Yuji Toriyama -- Midnight Struttin'

 

Even though I haven't been to Tokyo in the last eight years, I still think by and large that Japan's capital city is very safe. Perhaps even Kabukicho in the heart of Shinjuku can be traversed pretty easily even around the midnight hour without any major palpitations if one doesn't go into the darker alleys and avoids all of those touts.

I can't be certain though about how it was back in the early 1980s, though. My impression is that the Yakuza had more of a freer and stronger existence throughout Tokyo in those days and nights. But perhaps those midnight strolls were still possible...maybe the odd strut as well.

And that is why I have "Midnight Struttin'" by guitarist, composer and arranger Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）. A track from his sophomore album "Silver Shoes" from 1982, Toriyama definitely let his guitar do the strutting for him in the wilds of West Shinjuku (safer hopefully) in the hotel district. I can't quite identify it, but I think Toriyama was inspired by another song from the United States through a repeated riff.