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.
An old friend of mine was once the liaison via the JET Programme between Kariya City in Aichi Prefecture and the city of Mississauga next to my hometown of Toronto which had me thinking about any sister-city relationships involving Toronto itself, notably with any Japanese cities. Well, strangely enough, Toronto does have such a relationship with Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture, not too far away from Tokyo.
One of my most notable students during my seventeen years living and working in the capital city area actually hails from Sagamihara, although I didn't know about the sister-city relationship at that time. She was definitely an Arashi-loving character who I met every Wednesday night at school; a lab technician in a hospital, she analyzed urine and fecal samples and we had a ball putting pet names such as "apple juice" and "fudge" on her targets, and joked about the fact that some patients were a little overzealous in their donations.
For the purposes of this blog though, I wanted to find out if there were any singers who came from Sagamihara, and I discovered that Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）was one such person. It was just a little over a week ago that I had included her in The Works of Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）Author's Picks article in which the Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）vocalist composed "Ai no Bunryo"（愛の分量）as a track on her 1985 album"Rakuen"（楽園...Paradise）.
Well, Tamaki came up with the music for another track on "Rakuen" which was "Mukashi Italia de"(Once Upon a Time in Italy). With lyrics by Masato Tomobe（友部正人）, this is a light technopop number arranged in a style of a 50/60s girl pop tune or even as a song from Italy at about the same time. Realizing that this is a Tamaki creation, it still makes me feel as if it were a Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子） number just from the whimsical nature and the synths involved.
As has been the case over the past several years, I've been keeping an eye on Shibuya whenever Halloween comes around because of the enormous crowds and cosplayers who show up on October 31st. Of course, there is the live camera pointed at the huge Shibuya Crossing but nowadays, there are those YouTubers who have done the walk-and-talk live broadcasts as they mill around the nooks and crannies of the Youth Mecca of Japan. Not sure how things went this year but my impression from the few minutes that I got from those sources is that though the huge rivers of humanity returned, there didn't seem to be the widespread mayhem of past years, but anyone who was actually there can set me straight.
In any case, I have one more Halloween tune here for 2024 and that would be former 80s aidoru Yu Hayami's（早見優）contribution in the form of "Yu-chan no Halloween"(Yu's Halloween). Written by Jimmy Brown（じみー・ぶらうん）and composed by Hiroshi Kishimoto（きしもと・ひろし）as this cute little toy march reminiscent of the somewhat more innocent event of the season that's been held on Omotesando Dori near Shibuya for many years, "Yu-chan no Halloween" is a track on the December 1992 album based on Hayami's own TV show "Hayami Yu no American Kids"（早見優のアメリカン・キッズ）, a kids' program that was broadcast every weekday for 15 minutes in the early evening between 1988 and 1994.
Because I'm typing this in the late afternoon on Halloween, the kids over here have yet to make their rounds of trick-or-treat. So, hopefully all of you children will have a good and safe time getting all that candy and stuff.
Well, Happy Halloween to everyone out there and for the folks in Los Angeles including my friend Rocket Brown, congratulations on the Dodgers winning the World Series. For some reason, the last few times I've used the Bing AI image generator, it wouldn't abide by the "...in anime style" instruction, so instead I've gotten a live-action Kayo Grace Kyoku and Mr. Calico. Still, didn't want that to stop the lady and the cat from having some fun with Halloween.
It was last year when I started the Sheena Easton file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" via the Reminiscings of Youth series with her 1980 hit "9 to 5 (Morning Train)", the first song that I ever heard by the Scottish singer/actress on the radio. And of course, since then, she's had her series of hits. However, next to "9 to 5", the song that I've always associated with Easton has been "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)", her August 1983 single.
By itself, "Telefone" is a catchy enough single but after hearing it as well a few times on the radio, it was the Halloween-themed music video that cemented things for me. Easton is someone who's been easy on the eyes for me and so to see her as the lady-in-distress running from the triple threat of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and King Kong was rather amusing. Strangely enough, the single wasn't a huge hit in the UK where it only reached up to No. 84, but in Canada and the United States, it broke into the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 9 respectively. It did hit No. 1 in Columbia, though.
Although I had already determined that "Telefone" would be the special Halloween ROY article for several months, I realized that it would be the ideal article to let folks know about the passing of actress Teri Garr a couple of days ago at the age of 79. She had been in numerous TV shows and movies including "Young Frankenstein", a movie that the music video for "Telefone" most reminded me of. The first time I saw Garr was on the second season finale of the original "Star Trek", "Assignment: Earth", as the stout-hearted if somewhat ditzy Roberta Lincoln and then of course, came all of those movies such as "Young Frankenstein", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Tootsie". As well, she was one of the few talk show guests that had me making a mental note to ensure me to watch, especially when she showed up on "Late Night with David Letterman". My condolences to her family, friends and fans.
Now, what was being released as singles in August 1983 in Japan?
