Kingo Hamada -- Hirusagari No Selection（昼下がりのセレクション）

 

Yesterday's main topic on NHK's morning variety information show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）just happened to be on the how-to-do's and etiquette surrounding a visit to the popular all-you-can-eat buffets in the country. During that computer part purchasing frenzy yesterday, my friend and I had found a Japanese eatery called The Ohiru Café and we stuffed our pie holes full of tonkatsu sandwiches so I was pretty immune to all that "viking" on television last night. Still, back in the day, when my gastrointestinal tract was ravenous and more pliable to all that food, I had my time in the buffet circuit including the weekly cake buffets at the Hilton Hotel in Shinjuku. Not so much though that I had my face on warning signs for the staff.

I thought therefore that a song with the title of "Hirusagari no Selection" (Afternoon Selection) would be ideal for such a preamble ramble. It feels like two words optimal as a description for cake, tea or other gastronomic choices at a restaurant during the weekdays. 

However, I'm not sure whether lyricist Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）or composer Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）had ever meant for this particular song to be emblematic of such foodie pursuits. A track from the latter's 6th album "Heart Cocktail" from March 1985, it's a song that doesn't actually fall under his more common genres of City Pop and jazz. It's really a fancy-free and breezy pop tune that hints at music from way before even the 1980s. Both people were also responsible for "Yokaze no Information"（夜風のインフォメーション）, a fellow track mate on the album.