I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Within our television viewing habits as kids, one of the genres we watched was nature programming. "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was must-see TV and every episode, we got to see Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler and Stan Brock observe and occasionally wrestle the heck out of the bigger beasts. In fact, it was the running gag on the late-night talk shows that Jim would be getting mauled by a lion while Marlin was narrating the adventure while sipping on a martini.
Somehow, I get the feeling that Japanese TV coverage of animals has been far more docile. In fact, between 1983 and 1992, TBS had run a popular show titled "Waku Waku Doubutsu Land"（わくわく動物ランド...Exciting Animal Land） which combined a couple of TV show genres: the nature show and the quiz show.
As for the ending theme, it's natural that the producers would have wanted an adorable voice singing it, and what more adorable voice was there at the time than the one belonging to actress/singer Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）? So, she was tasked to record the cute march "Sukoshi Dake Yasashiku" (Just A Little Bit Nicer) as the co-A-side to the cool "Tantei Monogatari"(探偵物語）from May 1983. Created by the same triumvirate, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, this is a song so nice and kid-friendly that the animals themselves were probably prancing happily all over the field while listening to it.
Although I have visited Wakayama Prefecture which is the home of my ancestors, I have yet to visit its World Heritage Sites including roads and shrines associated with the Kumano Kodo（熊野古道）series of pilgrimage routes that are located in Wakayama, Mie and Nara Prefectures.
Enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）is another star from Wakayama Prefecture, and as her September 2018 single, she released "Kumanoji e"(To the Kumano Road). Written and composed by fellow enka singer Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）as the arranger, "Kumanoji e" launches with an epic intro that doesn't really sound like one for a conventional enka song. It sounds more like something for a pop/rock tune although it quickly settles down into an introspective set of verses before the dramatic chorus chimes in. Still, the instrumental bridge is just as epic as the intro and there's even some added oomph at the end of that bridge with what sounds like a thrumming synthesizer. Yoshi and Wakakusa really wanted to fortify this one. "Kumanoji e" reached No. 54 on Oricon.
Yoshi provided his own slightly quieter cover of the song in the same year.
Man, I hope he was able to steer that boat safely. Yes, I am talking about singer-songwriter Hiroaki Igarashi（五十嵐浩晃）. I have no doubts about his day job but I'm not sure how he did with the craft there.
But all that could have been just for the cameras when Igarashi and the powers-that-be were taking shots for the cover of his August 1981 3rd album "Sailing Dream". I'm assuming that the release was all about the City Pop and AOR. For example, one track "Hatsukoi no Machi" (The Town of My First Love) seems to be doing a split between jaunty pop and AOR. Written by Tetsuya Chiaki（ちあき哲也）and composed by the singer himself, it's quite the happy-go-lucky musical accompaniment of a man returning to his hometown after a while away (which apparently includes a synthesized version of an ocarina...maybe?) to see old buddies, and maybe that first girlfriend. He's being pretty coy about his intentions and putting on the strong front that he has no desperate need to see her but if this were a Japanese rom-com, I just know that he'll strain himself into all sorts of predicaments to see his old flame...without looking like he's trying to see his old flame. The song has that feeling.
I’m currently writing a story set in Shōwa-era Japan, to get into the proper headspace, I’ve been immersing myself in everything Shōwa. Television shows, radio programs, movies, news—you name it. Most of my weekends now consist of watching reruns of Tantei Monogatari (Detective Story), reading about the Narita Airport protests, and eventually falling asleep to old broadcasts of All Night Nippon.
Naturally, all this research has also introduced me to plenty of new music.
One of my favorite feelings is discovering a new summer band to rock out to. This time, it’s J-WALK, the rock band fronted by Koichi Nakamura (中村耕一). J-Canuck previously wrote about their hit song “Nanimo Ienakute... Natsu” (何も言えなくて…夏), and it’s easy to understand why the song became so popular. I can already see it joining my summer playlist alongside TUBE, Omega Tribe, and, of course, Southern All Stars.
After hearing it, I decided to check out J-WALK’s self-titled debut album. I enjoyed the record overall. Nothing immediately blew me away, but it was consistently good from beginning to end. My favorite track was definitely the opening song, simply titled “JOE.”
“JOE” is the kind of piano-led rock ’n’ roll throwback that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Elton John album. It's about what you'd expect from a tune of this era polished ’80s sound that proudly wears its Western influences on its sleeve.
I have no idea who Joe is, but judging by the song, he sounds like a leather-jacketed greaser who rides a Harley-Davidson and thinks Saturday night’s all right for fighting.
I should also mention how much I enjoy Nakamura’s gritty vocals. Like George Yanagi(柳ジョージ), he has a natural raspiness that gives the song an extra layer of bluesy swagger. A perfect match for the song’s rough-and-ready protagonist.
If you happen to spot J-WALK’s eponymous debut album sitting in the bargain bin at your nearest record shop, definitely grab it.
