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.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
We hit the big 1000 for the year through Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Denwa"（電話）last night. Well, thanks to today's articles including Noelle's tribute to Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) earlier today, we have now reached the 100th article for December, the most we've had for any month this year. And unless someone else among us wants to add anymore to the blog today, this will be my final posting for 2025.
The 100th article for December will be INSHOW-HA's "WANNA". I haven't posted anything by the duo represented by MICA and miu since 2022 for their 2013 "SWAP" which has one pretty nifty music video to go along with their brand of synthpop. The more pop-rock"WANNA" which leads off their most recent EP, "Sputnik", from May 2021 also has a stunning music video as the ladies portray relentless rebels in a future dystopia, fighting with the power of percolating and percussive music.
"WANNA" was also used as the ending theme for the late-night variety show "Kamaitachi no Okite"（かまいたちの掟...Kamaitachi's Law） on the regional San-in Chuo Television Broadcasting network. Kamaitachi happens to be a popular comic duo that I've seen from time to time even through Jme.
From all of us here at "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we wish you a very Happy New Year and a great start to 2026!
Considering that we seem to be getting our jollies out of putting up those Author's Picks over the past several days, I might as well post something related to parties. After all in North America at least, tonight is the biggest party night of the year. So, let us bring over some song titles with "party" in them.
Happy New Year's Eve! Perhaps some of you are getting ready for the biggest party of the year at homes or hotels. Hopefully, you'll have a find time tonight as the countdown progresses towards the end of 2025.
I have a bit of a mystery here. There's barely anything on this singer named You Ishihara（石原祐）who has been referred to as the "Female Julie"; basically she was seen as the woman version of Kenji "Julie" Sawada（沢田研二）, the flamboyant artist who was once the lead singer for the Group Sounds band The Tigers. And that's basically the only thing I could glean from a brief blurb on the Takechas website.
The only other thing there was that the famed songwriters, lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）who had also created magic for the real Julie, including "Casablanca Dandy"（カサブランカ・ダンディ）, was also the duo behind Ishihara's possibly one-and-only 1978 single"Hakka Tabako" (Hakka Cigarettes). Quite the downtown kayo kyoku with the spirited strings and guitar in addition to the nice and sharp horns, although Ishihara doesn't look anything like Sawada (she kinda looks as if she had graduated from the Takarazuka Academy), the comparison is probably more with the plaintive balladeer-like vocal style that Sawada possesses. To be honest, I can also compare her to similarly husky-voiced Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）. Not sure whatever became of her.
It's hard to believe that another year is coming to a close. Looking back on 2025, I did a lot, especially in the realm of ryukoka and kayokyoku, so much so that I’d mistaken some events for having taken place the year before. That said, I’m exhausted. I don’t know what’s in store for 2026, but I look forward to it.
Anyways, during some Decembers, I usually put up an Author's Picks article that summarises all or some of what I like. I ended up going with the latter. What theme did I go with? Well, for the main ingredient, we have my favourite Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎). That is to say that all the songs featured will be his. They are commonly called Kasuga Bushi (春日節… Kasuga Song). And then, we have 3 different spices to add to this main ingredient: Isao Hayashi (林伊佐緒), Toshiyo Kamata (鎌多俊与), and Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴). These 3 men worked as composers in postwar King Records and spawned a plethora of hits for the artists they wrote for, including Kasuga. Other King Records composers are most known for creating the Kasuga Bushi with its signature plaintive sound, and I may talk about them in an article similar to this another time. But here, I will only highlight a Kasuga Bushi made by the aforementioned 3.
Why Hayashi, Kamata, and Nakano specifically? Because their faces make my heart melt. It's really as simple as that. Well, there is also the fact that I have been looking into their works on my own volition, so it’s easier for me to curate an article about them. I actually got this idea when coming up with a theme to my song selection at the bi-monthly Kasuga Enka Denshokai (春日艶歌伝承会) karaoke circle. Dubbed the "Handsome Boy Composer" theme, each of the 3 songs I picked were composed by these 3 guys. With the context out of the way, let's begin.
Catching Both Rabbits with Isao Hayashi: Rozario no Shima (ロザリオの島) (1964)
Getting the ball rolling is Hayashi sensei. Among the 3 composers here, he had made the most number of Kasuga Bushi (about 24, give or take, excluding unreleased and made-to-order external requests), and can be considered one of the fan favourite Kasuga Bushi producers. An old guard of King Records, he had been wearing both the singer and composer hats since the early 1930s, and would often be singing his own works. Apparently, he had been advised to focus on one path and not double dip, using the proverb "If you run after two hares, you will catch neither." The man himself even admitted that he might have been more successful if he stuck to just singing or music-making. But he felt that he was most happy doing both, even if it costed the (relatively) reduced fame, and so that's what he did until the end of his life. Considering his list of successes in both fields, though, I think it's safe to say that he managed to catch both rabbits.
