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.
It is once again Hump Day this week so perhaps the stress levels and blue feelings are at their peak. Well, I can't prescribe anything professionally, but at least, I can provide some soothing music. This time, I'm plucking something from the Group Sounds era of the late 1960s in Japan...specifically, this B-side from a March 1969 single by The Tigers（ザ・タイガース）titled "Kaze wa Shiranai"(The Wind Doesn't Know). Written by Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）and composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）, it was the flip side of The Tigers' 9th single"Utsukushiki Ai no Okite"（美しき愛の掟...A Decree of Love）.
There are some lovely harmonies between Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）and his colleagues and some peaceful arrangements as a lot of natural images come through Iwatani's lyrics such as wind, rainbows and the great big sky. I guess that would be par for the course for a pop song from the late 1960s. However, the impression that I got from the song was that one shouldn't rely on those symbols of nature for wisdom; ultimately, one has to rely on his/her own soul for guidance.
Some months later in December 1969,the folk duo Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モワ）recorded a cover of "Kaze wa Shiranai" for their first album of cover songs,"Anata to Watashi to Toi et Moi"（あなたと私とトワ・エ・モワ）. The English translation of "You and Me and You and Me" sounds obviously redundant which may explain the official English title of "A Wonderful World of Toi et Moi". Anyways, their cover version is also lovely and it sounds a little more upbeat.
Last night's edition of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was an extended one by half an hour partially because it was recognizing the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake on March 11th, so there were a lot of singers showing up. Of course, because of the tribute, everyone on stage and in the hall sang "Hana wa Saku"（花は咲く）. As the camera was panning across the stage to show all of the performers solemnly singing the ballad, I noticed one familiar face but wasn't quite sure if it was who I thought it was.
Well, she didn't appear again until the very end of the broadcast but it truly was who I thought it was. Up to now, I haven't seen much in the way of seiyuu appear on "Uta Con" aside from Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々） but Maaya Sakamoto（坂本真綾）indeed made her first appearance on NHK last night. I've known her for a while now since she's provided some of the theme songs for anime that I've seen with my anime buddy in the last decade such as "Koufuku Graffiti"(幸腹グラフィティ...Gourmet Graffiti) , and there was also her scintillating cover of "DOWNTOWN" for the 2010 "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru" (それでも町は廻ってる...And Yet the Town Moves) which I never caught.
Sakamoto last night sang a brief medley including the third opening theme for the anime "Card Captor Sakura"（カードキャプターさくら）, "Platina"(Platinum), which came out as the seiyuu's 5th single in October 1999. It's hard to believe that it's been over 26 years since this was first released. Written by Yuuho Iwasato（岩里祐穂）and composed/arranged by Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）, who incidentally created the aforementioned "Hana wa Saku", "Platina" is the type of song that I would enjoy as a breezy pop tune with a hint of soul and those swiftly flying strings. I never became a fan of the show itself though I know it's one of the more popular anime but I've become a fan of some of the theme tunes including Kohmi Hirose's（広瀬香美）aptly-named "Groovy" and chihiro's "Honey".
Personally, I preferred to have my Royal Milk Tea when I was at some cafe in the Tokyo area but I was also fine with lemon tea, albeit it had to have some form of sweetness like honey in there.
Lemon tea is also the drink of choice in this lovely Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）song called "Tea For Memory" from her March 1981 4th album"Tenderness". Through Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, it's about a couple of old flames who find themselves together again for just one spot of the drink in a cool cafe somewhere as they go over the memories of their past life together. The story and the music are very genteel and there's no bitterness...not even within the tea.
Composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）comes up with a classy set of notes on the song sheet which brings to mind some elegant jazz which matches the setting perfectly. At first, I'd thought that it was Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）behind the composition, although I've known that the Kisugi siblings have often come up with the refined stuff. I especially like the very amiable guitar intro after which Mariko's beautifully lilting vocals perfume the ears just so. After writing such florid prose, I'm actually eager to have a cup of tea myself although I won't go as far as sticking my pinkie out when I lift the cup.
Of course, it all depends on where you live, but earlier this morning, Torontonians had another opportunity to catch the latest blood moon up in the sky. Sleep was more of a priority for me so I was happy enough to witness the phenomenon via television.
In keeping with the lunar theme, I would like to introduce "Tsuki no Muse" (Moon Muse) by 80s aidoruand actress Narumi Yasuda（安田成美）. Some days ago, I received a comment from someone underneath the article I provided for her April 1984 sophomore single"Tropical Mystery"（トロピカル・ミステリー）and they told me about the Ryuichi Sakamoto-esque（坂本龍一） feeling imbued in the B-side which is "Tsuki no Muse".
Well, whenever anyone tells me about a song that I had never heard that has a Sakamoto-esque feeling, I do listen. And indeed, "Tsuki no Muse" is different from the Fashion Music-ish"Tropical Mystery" in that there is a whimsical technopop arrangement that reminds me of what the late great Professor did back in those days with synthesizers, but the crazy thing is that it was the same three fellows behind the A-side that were responsible for the B-side: lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Many thanks to that commenter.
