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.
Well, it wouldn't be a KKP Christmas season without including something Yuletide from the good folks at Nash Music Library. I did have something from them last year with "Happy Christmas". And so, I thought "Why not have them aboard again?".
This time, I have "Kamakura de X'mas" (Christmas in Kamakura). Now, to be honest, Kamakura would be one of the last places where I would imagine anything having to do with Noel and the like, but hey, this ancient city gets snow and illumination so again, why not? "Kamakura de X'mas" is most likely the first KKP entry which has both the Xmas and Traditional Instrumental labels for the same song and with the piano and the jingling bells in there, I couldn't help but get images of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and even Studio Ghibli vibes via Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）. The song was part of the October 2024 compilation "Christmas Avenue".
It seems so long ago and yet it's only been a few months since enka singer and actor Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）left this mortal coil at the age of 82. I guess that the music that he provided fans were so imbued with the feeling of a long-ago era that it might be easy to assume that Hashi was someone from a very long time ago.
I was just scrolling through the Top 10 Songs of 1961 and it was evident that Hashi had a lot of hits during that time, including one that came in at No. 9,"Okesa Utaeba" (Why Not Sing A Traditional Folk Song?). Hashi's 3rd single was released in October 1960 and it's definitely an enka tune when compared to some of his later and more muscular rock kayo tunes such as "Zekken No. 1 Start da"（ゼッケンNO.1スタートだ）. Written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, it's got that jingly and jangly festival spirit in there although according to the J-Wiki article on "Okesa Utaeba", there was no choreography particularly planned for it in performances of the song unlike some of Hashi's other fare. I certainly thought that there was something min'yo about it.
With the mention of Niigata Prefecture in Saeki's lyrics and perhaps other places within the province, I assume that "Okesa Utaeba" can also be considered to be a go-touchi song or a regional tune as Hashi sings about the one that got away. Maybe the song is supposed to be a salve for that broken heart. Listeners could sympathize because "Okesa Utaeba" managed to sell about 200,000 records and break the Top 10 list in the pre-Oricon era as mentioned above.
There are always those times when children think they are grown-ups or want to show that they are grown-ups by putting on make-up or clothes that are way too big. Of course, the parents get all gushy and smiley. Then, the kids actually do grow up and the parents may have different reactions.
That was the impression I got while I was listening to Hidemi Ishikawa's（石川秀美）December 1983 3rd album"Semi-Sweet" and specifically one track, "Watashi wa Otona"(I'm An Adult). Ishikawa was actually around 17 when she recorded this so I'm assuming that the protagonist in the song is someone going through the rebellious stage and storming out the house.
Written by SHOW and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, this is a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary aidoru tune with the slightly spooky background chorus, the Dazz Band-like synths in there, and the rumbling percussion contrasted with the squeaky vocals of Ishikawa. Not sure whether Oda and the other producers were trying to show off their aidoru's persona in "Watashi wa Otona" as someone insisting of her adulthood despite the fact that she certainly didn't sound like an adult but the effect worked on me.
It was about a year ago that I introduced a since-disbanded jazz trio with the name Kurofune Lady to Ginsei Gakudan（黒船レディと銀星楽団...The Black Ship Lady and The Silver Star Orchestra） consisting of singer Fumi Mizubayashi（水林史）as the Black Ship Lady herself with pianist Yuri Hirota（廣田ゆり）and guitarist Toshihiko Shiokawa（塩川俊彦）. Their song was the peppy "Ichiban Hoshii Mono"（いちばんほしいもの）.
Well, that song belonged to the trio's 2006 album "Furubon'ya no Waltz"（古本屋のワルツ...The Old Bookstore Waltz）, and now that they're back on the blog again, I'm providing the title track. As advertised, it is a lovely and intimate jazz waltz with Mizubayashi's gently lilting voice doing that light waltz all over the floor and on the song sheet. Seeing that the album had been produced to help support the bookstore area in Jimbocho, Tokyo, there is that atmosphere of the ancient pages of books and woodsy bookshelves within that old-style bookstore. Here's hoping that the E-book trend hasn't totally eliminated the need to visit some of those establishments in Jimbocho. Writing this on a Saturday, I remember that I often used to visit the area on Saturdays.
It's quite the lovely day outside if a wee cold out there. Hopefully, all of you are enjoying your weekend.
NUTS is a 1990s pop duo that I had last posted about back in 2019 so it's time to give them their due once more. Plus, it is brilliantly sunny in my neck of the woods so something just as light and happy is appropriate. Just to remind folks, the duo consisted of vocalist Tomomi Saito（斎藤友美）and keyboardist Akihiko Hirama（平間あきひこ）. What I hadn't realized was that Hirama was once part of the funk group JADOES.