I'm coming at this from an unusual angle, and at the very least, you can watch an entire episode of "Space:1999", to boot. I remember "The Last Sunset" as the one where Moonbase Alpha and its residents actually enjoy a brief respite of terraformed paradise thanks to some seemingly benevolent aliens. However, thanks to some hallucinogenic food sources, one of the more dependable crewmen goes a little bonkers. One of the lines that still come to mind is when Paul Morrow ravenously spits out "...land of milk and honey".
Yup, that's a reference to the Bible and yep, I take it as paradise. Honey is good, by the way, and from what I've read and heard, it might be getting rarer and more expensive to get from the hives due to declining bee populations, unfortunately. I don't have honey a whole lot but I do remember making one delicious drink called Honey Hot Chocolate. Give it a shot.
It's been a couple of years since I've posted anything by the duo Milk Talk so I'm happy to hear that they've got a new 2026 single out called "Milk and Honey". Written and composed by the band, it's some intoxicating spacy funk in both melody and lyrics. Honey is quite the ingredient but the way Hair Kid and Q.i. put their sexy ways onto it instrumentally and vocally respectively, it can also be very dangerous and seductive.
Back in late July, I posted an article regarding the late Yuji Ohno's（大野雄二）"Wavelet"（ウエイブリット）, which was the B-side to "Inubue no Tehma"(The Theme for "Inubue"). "Inubue" (Dog Whistle) was the 1978 TV adaptation of a suspense novel by Jugou Nishimura（西村寿行）about a man and his faithful dog who track down the kidnappers who grabbed his kid. Considering that most of the show took place in the woods, I was surprised that something so jazzy and City Poppy could be applied to something like this.
I did mention in that article that I would have a posting about the A-side in August. Well once again, I broke that promise which means you folks shouldn't trust what I write in terms of dates and I will never make such guarantees again. So, I ought to say something rather generic like "soon".
Anyways, "Inubue no Tehma" is another classy and refined instrumental by Ohno but I think there's also that hint of suspense in the arrangement as well (although there is also a hopeful-sounding "middle eight" section). Hearing it a few times now and perhaps adding a sharp horn section, this could have made for a fine opening for those Quinn Martin detective shows in the States back in the 1970s.
With my previous article being "Night Drive" for all those City Pop fans who want to take it out on the road in the evening, I guess this article can be about the nocturnal jazz while enjoying time at some intimate alley bar downtown. And it's from a source that I hadn't expected.
All this time, the Mayumi Asaka（朝加真由美）file on KKP was one that really consisted of tracks from one album; namely "Yasashii Kankei ~ Mayumi I"（優しい関係...A Gentle Relationship） from October 1981. It was indeed a City Pop release and Asaka was good for it. And J-Wiki only lists that album as her only album output in her discography. Well, strangely enough, the discography was lacking by at least one more album. In 1984, Asaka released her purely jazz album titled "Loving For...". Right from the start, we get "My Heart Belongs To You" with the singer and band providing a smoky version which deserves its own tumbler of scotch. Finally glad to add a totally new angle to the Asaka file.
Welcome to another Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I'm starting things a little differently today with an Author's Picks. I was inspired to do this one this way from actually viewing a segment on Wednesday's edition of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning infotainment program which focused on the Kawasaki Industrial Site.
I not only remember seeing this glittering otherworldly complex of lights and metal but for one night, I was actually within it! That night, due to a teacher falling ill, I was assigned to teach a lesson for a couple of the employees working within the complex and yep, it was pretty stunning especially when seeing it from the train. Entering the area felt like boarding the mother ship.
The Japanese tourism industry certainly didn't let the opportunity go. There are now tours on foot, bus and boat to take a look at the Kawasaki Industrial Site through selected spots. If you're interested, you can take a look at the relevant page at Japan Experience. Also, the above video is by YouTuber Hachimantai Outdoors.
The reason that I wanted to do this "Night Drive" is because seeing the Kawasaki Industrial Site from the air had me thinking of Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）lovely ballad "Oh Yeah!". The official music video for Oda's 1991 song had couples enjoying each other's company but there were a couple of scenes in there showing some glorious eagle-view night shots of Tokyo which stayed with me.
Now, to be honest, this Author's Picks isn't something unprecedented. I've already noted "Oh Yeah!" in a 2014 article "J-Canuck's Nighttime Playlist". Plus in 2022, I whipped up "Driving to City Pop" with its cool songs. So, consider "Night Drive" to be the love child of the two articles and I will be choosing different tunes that still reflect in my opinion, the nighttime drive experience in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, etc. (although of course, you may have your own choices). Furthermore, another inspiration for this one is the old "Night Ride"1980s late-night Toronto show that appeared almost every night in the wee hours on Global Television to relax those night owls.
There are times when music critics and regular listeners totally agree on how good one particular song is. Of course, there are many more times when views and opinions clash between them and even among the two groups. And then there are songs that seem to have critics coming out with their knives unsheathed almost immediately as if they were Starfleet reacting to a sudden Borg incursion.
