Shocking Lemon -- Under Star

 

We've had a few people in the music industry on both sides of the Pacific pass away in the last few weeks. However, I'm surprised to hear of a familiar face and name who has also left this mortal coil. TV personality, actor and former WBC Lightweight champion Guts Ishimatsu（ガッツ 石松）passed away on June 2nd at the age of 76 from pneumonia. As with a lot of people in Japan who knew of him, I was shocked since, although my exposure to Japanese television is rather limited now, I'd had no idea that Ishimatsu was even ill.

I didn't know anything about his boxing career but I got to know Ishimatsu as the amiable if seemingly slow-off-the-mark tarento on many variety shows (although when he was a color commentator on boxing broadcasts, he was sharp as a katana in his observations and assessments). I'm sure that a lot of folks in Japan were tickled pink to see him in a small role as one of the bad guys in Michael Douglas' "Black Rain". I noticed a lot of condolences beneath the above video, and I would also like to send my condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Guts, who was born Yuuji Suzuki（鈴木有二）in Tochigi Prefecture, was also the man who came up with what is called in Japanese, the Guts Pose, due to his special victory gesture that has been picked by many an athlete and pretty much anyone else in the nation who has won anything. Yumi's English Boot Camp below will give a Japanese explanation on the expression itself.

I wasn't quite sure how to pay tribute to Guts Ishimatsu. I was thinking about something from boxing-themed anime although I'm not a fan of the sub-genre itself. But I do remember one awkward and funny scene from the 2000 anime (the usual sax helped sell it) "Hajime no Ippo"（はじめの一歩...The First Step） which I'd wrongly assumed was a far older show from the animation style.

There were a couple of opening credits theme songs for the series, the first one being a third single "Under Star" by the rock band Shocking Lemon, released in December 2000. Not surprisingly, the song, which was written and composed by guitarist Hideki Taniuchi（谷内秀基）, has that rapid-fire jangly rock arrangement which comes to mind whenever I think of anime openers. The rest of the band consisted of vocalist Takahiko Ogino（荻野隆彦）, bassist Makoto Sakata（坂田誠）and drummer Toshiki Shimizu（清水俊樹）. "Under Star" was their major debut as a band although they started up in 1993. After four singles and three full albums, Shocking Lemon broke up in 2007.

Plus-Tech Squeeze Box -- A Day in the Radio

 

A day in the radio? Oh, here I thought that I was going to have to put on my English teacher's hat once more to rectify a prepositional issue.

But then, I figured out that this was a track from the 2000 album "Fakevox" by Japanese duo Tomonori Hayashibe（ハヤシベトモノリ）and Takeshi Wakiya（ワキヤタケシ）who are collectively known as Plus-Tech Squeeze Box. They first got together in 1997 and have released a couple of original albums including the aforementioned "Fakevox". Their genres of choice happen to be electronica and Shibuya-kei, and "A Day in the Radio" is a good example of the two genres put together like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. 

Hayashibe was responsible for both words and music, and it starts off like something for a Nintendo video game but then explodes into a cute Day-Glo danceable (privately, if you wish) ditty. From the sounds of it, I would have thought it ideal as a theme song for some zany gag-filled anime.

Culture Day

 

Last night, my student reminded me that Monday is a national holiday in Japan known as Culture Day. Every November 3rd, there are festivals, parades and art exhibits to promote culture of all kinds including music throughout the nation. And I believe that museums and art galleries tend to open up their buildings for free access or half-price access on that day.

When I was on vacation in Tokyo back in November 2017, my former colleague was kind enough to invite me to a culture festival held at Waseda University where she was working at the time, and as you can see above, it was packed to the gills with students and other visitors as the various campus clubs held performances and campaigns to attract new members.

As such, I decided why not put up a few songs regarding Culture Day. Admittedly, I'm gonna be rather loosey-goosey about how I'm going to go about it. The first three entries are associated with some of the things that I talked about in the first paragraph whereas the final two songs were actually popular ones played at some of the festivals themselves.

