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.
Working all those hours and days to help others. Dang it! Sometimes, YOU gotta DO something for YOU! The surgeon above finally got the hint and so this was my first exposure to cute animated ASMR. After care is important, after all.
If you remember 1991 and all that music in Japan, then you probably know about the song-and-dance group ZOO and their catchy "Choo Choo Train" with images of skiing and their distinctive approach to line dancing. I just missed out on it because I'd already left Japan from the JET Programme in the summer of that year while "Choo Choo Train" made its debut later in December. Ah, but still, I was able to hear about it somehow while back in Toronto.
Within that large shadow that "Choo Choo Train" cast, there was the coupling song "After Care". I had seen the official music video and for some reason, I'd imagined lots of seashores and water. Well, I guess my mind ran away from me since the video doesn't have those but it does have the sound of waves which probably sparked those images. In any case, "After Care", which was written by Arisu Sato（佐藤ありす）and composed by Yasunori Iwasaki（岩崎文紀）, is a slightly more soulful and much more laidback number to contrast with that dynamic main song. I'd say that it would make for the ideal after care song the day after the rampant partying from "Choo Choo Train". Enjoy the waves and the head massage for the hangover you may be experiencing.
Well, we're at about 17 degrees Celsius. We even had some brilliant sun earlier this morning but the clouds have returned and it's spitting rain out there. But at least we can say that we finally have some spring out there. It was a long cold winter so we'll take anything we can get, but it's almost as if Old Man Winter were saying "Not so fast, Torontonians!".
Another not-so-smooth segue into this song by Junko Mihara（三原じゅん子）titled "Ho-do-ho-do My Darling" (Not So Fast, My Darling). The former singer-now-House of Councillors member recorded this one as the B-side for her 8th single from May 1982, "Datte ~ Fall In Love ~ Totsuzen"（だって・フォーリンラブ・突然）. Quite like the A-side, "Ho-do-ho-do My Darling" is another twist-worthy rock-n-roll number that was written by Reiko Yamada（山田麗子）and composed by TAKU. While Mihara gives out those lower tones (with some meowing🐈), she's also explaining her personal policy on the relationship scene.
It won't officially be so until December this year, but Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）will be celebrating an anniversary in 2026 in that it will be 50 years since her first solo album"Grey Skies" was put onto record store shelves. Also, she may be aware that one of her idols, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Junos (Canada's version of the Grammys) last night directly from Prime Minister Mark Carney last night.
NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information show did what a lot of Japanese TV shows do at the end of March and the beginning of April, and that is to give things a refresh by swapping out hosts or reporters or changing the set. Two of those were done yesterday; although the host remained the same, the regular onsite reporters had a bit of a change and the set was given a redux of sorts.
As well, the theme song for "Asaichi", TENDRE's "Switch", was retired after a few years and it's now been replaced by "Ohayou"（おはよう...Morning!）which is a collaboration between Ohnuki and trackmaker/producer STUTS. The only thing is that I can't find any evidence of this song on YouTube as of yet. Ah, well. However, I found out that this wasn't the only time that Ohnuki and STUTS have worked together. Apparently, a couple of years ago, the two came up with their own cover version of the kayo chestnut "Ii Yu da na"(Wonderful Bath, Ain't It?), the ode to the onsen that had been recorded all the way back by vocal group Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）in 1966 and then popularized several years later by the comedy group The Drifters（ザ・ドリフターズ）as the ending theme for their long-running variety show "8-ji Da Yo! Zen'in Shuugo!"（8時だよ！全員集合...It's 8 O'Clock! Everyone Assemble!) .
Although hot springs are warm to hot, Ohnuki and STUTS' "Ii Yu da na" is a pretty chill take with some jazzy samples thrown in. All those samples can get a bit noisy but at least the underlying MPC thrumming accentuates the feelings of relaxation that actor Sosuke Ikematsu（池松壮亮）while lounging around in the onsen. Of course, Ohnuki and her calming voice provide veteran reassurance that it's OK to let the stresses of life melt away once in a while.
The Nagoya-born STUTS has been plying his trade since 2008. Several years later, he moved to New York City and did some busking with his MPC.
Ah, yes...Vachon's Half-Moon Cakes...which have nothing to do with the sweets during the Moon Festival in September. Actually, these were a part of my youth during lunchtime. When I got together with the guys for lunch at high school in front of our lockers, my mother would usually put one of these into my brown bag as the dessert segment. They came in lemon and chocolate versions and were (and still are) so sweet that they were responsible for the sugar crashes in the afternoon classes.
The above makes for a Canadian treat segue into this 20th single by Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）"Koi no Half-Moon"(Half-Moon of Love) which was released back in March 1981. This was also the follow-up to Ohta's "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo"(さらばシベリア鉄道）that had come out in December 1980, and it was basically the same songwriting lineup for that one that was responsible for "Koi no Half-Moon", lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer/arranger Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）with Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）helping on the arrangement of the strings and horns.
"Koi no Half-Moon" is an interesting one. It didn't impress me on first listen but it has started to grow on me. The notable thing is that it doesn't sound like a typical Ohtaki arrangement with that overall 50s and/or country-western twang that has become a staple of his melody work ("Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" is a classic in that way). In fact, I'd say that with some of the disco feeling in there, it sounds a bit more Electric Light Orchestra without the heavy synths. As for Matsumoto, he wove a story about a couple enjoying a night ride in the convertible and stopping off at their version of Inspiration Point in Japan, and if any of you have watched the old American sitcom "Happy Days", you'll know the significance of Inspiration Point. Hopefully, the only thing looking down at the soon-to-be very happy pair is the half-moon itself.
