Wataru Takada -- Jitensha ni Notte（自転車にのって）

Norbert Nagel via Wikimedia Commons

 

The weather is improving so bicycles are coming out once again here in Toronto after a long winter. I'm sure the same thing is happening in Japan depending on the area.

But over there, I've heard that a rash of new bicycle regulations have come into force which could earn those unaware the dreaded blue ticket and fines. And according to NHK, there are probably many who are in the dark about how intricate some of those new laws are.

Coincidentally, on one of the NHK music shows, I recently heard a pretty rustic song called "Jitensha ni Notte" (Getting on the Bicycle). It was something that I hadn't listened to before so I looked into it. This was the May 1971 5th single by folk singer-songwriter Wataru Takada（高田渡）and it sounds like something that reflected a typical ride through a friendly town neighbourhood. It's short, sweet and the melody line during the singing of the verses reminds me of the old kids' song "I've Been Working on the Railroad".

Takada was born in Gifu Prefecture in 1949 in a family that had been rich due to their lumber merchant grandfather, but their fortune was wiped out because of a massive earthquake and stock market failures. After the death of his mother, Takada's father ended up taking him and his brothers to Tokyo with no particular destination in mind and they all lived in poverty in the Fukagawa district. In the 1960s, he would pick up the ukulele and start getting into folk music. His career would begin in earnest in 1968 and several singles and albums would be released. He passed away in April 2005 at the age of 56 from heart failure.