(1976) Tatsuro Yamashita/Sugar Babe -- Parade （パレード）

(1984) Taeko Ohnuki -- Metropolitan Museum （メトロポリタン美術館）

(2000) Pornograffitti -- Music Hour （ミュージック・アワー）

(1987) The Blue Hearts -- Linda, Linda

(2016) Gen Hoshino -- Koi （恋）

Southern All Stars -- Hotel Pacific

 

Ah, yes...November. That time of the year between Halloween party enthusiasm and Christmas revelry which is relatively quiet, although admittedly the stores are probably already festooned with Yuletide decorations and products. It's also the second full month of autumn and the leaves are at their peak colours just before they eventually fall and hit the ground to become future mulch. Of course, in Japanese pop culture, that also usually signifies the death of romance.

If you were here last night for the mix of Halloween and City Pop songs at "Kayo Kyoku Plus", you might be shaking your head or eyes at seeing the above photo and the title of the song. Yes, indeed, the photo above is showing what was once The Pacific Hotel Chigasaki（パシフィックホテル茅ヶ崎）, also known as The Pacific Park Chigasaki. I had that up last night at the very end of the final article for Friday which was Bread & Butter's（ブレッド＆バッター）"Hotel Pacific" from 1981.

Guess what? Almost twenty years later, the band Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）also got that inspiration of the memory of the legendary hotel which became their 45th single from July 2000, "Hotel Pacific" (yup, same title, too). However, unlike the melancholy and languid balladry about lost love from Bread & Butter's song, SAS brings their usual upbeat rock and pop with a Latin twist regarding lost love to the Keisuke Kuwata-penned（桑田佳祐） "Hotel Pacific". No lonely man walking forlornly along the beach here; he is running with several other women and a full band!

Not surprisingly, "Hotel Pacific" hit No. 2 and became the 20th-ranked single for 2000, going Double Platinum and selling over 800,000 copies. Album-wise, it first showed up on Southern All Stars' BEST compilation "Umi no Oh Yeah!!"（海のOh, Yeah!!...Oh Yeah of the Ocean） from August 2018. That hit No. 1 for two weeks and ended up as the No. 3 album of the year. Interestingly enough, this particular song wasn't the only one in the SAS discography that referred to The Pacific Hotel Chigasaki. You can check out their 1982 "Natsu wo Akiramete" （夏をあきらめて）.

Kyoto Jazz Massive -- Eclipse

Wikimedia Commons
by Luc Viatour

It may have been last year or 2023 when that big total eclipse came rushing over our skies and it was Niagara Falls that provided the prime vantage point. So, thousands upon thousands of people rushed to the Honeymoon Capital of the world for those few minutes of epic darkness. Toronto got hit by the shadow as well so we were in our abode in the afternoon when the skies went totally black in what was one of the more dramatic scenes that I ever witnessed.

A few years have passed since putting up my last article on Kyoto Jazz Massive but doing some browsing and maintenance on the blog re-acquainted me with the project devoted to jazz, electronica and other styles. This is the title track from their 2000 EP "Eclipse", and though today is merely a Tuesday, listening to this one makes me feel like it's a Friday and it's time to hit the oh-so-cool club scene. And the craziest thing is that I have probably heard excerpts of this song before through its use in segments of Japanese infotainment programs. By the way, the version below is the Afronaught remix.

Maimi Tanaka -- MIRACLE SHOPPING ~ Don Quixote no Tehma（ドン・キホーテのテーマ）

 

The one thing that I had always wanted to know about the Japanese consumer goods bargain emporium Don Quixote (since 1980) was how the place got its name. Well, the founder, Takao Yasuda（安田隆夫）, had wanted a name to reflect the drive to take on new challenges and that was summed up in the famous novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes with the main character more than willing to tilt at windmills.

I have visited the odd Don Quixote during my years in the Kanto area including the above Hollywood-looking Asakusa branch. They sell anything and everything although I have to admit that I was rather stunned that the Kit Kat chocolate section was only a tight corridor away from some rotating sexual devices. That's a real twist!

Ahem...anyways, what I hadn't known was that Don Quixote had its own theme. Well, I should have known. Other major stores have come up with their own tunes including Yodobashi Camera（ヨドバシカメラ）so why not the Don as well? 

