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.
Good morning to all and holiday greetings to both Canadians and Japanese. We've got Canadian Thanksgiving here today while in Japan, it's Sports Day.
NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）was back on the schedule after a slight hiatus so we got some of the old kayo kyoku back in our ears. One of the first songs on the slate was a 1953 enka by singer-actor Kokichi Takada（高田浩吉）. Now, almost a decade ago, I first posted about the Hyogo Prefecture-born Takada through his 1955 entry "Meigetsu Sataro Gasa"（名月佐太郎笠）regarding the ronin Sataro who roamed the countryside. The song was written by lyricist Naomi Matsuzaka（松坂直美）and composed by the legendary Masao Koga（古賀政男）.
Well, that 1953 song apparently had a younger version of Sataro in the area of Izu. Titled "Izu no Sataro" (Sataro of Izu), it had a couple of different but also very famous songwriters of the time, lyricist Yaso Saijo（西條八十）and composer Gento Uehara（上原げんと）. When compared to the later song, "Meigetsu Sataro Gasa", "Izu no Sataro" sounds more urgent and industrious in a "I gotta do what I gotta do" way while "Meigetsu Sataro Gasa" has a more content and laidback nature as if Sataro may finally have found some peace and quiet at last.
Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having a good start to 2025.
One thing that I've started doing since the tail-end of 2024 was participate in the Kasuga Enka Densho Kai (春日艶歌伝承会).This is essentially the Hachiro Kasuga posthumous fan club's (Zenkoku Kasuga Hachiro Shinobu Kai… 全国春日八郎偲ぶ会) karaoke circle. The club is organised around the goal of ensuring Hachiro Kasuga's (春日八郎) songs will live on in the artist's absence and has been active since July 2000, its participants congregating every first and third Saturday of the month. Considering the frequency of the meetings and the regularity of which certain club members show up, I can only say that my love for Hachi is paltry compared to these veterans. To my knowledge, Kasuga Enka is exclusively sung at these gatherings. The neat thing about it is that ALL of Hachi's songs, from singles to albums to unreleased recordings, are available to sing thanks to the work of some of the members.
Thus far, I've only participated in two meetings: the final one of 2024 and the first of 2025. Since this was organised by the Kasuga fan club, it was the perfect space for me to be as extra as possible with my oshikatsu shenanigans, i.e. bringing along a Hachi bromide and setting it on the table. I don't think the members expected the extent of my Hachi fangirling. On the other side of the coin, though, I didn’t expect the members to zero-in on my secondary fixation with Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴). If you've read some of my past Hachi articles, you'd know that Mr. Nakano was responsible for some of Hachi's moderate successes and minor works, a few of which I greatly enjoy. As such, the very first song I attempted was "Ruten no Yoru" (流転の夜) my current favourite entry among all the Nakano Melody. My explanation of choosing this tune partially for its composer and brandishing the Nakano photo card manufactured by one of my friends seemed to have bewildered the good folks. That incident seemed to have conditioned them to expect a Nakano composition when my turn comes around as one of them went, "Ah, of course it's a Nakano one!" when I picked "Jirocho Tabi Shigure" during my second attendance.
Released in May 1953, "Jirocho Tabi Shigure" was Hachi's 4th single and the first song that Mr. Nakano composed for him. To my knowledge, this song has only been re-released as part of Hachi's 40th Anniversary super album "Kasuga Hachiro / Daizenshu Uta Koso Waga Inochi" (春日八郎/大全集歌こそ我が命) from 1991, though it is available on YouTube for easy access. Nevertheless, I would consider one of Hachi’s deeply buried gems considering how early in his career this was produced. This was also a Matatabi Kayo - while a perennially well-loved genre/sub-genre, it wasn’t Hachi’s specialty, so that may have accounted for the lack of attention to it, even after he became a national star. To be more critical, perhaps it’s also because it sounds too... orthodox. To Yuzaburo Wakasugi's (若杉雄三郎) lyrics featuring infamous yakuza ring-leader Shimizu no Jirocho (清水次郎長), Nakano provided a melody that sounds like one from your bog-standard Matatabi Kayo. This is pure speculation on my part, but it could be that the powers that be in King Records demanded that Nakano, then still a new King employee, make something that would sell, i.e. an easy to consume kayokyoku piece that fits the theme. And so, he did. Despite what my spiny critique suggests, though, it’s not a bad song at all, and I actually like it quite a lot… No, it's not just because Nakano made it… I think.
