Shinichi Mori -- Bokyo（望郷）

 

It's Monday once more on KKP and therefore I'd like to get some weird stuff off my chest. When I remember a very young Shinichi Mori（森進一）decades ago, I internally remarked that this enka singer basically looked like a Japanese Pavel Chekov from "Star Trek"; as if the USS Enterprise's beloved Russian had been merged in a transporter accident with his fellow bridge officer, Hikaru Sulu. Mori had that short stature, the pinchable cheeks and those adorable brown eyes. Not sure if he was quite as voluble as young Pavel, though.

Anyways, I found this No. 1 hit by Mori from Christmas Day 1970 titled "Bokyo" (Homesickness). It's one of the first enka songs to reach the top spot in the Oricon era (started in 1967 or 1968) although the melody and arrangement by Kosho Inomata（猪俣公章）has me also thinking of drowning one's tears in drink in a watering hole just like in any Mood Kayo tune (the sax helps). Jun Hashimoto's（橋本淳）lyrics talk of someone dearly missing the hometown and also that significant other left behind there. His gravelly voice sounds almost on the verge of tears. And if we're talking about sound effects, the sound of a train and the mournful woman's chorus really help with the homesick punch.

Most likely, there were a lot of people in the big cities of Japan who could relate which would explain its popularity. Over a year later, Mori's 18th single actually became the 9th-ranked single for 1971. Interestingly enough, a movie based on "Bokyo" would be produced in 1971 starring the singer himself as Shinichiro Morikawa（森川信一郎）. Not exactly the biggest leap in imagination when it comes to naming characters, but I hope it did well.