Regular listeners end up looking rather bemused and stunned wondering what is up with all the hate. But apparently that was the case with "We Built This City" by Starship (and I'll have to take care of that as a ROY pretty soon...I actually like the song) and I have found out that it was also true with this week's subject of Reminiscings of Youth.
I am talking about "I Only Want to Be with You" which I had first thought was a one-and-only by Nicolette Larson released in July 1982. I used to hear this enjoyable rock-and-pop tune by the late Larson on radio all the time and though I didn't ravenously pursue the single, I always enjoyed hearing it on AM. Considering her other songs that have been highlighted on KKP, her take on "I Only Want to Be with You" was her having fun in a Linda Ronstadt way. And yet, reading the critique on Wikipedia, she was pretty much kicked into the end zone by a frustrated football player. And Larson wasn't the only one.
Several weeks ago, when I decided that I would feature "I Only Want to Be with You" under ROY, I discovered that the original version had been recorded by none other than Dusty Springfield back in 1963. Created by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde, I actually like the old arrangement here with all of the hip-swinging it must have induced. Even for the original, a critic years later gave one of the all-time great backhanded compliments by referring to "I Only Want to Be with You" as a piece of lint but an entertaining enough piece of lint. Well, the lint reached No. 4 in the UK.
More than a decade later, the Bay City Rollers gave their own take on "I Only Want to Be with You" which was recorded right here in Toronto. Released in August 1976, this cover featured some powered-up strings. I couldn't find any punches hitting this one so maybe the band escaped. It did hit No. 3 in Canada and No. 12 in the United States.
Another big surprise landed on me on finding out that a 1979 take on the song had been recorded by the New Wave and rock band The Tourists. The Tourists included a couple of members, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart who would later front the far more successful Eurythmics. Again, I've liked the basics about "I Only Want to Be with You" so I'm also a fan of this one especially with Lennox's vocals but once again, the knives were out (along with paint and tomatoes)...making the cover for the single look rather appropriate. Poor Annie looks shellshocked.
From Wikipedia
The second version that I'd ever heard of the song after Larson's cover was Samantha Fox's single from January 1989. I'd known about Fox through earlier songs and I'd heard that she was showing up in a lot of topless shots in UK newspapers. This form of the song was unsurprisingly 80s dance-pop. It reached No. 31 in the States while in Canada, it peaked at No. 29.
Wikipedia also mentions that many other covers in various languages including Japanese have been created...which goes to show that no matter the bricks and arrows aimed at a song, if it's catchy enough, it will remain deathless. Personally, I will always prefer Larson's version. And let us go with Larson's version when it comes to what was being released as singles in Japan in July 1982.
It happened now and then that an ingenue entered the revolving doors to the 80s aidoruindustry and proceeded to pull off a one-and-done before disappearing back into normal Japanese society. And the way that the description by YouTuber nothingmuch') puts it, Chie Saijo（西城千恵）was one of those young ladies.
The channel also mentions the following: "...she would be one of the last idols (and well, artists in general) that debuted under Yupiteru - as their record department would eventually go bankrupt by the end of the year with this ending up as her only release...however, there is a report under the name Chie Takahashi (as the remark about her is about her debut in July under the same label - it's most likely her real name, but I'm unsure) that she was born on April 21, 1962."
You can read nothingmuch's whole report from this link, but basically the above is most of the information gleaned about the lass. The one single, "Omoide Tazunebito" (In Search of Memories), was released in July 1984, and as written and composed by singer-songwriter Kyoko Kosaka（小坂恭子）, who has her own entries on KKP such as her 1975 "Omoide Makura"（想い出まくら）, this is quite the refined creation for an aidoru with a stately string-led melody that makes me imagine a nightclub in Akasaka rather than a cute cafe near the high school. I could even consider it a form of New Adult Music.
Getting over Hump Day, we're now on the descending side of the hill toward the welcoming arms of the weekend. Perhaps it's time for something encouraging. And so, we have Osaka rock n' roller singer-songwriter Hirosuke Fumita（文田博資）, aka Hirosuke（ヒロスケ）, to provide us with his March 1980 debut single"Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare"(Many Stars Shoot Across the Sky).
Thus far, I've only had a couple of Hirosuke's songs up on KKP and both of them were also introduced in 1980 but with a City Pop slant. His debut though was more of a bluesy rock number that was written and composed by him. A song about he and his buddies getting through the ups and downs of life, Hirosuke is glad that they've all come this far but there's more to get although the feeling is that they can do it. It sounds like the type of song that would be great as a final singalong entry at one of his concerts.
The arranger for the original was Osamu Ishida（石田長生）. Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was the arranger for Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）cover of "Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare" which was released as Saijo's 69th single in November 1993. Although the bluesy touch is still intact, the song has been given more of a contemporary power pop ballad treatment.
