punipunidenki x Kan Sano x Shin Sakiura -- Gakugeidai-mae（学芸大前）

 

In the late 2000s, I was teaching a couple of students privately in the western end of Tokyo so I took the Toyoko Line to the tony Den'en-Chofu district, and each time I headed out there, the train passed through Gakugei Daigaku Station which had been built about a century ago right by Tokyo Gakugei University. The university itself though was uprooted and moved off a fair bit away in 1964 so that the station isn't anywhere near the campus anymore but the name of the station remained...maybe just to confuse newbies. While researching about the song here, I learned that the area around the station has become one of the trendier neighbourhoods west of Shibuya along the lines of Jiyugaoka and Shimo-Kitazawa. I never got to stop off at Gakugei Daigaku Station but we can all travel there vicariously through the video above.

And speaking about that song, I'm talking about "Gakugeidai-mae" (In Front of Gakugei Daigaku Station), a collaboration among those Neo-City Pop hipsters punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）, Kan Sano and guitarist/music producer Shin Sakiura. Released a few months ago, I'm now pretty confident that the title is referring to the Toyoko Line station rather than the actual university itself. From what I've read of the explanation underneath the music video at YouTube, it all revolves around the lyric "I wanna meet you, darling, at Gakugeidai at 9 tonight" and has other enticing phrases such as "the lights of a small bar," "that song from the 80s," and "magical clichés". Melodically, there are some nostalgic chord progressions that personally take me back a bit to the original City Pop days. Meanwhile, punipunidenki and Sano trade vocals in a give-and-take between the one who is courting and the one who is being courted (and who's playing somewhat hard-to-get).

To finish off, here's a video on the actual Tokyo Gakugei University, just so that it doesn't feel left out. As well, there is a 2024 KKP article focusing on punipunidenki and Kan Sano and an earlier collaboration.