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.
According to a book on Group Sounds band The Tigers（ザ・タイガース）published in 2013, this single by the band led by Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）wasn't a huge hit. Of course, the best was yet to come for these guys, as they say.
And yet, I remember this song's melody very well since I probably heard it on a number of TV retrospectives on GS bands over the years. This happens to be The Tigers' debut single"Boku no Mary"(My Mary) which was released in February 1967, and it's notable for its mournful lyrics about a fateful encounter with the titular Mary and the breeziness of the strings. Perhaps it was the melancholy nature of the song that dampened sales but I don't think it did too badly by scoring a No. 12 on the rankings by the journal "Young Music"; the Oricon chart was still a year or several months away from coming into being. Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and Koichi Sugiyama（すぎやまこういち）were in charge of lyrics and music respectively.
Man, that is some precious footage of The Tigers performing "Boku no Mary". Well, anyways, I figure since I've got their 2nd and 3rd singles up on KKP, it was time to post their very first single as well.
I have to say that when I'm looking at the single cover picture of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）in the thumbnail above for the November 1984"Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" (飾りじゃないのよ涙は）, maybe it's because of the size of the white hat and/or the positioning of the shot, but her shoulders look so wide in that green outfit that she could be a linebacker for the Rams. We Akina fans should be so lucky to see her in an NFL game!😁
Anyways, "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" is one of Nakamori's greatest hits and it's a song of fury and defiance set to a rock and funk beat. I recall yesterday when I posted Takao Kisugi's（来生たかお）article on "Machibito Kitarazu"（待ち人来たらず）that there was this yin/yang thing regarding putting songs of differing moods as the A and B sides. Well, I guess this also applies to this Akina single.
I'm happy to say that after so many decades being a fan of Akina-chan, I'm still hearing songs by her for the first time. And the B-side here is one of those songs. "Moonlight Letter" is a pretty gooshy and woozy love ballad about a woman who has just seen off her paramour for the night and is waxing most emotionally about him. Definitely neither fury nor defiance here. Written by Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）, composed by Goto Matsui（松井五郎）and arranged in a gauzy way by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, the song reminds me a bit of "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross. I also have to remark that vocally speaking, Akina doesn't go into her high tones as she did with those earlier aidoru ballads and her voice seems to be transitioning into those famous lower registers.
As they say out there, there are a million stories in the big city. Two of them may currently be entwined in a crisis spiral.
"Uso to Uwasa"(Lies & Rumours) is the final track on the band Off-Course's（オフコース）13th album "as close as possible" from March 1987. As the title hints at, it is a rather enigmatic song about a couple, perhaps a fairly famous one, who are going through tough times because of mistakes committed by at least one partner and what has been said about them. They are currently walking toward the harbour on a misty evening and it could be their final stroll together although there is no hint that anyone is going to take a permanent dive.
Written and composed by Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）and arranged by Off-Course, "Uso to Uwasa" had initially been meant to be sung by Oda alone but then decided that a female singer just had to tackle half of the lyrics. In the J-Wiki writeup on "as close as possible", Oda professed that he had wanted to find someone that he didn't usually work with, and so he approached singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. And to be honest, I wouldn't have guessed that he and Ohnuki would ever work together during the 1980s since their styles seemed rather divergent. I think it would have been more likely in the 1970s when both artists were in the New Music mix.
But it all works marvelously here. Right from the synth bass (Ryuichi Sakamoto [坂本龍一] was handling the keyboards) launching things off which had my shoulders shimmying, both Oda and Ohnuki have those clear yet haunting vocals gracing an urban and urbane nocturnal melody which describes more of Oda's solo career style of music in the late 80s going into the early 90s rather than his band's style.
"Uso to Uwasa" was also incorporated into Ohnuki's BEST compilation "palette" from April 2009. As for "as close as possible", the album reached No. 2 on Oricon and ended up as the 42nd-ranked album of 1987.
Ahh, yes...the mid-1990s. I had been in the Tokyo area for a few years already. Odaiba (Rainbow Town) in Tokyo Bay as this new un-Tokyo-like district of work, residence and play was still brand spanking new and Fuji-TV saw fit to use the megalopolis' newest area as the base for a police series. But this series would be something very different: there would be no crazy stunts by the officers, no bullets fired and although the good cops would be fighting crime, they would also be fighting the obstreperous and ass-saving bureaucracy among the higher-ups within their own industry.