So far, this is the earliest that I've gone in NUTS' discography. Their 4th single from February 1995 is "Heart Beat Express" which is quite the bouncy number. It almost achieves 1990s City Pop status but in the end, I went with regular pop in Labels. There's no mention of whether it was it was tied up with any particular commercial but I think it should have since it does sound so welcoming for a product or service such as Japan Railways. Being a 90s song, it does have that clear and crisp brassy synth work; sounds like I described a brand of beer. The single was also included in NUTS' debut album"Ticket to Happiness" which was released about a month following the single.
I think the one time that I had bad chicken was when I was back in Ichikawa. For dinner, I decided to make my own chicken katsu so I did the usual thing with the chicken breasts and dredged them in flour, egg and panko. They went into the microwave oven for some minutes (yup, I didn't use a fryer...followed my friend's style) and I chowed them down with rice. Well, I was glad that this all happened on a Friday since my weekend was pretty much a goner. I had the worst stomachache; whether it was due to not cooking the chicken enough or there was something in the egg wash, I'll never know. The horror of that gastrointestinal disaster was enough for me never to make chicken katsu ever again.
Hopefully, master musician Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）only approach to bad chicken was actually through his creation "Bad Chicken" from his June 1987 14th original album"RENDEZ-VOUS". Takanaka was responsible for the funk and rock but Daryl Canada took care of the lyrics. Yes, this is a better way to shake that body around instead of wincing and twisting in agony. "Bad Chicken" wasn't necessarily used for the dance floor, though. It was actually used as a campaign song for a Toshiba product and none other than Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）was in the commercial. I guess she liked hugging electric poles; I'm not judging.🤷
Once again, I have encountered a singer whose profile is virtually a tabula rasa. I couldn't find any information on this singer Ritsuko Amano（天野立子）aside from the fact that she released a single in 1985 titled "Lemon no Namida" (Lemon Tears).
And that's too bad since she's got a very nice voice...not even sure whether she was promoted as a regular pop singer or an aidoru. I figure that she spans the gap between Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and Mari Iijima（飯島真理）. And "Lemon no Namida" indeed has that breezy aidoru-esque arrangement but with some City Pop and disco which makes this feel like something that could have been composed a half-decade earlier; love the bass by the way. I had to track down a photo of the actual 45" single at Mercari to find out that Mariko Kubota（窪田まり子）was the lyricist while the composer was Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）. If anyone out there can provide some further insight into this mystery singer, that would be greatly appreciated.
As soon as I heard the first few notes and first few strains of this song, I figured that this had to have been created by lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and her brother, singer-composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. The tenderness in the opening piano was too much of a giveaway.
Quite appropriate, too, as this was Tazumi Toyoshima's（豊島たづみ）final single to date, released in 1982. "Moetsukite, Desire"(Burn, Desire) actually appears as a slowly fading ember in a campfire or maybe the night lights of the city gradually turning off after midnight once all of the usual hijinks take place. It seems like the perfect bedtime City Pop ballad to tuck folks into sleep. Perhaps it could have been the ideal campaign song for Japan Railways as tired commuters are heading back home after a long day of work and a long night of play.
I was listening to pianist and composer/arranger Soichi Noriki's（野力奏一）1984 album"Dream Cruise" as I was in bed...which was a big mistake. The songs were so relaxing that I went out like a light by the third track. I woke back up just when the final song of the album was doing its fadeout. It was like getting that anesthetic needle before my colonoscopy earlier in the fall.
Now that you may be spending the rest of the article trying to get that image out of your mind, I'll try to help by providing some of that smooth music that I almost got to hear in its entirety from "Dream Cruise". It's been several years since I last posted on Noriki with my last article on him being a follow-up on his 1983 debut album"Noriki".
As for the album itself, I had assumed that "Dream Cruise" was all about that wonderful trip on a cruise ship, seeing all that water on the cover. But I don't see any ship there although there is a highway going off into the horizon with what looks like half a red stretch limo, so instead of placing a thumbnail photo of the Harmony of the Seas up at the top, I went with a photo of Yokohama's Chinatown at night and then followed up with one of J Utah's driving videos through Tokyo.
In any case, "Dream Cruise" begins with the cheerful "You Can Make It". It does sound like something that would be great on either a cruise liner's speakers or a car radio, and it's the aural equivalent of that good buddy having the listener's back as the title states. Some wonderfully woozy sax as well, with the late great Jake H. Concepcion being one of the guys on the instrument. Noriki and guitarist Hirotsugu Nakai（中井浩二）were behind the composition here.
What starts off Side B of the original LP is "Easy Way" which sounds anything but in terms of how all those musical professionals brought it all together for this very tropics-friendly sound. Nakai took care of this one by his lonesome. Looks like all of the musicians had their individual chance to shine including Nakai himself. Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）is also in there but I didn't really hear his trumpet for some reason.