"Uta Con"（うたコン）this week started off with a big tribute to the iconic aidoru duo Pink Lady（ピンクレディー） from the 1970s with one-half of the duo, Mitsuyo Nemoto（根本美鶴代）aka Mii（未唯mie）, appearing on stage to perform some of the old hits such as UFO. In place of her partner Keiko "Kei" Masuda（増田啓子）, some of the other guests stepped in to help out with the singing and dancing. The reason for all of the hubbub is that August 25th signified the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Lady's debut single"Pepper Keibu" (ペッパー・警部) back in 1976.
Now I'd thought that I could do the B-side of "Pepper Keibu" in tribute but alas, I already did "Kanpai! Ojou-san"（乾杯!お嬢さん） last year. So I'm now going with the B-side of Pink Lady's 2nd single"S.O.S." which was released in November 1976. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed/arranged by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, the duo's go-to songwriters for quite a while, the short-but-sweetly sung "Pink no Ringo"(Pink Apple) sounds like quite the B-side since there is no hint of the disco or the feeling of dynamic limb moves that are part and parcel of a Pink Lady performance. Instead, it's a happy-go-lucky conventional aidoru song about a pink apple being the magical love charm. In real life, I would stay far away from a pink apple.
For some interesting reason, I came across a number of songs whose titles amount to "glass windows" in Japanese music including one by the mixture rock band King Gnu. Unless the music industry has a major Windex fetish, I gather that the window has been thematically used as a source of reflection or introspection after a certain unhappy situation.
But for this one, I have Hiroko Mita's（三田寛子）B-side to her January 1984 7th single"Haru no Bouken"（春の冒険...Spring Adventure） to start off this Hump Day. Indeed, this is titled "Glass Mado" (Glass Window), and it's quite the stylish aidoru tune by Mita with a splash of tango. And as noted above, the young lady in question here is looking at the titular window with a sense of sadness after an implied romantic breakup; she can see the reflection of herself as a happy lass yesterday but things cloud over considerably when it comes to tomorrow. Yes, definitely get the Windex!
"Glass Mado" was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）. I don't hear too much Latin from Hayashi usually so also for that reason, this song stands out for me.
I've been seeing vivacious enka singer Eiko Segawa（瀬川瑛子）from time to time on the kayo shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. It's been hard to believe that she's actually 79 now and that next year will be her 60th anniversary in show business.
The last time I saw the Tokyo native on stage, it was to sing one of her hits "Waraijiwa" (Laugh Lines) which was originally released as her 61st single in September 1995. It's been classified as a straight enka tune but its arrangement incorporates some of that Latin to such an extent that personally I can also treat it as a New Adult Music number....kinda along the same lines of a Matt Bianco song but without the synthesizers.
The songwriters for "Waraijiwa" were husband-and-wife composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）as they came up with a song for Segawa regarding a woman's lifetime filled with its share of roses and thorns. As quite a few KKP viewers would know by now, Uzaki and Aki were the main duo behind many of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）hit songs in the late 1970s including "Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）. I couldn't find out how "Waraijiwa" did on Oricon but Segawa was invited onto the 1996 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to sing it.
For those people like myself who's known singer Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）for her biggest hit "Kassai"（喝采）from 1972, this song by her might be a tad different. I heard it performed on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）.
"Yoru e Isogu Hito"(A Woman Running into the Night) was Chiaki's 26th single released in September 1977, and it was one of a number of songs for her around that time which had the singer requesting works by New Music singer-songwriters such as Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）and Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）to record. For "Yoru e Isogu Hito", folk singer-songwriter Kazuki Tomokawa（友川カズキ）was the one behind words and music here.
The whole thing about this song from my vantage point is that it's about all of the potentially sordid goings-on within an inner city neighbourhood somewhere in the metropolis whether that would be an area like Kabukicho in Tokyo. The titular woman escaping somewhere among the laneways and alleys is the central figure surrounded by a person who stops her by grabbing her by the shoulder, people who are ignoring the scene and passing by and other folks who are staring and laughing at the plight of the lady. Not exactly Mr. Rogers' neighbourhood we are talking about.
"Yoru e Isogu Hito" is also interesting in its arrangement by Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）. It may have been created by a New Music fellow but it still sounds like a kayo kyoku with elements of rock and funk. For that matter, it also sounds custom-fit for Chiaki, albeit a Chiaki who's gotten a little wilder and devilish. In fact, when the singer performed the song on the 1977 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, she put in quite a lot of theatricality in her performance including some throaty screams at the end, all to emphasize the lyrical theme of a woman in a frenzy. I'd probably say that there was even something of the horror movie in this one. Apparently, the captain of the White (Male) team right after Chiaki's performance admitted that he was somewhat freaked out by what he had just witnessed...saying that was quite the gross-out song.
I see that those marathons are still taking place at the Metro Zoo in Toronto. Over forty years ago, I actually ran a couple of those in successive years as a high school student. Yes, it's hard to believe, but I, J-Canuck, did something healthy by training and then running what was actually half-marathons. Those were still enough to nearly kill me.
