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.
For my last article tonight and for that matter, the final article for September 2025, I'd like to refer you to an article I did a couple of years ago featuring actress Maiko Kawakami（川上麻衣子）. In her J-Wiki article, she is identified as an actress only, but she did put out her albums and singles between 1981 and 1984, and in fact, I highlighted her sophomore album"ÄLSKLING"（エルスクリン）from June 1983.
Well, another track from that album is here tonight and this is "Watashi to Iu Tanin" (That Other Person Known as Me). Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Akira Mitake（見岳章）, the song follows that certain arrangement I've often heard from tunes by aidoru and other female pop singers of the 1980s; there is that footloose-and-fancy-free vibe with the plunky piano/keyboard rhythm as if the arranger...in this case, Hiromoto Tobizawa（飛沢宏元）...is following the daintily-dressed singer as she is skipping down the street while sporting a parasol. Ah, those were innocent times.
It may have been last year or 2023 when that big total eclipse came rushing over our skies and it was Niagara Falls that provided the prime vantage point. So, thousands upon thousands of people rushed to the Honeymoon Capital of the world for those few minutes of epic darkness. Toronto got hit by the shadow as well so we were in our abode in the afternoon when the skies went totally black in what was one of the more dramatic scenes that I ever witnessed.
A few years have passed since putting up my last article on Kyoto Jazz Massive but doing some browsing and maintenance on the blog re-acquainted me with the project devoted to jazz, electronica and other styles. This is the title track from their 2000 EP"Eclipse", and though today is merely a Tuesday, listening to this one makes me feel like it's a Friday and it's time to hit the oh-so-cool club scene. And the craziest thing is that I have probably heard excerpts of this song before through its use in segments of Japanese infotainment programs. By the way, the version below is the Afronaught remix.
When it comes to an average neighbourhood anywhere in Japan, if you threw a rock anywhere there, you would have a better-than-even chance of hitting (besides a commuter): a) a karaoke box, b) a McDonalds, c) a café (franchise or independent) or d) a patisserie. Considering that three of the four choices have rather tasty fare, Japan is quite the foodie nation.
Patisseries, bakeries or bread shops...whatever you like to call them, when I was living there, I would always get some wonderful stuff whether it was the one near my school or the place right under my subway station. And it was there that I first came across the wonderful Bacon Epi. I'd had never had it before in Toronto, but it is a bread roll with bits of bacon in there and it's one of my most favourite things. I've heard that some bakers even put a drop of bacon grease into rolls just before they go into the oven, and that's all she wrote. Sold out! But getting back to the Bacon Epi, just one speck of deep-fried pork in the dough makes all the difference...the aroma, the umami and the flavour just spreads out and punches that bread into heaven.
Anyways before I end up salivating onto my desk, I will segue into the 2004 anime adaptation of the manga "Yakitate!! Japan"（焼きたて!!ジャぱん...Freshly Baked!! Ja-pan） which is all about a young man with ambitions of creating a national bread for Japan. Even the brief scene above has me swooning over the various types of bread there are all over the planet.
Not quite sure how a disco-influenced ending credit sequence fit into an anime about breadmaking, but hey, it's anime. Anyways, the second ending theme for "Yakitate!! Japan" was "To All Tha Dreamers" by the hip-hop/pop group SOUL'd OUT. Written and composed by the group, yup, I got the usual distinctive vocals of Diggy-MO' with some of the good ol' disco. Being their 8th single released on New Year's Day 2005, it was also the title track for their second album that came out a month later. Both single and album did well on the charts with the former breaking into the Top 10 at No. 7 and the latter reaching No. 2 (it eventually became the 56th-ranked album for 2005).
I don't know who's behind the female vocals and chorus for this remix version but my accolades go to them. I'm also tempted to jump onto the disco floor!
When I first encountered Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）45th single from June 1983, "Night Game", I thought that it was a return to form for the virile young aidoru of the 1970s. There was the aggressive arrangement and Saijo going all out with his voice. But instead of the bare torso, the wild expression and the long hair, there was the man all decked out in a nice suit, calm demeanor and short hair on the cover of the single. Still, I could also hear "Night Game" as a pop-rock holler-happy tune.
What I was to find out was that Saijo's "Night Game" was a cover of Graham Bonnet's original song from 1981, "Night Games". I don't know anything about this singer from England, but his version sounds a bit more stately and measured. It got up to No. 6 on the UK Singles chart while the Saijo cover reached No. 19 on Oricon, selling 85000 records. According to the J-Wiki article for the Japanese take, when Bonnet had visited Japan, he actually ended up buying Saijo's record.