"Mild Life" is another track from Side B, and the title and melody are in synch with each other. It really sounds like someone having a wonderfully mild life out in tropical areas somewhere...preferably with a lanai. Bassist Ryuji Hirasue（久末隆二）was responsible for this one, but Noriki also has a lot to say through his keyboards.
My final track today for "Dream Cruise" is the truly City Pop-worthy "Night Lights" which has a few lyrics provided by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and Mamie Lee while Noriki and drummer Masayoshi Imaizumi（今泉正義）are behind the cool night drive arrangement. Among all that funk is some elegance in the piano playing by Noriki. Quite a night out.
I was just having an email exchange with an old friend and former student earlier this morning, and we both agreed that the Christmas feeling has descended upon our respective cities of Toronto and Tokyo. The above photo is a night shot of all that illumination in front of the Microsoft Building in southern Shinjuku.
Then I came across DJ Hasebe who has just put up a Christmas City Pop mix in the last few days, so have a good listen of that. There are quite a few J-Xmas City Pop tunes that I have yet to cover although I've posted on some of the greats such as Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）"Christmas Carol no Koro ni wa"（クリスマスキャロルの頃には）and Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"December 24".
One example of a song that I had yet to cover that was on DJ Hasebe's list is Stardust Revue's（スターダストレビュー） "Sweet Snow Magic" which appeared on the band's 9th album"Brightest!" from November 1991, a decade following their debut single"Sugar wa O-Toshigoro"（シュガーはお年頃）.
Written and composed by vocalist Kaname Nemoto（根本要）, "Sweet Snow Magic" reflects how Christmas in Japan has been a second Valentine's Day with all of the hearts fluttering around in the cooler air even if snow might be hard to come by in Japan's capital city...no problems, those LED lights are still there. I see and hear that the upbeat jazziness that has been part of Stardust Revue's music is also imbued within "Sweet Snow Magic" even if the instruments are almost all of the synth variety. "Brightest!" managed to reach No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies.
From Virtual Japan, here is the 2025 edition of all that Xmas illumination in Tokyo. I know that LEDs are energy-efficient but TEPCO must be making a killing each year.
One reason that I've come to enjoy the music of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）is the delicacy and magical qualities that they imbue into their melodies...as if we listeners were going to be taken on some magic carpet ride.
I think singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）can be included in such august company. An example I can give is her August 1986 single "Yuuyake Ringo"(Sunset Apple). Although she did provide the lyrics, it was actually fellow singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）who came up with the magical and wistful melody which makes some wonderful turn of keys through the echoing piano.
According to the YouTube explanation, Taniyama had been inspired to come up with this song through something she observed when she was at a train station somewhere along the Izu Peninsula when she was a kid. She saw two girls there: one who looked sullen while the other had a rather complicated expression. They shared taking bites out of an apple but said nothing to the other. Apparently, Taniyama extrapolated a love triangle out of that awkward situation
I'm providing this week's Reminiscings of Youth under false pretenses since this song by Steely Dan, unlike "Peg" and "Time Out of Mind", isn't something from my youth. I never heard this on the radio while I was growing up although I was certainly alive at the time of its release in 1978. In fact, I didn't hear it for the first time until I was well within my odyssey in Japan between 1994 and 2011 when I picked up that Steely Dan BEST compilation.
As well, I had never seen nor heard of the April 1978 film "FM" with its eclectic cast which included two stars from Mel Brooks' classic "Blazing Saddles": Alex Karras and Cleavon Little. It wasn't particularly well reviewed but looking at the trailer, I'd be interested in taking a gander at it.
However, it's the theme song by Steely Dan, "FM (No Static at All)", that has managed to grab me by the wide lapels of my leisure suit of the 1970s. But I'm a huge Steely Dan fan so that's no surprise. What's also no surprise is that Wikipedia has provided a rather lengthy article on the song itself so please peruse that for that analysis that I could never create.
For me, "FM" is this heady combination of jazz, rock, R&B and romantic sophisticated pop that hits all the right places. The first three genres drive me on the nocturnal and perhaps not-so-safe streets of the metropolis while the final genre manages to lift me up into the clouds and penthouses thanks to those really silky strings. And once again, it seems as if Donald Fagen and Walter Becker managed to attract some of the best of the best in studio musicians and jazz greats such as drummer Jeff Porcaro of TOTO and saxophonist Pete Christlieb. Plus, I only found out recently that some of The Eagles had helped out as background singers. The contrasts and comparisons even extend into the relationship between the song and the movie with the lyrics condemning FM radio while the John A. Alonzo project wants to save it. As a kid who only really knew about AM radio at the time, this whole argument was lost on me. But I'll be more than happy to take "FM" for my own now. I'd also say that this would be one song that I'd play on my own radio broadcast that I mentioned some months ago.
"FM" the single was released on May 19, 1978. A few days prior, there was the Oricon Top 10 list for May 15. Let's see what was up at Nos. 1, 3 and 5.