Putting any biases aside, "Jirocho Tabi Shigure" is a jaunty song that is simply pleasant to listen to. The blaring horns and strings swelling grandiosely with a steady rhythm make for a heroic-sounding tune that I think conveys the masculinity and power of the titular gangster. I say it's orthodox because Matatabi Kayo, as with stories of chivalrous yet morally grey figures like Jirocho, generally portray their source material characters in such a light. Another running trope these characters express in this sort of narrative is the conflict between duty and compassion/humanity (giri-ninjo). While they may present themselves as stoic and duty-bound, these figures are still written to have a soft side hidden away from the public eye. I think Wakasugi’s portrayal of Jirocho conveys this aspect, which is wildly contrary to my impression of the gangster: fearsome and father figure to other infamous Shizuoka-based ruffians, namely Mori no Ishimatsu (森の石松). I suppose, in this respect, Mr. Nakano's melody represents Jirocho's giri tatemae (front), while Wakasugi's words disclose his ninjo honne (real feelings).
by Takeshiro Matsuura at the Hakodate City Central Library
I don't know much about botany but that Kamchatka lily (or black lily)...she is scary!
At least, that's the impression which I got from Shigeko Orii's（織井茂子）"Kuroyuri no Uta"(Song of the Black Lily). I've mentioned Orii once before when I wrote about her very successful "Kimi no Na wa"（君の名は）, the theme song for the cinematic adaptation of the story of the same title in 1953. Her melancholy rendition reflected the plot progression which had viewers weeping into their hankies.
1953 was also the year that Orii released a second theme song for the sequel movie for "Kimi no Na wa", "Kuroyuri no Uta", penned by the same songwriters behind "Kimi no Na wa": legendary composer Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）and lyricist Kazuo Kikuta（菊田一夫）. Compared to "Kimi no Na wa", though, "Kuroyuri no Uta" has a much more haunting and otherworldly quality, similar to the songwriting duo's earlier classic, "Iyomante no Yoru"（イヨマンテの夜）. As Kikuta's lyrics span the three verses of the song, listeners get an increasingly more sinister image of the black lily (which is native to Far East Russia, northern Japan and the northwestern regions of North America), spanning from a flower of love to a flower of magic to finally a flower of poison.
Kikuta expressed some of his knowledge of the indigenous Ainu people into "Iyomante no Yoru" and he also did the same in "Kuroyuri no Uta" with one line mentioning that the black lily is a deadly and therefore forbidden flower according to the Ainu god or gods. And the way that Orii delivers the song, I can't help imagine that there was something downright witch-like in her vocals. "Kuroyuri no Uta" was another massive hit for the singer as it sold over 1 million records and earned her another appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1955, a couple of years following her debut on the NHK special to sing "Kimi no Na wa".
It's hard to believe that it's been over five years since "Avengers: Endgame" hit the big screens and elicited the big cheers, tears and laughs to wrap up the Thanos saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, it was Alan Silvestri's amazing theme for The Avengers which escorted us home in the end credits but Kitty Kallen's"It's Been a Long, Long Time" got its re-debut of sorts when it was played for Steve Rogers' own homecoming. Even after half a decade, I still listen to both songs to get a nice emotional lift.
Commenter Robert B. honed me in on Yoshiko Shinkura（新倉美子）and her contributions to show business the other day. Actress and jazz singer Shinkura only had a brief dalliance in the geinokai between 1953 and 1956 but for those who did see and hear her, she probably did leave a lifelong mark especially with her singing voice. The scene above might be from one of her four movies that she released in 1953 titled "Seishun Jazz Musume"（青春ジャズ娘...Young Jazz Girl） since according to J-Wiki, it was not only Shinkura but also comedian Frankie Sakai（フランキー堺）and actor Tadao Takashima（高島忠夫）in it, and I recognized the faces for the both of them (even as young as they looked) as two members of the jazz group Teruo Yoda and Six Lemons（与田輝雄とシックスレモンズ）. The guys played some snazzy stuff before Shinkura took the stage to perform "You Belong to Me".