From watching the music video and listening to Go-Bang's vocalist Kaori Moriwaki（森若香織）soothingly purr out those lyrics, folks could be excused if they thought that the song was advertising sleeping medicine. It is pretty relaxing and makes for an interesting contrast with their biggest hit, "Ai ni Kite I Need You"（あいにきて I Need You), a couple of years prior.
However, this is "Bye-Bye-Bye", Go-Bang's February 1991 7th single, a jangly and dreamily sung song of a bittersweet ending to a love affair. Once again, with that video and the music, there's something of a psychedelic pop vibe to this one. Written and composed by Moriwaki, it got up to No. 19 on Oricon.
Although I've had my fill of Lemon Meringue Pie since that's the one dessert that my parents love, I've only had a few tastes of Key Lime Pie. From what I remember, it's also darn tasty.
Speaking of which, I haven't spoken on Casiopea drummer Akira Jimbo（神保彰）in some years as a headliner on KKP. I think the last article that I did on him was his "Red Lotus Man" all the way back in 2020, so it's time to rectify the situation here by bringing a track from his 6th album"Lime Pie" which was released in July 1993. The track here is the jazzy "Unforgettable Summer" which feels like it belongs to a whirlwind montage of enjoying a walk through a Caribbean paradise on a gorgeous summer day. Sounds like all of the major instruments have gotten their time in the sun here.
I also chose this particular track because it's indeed been an unforgettable summer both here and in Japan. Unfortunately, it's often been unforgettable over there because of what the torrid heat and bands of torrential rains have wreaked. As for Toronto, it's been one of our warmer summers so a lot of our sun worshippers have been quite happy and even today, it sure doesn't feel like autumn.
Through some of the Author's Picks lists that have been posted up recently, I've come to realize that kayo kyoku songwriters enjoyed certain common words in their titles. Another one is "odoriko" or "dancing girl" (but also "dancing boy" although the former seems to be more common) for some reason. I don't have enough songs in my knowledge to put up another Author's Picks under that theme quite yet, but I can mention that I remember Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵）wistful "Odoriko" and Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）swift and stately "Izu no Odoriko"（伊豆の踊子）.
Well, here's another "Odoriko"...this time, the 31st single by the Johnny's aidoru group Four Leaves（フォーリーブス）released in June 1976. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）when he was still writing as Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）, formerly of the Group Sounds band Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）, this is quite the brassy tune with a touch of that GS despite it having gone the way of the dodo in the very early 1970s. Compared to the other two songs that I cited in the previous paragraph, the whole thing about Four Leaves' "Odoriko" is a fair bit more sad and salacious as a dancer-for-money slips off the nice-person act and the latest conquest like lint off a sleeve.
For listeners who've picked up on the observation that there seems to be another earlier and more well-known song lurking in the background of "Odoriko", well, I searched that out and I discovered that it takes the riff and chorus from "Let's Live For Today", the 1967 hit by rock band The Grass Roots. "Odoriko" itself scored a No. 41 ranking on Oricon and proved to be the ticket for Four Leaves' 7th and final appearance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen in their first run between 1968 and 1978.
I already have several KKP articles in which singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）is involved either as the main singer or as a contributing songwriter to another singer's work, and so maybe I have already mentioned this. Like Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, she's someone that I had heard in the wind over the years but didn't really know any of her material. Over the past several years, I've gotten to know Ohnuki very well and I'm now proud to say that I have her first several albums. The same cannot be said about Taniyama; I have yet to own a single album of hers so I'm still getting to know her.
This song, "Glass no Kyojin" (Glass Giant), which started life as a B-side to Taniyama's August 1986 18th single"Yuuyake Ringo"（夕焼けリンゴ...Sunset Apple）, definitely has my attention. Now, there are apparently two different versions of the song, the original B-side and an album version which belongs to her 12th album, "Mizutama Jikan"（水玉時間...Polka-Dot Time）, which was released just a couple of months following the aforementioned single. I don't know which is which but the two versions are bracketing these paragraphs.
The one above, which was set up by YouTuber Avie Yahika well over a dozen years ago, is notable for its rich but lonely piano and a bohemian saxophone. Taniyama's lyrics seem to highlight a theme of deep sadness brought about by the termination (intentional or not) of a relationship (romantic or not) and the wish of becoming a huge skyscraper-like figure towering above all, beyond the need for emotions or companionship.
The one below has a lusher Fashion Music arrangement with strings and oboe or bassoon backing Taniyama, and it made me wonder whether the singer had ever collaborated with Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）or anyone at Studio Ghibli, because this "Glass no Kyojin" seemingly sounds perfect for one of Hayao Miyazaki's（宮崎駿）animated features. The other remarkable point is that Taniyama wasn't responsible for the melody. It was actually Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, someone that I would usually associate with City Pop. But then again, Hisaishi, someone that I would usually associate with those orchestral Studio Ghibli pieces, has given his own contribution to the urban contemporary.