It was just a little over fourteen years ago that musician and singer George Yanagi（柳ジョージ）left this mortal coil at the untimely age of 63. He's probably one of those guys who fit that Japanese fashion meme of slightly rascally middle-aged men that was making some headlines on TV twenty or so years ago.
Yup, he's still looking very kakkoii on the cover of that April 1993 album "Yokohama AREA 2" in which I serve you a track "Araburu Tenshi-tachi" (Scarface Angel). Just from the title of that song, I'm guessing some well-meaning guy is taking the hits and rolling with the punches as he tries to clean up his area of town. There's almost something Batman-like about this.
But Batman gets orchestral soundtracks. Over here, it's Yanagi backed up by a chugging and churning bluesy-rock horn section as the singer is growling out his lyrics but not in an overly raspy way. Listening to "Araburu Tenshi-tachi", I also feel some similarity toTomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）, although Yanagi's stuff has a bit more soul in there. Toshi Sumikawa（トシ・スミカワ）took care of the lyrics while the melody was handled by Toshiro Masuda（増田俊郎）. "Yokohama AREA 2" reached No. 45 on the yearly Oricon rankings.
As expected, "Uta Con"（うたコン）had its final episode of the year on Tuesday night with a retrospective on 2025's highlights. They did have some guests performing in front of the camera, though.
One of the acts was the oft-appearing group Junretsu（純烈）which has now been whittled down to a trio. They will be showing up on the Kohaku Utagassen in a few weeks as one of the relatively fewer performers providing something akin to the old kayo.
Maybe they will be performing their June 2025 single"Futari dake no Himitsu" (A Secret Between You and Me) which is what they sang on "Uta Con". I quickly caught onto their combination of old-fashioned doo-wop and kayo kyoku, and my mind went back to the sentimental music of the 1960s and 1970s because of it. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, composed by Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, it's no wonder how old-school it sounds considering the three music creators behind it.
The official music video above has Junretsu taking on double roles: of course, as themselves performing "Futari dake no Himitsu" in what appears to be an Okinawan bar and as a trio of lunkhead barflies smitten over a demure lady. Double of course, hearts will be broken.
Well, winter is definitely back in town. We're due for about four inches of snow by the time today shifts into tomorrow. Might be the perfect weather for Hump Day commuting.
It might be time for some blippity-bloppity technopop to get the blood flowing and the nerve endings fired up once more for that one more burst before the weekend arrives. Here is the short-and-sweet "Life Style Music", a collaboration between Shibuya-kei/technopop duo capsule and the technopop group Sonic Coaster Pop which I only discovered earlier this year.
"Life Style Music" hails from capsule's third album"phony phonic" from November 2003. It's got quite the percussive rhythms in there and the percolating synths with both bands indulging in their high-toned vocoders. Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）took care of everything here. One observation I have to make here is that considering SoCoPo's breakup in 2002, they were still pretty darn active. Another is that although the upbeat perkiness of Shibuya-kei is showing its echo in "Life Style Music", I think the song is definitely more of a harbinger of capsule's stylistic future.
I think I've gotten most of the Xmas cards sent out by now. I'm usually pretty diligent with those.
The latest J-Xmas tune for this season and the one to round out today's crop of KKP entries is "Eve no Tenmondai" (The Observatory on Christmas Eve) by Ritsuko Kurosawa（黒沢律子）. Released in December 1991 as her 4th single, it's a pleasant pop ballad of the season about a couple who once met at an observatory one Christmas Eve. To be honest, that's the first time I've ever heard of a place dedicated to space as a romantic meetup spot. Usually, I think of places with tons of illumination or restaurants for that special dinner, but perhaps privacy is a good site for some. Anyways, "Eve no Tenmondai" was written by Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）, composed by Takaaki Yasuoka（安岡孝章）of the band I Re'in For Re'in（アイリーン・フォーリーン）and arranged by Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）.
This song by City Pop chanteuse Nanako Sato（佐藤奈々子）had me by the throat right from its rolling piano intro which sounds like a fresh babbling brook in the forest.
"Muse no Koibito"(The Muse's Lover) is a ballad from Sato's December 1977 sophomore album"Sweet Swingin'". Composed by the singer along with her own muse Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）and written by Sato as well, it flows across the score sheet like a one-day thrill of a romantic adventure from morning to night in those 1970s. From her vocals and the arrangement, it also sounds like something that another up-and-comer from those days, Junko Yagami（八神純子）, would also tackle. It has that feel of a midtown-to-downtown escapade but I think the City Pop tones are more subdued here. Instead, what comes more to the fore is the flavour of female pop balladry from America. You can also try another track from the album, "Shuumatsu no Highway"（週末のハイウェイ）.
Well, I've learned a new term today: yakyoushou（夜驚症）. It means "night terrors". Thankfully, I've never experienced any of those before although I often have dreams of getting lost in some environment in a fairly Kafkaesque manner. How about you?