Jogging was starting to become a thing sometime in the mid to late 1970s as I recall, and I guess that may have also been true in Japan according to this song by Yuko Kawamura（川村ゆうこ）. Compared to her cool and refreshing debut single"Kaze ni Naritai"（風になりたい）from April 1976, her second single "Kodoku na Runner"(Lonely Runner) which was released later in September is a bit more jaunty as if the song itself were on its own jog in the countryside. In terms of tempo, I'd probably put it above a languid folk tune but not quite at the same level as an upbeat aidoru song. Kawamura is a songwriter but this time, "Kodoku na Runner" was handled by lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Her first two singles were placed onto her debut album, released in November, "Konna ni Sora ga Aokute wa"（こんなに空が青くては...For the Sky to Be This Blue）.
Considering that I've become a lapsed Trekkie in recent years, I completely forgot that tomorrow will be 60 years to the day since the very first "Star Trek" episode was televised on NBC.
It was the episode "Man Trap" that started the whole ball rolling on September 8th 1966...in America. But the crazy thing I found out very recently was that Canada had actually cut to the chase by broadcasting "Man Trap" two days earlier on September 6th on CTV at 7:30 pm. That's a little early in the evening to be showing a man-killing salt vampire but hey, maybe Gene Roddenberry was feeling a bit daring.
It is a holiday Monday so it is time for a special Reminiscings of Youth but several years previously, I already posted an article on Alexander Courage'soriginal theme for "Star Trek" so I was kinda knocking my head about what I could do to pay further tribute to the series. And then, an idea struck me.💡
On September 15th 1967, the second season began with "Amok Time", the episode where we first got a taste of Mr. Spock's culture including the ultimate example of Vulcan randiness, pon farr. It all climaxes (sorry, pun intended...haha) with a battle to the death between Spock and Captain Kirk. I always love a good battle with a lirpa and an ahn-woon.
Also, accompanying the fight was composer Gerald Fried's music that may rival Courage's theme as the most recognized piece of music from "Star Trek" even for non-Trekkies. Titled officially as "The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah", I'd just like to call it the "Star Trek" fight music. It kinda has that atmosphere of gladiator games and no-holds-barred hand-to-hand combat with the dissonant horns and rapid-fire percussion. No wonder it was used for a lot of other fight scenes in the show since.
I gained quite the smile when I heard the fight music being used again on one episode of the current series "Strange New Worlds" a few seasons ago.
Gerald Fried (February 13, 1928 – February 17, 2023) was a composer and conductor who created scores for many TV shows and movies from the 1950s to the 2010s, and I read on his Wikipedia file, he provided music for the original "Mission: Impossible" TV series, "Gilligan's Island", "My Three Sons", etc. So, basically I had plenty of Fried (aural) food even before I was five years old. Anyways, LLAP!
Happy Labour Day! This is the day in tribute to the working class in North America. Of course, being the master of the ham-fisted segue, I can say that after a hard day's work, folks can use a nice massage especially around the shoulders. As someone who's read a few books on the practice and used to undergo regular massage at the neighbourhood clinic in Ichikawa, I remember the masseur at both that clinic and the barber at my regular shop finishing up a session with some tapotement on my shoulders and back. They would just tap away while sounding like some slow maracas.
I've got just the song for you then. Weirdly enough, I heard about this one during last night's episode of "Asaichi"（あさイチ）which had the theme of ground sesame seeds. According to one expert on the topic, the ideal length of time to pound those seeds is to go five verses of this song before saying "thank you" in Japanese and a few more words.
The song is called "Kata Tataki"(Shoulder Tapping) and it is a children's song that was selected by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Parents-Teachers Association of Japan in 2006 to be a part of The Collection of 100 Japanese Songs（日本の歌百選）consisting of beloved songs and nursery rhymes. It was actually created in 1923 by famed lyricist Yaso Saijo（西條八十）and composer Shinpei Nakayama（中山晋平）as a song celebrating Mom's hard work and the children recognizing this by offering a shoulder massage. Not sure if Mommy appreciates being told that she's grown a gray hair, though.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the coolest video games of all time.
This is not up for debate.
I'm sure some of you will call me biased because Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis—or Mega Drive, if you measure things in kilometers—was the first video game I ever played.
However, you're just wrong.
Listen, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had everything a good game should have: great graphics, exciting levels, an excuse to bully your little brother by making him play as Tails, plus it makes great Julian Fries. most importantly, it has great music.
Sonic is notoriously famous for its fantastic soundtracks, but Sonic 2 easily ranks among my top ten video game soundtracks of all time.
From the exciting, disco energy of "Emerald Hill Zone," to the jazzy swagger of "Casino Night Zone," to the strange & cryptic funk of "Mystic Cave Zone," the soundtrack delivers on all fronts.
But the track that has always stuck with me the most is the song that plays right after you beat the game.