The very first song Hayashi made for Hachi was Nigate Nanda yo (苦手なんだよ) (1957), and the last was Kunashiri no Hito (国後の女) (1982), making him one of the composers who worked with Hachi fairly consistently the longest. To me, the Hayashi Kasuga Bushi tend to sound rather exotic and raw. The atmosphere created by his melodies and arrangements makes it feel as though I'm in the location featured in the song, be it a grimy alley, a lonely harbour, or somewhere outside the major cities in Japan. However, another feature I've now been looking for is if the Hayashi Kasuga Bushi was a recycled Hayashi original. It was something noticed upon delving deeper into Hayashi's self-composed postwar releases, as some of them sounded remarkably similar to some of the songs he made for Hachi. Putting two and two together, it became fairly obvious that Hayashi likely reconfigured his own songs that never became hits and sent them back out into the field to be sung by artists popular at the time (50s & 60s), like Hachi, in hopes of scoring a hit.
Hayashi as a special guest at the unveiling of Rozario no Shima in 1964. From Shinobu
Anyways, one of Hayashi-made Kasuga Bushi which I suspect could've been one of Hayashi's originals is Kasuga’s revival hit Rozario no Shima from August 1964. Rozario… with its dramatic yet somewhat foreboding atmosphere is easily one of my favourite pieces Hayashi made. It allows Hachi’ signature forlorn delivery to shine, all while also enabling him to showcase the extent of his vocal prowess. Its unique melody fits Hachi so well that I was inclined to say that nothing like this had been made prior, and then I stumbled upon Hayashi’s own Nangoku no Yo wa Fukete (南国の夜は更けて) from May 1956. The latter had a much lighter arrangement, but there was no mistaking that intro with the deep, rhythmic thrumming of the guitar (?) and the melody’s dark yet exotic tone. As far as I know, Nangoku… never became much of a hit, likely overshadowed by other incredible releases at the time. Perhaps Hayashi refused to let this interesting piece go to waste, and so he passed it on to someone who might be able to bring life into it. Hachi had already saw a resurgence in popularity with Hayashi’s Nagasaki no Hito (長崎の女) in 1963, so maybe Hayashi saw this opportunity for another of his works about southern Japan to finally shine. Shine it did.
Hayashi recycling Nangoku no Yo wa Fukete to make Rozario no Shima theory is pure speculation on my part, but it does give a new meaning to Hayashi being able to catch both the rabbits he was chasing after.
Toshiyo Kamata's Got That Fight in Him: Ruten Garasu (流転がらす) (1957)
Next up is Toshi-san. Based on what I know, he made the least Kasuga Bushi among our 3 (about 11 or so). Like Hayashi sensei, Toshi-san can also be considered one of King's old guard, having been one of the company's stars as the shadow of war loomed over Asia in the mid-30s and early 40s. Unlike Hayashi, Toshi-san solely stuck to composing music once the Pacific War ended.
The very first Kasuga Bushi Toshi-san made was Yuhi wa Moete (夕陽は燃えて)(1956), the last was Magokoro Sakaba (まごころ酒場) (1962). I believe he moved to Toshiba (records) from about 1963. I'm not sure how long he stayed at Toshiba, but he may have moved back to King in the 80s for a little bit, but I'm unclear on that. To be completely honest, I struggle to identify any distinguishing traits in the Kamata Kasuga Bushi, especially when compared to the other 2 composers. I’m by no means saying that they’re not good, though. They’re rather simple in melody and arrangement, but are nevertheless catchy and capable of striking a chord with listeners; a few of them even seem to be fan favourites and are staples in any Hachi compilation album. So, Toshi-san’s gems do find their way among the other well-loved Kasuga Bushi.
My personal favourite Toshi-san Kasuga Bushi is Ruten Garasu. It's an easy-to-listen-to matatabi mono about a down and out wanderer drifting through life. The gentle peaks and dips of the tune allows you to enjoy the smoothness and richness of early Hachi's maturing vocal quality. For some reason, I can't get Ruten Garasu out of my head, and I'd been listening to it so often this year that it became my most played song on Spotify for 2025. Apparently, in the span of 7 months, I listened to it almost 150 times. Fair play to you, Toshi-san.
