capsule -- Portable Kuukou（ポータブル空港）

 

I just discovered this one after posting "Airport Kayo" back in June. But my impression is that this airport-titled song is far away from the others in terms of time and space.

"Portable Kuukou" (Portable Airport) is one of the songs for capsule's 3rd single "Portable Airport" from May 2004. It has been categorized as an electro song although I can still hear some vestiges of the duo's old Shibuya-kei sound before making that transition into more technopop and dance music. Just imagine Swinging London in the 60s...the 2060s, that is.

Not surprisingly, Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）was behind the music and I'm assuming that vocalist Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）was providing the vocal stylings here. What I also found out is that the music video for "Portable Kuukou" was a Studio Kajino-produced (under Studio Ghibli) anime which was the first in a sci-fi trilogy. The very brief excerpt that I could find below has gotten me interested in seeing the whole thing. "Portable Kuukou" was also a part of capsule's 4th studio album "S.F. sound furniture" which was released in June 2004 to a No. 35 ranking.

Ai Otsuka -- Kingyo Hanabi（金魚花火）

 

Once again, it is July 7th and that means, it's Tanabata in Japan. The holiday surrounding those star-crossed lovers has gotten folks to write wishes on those colourful strips of paper to be tied to tree branches. And there are also a lot of festivals taking place throughout the nation so perhaps Tanabata is the first major festival of the season.

A year ago, I posted a commemorative article in tribute to Tanabata（七夕）...a bit tortuous getting to the final product but I got there regardless. This time though, I'll be going with just one song. I was searching the Yahoo Japan engine for a song that has a connection with Tanabata. There were quite a few but one that stuck out to me was Ai Otsuka's（大塚愛）5th single from August 2004.

"Kingyo Hanabi" (Goldfish Fireworks), about summer festival love, seems to be more about finding that special someone at any summer festival taking place throughout July and August, but hey, I'm not going to complain. Plus, it was Otsuka's stab at a calmer love ballad compared to the very upbeat and perky songs that she's been known for such as "Sakuranbo"（さくらんぼ）and "SMILY". Written and composed by the singer, its arrangement seems to be in that contemporary healing music style that Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）was recording at the time. Its contemplativeness matches the goldfish-like swishes of emotion that are flashing within a young lady's heart.

"Kingyo Hanabi" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and ended up as the 59th-ranked single of the year, going Gold in the process. The song was also included as a track on Otsuka's 2nd album "Love Jam" from November 2004 which reached the top of the charts and became the 30th-ranked album for 2005. "Kingyo Hanabi" was also a theme song for the long-running NTV Monday night documentary series "Super Terebi: Jouhou Saizensen"（スーパーテレビ情報最前線...Super TV: Information Frontline）.

Do As Infinity -- Rakuen（楽園）

 

Although I knew of it, I never read the original manga of "Inuyasha"（犬夜叉）or watched its various anime adaptations throughout the 2000s. I only knew about it as some sort of sword-and-sorcery epic.

Just within the last hour, I encountered a tweet where the person, to their delight, had seen the members of the band Do As Infinity come back together to perform. The band lasted between 1999 and 2005 in its initial run and then started a new run from 2008 according to J-Wiki. 

Remembering that KKP still has a few DAI entries including my last one dating back to late 2019 for their 2001 8th single "Tooku made"（遠くまで）, I decided to see if I could dig up another one of the band's songs. I was able to track down their 18th single from December 2004, "Rakuen" (Paradise), which was used as the theme song for one of those "Inuyasha" movies, "Inuyasha ~ Guren no Houraijima"（犬夜叉 紅蓮の蓬莱島...Inuyasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island）that was released a couple of days shy of Christmas 2004.  After listening to "Rakuen" a few times, I realized that it's been quite a while since I heard one of these contemplative pop/rock numbers from Japan. The song peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and went Gold. DAI guitarist and vocalist Ryo Owatari（大渡亮）was behind the lyrics while the entire band took credit for the composition.

Nagisa Cosmetic -- Life Balance

 

I remember when Sanae Takaichi（高市早苗）first took the reins as Japan's first female prime minister and she exhorted she couldn't care less about work-life balance as it pertained to her. She said that she would be a machine and keep on working. For me, it's more about life balance since I'm basically semi-retired now. And for today, it's all about heat dissipation because for the first time this year, I'm baking again in my own juices since we've got a summery day out there.

