Shinsei Happy & Blue -- Akasaka Monogatari（赤坂ものがたり）

 

Among the ritzy districts of Ginza, Aoyama and Akasaka, I'd have to say that Akasaka was the one that I frequented the least. Not that I was a regular in any of those areas at all, but I don't remember going to Akasaka all that much...simply because the subway lines I used the most didn't really cross over to that particular neighbourhood. I guess I was more of a Ginza Line guy (although one station there is Akasaka-Mitsuke). However, in the relatively few times that I did stop by, my friends and I had some spicy Chinese ma bo do fu which knocked me out for a couple of days, another group of friends and I visited a few of the Korean restaurants there, and one student took me to his favourite izakaya. It was a given that I had never darkened the doors of any of the nightclubs and hostess clubs there.

Of course, in the area of music, Akasaka was also a frequent destination of sorts with the Mood Kayo vocal groups such as Los Indios' venerable "Como Esta Akasaka?"（コモエスタ赤坂）. Considering the number of watering holes in the area, it was pretty much a done deal that Mood Kayo would love this place.

Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue（敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー）has been around since the 1970s and they are well known for their 1977 muscular hit "Hoshi Furu Machikado" (星降る街角） which has been a popular one for karaoke fans of a certain generation. I think even I've sung it in one of the boxes. Well, the group has undergone a lot of personnel changes over the past fifty years with arguably the biggest one being the death of Ito himself only a couple of months ago in September at the age of 84. 

In 2021, there was a change to the name of the group. Known as Shinsei Toshi Ito to Happy & Blue（新✩敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー）, they released one single, and then earlier this spring, the name was shrunk slightly to Shinsei Happy & Blue with the leader and lead vocal being Masaru Rokudo（宍戸マサル）who had joined the group in 2006. The group marked the occasion with a new single showing their tribute to Akasaka titled "Akasaka Monogatari" (Akasaka Story) which covers the well-worn genre lyrical plot of locking eyes with a beautiful lady in one of those fancy bars. Written and composed by Rokudo, the Mood Kayo tune has gotten a bit more of a rock guitar snarl and the members have even received some pretty snazzy contemporary threads. Here's hoping that even in the 21st century, this bar-friendly genre still has some kick to keep going for a few more decades at least.