Jun Matsue -- JAL Narita Hatsu（JAL成田発）

By PSNyan via Wikimedia Commons

Narita Airport out in Chiba Prefecture was the air hub that I mostly used during my adventures in Japan between 1981 and 2011 before Haneda Airport in Tokyo itself got its second wind and became my new arrival/departure terminal when I was visiting Japan in the 2010s. Haneda may have become the new shiny place but I will still cherish ol' Narita for that kaiten sushi restaurant and the massage chairs in the lounge.

So, coming across Spoozys leader and singer-songwriter Jun Matsue's（松江潤）"JAL Narita Hatsu" (JAL Departure from Narita), I felt all sorts of nostalgia. Written and composed by the singer, it's not just my old memories of using the actual airport that's fueling my nostalgia but the fact that for a song that belongs in his April 2005 album "GO GETTER", it sounds awfully like old-school City Pop with that certain groove and horns that could belong in a Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）tune from the 70s or 80s. In fact, I had to make sure that the song was indeed from the mid-2000s rather than from an earlier decade. 

My trip to Sapporo would have been perfect for this song. However, as it turns out, I departed Tokyo for Hokkaido from Haneda Airport and it was an ANA flight, not JAL.