Shinkura got married in 1957 at the approximate age of 23 or 24, thus saying goodbye to her celebrity career. It's stated that she only released one single, her cover of "Vaya con Dios" in 1954, but in 1989, an album recorded by her, "All of Me", was released. At 25:02 is "You Belong to Me" once more and with her dulcet tones at that time along with her demure appearance in "Seishun Jazz Musume", my imagination began bubbling and figuring that if 70s aidorusuperstar Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）had gone back in time and made her debut a couple of decades earlier, she could have been Shinkura.
At 33:23 is Shinkura's cover of "It's Been a Long, Long Time", so if you folks were wondering why I began with "Avengers: Endgame", well, your patience has now been rewarded. Her version is a bit more late-night in tone. As for what has happened to her, Shinkura has been known as Yoshiko Ikeda（池田美子）and in 1973, she opened her own art gallery in Tokyo's Aoyama district, "Galerie Shinkura". I'm not sure whether she ever did continue singing professionally outside of that 1989 album.
Welcome to the last day of 2021. Yup, it has been a typical New Year's Eve in the J-Canuck household. Cleaning up things here and there, getting ready for the toshikoshi soba later tonight, and catching the last third of NHK's annual Kohaku Utagassen, the 72nd edition(there was at least one major change to the schedule since I first put up the list), via TV Japan when I woke up this morning. Of course, Happy New Year to all of those folks in Japan; I did catch "Yuku Toshi, Kuru Toshi"（ゆく年くる年...The Departing Year, The Approaching Year） afterwards.
I did PVR the broadcast so I'll watch the entire thing at my leisure over the next few days, and perhaps some of us will give our opinions on No. 72. But in the meantime, I had been thinking of putting up another Kohaku-themed article to start off the New Year's Eve 2021 batch of KKP articles. At first, I had thought about doing another Fantasy Kohaku Utagassen as I did back in 2019 but that was my second round at it, and I eventually felt that...well...a second round was enough. Then, I mused about going all the way back in history to the very first Kohaku Utagassen on NHK Radio on January 3 1951. However, there was only one song on the lineup there that I knew about, and I just didn't want to smash in a whole bunch of new songs with descriptions when they could eventually get their own articles.
But I did get some more luck with the 4th annual Kohaku which was the very first televised edition on NHK on December 31 1953. It was held at the Nihon Gekijo（日本劇場）facility in Yurakucho, Tokyo which is only a few minutes' walk away from the 72nd edition's venue of the Tokyo International Forum. Broadcast between 9:15 pm and 11:45 pm with Red and White teams consisting of 17 performers each, actress Takiko Mizunoe（水の江瀧子）was the captain of the Red team while NHK announcer Keizo Takahashi（高橋圭三）led the White team. Another NHK announcer, Seigoro Kitade（北出清五郎）was the overall emcee.
For those who may have wanted to find out any footage of the 4th edition, don't bother. According to J-Wiki, because of the technology at the time, no audio or video exists of that show...only some stills which are probably stored away in the NHK archives. However, although I don't know many of the songs listed for that Kohaku, I can put up at least three that I do know since they're already included in the KKP family, and introduce one more by Chiemi Eri（江利チエミ）who appeared for the very first time on the NHK special.
Eri had debuted in January 1952 but her version of "A Guy is a Guy" was her 10th single from February 1953. This was a cover of the Oscar Brand-written standard in 1952 although according to the Wikipedia article for the song, its origins may go all the way back to a 1719 British tune; at this point, though, there is no definitive proof connecting Brand and the UK ditty. Getting back to Eri, she does sing the original English lyrics in the second half of the song but Japanese lyrics were provided for the first half and those were provided by Takashi Otowa（音羽たかし）, the collective pen name for any directors representing King Records.
There have been a number of versions of "A Guy is a Guy" but the most popular one was recorded by Doris Day in 1952.
To finish up, Wendy Tokunaga tweeted about an article at Sora News 24 regarding the future of the Kohaku Utagassen which I found quite interesting and probably already has garnered some very differing opinions.
Heard this one last weekend on NHK's "Songs of Japanese Spirit" and I later found out that the original version of this song was by the late great Yoshio Tabata（田端義夫）.