Anyways, we've got cutesy-voiced Nagisa Cosmetic, aka former model-singer and current creative consultant Nagisa Ichikawa（市川渚）. When I was going through that eclectic compilation album "Contemode V.A. 2" and found acts such as spaghetti vabune! and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, I also saw Nagisa Cosmetic in there, too, and I remember posting her first article almost a year ago.

Well, within "Contemode V.A. 2", she's contributed "Life Balance" which was also originally placed as a track on her lone 2004 album "NAGISA COSMETIC". Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）was once again behind words and music for the techno-Shibuya-kei-esque "Life Balance" and there's much about it that reminds me of Nakata's other project, capsule, when the duo was more into Shibuya-kei in their early days.

spaghetti vabune! -- Favorite Song

By Paolo Piscolla from Wikimedia Commons

I do have a love for pasta, especially spaghetti. I grew up on Bolognese made by my mother but then in Japan, I realized that the Japanese absolutely adore pasta of all kinds and so that's how I discovered other types such as Pepperoncino, Carbonara and Napolitan (which actually doesn't come from Naples but is a purely Japanese type).

Of course, it's not as wonderful as actually eating the stuff itself, but I also indulge in watching the many pasta-making videos on YouTube such as this one by Preppy Kitchen for his take on Carbonara. His way of cooking actually makes the sauce look less intimidating to create...since I have some PTSD from making something that involved raw eggs from long ago. 

Once again, my preamble ramble leads us to a group called spaghetti vabune! which I discovered by happenstance a few weeks earlier. When I posted an article on the technopop unit Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, I found out that their "Kitchen Shock" hadn't come from their own discography but it actually belonged to a December 2004 compilation album titled "Contemode V.A. 2".

Well, I looked through the rest of the tracks and saw some other dynamic-sounding acts there and tried looking up the titles. And spaghetti vabune! was one of them. According to their website, the group began life in 2001 and perhaps currently consists of vocalist/guitarist Keiji Tokuda, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chihiro Yoshii, guitarist Takayoshi Umeno, drummer Naoya Shimai and bassist Shuhei Kinukawa. Their J-Wiki article has them categorized as a unit into indies pop, jangle pop, Shibuya-kei and alternative rock. 

spaghetti vabune!'s contribution to "Contemode V.A. 2" is "Favorite Song (contemode bossa mix)" which does have plenty of Brazilian swagger to the extent that I was wondering whether it should have been called "contemode samba mix" instead. But no complaints here. It makes for some fun and summery listening. I did wonder whether there was an original version of "Favorite Song" and the answer was Yes! The much shorter guitar pop original does appear on the band's April 2003 album "summer vacation, sunset vehicle". Incidentally, the bossa mix was created by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）.

Plus-Tech Squeeze Box -- Kitchen Shock

 

For the purposes of this song, I had been searching for any bloopers from any of the famous cooking shows on Japanese television. I distinctly remember that there was one such program with former aidoru hosts Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）and Miyuki Imori（井森美幸）getting themselves into a pickle in the kitchen one time, but alas, I couldn't find it on YouTube. However, I can settle for the above video of a lady cheerfully admitting to carbonizing her gratin. Well, at least, it has one thing going for it...it sounds delightfully crispy.

A YouTube commenter noted that "Kitchen Shock" by the technopop unit Plus-Tech Squeeze Box has an intro that sounds as if it should have been made into a theme song for a cooking show on Japanese TV...perhaps a comedic one. But instead, this happy-go-lucky number of techno-Shibuya-kei skippiness was placed onto a December 2004 compilation titled "Contemode V.A. 2". "Kitchen Shock" itself doesn't appear on any of the unit's own albums.

The video below is from YouTuber Orange Glider who gives his take on what makes Plus-Tech Squeeze Box tick. Enjoy!