Tadaharu Nakano's Butter Miso Soup: Ruten no Yoru (流転の夜) (1955)
Finally, we have Mr. Nakano to wrap up the article. I've talked about Nakano's postwar escapades and Nakano-made Kasuga Bushi extensively over the past couple of years, since I love this snazzy jazz man almost as much as I do one of the pioneers of enka. But here's a consolidated cliff notes version of what I'd talked about over several articles:
Unlike Hayashi and Kamata, Nakano, originally affiliated with Columbia Records, joined King Records in mid-1952 as a contract composer. He had left the music world in 1947, but returned after a business venture turned south. He made a mini attempt to re-debut as a singer under the moniker of Young Nakano (geez, why you gotta be so cringe, Nakano?), but that didn't really work out either; he didn't seem satisfied with his diminishing vocal abilities at the time as well, and so he stuck to making music behind the scenes, where he rediscovered success.
Nakano made about 20 official Kasuga Bushi singles, the first being Jirocho Tabi Shigure (次郎長旅しぐれ) (1953), and the last Kore ga Jinsei (これが人生)(1964). As with Nakano's other postwar compositions, the Nakano Kasuga Bushi's main attraction are the refreshing arrangements derived from snappy rhythms and a variety of instruments, often times making them sounding extremely western or (traditional) Japanese-sounding. Even for the more ordinary kayokyoku, the arrangements make sure you’re in for at least an interesting listening experience. This mostly attributed to his main collaborator, arranger Masao Ueno (上野正雄). That said, Nakano's Kasuga Bushi tend to be overshadowed by those from other composers, including the above 2, and were only middling hits at best. If I were to be completely honest, there is just something in Nakano's melodies that don't exactly match Kasuga, but I just don't know what it is. On the contrary, they fit Kasuga's junior and rival Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也) to a T. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoy how Nakano’s works take Kasuga into territory I ordinarily wouldn’t expect from him.
A Nakano Kasuga Bushi I would love to feature is Sogen no Okami (草原の狼), athrilling cowboy Western with nods to prewar Kōya Mono. Alas, this is such a deep cut that it’s not available online, and so I will have to hold off on it until its audio file magically appears on the internet. So, in the meantime, I shall feature a number where Ueno’s arrangement shines the brightest, and where Hachi sounds the most at home singing: Ruten no Yoru. I’ve already written an article about it, so you can read more about it there. I have cherished memories attached to it, and suffice to say, I love this song dearly. I think this is a good place to end off my last article for 2025.
Here's to a smooth-sailing year ahead. See y'all in 2026!
Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to marinate within the celebration that is our 1000th article for 2025.
Maybe we can have a party after all. No refreshments or snacks, though.
I knew that for the 1000th article, I just had to devote it to one of the singers that I've known the longest since I got into this whole kayo kyoku stuff decades ago. And this time, that happens to be singer-songwriter Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）. She will be appearing on the Kohaku in several hours' time for the 7th time to perform her 1984 hit "Momo Iro Toiki"（桃色吐息）, and most likely, she'll be once again the oldest participant to ever appear on the NHK special.
However, I have this very lovely track from Takahashi's May 2002 25th album"Time of Love" titled "Denwa"(Telephone). It's a very simple title for a soulful ballad about holding the torch for someone even though he's long gone. Still, the lady here apparently keeps phoning his empty apartment once a day although she knows full well that no one is going to answer. My question is wouldn't the landlord have already cancelled the line? But no need to be logical here...it's a fine song that was written by Takahashi and composed by Ichiro Terada（寺田一郎）. I hope all the best for Mariko tomorrow.
Well, I had a bit of drama earlier today when I discovered that I couldn't log into my Jme account for some reason. I sent an SOS to Customer Service and got a quick reply that there was a system error somewhere on their side. Happily, things have been resolved, so thank you, Jme. I can catch the Kohaku Utagassen.
For the past several years, it's been taking care of home base here at nights. I don't go out all that much anymore. The pandemic was one reason behind it but age and overall fatigue in the evenings are other factors. But I know that with New Year's Eve coming the next day, there will be the parties happening everywhere...as long as folks can take a bit of traveling through frigid weather.
Asami Kado（門あさ美）certainly sounds like she's started New Year's Eve a night early. From her July 1981 3rd album"Semi-Nude"（セミヌード）, I offer you "O-suki ni Semete" (At Least Do As You Like or perhaps At Least Love Me) which was written and composed by Kado with arrangement by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. Unlike the Fashion Music that I usually associate her with, this is City Pop with that samba twist. I can imagine a conga line forming right now on the party floor.
Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five（内山田洋とクール・ファイブ）with stoic main vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）were once Kohaku stalwarts, so it's quite nostalgic to remember a time when Mood Kayo was once a genre that was recognized on the NHK special (well, to be fair, Junretsu is there). However, I'd noticed that for the 32nd edition, The Cool Five sang a tune that I had never encountered before.
August 1981 saw The Cool Five release their 42nd single, "Onna - Konuka Ame" (A Light Rain to Make Her Cry) and it's right from their Mood Kayo playbook. I can see Mae-Kiyo standing ramrod straight as he exhorts Eiji Takino's（たきのえいじ）lyrics of a lady breaking down over a lost romance while the Five give a lighter touch to their backup vocals. Takino was also behind the music which, under Kei Wakakusa's（若草恵）arrangement, includes a bit of blues piano, a sharp horn and a wailing electric guitar.
Just to be sure, "Onna - Konuka Ame" isn't to be mistaken for Ginji Ito's（伊藤銀次）New Music"Konuka Ame". By the way, my translation of the title comes from what I could interpret from Takino's lyrics.
With the 76th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen on NHK less than 24 hours away as I type this, it appears that unless there is a mind-blowing sudden addition or deletion from the list, the participant list is all set and ready to go. I may just be crazy enough to wake up early and crank up the computer to watch the live version on Jme (although Jme will be broadcasting the special a few times for the next few days).
Anyways, in commemoration of the occasion and just to get those nostalgia juices flowing once more (since this is the blog for that sort of thing), I've decided to show the Top Batters for the first three editions I ever saw which are 1981, 1982 and 1983. For those who are new to the network's annual New Year's Eve event, the top batters are the first singers/bands representing the Red and White teams to perform. They set the tone for the gala atmosphere and back then, they were usually the youngest folks since it used to be the case that the aidoru and pop singers got their chances in the first half of the program before the moodier and more traditional stuff came in the second half of the show.
Let's enjoy the show and at least one of us will be posting an article on how we thought of this edition's Kohaku.
Wow! The more you know, eh? All these years and I hadn't known that comedians Tsutomu Sekine（関根勤） and Kazuki Kosakai（小堺一機）had actually been a comedic duo. Of course, I knew them individually: Sekine has been a mainstay tarento on a ton of variety shows as well as a celebrity impressionist. Kosakai is someone I knew who had that long-running talk show on Fuji-TV during weekday afternoons. But apparently since 1981, the two of them were known as the duo Kosakin（コサキン）.
The two also had their own radio show "Kosakin de WOW!"（コサキンDEワァオ!）for about 28 years between 1981 and 2009 (with specials about once a year starting from 2020). They even had their own brief late-night variety show "Kosakinruu no Okonnaide, Kiite!!"（コサキンルーの怒んないで聞いて!!...Kosakinruu, Don't Get Angry, Just Listen!!）from 1993 to 1994.
The ending theme for that show was Seiko Sato's（佐藤聖子）"Kono Koi ga Subete" (All This Love) which can be found on her January 1994 album "Marvelous Act". Written by Yui Nishiwaki（西脇唯）and composed by Sato herself, it's quite the upbeat song for a late-night show that approaches 90s City Pop. I'd also think that it could have been fine adorning some prime-time show as well.
I was a little surprised on Sunday that there was an episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）on Jme since it's the Holidays. I'd assumed that the program was going on New Year's hiatus, but as it turned out, they had one more in them to get out before the New Year which is fine for my parents especially.
A Los Primos song was covered in that last episode which had me thinking. The Mood Kayo group really loved their go-touchi（ご当地）songs especially with the term "blues" in the title. There have been "Ginza Blues"（銀座ブルース）, "Niigata Blues"（新潟ブルース）and "Asahikawa Blues"（旭川ブルース）, and that's for starters. How many more do they have?
Well, as it turns out, Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）did release their 17th single in February 1970 titled "Yoru no Blues"(Night Blues). Yes, no geographical reference point here...at least not in the title. But as it turns out, those Los Primos guys pulled off a three-in-one. That's right. The three verses in "Yoru no Blues" stake claims to Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki, all major port cities in Japan. And it looks like the guys in those verses just can't seem to make the best of their opportunities, but dang, isn't it all very atmospheric, just like any Mood Kayo song should be?