Back in 2023, I wrote about a singer that I had no idea about named Kimiko "Kiiko" Shiba（芝紀美子）, and apparently since she was more of a part of the underground Japanese music scene in the 1970s, maybe a lot of people in Japan hadn't been aware of her either. The article for her was on her languid and relaxing song "Nagarete Ikitai"（流れて行きたい）, a track on her 1975 album"Shikomegari"（醜女狩り...Ugly Woman Hunting） which contained kayo kyoku, blues, folk and soul.
Well, another track from "Shikomegari" is "Little Jimmy" which seems to have all of those genres wrapped up unto itself. Written totally in English by Irene or Eileen（アイリーン）...maybe Shiba under a pseudonym?...and composed by Yasuo Inada（稲田保雄）, perhaps all involved were big fans of Ray Charles considering the scotch-soaked arrangement. I was even surprised that Charles had nothing to do with this song at all while I was listening to it. Shiba sings about the title character of Little Jimmy who has long gone; maybe he's left this mortal coil or arrived in a new area somewhere but although his old friend misses him terribly, he/she hopes that wherever he is, he's doing well.
The interesting thing is that there are parts of the song that sound just like "Memory" from "Cats", although the musical wouldn't come out for several more years.
First off, may I say that is one gorgeous picture of Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）visage there. I only have the one album by the singer-songwriter, "Tasogare Memory"（黄昏めもりい）, and she doesn't smile there so it's nice to see her give the big beautiful grin on the cover. OK, now that I have geeked out, let's move on.
The photo belongs to the March 1981 album of hers, "More Ai"（MORE 愛...More Love）, and there's one track titled "Takai Biru no Mado kara" (From a Window in a Tall Building) which gave me a little bit of an ominous feeling. I know that heartbreak can make people do crazy things, but...
However, the Maruyama-penned song is more melancholy than tragic thankfully. And yep, I think it has to do with a young woman going through a sigh-worthy post-romance moment from her apartment which she may have shared with her now erstwhile paramour. The interesting thing for me about "Takai Biru no Mado kara" is that it doesn't follow the usual bossa nova or City Pop line that I often see Maruyama treading. This sounds like something more Parisian...Fashion Music with a bit of bubbly pop infused, perhaps. It's quite the different tune and I like the harmonies that help the song to fade away at the end. Makes me think about what more intriguing music is there on "More Ai".
For my last entry for this Friday's edition of Urban Contemporary songs on KKP, I'm going for another track from Kenji Omura's（大村憲司）fourth and final album"Gaijin Heaven". In fact, it's the title track composed by him, and as with its fellow track mate, "Dance Your Way to God", it's quite the funky banger. Double in fact, I swear those horns in the intro must have been lifted from David Bowie's "Let's Dance"!
I was searching a few sites for who was singing "Gaijin Heaven" and at first thought, I had assumed that Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was providing a guest vocal here but apparently, it's Omura himself behind the microphone. What was not in doubt was the background chorus...Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）! Peter Barakan, who often worked with Yellow Magic Orchestra, was responsible for the lyrics about a foreigner's observations about life in Japan. I was there in the big city between 1994 and 2011 but I wonder sometimes about how life really was for foreign residents in those hedonistic 1980s.
I know that I introduced the duo KAGAMI just last Friday, but on hearing this other song of theirs in the last few days, I simply couldn't leave it alone. It's just that attractive to me.
Their debut album"Time Machine" was released earlier this year in April, but then I encountered this single that had come out even earlier in February titled "Endless Midnight", and the guest vocalist here is Hikari（ひかり）. Now, if that name sounds familiar to all those into their Neo-City Pop, then it's because she has been often aligned with another artist, Tokimeki Records, in covers and original material such as their "Sweet Escape" from 2022.
Well, "Endless Midnight" may be a fresh new song from 2025 but its arrangement sounds like something from the original City Pop days (and nights) of the 1980s. With Hikari cooing softly into the mike, the arrangement reminds me of Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子）"Slow Nights". And overall, KAGAMI may have made another ideal driving song as one is traveling to, through or from the big city around the bewitching hour.
It was over nine years ago when I first wrote about jazz guitarist Kazumasa Akiyama（秋山一将）and his strutworthy title track from his 1978 "Dig My Style". Well, apologies on nearly a decade passing before putting up the second article.
Anyways, from that same album, I present you with "I Believe in You" which has got a lot more coffee and Red Bull coursing through Akiyama's veins. Instead of merely strutting down a Shinjuku street, this nearly 8-minute track is a spirited ride on the Tokyo highways with plenty of warp-speed guitar playing and thrumming bass. Must have been a fun time in one of the biggest metropolises on Earth at the time.