Neotibicen linnei by Bruce Marlin via Wikimedia Commons
We have cicadas here in Canada, too, but the ones in Japan sound like they were inspired by heavy metal. At the end of every summer, they make their noise as if they were armed with amplifiers but I cannot deny that they are the harbingers of the end of a season and the entry into a cooler one.
In all likelihood, things are completely quiet now that we're fully into autumn, but I would like to introduce this folk duo SWAY that has given us this reminder of cicadas as the first track of their March 1994 album"Horo Basha"（ほろ馬車...Covered Wagon）. "Minminzemi no Natsu" (Robust Cicada Summer) is a relaxing and refreshing number delivered by Kana Sugiyama（杉山加奈）and Masako Horibe（堀部雅子）which brings to mind hot cloudless summer days and babbling brooks of fresh water. Sugiyama was responsible for the song's words and music. During a decade when folk songs were perhaps treated as nearly non-existent as compared to the 1960s and 1970s, for those who did discover SWAY, their discography must have been quite a nice change of aural scenery, especially with their harmonies.
Sugiyama and Horibe first joined up under the duo name of Sasori-za（さそり座...Scorpio） in the mid-1980s when they were only junior high school kids. They scored a nice hit with their debut single in 1985 and continued to sporadically release singles and albums in the folk, pop and anisongenres. In 1990, they changed their name to SWAY after which they released four singles and three albums. Horibe herself would leave the duo in 1999 due to marriage to be replaced by Megumi Maruo（丸尾めぐみ）, but SWAY itself would only last one more year before calling it a day because Sugiyama herself would get married and move over to Thailand.
This is the view that I had from my room in the R&B Hotel in Otsuka, Tokyo back in 2017. Nope, I wouldn't call it panoramic either but it was still glorious from my point of view because I was back in my old stomping grounds once more. Nice cool draft wafted in, too.😙
It's Wednesday...Hump Day once more...the peak of the week's doldrums so why not bring in something to bring up happiness levels a little. I offer "Nagame no Ii Heya" (A Room with a View) which comes from Pizzicato Five's November 1999 12th album"Pizzicato Five".
The album has been categorized on J-Wiki as a mere pop and rock album and perhaps P5 at this point had been fading away from its Shibuya-kei heyday, but "Nagame no Ii Heya" still sounds like the cool Japanese genre of the 1990s was still coursing through its veins. From the groovy rhythms to the over-the-top horns to the DeVol arpeggios to the vocals of the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）, I manage to get that feeling of yesteryear. Written and composed by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, Nomiya is joined by the leader of the rock band The Collectors,Hisashi Kato（加藤ひさし）, in this fun tete-a-tete. I've mentioned the band once before almost a couple of years ago when I wrote about their "Christmas Song".
Akira Fuse（布施明）appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）today. He usually comes onto the show about two or three times a year, by my reckoning and he looks mighty fine for a 76-year-old. In fact, the hosts acknowledged the fact that Fuse is celebrating his 60th anniversary in show business.
As I mentioned long ago in one of my early articles on Fuse, the man is one of a handful of singers that has that booming voice which can really project. I remember one commenter who complained that Fuse was frankly just booming all of his vocals off the walls in recent appearances which annoyed the heck out of him. To be honest, I once wondered if I ever had the opportunity to meet the singer, would he end up greeting me through two walls and the outer shell of the house? 😏
But in any case, one song that popped up in the short montage of his work was his March 1967 single"Koi"(Love). He was still technically a teenager at 19 in Japan when he sang of the wide spectrum of emotions that bursts out when exposed to love so I'm not sure whether he had already been fully aware of its implications and consequences. But getting out of that complicated circumstance, "Koi" has a tango-esque arrangement thanks to Masaaki Hirao's（平尾昌晃）melody; he also took care of the lyrics with Tetsu Mizushima（水島哲）.
It's interesting comparing the original recording with his later renditions of "Koi". Fuse was downright hesitant and halting with his delivery on the record but later on, it seems that experience and confidence brought some of the boom into his future performances. However even so, he's not quite as forceful as he is with some of his other hits.
Oricon was still not up and running when "Koi" had its own success, but it sold 700,000 records and Fuse received his first invitation onto the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1967 to perform this one.
In yesterday's article on "All Those Casablanca Songs", I mentioned that a couple of singers had given their rendition of Ichiro Toba's（鳥羽一郎）"Casablanca Goodbye" (カサブランカ・グッバイ) during a segment on the most recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）. Well, the segment involved one veteran enka singer graciously introducing a new singer to the fold, and in this case, the two singers were the eternally young Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）in the former role while the latter was represented by a fellow named Yuuta Matsuyama（松山優太）.
Matsuyama wasn't wearing the flashy suit or the yukata that the average male singer on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta" would often be garbed in. He looked like a fairly young guy in a rock n' roll leather suit who could have been pegged as Gen Hoshino's（星野源）brother. Plus, he even pulled off a tenor sax solo during "Casablanca Goodbye".