Written by Kyosuke Kuni（久仁京介）and composed by Masakazu Mizushima（水島正和）, it feels like a fairly lighthearted tune for a Mood Kayo although there is the classic posture of Shoji Mori（森聖二）as the main vocalist at the time while the others were on instruments and haunting chorus, even with some languid scatting. The only thing that struck me was hearing the mellow horns provide the final harmonized note instead of the voices of Los Primos themselves.
Maybe I'm a little late at 25 years putting this one up onto the blog. "Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni" (At the End of the 20th Century) is the debut single for rock and technopop band Hikashu（ヒカシュー）. Released in October 1979, it's quite the jangly New Wave number by leader Koichi Makigami（巻上公一）. According to his lyrics, apparently love demanded quite a lot at the end of 1999. Luckily, we were all consumed with Y2K to worry about that one.
There is a fellow Blogspot blog titled "Hikashu Appreciation Society" which has a post dedicated to "Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni", and it has the English translation of the lyrics along with a very brief excerpt of an interview done by singer-songwriter and producer Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）who contributed his expertise to the production of the early Hikashu material. From it, I gleaned that the band was trying for something quite different from other outfits such as Yellow Magic Orchestra, and I would say that Makigami and company succeeded.
And here I thought that all I needed for a bit of suspense during the Holidays was to watch "Die Hard". However, it looks like the next couple of days in Toronto will be seeing wind warnings which could lead to power outages. Not great during a cold time like now. A lot of folks here including myself still remember the Ice Storm of 2013 which knocked most of the city out for at least a couple of days and many for many days after that.
Still, I'm gonna still slog my way to 1000 articles as best I can. I've got another Author's Picks based on days of the week since I recall that certain Japanese songs have used days of the week in their titles and even their own artist names. All but one of the songs that will be included in the list are already represented on the blog.
(1993) Pizzicato Five -- Yasashii Mokuyoubi（優しい木曜日）
Yup, "Yasashii Mokuyoubi" (Sweet Thursday) is the odd group out this time, but it is most certainly not an odd song. It's a very pretty tune by Pizzicato Five evoking a pleasant spring walk in Paris on that day. With the feeling of Shibuya-kei, the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）vocally gives her version of a waltz along the Seine. I had a bit of a time tracking this down regarding when the song was originally released but thankfully its inclusion in "The Band of 20th Century: Nippon Columbia Years 1991-2001" gave me the big hint. It was just a matter of looking up those albums under Columbia and finding out that "Yasashii Mokuyoubi" had been placed in the June 1993 album"Bossa Nova 2001"（ボサ・ノヴァ2001）.
It's nice to hear from 80s aidoru Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）after a while. I found her 6th single from March 1983 titled "Chinese Kiss". Starting with some pre-recording banter that probably had the fans hitting their knees in bliss (and the producer slapping his forehead in frustration), it's a typically adorable Iyo tune.
Written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, composed by Toshio Kamei（亀井登志夫）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, it's a plucky aidoru song with a hint of Chinese flavor, a soupcon of City Pop, and plenty of whimsy. I'm not sure whether this date is taking place in Hong Kong or Yokohama but wherever the couple is, they are having one happy day interspersed with the titular sign of affection. I especially like the guitar when they make the transition from verse to chorus. "Chinese Kiss" hit No. 12 on Oricon and by the end of 1983, it was the 92nd-ranked single.
When I had my happy reunion with Makkin & The New Music Stuff in my previous article, I also discovered the indies rock band Zanzow Cafe（残像カフェ...Afterimage Cafe）. And so I was able to place Makkin's "Kimi ga Suki"（君が好き）and one song by Zanzow Cafe into the backlog.
I did find a website for Zanzow Cafe which has its discography dating as far back as December 2001, although Genki Ohmori（大森元気）and his group officially released music starting from 2002. In April 2004, the band released "Shi-gatsu no Kotoba"（４月のことば...Words of April）, a concept album going through one full cycle of the four seasons.
One track is the rock ballad"Yuugure Toki"(At Dusk) or could it be "Yuugure Ji"...just not sure but let's go with the former for now. Set in autumn, despite all of the crashing electric guitars, it's quite the tenderhearted love song about a man talking a walk during the titular sunset and remembering a past romance. I'm not a huge rock expert but listening to the arrangement, I'm sure that someone more well versed in the genre can compare this song to something recorded over in the West at around the same time.
I've only taken a quick glimpse through the website but it seems as if Ohmori has gone to a new project in recent years called "Zanzow no Bouquet"（残像のブーケ...Afterimage Bouquet）.