Once you defeat Dr. Eggman for the final time and skydive out of the Death Egg—from space, mind you—the sequence that follows was probably one of the most satisfying moments of my childhood.
And the whole thing is accentuated by the triumphant melody of the ending theme.
Now here's the fun part.
The composer of the first two Sonic games, Masato Nakamura (中村正人), just so happened to be a member of the enormously popular J-Pop band Dreams Come True.
And to top it all off, some of Nakamura's Sonic melodies would eventually find their way into Dreams Come True's own repertoire.
Case in point: "Sweet Sweet Sweet," featured on their 1992 album The Swinging Star.
The song is essentially the Sonic 2 ending theme transformed into a full-fledged J-Pop ballad, complete with lyrics and a much more elaborate arrangement.
And somehow, it works perfectly.
The album version almost feels like a wedding anthem, especially with all those bells ringing in the background. The melody still feels very triumphant like the game version, but with the addition to Dorikamu's signature ballad stylings and Miwa Yoshida's wonderful voice, suddenly it becomes warm, sentimental, and romantic.
Rediscovering Sweet Sweet Sweet outside the context of Sonic felt pretty satisfying. It was the perfect recreation of my childhood.
Then, in 2006...they ruined it.
2006 was not a good year for Sonic, as most fans already know. Sonic the Hedgehog for PS3 and XBOX had just release, famously just called Sonic 06, to polarized fanfare. After playing the game for myself, there are a few things that I can forgive it for...but this remix is not one of them.
Look How They Massacred My Boy
Who thought this was a good idea!? I'm not sure when this trend began, but not everything needs a hip hop remix. To top it off, they got Akon to do weird vocal fill-ins for the song. I'm not familiar with the Senegalese-American singer, outside of his philanthropic work in Africa (which I commend him for), but if this song is anything to go off of, I'll pass on his discography. I'm not kidding when I say this version is annoying to listen to. they might as well have went all out and put DJ Khaled on the track to shout "WE DA BEST MUSIC" at the top of his lungs.
I'm sure there's somebody out there that has nostalgia for this version, it's just not me. If you want to hear how it's supposed to sound, go check out Dorikamu's best album, The Swinging Star. Or even better, go play Sonic 2!
The first time I wrote about the late great jazz fusion guitarist and composerRyo Kawasaki（川崎燎）was back in 2020 when I posted an article on his "Raisins" from his 1976 album"Juice", and from listening to the song, I got the impression that he really liked the rock and funk side of fusion.
Well, a couple of years later, Kawasaki and American jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen collaborated on their own album of duets titled "Trinkets and Things". Brackeen composed all of the seven tracks except for the first track which was also the title track. Kawasaki handled this one and "Trinkets and Things" goes into a more tropical and jazzier direction which flows through the beaches and Tiki bars with much aplomb. Although it's mostly an instrumental, there are a couple of parts where a female singer provides some accomplished vocalese but for the life of me, I couldn't track down who she was.
Happy Sunday! I've gotten over my post-Sunday breakfast drowsiness and I'm back behind the computer to put up my two regular KKP articles. And I think I have something appropriate for the brunch set to start things off.
The last time I mentioned about the Curtis Creek Band was back in May when I posted the article regarding "City Morning" which was part of their 1983 album"Windy People". The thing is though that if you're thinking about getting this album for specific tracks you like, you gotta be careful here. For one thing, I noted in the May article that there were two different versions of "Windy People", identifiable by different subtitles, one being "Winning History ni Dakarete"（ウイニング・ヒストリーに抱かれて...Embraced by a Winning History） with the cover of a pretty woman looking down at the word "white", and then the other one which has a snazzily-dressed fellow on a motorcycle with its subtitle being "Shinkyo Monogatari"（心響物語...Heartbeat Story）.
Now, I've heard that there is a third version of "Windy People" with the subtitle of "Youkou to Kaze no Area"（陽光と風のエリア...Area of Sunlight and Wind）. Its cover has a more conventionally-dressed guy leaning against his own motorcycle by the side of a highway. And it is there that I found the brunch-friendly "Take Off My Jet". One would think that a song with such a title would be a more upbeat and rock-oriented tune but it's quite the opposite. It's a laidback and flute-led instrumental that could accompany the pre-takeoff procedure to put any terrified passengers at ease. But again, I think it's also good while people noshing are on their Eggs Benedict. I've categorized the band as coming under City Pop, R&B and jazz, but with "Take Off My Jet", I can place this under AOR.
I was looking through Twitter some days ago when the account for the formerly Buffalo-based rock band The Molice had posted a question which could be paraphrased this way: Do you know a music hall which has had international acts perform there? Well, I responded directly and answered: You can try the El Mocambo in Toronto. The Rolling Stones and Margaret Trudeau (wife of one Canadian prime minister and the mother of one more) were there at the same time and place in 1977. Didn't hear back from them so perhaps their question was perhaps more rhetorical than I'd thought.
