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.
Well, out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there were any singers out there whose birthdays were on July 29th today, and sure enough, I could find one chanteuse. Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer Lisa Ono（小野リサ）celebrates her 64th birthday so many happy wishes upon her.
To commemorate this day, and on a Hump Day which might have been rather stressful thus far being the day farthest away from weekends, I should find something that is quite soothing. Ono has often provided the musical balm in that respect. And so I provide her cover of the classic "Moon River" which was originally made in the early 1960s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
With a fan wafting some needed cooling air into my otherwise stuffy room and the sun beginning to set into the horizon, Ono's "Moon River" is just the tonic for a Wednesday. The only thing missing is a Brown Cow on my desk. Anyways, her version is included in the March 2002"Ono Lisa Best 1997-2001".
Summer arrived in the wee hours of this morning. It certainly feels like summer in my room since my room is traditionally the warmest in the entire home. But outside, it's not too bad out there; it's sunny but there's a nice breeze wafting through the area so the heat isn't really torrid.
In any case, to commemorate the official arrival of the hot season, I decided to see what kind of summer song I can post up today. I figure that something about beer would be nice since in both of my countries of birth and ancestry, the golden suds are absolutely beloved especially on a really hot day.
Looking through the Net, I found this song was popping up a fair bit. BEGIN, the band of Okinawan blues, released a single in July 2002 titled "Ojii Jiman no Orion Beer"(Grandpa's Prized Orion Beer), an aural showcase for Okinawa's famous brand of beer. I've had Orion Beer a couple of times when I went to an Okinawan restaurant in Tokyo...it went down smooth enough. As the good folks put it in their lyrics, Orion is the elixir of the gods in Japan's southernmost prefecture. Not surprisingly, it became a commercial song for Orion itself.
Somehow, I don't think the Japanese needed the arrival of the summer solstice to go into happy hysterics today. But I think that a lot of beer of all brands was imbibed.
I know that Daiei is one of the major supermarket chains in Japan. There was one branch of it near my apartment...a mere ten-minute walk away. The actual supermarket was in the basement but it was huge, fairly comparable to some of the No Frills supermarkets we have here in Toronto, and my Daiei also had a couple of floors above the supermarket for clothes and the usual department store stuff.
Let it be known that it would be grand folly to describe the amazing things that the late legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）did musically in one mere paragraph. He was a pioneer in technopop, helped give a new exciting sound to Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）in the early 1980s, provided some of the catchiest and quirkiest melodies to other singers such as Miki Nakatani（中谷美紀）, arranged one of the cutest kid-friendly songs for an aidoru trio, created some fine and comfortable New Age music, and was even responsible for a blippity-bloppity theme for NHK News back in the day.
And yep, he even gave his all for commercials including one for my beloved Daiei where I often got my bento. And I mean, he gave his all.
(Mock conversation between The Professor and Daiei)
Daiei, nervously: So, can you...uh...provide a nice jingle for our supermarket?
Sakamoto, haughtily: I, Ryuichi Sakamoto, do NOT compose tiny insignificant baubles of eighth notes for anything! I compose full breathing songs, sir!
Daiei: Well...uh...how catchy and long can you make this song for our humble company?
Sakamoto: YES!
And thus, "Daiei" was born in 1983. And here I thought his "GT" was cool and upbeat. "Daiei" may be his most foot-stomping and toe-tapping work yet. It's got his 80s synth beats, celebratory Christmas bells, bounce-off-the-wall saxophone, cool background chorus and bang-and-crash percussion. Good golly...how big was that sale for fruits and vegetables? You will never simply walk over to your local grocery ever again.
Anyways, "Daiei" is available on his November 2002 compilation album"Works I - CM".