I think this particular version up here is a later recording of "Furusato no Toudai" (The Lighthouse of Home), I wasn't able to find the original recording which was released in July 1953. Still, Tabata and his characteristic guitar give an emotional performance about memories of the old hometown and the family by the ocean with the titular lighthouse as the main landmark. It would have been nice to have compared this version which sounds so epic and clean with the original take. My impression is that the original would have sounded more rustic and closer to that home because of the arrangements back then and of course the age of the record itself.
Tabata had a couple of old colleagues help him out here. Lyricist Minoru Shimizu（清水みのる）, who had written "Shima no Funauta"（島の船唄）for him in 1939, and composer Yoshiji Nagatsu (長津義司), who had come up with the melody for Tabata's "Otone Tsukiyo" (大利根月夜) in that same year, joined forces to help create "Furusato no Toudai".
Some two decades later in 1973, Hachiro Kasuga（春日八郎）covered "Furusato no Toudai" in his own venerable voice for his album "Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyakusen"（春日八郎 演歌百選...Hachiro Kasuga's Enka Selections）. After listening to this cover and Tabata's version, I found that both were fine renditions but I'll leave the comparisons to any discussion between myself and Noelle Tham, who I believe is the resident expert at KKP on all things Tabata and Kasuga. 😉
NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）returned after a hiatus of several weeks due to the pandemic, and though it wasn't a complete comeback with the usual audience and participants in this most public of karaoke outings, it was still nice to see veterans such as Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）back on the show to talk about some of those highlights of episodes past. Of course, those highlights consisted of folks everywhere around the nation performing kayo kyoku and J-Pop galore in which one was an early Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）kayo titled "Tsugaru no Furusato" (My Home of Tsugaru).
There's something about that part of Aomori Prefecture which must be so profound to invite songwriters to create odes to the area. Naturally, one famous song is "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）by Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）. If and when I return to Japan once more, I will have to see if I can visit that area.
Anyways as mentioned, I heard one lady perform Misora's "Tsugaru no Furusato", and since it was a song by her that I had never known until last Sunday, I was instantly interested. According to the J-Wiki article for it, it was the B-side to the legend's January 1953 45" single"Umakko Sensei"（馬っ子先生...Umakko The Teacher）, and "Tsugaru no Furusato" serves as the thematic sequel to her more famous "Ringo Oiwake"（リンゴ追分）as both delve into life on that apple orchard, have a fairly melancholy melody and were created by Masao Yoneyama（米山正夫）.
Listening to the original version a few times now, I can't really say that it's an enka tune (although I've classified "Ringo Oiwake" as both enka and pop) and indeed the J-Wiki article has categorized it as a straight kayo. There's something about Yoneyama's melody that makes it sound even European operatic at points and it even comes across as a ballad that I could have heard in some film of nearly a century's standing.
According to the uploader msk for the above video (that video has been replaced), this performance is from 1985 and just from the stage and the subtitles, it was probably on some NHK stage somewhere. Of course, more than thirty years on following its release, Misora's voice had deepened and become more complex, plus the arrangement for this performance had become fancier but the innate sadness of the original song still remains. Once again, the lyrics seem to suggest perhaps a form of survivor's guilt by the young Misora and others back then as they live and work in the postwar idyllic Tsugaru while remembering those who didn't make it through the war years.
Yeah, I know, Hachi, songs from the 50's are great!
A few months ago I did an article about songs I love listening to from the 30 and 40's, and I've now decided to follow it up with individual articles about those from the 50's and, eventually, the 60's. I was pretty excited to plan these lists as I quite often find myself buried in the old but gold stuff from this later era, which then had me thinking that picking out my favourites would be a piece of cake. However, following my stipulated rule in the first write up: one song per singer, and the decision of not to bog both articles with the usual suspects that always come to mind (not to say that they're not in it), I have to admit that that had me putting a little more thought into my selections. But that aside, I still managed to pull a good number of songs together from each decade.
Moving on, I will first be talking about my favourite tunes from the 1950's, the time when, I suppose, technically, enka became a proper genre of its own with the first enka singer emerging from the early half of the decade. As with my previous article, I'll also be putting down the lyrics from each song that resonates with me the most, by that I mean those that I like hearing, and not necessarily because I understand what's being sung - could be both, though.