The article for folk rock band GARO's biggest hit"Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" (学生街の喫茶店）was posted up in the very early days of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but it's now been almost a decade since I've put up anything by the group. Time to rectify.
According to the J-Wiki article for the June 1972 3rd single "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the original release had the song as the B-side while the A-side was "Utsukushiku Sugite" (Too Beautiful). However, seeing that "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" was getting the lion's share of accolades, the record company quickly did an about-face on that plan and made any future releases with the more famous song becoming the A-side.
Not to say that the relegated "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a bad song at all. It's a wonderful song and a very different one, to boot. In contrast with the Japanese folky"Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a laidback tune that brings to mind the loveliness of American Sunshine Pop and perhaps even some Motown R&B thanks to Kunihiko Murai's（村井邦彦）melody and Kaoru Iiyoshi's（飯吉馨）arrangement. As with "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the lyricist here was also Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）.
It was on New Year's Eve last year that I introduced the mysterious You Ishihara（石原祐）, a singer that I couldn't really find a lot of information about, although commenter Brian Mitchell sent me some of what he had gleaned.
Well, the article that I posted was on her 1978 single"Hakka Tabako"（薄荷煙草）. Today, it's time for the B-side, "Yaburekabure" which has quite the amusing pronunciation...something akin to "topsy-turvy" or "abracadabra". However, its meaning is "desperation" although the melody by Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）sounds anything but. I'd say that for a desperate individual, "Yaburekabure" is surprisingly quite upbeat and happy-go-lucky especially with those silky strings coming in. Legendary lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）was the one behind the words.
Just out of curiosity, I threw something into the Yahoo Japan search engine: Any underrated songs by Yellow Magic Orchestra? After all, being a good fan of the legendary technopop band from Japan, I've covered quite a few of their songs throughout the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
Well, luckily enough, I did hit some pay dirt. I'd never covered this first song, "LIMBO", on YMO's "Service", their December 1983 8th studio album. Written and composed by Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, "LIMBO" is about whether or not to leave the Limbo or not. It may be boring but dependable. The outside world may be unpredictable but exciting and evolutionary.
I've been reading some of the English comments for "LIMBO" underneath the YouTube video, and indeed I did catch the David Bowie feeling in the vocal stylings. YouTuber withblueberry also posits "It's enormously interesting musically. It includes dance music, minimal music, atmosphere of Ambient music, etc. . . and has a contemporary cool sense." Personally, I think the arrangement of "LIMBO" also has that whimsical sense of technopop from that decade, nurtured by YMO, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, and I've got to admit that the bass voice doing all of that slow rap adds an extra layer of intrigue as if enticing reluctant tourists from Limbo with free admission to a dance club.
OK, I have to be honest and admit that a part of me initially had thought that "LIMBO" was all about that other limbo.
In comes March...not like a lion; more like a polar bear. Yes, it's still rather Arctic-looking outside my window but we still have three more weeks of official winter to get through.
Outside of her inclusion in ROY articles and any Author's Picks, Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）hasn't shown up on KKP for almost a couple of years, so it's nice to begin this third month of 2026 with one of her tunes. And this time, it's a pretty ethereal one. "ONE" launches her 4th studio album"Fuumu"（風夢...Wind Dream） from April 1987.
Sounding like something that should be listened to after having lit up a particularly pungent cone of incense, Saito's voice suits the high-falutin' English lyrics by BANDIT and the near-mystical melody of Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. She sings about two becoming one in a paradise-like setting. I'm just surprised that no religious figures were mentioned here.
Another track that was on the album was "MAY" but I'd like to clarify my statements there by saying that "MAY" was actually on the CD version of the album, and not on the original LP, according to the J-Wiki article regarding the album. My apologies on any confusion.
I'd thought that my previous article on Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）would be the final one for February 2026, but I was very wrong there on realizing that the music world has lost a pioneer in pop music and someone who has had a presence on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka passed away at the age of 86 on February 27th.
From what I've read on his Wikipedia file, he was responsible for a huge number of hits for himself and other singers, especially during the 60s and 70s, and I recall hearing his voice through radio, on K-Tel commercials and TV appearances since I was a kid. In fact, the very first ROY article that I posted was a Sedaka creation for Captain & Tennille. But for his own records, I always remembered that higher and melodic voice of his.
With all of those Sedaka successes in the postwar era, it's perhaps no surprise that the Japanese, who were more than happy to provide their own cover versions of many American and British hits of the time, also took a fancy to Sedaka's own tunes. Here are the ones that have been plucked from the pages of KKP over the years.
One of my favourites by Sedaka though was "Laughter in the Rain" from 1974. It still gives me a chill when he sings the chorus out and it's a song that I definitely have great memories about. My condolences to his family, friends and many fans.