I've been to the neighbourhood of Daikanyama, Tokyo on a few occasions, all due to the fact that my friend was living in the area at the time. My impression of this very stylish area is that it was filled with college students dressed all in black (and perhaps reading stuff like Sartre). I probably stuck out like a hillbilly in Beverly Hills (I think there was an old TV show about that😊) and perhaps not surprisingly, I don't have any photographs of Daikanyama, as if someone from the great beyond (but a spirit who could afford an apartment in Daikanyama) whispered in my ear "YOU ARE FORBIDDEN FROM TAKING ANY PHOTOS IN THIS VICINITY! YOU ARE NOT DAIKANYAMA ENOUGH!". Ahem...regardless, enjoy the above video by Tokyo Weekender.
Perhaps then, this song by the cool fraternal duo Kirinji (before they exploded into a full-fledged band some years later) can be considered to be a contemporary form of a go-touchi（ご当地）song. "Daikanyama Elegy" hails from the Horigome brothers' November 2002 self-cover album"Omnibus". I also read that the smooth-as-silk song was actually first sung by actor-comedian-singer Takashi Fujii（藤井隆）but I can't seem to find hide nor hair of his original version.
However, I am not complaining at all at this self-cover which says Kirinji（キリンジ）all over. It was a combination of the brothers along with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）coming up with the result, and this "Omnibus" version sounds like the type of music that customers in a Daikanyama cafe would hear. It's such a kakkoii and laidback song that would make Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）weep for joy and envy. I can talk on the music to a certain extent but as I've mentioned in past articles, I'm not so much of an expert on lyrics. However, I have to state that one person's Japanese blog entry that covers the song is absolutely enraptured by the words in "Daikanyama Elegy" so that I felt I had to say something about it. Feel free to use Google Translate to find out what he's saying.
Pretty moody music video for such a relaxing song. You may recognize the two actors in there. As for "Omnibus", it reached No. 42 on Oricon.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to marinate within the celebration that is our 1000th article for 2025.
Maybe we can have a party after all. No refreshments or snacks, though.
I knew that for the 1000th article, I just had to devote it to one of the singers that I've known the longest since I got into this whole kayo kyoku stuff decades ago. And this time, that happens to be singer-songwriter Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）. She will be appearing on the Kohaku in several hours' time for the 7th time to perform her 1984 hit "Momo Iro Toiki"（桃色吐息）, and most likely, she'll be once again the oldest participant to ever appear on the NHK special.
However, I have this very lovely track from Takahashi's May 2002 25th album"Time of Love" titled "Denwa"(Telephone). It's a very simple title for a soulful ballad about holding the torch for someone even though he's long gone. Still, the lady here apparently keeps phoning his empty apartment once a day although she knows full well that no one is going to answer. My question is wouldn't the landlord have already cancelled the line? But no need to be logical here...it's a fine song that was written by Takahashi and composed by Ichiro Terada（寺田一郎）. I hope all the best for Mariko tomorrow.
I think with Brazil being in the Southern Hemisphere, the weather ought to be getting quite a bit warmer with their summer. A lot of folks here are very envious right now.
Anyways, I have another sparkling track by QYPTHONE from their 5th album from December 2002, "Montuno No. 5". And I guess with its track mate, "On the Palette", "Melody" keeps the music from aforementioned Brazil continuing on full speed, although not with the Shibuya-kei of "On the Palette". Perhaps the entire album has that samba and bossa nova theme; certainly, "Melody", written and composed by Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）, plunges into the Atlantic with some exciting samba and I'm assuming that Izumi Ookawara（大河原泉）is the vocalist here. New Year's must be something else down in Rio.
Nope, the above is not a tapestry but an ornate fusuma at Kawagoe Castle in Saitama Prefecture. But I'm glad to finally give it its due up here.
Well, anyways, I tried to put up something widespread and artistic since I had intended to post this lovely song "Kanojo no Tapestry"(Her Tapestry/My Girlfriend's Tapestry) by the band MAMALAID RAG. This track from the band's self-titled debut album from September 2002 was written and composed by vocalist/guitarist Hirokuni Tanaka（田中拡邦）and it sure seems evident that Tanaka really likes his bossa nova. There's something there that reminds me of those 1960s in Brazil and perhaps even the great Jobim would be snapping his fingers here. No, it's not City Pop since this is Urban Contemporary Friday but heck, this is darn groovy and refined enough for me. By the way, I posted an article on the song's track mate, "Café Terrace"（カフェテラス）more than a couple of years ago.