But once he got his feet wet with Yamauchi, Matsuyama performed his own single from February this year, "Koi Hanabi"(Love Fireworks). Described under the YouTube music video as a summer's-end love song with a bit of Latin taste, I figured from the choice of season that the story depicted in Matsuyama's own lyrics wouldn't have a particularly happy end to the romance. Ryusuke Taira's（平隆介） melody has been created so that although I'd first treated it as a potential New Adult Music tune, at the end, I put it down as a pop song without any big hints of either enka or Mood Kayo.
"Koi Hanabi" was Matsuyama's debut single as a solo artist. Back in 2004, he had founded a chorus singing trio called Juleps which came out with their own singles and albums including jingles for commercials. The group called it a day at the end of 2022. Along with also dabbling in acting, Matsuyama also has training as a mental health counselor.
Getting some of those cold feet before getting married? Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）probably didn't, but she can still feel your pain. In December 1979, she released her 28th single,"Aizenbashi"(Aizen Bridge).
Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）with some Kyoto dialect included, the song reflects the doubts and expectations of marriage via a famous bridge which actually existed somewhere in Osaka. The pensive but stylish melody was provided by Takao Horiuchi（堀内孝雄）which is interesting since his old partner from the folk group Alice（アリス）, Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）, had been behind an earlier hit by Yamaguchi, "Ii Hi Tabidachi"(いい日旅立ち). In fact, I'd say that the song almost borders on an enka ballad. Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）took care of the arrangement.
"Aizenbashi" reached No. 10 on Oricon and ended up as the No. 69 single for 1980. It was also included on the singer's 19th studio album"Harutsugedori"（春告鳥...Japanese Bush Warbler） from February 1980 which hit No. 5 on the album chart. The single sold a little over 270,000 records and by doing so, Yamaguchi topped 10 million records sold for all of the singles thus far in her career. In that same year of 1979, aidoru duo Pink Lady and enka singer Shinichi Mori（森進一）also pulled off the same feat.
Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）gave her own refined cover of "Aizenbashi" through her 1994 album"Utahime"（歌姫）with more emphasis on the Asian and orchestral aspects.
I threw "Moon over Casablanca in Art Deco style" into the Bing AI art generator last night and I got a pretty good image, but then I saw those huge skyscrapers in the background and went "What?". Don't ever recall seeing concrete towers over Rick and Ilsa in the legendary "Casablanca". But then again, my mind was returning to 1942 instead of staying anchored firmly in 2024. The Moroccan city now has skyscrapers including the Casablanca Twin Center. No idea whether there is a Rick's Café Américain in there.
Now as for why I'm mooning over Casablanca at the start of this work week is that yesterday, NHK had its usual episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）, and a couple of singers performed a cover of Ichiro Toba's（鳥羽一郎）"Casablanca Goodbye" (カサブランカ・グッバイ). Realizing that I've gone over a couple of other kayo kyoku with the famous city in their title, I decided that perhaps I can highlight those Casablanca songs. By no means is the word Casablanca as ubiquitous in Japanese song titles as the words "ai"（愛...love） or "haru"（春...spring）, but considering the city's pedigree in pop culture everywhere, I just thought it was good enough for an Author's Pick.
Since the list isn't too extensive, I thought I would finish things off with a rendition of the immortal "As Time Goes By" from "Casablanca" by jazz singer Yasuko Agawa（阿川泰子）from her 1978 album"Flyin' Over". Also, just to let you know, the movie will be celebrating its 82nd birthday at the end of next month.
The above image was something that I whipped up back in the summer when I was doing the AI gallery for Kentaro Shimizu's（清水健太郎）"Shitsuren Resutoran" (失恋レストラン...Heartbreak Restaurant）, but I think the image will also come in handy for this particular song, too.
Enka is a genre that has managed to survive pretty comfortably into the 2020s with some of its songs hitting the Oricon Top 10, but I think it's safe to say that its heyday was a few decades ago, between the 1950s and 1980s. So, when I hear of an enka tune that hit the really big time going into the final decade of the 20th century, my attention is caught.
That's where Gen Takayama's（高山厳）song "Kokoro Koorasete" (Freeze My Heart) comes in. Takayama had started his music career partnered up withHirofumi Bamba（ばんばひろふみ）and Hiroshi Imai（今井ひろし）in the folk group Banban（バンバン）in 1971 before going solo in 1975. There had been some lean years before his 14th single from August 1992 was released, but when it did, "Kokoro Koorasete", an elegant enka/New Adult Musicballad about a man possibly on the verge of losing his significant other if not already, became a huge long-running hit for the next couple of years, selling over 750,000 copies.
The song was composed by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）with lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, who had also written Teresa Teng's（テレサテン）"Tsugunai"（つぐない）, a song that I compare with "Kokoro Koorasete" in terms of similar tone and rhythm. "Kokoro Koorasete" went Platinum as it hit No. 10 on the Oricon weeklies. In the yearly rankings, the ballad managed to become the 85th-ranked single for 1993 and even clawed further up the chart the following year to finish in the No. 58 spot. It also won a number of awards and earned Takayama his one and only appearance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1993 to give his quiet and tenderhearted performance.