It was only recently that I discovered that singer-songwriter Tomiko Kobayashi（小林登美子）had unfortunately died in 2022 at the age of 52. My belated condolences to her family, friends and fans.
As with the other entries of Kobayashi on the blog, this song also belongs to her September 1994 album "Soul Wonderland". "Kono Hi no Ame wo Wasurenai" (Won't Forget Today's Rain) was written by Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）and composed by the singer herself with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）as the arranger. At first, I wasn't quite sure about the categorization: just straight funky R&B or do I play the City Pop card? Of nothing wrong with it at all...it starts off as a funk/pop combination powered by Kobayashi's vocals, but then I do get that feeling of swinging horn City Pop of the 1990s when the feeling was that the Bubble Era had never ended.
I always liked the "Side by Side" series of English textbooks for all levels. There were plenty of opportunities for listening, drilling, practicing and role-playing that could be extrapolate from the pages here. Used them in my schools and in my private lessons as well.
But to start off the usual Urban Contemporary Friday segment of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" this week, we're going with a different "Side by Side" that I found in that issue of the Japanese-language journal "Record Collectors" that I mentioned a few days ago for the 1970s folk groupGinga Tetsudo (銀河鉄道...Galaxy Railway). This was the last of the six albums to date that the duo Fluid released.
Fluid is quite the name for a Japanese group and it was Anglicized from the kanji for "furuido"（古井戸）which actually means "Old Well". Consisting of Yoshitaro Kanazaki（加奈崎芳太郎）from Hokkaido and Reichi "Chabo" Nakaido（仲井戸麗市）from Tokyo, the two had met in 1970 in a Shibuya music café and they got along so well that they decided to form Fluid. Being a folk group, I was surprised to see a lot of their earlier works on YouTube so I'll have to take a look at some of those soon enough including their hit 1972 debut single"Sanae-chan"（さなえちゃん）.
However, we do have "Side by Side" here which was released in May 1978 and the writer for the entry on "Record Collectors" mentioned the album as an example of folksy City Pop. So, not surprisingly, we have another example of Japanese folk musicians making that jump over to New Music and City Pop. I don't have the album myself but I'd like to take a look at the first three tracks at least. Unfortunately, for all those Fluid YouTube videos, the above is the only one of the entire album. If I'm not mistaken, Nakaido is responsible for all words and music.
First off is "Date Song" which is a folksy jazz tune that gets me thinking of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt & violinist Stephane Grappelli, one of the scintillating combos of the genre that ever existed. Nakaido's lyrics literally talk of a woman planning, prepping and even budgeting for that big swinging date in Ginza.
At 3:26 is "Dai Tokai"（大都会...The Big City）, a song that belongs to the sunny and summery Margaritaville sort of 70s City Pop alongside stuff by Bread & Butter and The Milky Way. It's the equivalent of Tokyo streetside café peoplewatching on a nice June afternoon (any later, and the poor customers would be broiling in their own juices).
Finally at 6:53, "Dakareta Ato de"（抱かれた後で）can be directly translated into "After Being Held" but I really think that it's "After Making Love". It's a pretty sharp and friendly tune with a pleasantly smoky harmonica solo and a touch of bossa nova as a couple enjoy the view from their window, perhaps fully in the afterglow. Feel free to pass around the cigarette.
Fluid broke up in 1979 but in 2015, Nakaido and Kanazaki got together again in Shibuya to commemorate the former's 45th anniversary in the music business with a concert. Please feel free to enjoy the rest of "Side by Side".
The first time I heard "Evening Scandal", Mariko Kurata's（倉田まり子）4th single from January 1980, I thought that she was going all Pink Lady on me. And as it is, there's a goodly amount of disco punch in the song, a genre that Mie and Kei utilized effectively in their discography.
Written by City Pop and future TUBE expert Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, and indeed he penned a number of Pink Lady's hits, the arrangement was handled by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, a guy who also knows his City Pop. Although I wouldn't categorize "Evening Scandal" as such a song, it does handle like a dramatic and urban kayo kyoku as Aran's lyrics describe a torrid night on the town between two lovers.
A few years ago, I posted another Reminiscings of Youth article regarding Joe Jackson's classy "Steppin' Out" from 1982 and how I first heard it when I was walking through a Hudson's Bay department store (which is now extinct, by the way) near its record album department. The same thing had happened to me perhaps a few years earlier with a totally different song. There was all this groove and funk surrounding a lone and perhaps lonely trumpet with such a sharp presence.