The reason I ask is that I came across this track from an album by the band saifonica which is titled "Yakyoushou" and was released in April 2016. The track itself is titled "Sekai wa Nagai Yume" (The World is One Long Dream) which could fit quite nicely into what "Yakyoushou" is talking about if it is meant to be a concept album. Written and composed by saifonica vocalist and guitarist Shintaro Takeuchi（竹内信太郎）, the song is one hard rock (and maybe dystopian?) adventure albeit with a nice and slick smoothness punctuated by some juicy bass by fellow member Luka（ルカ）. The one other member is drummer Chan-Kana（ちゃんかな）and apparently all of them have had vocalist duties.
Unfortunately, there isn't much provided on the history of saifonica: no origin year and no discography outside of finding "Yakyoushou". However, their website does state that the trio is an alternative guitar rock band who also likes to bring in elements of jazz, funk and bossa nova. Apparently, their policy is "...to pursue the music we want to make without being bound by trends".
Singer-songwriter Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）is someone that I got to know first from the pages of "Japanese City Pop" and then from her 1977 album"Flying". It was the album that signified the young folk singer's transition into something more adult contemporary.
However, I think the Tokyo native may have already been showing signs of trying out different genres as early as 1974 when she released her third album"Melodies Come From My Heart". It was still considered a folk LP but I think with her track "Murasaki Iro no Kaze" (Purple Wind), I've been getting different genres including folk. I could pick up on some blues guitar and a general feel of New Music. Yamagata was behind both words and music with the story of a woman standing in the midst of a stiff breeze as she tries to forget about that man who's now very much part of the past. There may be some lingering regret but as the last few notes hint, there is also hope around the corner.
Looks like in recent days, the YouTube movie reactor brigade has caught the "Austin Powers" trilogy, and apparently one of the most popular scenes happens to be the opening credits for the first movie "International Man of Mystery". And what's not to love? Austin is gaily dancing and running through the streets of Swinging 60s London while having an entire army of women chasing him down like a pack of wolves. He may be a contradiction in profession as the world's most famous spy but his mojo is never in doubt. Plus, it's all set to Quincy Jones'"Soul Bossa Nova".
Of course, seeing all this had me thinking about the one group and one genre which emulates the joyful style of that decade from long ago, and that would be Pizzicato Five（ピチカート・ファイヴ）and the whole Shibuya-kei thing. I've already posted a lot of the big songs by the Divine Miss Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）and Yasuharu Konishi（小西泰治）such as "Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichi-ji"(東京は夜の七時）and "Baby Portable Rock".
But strangely enough, I never experienced the very first single where Nomiya made her presence known and that was "Lover's Rock", P5's 3rd single from May 1990 which came out about four-and-a-half years following their previous single in 1986. It's an interesting song for not only the fact that the above version is an extended mix which lasts over ten minutes, but with Nomiya making a surprisingly demure debut here, original P5 member Keitaro Takanami（高浪慶太郎）seems to be showing the young lady the ropes and easing her into the cold pool gingerly through both sets of vocals. "Lover's Rock" has that P5 touch but also has that "slowly slowly" approach with none of the usual brash panache that Nomiya would soon show via sound spectacular and music video.
I noticed that I hadn't enriched the Spoozys file since I posted their 2003 "So Human" onto KKP. Too bad since the song is pretty catchy. Must rectify.
Well, I found this earlier single by guitarist and songwriter Jun Matsue（松江潤）and company titled "Plastic Planet" from June 1999 which may have been the band's debut outing. Lots of anarchic raucousness to be enjoyed here and for music lovers of a certain generation, and that includes me, this brand of bloopy synths and slightly growly surf guitars had me thinking the New Wave band Plastics and the other techno rock outfit POLYSICS. The verses even reminded me a bit of "Nice Age" by Yellow Magic Orchestra. The single also got onto Spoozys' debut album"Astro 99" which was released later in October that year.
Just for the record, the above YouTube video comes from the channel Going Awesome Places with Will Tang and he's showing off some of the wonderful things to do in Alberta's Banff and Lake Louise, a place that I got to visit all the way back in 1990.
I mentioned in a recent Xmas-based article on KKP that not all Canadians want to celebrate the Holidays in their own country. Perhaps it's something about the fact that walking daily in a winter wonderland with the temperature at a slightly cool -280 degrees and the winds coming in at a breezy Mach 2 might not be the most enjoyable environment. 🧊🥶
I know that folks do like to head down south for days, weeks and even months at a time but I wanted to sate my curiosity about where Canadians like to go during winter once and for all. And I was surprised to find out that at least some of my fellow countrymen do like to keep things within the Great White North while others do desire something more tropical. As such, possessing that whimsical nature which often powers my Author's Picks, I've come up with five destinations while providing the appropriate songs to accompany them.