Mind you, "MIRACLE SHOPPING ~ Don Quixote no Tehma" (The Don Quixote Theme Song) didn't come about until some two decades after its founding. Its arrival in 1999 or 2000 was due to Maimi Tanaka（田中マイミ）, who had been a singer-songwriter since at least the early 1980s, but actually entered Don Quixote as a new part-time employee in 1994. Gaining responsibilities and success in sales and the famous jungle-like design of the store interiors, Tanaka became a full employee and then a department chief. Founder Yasuda then asked her to draw on her old songwriting abilities to come up with a jingle song for the store. It had to be catchy enough to get the shoppers inside to bounce about and purchase stuff. Well, that she has done thanks to the synthpop arrangement along boogie jazz lines. 

In her early years, Tanaka had provided songs for other artists such as Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）, Beat Takeshi（ビートたけし）and Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）. Before "MIRACLE SHOPPING", she has also put out her own single back in 1980 and an album the following year.

Hiroko Kasahara -- Hai to Dynamite（灰とダイナマイト）

 

My knowledge of veteran actress, seiyuu and singer Hiroko Kasahara（笠原弘子）is very small, although she has had one article here on KKP for her performance of "Sora no Mukou ni"（空の向こうに）from the game "Symphonic Rain". I know that I've seen her on at least one anime, "Magic Knight Rayearth"（魔法騎士レイアース）as one of the three main characters but that's about it.

Kasahara has released a number of her albums over the years and this one track from her January 2000 album "Neo Decadence" has got my attention. "Hai to Dynamite" (Ash and Dynamite) is a slow-burning soulful love song about rekindling some of that old romance once more. It's perhaps not a surprise that its additional title is "Kareki ni Hana wo Sakasemashou"（枯れ木に花を咲かせましょう...Let's Grow Flowers in the Deadwood）. Natsuko Karedou（枯堂夏子）was the lyricist here while Masami Kishimura（岸村正実）took care of the melody. My compliments especially to the bluesy guitarist who just about stole the show.

Monday MIchiru -- Tahitian Xmas

 

Happy weekend...the first one for August 2024, for that matter. We've been getting our 3H (hot, hazy and humid) weather for the past few days now, and I can honestly say that yesterday, I felt that it was almost (but not quite) as drippy here as it was back in Tokyo during the summer. I haven't experienced that sort of feeling in a very long time.

Perhaps thinking of Christmas has been one way to get my mind off of the torrid heat and humidity. At one point years ago on KKP, I used to throw out a Xmas tune in the dog days of summer but haven't done so recently. Well, lucky that my friend and podcaster Scott from "Holly Jolly X'masu" broadcast his most recent episode titled "Christmas In July - 2024" with all sorts of summery-themed Christmas tunes.

One of the songs in his collection was Japanese-American singer-songwriter Monday Michiru's（Monday満ちる） "Tahitian Xmas" from her December 2000 album "4 Seasons". Nope, it doesn't sound anything like a conventional Christmas song; instead it's a relaxing blend of fusion and Latin AOR this side of Yutaka Yokokura（横倉裕）that may depict a vacation in Tahiti (I heard it's a magical place) for those who want to flee the winter during the Holidays. There aren't even any vocals with Monday Michiru simply and silkily adding some languid scatting. Considering air fares recently, maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing to reserve those tickets for tropical climes for Xmas soon.

Some Tropical Dancing, Anyone?

 

I guess Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico both have the same idea. It's summer, the patios are open as well as the dance floors, and right now in Toronto, there is the annual Salsa Festival for this weekend. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the annual Samba Festival will be taking place in Asakusa, Tokyo later this season. Frankly, I was thinking about putting up some previously posted songs which can potentially have listeners doing a bit of the salsa, cha-cha, samba and other dances from around the Equator (well, the salsa is actually from New York) and southwards. Enjoy!

(1991) Orquesta De La Luz -- Watashi wa Piano (私はピアノ）

(1991) Miho Nakayama -- Rosa

(1986) Akemi Ishii -- Hibiki wa tutu （響きはtutu)

(2000) Mondo Grosso feat. Bird -- Life

Yuko Mizutani -- Jitensha（自転車）

 

It was only a little under a month ago that anime fans and especially those of "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん） received word that singer and seiyuu Tarako had suddenly passed away. The voice of the title character was so distinctive and recognizable that after her final taped episode had been shown a few weeks ago, I've been left wondering who could replace Tarako although the search is on.

