Tokyo Cheapo on YouTube has presented the wonders of Odaiba (Rainbow Town) on Tokyo Bay. I've been to the area many times while I was living in Japan and it's chock-filled with stores, restaurants and places to see. But what makes things rather sobering is what is written on every signboard talking about Odaiba in Odaiba: if there's a huge Shindo 7 earthquake, the ground will tend to liquefy because the area is built on reclaimed land and garbage. Enjoy your visit!
It does make me wonder what that area by Tokyo Bay looked like back at the turn of the decade going from the 1970s to the 1980s. Was it basically like Toronto by Lake Ontario at around the same time when there was nothing but industrial factories and millions of dead fish floating on the water? Well, many years later, the waterfront of my hometown became the tourist spot of Harbourfront and obviously Odaiba popped up for Tokyo also as this very attractive place to live and visit.
At that turn of the decade, singer-songwriter Yuko Shibuya（渋谷祐子）released her 1980 album "Made in Japan", an LP that I've referred to a few times already including for one track "5AM wa Violet Pink de"（5AMはバイオレット・ピンクで）. I also have this track from "Made in Japan" titled "Sail Away" which is this welcoming City Pop song with flying disco strings as Shibuya invites listeners to take off on a pleasant tropical cruise with her. As the strings do a whirlwind effect at the end, there's even a trombone solo to bring some of that old-fashioned romance into the proceedings. Shibuya provided the melody while Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）was the lyricist.
Thanks J-Canuck! "Made in Japan" is an album that is very much worth exploring. Musically, I’d put it in the “pre-boom city pop” category: less glossy and electronic than mid-’80s city pop, more indebted to live studio musicians, strings, disco-era arranging, and AOR. It reminds me of Junko Ohashi, Minako Yoshida, Yumi Matsutoya’s late-’70s work, or the mellower side of Hiromi Iwasaki. One little question in the past I think I have seen her Yuuko's name written this way 渋谷祐子 but in the post I see 渋谷裕子. I am wondering if this was a typo or if Yuuko, like a lot of other artists, uses a different name or different kanji sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. I have to sheepishly admit that I got the Yuko kanji mixed up and have corrected it above. I'd been wondering why I couldn't find the right J-Wiki page for the singer when I was writing this up.
DeleteYeah, I would say that "Sail Away" is less glossy so perhaps more in the 70s City Pop vein of things. The disco strings kinda help reinforce that feeling.