(1967) Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets -- Blue Chateau（ブルー・シャトウ）
Almost six years ago, I posted an article regarding aidoru Chiaki Watanabe（渡辺千秋）and her debut single"Natsu ni Refresh"（夏にリフレッシュ）from April 1984. It was notable in that the composer was the tough-as-nails folk-rock singer Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）although the song was the typical teenybopper tune with some AOR feeling.
Well, this is her sophomore outing, "Purple Memory" which came out in September that year. I'd probably say that this is a more conventional aidoru tune with an enjoyably jangly melody by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arrangement by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）with some of those early 1980s shimmering strings. The lyrics were provided by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）.
The song was used for a candy commercial by House Foods. I mentioned in the previous Watanabe post that once she had finished her showbiz career, she got married and returned to her native Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1993. Well, since then, she took over the management of the family restaurant in her hometown of Nagato, finally earned her high school diploma through correspondence, and then in April 2021, she was elected as a city council executive.
I have heard of egg nog, hot buttered rum and After Eights as seasonal favourites but I have to admit that Christmas jam is a new thing for me.
And this "christmas jam" is a new thing for me as well. The band bridge is a group that I've known for only the past couple of years and they've struck me as this somewhat Shibuya-kei and indies pop unit that lasted between 1989 and 1995 with a brief reappearance in 2017. They came up with "christmas jam" for a compilation album of Xmas songs titled "The World in Winter" which was released in 1999. I couldn't find any sign of the song on any of bridge's past singles or albums, so I can only assume that vocalist Mami Otomo（大友真美）and the gang got back together for this one tune.
It's quite the jingly tune as well. I don't think that there is much in the way of the usual Shibuya-kei, but there is quite a lot of indies pop-rock feeling along the lines of Go-Bang's. And I also couldn't help but feel there is a similarity between "christmas jam" and Princess Princess' big hit "Diamonds".
There is a sad but grateful anniversary today in the Japanese music world. It was a year ago today that singer-actress Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）passed away at the age of 54, and I'm sure that many of her fans have been paying some tribute to the former 80s aidoru-turned-pop diva. They may be listening to her discography or watching her movies and TV shows. Hers was an untimely departure but she left us a grand number of singles and albums stretching for a few decades.
From me, I've decided to post an article about Miporin and one of her more obscure songs. I've written about her single and title track "Mellow" from her 1992 album. Well, this is the second track following that title track which starts it all off, "Arukinasai!"(Walk, Dammit!).
Written by Nakayama without going to her songwriting pseudonym of Issaku（一咲）and composed by Yusuke Asada（浅田祐介）, this is a rather weirdly put-together mash of a few genres and perhaps befitting of its lyrical and overall tone. Miporin's story seems to revolve around a flighty and footloose-and-fancy-free woman who might annoy the heck out of everyone around her, so perhaps the title is their collective admonition to her. At the same time, it could also be the lady's own inner voice to get out there and see the world. Melodically, it's a pop song grafted with some R&B dance elements and a spaced-out middle. Even the singer happily gets into the funk with her delivery.
Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）is a singer that I usually associate with his old band Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ） through such City Pop classics as "Summer Suspicion". In fact, I could only see a few entries on KKP where his name was the only one on the byline...one example is his contribution to Christmas, "Saigo no Holy Night"（最後のHoly Night) from 1986.
Maybe it's not fair for me to say so, but I have assumed that Sugiyama and his contemporaries at the time have been doing more in the realm of nostalgia tours or popping up on the odd kayo kyoku TV show to perform their old classics. However, I think now at least a few of them including Sugiyama are still putting out the fresh stuff, and that is indeed the case with the former Omega Tribe leader. Back in May 2018, he released his 26th solo album"My Song My Soul" with one of the tracks being "This Song's For You".
If this song is indeed for me, then I'm honoured. In comparison to his summery and silky songs from those 1980s, "This Song's For You" has him going sophisticated jazz/pop as if he were not traveling alongside the Pacific Coast of Japan but booming through the skyscrapers within West Shinjuku one night. Sugiyama's no longer walking on the beach in an Aloha shirt and flip-flops but is tripping the light fantastic in a bespoke suit as a middle-aged gentleman.
When I think of singer Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）, I usually think of her as a 1980s artist but she was releasing singles into the 1990s. In fact, I encountered this single which is her third-last entry to date from November 1993.
"Setsunai Yoru"(Restless Nights) is a pretty sultry song which was written by Sakiko Masano（政野早希子）of the funk-rock band JAGATARA and composed by the late Hiroshi Narumi（鳴海寛）of the City Pop duo Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）. I probably would have preferred a real piano behind the bossa nova melody rather than the keyboard here, but I love the percussion and it's still a good nighttime listen. Plus, I'm assuming that it's Narumi behind the guitar noodling there.
