Noriko Hidaka -- Hatsukoi Sunshine（初恋サンシャイン）

 

Not sure if I ever mentioned this thing about haikyo（廃墟）which refers to the abandoned ruins or remains of a building or town. Perhaps it doesn't get any attention in the West but apparently in Japan, there are websites devoted to these eerie decrepit places that were once bustling structures and folks even try to explore them like the Scooby Gang at a haunted house. I once even sent a link of one of these sites to a student of mine who had first told me about haikyo only for him to ask me politely not to send any more links since this particular one was creeping him out.

Anyways, the above example of haikyo is what was once Nio Sunshine Land（仁尾サンシャインランド）, an amusement park in Kagawa Prefecture which had its time between 1984 and 1995 following its predecessor, the Nio Sun Exposition（仁尾太陽博）which ran between 1981 and 1983. From what other information I've read in its J-Wiki article, even what's showing in the YouTube video above has been completely cleared from existence.

But let's go back to rosier times, shall we? Singer and voice actress Noriko Hidaka（日髙のり子）had just begun her career as an aidoru with a January 1980 single under her real name of Noriko Ito（いとうのりこ）, but then with her 2nd single, she took on the stage name of Hidaka. That sophomore single was "Hatsukoi Sunshine" (First Love Sunshine) which was released later that year in December.

From the whimsical melody by Koichi Sugiyama（すぎやまこういち）, and yes it's the same guy behind the iconic "Dragon Quest" soundtrack, I was going to think that "Hatsukoi Sunshine" was a theme song for some shojo anime. However, it was actually the image song for the aforementioned Nio Sun Exposition. Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）was the lyricist for a story for falling heads-over-heels under a blazing sun and blue sky. Well, it's kinda too bad that the amusement park has gone to that architectural ash heap but we still have a musical reminder of what was. Ah, by the way, the audio tends to skip a couple of times.