Although "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" has become one of Ohta's trademark songs, it only scored a No. 70 ranking initially on Oricon, and looking through her discography on J-Wiki, it was evident that her big days (outside of what her most dedicated fans thought) were receding. "Koi no Half-Moon" peaked at No. 81.
The B-side, "Blue Baby Blue", was also created by Ohtaki and Matsumoto with Yasuo Arakawa（荒川康男）helping the former out on arrangement. Now, this sounds more like an Ohtaki production...yup, Richie and Mary Beth out on the porch swing in the 1950s. However, the lyrics are a whole lot sadder as someone is having some major regrets about breaking up with that special lass. Post-breakup blues never sounded more sweet and nostalgic.
Knowing about singer-songwriter Kyoko Endo（遠藤京子）from the pages of "Japanese City Pop" and then gradually providing articles on her music within the pages of KKP, my surface impression is that she hasn't been so much of a City Pop singer (although a couple of her tunes at least have been given the City Pop tag...one in 1993!) as she has been a singer of refined un-aidoru-like pop tunes since her debut in the early 1980s.
One of my first entries on Endo was "Kokuhaku Telephone"（告白テレフォン）, her snazzy debut single from November 1981 and a collaboration between her and her lyrics and the composition of Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. I can't even imagine what it must have been like working with Tsutsumi who had already gotten a reputation as a master melody maker.
Well, "Kokuhaku Telephone" was also on Endo's first album"Operetta" which came out a month later in December. In addition, have a listen to its track mate "A-LI-CE" which was also created by Endo and Tsutsumi. Starting out languidly like a love ballad, the song soon revs up into another mildly funky chorus. The inclusion of strings in the instrumental bridge almost takes things into a Fashion Music area but overall, it remains a pretty cool pop tune. In fact, I kinda wonder whether this is an example of Senri Oe's music even before Senri Oe（大江千里）.
After posting the cover of "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa"(飾りじゃないのよ涙は）a few days ago for Urban Contemporary Friday and knowing the distinctly dashing figure that songwriter Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）has had all these decades with those dark sunglasses, his crumply-soft voice and the easy enigmatic grin, I kinda wondered what he was like back in his early days. Yes, I was interested in his origins.
Incidentally, Yosui Inoue is technically a stage name for the singer-songwriter born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Although the kanji for his name has never changed, he was born under the different reading (for his given name) Asami Inoue. However, when Inoue first made his debut, he went with the name Andre Candre（アンドレ・カンドレ）for a couple of years before switching to now iconic Yosui Inoue in 1971.
Yep, in September 1969, Andre Candre released his first single"Candre Mandre" under the CBS/Sony label. I don't know how he came up with either that first stage name or that debut single title, but he burst out of the gates running with this one. Looking rather serious on the single cover through two faces, one of those faces has him sans glasses which should be a rare look for the man. However, despite the night photo and those faces, "Candre Mandre" is an upbeat and fairly fast-paced folk tune about a couple heading for that land of love. Andre would release two more singles until he decided to make that fateful name change and make a re-debut.
I've usually assumed that the small and temporary genre of exotic kayo was limited to the late 1970s when hits such as Judy Ongg's（ジュディ・オング）"Miserarete"（魅せられて）boarded the Oricon charts. After that, it was the Golden Age of aidoru, City Pop and technopop.
However, there may have been some pop-ups here and there of songs that seemed to bring images of life and love overseas in distant Asian and European climes. Maybe one such song can be Mayumi Hara's（原真祐美）"Persia no Namida"(Persian Tears). Released in September 1984 as her 7th and penultimate single, it feels slightly like an adventure on the Silk Road in an aidoru atmosphere. The silky strings along with other stringed instruments help sell the image of traveling in the titular area. "Persia no Namida" was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Yasuo Kosugi（小杉保夫）.
The above is a shot of my grilled eel lunch that I had in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture almost a decade ago. I figured that this would be the ideal shot for my latest entry in the "Koufuku Graffiti" (幸腹グラフィティ...Gourmet Girl Graffiti) franchise, a category that I haven't updated since 2015 when I first saw the anime at my friend's place. Up to now, I had covered the opening and ending themes along with the insert songs.
As with anything in the movie field, anime has covered everything from the goriest horrors to the zaniest comedies, and basically for me, I've always had a preference for the quiet slice-of-life type of show, and "Koufuku Graffiti" has been one of the most famous examples (mind you, it has those rather orgasmic scenes of ingestion). Having a couple of good friends enjoy Japanese dishes from episode to episode has been my manna from heaven...no psychological angst, no fierce rivalries and plenty of deliciously portrayed food that I've been eating since I was a tadpole myself.
Well, yesterday, as I was finishing off my usual five in the Urban Contemporary field as would befit a KKP Friday, my mind went back to that 2015 anime and wondered about its original soundtrack. Foe one thing, it was composed and arranged by singer-songwriter Kotringo（コトリンゴ）who already has a fair number of articles posted including her time with the cool band Kirinji during the 2010s and her cover version of the folk classic "Kanashikute Yarikirenai"（悲しくてやりきれない）as the theme song for the acclaimed anime film "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni"（この世界の片隅に...In This Corner of the World）.