Happy Sunday! Looks like we're in the middle of an election-packed period. Japan's Lower House elections are taking place as I type this, Election Day in America is just a smattering of days away, and Canada might have its own soon enough depending on how cranky the Opposition gets over the next couple of weeks.
It's one of those rare times when I encounter different singers with the exact same name in romaji, at least. I already have one Yukari Yamamoto（山本由香利）, an aidoru of the 1970s up on KKP, but just recently, I discovered another Yukari Yamamoto（山本ゆかり）who had her own aidoru career, mostly in the 1980s. Plus, her kanji depiction is somewhat different, but I've had to make some adjustments in the Labels as you can see way down below.
Anyways, this native of Sasebo City in Nagasaki Prefecture debuted with the single "Watashi MAILUWA" from June 1984. Seeing that romaji there, I had first assumed that Yamamoto promised to send a letter, but actually, the songwriters, consisting of lyricist/composer Takashi Tsushimi（都志見隆）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, got a little cute and the title means in current vernacular "I'm So Done". "Watashi MAILUWA", a tune about a teenage girl pining for a lone wolf kid, begins promisingly with some of that jangly guitar and boppy bass as Yamamoto delivers in a slightly sing-songy exotic Asia way in the first verses and then does some vocal fancy dancing before she hits the chorus. It was quite the snazzy way to begin her recording career. The song also got onto her debut album"The MAJI" which was released in October.
As I mentioned above, most of her seven singles and three albums came out between 1984 and 1988 with her final single and album being released in 1996. In recent years, Yamamoto has been splitting her time among being a radio DJ, an event emcee and a voice trainer in Tokyo.
I guess I'll leave Kayo Grace and her boyfriend to their tender moment alone. 💕Anyways, I was listening to Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast from several days ago, and he was focusing on the album "Winter Gift Pops" from November 1997. It was compiled by singer-songwriter and producer Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and it isn't strictly a Xmas album, but then again, the title is able to skirt that accusation since, well, gifts can be given on Valentine's Day and White Day which are still in the winter season.
Track 5 on "Winter Gift Pops" which starts at around 19:00 of the podcast is "Anata dake I Love You"(I Love Only You) by Miwako Saito（さいとうみわこ）. It sounds just like a song that either Sugi or the late great Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）would create, and guess what? It is indeed Ohtaki who wrote and composed this one while Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）took care of the arrangement which adds a few more interesting bells and whistles to what is a 50s or 60s girl pop song.
Scott goes into Saito's history but I'll also come in here to say that the Tokyo-born singer began her career in 1978 as the vocalist for the girls' band Neko Musume（猫娘...Catgirl） before starting up another similar band Tango Europa（タンゴ・ヨーロッパ）in 1980 while attending Nihon University College of Art. The band broke up in 1984 after which Saito went on a solo singing career with four singles and seven full albums and mini-albums.
Since listening to Saito's take on "Anata dake I Love You", it didn't take long before YouTube steered me in the direction toward the original singer behind the song, Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）. This was Sudo's 7th single from November 1981 with Ohtaki and Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）handling the arrangement which really brings back those girl pop vibes from sixty to seventy years ago, and Sudo was one of the masters of the genre. "Anata dake I Love You" was also found even earlier on her debut album"Chef's Special" which had been released in June 1980.
Over the past few years, I've been discovering a number of acts that have straddled the line between 1980s synthpop and Neo-City Pop such as Vantage, Milk Talk and DÉ DÉ MOUSE. Not surprisingly, some of them have collaborated to create their mood music for the evening. Last year, Milk Talk and Vantage got together to come up with "Million Miles Away", for instance.
The time between my discoveries of Milk Talk and DÉ DÉ MOUSE was a little over a year but I figured that if Milk Talk and Vantage could get together to make a song, then it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Q.i, Hair Kid and Daisuke Endo（遠藤大介）would eventually cooperate on a project of their own. And so, in September, we got the Milk Talk and DÉ DÉ MOUSE song "Beautiful Criminal" with Hair Kid working on words and music while Q.i took on the co-lyricist role and Endo was the co-composer.
"Beautiful Criminal" is a Vaporwave-y film noir soundscape that feels naturally nocturnal as all three performers and songwriters stumble their way through the dark alleys and streets of a foreboding Tokyo. Q.i's breathy and sultry voice is suitable for the atmosphere as she sings about what seems to be a detective searching for a suspicious mystery woman who may be transforming into something more for the private eye. I'd say that the song would have been ideal for a Michael Mann movie.
"Monday Morning Rain" is a bright City Pop tune reflecting those late 1970s when that desired hope of a resort life came a bit closer, and as trendily expressed today, it's something that's chock-filled with celebrity vibes. Even so, Yasunori Soryo's（惣領泰則）sound production is of such high quality that its splendid sophistication makes it hard to believe that it was made over 40 years ago.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
The last time I wrote about Yumi Seino（清野由美）was back in the summer of 2018 when I posted her snazzy Bacharach-esque"Gin no Koibito"（銀の恋人）. This happened to be the B-side to her 1982 single"Wet Morning".