It's the final day of February and since we're not in a leap year, the final day will naturally be the 28th so certainly it'll be a lower output than usual for KKP.
Now, usually, I keep a lot of the City Pop on hand for Urban Contemporary Fridays, but seeing that this is February 28th, I might as well provide something pretty exciting, especially this is also a Saturday. A few years back, I noted that "Evangelion" soundtrack maestro Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）had also been quite the disco City Pop king in the late 1970s. He put out an album with his Somethin' Special band called "Eyes" in 1979.
Well, he and the band also put out a single in that same year called "Ai no Message"(Message of Love), and as was the case on "Eyes", Keiko Sugai（須貝恵子）provided her dynamic vocals and the lyrics on this particular song. It's got a little bit of everything as in Long Island Iced Tea bit of everything. I can hear a boogie rhythm, disco flair and some propulsive funk...just the cocktail to heave Tokyoites to the dance floor in the discos around town.
The weather here has been improving although the temperature is set to plummet again for Sunday, but the feeling is that spring is just around the corner. And it couldn't come fast enough.
Several years ago, I posted an article on actress/aidoru Nana Okada's（岡田奈々）biggest hit, her 4th single"Seishun no Sakamichi"（青春の坂道）from March 1976. The wistful song of youth created from lyrics by contest winner Aiko Nakaji（中司愛子）and then whipped into shape by lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）before getting laid onto a melody by Koichi Morita（森田公一）under Ichizo Seo's（瀬尾一三）arrangement must have touched a lot of people's memories and current feelings. It did pretty well by hitting No. 23 on Oricon.
Well, the follow-up single, released in June of that year, "Wakai Kisetsu"(Young Season), was created by almost everyone involved with "Seishun no Sakamichi", except that the composer this time was Ken Sato（佐藤健）. If anything, "Wakai Kisetsu" is even jauntier with a boss saxophone and jangly guitar giving a hint of Motown pop. Matsumoto's lyrics here were based on Okada's recurring role in the popular NTV drama at the time, "Ore-tachi no Tabi"（俺たちの旅...Our Journey）, where her character introduces a guy living in the boarding house next door. The producers for the program knew what they were doing by also having "Seishun no Sakamichi" show up as an insert song.
"Wakai Kisetsu" didn't do as well as "Seishun no Sakamichi" but it was a moderate success by scoring a No. 36 ranking. Both songs ended up on her 3rd album"Akushu Shiyouyo"（握手しようよ...Let's Shake Hands） which was released in August 1976.
Yesterday, I wrote up an article regarding the late Taeko Morino（森野多恵子）regarding her own cover version of the standard "Sunny" back in the 1960s. Of course, I mentioned that she would later go through a couple of name changes, each time accompanying a change in music genre.
In the 1970s, Morino changed into Tan Tan, a chanteuse of R&B and City Pop. Her third of three albums released under than moniker was "Trying to Get to You" from 1978 and this is the title track.
This was a cover version of the original, also from 1978, by the late Eugene Record who used to be the lead vocalist for the group The Chi-Lites. Both versions are great as something sounding quite (Philadelphia?) soulful, although Tan Tan's cover is shorter and has more of a wistful and uptempo feeling compared to the Record original which has an apologetic if hopeful slant that fences can be mended between a couple. Unfortunately, Record passed away in 2005 after a battle with cancer.
Gotta have singer-songwriter Yasuhiro Abe（安部康弘）back on Urban Contemporary Friday. When you're talking about a drive on an evening leading into the weekend in Tokyo and thinking about what to put onto the radio, one of his songs usually fits the bill.
Managed to come across the B-side for Abe's November 1982 debut single"We Got It!" which is definitely car stereo-worthy. Mind you, "Hadashi no Ballerina"(Barefoot Ballerina) can also be put into the dashboard slot although it's a little more melancholy as a ballad. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Abe, it looks like one guy and his "prima ballerina" have come to the end of their relationship so the night is spent with one last meal before the inevitable goodbye. It is indeed another song of broken hearts but it also feels like a true Abe creation.
Of course, I've known about guitarist and songwriter Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）for years as someone who's provided a lot of singers with their material along with his own discography which includes the fine 1976"Lady Pink Panther". And of course, I know him as being one of the Fab Four in the legendary band Happy End（はっぴいえんど）.
But I don't know very much about the rock band that he was also associated with, Hucklebuck（ハックルバック）, which has apparently come in and out of existence about four times with the first time being the year of 1975. Mind you, it has consisted of some of the best studio musicians including Suzuki, drummer Jun Aoyama（青山純）and the late great keyboardist Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, and I'm sure that they were busy enough in their solo activities.