For another, the soundtrack for "Koufuku Graffiti", known as "Edible Melodies" (the link will take you to Amazon), never seemed all that obtrusive which I think fits Kotringo's personality. There was never any hint that an electric guitar would be shredded at any time during the series. The music is all very whimsical, wistful and warm with the priority given to the visual joy of some of my old dishes from my childhood being animated in most glorious detail. The above track for example, Track 11's "Ippon Yozakura Tamagoyaki"（一本夜桜卵焼き...Night Cherry Blossom Fried Egg） centers around the flute and strings and sounds just like a number one would hear in an art gallery cafe.
By the way, you can also access this link to hear very brief excerpts from the soundtrack at Apple.
One trope that pops up throughout the soundtrack is that Kotringo herself provides some of her vocal effects through humming or scatting, and that is the case with Track 15"Omurice Horror"（オムライス・ホラー...Rice Omelet Horror）. It really does sound rather sinister although Kotringo's vocal beats let us know that it's not all bad out there. I do recall one episode where there was indeed an omurice accident. Omurice isn't exactly a novice dish, you know.
I definitely remember this piece, Track 22"Atatakai O-nabe"（あたたかいお鍋...A Warm Bowl）, playing in the background, although the video here is of a cover version by AniMuffin Piano. If I'm being accurate here, it was playing during the quiet scenes and since there were a whole lot of quiet scenes in "Koufuku Grafitti", I'm sure that it was getting played at least once an episode. There's quite the nice waltz-y lilt.
I guess because the soundtrack was so subtle and relaxing, it hasn't gotten a lot of videos up onto YouTube, so I just have the above Episode 1 in its entirety to show off a few more tracks. Right from the start, there is a rendition of Track 1 "O-inarisan no Aji"（おいなりさんの味...The Taste of Sushi Rice in Deep-Fried Tofu Skin） which pops up whenever the main character of Ryo remembers back to the past, including her memories of her late grandmother.
At about 5:00 of the video, in comes the petite force of nature that becomes Ryo's foodie friend, Kirin, so her theme song which is Track 3 has some of those Kotringo verbal beats and a circus-like arrangement. One more song that I'll throw in is "O-ryori Humming"（お料理ハミング...Cooking Humming） Track 20 which gets played at 13:40 and is one of my favourite parts of the soundtrack because it not only sounds a tad Xmas-y but it also comes across as something cheerful from an old-timey sitcom or Hollywood comedy.
As I hinted above, "Edible Melodies" isn't a soundtrack to emphasize the action or the laughs for an anime. Think of it as a light and tasteful vinaigrette to add a little something to the salad.
Perhaps not the most well-known of City Pop singer-songwriters, Koh Suzuki（鈴木こう）nonetheless came up with a fine 1982 album titled "Sa-Ra-Vah Street". I focused on some of the tracks from the album back in 2020.
Well, I have encountered another track from "Sa-Ra-Vah Street" titled "Moonlight Lovers" that sounds so quintessentially City Pop/J-AOR that my teeth just shimmered as if I ingested a huge spoonful of ice cream. Yup, it has the bluesy sax solo, the essential wailing electric guitar and the Doobie Bounce in the arrangement by Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）. Suzuki, of course, is the congenial vocal host with his resonant and comfortable delivery. The singer and Toshiyuki Shibayama（柴山俊之）came up with the lyrics while Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）whipped up the tasty urban melody. Nice way to finish up a Friday.
I always enjoy those bird's-eye night views of Tokyo. I've never been all that high up but at least I got to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings to catch the Coruscant-like scene of the megalopolis spreading out on the horizon.
I also enjoy making discoveries of songs from that past that I'd never got to hear before. One example is this one by the duet of Makoto Saito（斎藤誠）and Mai Yamane（山根麻衣）. Both of them have had their feet in both City Pop and rock, but I think for this collaborative effort it's safe to say that this is a splendid mid-tempo pop love song. However, I also feel that there is enough of an urban contemporary element in there that I can imagine flying in the night sky or driving on the night highway while listening to "Our Love". This is a track from Saito's October 1990 album"Egao ni Go-chui."（笑顔に御注意。...Watch Out For That Smile）, a title that may be the only purely Japanese-language one among the mostly English-titled album discography by him.
It was back in 2018 when I first wrote on Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）& Flying Mimi Band, a group that had been listed within my first edition of "Japanese City Pop" for a number of years before I started exploring on YouTube. There I found their "Naze"（なぜ）which was some fine downtown City Pop funk from 1978.
Well, that was from their October 1978 2nd album"Sea Flight" (considering the slightly daring cover, I thought it was called "Sexy Flight"). I have also found another track from "Sea Flight" which is "Angel Sky", which was composed by saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu（清水靖晃）and written by Kobayashi herself. It's a nice dusky form of jazzy City Pop disco, and though I was a bit dismissive of her vocals in "Naze", I think Kobayashi has got a better handle of them here. But I think for this one, it's all about the instruments coming to the fore, especially the sax, keyboards and bluesy guitar.