Well, I finally encountered the A-side not too long ago, and it's also a winner though different in tone and style. "Wet Morning" was written by Mirai Minegishi（嶺岸未来）and composed by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）as more contemplative City Pop; this is a tune that could have easily been covered by pop balladeers of the time such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. It's got that wailing electric guitar and those juicy chords at the beginning to have me all nostalgic for the music of the 1980s in Japan.
I've been gathering together a number of singer-songwriter Kuniko Fukushima's（福島邦子）songs for quite a while now, and it's too bad that she's been one of the lesser-known chanteuses out there because I've found her music a nice example of City Pop and New Music in the late 1970s going into the 1980s.
This time, I'm going back to her very first single"Good-bye" which was released in February 1978. Written and composed by Fukushima with both her and Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）handling the arrangement, it starts out with a slow lone piano before things strut off into a soft disco direction highlighted with a twirling keyboard riff. Fukushima's vocal shuffle goes off into a kiss-off of a now-erstwhile paramour often punctuated by a rollicking honky-tonk piano and a solid background chorus.
The B-side, "Subete wa Futari ni"(It's All Down to the Two of Us), was completely taken care of by Fukushima, and it's a more elegant sunset ballad that has feelings of blues and soft rock. This time, the electric guitar has some centre stage of its own.
I have to admit that I hadn't known what my ears were getting into as the first thirty seconds of "Yasashii Tetsugaku" (A Gentle Philosophy) were getting under way. A bouncing then galloping electro rhythm followed by strings and then French horns. I knew that Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）and Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）were the collaborators so I was expecting something distinct and certainly those thirty seconds were slowly raising expectations within me.
Then, the guitars and keyboards that reminded me of 1970s progressive rock and West Coast AOR simultaneously crashed right in. The rest of "Yasashii Tetsugaku" rises and falls in level of intrigue although the overall song is solid as I get to hear Shiina sing something that's not jazzy or supremely techno for the first time in a while. Tomita Lab took care of the melody while Shiina was the lyricist for this track from the former's 4th album"Joyous" from October 2013.
As for what this gentle philosophy is, looking at Shiina's lyrics, I get hints of the Force, Zen and the need to work together to reach that Nirvana.
Perhaps the above byline is a little longer and odder than usual but in my defense, I have to explain that all the way back in January, I had jumped the mighty gun and already spoke on singer-songwriter Junk Fujiyama's（ジャンクフジヤマ）most recent album, the album of covers known as "Shoukei Toshi ~ City Pop Covers"(City of Aspirations), several weeks before it was even officially released in March. I was too taken by the tasting menu of Junk's covers of "Telephone Number" by the late great Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）and then "Windy Summer" by Anri（杏里）that were already up on YouTube.
Generally speaking, I don't usually go for albums of cover versions since I'm always going to think that the originals will be far better, but cuing ahead several months, I finally pulled the trigger and bought my copy of "Shoukei Toshi" a couple of weeks ago just on Fujiyama's reputation and his takes on "Telephone Number" and "Windy Summer". Besides, considering how I've wondered how Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）would have handled some of those other City Pop songs outside his own contributions, "Shoukei Toshi" was my best chance to find out.
The cover of "Futari no Natsu Monogatari"（ふたりの夏物語）is another winning one by Junk. Retaining the dashing pace of the 1985 original by Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe, there are fewer bells and whistles in the arrangement but it's still got summer right here. In a way, it's perhaps more reflective of the times now when compared to the craziness of the Bubble Era years of those high-flying 80s (although I don't think stingrays were flying over Tokyo back then).
Up to this time, there probably have been more covers of "Mayonaka no Door 〜 Stay With Me"（真夜中のドアー）than there are shooting stars in the sky, but if one is doing an album of City Pop covers, this song by the late Miki Matsubara（松原みき）obviously has to be in here. In fact, there are two versions including this one that is the final track of "Shoukei Toshi". This version of "Stay With Me" though is done as a duet between Junk and singer-songwriter/keyboardist biki from Saitama Prefecture. It has a bit more keyboard groove and key changes, and the dynamics between the two singers bring some more excitement to the proceedings.
But it isn't just the City Pop from the 1970s and 1980s that's been covered by Fujiyama. He also tackles benzo's 1998 light and funky "Mahiru"（真昼）which I first discovered on one of my "Light Mellow" albums. Aside from the timbre of the vocals, there isn't all that is much different between the original and the cover, although of course, both are fine songs.
The cover that deviates the most from the original among the tracks on the album is the 1983 "Tasogare no Bay City"（黄昏のBay City）, one of Junko Yagami's（八神純子）big hits and a City Pop pillar. Not quite sure how to describe it, except that the funky disco has been replaced by a certain spacey atmosphere. No, I have to admit that this isn't my favourite track; I miss the horns.