(20:52)

When I heard about Tarako's untimely passing, I was also reminded of the sad death in 2016 of seiyuu and singer Yuko Mizutani（水谷優子）who had played the first version of Sakiko Sakura（さくらさきこ）, Maruko's elder sister with the major crush on 70s heartthrob Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）. A few years ago, I even posted an article on one of her own songs, "Drive Planet", from her 1994 album "Vibit".

This time, I'm posting on another one of Mizutani's songs, "Jitensha" (Bicycle), which was on her 2000 album "Purring". Written by Keiko Miura（三浦恵子）and composed by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）, it's as breezy and bouncy as a bike coasting down a hill by the ocean. The arrangement almost but not quite takes things into a Flipper's Guitar type of Shibuya-kei. Forgive me my fantastical mind, but I could see young Sakiko growing up to record this song a couple of decades following the anime's time period of the 1970s...with Hideki's assistance.

Esper Ito with Super Icons -- Meiwaku Dial Esper Hyaku-Tou Ban（迷惑ダイヤル エスパー110番）

 

I got the announcement from Mulboyne's Twitter account several minutes ago and it's sad news for someone like me who used to see Japanese variety television with all of its colourful characters. One of them was a fellow named Masuo Ito（伊東万寿男）but viewers knew him as the comedian Esper Ito（エスパー伊東）. I saw him from time to time on various programs where he was famous for doing all sorts of sideshow stunts including contorting himself into a small Boston bag. Ito also struck me as being one of the more button-down entertainers, calmly explaining himself and his abilities although he also had that expression of spaciness.

Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 63 yesterday. As you can see in the video above, he had been suffering from a number of ailments including Bell's Palsy in recent years but was trying his best to recover to entertain folks again. There was also some mention of COVID complications but a direct cause of death has yet to be given at this writing. 

The Kumamoto Prefecture-born Ito was first and foremost a physical comedian but in 2000, he did put out a gag CD with a group of women known as the Super Icons（エスパー伊東 with スーパーICONS）. "Meiwaku Dial Esper Hyaku-Tou Ban" (Spam Calls Esper 110) sounds like a contemporary tokusatsu hero march although I believe the lyrics are describing the usual annoying things about owning a cellphone such as spam calls. I couldn't find out who wrote and composed the 1990s-esque dance club melody but the Super Icons definitely won the singing contest over Esper Ito.

My condolences go out to Esper's family, friends and fans.

Japanese Commercial Christmas Songs by J-Canuck

 

Yes, nothing says Christmas in Japan more than Sylvester Stallone and Ito Ham. My goodness...that glorious mane of hair back in the day could rival anything on KKP AI representative Kayo Grace Kyoku's head.

But just to get away from the weirdness of Hollywood celebrities in Japanese commercials, let's think about some of those other wholesome ads promising things like chicken covered in eleven herbs and spices and ten thousand calories (that was certainly the case when I was living in Chiba) when it comes to J-Xmas. Consider this special Yuletide Author's Pick a summary of those J-Xmas tunes for ads that I've already covered over the past dozen years.

(1983) Tatsuro Yamashita -- Christmas Eve for Japan Railways

(2000) Mariya Takeuchi -- Suteki na Holiday（すてきなホリデイ）for Kentucky Fried Chicken

(1992) KAN -- Kan no Christmas Song（KANのChristmas Song） for Kentucky Fried Chicken

(1992) B'z -- Itsuka no Merry Christmas （いつかのメリークリスマス）for Pepsi Nex

(1987) dip in the pool -- Miracle Play: Tenshi ga Furu Yoru（天使が降る夜）for Marui

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Kirinji -- Aliens （エイリアンズ）

 

Number: 016

Lyricist and Composer: Yasuyuki Horigome

Arrangers: Tomita Lab and Kirinji

From Kirinji's 2000 album: "3"

Even when calling a town a town, it's so Kirinji（キリンジ）to not take into consideration a town or neighbourhood within the nation's capital but a community within the suburbs. I've been unexpectedly taken aback with the precision and vividness of the detailed depiction of things like "public housing", "bypasses" and "sports car looking like masks". Those who are isolated from the centre of things may suffer quietly from alienation and loneliness but hope springs eternal within this beautiful melody.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Kensaku Tanikawa -- Theme from NHK's "Sono Toki Rekishi ga Ugoita"（その時歴史が動いた）

 

I've never been a huge fan of those historical documentaries that NHK has been expert at for decades. The language and the material were simply too difficult for me to wrap my head around. But as with every documentary that the national TV network tackled, the producers made sure it was as grand as possible.