Roly Poly Rag Bear -- Sentimental Bus

 

This sci-fi comedy movie "Project Hail Mary" with Ryan Gosling has crept into theatres fairly meekly but it's been doing pretty good box office thus far. Strangely enough and rarely enough, I'm currently reading the original novel just before I head off to slumber each night, and I may actually watch the movie for comparison's sake. The overarching theme here is friendship between two beings despite vast differences due to a common goal.

Things aren't quite as high-stakes and dramatic within the adorable music video for indies pop and shoegaze band Roly Poly Rag Bear's "Sentimental Bus", but it shares the theme of friendship among a couple of stuffed animals and a human. "Sentimental Bus" is a track from the duo's 2004 album "Straw, Water, Pinstripe" and the melody is about as comfortable as a warm blanket and/or a hot bowl of soup on a cold winter day.

I couldn't find much information about Roly Poly Rag Bear but according to what I could scrape off the Net was that Mihoko Tanoue（田之上美穂子）and Makoto Igarashi（五十嵐誠）formed the pair in 1998 and released a number of singles and albums including "Straw, Water, Pinstripe" throughout the 2000s before going on hiatus in late 2010. Along with their sunny and warm indie pop stylings, they were also known for performing some Shibuya-kei although I have yet to come across any of that part of their discography. 

Plus-Tech Squeeze Box -- Dough-nut's Town's Map

By Angeldm via Wikimedia Commons

Well, I never thought I would ever see a video combining the hilarity of a "Looney Tunes" cartoon with the macabre nature of a particularly sour "Outer Limits" episode. But to be honest, I haven't seen a "Simpsons" or "Family Guy" entry recently.

I am referring to the above music video created by YouTuber xchemix for the Plus-Tech Squeeze Box song "Dough-nut's Town's Map", a track on the band's second album "CARTOOOM!" from 2004. The track itself is one friendly ball of looniness that sounds like an especially insane and grand soundtrack to one of those old Warner Bros. cartoons from the 50s or 60s. And apparently, the gaggle of singers, represented by the catch-all group name of The People of Dough-Nuts Town, includes Chinatsu Furukawa from the duo Sonic Coaster Pop.

The melody reminds me a bit of "Heigh-Ho", the famous work song performed by The Seven Dwarfs in the 1937 animated feature "Snow White" by Walt Disney. That makes the "Gotcha" moment in the video all that startling when it arrives at the end. There is something quite "Soylent Green" about that. One-half of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, Tomonori Hayashibe（ハヤシベトモノリ）, was responsible for words and music.

Kazumasa Oda -- Masshiro（まっ白）

The IOC via Wikimedia Commons

Well, welcome to February 2026. It's hard to believe that one-twelfth of the year has already sped by but for those sports fans, there will be a delicious glut of events to look forward to. The one around the corner (as in the end of this business week) is the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

Interestingly enough, Italy also held the Winter Olympics twenty years ago in 2006 in Turin/Torino. Of course, all Japanese broadcasters for the Games had to have some sort of theme song. I actually wrote about the one for the upcoming Games in Milan-Cortina, back number's "Doushite mo Doushite mo"（どうしてもどうしても）on behalf of NHK's coverage, early last month.

For the 2006 Games, TBS brought in Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）February 2004 22nd single, "Masshiro" (Pure White) as the station's official theme song. It's not one of those supremely rousing firebrand sort of Olympic tune but it's a relatively quiet and reassuring number for all involved in a "Hey, everything will be alright. It's all in the hips" sort of way. Plus, as usual with Oda's voice, there is that lovely creamy texture to it so I often think of hot chocolate with that big white marshmallow in the middle.

Now, some viewers might be thinking that TBS was just a little too early with the Olympic themes since "Masshiro" was released a full two years before the Torino Games. Well, that was because it hadn't meant to be an Olympic theme initially. It was actually released as a single to commemorate its status as the theme to a TBS drama which was broadcast during that time titled "Sore wa Totsuzen Arashi no you ni"（それは、突然、嵐のように…Suddenly, It Was Like a Storm） starring Makiko Esumi（江角マキコ）. It peaked at No. 4 on Oricon.

Les gibis -- Dancing Cat On The Optigan

 

According to Wikipedia: "The optigan (a portmanteau of optical organ) is an electronic keyboard instrument designed for the consumer market. The name stems from the instrument's reliance on pre-recorded optical soundtracks to reproduce sound. Later versions (built under license and aimed at the professional market) were sold under the name Orchestron."