I've been to the neighbourhood of Daikanyama, Tokyo on a few occasions, all due to the fact that my friend was living in the area at the time. My impression of this very stylish area is that it was filled with college students dressed all in black (and perhaps reading stuff like Sartre). I probably stuck out like a hillbilly in Beverly Hills (I think there was an old TV show about that😊) and perhaps not surprisingly, I don't have any photographs of Daikanyama, as if someone from the great beyond (but a spirit who could afford an apartment in Daikanyama) whispered in my ear "YOU ARE FORBIDDEN FROM TAKING ANY PHOTOS IN THIS VICINITY! YOU ARE NOT DAIKANYAMA ENOUGH!". Ahem...regardless, enjoy the above video by Tokyo Weekender.
Perhaps then, this song by the cool fraternal duo Kirinji (before they exploded into a full-fledged band some years later) can be considered to be a contemporary form of a go-touchi（ご当地）song. "Daikanyama Elegy" hails from the Horigome brothers' November 2002 self-cover album"Omnibus". I also read that the smooth-as-silk song was actually first sung by actor-comedian-singer Takashi Fujii（藤井隆）but I can't seem to find hide nor hair of his original version.
However, I am not complaining at all at this self-cover which says Kirinji（キリンジ）all over. It was a combination of the brothers along with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）coming up with the result, and this "Omnibus" version sounds like the type of music that customers in a Daikanyama cafe would hear. It's such a kakkoii and laidback song that would make Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）weep for joy and envy. I can talk on the music to a certain extent but as I've mentioned in past articles, I'm not so much of an expert on lyrics. However, I have to state that one person's Japanese blog entry that covers the song is absolutely enraptured by the words in "Daikanyama Elegy" so that I felt I had to say something about it. Feel free to use Google Translate to find out what he's saying.
Pretty moody music video for such a relaxing song. You may recognize the two actors in there. As for "Omnibus", it reached No. 42 on Oricon.
Yes, the man so cool his sunglasses sprouted from his face organically is back on KKP. Indeed, I'm talking about the God of Love Songs himself, Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki（鈴木雅之）.
I'm usually not a huge fan of tribute albums of famous artists in Japan, although I did buy one for Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）several years ago. And so I was surprised to find out a few days ago that such a tribute album dedicated to the songs of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）had been produced and released in May 2025. Titled"Meikyo: Tribute to Akina Nakamori"（明響...Akina Resonates）, it apparently consists of two CDs with the first one consisting of those other singers covering her hits while the second one has the original versions of those hits sung by Akina herself back in the 1980s.
Speaking of Martin, he contributes his golden tones to one of Akina's biggest hits, "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" (These Tears Ain't For Show) and I gotta say that he hits this one right out of the park like a Kazuma Okamoto homer (which I hope the newest Blue Jay will do later today on Opening Day). I remember when I first heard the original version and thought it a pretty upbeat song which got my OK. But then when I heard the extended album version of the original 1984 single which launched her landmark "Bitter & Sweet" album from 1985, my ears and brain were sent into the stratosphere so that I ended up hearing the track a few times that night when I purchased it in Chinatown.
A similar feeling rammed into me when I heard the Suzuki cover version a couple of nights ago, and it combines quite the potent cocktail of crystalline Neo-City Pop, funk and 60s guitar rock. Singer-songwriter Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）probably smiled through his own dark sunglasses and said "Yes, we have the singer" (a slight joke from "F1"). If there were going to be a fourth season of the anime "Kaguya-sama"（かぐや様は告らせたい）, I wouldn't mind having this be the theme song.
Continuing with the name segues, Inoue brought his own cover of "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" from his own self-cover album "9.5 Carat"（9.5カラット）from December 1984 which ended up as the No. 1 album for 1985. For some reason, I never got around to posting this one up until now, despite the fact that I remember hearing it on my old beloved CHIN-FM radio program "Sounds of Japan" decades ago. Anyways, Inoue's cover seems to have a darker and more haunting tone. Plus, the other notable thing about it is that it was arranged by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）, the man behind all that Studio Ghibli music.
Apparently, there have been a few songs known as "Minna Ii Ko". One is the Japanese title for rockabilly singer Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" from 1956, and the other is the Beatles' cover of said tune.
Well, this "Minna Ii Ko" isn't that "Minna Ii Ko". For one thing, it's a perfectly homegrown song with lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）and composer Kunihiko Kase（加瀬邦彦）having created it for Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）14th originalalbum "BAD TUNING" released in July 1980. Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）took care of its arrangement as a somewhat New Wave piece. Not sure if the original Perkins' song title would apply for this "Minna Ii Ko". Perhaps we can go with "Everyone's A Good Girl" since although I couldn't track down any lyrics online, I get the impression that this one lass out of the usual flock that the song's protagonist runs around with is not only the one who doesn't fall for his charms, but she's the one that he's most interested in. Such is life and love. Maybe I ought to extend my translation to "Everyone's A Good Girl (Except You)".
Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article since it is Thursday. And one of the reasons that I've had this category in the first place is because of one William Royce Scaggs, aka Boz Scaggs. Up to now, I've had his cool, uptown-and-downtown and upbeat songs such as "Lowdown" and "Jojo" as ROY articles, but I had yet to post this one mighty ballad of his from the "Silk Degrees" album of February 1976.
Arguably my memory of the really old days when I was a kid isn't exactly crystal-clear anymore, but I think out of all of the Boz songs, "We're All Alone" might be the first one that I had ever heard by him from the radio. The music is automatically identifiable although way back then, I hadn't known who Boz was; I just knew that the song was a pretty epic one, and one that has been covered by a lot of other singers such as Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli.
