Candies/℃-ute -- Shochū Omimai Mōshiagemasu（暑中お見舞い申し上げます）

We're not quite yet at midsummer but watching last night's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, there was that light theme of summery songs and then I also thought about the Ochuugen（御中元）season which represents the time of summer gift-giving in Japan. Whenever I entered a supermarket or department store anywhere there during the hot season, I would always see these huge boxes of anything food-related ranging from coffee to meat being sold. I myself never partook in the tradition since I saw Ochuugen as basically being a corporate way of thanking clients for their continued patronage. Mind you, I was tempted to purchase one of those boxes of AGF Coffee or Nippon Ham for myself.

In any case, one of the summer songs that got featured through old footage on last night's "Uta Kon" was "Shochū Omimai Mōshiagemasu" (Midsummer Greetings). This was Candies'（キャンディーズ）14th single from June 1977 that I had never heard before last night. Written by Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠）and composed by Juichi Sase（佐瀬寿一）, the trio sing about going over to meet the beloved beau during summer for all sorts of romance under the hot sun. The arrangement was handled by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）.

The nostalgia is strong with this one with its Candies-esque arrangement. But one thing that I have to say is that some of that pounding piano reminded me of Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" for some reason. "Shochū Omimai Mōshiagemasu" peaked at No. 5 and became the 39th-ranked single of the year, selling around 320,000 records according to the J-Wiki article for the song. It is also a track on Candies' 9th album "Candy Label" which was released in September 1977. Not　surprisingly, "Shochū Omimai Mōshiagemasu" was also used as the campaign tune for a Japan Post commercial for summer greeting postcards.

Another point about the song is that during its rise into the Top 10, Candies held a concert in July that year at the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall in Tokyo where they blurted out their intention to disband. Man, I hope that the ladies' manager and other staff were in on the announcement beforehand. Sure enough, eight months later, Candies had their final roundup in April 1978.

There have been a number of covers of "Shochū Omimai Mōshiagemasu" over the years including the one performed by Hello Project's ℃-ute as their 9th single in July 2009. Aside from a bit of synthesizer updating, the arrangement is pretty much the same, and even ℃-ute is performing in very similar outfits to the ones worn originally by Candies.

Because we're on the summer kick right now, after watching "Uta Kon" last night, I'd wondered about doing a list of summer songs, especially on seeing Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）perform her classic "Summertime Blues". However, my mind must have gone a bit swoony from the heat since I'd already provided Part 1 and Part 2 of such a list almost a couple of years ago. Please peruse those if you wish.

℃-ute -- Tokai no Hitorigurashi（都会の一人暮らし）

Ahhh...living in Tokyo. Well, actually to be perfectly accurate, I was living in the satellite city Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture (which is only 20 minutes away by the Tozai Line to downtown Tokyo). As with any residential situation, one has got to weigh the good with the bad. Lots of things to do versus higher prices or commuting hell versus many interesting neighbourhoods with their own distinctive character.

Certainly, I'm not the first and I won't be the last to wonder about city living especially in one of the biggest vibrant metropolises on Earth (really gotta extend the subway hours, though). The aidoru group ℃-ute has also mused about the trials and tribulations of this very topic through their 23rd single "Tokai no Hitorigurashi" (Living Alone In The City).

Released in November 2013 as this rapid-fire funky disco number by Hello Project guru Tsunku（つんく）, the ℃-ute ladies wonder nonchalantly about how to handle the changes brought about by a move from the countryside to the big city and then maybe even overseas, probably to get away from hectoring parents and then even the boredom of urban Japanese life. Considering that pad that they're dancing in within the video and all of that fashion, I don't think Airi Suzuki（鈴木愛理）and the bunch are hurting too badly.

"Tokai no Hitorigurashi" hit No. 3 on Oricon, and it was also placed in ℃-ute's 8th original album "℃maj9" which came out in December 2015. It hit No. 8. Right now, though, former member Suzuki is getting a fair bit of attention from a duet with another Suzuki.

Chisato Moritaka/ ℃-ute -- Kono Machi（この街）

Last night on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）made another appearance and on the stage, she was joined by the adorable Kumamon（くまモン）, the official cute mascot character for Moritaka's home prefecture of Kumamoto. They did a little song-and-dance on the NHK stage, and I remember writing an article 4 years ago about a song that she performed as a tribute to the prefecture's cutest bear.

The song that Moritaka and Kumamon performed last night? It turned out to be "Kono Machi" (This Town) which was the accompanying song for the former's 12th single, the classic "Benkyou no Uta"（勉強の歌）from February 1991. However, "Kono Machi" made its first appearance on her earlier 5th album "Kokon Tozai"（古今東西...All Times and Places） which was released in October 1990.

A catchy Eurobeat-driven tune by Hideo Saito（斉藤英夫）to rival that of his other creation, "Benkyou no Uta", "Kono Machi" was written by Moritaka as a love letter to her old hometown of Kumamoto City. She even provides some of the local dialect during the song.

Considering how catchy it is, this was perfect for a character like Kumamon...only that the big bear didn't come into existence until 2010.

I've mentioned in the past that I did visit Kumamoto City back in the summer of 1991 before heading back to Toronto. However, I have yet to mention that years later, I went with a friend of mine in Tokyo to a restaurant in East Shinjuku to dine on Kumamoto ramen. It was pretty darn good but I believe the chef at that restaurant was very generous with the meat. The pieces were certainly a whole lot bigger than the ones that are featured in the above video. I didn't need any other nutrition for several hours after that meal.

Getting back to music, I've always wondered about the aidoru group ℃-ute due to that stylized spelling of their name. Well, I finally have my opportunity to talk about them since the Hello Project unit from the Kanto area did their own cover of "Kono Machi". Their version has been changed into a lot more down-to-earth and heartfelt ballad, and I think the Kumamoto dialect speak was switched to the Japanese Standard dialect.

This "Kono Machi" was released as ℃-ute's 24th single (including their early indie releases) in February 2013. It went all the way up to No. 4 on Oricon and also showed up on the group's 7th original album "⑧ Queen of J-POP" from September in that same year. That album peaked at No. 6. As for ℃-ute, they had a pretty long time together between 2005 and 2017 and consisted at the time of their breakup of Maimi Yajima（矢島舞美）, Saki Nakajima（中島早貴）, Airi Suzuki（鈴木愛理）, Chisato Okai（岡井千聖）and Mai Hagiwara（萩原舞）.