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.
I remember the Yellow Magic Orchestra single "Taiso"（体操）with its upbeat melody and its message of up-and-at-'em just to rouse up the kids for the morning exercise session. The music video made me wonder how much in the way of stimulants and the like were pumped into its production, though.
There's a bit of lyrical psychedelia as well in the B-side for "Taiso", although the more dramatic "Tegakari"(Key) didn't get its own video which is too bad in a way. Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）words seem to describe a depressed fellow who's ended up in a one-person video adventure game that could also serve as a mindscape aching to be analyzed by a psychiatrist for their thesis. Hosono and YMO drummer and vocalist Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）came up with the urgent pounding melody that could make that fellow build up quite a sweat as he's running up and down those hills in the gamescape.
This isn't true with everybody but sometimes I associated certain bands and singers with famous areas. Southern All Stars（サザン・オール・スターズ）will always be connected to seaside Chigasaki because they are from that area, so that is easy. However on the other hand, I've felt that the late kayo chanteuse Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）and Shinjuku made a good pairing (although she's originally from Hokkaido) not only because she sang "Shinjuku no Onna"（新宿の女）but she just fit that urban angst in the back streets of that Tokyo neighbourhood.
This is straight from their website. Please don't kill me, Momo and Koharu.
Well, as for the eclectic accordion-driven sibling duo Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）, I picture them setting up shop in the shitamachi districts of Tokyo such as Ueno or Kanda. They actually do hail from the nation's capital (though the sisters Momo and Koharu were born in Chiba) but I don't know exactly where they were raised. Now as to why I think they feel just at home in the traditional quarter of town, and this is even before they released their album of kayo covers "Showa Hyaku Nen"(The 100th Year of the Showa Era) on Christmas Eve last year, their music always hit me as being something just as comfy, old-fashioned and woodsy as the architecture of the Taisho and early Showa eras. I'm not sure whether 2025 or 2026 would be considered Showa 100 according to the Japanese reign year system if Emperor Showa had survived up to now but let's give the sisters the benefit of a doubt.
So, let's take a look at three of the tracks from "Showa Hyaku Nen". One is a cover of Takao Hirata & Sellsters'（平田隆夫とセルスターズ）"Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa"（ハチのムサシは死んだのさ）, the novelty pop hit from 1972. Some great sisterly harmonizing here with the song taking on an arrangement that seems to be part ska and part old-fashioned street band chindon'ya style. And it comes with a music video that's swift and reminiscent of the old anime style from that decade. I'm especially happy that Charan-Po-Rantan picked this one since I don't think "Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa" usually gets selected in any kayo kyoku retrospective either on TV or compilation album.
Hey, and we all get a lovely video of vocalist Momo not only singing but showing off a bit of summery 80s aidoru cheesecake in the music video for the duo's rendition of Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）1984 hit "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。）The Charan-Po-Rantan style is fully in play here as well.
Finally, here is the Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）classic "Makkana Taiyo"（真赤な太陽）from 1967. There's perhaps even more of a funky element in this cover and Momo adds some Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）growl and Ego-Wrappin' attitude into her delivery. That chindon'ya saxophone really chews into the arrangement like me on a tenderloin steak. Frankly, "Makkana Taiyo" is a song that just begs to be covered in any kayo cover album because the singers can really have at it.
Feel free to take a look at the rest of the tracklist via the link to the album above and there are some more of the songs up on YouTube.
Tonight, "Uta Con"（うたコン）had an expanded special episode featuring all of those seishun songs but in the beginning, things went a little serious with emcee Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）making an announcement. And I'd been expecting that he would announce the passing of longtime lyricistJun Hashimoto（橋本淳）to whom I also paid tribute last night. But then I was surprised to find out that the announcement wasn't for Hashimoto but for singer Yoichi Sugawara（菅原洋一）who had passed away on May 31st at the age of 92 from malignant lymphoma.