I couldn't identify it back then but I would gradually find out that this was the one and only Herb Alpert behind his July 1979"Rise". You could have knocked me down with a feather at that realization; I'd had no idea it was the same guy behind his iconic 1960s Tijuana Brass sound and the man behind the jolly "Casino Royale" theme. "Rise" sounded so sexy and urban (so I guess it was well titled, eh?😈) and quite different from what had come before. Apparently, Alpert had once been asked to come up with disco versions of his old hits such as "Tijuana Taxi" and "A Taste of Honey" but he (and I) didn't feel too comfortable with that and so a new song was crafted. Good choice!
"Rise" hit No. 1 on US Billboard while on Canada's RPM, it hit No. 5. Back in March, Alpert celebrated his 90th birthday and so there was a feature celebrating his life and career as shown below. Still on the trumpet, I see!
So, what was in the Top 3 of Oricon when "Rise" had been released a few days prior?.
There was a time when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had the biggest pop culture boom when I was in high school, starting or culminating with the 1984 film "Amadeus" which won a ton of awards including a Best Picture Oscar. I think it was about the same time that the singer Falco had a hit with the song "Rock Me Amadeus". And even Japanese pop music wasn't immune to his charms since there was a popular Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）song around that time based on the Austrian composer. Not sure whether the spirit of the classical music master was amused or bemused.
The last time I spoke about the technopop duo SPANK HAPPY, it was for the title track from their April 2002 maxi-single"Angelic" which sounded like they were channeling some Daft Punk. Well, later on in September, leader and songwriter Naruyoshi Kikuchi（菊地成孔）and vocalist Hitomi Iwasawa（岩澤瞳）released the album "Computer House of Mode" which contains the track "Forever Mozart". Written and composed by Kikuchi, I don't know whether he was actually aiming for something reminiscent of Mozart's style but there is something about "Forever Mozart" that feels like a combination of Fashion Music, technopop and even early 1980s Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. I can imagine white powdered wig and ballroom gown-wearing robots skating on a grand floor in Austria.
This song was something that I discovered through the usual browsing on YouTube some time ago. When I checked to see if I could find some information surrounding it, I came across something pretty interesting.
On Hiroshi Sugai's（スガイヒロシ）blog, there was a small article regarding "Kibun wa Red Shower" (It Feels Like a Red Hot Shower), an obscure song by actress Yuuko Funakura（舟倉由佑子）, or as she was known back in 1980, Tamaki Funakura（舟倉たまき）. With lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, the song was composed/arranged by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, the maker of some of the great City Pop tunes, and apparently Hayashi felt that he had a triumvirate of City Pop songs of which the latest release was "Kibun wa Red Shower" while the first two were from 1979: Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"September" (although personally I treat it as a pop tune) and Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Mayonaka no Door"（真夜中のドアー）.
Indeed, those two are considered among the primo of Hayashi songs but "Kibun wa Red Shower" is not all that well known. And yet, when I listen to it, I can hear elements from the other two songs especially through the rhythm and the chorus, so it's not that surprising that Hayashi would consider them a trio. However, out of the three, I think "Kibun wa Red Shower" seems to veer away from City Pop over to kayo kyoku. The song was used for a body soap commercial although I'm not sure what a red hot shower is. Considering that I had just been watching some of the finale of "Alien: Earth", I don't really want to know anymore.
From 3:44 of the above video is the B-side, "Yes, I Do" which was also taken care of by Miura and Hayashi. This one is a straight pop tune, quite aidoru...short and sweet. As for Funakura, she was born in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture but was raised in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. She was a naturally talented athlete so there were thoughts that she would become a gym teacher, much like another singer who happened to start her singing career in that same year of 1980. But in her sophomore year of high school in 1977, she was scouted at Osaka's Umeda Station by an employee of Toei Company and made her debut on film in 1978. The singing part of her career would only consist of two singles, the aforementioned 1980 "Kibun wa Red Shower" and the second one coming out in 1984 under her current stage name of Yuuko Funakura.
I've known about 80s aidoru Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）ever since I started getting into Japanese pop music as a teen myself, and so I got to know some of his big hits such as "Blue Jeans Memory"（ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）and "Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku"（ギンギラギンにさりげなく）through the usual sources of videotaped music shows and karaoke outings. However, this particular song kinda fell through the cracks although I kept seeing it in ranking lists and Matchy's long discography.
So, I'm talking about his 7th single from June 1982, "Highteen Boogie". Strangely enough, I never saw him perform it on videotaped editions of "The Best 10" or hear anyone at Kuri, our old karaoke hangout here in Toronto, perform it. Up until recently, it was simply a title on the Matchy list. Well, I finally listened to it and found it to be the typically Matchy rumbly rock n' roll song although I think perhaps one observation is that the kid sounded perhaps a little more high-tone and slightly softer despite the shark-powered driving arrangement.