One such show was titled "Sono Toki Rekishi ga Ugoita" (Then History Changed) which had its run between for nearly a decade between 2000 and 2009 on NHK. I remember ending up catching the last few minutes of the show because I'd wanted to catch the following news, and so the scenes were a recap of some monumental moment in Japanese history that was the show's topic each episode.

However, it was the theme song for "Sono Toki Rekishi ga Ugoita" that got my ears because it was such a sumptuous orchestral overture that seems to have come out of some motion picture or very ambitious one-shooter video game. The producers figured that there a monumental moment in Japanese history deserved no less than the best musical tribute. For the person at the centre of the moment, if they were still alive, they would be marching off into the sun with great pride, and that is all thanks to pianist and composer Kensaku Tanikawa（谷川賢作）. 

Tanikawa comes from a very famous family. His grandfather was philosopher and Hosei University president Tetsuzo Tanikawa（谷川徹三）, his father is poet Shuntaro Tanikawa（谷川俊太郎）, his mother is theatre actress Tomoko Okubo（大久保知子）and his daughter is fashion stylist Yumeka Tanikawa（谷川夢佳）. Kensaku has scored several movies and a few television dramas.

Kirinji -- Good Day Good Bye（グッデイ・グッバイ）

 

The lyrics for the song of this article had me pondering about the ideal town to live in. And as such, I threw this question into the Google search engine: Where is the happiest town in the world? Well, as of April 2023, the answer is Tampere, Finland. The above video, by the way, was uploaded five years ago by YouTuber Honest Guide. 

Considering some of the urban woes that my home city of Toronto is suffering right now: rising crime, moribund downtown life, long-delayed construction and repair projects being undertaken in one big mass, etc., I have thought about where a nice town to reside would be. In the province of Ontario, the university city of Kingston a couple of hours' drive away has been indicated. But wouldn't that be the thing? Happy industrious citizens, booming economy with a plethora of interesting shops and restaurants, safe and clean streets and the whole ball of wax. 

I really have to stop assuming that amazing music unit Kirinji's（キリンジ）early works were all about the love balladry, just from the moving "Aliens"（エイリアンズ）. That was my introduction to Takaki and Yasuyuki Horigome （堀込高樹・泰行）and it's been a grand journey so far. But this particular song by the Horigome brothers had actually been released as their 4th single in April 2000, half a year before "Aliens" came out.

"Good Day Good Bye" is an uptempo song that was created by the Horigomes with Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）helping them out in the arrangement as well. And it's one of those scrumptious songs that I don't think is that easy to categorize in one Label. I hear some Motown and Shibuya-kei (some Santana and even Chicago thrown in there?) in this tune that seems to describe the eccentric but fun antics in an ideal town. The wonderful thing is that I've discovered another splendidly catchy Kirinji song.

The video featuring the brothers along with a heartbroken customer, a café owner and his lone waitress looks like it had been created in the 1980s. It's a very sumptuous video for me because I've always appreciated those Mom-and-Pop coffee houses in Tokyo with the owners whipping up the home-cooked dishes by themselves. And I've had some lovely tuna salad sandwiches over the years in one particular establishment. I didn't exactly have the staff pull off a dance suddenly in the middle of the place, though. Incidentally, the single peaked at No. 54 on Oricon.

Yoshitaka Mihara -- Urban Night Cruisin'

 

Yup, I'd think that for a lot of overseas City Pop fans who have yet to make it to Japan, getting on that night drive through Tokyo would be one of the must-do things on the itinerary. I'd suggest at least a cruise through Ginza, then onto Tokyo Bay Bridge into Odaiba, before making the trip up to West Shinjuku for one night at least.