I'll finish up here with his cover of Yumi Arai's（荒井由実）"Ame no Station"（雨のステイション）which was originally from Yuming's 3rd album"Cobalt Hour" (1975). This track is still a few away from the last one but it feels like a final song for the album since Junk takes the New Music ballad and makes it even more anthemic, though it still holds to that somewhat downbeat and reserved tone of the original.
For me, these are the highlights of "Shoukei Toshi" although I will at least cover one of the remaining tracks on its own because I hadn't even heard the original version by Original Love.
As of 2016, Sumiaki Iwata（岩田純明）was the president and chief executive officer of a corporation known as iNet Groups which, according to this webpage, was responsible for a number of restaurants including ones for donburi and ramen.
However, back in the 1970s, Iwata had a much more different life as a young man. He was actually a folk singer from Shiga Prefecture for about six years, and in 1973, he debuted under the name of Sumiaki-kun（すみあきくん）and released his debut single, the amiably comical "Man'in Densha"(Full Train). Having written and composed the song, the lad sang about being another one of those millions of corporate cogs going through the usual routine of boarding the train and enduring the uncomfortable ride to work. Perhaps after leaving show business, he probably had to really do that before reaching the top of the corporate mountain some decades later.
Sumiaki-kun released several more singles including an anime theme for the 1974 "Dame Oyaji"（ダメおやじ...Failed Dad）. He eventually returned to his native prefecture after several years in Tokyo, and began his corporate career by going into display work for store interior designs and signboards.
First off, I will have to apologize to all of those Rickie Lee Jones fans out there. When it comes to the Chicago-born singer, songwriter and musician, there are only two things that I remember about her. One is the "SCTV" parody of that K-Tel album containing all of the cover versions of "Stairway to Heaven" in which Catherine O'Hara was emulating Jones' scatting jazz style for her take at around 1:07 above.
The other thing that I remember about Rickie Lee is "Chuck E.'s in Love", and if I have to remember anything about her, it should be this song. And I was surprised to find out that this song that had been created around a friend's (songwriter Charles E. Weiss) sudden telephone declaration of love as transmitted via her then-boyfriend Tom Waits was her first single from April 1979. I had assumed that Jones had been around for some years before that since that saucy drawl of a delivery was something that could only have come about through years of singing and playing and experience-building, but the rookie apparently hit it out of the ballpark like Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.
It occasionally got onto the radio and what I remember along with Jones' singing is the slow playful strut of an arrangement as if the music were representing a pixie-ish Jones herself shuffling happily in her most comfortable neighbourhood one afternoon, greeting all of the neighbours and smiling to herself in some satisfaction after Chuck E. finally made that confession. In a way, I think "Chuck E.'s in Love" is a bit of a cousin to Billy Joel's earlier "Rosalinda's Eyes" in that with both I get that friendly and family-like atmosphere within an American inner-city community. Everyone knows each other and no secret stays secret for long...and she's perfectly fine with that.
Both in America and Canada, "Chuck E.'s in Love" did very well with it hitting No. 4 and No. 5 respectively on their countries' music charts. At the 1980 Grammys, Jones won Best New Artist and was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for the song.
"Chuck E.'s in Love" was released on April 28th 1979. I could find the April 30th Oricon rankings, so let's see what the Top 3 songs were that day.
The photo above is the one that I took at our favourite izakaya in Toronto, Kingyo, back on Boxing Day 2018. That was indeed a pretty sumptuous tonkatsu dinner. I actually met up with an old friend there earlier today for lunch and in the intervening years which included those dealing with the pandemic, Kingyo has converted from a whole restaurant into a smaller restaurant with a store. I don't think we can have the year-end parties that we used to have there but it is still nice to go there for lunch once in a while.
Anyways, I still have my three articles (including the weekly ROY) to post up today as would usually be the case for a Thursday but I'm still digesting my mighty meal at Kingyo and therefore I'm not exactly overflowing with energy right now, so I'm starting with an Oricon Rankings article, and I was able to find a Top 10 from exactly thirty years ago.
1. Chisato Moritaka Suteki na Tanjoubi
2. Maki Ohguro Eien no Yume ni Mukatte
3. TUBE Melodies & Memories
4. Ryoko Shinohara Koishisa to Setsunasa to Kokorotsuyosa to
I was doing some maintenance with hard drives and stuff, and I got to my anime one where I got to see the first episode of "Ochikobore Fruit Tart"（おちこぼれフルーツタルト...Dropout Idol Fruit Tart） for the first time in a few years. This 2020 coming-of-age comedy starring a quintet of girls trying to become an aidoru group was funny and it came out at a time when all of us could do with a lot of funny somehow, somewhere and sometime.
The last time I wrote anything having to do with the anime was back in late 2021 when I provided the article for the ending theme "Wonder!"（ワンダー!）. Of course, there were a few other insert songs which I covered, but I had completely forgotten one that showed up near the end of the first episode. "Nezumi Sentai Nezu Ranger" (The Mouse Rangers of the Mouse Squadron). Initially introduced as the unofficial theme song for the girls' dormitory, Mouse House, the four (at the time) residents got together to perform this adorable tokusatsu tune as their first Fruit Tart tune in front of the neighbourhood train station. Lyricist Sasa Ando（安藤紗々）and composer Eiko Shimamiya（島みやえい子）took care of the song.