The album "Maboroshi no Hucklebuck"（幻のハックルバック...The Mysterious Hucklebuck） was recorded in the studio in October 1975 but released in 1976, and the first track on Side A is "Great American Funky Girl", an instrumental which was composed by Suzuki. I would like to know who inspired the man to come up with such a funky piece to open the album. I can only think of a particularly sassy young lady from New York but other than that, I know bupkis. But the guys in the band obviously had a great time jamming this short and sweet piece, and it sounds like the ideal theme song for an American sitcom or drama regarding the titular lady in the Big Apple.
I'll be honest here but I've had this lovely song on the back burner for some time now and I'm finally putting it up today because I've finally figured out what the singer's name is. Yes, I held off from posting this due to a naming problem but the last thing I want to do is screw up a name, especially if the singer is still alive...which of course I'm hoping she is.
Depending on the source, I've come across the readings Maru Tokiyo and Maru Tokiya. However, down the 1986 self-titled album's obi, there is one sentence that begins with "I'm Maruja", And then, my brain did all sorts of old-fashioned computing noises with the conclusion being that all four kanji spell out MA-RU-JI-YA with the stylized form of the name above the upper-right hand corner of the photo on the album cover: Malja.
So, now that I've figured that one out, I can introduce Malja formally to KKP. She's one of those mysterious singers that came in and out along the lines of Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）in that she released only one single and this album "Malja". One of the tracks here is the scintillating "Nice Guy ni Ai wo Komete" (With Love To A Nice Guy) which is a pretty sweet title although it sounds like the nice guy here is now very much in the past.
Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, it's quite the laidback and slightly haunting mid-tempo ballad with the velvet vocals of Malja providing soothing solace to listeners' ears. I've only heard this song and one other track on the album but according to the website of the hair and music store Fam, "Malja" is apparently a hidden gem of Baleric modern pop music which features arrangements that make full use of the intricately programmed sounds unique to this era. And yeah, it does feel rather 80s.
Well, at least it's brilliantly sunny out there with the temperatures actually above zero degrees Celsius. Still, snow is everywhere of varying colours and conditions although we are waiting avidly for the arrival of spring.
Today, we're starting the usual Urban Contemporary Friday with something more recent. And this time around, a couple of music makers from other collaborations are being brought here together on KKP for the first time. I first introduced Fukuoka-born singer-songwriter kiki vivi lily last year when she worked with Cosmic Funk duo KAGAMI on the 2025"Friends". A couple of years ago, I got my first encounter of singer-songwriter and trackmaker Hiroyuki Ikezawa（池澤寛行）, aka SUKISHA, when he was collaborating with jazz and soul guitarist Shingo Sekiguchi（関口シンゴ）on their 2020 "Imaginary Trip".
Well, if we go back even further, we'll find that kiki vivi lily and SUKISHA worked together as well to provide a song called "Blue in Green" in February 2019. With some of that familiar electric piano groove and the singer's buttery vocals, we get launched into some cool and nocturnal urban adventure (mind you, kiki prefers to stay at home in the dark as shown in the official music video below). I do love that dancing bass and the rest of the beats, although things get a little weird in the last quarter of the song.
Christopher Cross is already represented on the weekly Reminiscings of Youth series via his theme song for "Arthur", "Best That You Can Do", and yeah, indeed it was a hit and one of the songs that was a regular on the radio airwaves throughout 1981.
But the singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas, had been around for a decade and then in January 1980, he released his first single"Ride Like The Wind". As with "Arthur's Theme", it was a regular on radio. When I first heard it though, I'd thought that it was all about some guy enjoying riding on his steed in the countryside. Actually, it's all about fleeing the authorities on the way to the haven in Mexico. For some reason, I get images from "The Shawshank Redemption". Compared with "Arthur's Theme", "Ride Like The Wind" is much more dramatic, thrilling and urgent rather than the sophisticated and romantic cadence of the former. Thriller versus romance. But of course, Michael McDonald's singular contribution adds some further wondrous spice...like kosher salt in all those YouTube cooking videos.
As one YouTube commenter put it, he'll never listen to "Ride Like The Wind" without remembering this sketch from Canadian comedy series "SCTV". As a segment on the in-house radio show "The Gerry Todd Show", it features Rick Moranis as McDonald himself racing to the studio to give his multiple takes of "a long way to go". I'm happy to say that I actually saw the sketch in its first run!
I only discovered this Rick Beato video several months ago. During this interview with McDonald, we find out that he actually caught the "SCTV" skit and figured that he was having a nervous breakdown. The power of pot!😵 Glad that he has such a good sense of humour.
In Canada, "Ride Like The Wind" made it all the way up to No. 3 on RPM while in America, it peaked at No. 2. Let's see what was also at the top of the Oricon charts on January 28th 1980, a couple of days before the Cross classic was released.
It's been a standard through all audio media for the decades that it has been in existence since its release by singer-songwriter Bobby Hebb in February 1966. Yep, "Sunny" has popped up here and there in my life via radio and records and now on YouTube.