I've often come across the word setsunai when it comes to Japanese song titles and strangely enough, the definitions that I've seen on Jisho.org include tough adjectives such as oppressive, miserable and painful as if the person in the song is going through one of the worst attacks of gastrointestinal gas in human history. I don't think the song with that title quite reflects anything that visceral which is why I've settled for restless. But we can see what people think.
Everyone needs an escape once in a while. Whether it be to a hot spring in Japan or just even meeting up with old friends in a restaurant in Toronto, it's healthy to get away from the usual routine for some good food and conversation.
Maybe that's the case with Galali's（がらり）"Escape" which was released about a year ago in late 2024. It's got the usual groove and keyboards and vocoder. And I guess with the music video above, even a couple of robots have decided to go out on the town. Galali's even thrown in a bit of rap and keyboard jazz riffing. I gather that he also likes to keep things short and sweet, a la my first discovery of him through his "Sayonara wa Mayonaka ni"（さよならは真夜中に）...kinda too bad since I could use some more of his groove but I respect his artistic desires.
After so long, I think that I may have finally come to the last or one of the very last tracks to be covered on Yurie Kokubu's（国分友里恵）first album"Relief 72 Hours" from 1983. Personally, I think it's one of the great City Pop touchstones in my collection, and thus far, I've posted about most of the album, "Weekend Love" and "Love Song".
The final track on "Relief 72 Hours" is somewhat logically titled "Last Woman" and it's a wistful and slightly soulful ballad of goodbyes sung languidly by Kokubu. Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）took care of the lyrics while Tadashi Yamashita（山下正）was the composer here. Yamashita was also behind arrangement along with Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. I gather that it could been molded into a power ballad but I'm happy that things were kept under simmering levels. The strings certainly help.
I was flipping through the pages of the original "Japanese City Pop" once more and I came across singer Toshiya Igarashi's（五十嵐寿也）one-and-only album from 1983, "Lady Danger". Some years ago, I posted an article regarding the B-side,"Before We Say Good-Bye", to his one-and-only single from the same year, "Kanojo no Nikka"(Her Daily Routine).
Whereas "Before We Say Good-Bye" has this rather smoky and sunset-y City Pop atmosphere, the A-side"Kanojo no Nikka" has a bit more of a bouncy and upbeat AOR that brings back a lot of West Coast feeling to the ears. The verses also have its share of Latin rhythm and an echo of that old-fashioned disco. Norie Kanzawa（神沢のりえ）was the lyricist here while Koji Nishimura（西村耕二）took care of the melody.
With a wind chill factor in the negative double digits today, it was about as far from summer as one could get, and I had to get a major errand done outside. I've got a feeling that there may be an exodus later this month to the warmer climes such as the Caribbean. After all, not everyone wants to frolic in the Christmas cold.
Perhaps to give some support to the sun worshippers, I present another lovely instrumental from the good folks at Nash Music Library. "Havana Port" comes from their March 2025 collection known as "Caribbean Breeze" and it's a pleasant but pretty jaunty slice of Latin jazz (with the trombone at the fore) to go with your Cuba Libre in the sun. I actually put the YouTube link into the software of Sonoteller just for fun. Nothing all that revelatory but it was interesting.
A couple of nights ago, I caught the penultimate episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）for the year. Usually, the NHK music show alternates venues between Tokyo and Osaka, but for the first time, it held its performances in Fukuoka at a new hall. Not surprisingly, a lot of the guests, if not all of them, were from that particular area such as Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）and Fumiya Fujii（藤井フミヤ）, formerly of Checkers.
My long odyssey down the kayo kyoku/J-Pop path can be described as one where stretches of that road were populated by certain regular singers and bands, so the 80s part was filled with folks such as the aforementioned Checkers, Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）. That started with my trip to Japan in 1981 and continued throughout my high school and university years. But when I got to Japan to start my first post-university job as a teacher in Gunma Prefecture in 1989, I felt that there was a phasing out of the "old guard", so to speak, from my perception, to be replaced by acts including Princess Princess, Wink, Kome Kome Club（米米CLUB）and Miki Imai（今井美樹）.
Fujii performed a song that I hadn't heard in decades on "Uta Con" on Tuesday. It was the Checkers' 23rd single from June 1990, "Yoake no Breath"(Breath of Dawn). My impression of the popular band has always been stuck in those mid-1980s when the band was doing their 50s rock-n-roll stuff but I also realize that Fujii could come up with the emotional ballads such as "True Love" later in the 90s, and such was the case with "Yoake no Breath".
Written by Fujii and composed by Checkers' keyboardist Masaharu Tsuruku（鶴久政治）, it's been described as a straight love song although I can pick up on some of the old Checkers' proud swagger and perhaps a bit of gospel soul as well. On Oricon, it reached No. 2 and eventually became the 34th-ranked single of the year.
