Tomoko Kuwae -- Blue Blue Island（ブルーブルーアイランド）

 

Last night's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）was entertaining enough. The topic du jour regarded the proper way to cleanse one's face but for me, it was all of the old kayo kyoku that was thrown out as segment BGM. That NHK staff seemed to have been on a bigger music bender than usual and even the on-air personalities were shimmying in their seats as the report discussed the debate on whether to use cleansing milk or oil to get the best results. And yep, one of the songs was the venerable chestnut, Tomoko Kuwae's（桑江知子）"Watashi no Heart wa Stop Motion"（私のハートはストップモーション）.

As mentioned in that article, "Watashi no Heart wa Stop Motion" was released in January 1979 as Kuwae's debut single. Well, a few months down the line, Kuwae released her sophomore effort, "Blue Blue Island" in May. Despite the title, it isn't really a tropical-sounding tune but something more akin to a jangly footloose and fancy-free 50s or 60s pop song while still retaining that breezy vacation atmosphere. The same songwriters that were behind that first single were also back for "Blue Blue Island": lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）.