Once again, we've reached Hump Day or the doldrums of a weekly Wednesday, so as such, I wanted to something a little different. I haven't done a Creator article since "The Works of Ayumi Date"（伊達歩）back last November, so I decided to go with that today. And today's Creator contribution will be on the works of singer-songwriter Koji Tamaki.
Of course, everyone has known him for decades as the vocalist of successful pop-rock group Anzen Chitai（安全地帯） and as a wonderful solo singer who has the ability to make granite weep. However, he has also provided many songs for other singers over the years as well. His band had developed a certain recognizable sound in their music in the early days but I've found that Tamaki the composer was more wide-ranging in the melodies that he has concocted for others.
The second track from Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Garland" album, "Gokai"(Misunderstandings) wasn't a song that was a hit with me initially. I was still in my early phases of appreciating music from all over, and this mix of playfully sultry pop strut and light reggae was perhaps a little much for me at the time, but fortunately, time and experience have proven fruitful. I could easily imagine Tamaki handling this solo but he can still be heard backing Takahashi.
To be honest, if you had told me in the old days that Tamaki had been responsible in creating the melody for one of Akina's（中森明菜）biggest early hits, I would have just scoffed. Perhaps it was due to the arrangement and of course the singer's then-high vocals, but it sounded like a typically dramatic aidoru tune and nothing related at all to Anzen Chitai. However, I've learned that being able to go beyond the sound that a singer has been recognized for and provide something that fits the other singer's style is an asset.
I would have said the same thing that I did for the above Akina tune for one of Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）most famous songs, "Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa", and it also happens to be one of the most famous anison for one of the more beloved anime "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）. Mind you, the first few measures of the song has reminded me a bit of the old Anzen Chitai sound but the rest of it is pure breezy melodic optimism.
The technopop aside, there is something rather Tamaki-esque in the melody for Seri Ishikawa's（石川セリ）"Ai no Bunryo" (Amount of Love). In some of those Anzen Chitai songs and Tamaki's own solo discography, there have been signs of secrecy or sneakiness, and in fact, Tamaki's own countenance has had those certain saturnine qualities. I think "Ai no Bunryo" has a dollop of that as well as some of that racing guitar which reminds me of him, too.
(1993) Kaori Kozai -- Mugonzaka（無言坂）
Now, the whole impetus behind me putting up a Creator article for Tamaki is this song right here. When I was watching "Uta Con"（うたコン）yesterday, the show devoted some of its minutes on the Japanese utahime who included enka singer Kaori Kozai（香西かおり）. Ironically, although the Kozai file on KKP is quite healthy, I realized that I had yet to include what is arguably one of her greatest hits, so here it is.
"Mugonzaka"(The Silent Hills) was indeed composed by Tamaki, so he can provide music for enka as well. And the melody is sweeping and earthy (perfect for a go-touchi song) as it envelops the lyrics of Mitsuhiko Kuze（久世光彦） (although he went by the pen name of Mutsuki Ichikawa「市川睦月」 for "Mugonzaka") who came up with them based on the hills within his hometown of Toyama City in Toyama Prefecture. Kuze's lyrics talk of a local romance that has gone so far off the rails that one can no longer go home again in all meanings of the phrase.
Released as Kozai's 6th single in March 1993, "Mugonzaka" won the Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards that year as it hit No. 10 on Oricon. It would end up being performed five times at the Kohaku Utagassen between 1993 and 2007, and as the biggest tribute, "Mugonzaka" has been covered by a number of artists including Tamaki himself in his 2012 "Offer Music Box".
Well over a year ago, I introduced a brief-career aidoru by the name of Yoko Nakamura（中村容子）via her 1984 debut single"Teenage Soldier"（ティーンエイジ・ソルジャー）. I also compared her slightly with 90s singing star Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）due to those high and clear bell-like tones.
Now, allow me to take you to her fourth and final single"Natsu Iro My Heart" (Summer Color My Heart) which was released in June 1985. Written by Hiromi Fukunaga（福永ひろみ）, composed by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, she doesn't quite sound like Hirose here as her vocals are somewhat more reserved but still girlish. There's something also kinda Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）as well when Nakamura sings those verses along with Sagisu's arrangements and the wailing electric guitar and those gliding strings giving a certain refinement to everything.
I've mentioned this once before, but I've always found it fascinating whenever I get to hear or see something that has had a long and venerable reputation in their earliest days because that is when I get to hear and see elements that existed back then but have since been smoothed out or eliminated immediately. That can be true from anything or anyone from a beloved TV series to a veteran singer.