Yes, I am talking about "Odoru Dai Sosasen" (Bayside Shakedown) which turned a lot of heads when it came out in 1997. Plus, I have to also add that Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）was in charge of the original soundtrack that has become an entity all unto its own with a mixture of orchestral grandioseness and techno fun. In the years on KKP since I've posted about his stuff from "Odoru Dai Sosasen", I've learned about some of his pre-1997 material including his work on what has become one of the City Pop classics, "Dress Down", sung by Kaoru Akimoto（秋元薫）.
Last night, as I was winding down, I noticed that a lot of "Odoru Dai Sosasen" videos were popping up on YouTube. Then I realized that a new movie of the franchise "N.E.W. Metropolis wo Kakenukero!"(NEW Race Through the Metropolis!) had just debuted the day before. I had assumed that the 2012 movie was the final entry (it was labeled "The Final" after all) but I guess the producers just had to throw another one in the mix after fourteen years. Hey, if Tom Cruise can finally add the coda to his "Mission: Impossible" franchise after 29 years, Yuji Oda（織田裕二）can do the same for "Odoru Dai Sosasen".
I didn't bother watching "The Final" since by that point, I'd felt that things were getting a little stale for "Odoru Dai Sosasen" and seeing the trailer for the new movie which seems to copy a major plot point from another far more serious Japanese thriller, I'm not sure if I'll see this one either. Plus, aside from an aging Yuji Oda, I think the other members of the original cast who are still alive seem to be showing up as cameos only.
Anyways, I still wanted to give the new soundtrack, which was released yesterday, a try. It starts off with "Rhythm And Police N.E.W. (Metropolis Ver.)" which is a short-and-sweet version of the original opening theme with more dance beats and lower brass and strings.
"Tokyo Metropolis" is a thunderous tribute to one of the world's biggest cities which includes bits of "Rhythm and Police" and "CX". The track finishes with an ominous conclusion.
"Azumin Dance" is another new theme added to this soundtrack by Matsumoto. It adds to my opinion that the composer wanted to bring a little more dance club to the movie for some reason. There is a character named Azumi in the movie although the actor portraying him is apparently in his seventies; he must be one funky dude.
"R.A.P N.E.W. C.X. Jams" is a slightly weird PBJ sandwich of a track which has the orchestral and techno remix versions of the original "C.X". bracketing a very brief reprise of "Rhythm And Police N.E.W. (Metropolis Ver.)". I've seen "C.X." as the secondary theme for "Odoru Dai Sosasen" and as a popular piece of background music for a lot of other news shows if they're covering a relatively more lighthearted segment on the cops.
There is another new addition called "Sashikata the Super Doctor" which is named after a new character in the movie who might be part of the forensics team helping the stalwart Inspector Aoshima. It might even describe the character to a T: funky and cocky techno acid jazz.
Along with "Rhythm & Police" and "C.X.", another old favourite coming back into the soundtrack fold is the ending theme "Love Somebody" via an instrumental version "Love Somebody (Piano N.E.W. Ver.)". It's safe to say that this one won't be used for an action scene. Maybe it's for a death scene or an Aoshima soliloquy.
The stoic and cynical original character of Inspector Shinji Muroi had "G-Groove" as his theme song. Cool as heck, I've always seen it as the show's equivalent of "The Imperial March" from "Star Wars". However, this new track "M36 Muroi Shinji"（M36 室井慎次）is a whole new animal. Perhaps it hints that the former stick-in-the-mud Muroi has finally let go of his stress and has learned to smile a bit more in retirement. It still has a march percussion hiding in there to reflect his old past but overlaying it is a sweeping melody of hope and redemption. Interestingly enough, "M36" wasn't composed by Matsumoto but by veteran Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）.
The final one I'll do here happens to be the final track for the album. Of course, it is the remastered version of the original "Rhythm And Police". And if anyone reading this from Japan has had a chance to see the new movie, let me know how it is. It might just show up on Jme by 2030.