Along with the usual City Pop classics as musical accompaniment, perhaps I can also suggest another song out of the blue. That would be electone player and keyboardist Yoshitaka Mihara's（三原善隆）"Urban Night Cruisin'" from his October 2000 album "Progress". Earlier this year, I introduced the Hokkaido musician through his "Summer Sunset" on his well-regarded 1993 album "Night Rider". Well, with "Urban Night Cruisin'", your ride through the capital city or any major city on the Japanese archipelago can have a bit more class and sophistication and Henry Mancini-esque swing.

"Progress" apparently is Mihara's last album to date although according to his J-Wiki profile, he's been holding his annual "Mihara Yoshitaka Super Session"（三原善隆SUPER SESSION）events with plenty of guests. I'm assuming that some of those guests were involved in "Progress" such as jazz pianist Hiroko Kokubu（国府弘子）, the late and great saxophonist Jake H. Concepcion and bassist Naoki Watanabe（ 渡辺直樹）.

QYPTHONE -- Tension Attention, Please

 

I'm actually beginning my KKP night tonight really late...as in I'm less than 90 minutes away from midnight and then Sunday morning. One reason is that I decided to watch an entire Toronto Maple Leafs game on "Hockey Night in Canada" earlier, and the other reason is that I went into my other hobby of dozing off a few times in the armchair. Happily, the Leafs won tonight over the Buffalo Sabres, but for those of you who may be reading this across Lake Ontario in Buffalo, New York, I hope that all of you are keeping safe from that lallapalooza of a snowstorm that you're getting whacked with.

Earlier this year, I wrote about this uniquely named band, QYPTHONE, and their warp-driven brand of Shibuya-kei. Led by Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）, who has his individual songs covered on the blog, his "Go-Go Girl" is one tasty aural catch that would have Adam West's Batman more than happy to do the Batusi on the dance floor. That particular song was on their 1999 album "Organic Sound Theatre".

Tonight's QYPTHONE keeper originates from his October 2000 3rd album "Modernica in the House", and it's the final track known as "Tension Attention, Please". It's a playful number that displays quite the affinity for Fantastic Plastic Machine with the classy 1960s swing and Shibuya-kei and a lot of the dance DJ tricks of the trade. I was half-expecting that Pizzicato Five narrator to say something about a stereophonic experience somewhere in there.

There were a couple of mysteries that I wanted to solve in "Tension Attention, Please". Well, actually, one had to do with the title of the album. I had been wondering about the word Modernica, and I was able to find out that it is a brand of furniture that strikes me as being quite 60s in appearance, perhaps like something by Eames (or maybe that was a 50s design). The other thing was within the arrangement of the song, because I also heard some growly patter and then some high-pitched cartoonish voice being exchanged in there. 

Well, at first, I had thought that Popeye and Olive Oyl had decided to make their first foray into Shibuya-kei. However, at the Who Sampled website, I discovered that QYPTHONE had sampled a song titled "Here Comes De Kins" by British novelty act The Pipkins in 1970.

Yoko Masaki & Los Primos -- Nagoya Blues（名古屋ブルース）

 

I think that the first time I ever had unajuu (grilled eel on rice) was during the 1981 Japanese Language School graduation trip. It would have made sense too since we were there all throughout sizzling July, and Doyo no Ushi no Hi（土用の丑の日）which is traditionally July 24th is the day to eat eel to fight off the heat with stamina. The culinary experience was love at first bite for me. Since then, throughout all of my years in Japan, I've been lucky to have various eel dishes including the Nagoya delicacy of hitsumabushi（ひつまぶし）which you can witness being made above via Cooking with Dog.

As was the case yesterday, we're back in Nagoya today. I wrote about the kayo "Nagoya Blues" which was first sung by Ichiro Kanbe（神戸一郎）in 1971 then covered by Shigeru Amachi（天知茂）a decade later. Well, in December 2000, a wholly different "Nagoya Blues" was released as a single by enka singer Yoko Masaki（真咲よう子）through a duet between her and venerable Mood Kayo vocal group Los Primos（ロス・プリモス）. Compared to the somewhat forlorn-in-love sensation of Kanbe's and Amachi's namesake song, this particular "Nagoya Blues" is a more whimsical and jazz-inflected Mood Kayo about a breezy nocturnal affair all over the capital city of Aichi Prefecture. Written by Nana Hazono（はぞのなな）and composed by Noriaki or Tokuro Fukuda（福田徳朗）, I'd say that if Henry Mancini had ever decided to concoct a Mood Kayo of his own, perhaps "Nagoya Blues" would be the result.