Well, I've got one final challenge as we all rush to the end of 2025. I'm not too far away in terms of the number of articles for this year to reach 1000. However, I'm gonna have to increase my output by a fair bit to reach that goal before Wednesday the 31st and I figure by that point, I'm going to be busy watching this year's Kohaku Utagassen.
Anyways, let's begin the push with a band that I've been fascinated by for some years. Unfortunately at the time, I had only been able to find one complete tune on YouTube by Makkin & The New Music Stuff and that was back in 2019. Bassist Toshiro "Makkin" Matsuki（松木俊郎）began this solo project of bringing together a lot of the groovier stuff from the 1970s such as soul, funk and other New Music influences to show some of the really nice old-school stuff once more.
Happily, one YouTube channel cba abc was kind enough to upload Matsuki's first album of this project, "Makkin & The New Music Stuff" from June 2006, and though this was a solo thing for him, he did love his collaborations with various other professionals. Case in point, the second track from 33 seconds is "Kimi ga Suki"(I Love You) with Genki Ohmori（大森元気）from the indies band Zanzow Cafe（残像カフェ）handling the vocals. As expected from the sound that Makkin had wanted to bring back, "Kimi ga Suki" is one nostalgic sunny and summery trip that would probably have the good folks at Sugar Babe smiling in approval. And the way Ohmori sounds here, I'd think that his girlfriend was right in the studio with everyone else. She would be smiling in approval, too.
It was almost a month ago that I posted up enka singer Mitsuko Nakamura's（中村美津子）March 2025 72nd single, the brio-laden "Uta da yo! Jinsei"（歌だよ!人生）that should have a certain generation of karaoke enthusiasts singing its praises, especially in the final week of this year.
Well, the coupling song is a bit less fiery but it's also quite wholesome and reassuring just like a veteran custodian of an old-fashioned bar in Japan. In fact, the title of this enka ditty is "Izakaya Banashi"(Izakaya Talk) which sounds like two enka tunes in one. There is the main major-chord song with a slight diversion into a minor-chord number for one verse, as if composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）were musically bringing to life Reiji Mizuki's（水木れいじ）lyrics of that mama-san in the izakaya welcoming back an old customer who'd been transferred from Osaka to the Tokyo branch and then listening to his grievances on work and women for a bit before bringing his spirits back up.
I figure that with the Holidays now in full swing in Japan, folks may be having their share of parties including those that occur at the karaoke boxes and bars of the nation. Maybe franchises such as Big Echo are doing volume business this week which may be quite long for people...perhaps as long as a week (yeah, I'm being a little sarcastic there). Of course, depending on the size and the average age of the group along with the type of songs that they tend to sing, there will be the duets to tackle.
Perhaps for the younger generation, that doesn't happen so often, since a lot of those duets occur in the enka and Mood Kayo genres. Plus, there is the matter of harmonizing which isn't all that easy. Not being a particularly great singer in my karaoke days in Japan, I don't think I ever dared ask any lady for a duet. However, listening to those duets on the stereo and now on YouTube is more my speed. Here are some of my favourites.
(1959) Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo -- Tokyo Nightclub （東京ナイトクラブ）
(1982) Hiroshi Itsuki and Nana Kinomi -- Izakaya （居酒屋）
I figure that this coupling song, "Boku ga Inakute mo"(Even If I'm Not Here), on the late Chigiri Akiyoshi's（秋吉契里）July 1997 3rd single"Atsukunarakya Dame Kore mo Koi dakara"（熱くならなきゃだめ これも恋だから...It Has to Be Passionate, Cause This is Love, Too） can be compared to a lot of different songs from the United States. However, when I first heard this mix of country and rock, I suddenly got these vibes of the earliest incarnation of Steely Dan such as with their "Do It Again". Great guitar solo, by the way.
Written and composed by Akiyoshi, "Boku ga Inakute mo" has got a really cool rhythm underlying the singer-songwriter's steady but fervent vocals. And perhaps it's one more outta-left-field observation from me, but the chorus even strikes me as having a bit of kayo kyoku although it's represented by some of that roots rock guitar and bass.
Just a small matter but here I was thinking that I had plenty of female singers named Haruko up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", only to realize that I merely have the one: Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）. Mind you, she's a fine soulful chanteuse so not complaining there.
However, there are now two on the blog. Haruko Sagara（相楽晴子）had her initial time in the limelight for about a decade...between 1984 and 1995...as an actress, aidoru and a tarento. Her family originally hailed from the city of Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture but following the premature death of her father and growing business debts, her mother promptly closed down the store and took everyone to Tokyo. In 1980 when she was around 12, she was scouted out in Shibuya by a photographer and young Haruko became a successful model.