And speaking of the creation, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）was behind the lyrics while Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）took care of music and arrangement. In fact, Matchy also had some additional help from other Tats associates in the form of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and EPO as the backing chorus. It hit No. 1 for a few weeks after its release and ended up as the 7th-ranked single of 1982. Apparently, Yamashita has covered the song live in concerts himself although no official recorded version of the song exists.
The song was the theme song for "Highteen Boogie" the movie which was released in early August 1982 with the Tanokin Trio: Matchy, Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）and Yoshio Nomura（野村義男） starring. Matchy plays a high school-age motorcycle-riding street tough who wants to go straight due to the charms of an orphaned teen girl but fate apparently has other purposes for him. Matsumoto's lyrics talk about young Sho's redemption through love and perhaps the aforementioned softer vocal approach reflects that.
After all these years living in the Great White North with occasional trips back to the old country, my parents have still maintained their love for enka music. So it's not surprising that they do look forward to their episodes of "Uta Con"（うたコン）and "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, especially the latter.
But my mother can be very particular even within the enka genre. So it means something when she openly says that she likes a song. And so she has expressed her affinity for Hiroshi Miyama's（三山ひろし）latest enka tune "Gion Yamizakura"(The Dark Cherry Blossoms of Gion). Released in June this year as his 21st single, the title sounds like something that should be fronting a mystery novel but instead, this delicate traditional ballad talks of a tragic love affair that takes place in Kyoto. Miyama, who I usually think is more for the boisterously sung tunes, sounds almost like the bidanshi enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）with his own very sensitive and delicate approach to the genre. Written by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, "Gion Yamizakura" peaked at No. 22 on Oricon. Methinks that this will get him back onto the Kohaku Utagassen in a few months' time.
Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment at a clinic so I managed to escape a major morning downpour by getting there about fifteen minutes before the clouds opened up. Of course, being a doctor's office, there were magazines there probably dating back to the age of the Gestetner machine...I couldn't see the title initially due to the stratified layers of dust. Knowing this, I brought my copy of the Japanese-language journal "Record Collectors" with the special feature on City Pop between 1973 and 1979 to wile away the time before the doctor saw me.
Surprisingly, the different entries and articles weren't that difficult to read and I was able to discover a few more artists that I had never heard of before. One band was called Ginga Tetsudo (銀河鉄道...Galaxy Railway), and no, it had nothing to do with the famed manga-turned-anime or the hit Godiego song.
Amazon.jp
Ginga Tetsudo was a 1970s four-piece band consisting of Shuuji Honda（本田修二）, Nobuhiko Sato（佐藤信彦）, Yoshio Maki（牧良夫） and Daijiro Suzuki（鈴木大治郎）. Although I'm not entirely clear on how long the band lasted, it seems to be around the middle of that decade, specifically 1975. When at least some of them were still in high school, an indies album was released that was titled "Milky Way" but I'd like some clarification on this. Officially, the band released one self-titled album and two singles before they broke up.
Let's take a look at those two singles, shall we? I believe the first single was "Sekiyu Stove" (Kerosene Stove). One of the statements that stood out to me in the blurb for the band in "Record Collectors" was that Ginga Tetsudo sounded more like suburban pop than City Pop. Considering that other websites have described the band as a folk rock unit and as I hear the country side of things in both singles, perhaps the suburban pop tag might be a compromise term. Honda was responsible for both words and music for a song with lovely harmonies that indeed combines the folk rock of the great outdoors and a bluesy urban saxophone solo. Plus the other wonderful thing is that I have finally come across a song that targets one of the vital appliances of any junior high school in northern Gunma Prefecture where I used to teach. And isn't a kerosene stove the perfect thing to sing about if one's a folk band from the 1970s?
The second single below was "Omoidashite Goran"(Try to Remember) which is a short, sweet and zippy number by lyricist Hiroyuki Hayashi（林裕之）and composer Maki. It not only has me thinking of American roots rock but also the works of Happy End and Sentimental City Romance. In fact, one of the websites cited Ginga Tetsudo as the 1970s version of Sunny Day Service which is perhaps akin to saying that the Candies were the 1970s version of Perfume. In any case, it's been a while since I've had any one song pick up so many genres through a couple of listens. I have to indirectly thank my doctor for that.
Recently, when I hear the words "cat's eye", my short-term memories tend to dig up one notorious scene from "Alien: Earth". Therefore, especially for lovers of the feline, I consider the above video to be viewers' discretion advised.
However, in a far less gory example, I'm happy to hear that an anime remake of the original 1983 anime of "Cat's Eye" has been made and is now showing as of this month via Disney Plus. So, fans can once more marvel and gawk at the Sisters Kisugi: Hitomi, Rui and Ai as they pull off their derring-do art heists.