"Angelic" is an April 2002 maxi-single by SPANK HAPPY that I covered through two of its three tracks, the title track and "Haikei, Miss International"（拝啓ミス・インターナショナル）. Well, since I've gone over 66.6% of it, why not finish the remaining 33.3%?
Therefore, it's time to look at "Ennui Electrique" which was created by leader Naruyoshi Kikuchi（菊地成孔）with both him and co-vocalist Hitomi Iwasawa（岩澤瞳）getting in on the action. Starting with a thumpy bass and what sounds like a really hectic bicycle horn, it sounds like the titular ennui electrique stands for the routine debauchery that a lady goes through when she's out and about on the town. It's quite the soundtrack for a Friday night.
Well, we started out today with some sad news so why not balance that with some happy news? The veteran technopop trio Perfume announced their hiatus earlier this year (to start from the end of 2025) so maybe it's not a surprise then that one of the three, Ayaka Nishiwaki（西脇綾香）, just announced her marriage to someone not involved in the entertainment industry. Many congratulations to the happy couple!💒Hopefully, when and if they do have a ceremony, a chip tune version of "Here Comes the Bride" with vocoder singing won't be happening but that's not my call.
In commemoration of the news, I wanted to cover another Perfume single but I've posted on a number of them over the years so I went all the way back....way, way back to their indies days in the early 2000s. In fact, I'm going with the very first single they released when they went with the hiragana form of their name（ぱふゅーむ）instead of the romaji they adopted later on.
"Omajinai Perori"(Lick the Trick) might come under the category of "Weird Early Installment", that trope on the website "TV Tropes" which describes the earliest episodes of a long-running TV series or other example of media culture where the characters or settings hadn't yet coalesced into the form that viewers have become accustomed to. For one thing, there was no Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）providing the technopop oomph to the songs, and for another, Perfume in this one sounds like a typical aidoru group, with none of that angular choreography.
Pappala Kawai（パッパラー河合）, the guitarist for the band Bakufu Slump（爆風スランプ）, was responsible for words and music. "Omajinai Perori" seems to be about the girls in one particular class quietly staking their claims to the new handsome teacher within their midst. I realize that the video was taken more than twenty years ago, but it's still a shock to see the Perfume members looking so young and jumpy back then...well, looking like proper high school students before they metamorphosized into the slinky techno princesses that everyone around the world has come to know.
The last time I wrote about the rock band Fujifabric（フジファブリック）, it was back last August when I posted an article regarding their "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara"（星降る夜になったら）, a track from their third original album"TEENAGER" from January 2008. So far, my impression of them has been one of alternative music but not really in a shoegaze way. They are quite peppy.
I'm going back even further in their discography today. In fact, I'm going right to their first album of any sort which was the mini-album "A La Carte"（アラカルト）from October 2002. "Dance 2000", which was written and composed by the late vocalist Masahiko Shimura（志村正彦）, seems to be the answer to the question "What would an indies disco song sound like?". It's all about dancing and partying now and worrying about the world once the party is done...although the party will be going on for quite a long time.
According to the J-Wiki file on "A La Carte", "Dance 2000" also showed up as the coupling song to Fujifabric's June 2005 5th single"Niji"（虹...Rainbow） and as a track on their 3rd mini-album"A La Molto"（アラモルト）from February 2004. These versions have their own slightly different arrangements including bringing the psychedelic rock keyboards to the intro as shown above. By the way, I found an English-language cousin blog dedicated to the band.
Y'know...I've come across a few song titles that involved ages such as Saori Minami's（南沙織）jaunty "Juu-nana Sai"（17才）and Shinji Tanimura's（谷村新司）elegant if haunting "Ni-juu-ni Sai"（22歳）.