But now through my browsings of YouTube, I've discovered that there have been a couple of remarkable cover versions of "Sunny" in Japan. One was by the late Taeko Morino（森野多恵子）who was a member of the Group Sounds band The White Kicks（ザ・ホワイト・キックス）via an appearance on a 1968 music show that was preciously saved on audiotape by YouTuber Old But Cool (something that I would like to be).
As I mentioned in the lone article thus far regarding The White Kicks, Morino went by a few names during her life and career which were sadly cut short in 1998 at the age of 50. She was also known as Tan Tan, known for her disco and City Pop material from the late 1970s, and then as Harumi Ohzora（大空はるみ）going into the 1980s as she specialized in techno jazz. Morino didn't leave The White Kicks until 1971 but she gave a fine solo performance for "Sunny" with a really brassy voice to match the brass accompanying her.
Then, a couple of surprises greeted me when I discovered via the Wikipedia article for "Sunny" that the late Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）had recorded the song. Surprise One was that she had recorded the standard onto her January 1966 album"Miko in New York"...several weeks before Hebb himself released his version to the world, although the song had been created by Hebb all the way back in 1963. So, does that mean Hirota was the very first person to show "Sunny" to the world? As for Surprise Two, that would be the singer herself who sounded far more mature and rich for someone who wouldn't reach the age of 19 for another few weeks when she was in the recording booth.
I was informed earlier today that a couple of YouTube channels as noted above came up with a couple of playlists with the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" title to distinguish them. As much as I appreciate them spreading the good word regarding the old Japanese pop music as we ourselves have for the past fourteen years, I would just like to set the record straight that the two channels never contacted me regarding the title and vice versa. So, basically, I am not sponsoring the playlists and they have no direct connection with this blog.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled KKP reading.
Isn't this something? A couple of lovers in their best finery as they look longingly into each other's eyes under a huge shining supermoon in some exotic city such as Casablanca. Cocktails and dinner are awaiting them on a table a few metres away.
I'm pretty sure that the setting established in Yoko Minamino's（南野陽子）"Moon Rendezvous" is far less glamorous and luxurious but no less exciting for the people involved. From what I've understood of Shun Taguchi's（田口俊）lyrics, the lass is happily expecting to meet her beloved Dad or beau at the airport...or maybe both; that would be quite the interesting thing. As for Mitsuo Hagita's（萩田光雄）melody (and he also arranged the song), considering the lyrics and the title, I would've been anticipating a City Pop tune, but instead, it hews to an innocent and smooth bossa nova style. For an aidoru song, it sounds quite mature and refined, and at the time, Nanno was still under twenty. The song wasn't released as a single but was included as a track on her November 1986 2nd album"Virginal" which peaked at No.2 on Oricon.
Hello, J-Canuck here! Fireminer is back with a new article on an R&B band that hasn't been on KKP before.
It is difficult for a single blog entry to comprehensively describe the impact of YouTube to overseas fans of Japanese music. Till this point, I still can’t wrap my head around the effort my older brother put into loading up his Gen 2 iPod with Japanese music at a time when you pretty much had to go fishing on P2P servers. But only a few years down the line and things got much easier with YouTube. Just go there and you can enjoy an entire world of Japanese music in full 240p glory.
A good number of my peers were immediately attracted to Japanese hip-hop because of YouTube. They did not belong to the breakdance crew, who were into Crunk anyway. I suppose they were born a bit too late for the Missy Elliot era, so they went with M-Flo and Nujabes instead. In hindsight, their style of atmospheric reggae- and R&B-infused hip-hop truly was the forefather to the modern lo-fi beat music you find everywhere on YouTube nowadays.
The one YouTube music video that overseas fans kept recommending to each other was “Garden” by Sugar Soul (シュガー・ソウル) and Kenji Furuya (降谷建志) of Dragon Ash fame. Little has to be said about Dragon Ash. If you were into Japanese hip-hop at the time, you knew Dragon Ash. Sugar Soul though we had little idea about. They were an R&B trio formed in 1996 by DJ HASEBE (real name: Hasebe Daisuke), vocalist aico (real name: Machida Aiko) and composer Kawabe (real name: Kawabe Kenhiro). Their single Garden was released in 1999 and was arguably their biggest hit to date.
That orchestral backing was just delightful and hankered back to the 90s golden age of hip-hop, when you started to see a lot of crossovers but the music had not been subsumed by the lazy sampling of the bling era. The lyric was inspirational and talked about reaching to a promised land through the fire and turbulence of life. It’s the kind of music that puts spring in your steps.
Sugar Soul would release another four singles and one album before calling it quit in 2001. After giving birth, vocalist aico resumed activity as the singer for the electronic dance unit KAM (カム) in 2010. Sugar Soul reunited in 2018 to commemorate their 20th anniversary and released the EP “UPLOAD”.