Now, as I approach old age, I can honestly say that they certainly don't make them like "We're All Alone" nowadays when it comes to pop balladry. Glad that I did get my own copy of "Silk Degrees" a couple of years ago.
Anyways, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts when the album was released? Well, I've got Nos. 1, 3 and 5 from February 16th 1976, just a couple of days before listeners got their hands on "Silk Degrees" at the record store.
However, as the commercial announcer often says: Wait! There's more!
I have never and will never categorize Scaggs' "Miss Sun"from 1980 as a ROY tune. For one thing, I never heard this one at all in my childhood or youth. I only got to hear it for the first time in the last month! And it's such a banger! I am assuaging my poor soul with weak pleadings of "Better late than never" but man, am I over forty years late to the party here. Mind you, I'm in good company. The good folks at View From the 502 who have become hardcore Boz acolytes over the years were the music lovers who introduced me to this one and I still haven't quite pulled out from its allure. Have a read of the Wikipedia article for the song but basically TOTO had a lot of influence on this one.
The very briefly ominous intro and outro with the percussion aside, as soon as I heard the music for this one, I knew that this had to be a Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）composition.
And sure enough, I was right. "Hoshi no Deja Vu"(Star-Crossed Deja Vu) was the B-side to Tomoyo Harada's（原田知世）"Soushun Monogatari"（早春物語...Early Spring Story）, her 7th single from July 1985. The sweeping feeling of fantasy within those strings and piano was pretty much a dead giveaway to the magic of Kisugi under Masaaki Omura's（大村雅朗）arrangement. And it goes so well with Harada's floating vocals. Chinfa Kan（康珍化）was responsible for the lyrics of a woman's memory of romance being triggered by certain scenes.
Although it's been categorized as a single with just the two songs on each side, "Soushun Monogatari" was packaged in an EP format, according to J-Wiki, so I'm thinking that instead of the usual 45" donut-ban, it got the full LP treatment.
The above is a photo of the exposed Central Park section on the cruise ship Harmony of the Seas. It's a nice area to stroll and one of the restaurants there introduced me to my first Beef on Weck. Ironically, the sandwich is most famous in Buffalo, New York which is across Lake Ontario from where we are here but I actually found out about it on a huge ocean liner in the middle of the Caribbean.
Cruise ships have been called small cities on the ocean or floating buffet restaurants. I see them as both and after engorging myself on a lot of their fare (I think Royal Caribbean still has a WANTED poster out for me), maybe this song is the one I want to hear as I beach myself on the deck chair. This is "Ocean Liner" by the technopop duo Testpattern.
Not that it has been intentional by me, but I've been apparently placing two posts by these guys in 2022, 2023 and now 2026. I'm basically spreading out their 1982 album"Après-Midi" and I guess "Souvenir Glacé" (that I posted about in January) and this one for "Ocean Liner" are going to be my Testpattern contributions for this year. As for "Ocean Liner", it does feel like a thrumming synthesizer version of a really comfortable and snoozy nap on that deck chair with a slow rhythmic deep ocean beat anchoring the mesmerizing feeling of going off to La-La Land before dinner time. Duo Fumio Ichimura（市村文夫）and Masao Hiruma（比留間雅夫）took care of the hypnotic melody.
Yes, indeed I did get that post-Beef on Weck high...after which I helped myself to some soft-serve ice cream. Relaxation on the deck chair was mandatory.
Welcome to another Hump Day in the middle of the final full week of March. We're still making our slow way to spring weather as we hover a little over 0 degrees Celsius here in Toronto, but at least we've made some progress with the sun.
As such, why don't we lift some of those spirits up with a bit of m-flo? I haven't discussed about LISA, VERBAL & ☆ Taku in over a year, and I was able to find this nice pick-me-up which was released as the group's November 1999 6th single, "L.O.T. (Love Or Truth)". To be honest, I'd never heard of this one before since for one thing, it hadn't been included on the lone BEST collection I have of them, "Award Super Nova".
m-flo to me has usually meant hip-hop or hip-pop so to hear this one is quite the revelation because "L.O.T.", which was written and composed by m-flo with H.U.B.'s help on the lyrics, strikes me more as a contemporary Latin pop number with some jazz elements (although VERBAL has got his usual rap patter in there). It's also been recognized as the group's first ballad and it's beautifully sung by LISA. "L.O.T." was used as the theme song for a TV Asahi drama series "Best Friend".
Quite the atmospheric music video for "L.O.T." but that hotel corridor looks like it came straight from "The Shining"! I was expecting a couple of creepy twin girls to invite LISA and company to play. Anyways, the video below is of the Agape Mix of the song. The song scored a No. 24 ranking on Oricon. It also appeared as a track on m-flo's first album"Planet Shining" from February 2000; it peaked at No. 6.
The above video from the channel Heisei Sound System is an AI City Pop version of "L.O.T." that was released a couple of months ago, and to be honest, it was the first version of the song that I had heard before I quickly tracked down the original. I have to admit that it does sound quite good, and usually I haven't been all that impressed with the AI attempts at urban contemporary.
There is one famous scene from the anime "Sailor Moon" in which Usagi drank the wrong drink and, well, she got a little more excitable than she usually is. Strangely enough, I was in a similar situation when one of my students at a party got a little more than she bargained for after imbibing a little too much of the good stuff and she started rattling things off in both Japanese and English. By the end, she was speaking in tongues.