Anyways, it's been a while since I've posted about The Molice so I came across this video for their song "Active Imagination" (which is also a psychological process). A track on their 2023 digital album"Pre/Post Re-SING", it's got quite the engine chugging away like one on a locomotive. In fact, it's so catchy and psychedelic that vocalist Rinko herself is doing her own choreographical boogie in both versions of the music video. All hail chromakey!
I also managed to find Rinko's poignant commentary on what has become of the band since 2020 when COVID slammed into the world. It was something that I had been curious about.
Well, just in time for the weekend, I'm feeling rather buoyant today. The inability to provide comments has been fixed, we're coming out from under the shadow of that crazy storm from Wednesday, and I've gotten my preparations done for my student.
I was browsing through kinuzure's blog "Tamaranaku, AOR Kayo"（たまらなく、AOR歌謡...Irresistible, AOR Kayo） just now when I happened upon one of his entries regarding a singer that I had never heard of before. Ayumi Amano（天野歩美）was once known as Nagisa Amano（天野なぎさ）, one-half of the aidoru duo Kilala & Ulala (キララとウララ) back in the 1980s. Both nikala and I had contributed articles to them years ago. One big bombshell from "Tamaranaku" was that Amano's partner Kanako Ohtani (大谷香奈子) had once been married to Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）!
But getting the train back on the line here, once the act split up, years passed and Amano went solo and she released her first album in January 1992, "Okurimono ga Aru no"（贈り物があるの...I've Got a Present For You）. Kinuzure has described it as an unknown City Pop release (as well as a great girl pop product of its time), but one track "Suki na Mono wa Suki"(I Love What I Love) strikes me as being more of the latter genre. Written by Yoshiko Oga（雄鹿美子）and composed by Katsuki Maeda（前田克樹）, it's a very pleasant mid-tempo number that sounds like something that the aforementioned Komuro or the late KAN would weave, and Amano herself comes across as a more high-pitched and breathy version of Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）. I'd be interested in checking out some of the tracks on the album, especially because kinuzure has highlighted some of them in his article.
Finishing off this Friday's take on Urban Contemporary songs on KKP, I've decided to go with something mellow and older...maybe the aural equivalent of good scotch. And I found this one not from the City Pop guides above as you might think, but from a YouTube City Pop compilation video.
However, I was happy to find the song all by itself in a separate video, so I will go with that. This is "Mou Ichido Kikasete"(Please Play it Again) by the late singer-songwriter Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）. Written by Shibata and composed by Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, it's got that wonderful flute, the bluesy guitar and the splendid harmonies provided by the singer and others.
It's been around three years since I've had Shibata up on the blog, so I'm glad to have found this lovely example of 70s City Pop which was recorded onto Shibata's November 1975 2nd album"Singer Lady"（シンガー・レディ）. There's also a goodly amount of soul in "Mou Ichido Kikasete" which reminds me a bit of Minnie Ripperton's music.
From what I've read, Autumn 2026 officially arrives on September 22nd, so we've got about another 18 days left to enjoy the hot season. Hopefully, a lot of that can be done over the Labour Day long weekend here in North America.
Something to have with your cocktail is singer Natsu Summer's "Pretty in Summer" which was a 2024 release. Written and composed by Ryusenkei's（流線形）Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, the song follows the singer's style of mixing Neo-City Pop and reggae for a most relaxing number. Enjoy this with a really potent rum punch. 🍹If you would like to listen to another collaboration by the two, there is always "Twilight Shadow" from 2022.
A couple of years ago, I introduced a Dutch jazz-fusion band called Fruitcake through their song "A Little Place in My Heart". Now, this is a Japanese music blog as we all have known for almost a decade and a half, but bass player Jan-Paul Driessen and guitarist Rob Taekema and the rest of his band have become so popular in Japan that perhaps talks on permanent residency probably did come up sometime over the past forty years or so.
Well, "A Little Place in My Heart" was the second track on their 1983 debut album"Fruitcake". The first track was "I Like the Way" and the way it rolls off the player, it is as one commenter put it, "This is perfect music for a television weather forecast". I would also add "...in Japan". However, I can also analogize this first track as being fine accompaniment for a shopping trip through Tokyo or a sit-down at a stylish cafe somewhere in the megalopolis. There's just something about the tripping on those keys that has me thinking Japan in the Economic Bubble...although that wouldn't start officially for another couple of years.
I used to get a kick (no pun intended) out of watching those ancient Hai Karate commercials where the "poor" wearer of the cologne has to revert to his sudden martial arts abilities to fend off Valerie Leon. The above ad is the one that I do remember seeing as a child. As an addendum, I've never bought the stuff (if it even still exists today) so I don't really know how potent it is.
