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| By snoopyw via Wikimedia Commons |
We're on the last day of August 2026 and although we're still about three weeks away from official autumn, August 31st still feels as if the summer is coming to an end. Today for example, my hometown is rather overcast and rainy although the humidity is still there but the general atmosphere (no pun intended) is one of a season reaching its finale.
Perhaps it's the appropriate time and place then to post this instrumental by Osakan pianist Yukie Nishimura（西村由紀江）. "Natsu no Owari ni" (At the End of Summer) is a pleasant and calming track from her May 1986 debut album "Angelique". With the addition of that fizzy synthesizer in the middle, I'd been wondering about calling this a technopop tune as well, but I decided to stick with the pop label. Just the thing to accompany a brunch-cooking session.
I've known about Nishimura for quite a long time and it was because later in her career, she also came up with the soundtrack for the 1991 Fuji-TV drama "Hyakuikkaime no Propose"（101回目のプロポーズ....The 101st Proposal). I may have to take a look at that soundtrack sometime in the near future. Anyways, see you in September!
The 101st Proposal, one of the big representatives of the "trendy drama" boom of the early-to-mid 90's in Japan. Did you watch the show at the time?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I actually did watch the first few episodes of "The 101st Proposal" in 1991 but that was also the time that my time on the JET Programme ended so I left Japan midway through the series. I had to watch the ending a few years later via videotape. I couldn't believe that Atsuko Asano would accept a nut as a wedding ring. 😁
DeleteThis is great... it does have a bit of a technopop vibe that makes it sound like something from, say, a Haruomi Hosono soundtrack record. I've not heard this album yet but I do like the followup, "Lyrisme" which has a similar feel to this.
ReplyDeleteI ended up getting a couple of albums by her: the soundtrack itself to "101st Proposal" and "Moon" (1992). Gonna have to dig those out again.
DeleteA great post about two living legends, Atsuko Asano and Yukie Nishimura! Out of the two, Atsuko Asano is probably the more famous.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at one point, the Double Asano were pretty much at the top of the trendy drama heap.
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