That was what Mai Arai's（あらい舞）"Wild Lady" reminded me of when I first heard it last night. This was the debut single for the then-19-year-old singer-songwriter from Kyoto when she released it in November 1978. Written, composed and arranged by Arai, it does sound a bit like Pink Lady with the dynamic melody touched by a bit of disco and rock-n-roll.
Now, for KKP readers, if the name Mai Arai sounds familiar to you, then you must have thoroughly read the details in the article for Mikako Hashimoto's（橋本美加子）"Heart Byoyomi"（ハート秒読み）which was one of Arai's creations for the 80s aidoru. I was intrigued enough by the presence of this songwriter when I wrote up the Hashimoto post that I decided to take a deeper look. As it turned out, she gained her ambitions for the music industry when she was a senior in junior high school. Not long after, she got into the industry although her singles came out quite slowly with her seventh single being released in 2005. Her debut album wouldn't hit the shelves until 1990 although by that point, she'd gone with the new stage name of hideko. In 1982, she went on a national tour with fellow singer-songwriter Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）, and she's provided singers such as Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）and GWINKO with her tunes.
Oh, dopey me. I'm four days late in wishing singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi a Happy Birthday! But here's hoping that her family enjoyed themselves on the special day. Last year (when I did remember her birthday), I acknowledged the day with a Yutaka Kimura Speaks translated piece about the singer. When I thought about whether to do a Creator article about her, I quickly realized that I had already done one back in 2019.
However for that first entry, I introduced some songs created by Takeuchi in that article that had never been covered before. Well, then, I decided that for this one, I'll bring the comfort food...songs by her that have their own articles from way back when just to remind viewers about what she has given other singers. And of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list.
Listening to music all these decades and handling KKP for the past fourteen years, of course, I know all about those 45" singles and CD singles with their A/B sides and coupling songs. Sometimes though on a singer's J-Wiki discography, I encounter something called the kikaku single（企画シングル）or "planned single". I'm still not 100% on the meaning or purpose of these things, but from my experience, I can glean that they refer to special releases by a singer tackling a genre that's not usually in their wheelhouse.
And thus, we come to Yoshie Kashiwabara's（柏原芳恵）"Shiawase Ondo"(Happy Folk Song). I found this song just recently on YouTube and it took me a little longer than usual to track this down since "Shiawase Ondo" hadn't been included on Yoshie-chan'slong single list. It was placed on the...you guessed it...the kikaku single list and it even got its own entry on J-Wiki.
I guess it's because Kashiwabara was covering something that wasn't her usual aidoru stuff. Released early in her career, July 1982, "Shiawase Ondo" is all about the festival minyo, and the dead giveaway was the title's use of ondo which is often used for the traditional folk songs of Japan. She's got quite the adorably cute delivery of Masato Fujita's（藤田まさと）lyrics but the music is also notable not only for the old-style jaunty folk (vocal whoops included) but the fact that it sounds quite Okinawan and technopop at the same time. I started thinking that Yellow Magic Orchestra had been involved, and sure enough, one third of the group, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, provided the melody which Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）then arranged into a spacey yet familiar tune that the kids would love to dance to.
For Yoshie fans, "Shiawase Ondo" must have been quite the rare thing to covet since this kikaku single hadn't gotten onto an original album for years until March 2004 when it was finally included on the aidoru's CD box set "Kashiwabara Yoshie Premium Box"（柏原芳恵 プレミアムBOX）. The single itself peaked at No. 70 on Oricon.
I haven't been to Osaka in many, many moons so my remembrance of the streets there is woefully lacking compared to my knowledge of some of the thoroughfares in Tokyo. However, Midosuji seems to pop up a fair bit especially when it comes to kayo kyoku. In fact, I'm wondering if I ought to provide an Author's Picks list of songs that pay tribute to what has been called Osaka's Champs-Elysees. But I'll leave that for further thought. Off the top of my head, though, there is Feifei Ouyang's（欧陽菲菲）"Ame no Midosuji"（雨の御堂筋）from the early 1970s. Anyways, the above video is provided by Japan Walking Tours on YouTube.
Well, yesterday, we were watching the weekend "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit）as usual, and The Cool Five's Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）appeared to provide one of his old group's classics "Saikai Blues"（西海ブルース）from 1977. Since his Cool Five members have basically retired or passed away, some of the other male guest singers provided the backup chorus. I figured that I must have already written on "Saikai Blues", and sure enough, I had done so back in December 2023.
But I wasn't going to be deterred by that, and it didn't take me long to track down another Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five（内山田洋とクールファイブ）Mood Kayo song. That was their 26th single from December 1975, "Futari no Midosuji"(A Couple in Midosuji), and it fits the typical Cool Five Mood Kayo feeling of love gained and lost in a famous part of a Japanese city. Of course, there's plenty of rain and mournful chorus to emphasize the bittersweetness of romance. Written by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, it did OK by hitting No. 44 on Oricon.
At first, I'd assumed that this would be Mariko An's（アン真理子）first appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but that would have been wrong. The former chorus singer and dancer has been up here and not too long ago. In fact, back in 2022, I posted an article for the duo Yuki to Hide's（ユキとヒデ...Yuki & Hide）"Shiroi Nami"（白い波）from 1967, and as it turned out, I was reminded that Yuki had been Mariko...before she became Mariko; her real name is Yuki Sato（佐藤ユキ）.