Disclaimer: If I don't mention any song you were hoping to see, sorry, perhaps I don't listen to it all that much or at all. But feel free to share what yours are. :)
With that being said, let's get started. The entries aren't arranged in any specific order.
Isao Hayashi -- Mamurogawa Boogie (1954)
Watasha Mamurogawa no ume no hana korya (わたしゃ真室川の 梅の花 コーリャ) Anata mata kono machi no ugui su yo (あなたまた この町のうぐいすよ)
Starting us off is the contrasting fusion of Japanese grassroots minyo and Western smooth jazz "Mamurogawa Boogie" (真室川ブギ), Isao Hayashi's (林伊佐緒) creative take on the "Mamurogawa Ondo" (真室川音頭), a minyo from the Yamagata prefecture. It may sound like a strange pairing, but Hayashi really knew what he was doing! To me, "Mamurogawa Boogie" is the best of both worlds as it's still as catchy as any normal minyo ditty, and yet the western instruments provide a fuller, more dramatic arrangement and a fun modern twist. Ah, it's already sticking to my brain.
Koichi Miura -- Ochiba Shigure (1953) Hokage mo sabishii keikotou no (灯ほかげもさみし 蛍光灯の) Kage ni shimijimi hitori naku (かげにしみじみ 独り泣く)
"Ochiba Shigure" (落葉しぐれ) is probably the most recent favourite here and I was quite surprised by how much I grew to like it, considering the fact that I initially thought it was kind of bland in the sense that it sounded like any other enka song. But after constant exposure to it via Hachiro Kasuga's (春日八郎) version and eventually the original by Koichi Miura (三浦洸一), I developed a better appreciation for this song about a nagashi wandering the uramachi in autumn from the elegant strings and the latter's hearty baritone. Probably what helped in giving me a better view of "Ochiba Shigure" was the comfortable memory of walking down Asakusa-bashi on a clear, windy day many years ago with golden ginkgo dive-bombing me.
Kazuo Shirane -- Jinanbo Garasu (1955)
Dobu no sekai ni naze mi wo nageru (泥溝の世界に 何故身を投げる)
As I've mentioned before, I do love my matatabi enka, and Kazuo Shirane's (白根一男) hit "Jinanbo Garasu" (次男坊鴉) is one of the two that I had chosen to be in this list. More than anything, it was the upbeat and rhythmic score that got me hooked when I was introduced to it via Kiyoshi Hikawa's (氷川きよし) cover a couple of years back. The younger singer's rendition has more kick to it, as most of his songs do, but the original still sounds quite spunky.
Yoshiko Ohtsu -- Koko ni Sachi Ari (1956)
Kimi ni yori sori akaruku aogu (君に寄り添い 明るく仰ぐ) Koko ni sachi ari shiroigumo (ここに幸あり 白い雲)
Taking a little break from enka and going into some slightly jazzy kayo territory here with Yoshiko Ohtsu's (大津美子) signature "Koko ni Sachi Ari" (ここに幸あり). I find this a very comforting tune with that joyful premise of being together with your special one, and Ohtsu's wonderful vocals that I equate to that feeling when you're wrapped in a soft and warm blanket.
Haruo Minami -- Yuki no Wataridori (1957)
Ore mo koi na no Ginpei sa nuku ka nagadosu (俺も鯉名の 銀平さ抜くか長どす) Nukeba shiraha ni chi no fubuki (抜けば白刃に 血の吹雪)
With that talk of the usual suspects at the very top of the write-up, here is Haruo Minami (三波春夫) with the second ronin-inspired song, "Yuki no Wataridori" (雪の渡り鳥). Just like "Jinanbo Garasu", I enjoy the former for its cheerful sound, and, of course, there's Minami's chirpy vocals that makes for a more dynamic song. But what piqued my interest and that morbid streak in me was how the masterless samurai painted/would paint the snow red with the blood of his enemies - the bit I have put above this paragraph. It's cool - haha, get it? Because snow... Okay, sorry - and a little dark and it does contrast with the almost always smiley Minami, that is, until he puts on his crazy face with that murderous glint in his eyes.