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It was quite the shock although I knew from his recent appearances on "Uta Con" up to last year that he had become frail in his old age and needed some support when going on stage. Along with those "Uta Con" appearances, I got to know him through my early viewings of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen that I started watching from the 1981 edition. He had appeared a total of 22 times between 1967 and 1988. The above video has him on the Japan Record Awards I believe, as he's singing "Kyo de Owakare"（今日でお別れ）.
I also remember him singing songs such as "Amant" and "Shiritakunaino"（知りたくないの）, these grand standards and songs with that bit of Latin flavour in there. During those early viewings of the Kohaku, I saw Sugawara as a veteran pillar representing the more Western side of music in comparison to the enka stalwarts of Haruo Minami（三波春夫）and Hideo Murata（村田英雄）.
Here is another one of his grand and sorrowful songs, "Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni"(Some Forget-Me-Nots For You) which was his November 1971 single. Written by Ryutaro Kinoshita（木下龍太郎）and composed by Hiroshi Eguchi（江口浩司）, it's another kayo kyoku of impending heartbreak as one of the soon-to-be erstwhile couple implores the other not to forget the old and beautiful times they had together. And perhaps in a way, this could be one song to represent Sugawara departing this Earth. My condolences go to Sugawara's family, friends and fans.
Incidentally, "Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni" was initially created in 1963 and recorded by the all-female vocal group Voce Angelica（ヴォーチェ・アンジェリカ）that had a run between 1960 and 1990. Made up of six women, they were famous for their renditions of Japanese folk songs and children's songs.
In August 1971, a few months before Sugawara's version of the single, actress-singer Chieko Baisho（倍賞千恵子）released her own languid version of "Wasurenagusa wo Anata ni".
From the same edition of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）from which I discovered Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Daikon no Hana"（だいこんの花）and wrote about it earlier today, I also heard for the first time Goro Noguchi's（野口五郎）"Good Luck".
It's been called one of Noguchi's earliest forays into J-AOR/City Pop that was released as his 28th single in September 1978. I'd probably go with the former genre myself, with it having that breezy 70s West Coast feeling thanks to that shimmering electric guitar which is reminiscent of the one accompanying Julio Iglesias' cover of "Begin the Beguine". Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, Noguchi sings the step-by-step process of having that one last overnight tryst with a lover before he leaves her apartment forever. I gather that the good luck here is more about the farewell wishes to his paramour more than any fine fortune he may have had.
"Good Luck" won a Gold prize at that year's Japan Record Awards and earned Noguchi an invitation to the 1978 Kohaku Utagassen. The song was also the singer's final entry into the Oricon Top 10 as it peaked at No. 4 and eventually became the 70th-ranked single of the year.
One of the anime series I grew up watching — and was definitely too young for — was MD Geist. It was a pretty typical post-apocalyptic, hyper-violent sci-fi OVA from the ’80s and '90s. One thing I can always count on with OVAs is a killer soundtrack, and MD Geist was no different.
As it turns out, the soundtrack for MD Geist 2 was composed by Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）, who not only worked on other anime soundtracks like City Hunter, but also composed songs for other artists. Unsurprisingly, he also has his fair share of solo albums. I first recognized his voice on his 1989 solo debut, Back Seat, whose album cover appears to be an homage to Tetsuji Hayashi’s Back Mirror. But where I was truly impressed was his second album from 1990, Remember Blues.
Hotdamn, this guy cooked.
You can definitely feel the blues in this album, intertwined with some good old-fashioned AOR. It helps that Ohuchi himself has that unmistakable ’90s anime opening-theme voice that instantly gives every song a sense of drama, momentum, and presence. It’s hard to pinpoint my favorite song on this record, but it’s a tie between Bay Bridge Blues and Trouble Maker. Trouble Maker has a great danceable beat and strikes the perfect balance between funky and rockin’. Bay Bridge Blues has that classic ’80s kayō ballad feel. I can envision Kazuma Kiryu — for all my Yakuza fans — sitting at a bar, reminiscing about his life over a few shots of whiskey. It helps that Yoshiaki himself has that 90s anime OP voice that brings a presence to each song.