Yuki to Hide would release a couple of singles including "Shiroi Nami" (Sato would release a couple of her own solo singles while the duo was still together) and then break up in 1968. Taking on the new stage name of Mariko An, she made a new debut with the July 1969 single "Kanashimi wa Kakeashi de Yatte Kuru" (Grief Comes Running). Written by An herself with Katsuhiko Nakagawa（中川克彦）taking care of the melody, it's a melancholy kayo kyoku although through An's lyrics, it seems as if she's really trying hard to balance the worlds of light and dark especially as they affect the youth of the nation when it comes the vagaries of love. An released seven more singles up to the mid-1970s and one original album in 1970. She also continued to work as a lyricist under her real name of Yuki Sato although the kanji was a variant version（佐藤由紀）.
This sci-fi comedy movie "Project Hail Mary" with Ryan Gosling has crept into theatres fairly meekly but it's been doing pretty good box office thus far. Strangely enough and rarely enough, I'm currently reading the original novel just before I head off to slumber each night, and I may actually watch the movie for comparison's sake. The overarching theme here is friendship between two beings despite vast differences due to a common goal.
Things aren't quite as high-stakes and dramatic within the adorable music video for indies pop and shoegaze band Roly Poly Rag Bear's "Sentimental Bus", but it shares the theme of friendship among a couple of stuffed animals and a human. "Sentimental Bus" is a track from the duo's 2004 album"Straw, Water, Pinstripe" and the melody is about as comfortable as a warm blanket and/or a hot bowl of soup on a cold winter day.
I couldn't find much information about Roly Poly Rag Bear but according to what I could scrape off the Net was that Mihoko Tanoue（田之上美穂子）and Makoto Igarashi（五十嵐誠）formed the pair in 1998 and released a number of singles and albums including "Straw, Water, Pinstripe" throughout the 2000s before going on hiatus in late 2010. Along with their sunny and warm indie pop stylings, they were also known for performing some Shibuya-kei although I have yet to come across any of that part of their discography.
Major League Baseball is in its final days of Grapefruit League action before the official season begins next week. Locally, of course, we're looking forward to seeing the Blue Jays back at Rogers Centre and see if they can pull off what they almost did last year.
Not to say that technopop band Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）has done so for every song they've ever concocted, but I remember a few songs of theirs that have had certain themes in mind. There is the train theme for "Popo"（ポポ）and "Mononoke Dance"（モノノケダンス）with its atmosphere of the scary spirits in mind. Well, their 22nd single from August 2022 is "HOMEBASE" which is all about the baseball. Along with the usual fun plinky-plunky technopop, there is some of the rah-rah cheering prevalent at any Japanese baseball game incorporated.
Of course, Denki Groove also loves to have its tongue-in-cheekiness and the majority of the lyrics for "HOMEBASE" is the reading of a team's lineup with some of the zaniest names. The music video has band member Pierre Taki（ピエール瀧）pull off humanity's longest headfirst slide (with a juice break) in front of Takkyu Ishino（石野卓球）as the tough-as-nails manager.
Welcome to another KKP weekend! As I was telling a friend of mine this morning, it doesn't really feel like spring here in Toronto quite yet, but at least, the snow is largely gone and I can actually walk the sidewalks like a normal human being again. I'll be happy to take the little steps toward the green season.
Anyways, out of the Mikako Hashimoto（橋本美加子）songs I've covered thus far on KKP, this single has struck me as being the grooviest thus far. This is her 5th single from June 1986, "Heart Byoyomi", which seems to translate directly as "Heart Countdown", although I'm wondering if it's more accurate to say "Reading Your Heartbeat" in terms of the usual trials and tribulations of love encountered in these aidoru tunes. In any case, Mai Arai（あらい舞）was responsible for both words and music and as for the latter, I love the wailing electric guitar and the horns. Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）took care of the snazzy arrangement.
I feel like I'm playing a word association game but with themes with the past couple of articles I wrote. First, it was "Isao Hayashi" (林伊佐緒) with Sogen wo Yuku Otoko (草原をゆく男) and Kurashiki no Hito (倉敷の女). From the latter, I am carrying over the theme of a singer's voice to this article.
Quite a while back, I was reading something on the line of how a singer's voice can be highly attractive to its listeners, even without the presence of their physical being - think radio, records, CDs, etc. - as we can fill in the blanks ourselves. The mind is a powerful tool. Seeing as how Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴) never showed up on TV postwar, and prewar footage of him even just moving is exceedingly rare, I let my imagination take the reins with what it has: his photos and his voice (via his songs).
So hot｡ﾟ(ﾟ´艸`ﾟ)ﾟ｡
Mr. Nakano is essentially my antithesis to Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎). During his tenure as a recording artist, he often appeared to be either chipper with his cheeky grin or suave with a smolder. His jazz covers and western music-inspired songs often match either version of him, and his expressive deliveries would sound a little different depending. If its something like a silly or sentimental jazz song, he would ordinarily come equipped with a bright tenor. But if its a more dramatic number, he would lean into the lower register of his vocal range and showcase its richness. The latter, in particular, gets the heart racing.