Of course, that also means we gotta have the original theme song "Cat's Eye" along for the ride. Used as the ending theme for the current incarnation of the series, I remember the song as the first Anri（杏里）tune that I had ever heard and that was on her appearance on the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen. Didn't know what the song's significance was at the time; I only knew it as one dynamic performance by the tropical looking Eiko Kawashima（川嶋栄子）.
This time around, "Cat's Eye" has been recorded by another female professional mononymed singer whose name starts with the letter "A". Ado, who was first brought aboard KKP by Joana, has been quite the cat's meow for the past few years due to her huge vocal range and her mysterious countenance, and perhaps that is why she was asked to perform this anison classic. The new version has a bit more sophistication thanks to those strings and some more oomph due to the rock guitar. But it's obviously still Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and Yuuichiro Oda（小田祐一郎）behind words and music respectively.
As I may have mentioned recently, I went to Aroma, an Indian restaurant that offers a lunchtime buffet, down in the middle of all of the Toronto International Film Festival hoopla. I hadn't been there in several years, certainly before COVID struck the world, so it was nice having that tandoori chicken and the chicken tikka masala once more.
However, the first example of curry anything that I had as a kid was Japanese-style curry rice that my mother still makes from time to time. That by itself was plenty spicy and hot for me and frankly up to university age, that was really the only form of curry that I knew. Then, I found out about the different types of curry all around the world such as green curry from Thailand and the other styles from India and Pakistan. Of course, I fell in love with naan immediately, so rice and it had to battle it out for my gastronomic affections for many years afterwards.
Yesterday, I wrote about another song by the master Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）who had passed away in 2023. Well, another singer-songwriter in Japan who had greatly admired Billy Joel and sometimes I think that he was the Japanese version of the Piano Man himself also sadly died in 2023, and that was KAN.
Especially when it comes to his tenderhearted balladry, the emotions often get stirred and that is also the case with his February 2006 30th single"Curry Rice". Its very gentle arrangement with the acoustic guitar kinda brings up memories of Mom stirring up the curry in the kitchen as the aroma of the stuff permeates the air at home. Japanese curry may not be nearly as powerful as the Indian variety but it's still very homey and welcome.
"Curry Rice" was also the theme song for a TBS drama that ran from early 2006, "Sento no Musume!?"（銭湯の娘!?...Public Bath House Girl） starring Mari Yaguchi（矢口真里）from the huge aidoru group Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）.
It's the 21st of September and for a lot of folks, that means one thing.
Yup, it's "September" by Earth Wind & Fire, one of my favourite go-to cheer-up songs. Dance clubs are probably going to be playing this or have played this around the planet, and the traffic around Area 51 is a lot busier today.
Now, I already wrote about the EW&F classic back in 2020. Plus, even before that, I had written about Shinichi Osawa's（大沢伸一）remix version from 1999 and even a 2016 anison that was inspired by "September". Therefore, I can provide a couple of more covers in honour.
Nettai Jazz Gakudan（熱帯JAZZ楽団...Tropical Jazz Big Band） is a band specializing in Latin jazz and Big Band which is led by percussionist Carlos Kanno（カルロス菅野）from Orquesta de la Luz. They started out in 1995 as just a bunch of buddies jamming but then it swelled up to an 18-piece group. Their take on "September" was a track on their 2nd album from June 1998"Nettai Jazz Gakudan II ~ September" and along with what "September" has been all about, Kanno and crew also give a lot on what they themselves are all about in their version.
Nearly 20 years later, the vocal group Little Glee Monster took on Maurice White and company's magnum opus as one of the coupling songs on their May 2017 8th single "Dakara, Hitori janai"（だから、ひとりじゃない...So, I'm Tellin' Ya, You're Not Alone）. The soul is definitely with them! And to think that just some days before release, LGM and EW&F got together to do "September".
It's been over a couple of years now since the passing of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, still greatly missed. Far from his session musician roots where he was helping out with funk, techno and the like, his last couple of decades will always strike me as being wistful and contemplative through his piano.
The other day on NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）information variety show, I heard this piece accompany the Premium Talk guest of the week...sorry, I can't remember his name, and I'm not sure whether it has anything to do with him or any of his work, but he just said that he simply loved this song when asked if he'd like anything to accompany him musically when introduced on the show.
From the languid playing, I should have known right off the bat that "Koko" was a Sakamoto number. Some decades earlier, he'd come up with "energy flow", the soothing song for the Regain vitamin drink brand, and "Koko" was something along that vein. Released as a single in March 2008, The Professor had once considered giving it the full title of "Kokoro" meaning "heart" but according to the J-Wiki article on the song, he felt a little too embarrassed naming it that so he went with just "Koko". I don't see any problem with "Kokoro" myself, but perhaps he had thought that "Kokoro" was a tad too cornball. I'm not sure.