Hai Karate was what I remembered when I heard this track from Tomita Lab's（富田ラボ）2003"Shipbuilding" album. "Kaori to Kage"(Scent and Shadows) was another songwriting collaboration between Tomita Lab and Kirinji（キリンジ）as a man seems to go crazy with obsession (again, no pun intended) when he picks up on the scent of a woman in an elevator. Hopefully, he didn't go too far in his pursuit, olfactory or otherwise, of the lass. Still, the song has this fun and cheerful mild funk arrangement that could span the 1970s into the 1980s. It could even fit as a theme song for a rollicking rom-com in Japan. Hey, nice little piano jazz in the middle, too.
Back in the old days, I was rather miserly when I posted KKP articles regarding albums and that was true with the original article on "Shipbuilding"although I have tried to make amends by providing articles based on specific tracks from the album in the years since such as Yuming's（ユーミン）contribution to "Shipbuilding", "God Bless You!". By the way, I don't think I've ever seen the commercial below.
In this currently uncommentable environment as I mentioned in the last announcement, again I apologize for the inconvenience and hope things improve shortly. However, I also have to mention that some time over the last 48 hours, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been able to garner 25 million views in the nearly fifteen years that it's been up and running, so I along with Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico would like to thank you for all of the viewings, comments and discussions since 2012.
And what more appropriate article is there than Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）"Ku-gatsu no Iro" (The Colour of September) considering where and when we are in the calendar year? A track on the singer-songwriter's third albumNovember 1980"Saudade" (the one that starts off with Kubota's big hit "Ihojin"（異邦人）from 1979), it's quite the spirited City Pop tune spritzed with a generous amount of Latin disco thanks to the singer's words and music along with Mitsuo Hagita's（萩田光雄）arrangement. I also think the song also has that feeling of early 1970s American drama soundtrack dealing with the footloose-and-fancy-free jet set.
Apologies...it's not exactly the biggest screenshot, is it? Well, I just wanted to let folks know that a few hours ago, I had been informed by commenter Brian Mitchell that he hasn't been able to provide any comments as he usually would. It seems as if when he has done so, he has been left "hanging" without anything being provided.
I've also tried to provide my own comments through a recent article ("Testing the comments") as you can see above, but I can't seem to get through either. Therefore, I've sent a message over to the Blogger administrative folks with the above screenshot to see if anything can be done on their end. For those who have tried to comment over the past several hours, I'm very sorry that you can't and hope that this will all resolve itself shortly. However, I will still be posting my usual articles today.
J-Canuck
September 5th 2026: Looks like the issue has been resolved so thank you to the Blogger gods for helping out.
Welcome to another Thursday Reminiscings of Youth session where I take a look at some of those English-language songs or albums that impressed upon my own ears, soul and mind when I was but a wee lad...namely back in the 1970s and 1980s.
I also sometimes touch upon movies from way back then and this time, it's "Short Circuit" from 1985. I had forgotten the fact that it starred Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg, two thespians who I would send out a "Where are they now?" alert. To be frank, I never got around to seeing the movie although the cute robot Johnny Five was all the craze in that summer along with the phrase "No. 5's alive!".
And this is where this week's ROY target comes in. It's El DeBarge's first solo album"El DeBarge" from May 1986 and three songs from that release are known to me and not surprisingly, all three were released as singles throughout that year. Arguably, the most well-known of them is "Who's Johnny?" which was made into the theme song for "Short Circuit". This was basically my only connection with the movie and I'd say it's the poppiest song that I've ever heard by El...right down to the childish way he sings out the title from time to time. It could even have made for the coolest theme song to a Saturday-morning cartoon. But this was something I was hearing on heavy rotation on the radio. It made it to No. 3 on America's Billboard. Peter and Ina Wolf were responsible for the songwriting.
Meanwhile, the dream team of Burt Bacharach, Bruce Roberts and Carole Bayer-Sager took care of "Love Always", and this one and the next song are the tracks that have held better sway over me since this is El in his element: R&B and soul. As much as I have loved the full family's "All This Love" from several years before, "Love Always" is another wonderful ballad by the solo DeBarge that has lived rent-free in my head all these decades. Maybe part of the reason is that it's been compared to the music that Michael McDonald has covered according to the album writeup on Wikipedia, and I'm a huge McDonald fan.
In the same paragraph, "Someone", a splendid mid-tempo track that hovers between "Who's Johnny?" and "Love Always", has also been compared to the works of Stevie Wonder. Created by Jay Graydon, Mark Mueller and Robbie Nevil, this is a song that I also heard regularly on the Toronto radio stations and once I got weaned off of radio after graduating from university, I lost contact with it while forgetting the title and maybe even the singer. I'd figured that it was El behind it but without the title and the fact that life was interrupting me for several decades, I could never confirm it. Well, doing the research on the album for ROY, I finally found it again and it still sounds as wonderfully 80s soulful now as it did back then. Another check off my list. "Someone" got somewhere in the Top 20s on Billboard.
"El DeBarge" did OK by peaking at No. 24 on Billboard. It did even better on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart by coming in at No. 8. So then, what Japanese singles were being released in the merry month of May 1986?
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