot of things where they were literally placed next to each other. This made me realise that they were like different sides of a coin, their works surprisingly complementing each other during my listening time. Mr. Nakano pulls of bright, cheery, and confident, but when it comes to the foreboding or sentimental, I'd say that Akira-san has him beat. His softer vocals were able to convey loneliness and, at times, a sort of naïve sweetness that can be heart-meltingly... adorable. A case in point is "Koi wa Hana yori mada Akai" (Love is still Redder than Flowers).
"Koi wa Hana yori mada Akai" was composed by Yuji Koseki (古関裕而) and written by Kikutaro Takahashi (高橋菊太郎), a power combo if I've ever seen one, from 1937. The rosy waltz-inspired tune with its tender strings aptly expresses the ups and downs of being in love. Akira-san's subdued delivery makes it feel as though we are hearing the inner thoughts of a shy protagonist who is very much head-over-heels for his beloved. He's certainly on cloud nine when bringing her flowers and when taking her out on a date, but becomes extra gloomy when he is unable to see her. In a way, one could also interpret the narrative in the perspective of the protagonist nostalgically looking back at the memories he had of, say, his first love.
Waltz-inspired melodies are more of a slow-burn for me, but the way Akira-san handled the tune really knocked it out of the park. He just conveys "shy protagonist" so well, and I don't really think any other singer from that era (1930s) can pull that off that convincingly. The closest I could think of was Bin Uehara (上原敏), but Bin-san just sounded sad and forlorn for the most part.
That photo was taken almost exactly a month ago after I went with some ryukoka enthusiasts to a record event organised by the one and only prof. Yoshinori Osakabe (刑部芳則), who's one half of my favourite podcast "Osakabe-Takehei Showa no Utagoe" (刑部たけ平昭和の歌声). I'd brought various photos/photo cards of my fellows in anticipation of scoring an oshikatsu hit on the event's program based on the prof's personal favourites. I even brought Akira-san's photo just in case because he'd been featured on the podcast. Little did I know he'd be the only one among my collection to show up. Turns out my taste is the complete opposite of the prof's save for my budding interest in Akira-san. After events like these, my tradition is to have dessert and take a snapshot of the photo/photo card I brought. Even though Akira-san wasn't yet of that caliber, prof. Osakabe did introduce his song and I brought his photo, so I got my tea and cake-tart at a cafe after the show and... *click*.
Matsudaira seems extremely popular among a wide-range of ryukoka fans, the professor included, and I couldn't understand what it was about him that made him so for the longest time. But hearing his song on a gramophone for the first time at this event and picking up the aforementioned nuances and gentleness in his voice allowed me understand why. I get it now.
They're all wearing bow-ties.
A few months ago, I joked that Matsudaira was the "Ichiro Fujiyama we have at home" (if you get the meme). A few months later, Matsudaira is the one I have at home. On my shelf. And in my photo card holder. They say irony is a dish best served cold, but this one feels like a bouquet of red flowers presented by a brightly grinning Akira-san.
There are a number of reasons that I actually gained weight while living in Japan instead of the opposite and probably healthier direction. One is that the average convenience store held some scrumptious snacks including various forms of chocolate. The famous company Meiji（明治製菓）was also complicit by providing some of that cacao goodness including those chocolate-covered almonds. If the product being stated on this blog sounds familiar, then you must have read yesterday's article on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Synchronicity ~ Suteki na Guuzen"（シンクロニシティ (素敵な偶然)）since the song was used for that particular Meiji confection.
From Amazon.jp
Yeah, that's right. YOU! Damn you, Meiji Almond Chocolates and your sultry chocolatey vixen ways! That might as well be a mug shot...a mug of hot chocolate!
I have no idea how many tens of millions of Meiji chocolate products get sold annually but I know that the marketing department for the company must have cleaning up the yen all these decades including the various commercial campaigns on television. And that includes the whimsical theme song for the chocolate which was one line repeated over and over like a hypnotic mantra:
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate wa Meiji（チョコレート チョコレート チョコレイトはメイジ～ ...Chocolate is Meiji）
The first time I heard it was when the popular aidoru duo of the late 1980s going into the 1990s, Wink, sang it coquettishly for the company. My assumption had been that the jingle was made just for them.
