Kokoro Umetani -- Hoshizora no Ruby（星空のルビー）

By W.carter via Wikimedia Commons

 

It's close to the end of May so in Toronto that means that it's time for the annual Doors Open festival. This is where various establishments ranging from companies to private buildings with some style and history open up for a couple of days for the public to explore. The last time I was at Doors Open was a few years ago and since then, various things happened so that I couldn't attend, and so I was rather determined to go to the 2026 edition despite the warning of heavy rain and high winds. 

Well, my friend and I made it to one Heritage building which had also been converted into a food hall filled with various restaurants so I was able to take photos and have a nice hamburger lunch. However, after waiting over an hour to get into The Toronto Star newspaper company while the elements whipped the surprisingly long line silly, we gave up (it was still another hour to go before people could take the elevator to go up) and grabbed a coffee before heading back home. Ugh!

Anyways, the inclement weather is continuing tonight so we may be unlucky enough to get hit with a power outage in the middle of me writing so I apologize in advance. We've actually got quite a lot of outages happening throughout Toronto tonight so I shouldn't be surprised if my neighbourhood does get hit with one.

All the more to bring out enka singer Kokoro Umetani's（梅谷心愛）latest single from March 2026, "Hoshizora no Ruby" (Night Sky of Rubies). It has quite the pedigree of songwriters helping out here with lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, and there is something about this song which feels rather nostalgic in a 70s or 80s kayo way. Perhaps there is a mixture of enka and kayo in here so the New Adult Music tag may apply. And in fact, it almost feels like an Aming（あみん）or Takako Okamura（岡村孝子）tune. "Hoshizora no Ruby" reached No. 21 on Oricon.