There's nothing like an old-fashioned Japanese cop program to show how things are probably not done in real-life law enforcement in Tokyo. But dang, it's crazy and cool at the same time. The above program was basically a one-and-done series titled "Keishichō Satsujin-ka"（警視庁殺人課...Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Division） that was broadcast between April and October 1981 on TV Asahi. The big thing about this one is that it starred the late actor Bunta Sugawara（菅原文太）, who had usually been getting cinematic roles as antiheroes and mobsters, before getting this good-guy role as Inspector Taro "Mister" Godai, a blood-and-guts police commander who had spent ten years with the NYPD before returning to Tokyo. Apparently, this was also Sugawara's first foray into television.
Last week, I posted a City Pop/jazzy number for the suspense "Inubue no Tehma"（犬笛のテーマ）by Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, so I guess it might be becoming a thing for me to put up such tunes from law enforcement-based TV shows on Urban Contemporary Fridays. Chikara Ueda & The Power Station（上田力＆パワーステーション）were partially responsible for the soundtrack for "Keishichō Satsujin-ka" and in 1981, they released the soundtrack for the show simply titled "Mr." after the lead character.
One track is "Breeze in Memories" by the band which fits perfectly with the usual Japanese TV cop show. There is that feeling of the million stories in the big city along with some fervent jazz noodling via saxophone. I assume that "Breeze in Memories" was used as background music whenever Mister and one of his officers hit a nightclub for pleasure or a bust. Of course, I can also imagine the guys with tumblers of scotch in their hands during the same song, too.
With a title like "Machibito Kitarazu" (The Person I'd Been Waiting For Didn't Come [or in today's vernacular perhaps: Ghosted]), and especially with singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi's（来生たかお）penchant for melancholy melodies, I'd been expecting a rather sad ballad.
However, then I realized there was that Japanese music policy of having happy and sad songs on opposite sides of a record single, and "Machibito Kitarazu" just happens to be the B-side of Kisugi's debut single from October 1976, "Asai Yume"（浅い夢）. The A-side is a very tenderhearted ballad and one of his most cherished tunes. So, instead, "Machibito Kitarazu" is actually quite a snazzy and snappy ditty created by him and his elder sister, lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）. With arrangement by Katsu Hoshi（星勝）, it comes across as a slightly Gallic and jazzy traipse down the Champs-Elysees, and yep, I can even imagine jeune frere Kisugi dandily dancing down the boulevard in a porkpie hat and cane to this one.
One little aside here is that I really like the cover for "Asai Yume" with Kisugi just lounging about in a well-lived room with that hint of sepia in the atmosphere. Yeah, I guess it was New Music.
I covered a number of tracks on the article for Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Full Moon" way back in 2017, but not all of them. Perhaps it's time to take care of some of the remaining ones at least.
Yes to "No!". This was one track that was written and composed by Yagami for the 1983 album and it was arranged by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. It's pretty fun listening (especially with the repeated insistence of the title) so I was surprised that I hadn't included it in the writeup for "Full Moon" but still I'm happy to cover it now. I've categorized it as City Pop but it also has some of that synthesizer-and-guitar feel of New Wave. I think it could have also been included in my Author's Picks article for "Driving to City Pop" as Yagami sings about a woman who's enjoying a drive in her potential new steady's car...so much so that she won't entertain any questions about her romantic situation and premonitions from the guy right now. It's all about enjoying the present as much as possible before the inevitable heavy stuff has to be dealt with. I gather that the light and bouncy nature of "No!" is the proof in the pudding.
Almost a year ago, I added Gloria Gaynor's disco anthem"I Will Survive" onto the Reminiscings of Youth series. Starting from hearing it on those K-Tel disco compilation album commercials, it gradually entered my head in its entirety.
Little did I know at the time that there were Japanese covers done of "I Will Survive", both released in May 1979 under the same title of "Koi no Survival"(Survival of Love). Yoko Aso's（麻生よう子）cover was given Japanese lyrics by Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）over the original melody by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. The arrangement by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）seems to have mixed in a good dollop of kayo kyoku into the disco so that at points, I was wondering whether "Koi no Survival" was heading into country music territory. Aso certainly gives a lot of brio into her performance which got the single a No. 43 ranking on Oricon. Strangely enough, the B-side has the same song but with different lyrics also provided by Fuji.