Nonbe sumiyaki isogi ashi (のんべェ炭焼き 急ぎ足) Tsuki wo tayori ni kareha no youni (月をたよりに 枯れ葉のように) Kushami tsuzukete shite tooru (くしゃみ続けて して通る) Hore yura yura (ホレ ユーラユラ)
Rounding off the list of my favourite songs from the 1950's is Hachi's "Yama no Tsurihashi" (山の吊橋), which is kind of apt since it was released in the decade's final year. I guess it's of no surprise that this song's here, seeing as to how I've been talking about it, but there were quite a number of Kasuga's songs that I considered putting here, like "Uramachi Yakyoku" (裏町夜曲) and "Ore wa Nora Inu" (俺は野良犬), just to name a few. In the end, because I felt that in terms of which I'd end up still liking a lot in the long run, the happy-go-lucky ditty about a suspension bridge won out.
And that's the end of the article. I hope you've enjoyed it. Stayed tuned for my 60's list!
Getting back home after dinner with my friends tonight, I flicked on Turner Movie Classics where I caught the last 45 minutes of the classic musical "The Band Wagon" (1953) with Fred Astaireand Cyd Charisse. Of course, there were some of the wonderful routines involving "Dancing In The Dark" and especially "That's Entertainment". And now I know from where the music video for Art of Noise's"Peter Gunn" was inspired along with Michael Jackson's"Smooth Criminal".
Anyways, after the movie ended, I was left wondering about some of the kayo that had come out in that same year of 1953. There are four previous songs from that year listed on the blog and I found out another one titled "Genki de ne, Sayonara" (Take Care, Goodbye) by enka singer Koichi Aoki（青木光一）.
Aoki is already represented by a song that has become an enka standard, "Kaki no Kizaka no Ie"（柿の木坂の家）which was released in 1957. However, it was with "Genki de ne, Sayonara" that the singer from Saga Prefecture got his first big break. And unlike the slightly sorrowful "Kaki no Kizaka no Ie", "Genki de ne, Sayonara" sounds more cheerful despite the theme of parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow.
Released in March 1953, the lyrics were by Toshio Nomura（野村俊夫）with the music provided by Minoru Mikai（三界稔）. The other interesting thing about the song is in the title; I don't think I had ever seen the word "sayonara" written in kanji before.
OK, first off... this article isn't about the anime "Kimi no Na wa"（君の名は。...Your Name） from this year that has been apparently getting some acclaim. I'm talking about the romantic drama from decades back that had originally been broadcast as a radio drama all the way back in 1952.
As you have probably guessed, I'm not a huge drama watcher although I did have my moments in the 1990s starting with "Tokyo Love Story"（東京ラブストーリー）. However, even I knew about this famous drama titled "Kimi no Na wa"(What's Your Name?) that had its origins on NHK Radio and then was adapted into a movie, a TV drama and even a stage play over the decades.
There's a far more polished article on the drama itself along with similar examples of the weepy sure-chigai (two ships passing in the night...the classic analogy for a romance never meant to be) sub-genre from "The Japan Times", but I can provide the brief synopsis here. A woman, Mariko Ujiie（氏家真知子）, and a man, Haruki Atomiya（後宮春樹）, try to find refuge during the night of the Tokyo Air Raid and spend a brief time together ultimately ending up on the Sukiyabashi Bridge in Ginza. They have to part but promise each other that they will meet again on the same bridge in 6 months' time. Of course, that doesn't come to pass and they don't even give each other their names (D'oh!). In the interim, Mariko and Haruki have to overcome their own surrounding trials and tribulations.
Being a buff of the ancient age of Hollywood, "Kimi no Na wa" reminded me most of "An Affair to Remember"(1957) with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr although the structure of this movie was flipped...not to say that this flick was connected with "Kimi no Na wa" in any way. I'm sure that the final scene for "An Affair to Remember" had the viewers pulling out the hankies, though.
Although the radio broadcast had another singer performing the theme song, it sounds as if "Kimi no Na wa" became famous from the singer performing it for the movie version from 1953 and then recording it onto vinyl, Shigeko Orii（織井茂子）. Orii was born in 1926 in Tokyo's Meguro Ward and became a singer of children's songs while in her teens. Coming under the tutelage of composer Nosho Omura（大村能章）, she graduated into the world of kayo kyoku under the stage name of Yoshiko Miyako（都能子）debuting in 1947 at King Records. However with no hits during that time, the singer decided to start over again in 1949, this time under her real name at Columbia.