First off, thanks go to The history man on YouTube for providing this video on the life and career of kayo kyoku songwriting legend Yu Aku (1937-2007) who apparently remains the 2nd-most prolific lyricist in Japan following Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）. Yesterday, the return of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）after the Olympic break was a big one for all of the kayo fans since a good chunk of the program was a tribute to the works of Aku who would have been 89 back on February 7th..
This isn't an Author's Picks because I wasn't the one who came up with these songs for performance on the show last night. Of course, it was the NHK producers who did that but I still wanted to acknowledge the Aku songs that had been sung on the Shibuya stage since they have remained part of the bread and butter that make up a lot of this blog. You can also take a look at a Creator article that I wrote up back in 2015 regarding Aku and his constitution on writing those lyrics.
Another new face to add to the files of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Yoshimi Yokosuka（横須賀昌美）has been recognized on J-Wiki as a model and an actress from Ishikawa Prefecture who began her career in 1980 as a Shiseido commercial model. However, she also branched out into music starting in 1981 with only four singles up to 1988.
Her third single was "Breathless" which was released in May 1988. Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arranged by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）, it's quite the dance-pop-friendly sort of song, and I'm not sure, but would this also be considered to be part of Eurobeat? I'll have to find out from commenters. In any case, for someone who seems to have been considered as a thespian and model, her vocals weren't too shabby.
For the longest time, I was rather confused about whether one of the most famous cities in Western Japan was formally known as Fukuoka or Hakata. Well, as it turns out, Hakata is actually the most famous area in the city of Fukuoka...filled with a literal and huge community of yatai food stands and it's beloved for the tonkotsu ramen. I would love to have some of that now though if I have too much of it, my blood will end up resembling the broth. I did stay there one night although I regret not exploring too much of the area outside of Hakata Station which you can see above.
At the site "TV Tropes", there is the Early Installment Weirdness section which talks about how long-running TV series started out a bit strangely or differently compared to the peak years which most fans are acquainted with. For example, the original "Star Trek" had a differently arranged theme song, Mr. Spock was a little more emotional and Lt. Uhura wore a gold command uniform for one episode rather than the familiar red one.
Well, we've come to one of those on KKP. Allow me to introduce Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）, enka singer. Fans of the late Showa Era brand of music might pop their eyes at that introduction since we all know that the Gifu Prefecture-born Noguchi gained his fame from not only being a hit aidoru singer of the 1970s but also one of the three teen heartthrobs that made up the Shin-Gosanke（新御三家）, or The New Big Three, alongside Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）and the late Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）.
But it is true. When I first wrote about Noguchi's 2nd single, the intrepid hit "Aoi Ringo"（青いリンゴ）from August 1971, this was a reset of sorts. His very first single from May of that year was "Hakata Miren" which I first translated as "Hakata Regrets" but I'm now thinking it could be a little less melancholy and will re-translate it as "Remembering Hakata". Regardless, "Hakata Miren" is indeed an enka song and teen Goro sang it in a way that made me wonder whether the management group around had been trying to mold him into the next Shinichi Mori（森進一）. His catchphrase was even "The Adorable Hope of Enka". It was a very different sound from him and ultimately one that didn't impress listeners. There isn't even an Oricon ranking listed for it.
I couldn't find any videos of Noguchi singing "Hakata Miren" live aside from this one. Other kayo singers have covered it, though. Incidentally, the song was written by Tetsuo Houshi（鳳司哲夫）and composed by Eiichi Arai（荒井英一）.
It was exactly a year ago (and also today happens to be the current Emperor's birthday in Japan so it was a national holiday over there) that I posted up "Dance-y Songs for Me (for International Dance Day)". I don't consider myself anything of even being a mediocre dancer but I always enjoy seeing the experts trot their stuff especially when it comes to music I've come to known and love. And yes, International Dance Day is on April 29th but as I mentioned in the original article a year ago, I can't wait until the 29th. I wanna boogie now! So, without further ado:
This was one of commenter Brian Mitchell's suggestions when he spoke on the original dance article, and I see that the dance-oriented video games have agreed as well. Seeing how kayo kyoku has been getting its props around the world, I can also imagine that folks can be strutting their stuff to Pink Lady's classic in the clubs as well as the karaoke boxes.
Hey, the Village People brought it to the disco-crazed masses but Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）also made it his own as a beloved piece of his discography. The danceability is already built in, and as with "UFO" above, I'm sure that both the karaoke boxes and dance clubs felt the love for "Young Man". Certainly, Saijo may be looking at us with a smile.
I don't usually consider the music of Hosono（細野晴臣）, Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Sakamoto（坂本龍一）something to hit the disco floors for (despite YMO marking itself "the No. 1 dance band in Japan"), but "Tighten Up" can be one exception since as with "Young Man" above, this was a Japanese cover of a song by an American band that liked to get the folks up and moving. I still want that YMO shirt!
I'm surprised that I hadn't included this one in the original article but I guess Labels was pretty stuffed to the gills with entries, so I'm glad that I get to put it the second list. After all. Kingo Hamada's（濱田金吾）classic is a City Pop party favour for big city living. Plus, YouTuber hirokoboogie shows how folks can move to the groove if you refer back to the "midnight cruisin'" article.