Another singer with a lot of oomph in his voice is Akira Fuse（布施明）and he also provided that for his own cover of "I Will Survive" also under the same Japanese title. However, Fuse himself wrote the lyrics for his take with Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）arranging things into something closer to the Gaynor disco original. I also appreciate the sharp horns in there. Fuse's version reached No. 13 on Oricon and ended up as the 63rd-ranked single of the year.
One of the most luxurious neighbourhoods in Tokyo is Shirokanedai（白金台）in Minato Ward. I was actually there once in my last few years there since a couple of students and I had lunch at a French restaurant in the area, and yep, I had to pull out the dark suit for that one. I can't remember the name of the place anymore but it was pretty chic and tasty. The waiter explained the nature and origins of each dish during our four-hour gastronomic odyssey. I don't ever recall being in any dining establishment for that length of time outside of wedding receptions.
Now, the reason I bring this up is that I had always wondered about the origin of the band name Platinum 900. HRLE92 posted the first article on the band back in 2020 when he posited that it was the most overlooked City Pop group. He did state that vocalist Naoko Sakata (坂田直子), guitarist and bassist Kazuhiko Nishimura (西村一彦), and keyboardist Hiroshi Iihoshi (飯星裕史) had started Platinum 900 in Tokyo (in 1994), and although I don't think that there was a J-Wiki article on them up at the time, there is one now. But as for that name, Nishimura finally gave an explanation on how they came to be called Platinum 900:
I want to aim for the kind of music a wealthy woman in her fifties—living in a detached house in Shirokanedai—might listen to on her Mark Levinson system in the living room... A "Chic Wealthy Lady" concept! From there, I’ll add "Platinum" to the name, and throw in "900" for good measure...
I have to admit that Nishimura had quite the ambitious thoughts stirring about in his head. So, according to him, the rich ladies had a thing for some sunny side music that did a toe dance between the genres of 90s City Pop and Shibuya-kei. OK, I can go for that. Now to further break down what he'd said, the word "shirokane"（白金）in Shirokanedai can mean "platinum" (although according to Jisho.org, the kanji is usually read as "hakkin"), so there is the first part of the band name right there, and as he said, he decided on the number 900 for some reason.
Then what I have here from Platinum 900's first maxi-single"missing star" from July 1998 can be considered to be the prototypical Platinum 900 song. "246", which was created by all of the band members, has got all of the elements: sunny side, Shibuya-kei and City Pop. And although I couldn't get all of the lyrics, I'm gathering that the title stands for Highway 246 which runs through several wards in Tokyo including the aforementioned Minato Ward before heading out through Kanagawa and Shizuoka Prefectures. I can imagine that a drive there would be quite pleasant.
I also have to remark how Sakata's vocals remind me of the singing of Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）from those velvet tones and also because of the type of song "246" is which sounds similar to the type of music that the latter lady was tackling at around the same time.
Taking my mother out to her doctor's appointment earlier this afternoon, I noticed that it was rather warm today with a goodly amount of humidity. I guess this will probably be the last gasp of summer for 2026 before fall and more seasonal temperatures arrive next week...unless Indian Summer flies in sometime in October or November. I also have to remind myself that next week, Japan celebrates another long holiday season.
I've got a pretty upbeat song to finish off Thursday on KKP. This is Hiroko Kasahara's（笠原弘子）"You & Me" from her November 1991 album"Ren'aisei Riron Part 1"（恋愛性理論〜Part 1〜...The Theory of Romantic Nature）. Written by Mayumi Sudo（須藤まゆみ）and composed by Yasuhiko Warita（割田康彦）, that intro reminds me a bit of "Easy Lover" by Phil Collins & Philip Bailey, but then the melody goes into a wholly different direction. With those particular synthesizers in play, it does feel like a typical early 90s pop tune, and I also like Kasahara's high plaintive vocals.