"Kokoro" was used for a Japan Post commercial. Sakamoto himself stars in the ad. Seeing it and hearing the song definitely hits the feelings with an even more bittersweet and melancholy sense considering that he's left this mortal coil.
A few days ago in the Comments section for Galali's "Clear Summer", I received an anonymous statement about the Okinawan song and dance duo HALCALI getting the "Plastic Love" treatment. Their 22-year-old song "Otsukare Summer" has hit the big time via SNS.
Apparently, the song from their September 2003 debut album"Halcali Bacon"（ハルカリベーコン）(I posted on another track "Electric Sensei"（エレクトリック先生）back in early August) went viral on TikTok over the past number of weeks or months, and though it was one of the relatively rare songs that didn't originally have Halca and Yucali dancing all about in a music video, no problems. Folks around the globe have picked up on that and provided their own choreography such as KanzakiAnna through her YouTube account.
The love has bounced back to the original recording company, FOR LIFE MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT because just yesterday, they released an animated music video for "Otsukare Summer"! Y'know, I had never heard of a loungy Latin-infused Shibuya-kei rap song before...now my life is complete. We can all thank not only HALCALI but also the songwriters Fantastic Plastic Machine and Masayuki Kumahara（熊原正幸）for providing this classy and catchy paean to the end of the hot season (which is next week).
As for the title, it's a pun on the very common phrase "otsukaresama"（お疲れ様）which literally means "Thank you for your hard work", so it's something that is used by folks in Japan to commend fellow workers or others who have done a great service for them such as furniture movers. I gather that I can also treat the punny title as "Thank You, Summer!". For a lot of the local sun worshippers, they are likely saying the same and lamenting the fact that it's going away so soon.
I remember reading about this 1992 Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）album"Cute" while I was reading through my "Obscure City Pop CDs" book in a freezing Castle Frank subway station in downtown Toronto one February night in 2024 before meeting up with Larry Chan for dinner. It's not easy leafing through a fairly thick tome with gloves on, let me tell you that. But it was from reading on that particular album that I posted up the snazzy first track "Kakete Miyou"（駆けてみよう）, a really nice sophisticated pop tune.
Then, recently, I encountered this lovely mid-tempo track from the same album. "Kono Eki kara" (From This Station) was written by Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）and composed by Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, and like a lot of songs that I do like, it's got a number of genres mixed into it: soul (quiet storm), jazz and pop. Of course, I'm a sucker for some of that keyboard work...maybe done by Sato himself...and the bluesy guitar solo. I don't think I'm exaggerating too much if I can say that "Kono Eki kara" could be the musical equivalent of a a really smooth Godiva chocolate bar.
Almost five years ago, I brought in singer-songwriter Masami Yoshida（吉田政美）, who used to be partnered up with Masashi Sada（さだまさし）as the folk duo Grape（グレープ）, and discovered that, like many other folk artists in Japan, he also had a penchant for City Pop and J-AOR. In fact, my first and thus far only article regarding him was "Natsu no Kioku ni"（夏の記憶に）, a West Coast AOR tune good enough to accompany a drive down the Ventura.
The song was a part of his 1980 "My tune My turn masami" album and another track is "Orange City no Asa"(Morning in Orange City). And away from California we go...to head off down south to Rio in Brazil for some sunny samba samplings by composer and vocalist Yoshida and lyricist Namiko Saki（﨑南海子）. This is good for a stroll alongside Copacabana Beach and despite the release year, the arrangement makes it feel like a 1970s City Pop tune.
Man, this is a pretty fine song but it's been difficult for me to classify in terms of genre...although that's no reason to not enjoy it, of course.
Mayo Nagata's（永田真代）"Uwasa"(Rumours) is the coupling song to her July 1991 third single"Namida no Splash"（涙のスプラッシュ...Splash of Tears） and what I can say definitively is that it's a nocturnal urban contemporary tune. Composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）, it starts off with some kakkoii percussion before we get some grumbly French phrases and the launch into a dark yet cool melody that feels exotic and James Bond-like; maybe there's even a touch of House in there, too. I wouldn't classify it as late-era Fashion Music because it's just so propulsive but it's not straight soul either. But my compliments to the singer and songwriters. A song like this will always have a place on my shelf.
I've heard of "Funny Girl", but never "Funny Lady". I finally get a chance to come across something with that very title.
And this happens to belong to the second track of singer-songwriter Yuko Tomita's（とみたゆう子）April 1983 third album"Classical Heart". Written and composed by Tomita herself, considering the release date, there is something rather old-fashioned and unusual with the arrangement here: a bit of disco combined with the groove of City Pop and some fleet-footed orchestral bouncy kayo kyoku from the 1970s. It does sound like something that would be adored on Japanese music shows including "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）. It's time for that whirlwind night tour of Tokyo!