Well, how wrong I was! The "Meiji Chocolate Theme", which is also known as "Chocolate wa Meiji"（チョコレートは明治） and "Meiji Chocolate no Uta"（明治チョコレートの歌...The Meiji Chocolate Song）, was first created by famed songwriter Taku Izumi（いずみたく）, who was also responsible for the theme song for the long-running interview show "Tetsuko no Heya"（徹子の部屋） starring Tetsuko Kuroyanagi（黒柳徹子）, in 1966. The above ads were supposedly from 1967 and it's interesting to see that the commercials feature a father and his daughter enjoying the chocolate; apparently, Mom would have stopped that habit dead in its tracks. The very first version as noted above was sung by the vocal trio The Three Graces（スリー・グレイセス）who also sang the theme song for beloved anime "Mahotsukai Sally"（魔法使いサリー）in the same year of the Meiji theme's debut.
Reading through the J-Wiki article for Meiji, the theme song has been covered over the past half-century by many singers in their individual way, and one such band who did so was none other than the Group Sounds bunch known as The Tigers（ザ・タイガーズ）with Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）at the fore.
80s aidoru Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）gave her own contributions to the "Meiji Chocolate Theme" and other songs connected with the company.
Jun Matsumoto（松本潤）of Arashi（嵐）wasn't the one singing here but the theme gets a circus-like arrangement while the lad himself and his surroundings are very reminiscent of Willy Wonka.
Welcome back to the J-C AI Gallery where the Bing Image Creator takes my famous kayo kyoku or J-Pop titles and interprets them as best as it can. This week's theme is on those boozy Mood Kayo songs of yore. Remember to drink responsibly!😉
Back on June 14th, the weekly Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100 article was devoted to Sentimental City Romance's（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）"Natsu no Hi no Omoide ~ Dancing Music"（夏の日の想い出 ~ ダンシング・ミュージック）. In it, there was a reference to Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Synchronicity".
Now, to be perfectly transparent, I hadn't ever heard about "Synchronicity" which was Takeuchi's 32nd single. Actually, I should correct myself. The official title for the single was "Henshin/Synchronicity ~ Suteki na Guuzen"（返信/シンクロニシティ (素敵な偶然)...The Reply/Synchronicity ~ A Splendid Coincidence） that came out in September 2006.
So, one of those A-sides, "Synchronicity" is a song of a couple completely in lockstep with each other, written and composed by Mariya while her husband, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, took care of the arrangement. As for why Kimura referred to it in his glowing review for "Natsu no Hi no Omoide", he felt that it was an extension of the good ol' days of Sentimental City Romance back in the 1970s, and that's not surprising. As we can hear and see in the official music video, it looks like the Yamashitas brought back SCR to record the song together. The return of the steel pedal guitar gives it away immediately (of course, Tats is in the circle keeping his usual low profile while strumming away at his guitar).
Yeah, it's a sunny and pleasant country pop tune, and not only do I think it is an extension of the early days of Sentimental City Romance, perhaps it is also an extension of Mariya's debut album"Beginning"from 1978 because the band helped out a lot in the recording there, too. I guess I can consider the "Synchronicity" project a reunion of sorts.
The single hit No. 8 on Oricon and "Synchronicity" was used as a Meiji Chocolate chocolate-covered almonds commercial song. You can take a look at a very early ad below. I used to devour those like anything.
Yukako Hayase（早瀬優香子）is a singer that I discovered because of the work on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the past dozen years. So far, although there are only a few of her songs on the blog, I've gotten the impression that she's been able to gain her own loyal group of followers for her appealingly quirky brand of technopop.
Case in point: her April 1987 single"Tsubaki Hime no Natsu" (The Summer of the Lady of the Camellias). Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, even going late into the 1980s, Harry still had some of that remaining YMO magic spinning around in his head when he made what sounds like some happy techno cabaret for Hayase. I can imagine two professional tango robots tripping the light fantastic on the dance floor here.
"Tsubaki Hime no Natsu" also got a slight re-arrangement when it was placed on Hayase's July 1987 album"Polyester". It still keeps its techno sheen but it then maintains things a little more intimately as if the cabaret club got a little smaller and at the same time, it gains a bit more of that old Tin Pan Alley（ティン・パン・アレー）Tiki bar style. Incidentally, the single version was used for a Shiseido cosmetics campaign.
