For me, the entertainment district of Roppongi in Tokyo consists of the still-somewhat grimy and original Roppongi Avenue and the two modern complexes of Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. It's quite the neighbourhood but I never saw it as an island unto itself.
Well, Pearl Kyodai（パール兄弟...The Pearl Brothers） apparently did...at least enough to create a song that was the title track to the band's June 1990 5th album, "Roppongi Tou" (Roppongi Island). I first wrote about Pearl Kyodai back in 2017 when Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and his group came up with the New Wave-y "Sugar Sugar Tengoku"（シュガシュガ天国 ）for their 4th album "TOYVOX" in 1989.
Music genre-wise, Roppongi has in the past evoked Mood Kayo and jazz. With "Roppongi Tou", a breezy description of life on the island, it's actually showing some refreshing tropical jazz. I don't really see Roppongi at night here (as I would usually do); instead, it's bright daylight in Roppongi (despite the repeated mentions of "midnight") with some different attractions, thanks to the fervent Latin jazz rhythms and the crystalline synths. Saeki provided the lyrics while fellow Pearl Brother Haruo Kubota（窪田晴男）took care of the music.
The neighborhood even had it's own late-night show back in the 80's called "Midnight in Roppongi(ミッドナイトin六本木)" that aired from 1984-1985. It got cancelled when the then-government wanted to crack down on how explicit the late-night programs were getting.
ReplyDeleteI think the TV Asahi program "Tonight" probably didn't get the memo then. I remember as a resident between the 1990s and 2010s that the show could still get a bit raunchy at times.
DeleteI guess Odaiba could kind of be classified as an island unto itself. But, Roppongi is one of those iconic areas of Tokyo. Tropical jazz seems like a good description for the genre of this song.
ReplyDeleteQuite the man-made island, too. Roppongi does indeed stand out. I never went there but I heard that the Gas Panic in Roppongi was quite notorious as a pick-up place for Marines.
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