Then I hear singer-songwriter Kohei Dojima's（堂島孝平）"Ni-juu-go Sai" (25 Years Old) which was the coupling song to his January 2002 16th single"Fuyu ga Tobichitta"（冬が飛び散った...Winter Has Flown Away）. As Dojima himself sings at the very beginning, "25 blues for you", and it's a pretty darn frenetic tune with some Jose Feliciano Latin guitar feelings, and according to him, being 25 can suck donkeys. The fellow in this song seems to feel that the mid-20s is mid-life crisis time. Everyone seems to be coupling up except him, he's had his bicycle stolen and he's going through the doldrums in Japan's capital.
But man, is the song popping all over the place with that guitar and percussion! You are just about obligated to run late to the subway station with a piece of bread in your mouth, just like that anime trope, if this song is running in your head. I also forgot to mention that the electric organ in there also brings in a bit of jet-set 1960s...almost tagged it with Shibuya-kei. When I was 25, I was teaching in the mountains of Gunma so didn't quite have that feeling of unfulfillment in life quite yet.
There was a time when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had the biggest pop culture boom when I was in high school, starting or culminating with the 1984 film "Amadeus" which won a ton of awards including a Best Picture Oscar. I think it was about the same time that the singer Falco had a hit with the song "Rock Me Amadeus". And even Japanese pop music wasn't immune to his charms since there was a popular Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）song around that time based on the Austrian composer. Not sure whether the spirit of the classical music master was amused or bemused.
The last time I spoke about the technopop duo SPANK HAPPY, it was for the title track from their April 2002 maxi-single"Angelic" which sounded like they were channeling some Daft Punk. Well, later on in September, leader and songwriter Naruyoshi Kikuchi（菊地成孔）and vocalist Hitomi Iwasawa（岩澤瞳）released the album "Computer House of Mode" which contains the track "Forever Mozart". Written and composed by Kikuchi, I don't know whether he was actually aiming for something reminiscent of Mozart's style but there is something about "Forever Mozart" that feels like a combination of Fashion Music, technopop and even early 1980s Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. I can imagine white powdered wig and ballroom gown-wearing robots skating on a grand floor in Austria.
It was just last night when I posted Issei Okamoto's（岡本一生）"Moon Magic"（ムーン・マジック） as part of the Urban Contemporary lineup for Friday. And then, today I noticed that it was September 13th. For anyone who's into science-fiction, that date should be notable since it was on that day in 1999 when the Moon was blasted out of its orbit through magnetic radiation via the show "Space: 1999". Heck, I even devoted one ROY article to the theme song!
Well, in honour of September 13th 1999 (and thank heavens, we still have the Moon out there [although no Moonbase Alpha😢]) and the fact that all those moon-based traditions are happening this month, I've got another Author's Picks...this time, honouring all those songs that have something to do with the moon, and these definitely only represent the merest of a fraction because as I recall, kayo kyoku do love their moon tunes.
I've kinda reached the age when waking up immediately begs the question about what day of the week it is. Sometimes, it takes me several seconds to figure it out for which I have to remember what I had done the day or night before. Such is the geriatric process.
Anyways, maybe that is the odd question that the duo naivepop or petitfool (and indeed, that is the name of this group) is pondering as well. "Tuesday tte Nanyoubi?"(What Day is Tuesday?) is a track from their October 2002 debut album "1, 2, 3...Darts!!". The indies band has a bit of avant-garde as they think about Tuesday through an arrangement of techno and reggae. I'd also say that there is an overall sense of dreaminess, emphasized by the vocalist's high-pitched voice coming through a gauzy filter.
To be honest, I first encountered "Tuesday tte Nanyoubi?" via the 2003 compilation "good compi - abcdefg * record" but was able to track down a YouTube video of the single song above. As for the group itself, I couldn't find out a lot about naivepop or petitfoolbut they were a Nagoya-based band which started up in 1998 and had their last activity in 2014 before presumably disbanding. From their website, there were another album and an EP in 2008. Hiromi Matsuda was the vocalist while Masahiro Nomura was on the instruments. I gather that the bunny hood for Hiromi and the horse head for Masahiro were part of the act.