This was another one of Brian's recommendations. Having listened to "Say Goodbye" in the years since I posted up the article for the song and got my copy of the 1982 album "Awakenings", I'm wondering if the late great Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）had been channeling his inner Stevie Wonder or Herbie Hancock when he came up with this masterpiece. Shimmy those shoulders away.
Speaking of hirokoboogie, here she is with her friends as they cut up a rug doing Anri's（杏里）"Goodbye Boogie Dance". Not sure if there had been a lot of lockin' when the song first came out in 1983, but I'm sure folks at home were shimmying up a storm. I can't even imagine how the new fans were reacting on the dance floor at the City Pop dance parties several years ago to this one.
PSY-S was another technopop band that burst onto the scene with some great hooks...hooks that could potentially grab onto listeners and force them to boogie, shimmy or however folks tend to move. The two versions of "Woman-S" had their own ways of manipulating people into doing their steps; the original (below), for example, had that booming percussion.
I've got a feeling that "Dance-y songs for Me 3" will be coming out in 2027!
I've mentioned about sentimentalism a few times over the past few days, and yesterday was a prime example. As some of you know, I used to have a biweekly Sunday anime + food outing with my anime buddy for about a decade but when COVID stopped those plans, we never really got around to picking things up again.
However, yesterday, a few of us did get together for some lunch at our favourite diner and then for dinner, we grew our group by three times to make the annual Shinta run, and what I mean by that is that every year around this time, we all get together at our favourite yakiniku restaurant, Shinta, up in Richmond Hill for tons of meat for an hour and a half, and then a fair amount of creme brulee and soft-serve ice cream to cool us down. Man, I sure don't eat as much as I used to.
We did plug in some anime between meals though. But as a bit of backstory, allow me to explain. In the pre-COVID era, my buddy and I did watch the first season of what has become a successful video game-to-anime adaptation of a franchise called "Uma Musume: Pretty Derby"（ウマ娘 プリティーダービー...Horse Girls）, all about horse girls who vie to become the very best at their craft. The characters have been named after some of the finest true-life thoroughbreds that have ever raced in Japan over the last several decades, and it seems like the characters have been portrayed by pretty much every female seiyuu that has gone behind the mike.
It was a fun first season and I did watch some of the episodes of the subsequent seasons, but I never really got all that excited about the various theme songs used at the beginning and endings of each episode.
Well, yesterday, I got to see the first few episodes of the second separate anime from the franchise. "Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray"（ウマ娘 シンデレラグレイ）which had its run throughout much of 2025 last year. Again, it has that feeling of The Little Train That Could as the button-down but brilliant Oguri Cap（オグリキャップ）begins to make her mark on the racing world in Japan while making friends and even making enemies into friends (or frenemies).
Oguri Cap (1985-2010) was indeed a legendary racehorse whose popularity loomed so large that he was dubbed "The Idol Horse". I was never a big fan of horseracing myself although I remember my parents taking my brother and I down to the old Greenwood Racetrack here in Toronto to watch some of the races. Making origami cranes out of the thrown-away ticket stubs was more our thing between races. However, even I had heard of Oguri Cap via television; it would be hard not to forget with that name.
Anyways, the anime version of Oguri Cap as played by seiyuu Tomoyo Takayanagi（高柳知葉）actually got to sing the first ending theme for "Cinderella Gray", and it's the first acknowledgement of a "Uma Musume" theme song on KKP. "Mugen" (Infinity) has a nice indies pop sound to it which is reassuring to hear, especially if things get a little too intense by the end of an episode, and I have to say that Takayanagi has some fine vocals to the point that I wonder if she has released some non-anime albums. The song was written and composed by Honoka Takahashi（たかはしほのか）, one-half of the pop-rock duo Regallily（リーガルリリー）.
What I had also forgotten was that Takayanagi already has standing on the blog since she was part of Coro Machikado（コーロまちカド）, the seiyuu quartet who came up with the beefy bass-heavy "Yoi Machi Cantare"（よいまちカンターレ）for the anime "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく...The Demon Girl Next Door）.
Being a Sunday, I should be my usual more relaxed self but right now, it's the final day of the Winter Olympics and of course, that means that the Gold Medal game for Men's Ice Hockey is happening as I type this. Canada and the USA are battling it out and currently they are tied at 1-1. Canadians have confidence in their team but a few of them have also admitted to some jitters. What I wouldn't advise though while standing among a horde of hockey-crazed Canucks watching the game is whispering doubt along the lines of "But, what if we lose?". It won't look pleasant.