Ah, yes, YouTube...finder of lost memories of music. Perhaps I should say that it is a corrector of wrong memories of music. To explain, I had thought for the longest time that the disco hit "Born to be Alive" was a song by Canadian singer Gino Vannelli but it was actually by French singer Patrick Hernandez. And look, the names and origin nations may be vastly different (aside from the fact that both Canada and France have French as official languages), but both singers have huge mops of hair, boomer voices and plenty of charisma. I remember who I thought was Vannelli singing "Born to be Alive" as he popped up on a TV commercial for one of those K-Tel record compilations. It was no wonder that for some bizarre reason, I couldn't find the song on my own Vannelli BEST compilation.
What made it worse was that I hadn't even known the name of the real person behind "Born to be Alive". However, one day not too long ago, YouTube burst forth with some video shorts playing that very song for some ambitious dancing folks, and I finally had my singer. Interestingly enough, I remember this song being played at one of our junior high school presentations when a few of the girls decided to have a dance to this Hernandez hit. I gotta admit that hearing the song again after so long, I can imagine this still bringing the masses onto the dance floor to hoof it up with abandon. And back in the day after its release in November 1978, it struck No. 1 in a number of countries including Canada, America, Italy and Mexico.
And that begs the question, what Japanese singles were coming out in November 1978?
Yesterday, my Twitter feed showed me something which led me to a page on InterFM, a radio station in Japan, and I gather that the staffers there had a chance to interview fellow Torontonian and far more charismatic and talented singer and musician The Weeknd. The Weeknd apparently has his own love of Japanese pop music and he offered a playlist he has enjoyed which includes Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Kimi no Na wa Psycho"（君の名はサイコ）from 1983. That shouldn't be too surprising considering that a few years ago, he was more than happy to sample a piece of Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子） "Midnight Pretenders".
Another song from that year of 1983 that was also on his playlist: fusion band Casiopea's（カシオペア）"Dazzling" from their 9th studio album"Photographs". He loves to listen to his playlist whenever he's in Tokyo (wonder how many times he's been there) and "Dazzling" is a nice fit. Composed by Casiopea guitarist Issei Noro（野呂一生）, it's got that fun-loving atmosphere of a night out on the town; if it's Tokyo, then let's head out to Shinjuku, Roppongi or Ginza (Odaiba was yet to be created). Noro has his time to show how he fiddles on his guitar but the rest of the band (including vocalists) also have their turn to wang chung the night away via their instruments. A truly dazzling time can be had by all.
Last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was a pretty entertaining episode, all told. We had new popular group Monaki（モナキ）with their senpai group Junretsu（純烈）, an old favourite in the form of an Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）duet that my friend and I used to sing at karaoke in the late 1980s, and quite a bit of soulful stuff. As well, there was a brief announcement of the passing of enka singer Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）.
As for the soulful stuff, Crazy Ken Band（クレイジーケンバンド）appeared with their leader Ken Yokoyama（横山剣）to sing their latest digital single from July 2026,"Shinpai Muyo Bushi" (The No Worries Song). Usually when I add the Labels for this group, it's pretty simple: the music is always gonna be J-R&B. Ahhh...but this time, I have to add an extra genre...that of enka. Crazily enough for Crazy Ken Band, "Shinpai Muyo Bushi" may have the usual funk and soul in there, but even my mother could distinctly hear the traditional undercurrent of enka popping in and out of Yokoyama's melody. I had been thinking of whether to apply the hybrid New Adult Music tag, too; however, the enka and funk n' soul were in there but separate rather than blended so I just kept it as enka and J-R&B.
Lyrically, it's all about brushing off any of the problems since after all, they really don't even amount to a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things. With good ol' Ken by your side at the bar, the song is the reassurance that everything will be A-OK!
Recently, I came across a series of YouTube videos from the channel "remain" which has provided recognizable songs with titles that are unknown to a lot of people. The second entry in the first of these videos is a good example. Until a week ago, I hadn't known the title "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff but this 1936 song is something that I have heard often enough to depict some massively epic scenes in movies, TV and commercials. I'd even thought that "O Fortuna" had been the song to accompany the trailer for the original "Cliffhanger" with Sly Stallone back in 1993 but I was totally wrong.
Just a few minutes ago, I finally found out the title for this other classical music piece that I've heard many times in my life. This happens to be "Allegretto", the 2nd movement of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7 in A Major Op. 92" from the early 1800s, and perhaps not surprisingly, I've heard this being performed as background music in certain pensive scenes in movies. Apparently, a version with lyrics by Chiara Ferraù was made under the title "Figlio Perduto".