Really needed and still need some deep breaths right now. A few hours ago, I had a meltdown involving some people and how they act, and how I've had to endure it. Their responses exacerbated my mood further and I don't expect them to change nor feel apologetic; it's simply not their way.
"Shinkokyuu" (Deep Breaths) is a pop ballad by Hanaregumi（ハナレグミ）which served as his 5th and final CD single thus far released in May 2016 (since then, his singles have all been digital). Written and composed by the singer-songwriter, the lyrics seem to be telling a story of a young man remembering but not dwelling on his old self from yesteryear while taking those next steps into the future. The music video is similarly wistful and maybe I'm mistaken here, but it looks like the central character meets his future and past selves while looking for his lost dog. "Shinkokyuu" managed to reach No. 37 on Oricon.
It was well over a decade ago when I first provided the article for aidoru Yukie Kawakami's（河上幸恵）1983 debut single"Blue Etranger"（ブルーエトランゼ）, and it struck me as being quite a refined song for a teenybopper singer. I rather compared the song with the type of music that pop chanteuse Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）sang during that same period.
The other day, commenter YMOfan04 asked me about another single that Kawakami recorded in December 1984, "Heart no Neji"(Key to Your Heart), so I decided to check that one out as something that could be posted here as the aidoru's second KKP entry. Now to be fair, it's not just Kawakami but her and a robot named Tsutomu（ツトム）behind this much more conventionally upbeat and perky aidoru tune. The singer's voice is still pretty spot-on and appropriately girlish. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）was behind the lyrics while Kosho Inomata（水谷公生）took care of the music and Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）was responsible for the arrangement.
The last time I wrote up on the legendary band Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）was back in late 2022 when I posted their "Christmas Time Forever". After that, there came their "cameos" on Reminiscings of Youth articles, so it's nice to have Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, Yuko Hara（原由子） and company return to the byline.
Frankly, this SAS song was something that I had forgotten in the years since I first heard it some decades ago. And that's most likely due to the fact that I never saw the NTV 1996 drama "Toumei Ningen"（透明人間...The Invisible Man） starring SMAP's Shingo Katori（香取慎吾）as the title character. I do remember catching the commercials promoting it though because Katori was popping up nude (tastefully, though); I heard rumours that parts of his body had to be insured. Anyways, "Ai no Kotodama ~Spiritual Message~" (The Power of the Words of Love) was the ending theme.
As well, it was also used as the campaign song for au LISMO, the KDDI cellphone service and now as I remember it, "Ai no Kotodama" seemed to be the favourite on that Saturday night celebrity karaoke show, also on NTV. And perhaps that was no surprise since the show depended on the rankings of which one of them was Oricon where it scored a No. 1 following its release as SAS' 37th single in May 1996. It would rank in at No. 7 on the yearly charts. But still, for whatever reason, compared to some of the other hits by Southern All Stars, "Ai no Kotodama" never quite sank into my memories or psyche.
Maybe it was because the song just tried to cram itself with a ton of different influences. Usually I appreciate a mixture of genres but I think it was kinda like listening to the equivalent of a kid tossing everything but the kitchen sink into the closet when he hears his mother storming up the stairs to see if he actually cleaned up his room. "Ai no Kotodama" has got elements of dance club, Japanese festival, Indonesian rap, jazzy scat and English. Plus for the longest time, when I heard the song, I'd been under the impression that Kuwata was singing in French in parts. According to the J-Wiki writeup on "Ai no Kotodama", Kuwata had wanted to trip the light fantastic with his voice via all these different languages and sounds.
In the end, my ears and head were filled with this fruit salad in rum-spiked gelatin that incorporated virtually every single fruit on Earth in existence, and so I kinda went "Well, I'll just have to take it really slowly with this one here...small bites over many days". Basically, it's gonna have to grow on me. But in any case, "Ai no Kotodama" is also a track on the band's 12th original album"Young Love" from July 1996. It was also another chart-topper and like the single, it would also come in at No. 7 on the yearly charts.