Seishun Rumba belongs to this latter category. Released in June 1939, it's actually a cover of Tabú, originally created musician Margarita Lecuona. The Cuban number has a heady air of sensuality about it with its languid rhythm. However, to fit Nakano's dynamic energy, Showa's other jazz song arrangement whiz Takio Niki (仁木多喜雄) sped up the tempo a little and made it sound theatrical with more dramatic percussions and blaring horns, yet still retained the sex appeal of the original. It makes the perfect space for Nakano's chesty delivery in this instance to shine; and despite its boldness, the singer manages to add a tenderness to his voice that makes it even more alluring.
Taking care of the Japanese lyrics was Ko Fujiura (藤浦洸), who was already making a name for himself making several hit western-inspired numbers. His words seem parallel the rumba and its vitality to youth, which explains the title that literally translates to "Youth Rumba." To be completely honest, I'm not super fond of the title they gave the Japanese version. Somehow, the thought that this could be considered one of those "odes to youth" (seishun sanka) that were popular during the 30s does kind of diminish the more mature vibe the Niki's arrangement and Nakano's delivery give to me. Nevertheless, Seishun Rumba was the song where, upon first listen, had me texting one of my good friends that I thought the man "[sounded] so hot." The blend of the music, his voice, and those suave images sends my imagination into overdrive and has me forgetting to breathe. I would be transfixed seeing Hachi sing Kurashiki no Hito live, but I think I'd pass out seeing Nakano do Seishun Rumba live.
It's been a long while since the last Tomoko Koyano（古谷野とも子）article which was back in March 2020, just before COVID shut the world down for a couple of years. That was for "Yorisoi Nareta Ude no Naka de"（寄りそい慣れた腕の中で）and though the Koyano file on KKP is still not all that deep, I've gotten the impression that she's along the lines of fellow singer-songwriters Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）and Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）with their mellow New Music stylings.
I found this track which shares space with "Yorisoi Nareta Ude no Naka de" on her 3rd album"Neutral Tints" from 1978. And "Shiawase Modoki" (Fake Happiness) may not titularly hint at good times within Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, but man, right from the first several notes of the song, I do feel that Koyano's creation strikes me as something ahead of its time. The arrangement comes across as a lot more contemporary especially with the keyboard work (although that Fender Rhodes is a symbol of City Pop music, particularly in the 1970s). I could imagine "Shiawase Modoki" as having been created in the 1980s or 1990s even. Nice to have such a cool and good tune to finish off tonight's slate of postings, especially with that sax solo...gave me some Gerry Rafferty vibes.
Probably would have preferred Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico to have stood a little farther away from the number, but in all of the excitement about writing the 2700th City Pop article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a few minutes ago, I completely overlooked the fact that the blog itself surpassed the 20 million view mark some time in the last 24 hours.
Thank you, Mr. DiCaprio! And congratulations yourself on "One Battle After Another" winning Best Picture although I'm sorry that you didn't get that Best Actor Oscar.
It's rather amazing that the views are already more than 70,000 deep beyond 20,000,000 so let's get at it with another song. First off, although I have separate articles for Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）and the late great Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）, I had no idea that they also worked together as a duo for several years in the 1980s and 1990s, putting out a lot of albums together.
One album, released in 1982, is "Best Friend", and the cover has Iwabuchi and Kosaka looking very chummy. I managed to find one track "Rainbow" which brings in friendly folk and a hint of that Margaritaville AOR into the proceedings. It's just the melodic tonic for a cool and relaxing Sunday drive out in the countryside or the beachside. Not quite ready for that activity here in Toronto yet, but perhaps this time next month, things will have meteorologically improved.
I only noticed this some minutes ago, but this article will become the 2700th such article under the City Pop banner since beginning "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in 2012.
Thank you, thank you!
And who better to share this honour than with one of the greatest representatives of City Pop, singer-songwriter Junko Yagami（八神純子）? She was looking rather glammed up and Blondie-ish in that bold striped dress against the red-and-black background. I'd probably say that it is one of the more famous images of the Aichi Prefecture-born singer as a cover for her 16th single"Koi no Smash Hit"(I WANNA MAKE A HIT WIT-CHOO) from July 1983.
To be honest, "Koi no Smash Hit" wasn't a smash hit, only getting as high as No. 61 on Oricon, but for the fans, it's another jewel in the crown and kinda shows Yagami's transition from her City Pop phase into a more West Coast R&B sound going into the middle of the 1980s. She wasn't even behind words and music this time around...they were provided by lyricist Frank Musker and composer Louis St. Louis. I think the song is also notable for the cameo appearance of what sounds like the turbolift doors on the USS Enterprise and the somewhat tongue-in-cheek lyrics with Junko having a grand ol' time singing about simultaneously getting her guy and getting that Grammy with this creation. Her 6th album from the same month is also titled "I WANNA MAKE A HIT WIT-CHOO" and it did better in comparison than the single by peaking at No. 16.
I figure that if I can get a Eurobeat song onto the blog last month, thanks to Yoshimi Yokosuka（横須賀昌美）, I can do so here in March as well.
And this time, it's by the group EVE that seemed to be omnipresent in the music world back in the 1980s since they popped up backing up a lot of other artists in the recording studio. This time, though, the Sisters Shinzato from Okinawa are front and centre with their second single as a group, "Sugar Sugar" which came out in August 1987. Written by two of the sisters, Clare & Leona, with Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）handling the arrangement under his nom de plumeMark Davis (man, he's been a busy man today after providing his services for the song of the previous article), I'm sure that he made Stock, Aitken & Waterman very proud with his Eurobeat tendencies. "Sugar Sugar" peaked at No. 77 on Oricon.
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