Recently, I also discovered this as well with the late singer-songwriter Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）. For literally decades, I've been accustomed to listening to Murashita with his mellow and reassuring vocals which will always be recognizable to me. However, I learned that though his official discography began in 1980, he had released a self-produced album in 1979 titled "Sorezore no Kaze"（それぞれの風...Every Wind）, and on that album is the track "Yataizake" (A Drink at the Yatai).
by Eejyanaika at Wikimedia Commons
Now, as a quick aside...for those who may not know what a yatai（屋台）is, it's the traditional old wooden cart selling particular dishes whether it be ramen or oden. It's been seen as a mobile people's plaza, especially if it sets up shop regularly at night at a particular spot such as in front of a train station.
Anyways, "Yataizake" is a warmhearted country-style folk ballad about returning to that beloved yatai after some time away. The interesting part of this early Murashita song isn't the genre since folk was something that was naturally born to the singer, but it was his voice. It wasn't the familiar gliding voice but something that had a bit more of a rasp to it (maybe to reflect the time at the yatai). He was dipping down into the lower registers a bit more than usual but once he reached the main chorus, there were the hints for that amazing Murashita voice that I first got to know in the 1980s.
It's been mentioned that "Sorezore no Kaze", though it still exists as a rare LP, it's yet to get its release on other media including compact disc. Perhaps after 45 years, maybe it's time to do so.
I was flipping through one of the recent Hachiro Kasuga posthumous fan club (全国春日八郎偲ぶ会… Zenkoku Kasuga Hachiro Shinobu Kai) magazines when I came across a rather interesting column: Kasuga Hachiro no Imēji wo Kanji Hito-moji de Arawasu. This survey asks its members to dig deep into their love for dear Kasuga Sensei and transform that love into a single kanji character. It’s supposed to be a fun little take on the annual Japanese (?) tradition of picking a kanji character that best represents the year as it comes to a close.
The results, drawn from 86 votes, were fascinating. Considering his status as the top of the enka world, it didn’t come as a surprise for the man said to be enka himself to described with “艶” and “演”, both in first and third place respectively. Sharing third place with “演” was “心”, “情”, “美” and “粋”. However, I was quite surprised to see second place as “誠”. While it can mean “truth”, it can also mean “sincerity”. Considering Hachi’s dedication to his craft and closeness to his fans, I can understand why it was chosen.
This got me thinking: What does Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) mean to me and how would I describe him in a single word? I wracked simple brain to come up with something, but it came up with too many. Hachi means a lot to me, so I'm unable to reduce that into a singular word. But I’ve managed to narrow it down to three, and I would like to share them here together with some songs that encompass their meanings. I thought it'd be a good way to commemorate his death anniversary, which falls on 22nd October. Today would mark 33 years since he left mortal coil.
From "Shinobu"
A few of the songs that appeared on my updated favourites list contributed to my choice of kanji, but since I’ve already talked about them, I will feature other songs that missed out on the Top 10 (this time around) here.
Nakazu ni okure to ii nagara (Please don't cry, I say)
Itsuka oira mo naiteita (As I, at some point, also begin to cry)
Comfort when I hit some of my roughest patches. Among the singers I love, Hachi's gentle vocals come across as the most empathetic, and sometimes that's exactly what you need to feel better.
Doko de nani shite kurasou to (Whatever you do and where ever you go)
Ame wa furu furu haru wa kuru (The rain will fall and fall, spring will come)
Seku na isogu na ningen wa (Don't hurry, don't rush. Us, people)
Ikiteiru ucha shinu monoka (Don't live just to die)
Encouragement to propel me forward, reminding me that the bad times won't last. Encouragement to do my best, but also reminding me to take it easy sometimes.
夢: Ashita no Tame ni (明日のために) (1969)
Omae ga nakushita shiawase wa (The happiness you've lost)
Kono te de kitto torikaesu (Will be returned by these hands)
Motto sugare yo tsumetai yubi da (Hang on a little more, those cold fingers)
Ore no makoto de atatamete (Will be warmed by my sincerity)
Ni do to nakaseru ni do to nakaseru ashita ni shinai (I won't make a tomorrow that'll make you cry again)
My dream was to study my favourite singer. By divine power, that dream became a reality, but it wasn't without it's challenges. At a very early stage, I didn't think it was even possible and actually wanted to give up and do my thesis on something else. But then, I remembered that the whole reason I chose academia was to bring the singer, Hachiro Kasuga into the spotlight for more to see and appreciate. More than a year later, it's finally coming together. I've joked that Hachi being my main study subject gives me almost no respite from him. But it's also exactly because it's Hachi, so I'm able to trudge forward in my research endeavors and do things I didn't think I was capable of.
At the end of the day, everyone has their own way of perceiving Hachiro Kasuga. Like many others, the few kanji I picked leaned towards seeing the singer as a source of encouragement, but also the reason why I chose the path I'm on right now. Others see him as the embodiment of enka, or a father figure. Or, maybe, all of the above. Whatever it is, he will be everyone's Hacchan, Kasuga Sensei, and Hachi.
Sore de iin da. Naa, Hacchan (That's also fine. Hey, Hacchan)
Hoshi ni mo kikasete utaou ka (Let's sing for the the stars to hear too)
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