I've mentioned the evolving nature of the eclectic band SPANK HAPPY since they started up in the early 1990s. They've gone from being a pop/rock group into something more techno in the 2000s and denoted their career through three distinct phases.
This is something that I noted for one of their songs "Haikei, Miss International"（拝啓ミス・インターナショナル）from the maxi-single "Angelic" which was released in April 2002. Today, it's about the title song which was written and composed by SPANK HAPPY leader Naruyoshi Kikuchi（菊地成孔）. He provides some of the vocals but the main singer here is Hitomi Iwasawa（岩澤瞳）. Once again, the feeling of "Angelic" is 80s synthpop but with a more ardent French or European cabaret vibe. Perhaps there is something rather Daft Punk about it although it's been fed through a cutesy pop filter.
On Friday, NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）program had its usual Premium Talk segment and the guest just happened to be the one and only Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）, a musician whose reputation certainly preceded him as the hosts looked pretty nervous and tongue-tied around the man initially, and it wasn't just because he towered over everyone at over 6"1' (that's still considered very tall in Japan), although still not quite as tall as Shohei Ohtani.
However, in his gray hair, spectacles, and a one-button blazer that looked almost like a comfy cardigan around him, Hotei looked practically grandfatherly (which I shouldn't say because his daughter isn't even married yet) and nothing like his hellraising self on stage with all of the leather and spiky hair. And he was very self-effacing in his talk about his life in London and his approach to his guitar, although we also all found out that he is one heck of a whiz in the kitchen and he has a green thumb.
But getting back to the music, I found this one track which acted as the final track of his March 2002 8th album"Scorpio Rising". His composition "Dreaming in the Midnight City" sounds something like a good way to finish up the album as it has this rather elegiac feeling with Hotei exhorting Yukinojo Mori's（森雪之丞）lyrics of being someone who's gone through the late nights of paying one's dues to get where he is today. I'm not sure if Hotei was indeed singing about himself or about certain people in general but he's definitely gone the anthemic way about it. "Scorpio Rising" itself reached No. 6 on Oricon.
Thirty years ago, I was at that time in my life when it seemed as if attending weddings became part and parcel of my everyday. Then following that, came the news that friends were announcing the arrival of children. Now, it looks like I've reached that age when funerals of family friends' relatives are becoming known.
Earlier today, I put on a suit for the first time in several years to attend a funeral of the father of a couple of good friends that I've known for close to forty years. It was a short but lovely ceremony filled with reminiscences and humourous incidents. I only got to meet the father, who had been a dentist for decades, a few times over the years. The first time was when he generously accepted the invitation back in the first few months of existence of the Japanese-Canadian Students' Association at the University of Toronto in the mid-1980s to give a speech at a seijinshiki ceremony that we organized for all those members turning twenty that year. I found out that he and a few others a generation before had begun their own JCSA at the U of T. Another time was when my friends and their family and I met up at the local Buddhist church here in Toronto to see a dance performance that one of my friends was involved in. The dentist and I actually got to talk directly and I found him to be a most congenial conversationalist.
Unfortunately, I never got to be his patient but from hearing the stories from his life and from conversing with some of the other attendees, I received the very strong impression that the dentist was not only a dentist but a hub friend for a community network which included patients, old classmates, family (close and extended) and fellow hobbyists. Considering how many people attended the funeral today and the visitation last night, it was evident how much of a friend he was. My condolences go to my friends, their family and all the dentist had contact with over the years.
As such, I wanted to start tonight's session of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with a tribute of sorts and I found this song called "Tomodachi"(Friend) by the band Ketsumeishi（ケツメイシ）. I've posted articles by the group before and in fact, this article comes just about two years after my last posting on them for "Sakura"（さくら）. Released in February 2002 as their 4th single, Ketsumeishi was responsible for both words and music for the wistfully hip-hop "Tomodachi" which deals how solid the bonds of friendship are no matter the stretching of time and distance.