I know J-Canuck has written about Ohuchi in the past, especially since he composed music for Kahoru Kohiruimaki (小比類巻かほる), but Remember Blues is a great starting point for exploring his solo career.
Yes, I realize that 85% to 90% of all plants have flowers but I hadn't been aware that the typical daikon was one of them. Of course for me, when it comes to daikon, I always think of the root part being grated into that pungent-tasting condiment for fish and tempura.
That is why question marks popped up around my head while I was watching enka legend Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）perform "Daikon no Hana" (Daikon Flowers) on the weekly broadcast of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）a couple of days ago. How would one make a song about these blossoms that I hadn't heard about?
Well, feel free to ask lyricist Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）since they were the ones behind Ishikawa's 97th single from March 2010. Yoshioka's lyrics read like a gentle treatise on how to approach life with all of its hills and valleys; the daikon blossoms only show up in one line as Ishikawa sings about how they will still be there as constantly as the sun rising up. Often when I've heard the singer perform recently, there's been a certain playfulness in her delivery but with "Daikon no Hana", that's been replaced by a reassuring grace and wisdom.
I've also realized that this is the first time that Ishikawa has been on the byline for an article since 2022. Good to see her again in the pages of KKP.
Not to say that I'm an X-Man or anyone like that, but earlier today as I was entering my usual digestion-induced nap, I got a little spark in my head about whether there would be an obituary regarding someone in the music industry, and annually, there have been a few. As it turns out, less than an hour ago, I was watching the morning news on NHK and the report came out that veteran lyricist Jun Hashimoto had passed away on May 21st at the age of 86 due to cirrhosis.
Since I began this blog back in 2012, as someone who hadn't been too up on lyricists, arrangers and composers at the time, Hashimoto's name was one that I came across fairly often especially in the early years of KKP. And according to both J-Wiki and NHK, he had written approximately 2000 songs of which a little over 70 have been covered here. He worked with a number of composers during his career which lasted close to 60 years but it was his collaborations with the late Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）that produced a lot of those kayo kyoku hits.
Born on July 8th 1939, Hashimoto was born Junsuke Yoda（与田凖介 ）, the son of famed poet and children's book author Junichi Yoda（与田凖一）, in Tokyo. He started learning about lyric writing on his own while studying at Aoyama Gakuin University, and he eventually came under the wing of composer Koichi Sugiyama（すぎやまこういち）in 1961. Some years later in 1966, his first stint at lyrics which ended up as a record was "Kiiroi Lemon"（黄色いレモン...Yellow Lemon） by another Sugiyama protege, singer Koichi Fuji（藤浩一）who would later become Masato Shimon（子門真人）. It was also Tsutsumi's first stint at composing a record as well under Sugiyama's wing. Thus, the source of all those Hashimoto/Tsutsumi hits can be tracked back here.
Of course, a couple of years later, Hashimoto and Tsutsumi would pen their first evergreen kayo hit, "Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）by Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）.
The lights of the city are really beautiful, aren't they? Yokohama, Blue Light Yokohama The two of us are so happy
As always, those words of love Yokohama, Blue Light Yokohama Give those words to me
A year previously though, Hashimoto with Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets member and composer Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）came up with "Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）, arguably the Group Sounds band's most famous hit from 1967. In fact, NHK reported that Hashimoto was instrumental to the GS boom of those late 1960s.
Surrounded by the woods and the springs There quietly sleeps the Blue Chateau You are waiting for me The dark and lonely Blue Chateau
Another Group Sounds hit that Hashimoto wrote was "Amairo no Kami no Otome"（亜麻色の髪の少女）by The Village Singers (ヴィレッジ・シンガーズ) in 1968 with his mentor and composer Sugiyama behind the melody.