According to the J-Wiki article for "Yoake no Breath", this song and one other were vying to get that position of getting released as a single, and what ultimately got "Yoake no Breath" the brass ring was the fact that Fujii was getting married at around the same time, so why not have a love song come out next for Checkers? Well, it did more than that. It also got the band their 7th invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen and was also used as the campaign song for the movie "Tasmania Monogatari"（タスマニア物語...Tasmania Story）.
When it comes to Japan Railways, there has been one campaign of theirs that has stood out because of the glorious beauty of Kyoto and that one song which has accompanied the commercials for over thirty years. I'm hoping that whoever in the JR advertising department was behind the idea of using "My Favorite Things" got a major bonus for the idea. The cinematic version of "The Sound of Music" from where "My Favorite Things" originated is practically essential viewing in the junior high schools of Japan, so that particular song among the many others in there is well known to everyone. But now, the Japanese probably relate the song more to Kyoto than the original movie.
Of course, before Julie Andrews and the movie version became the huge hit, "The Sound of Music" originated as a stage musical in 1959 with Mary Martin in the starring role of Maria. I never knew all that much about Martin but I knew her son, Larry Hagman, as the infamous JR Ewing in the show "Dallas". And of course, there was his earlier role as the far nicer military man Tony in "I Dream of Jeannie".
For the record, I'll have you know that from the lyrics, my favourite things would be apple strudel and schnitzel with noodles. If these were available at a buffet, I would be a happy man. Now, the reason for me choosing this one is that although it wasn't specifically made for the Holidays, "My Favorite Things" has been a staple on the radio and mall speakers during the Xmas season. Personally, I used to remember my kindergarten teacher always playing this on the record player...most likely to sedate us.
I figure that if Rodgers and Hart have a ROY entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", then Rodgers and Hammerstein should get a shot as well. Anyways, what were the big hits in 1959 in Japan when "The Sound of Music" made its debut on Broadway?
A day in the radio? Oh, here I thought that I was going to have to put on my English teacher's hat once more to rectify a prepositional issue.
But then, I figured out that this was a track from the 2000 album "Fakevox" by Japanese duo Tomonori Hayashibe（ハヤシベトモノリ）and Takeshi Wakiya（ワキヤタケシ）who are collectively known as Plus-Tech Squeeze Box. They first got together in 1997 and have released a couple of original albums including the aforementioned "Fakevox". Their genres of choice happen to be electronica and Shibuya-kei, and "A Day in the Radio" is a good example of the two genres put together like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
Hayashibe was responsible for both words and music, and it starts off like something for a Nintendo video game but then explodes into a cute Day-Glo danceable (privately, if you wish) ditty. From the sounds of it, I would have thought it ideal as a theme song for some zany gag-filled anime.
Along with a number of other anime and theme song pairings, "City Hunter" and "Get Wild" will never get tired. If there were a headstone on TM Network's grave, it would only need to say "Get Wild" and people would understand. On this blog, the legendary anison has at least three articles.
But before folks go to the shrine of composer Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）, let it be said that though he came up with the main melody, his namesake (and not relative) Mitsuko Komuro（小室みつ子）was the lyricist for "Get Wild". Kinda like how Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）ended up recording a lot of City Pop in the 1980s but provided her songwriting for the good-time summery pop of TUBE, Mitsuko was someone that I also knew for her City Pop singing such as with "Koi no Dancin'"（恋のダンシン）but is the wordsmith for the very different "Get Wild". I never treated "Get Wild" as a City Pop song despite it was for an anime that was stubbornly based in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
And Mitsuko Komuro's own cover of "Get Wild" isn't a City Pop song either. Her take is present on her November 1994 8th album"Simple Dreams". It still has the pop-rock edge in there but it's also a bit more contemplative and ethereal than the TM Network version. At this rate, perhaps I should make "Get Wild" its own category in Labels.
Man, I hope the Xmas revelers are enjoying really hot cocoa and nothing radioactive above. But it is indeed the season.
Of course, one of the great Christmas musical chestnuts out there is "Winter Wonderland" which was first recorded in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith, according to Wikipedia. Since then, the song has been covered by so many artists everywhere, and of course, that includes Bing Crosby. It wouldn't be a KKP Christmas without Der Bingle. And so, he came up with his version in 1962. The snazzy one with the cool video above may be the 1962 version or any subsequent version by him but let's just go with that year, shall we? His baritone will always be welcome in my ears at this time.
I've had this version of "Winter Wonderland" on the backlog for quite a while now, and I figure that it must have come from one of Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" episodes, since I could never imagine a ska version of the classic. But here we are.
akiko is a jazz singer who has been on the blog before with her 2003 take on "Good Morning Heartache", originally performed by Billie Holiday. Well, she provides her jaunty collaboration with The Ska Flames in "Winter Wonderland" via her 2007 release "A White Album". The band has been around since 1985 and has released six albums and eight singles up to 2020.
.JPG)