The song was the first entry in their discography to enter the Top 10 of Oricon by breaking in at No. 5 and ended up as the 45th-ranked single of that year, and it's been seen as the song that put the band on the map. "Tomodachi" was also included on Ketsumeishi's 2nd album"Ketsunopolis 2"（ケツノポリス2）from April 2002 which hit No. 1 and became the 40th-ranked album of the year.
Watching NHK's morning information variety show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）as I usually do, I have to say that the cover for this album above has three people who eerily look a tad like the hosts of that show. I see comedy duo Hanamaru-Daikichi Hakata（博多華丸・大吉）and then NHK announcer Naoko Suzuki（鈴木奈穂子）but I admit that I am probably extending things a bit much there.
Anyways, I mentioned QYPTHONE the other day during another visit to the AI gallery and I knew that I had a song by them on the backlog list for a while. Well, it gets shown now and it's a lively Brazilian number called "On the Palette" on QYPTHONE's 5th album from December 2002, "Montuno No. 5". Unlike some of the other songs that I've covered by them, "On the Palette" swings more toward some good ol' samba than the dance remix feeling and obvious Shibuya-kei vibes although they're still in this song if a bit more subdued. It's quite refreshing and yes, I would like some of that orange tea that the vocalist is offering right off the top. Izumi Ookawara（大河原泉）is the lyricist while Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）took care of the happy melody.
Just imagine...a veteran vocal group from decades ago collaborating with a songwriter and producer famous for a trendy music genre from a few decades ago. But that's what we get with Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）writing and composing a song called "Atarashii Uta"(A New Song) and Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）tackling it at full throttle. And indeed, it's the familiar voices from yesteryear singing about creating that song for that significant other against a wall of Shibuya-kei sound goodness.
Duke Aces first covered "Atarashii Uta" on the March 2002 Pizzicato Five tribute album"Sensou ni Hantai suru Yuuitsu no Shudan wa. ~ Pizzicato Five no Uta to Kotoba"（戦争に反対する唯一の手段は。-ピチカート・ファイヴのうたとことば-...The Only Way to Oppose War ~ Words and Music by Pizzicato Five）. The project was released on the 1-year anniversary of P5's disbanding. The Duke Aces' cover was once again put out years later in 2017 as a single.
(31:23)
The original "Atarashii Uta" can be found on P5's 11th studio album"Playboy, Playgirl"（プレイボーイ プレイガール）from October 1998 with the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）singing with Hisashi Kato（加藤ひさし）of The Collectors. The arrangement is "slightly more subdued" but still an exciting trip around town. Kato and Nomiya teamed up as well for "Nagame no Ii Heya"（眺めのいい部屋）.
One more version of "Atarashii Uta" can be found as a twee technopop take with Nomiya behind the mike once more through the special album "Haishin Muke no Pizzicato Five ~ Sono San Nomiya no Maki"（配信向けのピチカート・ファイヴ その3 野宮の巻...Pizzicato Five for Streaming Part 3: Nomiya） which came out in November 2021.
Very calming, very tranquil...I think the word for that particular shade is...cerulean, actually. Cerulean blue. Cerulean blue. Cerulean makes me think of a breeze...a gentle breeze. Cerulean is a gentle breeze. Cerulean...gentle breeze.
CRASH!
I don't think I've ever heard of a colour before that could so quietly, sinisterly and violently introduce one of the most epic villains in "The X-Files", Robert Patrick "Pusher" Modell, back in that 3rd-season episode in 1996. Cerulean blue has stuck in my mind all these years for that reason.
And yeah, that's why "Cerulean Blue" reminded me of that scene. Yet, "Cerulean Blue" from paris match's June 2002 3rd album"Type III" has the opposite effect on me. With its mix of jazz, Latin and pop, this particular track by the duo also makes me think of cooling winds and tasty cocktails instead of twisted metal and destroyed flesh. Also, take a listen to another track from "Type III","Saturday" which was posted as the first article regarding paris match almost a decade ago.
We've got an additional 15 cm of snow headed our way in the next several hours so if there were a much more benign version of Modell, I would ask him for a nicer cerulean blue scene on this Hump Day.
