Shinnosuke "Peter" Ikehata -- Yoru to Asa no Aida ni（夜と朝のあいだに）

 

During my years in Japan, I got to know most of the comedians and TV personalities who became familiar presences on the tube. They can be those who have that year of fame due to some particular quirk or turn-of-phrase before largely disappearing from show business or they can be ones who seem to be part of a permanent televised tapestry. Shinnosuke "Peter" Ikehata（池畑慎之介）is one that belongs to the latter category 

The real name is something that I've only known about since I got back to Canada over a decade ago; back when I was still living in Ichikawa, I only knew them as Peter（ピーター）because that's how they were introduced each time. I only found out recently via the J-Wiki article on the entertainer that Ikehata got that nickname while they were working at a go-go dance club in Roppongi as a teenager. Their gender-ambiguous beauty had them compared to Peter Pan, and Ikehata adopted the first name as a stage name. However, I also found out that they repealed the name in 2019 and now usually goes by either their real name or Pii（ピー）. 

My impression of Ikehata has basically been just through their appearances on television where they have always come across as so elegant and vivacious that I had wondered whether they had actually attended the Takarazuka Academy. To me, Ikehata strikes me as that wealthy good buddy who just loves to regale everybody with stories and shower them with presents. A fine friend, indeed.

As for their acting career, I gather that Ikehata was up for pretty much anything. They not only appeared on Akira Kurosawa's（黒澤明）"Ran"（乱）in 1985 but in 1986, they also portrayed the host and drag queen physician/torturer in the fourth entry of the notorious "Guinea Pig" series. Yes, that "Guinea Pig" series of absolute stomach-turning horror from the early 1980s that had Charlie Sheen call the FBI after seeing one of the grueling earlier entries. Evidently, the fourth entry, "Devil Woman Doctor", could be compared to "Jason X" in the "Friday the 13th" franchise in that both movies were approaching self-parodic comedy. I'm squeamish about horror but even the excerpt above from "Devil Woman Doctor" had me going just "Oh...OK, well then...".

Now, as for their singing career, I probably have heard Ikehata singing on television but those appearances were too far and few between for me to remember. But I was able to track down their debut single from October 1969 titled "Yoru to Asa no Aida ni" (Between The Night and The Morning). I figured from listening to them speak, they would have a great smoky voice for singing and indeed they do. With lyrics by the great Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）, the song was composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）and arranged by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）as something classy and jazzy that reminds me of Henry Mancini's works. It just seems to be the right song for Ikehata to begin their career with.

A couple of tidbits of trivia were gleaned from the article for "Yoru to Asa no Aida ni". One was that their catchphrase at the time of their debut was "The boy brought from the moon by Apollo". No pressure there. The second was that at the 1969 Japan Record Awards, Ikehata won Best New Artist for the song.