In the mid-1980s, acting and singing arrived on her entertainment doorstep with the latter part of her career beginning with her debut single"Virgin Heart"（ヴァージン・ハート）being released in May 1986. For this article, we have her 7th single, "Tokyo Marionette", from April 1989. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Masato Ishida（石田正人）, the song was arranged by Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）as this fairly dramatic number with a bit of rock n' roll which had me thinking of a teenage gang moll riding on the back of her boyfriend's Kawasaki as they are fleeing something or someone. Her fate is his fate.
Fortuntely, Sagara's fate was far more benign. In 1992, she started a relationship with one of the staff while she was in Los Angeles on a location shoot for one of her photo books. A few years later, they would get married in the United States and in 2019, there was a move to the state of Hawaii.
It's certainly one of the more unusual titles I've ever heard for a City Pop song but "Doukeshi no Tsunawatari"(A Clown's Tightrope) is still some classy urban contemporary to finish this week's and this year's groovy tunes.
Sung by actress and singer Yumi Takigawa（多岐川裕美）for her October 1981 album"Sayo II"（小夜Ⅱ...Evening II）, this feels like a relaxing cruise along the French Riviera with its Latin rhythm and cool horns. Written by Yuriko Matsuda（松田侑利子）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, the title is more figurative than literal as a woman finds herself in a romantic bind.
Always nice to have Kirinji（キリンジ）once more on the board as we approach the end of the year. And this one came out about a month ago as a track on their latest album"Town Beat".
"Suteki na Yoru"(What a Night) starts out with some really tight guitar and keyboards before things get into a fun and funky party jam...kinda reminiscent of Original Love. Written and composed by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）, I had assumed that the lyrics would be about a couple having the time of their lives painting the town red, but actually, it centres around some bizarre misunderstandings and misidentifications at a party. Time to lay off the absinthe of malice.
The crazy thing is that there was an original version when Kirinji offered the song to the aidoru group V6 to record as part of their 14th and final album"Step" from September 2021. The arrangement is slightly different but it's still a banger. "Suteki na Yoru" was apparently also used in the "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）kids' song show but the only footage I could find was in this cute kid's living room. In any case, V6 ended things well...the album hit No. 1.
From PR Times
Ah, PS here...since we are covering an R&B song, one of the commenters for a recent article mentioned that Disk Union will be releasing a book called "Japanese R&B Disc Guide" on February 10th 2026. This will cover the R&B from the 1990s up to today. Having witnessed the initial big boom at the end of the 20th century firsthand with singers such as Hikaru Utada, m-flo, and Misia, I think it would be interesting picking this one up.
The first time I ever landed in the Big Apple was in 1993, so I was several years too late for disco and certainly as a minor (and a very uncool one, at that), I would never have gotten past the entrance into Studio 54 in Manhattan in those 1970s. But somehow, even as a kid in elementary school and then junior high school, I heard about this club which attracted all sorts including the celebs.
I was reminded of that haven of hedonism as I was listening to Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street's single "Star" from 1980. Yep, by that year, disco was already becoming a music pariah although acts such as Earth Wind & Fire were still holding the torch and apparently, Japan never got the memo. Drummer and R&B singer Hiro Tsunoda（つのだ☆ひろ）was responsible for words and music for this one that sounds like the aforementioned EWF and ABBA's love child as the lady in the song wants to become a star...maybe of the dance floor. The arrangement is such that she could have grabbed that brass ring simply on the melody alone.
There's nothing like a Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）arrangement to soothe listeners and let them know that all can be right with the world...that is, as long as the song is playing at least.
I received those cool and warm and fuzzy feelings while listening to "Atatakai Ame" (A Warm Rain) which is a track from his February 2006 album"Shiplaunching", something that I posted about several years ago, but apparently didn't bother putting down the year of release aside from Labels. Bad, J-Canuck, bad!
Composed by Tomita Lab and written by the late Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, who also has his own vocal contribution to "Shiplaunching", that familiar chorus and the strings bring the present and the past in equal measure while Hirokuni Tanaka（田中拡邦）of the band MAMALAID RAG croons comfortably. It almost makes one want to sit outside at a cafe while the rain is coming down...almost. Can't get much smoother than this one.
Ohhh...still digesting my meal from last night. All that roast beef, roast turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes have continued to keep me fairly sleepy, so typing on the keyboard has taken on some rather hilarious tendencies. However, the show must go on as I complete the final 2025 day for Urban Contemporary on KKP.