Now, one might ask why I am talking about classical music here since I'm not a classical music fan per se. Well, as I've indicated above, I may not be a fan but I have heard my fair share of the genre over the years through public media and the rare concert I've attended. Also, I was informed by an anonymous commenter last night and I'd actually read a "New York Times" article back on Sunday regarding Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）latest album "Yours Sincerely" that was released a mere few days ago.
According to a review of "Yours Sincerely" on Pitchfork, it seems as if Hosono in his old age has decided to tie up some loose ends in some of his music over the decades, and the products of his tightening up (inside joke here) make up the tracks. Going back to that Beethoven movement, one of those tracks is Hosono's rendition of "Figlio Perduto" which is supposed to be based on Sarah Brightman's approach to the song back in the year 2000. As well, according to the notes underneath the YouTube video, additional lyricists were Hosono himself and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The "Figlio Perduto" here is ancient, intimate and perhaps even tearjerking as if only a very few of us were invited to a tiny salon in Hosono's house thanks to the reassuring plucking of the guitar and the haunting and halting delivery of the lyrics by frequent Hosono collaborator Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）and someone named KuKuKu. But no matter the dramatic change in arrangement, I could instantly recognize the tune and it finally inspired me to find out how it's been identified.
I recall posting an article on a Kaze（風）song about a month ago, and there were quite a lot of categories in the Labels below it.
This time, though, the Labels are short and sweet. Kaze was doing what it was doing best during their time in the 1970s which was providing folk songs. One half of the duo, Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, provided "Wasureteyuku Rekishi"(Fading History) that was a track from their 2nd studio album from January 1976, "Toki wa Nagarete..."（時は流れて…Time Passes）. It's a mid-tempo and fairly hopping tune about a man trying to get over the heartbreak of a breakup going into the fall. He tells himself that his lost Lenore is gradually becoming one more drop into the ocean of past blurring memories but by the end, he is about to admit that winter may not bring back the cold but also the pain of losing her. Nope, not the happiest tune but hey, that is also life.
I know that there are many examples of such kanji in Japanese, but I often marvel at how much information a couple of characters can provide. For example, 「夕立」or "yuudachi" means a sudden cloudburst on a summer afternoon. It's kinda like suddenly yanking out eight people from an old Toyota Corolla. It also means that one has to be careful when using the expression since you may get some quizzical looks using "yuudachi" if a snow squall happens on New Year's Eve.
And we bring ourselves to this "Yuudachi", namely singer-songwriter Shikao Suga's（スガシカオ） track from his September 1999 3rd album"Sweet". I believe I heard this when the man was doing his medley on a recent episode of "Asaichi"（あさイチ）some weeks ago, and I found it rather cool and summery as we approached the final weeks of the hot season. It also strikes me as being rather old-school funky and laidback and it's reminiscent of some of the stuff that Original Love has been doing all these years. Imagine the lad doing this on his guitar at an early September BBQ party at your house. As for the album, "Sweet" hit No. 3 on Oricon.
As I've mentioned before, I'm like my five-year-old self lost in a department store (five minutes away from getting screamed at by Mom for not sticking by her side) when it comes to the many genres within electronic music. I have never heard of grime music before aside from the fact that it originated in London around a quarter of a century ago. For those who are also unacquainted with the genre, you can take a listen to the samples above.
But apparently, this musical collaboration between Yellow Magic Orchestsra's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Japan's David Sylvian called "Bamboo Houses" is seen as a prototype for grime music, some twenty years before it was actually born. Released as a single in July 1982, it's been labeled on Wikipedia under electronic, avant-pop, New Wave, proto‑grime and synthpop. Within my personal limited knowledge, I can definitely go with the technopop and New Wave and I'm sure back when it was released, most kayo kyoku fans were probably remarking "Uh, yeah...that's the Professor going weird on us again!". Indeed, it is original. Even the cover with a pouty Sakamoto in dapper tie, shirt and suspenders...and eye shadow probably took people's breath away.