Masaki was born Yoko Beniya（紅谷洋子）in Nagoya, and as a teenager, she made her debut in 1973 under her real name with the aim of singing kayo kyoku that ran the line between enka and pop music in the same fashion of Ayumi Ishida's（いしだあゆみ）"Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）according to J-Wiki. But despite releasing a number of singles, she never got that big hit during the remainder of the 1970s. However, acting as the warmup act for Haruo Minami（三波春夫）, she made a second debut in 1981 under the stage name of Yoko Masaki and stayed within the enka genre. According to her discography on J-Wiki, she was releasing singles and albums up to the late 2000s at least.

The video below from her YouTube channel has Masaki performing "Nagoya Blues" at a 2016 Xmas concert.

Yukio Aoshima -- Yashi no Kokage no Christmas（ヤシの木陰のクリスマス）

 

Heck of a time for me to put up this thumbnail but I'm just continuing from my article concerning Arisa Mizuki's（観月ありさ）"Kotoshi Ichiban Kaze no Tsuyoi Gogo"（今年いちばん風の強い午後）, a summer-based Xmas tune that was the first track covered on Scott's latest "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast back on July 26th.

The second song under Scott's purview at a little after the 9-minute mark on the podcast was Yukio Aoshima's（青島幸男）"Yashi no Kokage no Christmas" (Christmas Under A Coconut Tree). After years of having the late entertainer and former governor of Tokyo mentioned on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as a songwriter for kayo including Hitoshi Ueki's（植木等）hit "Suudara Bushi" (スーダラ節）, I'm surprised that up to now, I hadn't had him included on the title line. Well, that changes today.

Several months after his time as the chief administrator of one of the world's largest metropolises, Aoshima released the tropical "Yashi no Kokage no Christmas" in November 2000. Written and composed by him, the story talks of a young child in Hawaii who wonders whether Santa Claus would be willing to stop by and give presents although his home is hardly a winter wonderland. Listening to this adorably ukelele-powered Xmas tune, I was also surprised that the song was actually produced in the 21st century because its arrangement sounds like it was thrown over right from his heyday in the 1960s. Incidentally, the above video has the Japanese version of the song while the one on Scott's podcast is the English version.

Pizzicato Five feat. Shigeru Matsuzaki and YOU THE ROCK☆ -- Tokyo no Gasshou（東京の合唱）

 

Frankly speaking, I'm not sure what the state of summer festivals this year is considering that COVID-19 seems to be raging through Japan once more. I'm on the fence here since although I know that people have to stay safe, I also feel for those residents who love their matsuri and have been rarin' to go with them once more after a couple of years of no celebrations. I remember that the Sumida River Fireworks Festival was cancelled this year as well after a tentative date of July 30th, but I'm not sure about some of the smaller and local festivals.

My thoughts above were sparked after watching the video for Pizzicato Five's September 2000 23rd single "Tokyo no Gasshou" (Tokyo Singalong). It has the divine Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）along with good buddies, singer Shigeru Matsuzaki（松崎しげる）and hip-hop musician YOU THE ROCK☆ painting the town red through Old Tokyo, including my old work area of Asakusa during the summer.

It's quite the thing to see representatives of Shibuya-kei, 70s balladry and turn-of-the-century hip-hop altogether as they ply their vocal trade (Nomiya and Matsuzaki crooning away while YOU weaves rap here and there) while the music reflects the influences, too. Although I don't think "Tokyo no Gasshou" will go down as one of my favourite P5 tunes, I'm thankful for letting the trio show me some of those natsukashii scenes including walking along Nakamise Douri and the rickshaw rides around Asakusa. A couple of friends and I did one such ride around the neighbourhood; I think the operator took one look at me and reckoned that he was really going to earn his pay that night.

The one thing that I never got to do which is featured in the latter part of the video was enjoying a trip on the yakatabune on the Sumida River. I'm not sure how much one would pay for the ride and dinner but I figure that it must be a special occasion. In any case, YOU THE ROCK☆ and P5's Yasuharu Konishi（小西康晴）created "Tokyo no Gasshou".