In 1953, with her rendition of "Kimi no Na wa", Orii's ship didn't pass her by, it came into port for her. The mournful theme song written by Kazuo Kikuta（菊田一夫）and composed by Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）struck a national chord and sold anything between 1.1 million to 2 million records. A number of Orii's succeeding singles didn't quite get the same amount of business but still sold very successfully.
Orii would also appear on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen 6 times between 1953 and 1989, each time when the Kohaku was staged at a different place including its current venue of NHK Hall in Shibuya. Two of those times, her first and final appearances, had her singing "Kimi no Na wa".
Orii would continue to work right up until her passing at the age of 70 in 1996. She even ran a nightclub in Tokyo for many years until the Bubble burst.
Back in the days when my ears were merely beyond embryonic, songs like "Till I Waltz Again With You" were what I was first listening on the American side of things due to my Dad's collection of standards and what was still being played on US variety shows in the 1960s. Sid Proesen wrote and composed this old chestnut for Teresa Brewer in 1952, and it was a huge hit for her as it stayed on the charts for 22 weeks with 7 straight weeks at No. 1. If the account listed at Wikipedia is indeed true, then this could have been the song that sparked Elvis Presley into thinking "Hey, I might have a chance at this singing gig!"
Some months later across the Pacific, "Till I Waltz Again With You" also became a launching point for another veteran singer. In 1953, the song under the Japanese title of "Omoide no Waltz" (Waltz of My Memories) was the debut single for Izumi Yukimura（雪村いづみ）. At the tender age of 16, she gave this slightly softer and jazzier version of the song in a voice that surprised the heck out of me since it sounded so much more polished than what a teenager would sound like behind a mike. And the above version is in the original English.
I gave a very slim background on the Tokyo-born Yukimura for my first article involving her so allow me to give some more details. Her childhood was sad in that her father who had been so much into music as a member of a Hawaiian band and introduced her to modern music committed suicide when his daughter was only 9 years old. In addition, her mother's company went bankrupt which meant that Yukimura had to drop out of junior high school despite her good grades. Most likely, because of her father's influence, she showed a desire to become a singer and so worked for free at a dance hall in Shimbashi called Florida in 1952. Later that year in May, she got a role at the Nichigeki Music Hall in a play as a cigarette girl and then made her professional debut as a singer for which she received her accolades.
Her debut with "Omoide no Waltz" got high praise and it also sold an amazing 200,000 records. Yukimura became so famous so quickly that she was even called The Cinderella of the Century. She was then placed with the other popular starlets Hibari Misora and Chieni Eri（美空ひばり・江利チエミ）to be seen as the unit San-nin Musume（三人娘...The Three Daughters）. Some years later, she made her way to the United States where she appeared on the Dinah Shore Show on NBC and was the first Japanese entertainer to grace the pages of "LIFE" magazine.
The Japanese lyrics for Yukimura's hit cover version were provided by Seiichi Ida（井田誠一）. Yukimura also appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen a total of 10 times with her most recent appearance to date in 1989 when he paid tribute to her late friend, Misora. However, none of those times featured her debut song.
As much as I would've liked to hear the Meatball Sub and Philly Cheese Steak or any kind of sandwich in existance being mentioned in Koji Tsuruta's (鶴田浩二) "Machi no Sandwich man", this song has got nothing to do with the food itself and 'Sandwich man' is just a term for a human billboard...bummer. Nevertheless, it still makes me envision a hoagie every time I listen to it.
I came across this song just about a week ago while feeling bored and a little more adventurous in the music department. While on this YouTube channel by the name of 'subaru enka' that uploads Enka and Kayokyoku from the 50's (or even farther back) to the 70's from time to time, I decided to just pick a random video from the unfamiliar lot and listen to it, and hopefully like it. So I ended up choosing Tsuruta's first big hit (unbeknownst to me yet) since I recognize the fellow's name and the title sounded fascinating.
The 1979 performance I first watched.
"Machi no Sandwich man" occurred to me as quite a catchy, slightly jazzy tune with the trumpets, the sharp, high notes of the violin (I think), and the prominent bass in the background, or at least it does in the 1979 version where I had first heard of the song. The original from 1953 doesn't have such a full arrangement, and it sounds a little like one of those Disney tracks from the 50's... I can just see one of those walking brooms/mops marching away to this. It was composed by Yoshida Tadashi and written by Tetsuo Miyagawa (吉田正.宮川哲夫).
When my family watches TV Japan (which is pretty much all the time every day), there are a number of programs that are must-sees for us. One is the old-style comedy program, "Shoten" on Sunday nights, and then there is NHK's "Kayo Concert" which comes out here on our tube on Tuesday nights (although over in Japan, I think it's televised on Mondays).
Then, there is the tentpole for Sunday afternoons. At 1 p.m. here in Toronto, we hear those tubular bells get rung and we know it's time for NHK's "Nodo Jiman" (Proud of my Voice). In Japan, though, it has been running forever from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Although I've never watched a single episode of "American Idol" (never got into the reality TV genre), I can't help but make comparisons, the biggest one being the ultimate aim. For "American Idol", it's having the contestants being run through the vocal hoops and getting whittled down (or, if being judged by Simon Cowell, hacked into little toothpicks) until that one champion comes out and gets that contract and perhaps that launch into a new lucrative career.
"Nodo Jiman"is somewhat less ferocious. Since its debut on NHK Radio in 1946 and then its transition onto TV from 1953, it's been about NHK traveling to the various community centres and high school auditoriums all over Japan, and getting the local population out to enjoy 45 minutes of singing on a weekly basis on the largest karaoke stage. Yes, there is competition in that each singer tries to make it through the first refrain so that he/she/they can get that triumphant round of tubular bells and then even earn a prize at the end of the show. Sometimes, if the singer is not having a good day, it'll be some lines and then just that one clang of a bell, but there's nothing malicious in the proceedings. Everyone is just appreciative of getting that 15 seconds in front of the cameras.
I was just reading through the write-up for "Nodo Jiman" on J-Wiki, and the audition process is rather similar to that for getting onto a game show. Probably thousands of postcards come in as applications from which about 250 acts over high school age are chosen. On the Saturday before the Sunday broadcast, those acts are brought to the auditorium where the Sunday show will be broadcast for private auditions. There, the final 20 acts are chosen for the real broadcast the next day.
On broadcast Sunday, with the greeting of those bells, everyone comes marching out to the jaunty theme song, and the emcee (currently Sen Odagiri) quickly launches things off. My parents sometimes criticizes him for being a little too brisk with the singers, especially when they're all pretty nervous. In any case, the NHK band can handle pretty much anything from enka to R&B....in other words, any song that has gotten onto the charts over the last 60-odd years. In a way, it's a bit like the Kohaku Utagassen....some retiree could sing enka classic "Yokohama Tasogare"by Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし） and then a few minutes later, a university co-ed is hitting the high notes to a Misia tune. And to add a bit more to the excitement to amateurs and audience, a couple of guest performers also show up weekly. Basically, if the pros have shown up on "Kayo Concert", there's a good chance that they will show up on "Nodo Jiman", so it would truly be a special show if someone like Yuming（ユーミン） or Kazumasa Oda（小田和正） ever appeared.
I think the wonderful thing about "Nodo Jiman" is that it has been this weekly traveling road show through all of the prefectures, instead of just having it planted at the Shibuya studios. The local audience can get that touch of NHK fame and see a few of their own make it big while the TV audience can also find out some more about that region, whether it be Hokkaido or Kochi or Gunma. And speaking about some making it big, there have been some of those locals who truly did hit the big time. Enka singers such as Itsuki and the legendary Hibari Misora（美空ひばり） had appeared on the show as participants before making their professional debuts. And even one future leader of Morning Musume, Ai Takahashi（高橋愛）, won a prize when the show came to her prefecture of Fukui.
Every March, out of the pool of weekly champions, 15 of them are selected for the "NHK Nodo Jiman Grand Champion Competition", held at the network's Tokyo HQ in Shibuya. Just imagine that one person or duo who becomes the yokozuna after that contest. In karaoke-crazy Japan, it must be like winning the lottery. But even with all of the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the steps leading up to that grand competition, I think most people just focus on those three-quarters of an hour each week just to see plain folks like themselves do what they probably like doing whether it's singing in the shower or hitting the mike at the local Shidax. And maybe...just maybe....they may be inspired enough to pick up that pen and send in that postcard.
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