That's quite the segue into this song titled "Tamerai no Whisper"(Hesitant Whispers) which was sung by Shoko Minami（南翔子）, a name that I haven't talked about for a few years...at least, not since I posted her 1985 "Nagisa No Separation"（渚のセパレーション）. That had a rock vibe along the AOR side of things but "Tamerai no Whisper" which appeared on Minami's 3rd album from November 1986, "Sophisticated", is, as the album title would suggest, a more refined slice of sophisticated pop on the City Pop side of things.
One commenter for the above video mentioned that as soon as they heard the intro, they figured that it was the Kisugi siblings, lyricist Etsuko and composer Takao（来生えつこ・来生たかお）, behind the creation of the song. I actually saw the songwriting list first but I still went "ah, naruhodo" on seeing those two. Those guys were indeed the masters of the smooth and refined melody that hint at champagne and caviar in Tokyo. Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）also has to get his accolades as the arranger. Considering the year of release, "Tamerai no Whisper" sounds like the typical City Pop song of that time of the Bubble Era.
When it comes to those B-sides, they are often decent enough songs by the artists but of course, when the A-side is a huge hit, those songs on the other side disappear within a huge shadow. Can you imagine Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）monster single "Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay With Me"（真夜中のドアー）when it first got out in November 1979? I can wonder why another song would be placed on the flip side.
But then again, that B-side isn't too bad at all, and it feels as if the songwriters were paying a bit of tribute to the intro of Peaches & Herb's"Reunited" which had been released several months earlier that year. "Soushite Watashi ga" (And Then I) is a musical musing regarding a lady pining over a guy who hasn't quite noticed her yet. The lass wishes she could be a bird or a flower so that she can surreptitiously look over the fellow and hope that he can do the same.
Written by the same duo behind the more famous A-side, lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer/arranger Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）have created a creamy and soulful City Pop ballad to contrast with the perky "Stay With Me", complete with those silky strings, keyboards and horns. Listeners can decide which of the two songs are the more poignant.
Sad to say, but it's been a little over eleven years since I've visited my old residential neighbourhood surrounding the Tozai Line's Minami-Gyotoku Station（南行徳駅）. I dropped by there back in the fall of 2014 but didn't do the same for my most recent trip there in 2017. I wonder if there has been much change in the past decade in terms of stores and restaurants. I hope that the Tonki tonkatsu place is still there; that was always one of my favourites when I didn't particularly want to cook anything for dinner but wasn't in the mood for konbini bento. There was also the patisserie just down the subway mall that I often frequented.
The old neighbourhood in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture was what I was thinking of as I was listening to singer-songwriter Iruka's（イルカ）adorable "Juu-Nen Mae no Kimi no Machi" (Your Old Town of Ten Years Ago). It's the folksy B-side to the City Pop A-side of her November 1980 15th single"Yoake no Goodbye"（夜明けのグッドバイ）. I figure that I first heard this most cordial country waltz on an episode of "Sounds of Japan" as Iruka reminisces about the ol' hometown and what/who has changed over the decade. The song also strikes me as one where the flute got a cracking solo.
The song was used for a commercial involving Sincol, a company specializing in indoor furnishings. However, the video above features the company using another Iruka song from a year later.
It was at the end of 2022 when I posted the first article regarding the band 99.99...which is supposed to be called Four-Nine. Their April 1982 debut self-titled album"99.99" had a stylistic split with half of the tracks following a progressive rock/technopop line (Type A) while the other half was following fusion (Type B). The first track on Side A"Amazin' & Amusin'" sounded like Type B to me.
Track No. 4 is "Through The Night, Toward The Light" may have actually ended Side A so I gather that Side A was indeed the Type B side. Written and composed by keyboardist Masei Hattori（服部ませい）, it feels like a jam session being filtered through Steely Dan and Santana arrangements. Perhaps that is Hattori helping on the fleet-flooted vocals but I do believe that the female voice is being provided by Suzi Kim who was also behind the mike for "Amazin' & Amusin'". I even think that the vocals are so nimble that I'm wondering if Hattori and Kim were going for their own form of vocalese.
Well, this brings back some sentimental memories. The bunch of us often went to this combination of Hard Rock Cafe and Tony Roma's at the end of an alley off the main street of Roppongi in Tokyo. There was really no worry about the alley being dark; the neon firing away off the building housing the two restaurants was more than enough to light the way.
Back in 2024, I posted an article featuring singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada's（濱田金吾）fourth single from November 1981, "N.Y. City Marathon". If I ever do an Author's Picks based on New York City, this is one song that I will definitely feature. However, tonight's article and the last article for tonight is the B-side"Sentimental Moment". A happy-go-lucky song that contains some City Pop verses and an AOR chorus, this was created by Hamada with Kazuko Kobayashi's（小林和子）lyrics.
Speaking about those lyrics, it seems to deal with a guy surprised (and probably secretly delighted) that a woman from his past that he's never quite gotten over has darkened his doorstep once more. A second chance and a sentimental moment. Judging from the very upbeat chorus, I imagine that the reunion has been successful and they're both bounding down the highway in a cherry-red convertible.
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