The wind gently folds the long flaxen hair The girl holds the white bouquet to her chest As she comes down the hill as if with wings To her kind boyfriend she goes Her singing voice cheerful because she's in love
Even with the end of the Group Sounds period in the early 1970s, Hashimoto would continue to pen the hits including the popular duet song "Canada Kara no Tegami"(カナダからの手紙）in 1978 with Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃） , who also composed it, and Yoko Hatanaka（畑中葉子）. Yeah, to think I pummeled the heck out of that one at karaoke, and it was a Hashimoto classic!
Love letter from Canada If by chance, we were together How much fun we would have on this trip Love letter from Canada
Hashimoto and Hirao would work together again soon after and this time, it would be for the theme song of one of the most famous anime series ever created, "Ginga Tetsudo 999"（銀河鉄道999）as sung mightily by Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）.
The train comes out of the darkness into the sea of light It's the endless universe where dreams scatter Let's cross the bridge of stars People will always search for happiness As if they were voyagers
My last entry here involves Hashimoto's dalliance with City Pop, and I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole he went but he and Tsutsumi worked together here as well to make Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美)"Street Dancer" in 1980.
As I keep my sunglasses on I gaze at the flow of time Weekend The neon at noon, the glittering streets Stuffing my face with a hamburger Seeking the sprit of youth Together
Of course, this article isn't anywhere near as comprehensive as I would like it to be. However, I did want to pay homage to the man in some fashion and hopefully some of you can take a look at the other articles of songs that Hashimoto wrote over his decades in the music business. My condolences to his family, friends, fans and many fellow songwriters in the industry.
One song by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）within her long and varied discography that has always stuck with me all these years is her "Kuro no Clair" (Black Clair) which begins her 1982 album"Cliche". It's that lush Fashion Music creation sent up to the max as if the genre had been forced to watch every televised or cinematic version of "Wuthering Heights" or read some of the Gothic plots in a Harlequin romance.
Over the decades since the introduction of "Kuro no Clair" in the early 1980s, the song has been covered by at least ten artists including Kirinji（キリンジ）and Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）. Another one is Ritsuko Kazami（風見律子）who included her more contemporized version of the song within her 1986 album"Aventurier"（アヴァンチュリエ）. It's more like enjoying that glass of wine in a Parisian bar of that decade rather than savoring one in a castle a couple of hundred years prior.
Then we have singer and actress Mayumi Hara's（原真祐美）take on "Kuro no Clair" from her second album"Vert Clair"（ベール・クレール）from February 1984. It starts with a melody that could be a remnant from the previous track or just a whimsical little interlude that fades out 40 seconds later before the familiar strings of "Kuro no Clair" elide in. The way that Ohnuki had woven one of her masterpieces, it would be very difficult to excise the Fashion Music essence, and I think Hara's cover is somewhere between Ohnuki's original and Kazami's more contemporary version. I can get that seaside castle-under-an-overcast-sky vibe from this one.
I heard a rather interesting piece of news last Friday via NHK. Today, June 1st (and indeed, welcome to June 2026!), is the 900th anniversary of the founding of Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. 1126...what a year! Chiba Station right in the heart of Chiba City was a regular stop for me on Monday afternoons since I had a regular class at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; I was picked up by the regular company bus at one corner and spent a 20-minute ride to the factories in the suburbs.
I didn't explore too much of the city outside of the immediate station area, but I do recall having a couple of dinners there and having a quick bite to eat at the station hamburger shop (and no, it wasn't a McDonalds) along with buying a few CDs at the music shop...also in the station. Of course, the monorail was always zipping by above me.
Anyways, in commemoration of Chiba's 900th birthday, I'm bringing in some "city" songs: songs that have the word "city" or "tokai" in them. I would have included Anri's（杏里）"Surf City" here but it had already gotten a shoutout in last week's "HANDS Down!" article. So, without further ado:
