Yasutaka Nakata (polyphonic room) -- Stereo Tokyo

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Basile Morin

 

Ah yes...I remember that corner quite well. It's the Fujiya Building right on the northern edge of Ginza just across from Sukibayashi. There was or is a karaoke box in there, and I think one time a bunch of us in our suits ended up singing on the Hello Kitty floor. Made for quite a contrast.

Talking about cutesy things, I ran into this little number called "Stereo Tokyo" which was part of the 2003 Konami video game "pop'n music 10". I recognize the type of game it is but never played it myself. Written and composed by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）, the music producer behind acts such as Perfume and capsule, the nom du plume he uses here is polyphonic room. The vocalist is named Wanta with the chorus being supplied by Nakata's partner in capsule, Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）.

Within the game itself, "Stereo Tokyo" apparently belongs in the genre of Plastic Pop but I hear it as a mix of bubbly technopop and Shibuya-kei. I can certainly imagine the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴） covering it for instance. Nakata's lyrics talk about a fellow who's so content zoning out that he would even let the important stuff pass him by (not sure how much of that is in jest). But at the end though, he is considering heading out to Tokyo and just wonders how his significant other would take the news. If it's for simply playing video games, then I don't think she'll take it well.