And there's nothing better than a fine emulation of the old days of music. As soon as I heard the opening notes of Uwanosora's（ウワノソラ）"Heart no Tekagami"(Hand Mirror of Heart Shape) from October 2021, I immediately thought Sakanaction's（サカナクション）"Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）and felt that both bands were plucking from the optimistic synthpop songbook of the 1980s.
"Heart no Tekagami", which was written and composed by Uwanosora's leader Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）, is definitely pulling one page out of the "Heart Cocktail" book by that design on the CD cover. The use of those particular keyboards (and the melody they spell out) is thrilling to hear as an old City Pop fan, and vocalist Megumi Iemoto's（いえもとめぐみ）singing style reminds me of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）in the late 1970s when she took on a peppier approach to her music once she got married. It contrasts quite nicely with the previous Uwanosora song I posted, "Autumn Ballad" , from 2023.
The final regular Reminiscings of Youth article lands on Christmas Day today and it will be on the theme song for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" from December 1966. It's a special, just like "A Charlie Brown Christmas", that I used to see every year on CBS on the old tube telly. By this point, pretty much everyone in North America knows about the green Grinch with his heart being two sizes too small (initially at least) and his willingness to ruin everybody's Christmas.
As a little kid, I didn't know who the narrator was and wouldn't finally find out for quite a few years. At first thought, I'd assumed that it was Dr. Seuss behind the narration but then I discovered it was Boris Karloff, Frankenstein's Monster himself, behind the mike when I'd known about his time many decades earlier as a horror movie icon. And dang it! He had a great voice for the theme song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" which was given lyrics by Dr. Seuss and composed by Albert Hague as this classic comically villainous composition. Karloff chewed the heck out of this tune like a zombie on bone.
I never saw the Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" from 2000, but he one-ups Karloff in his rendition of the song. Some fine Canadian ham there!
Anyways, we have a couple of singles in Japan that got released at around the same time as the original cartoon.
Well, Merry Christmas to everyone out there. I just popped in the turkey so I won't have to worry about that for a few hours, and therefore I've got some time to blog here before the entire family shows up for dinner.
For Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）fans, it looks we all got a very nice present in our stockings yesterday when the lady herself released her latest digital single "Merry Christmas, My Heart". Composed by Akina herself and written by HZ Village, it's a contemplative piano ballad that rather hits the Xmas heart in the right spot. No Santa Claus, no raucous partying and hopefully no major mourning due to heartbreak. Simply a clear night and prayer to the loved one.
Nope, this isn't another Reminiscings of Youth article. My personal opinion has always been that Christmas and jazz go together like hamburgers and French fries, and one fast food restaurant that has often brought that together is The Manhattan Transfer. And on this Christmas Eve, I've decided to finish off tonight's round of KKP stuff with one of my favourite music acts doing what they do best.
In November 1992, the famed vocal quartet released "The Christmas Album" which is filled with plenty of stylish jazz renditions of some of the most popular Christmas hits with the backing of an orchestra that would have Nelson Riddle smiling from the great beyond.
One fine example is the Transfer's take on "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!". A lot of folks would know this 1945 classic by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne from its Vaughn Monroe original when it was used at the end of "Die Hard". That one was quite the bouncy tune about snuggling up with the significant other as the fire and repeated ingestion of popcorn added to the warmth. The Transfer's rendition takes the jauntiness out and replaces it with silky-smooth and slowly simmering romance to really get those feelings of nestling up in the lodge. I wouldn't blame the happy couple in the song if they didn't get off the sofa until the 27th.
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" already has representation on the blog through Tony Bennett's most wonderful version from 1968. But this one by the Manhattan Transfer is also plenty of fun with the orchestra going all snazzy and swingy. With the additional subtitle of "Santa Man", it's very hep, and all of the gang have put their vocalese on full. It's just a shade over three minutes but they have managed to pack in a lot of melodic dynamite.
Speaking of Tony Bennett, he makes a guest appearance on "The Christmas Album" via his and the Transfer's take on "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)", a chestnut that probably has even more articles on KKP such as the iconic version by Nat King Cole. As with all of the other versions, this collaboration between Bennett and the Transfer brings up the nostalgic warm-and-fuzzies and the Normal Rockwell images of Christmas at home surrounded by a nightly winter scene and lots of family and friends.
Let me take this opportunity then to wish all of the readers, commenters and contributors to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a very Merry Christmas.
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