I'm not sure about the bamboo house, but strangely enough (and perhaps as of this writing, I'd eaten too many roasted peanuts), I kinda think the collage of sound in "Bamboo Houses" makes me feel as if I were stumbling through a crystalline forest of bamboo trees. But at the same time, it's oh-so-Sakamoto! Several months later, the Professor and Sylvian would work together again on "Forbidden Colours" whose variant song is known under a much more famous title.
Unfortunately, this week of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" will begin with some sad news from the Japanese music industry. Along with a number of famous people in the USA and UK who have passed away recently, I also have to inform readers that veteran enka singer Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）died suddenly yesterday at the age of 65 although the cause hasn't yet been determined definitively. I found out last night through the Mixi news feed.
Born as Nobue Hirohara（廣原伸恵）and raised in Oita Prefecture, she was scouted into the show business industry as a junior high school senior and made the move to Tokyo while in high school. "Onna no Defune"（おんなの出船）was her debut single in 1979 which earned her a Best New Artist prize in a number of competitions. She would have to wait several years until the invitation from NHK came for her to appear on the 1985 Kohaku Utagassen to sing that hit song, though.
Matsubara made a total of seven appearances on the Kohaku between 1985 and 1992. Her second appearance came at the end of 1986, thanks to her 10th single released in June 1985, "Enka Michi"(The Path of Enka). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, it comes across as a bittersweet telling of the life of an enka singer with all of its ups and downs. I'm not sure whether it was meant to be autobiographical or just a general impression of a career of someone in the industry.
My condolences go out to Matsubara's family, friends and many fans. Her 67th and final single, "Tsutenkaku no Sora no Shita"（通天閣の空の下...Under the Sky of Tsutenkaku） was only released last October.
Well, if I'm going to jump and burrow down a rabbit hole, why not do it on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Plus, I also gotta shake off the post-lunch narcolepsy. All this began became I was scrounging around to sate my curiosity on other Japanese technopop bands; one can't survive simply on YMO alone. Then I found this 2025 album titled "Techno Kayō Vol. 1 - Japanese Techno Pop 1981 - 1989" which was produced in the Netherlands.
One track tugged at my ears and it was called "Rock the Hour" from the 1985 album "Linda". This was a collaboration that went by the moniker TPO Meets Linda Masters (getta load of that big 80s hair!). Neither band nor singer were familiar to me; from Gemini, I found out that Masters was an American chanteuse who was active in the 1980s synthpop and Hi-NRG scene, especially via Japan. TPO may have stood for Tiny Panx Organization and it was also active during the 1980s. Their membership included keyboardist Taku Iwasaki（岩崎工）who was involved with the technopop band FILMSand then much later got into the soundtrack for the 2013 anime "Gatchaman Crowds".
"Rock the Hour" isn't rock at all but it is a fascinating and catchy blend of City Pop and technopop with Masters' plaintive vocals that often get into some nice jazzy harmonies. It was noted that TPO had wanted to bridge the gap between YMO's technopop and the 80s dancefloor stuff, and "Rock the Hour" has been provided as one big example of this bridge. Plus, for all those pop culture nostalgia buffs, there is plenty of music (including orchestral hits) from those old-fashioned synths and drum machines. As well, I do love the design of the cover. The Memphis Group would be so proud.
We don't have the autumn foliage yet but I think the above photo by Wolfgang Weber is suitable enough to describe a nice Sunday morning. I had to shake off some major post-Sunday breakfast drowsiness to get back into shape to get some grocery shopping done as well as the daily blogging.
Once again, I'm happy to have Nash Music Library pay a visit to our humble blog and this one sticks out for its very technical title of "SC-1903". It's not the first time that I've come across NML tunes that sound like starship registry numbers; there is "SC-4702", a rollicking piano and synthesizer tune. Another point that distinguishes this one is that it's actually quite long for an NML entry at a dozen seconds under five minutes.
Perhaps I can "humanize" this one here with a title such as "Whimsical Sunday at Home" instead of "SC-1903", because it does sound like a typically rumply yet comfy Sunday at home with Dad trying to read the newspaper on the sofa, Mom fleeing with her friends to the nearest cafe while the kids are arguing in their room upstairs. In fact, I'd say that there is something quite sitcom-friendly with the arrangement here. The track belongs to the March 1998 album at NML, "Long Size".
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.
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