That is indeed news to me. I have heard of the pianica/melodica and a celesta but had never heard of an optigan before. Thankfully, the ancient commercial above set me straight.

Why I even mention this instrument that got its debut in 1971 is the title of this song, "Dancing Cat On The Optigan" from the 2004 compilation album "BGM Vol. 1 for Modernica". I've referred to this unusual compilation album because I had featured one of the other tracks, "How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese" by singer and sound creator Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）early last year. 

As with the Nakatsuka track devoted to the popular quick dinner for any college student, there's plenty of whimsy in "Dancing Cat On The Optigan". And listening to this one, all I can say is that cat must be a genius. But all joking aside, the track is by the duo Les gibis (The Game) consisting of Tomoko Kataoka（片岡知子）and graphic designer Takashi Okada（岡田崇）. Although it hasn't been definitively stated, I believe that the two were married since Kataoka was the maiden name for Tomoko Okada（岡田崇）.

Kataoka was also a member of another musical unit, instant cytron（インスタントシトロン）which had its time between 1992 and 2006, and it specialized in lounge music, AOR and J-Pop. I'm assuming that Les gibis was similar in its choice of music. The Okayama Prefecture-born vocalist and musician was into a number of instruments such as accordion, toy piano and regular piano. 

"Dancing Cat On The Optigan" definitely has some of that 1960s spacy lounge but it also reminds me of background music from an old-time variety show or game show, thanks to that optigan, even though the instrument is from the 1970s. Plus, it is also rather inviting for tap dancing. In any case, you can shake up a few martinis to this.🍸

In late 2020, Kataoka succumbed to cancer. She was only 51 but left her imprint on TV shows, commercials and games.

Zanzow Cafe -- Yuugure Toki（夕暮れ時）

 

When I had my happy reunion with Makkin & The New Music Stuff in my previous article, I also discovered the indies rock band Zanzow Cafe（残像カフェ...Afterimage Cafe）. And so I was able to place Makkin's "Kimi ga Suki"（君が好き）and one song by Zanzow Cafe into the backlog.

I did find a website for Zanzow Cafe which has its discography dating as far back as December 2001, although Genki Ohmori（大森元気）and his group officially released music starting from 2002. In April 2004, the band released "Shi-gatsu no Kotoba"（４月のことば...Words of April）, a concept album going through one full cycle of the four seasons. 

One track is the rock ballad "Yuugure Toki" (At Dusk) or could it be "Yuugure Ji"...just not sure but let's go with the former for now. Set in autumn, despite all of the crashing electric guitars, it's quite the tenderhearted love song about a man talking a walk during the titular sunset and remembering a past romance. I'm not a huge rock expert but listening to the arrangement, I'm sure that someone more well versed in the genre can compare this song to something recorded over in the West at around the same time.

I've only taken a quick glimpse through the website but it seems as if Ohmori has gone to a new project in recent years called "Zanzow no Bouquet"（残像のブーケ...Afterimage Bouquet）.

J-Xmas Songs Without Anything Overtly Christmas-y In The Title

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to December. Not sure how it is meteorologically where you are, but here in Toronto, we woke up to a wind chill factor of around -7 degrees Celsius and a slight frosting of snow on the ground. Not surprisingly, the department stores and malls are in Christmas mode with the appropriate music, and sure enough, even KKP has entered the Yuletide spirit.

Of course, Christmas songs such as "Jingle Bells" and "White Christmas" are famous all around the world. And even the ones whose titles don't have a "Christmas" or "Santa Claus" or "Jingle" or "Eve" are well-known for their Xmas cheer including "Sleigh Ride" and "Little Drummer Boy". Now, in Japan, where Christmas has been taking hold of the population like icing on carrot cake for years and years and years (aside from the fact that it isn't a statutory holiday over there, and really shouldn't be), as we all know in "Kayo Kyoku Plus", many J-Xmas tunes have been created during the better part of the past century. And I'd add that perhaps around 90% of them have those special key words that I've mentioned above that would provide the big hint that Christmas is on the way. There are those tunes such as "Christmas Eve" and "December 24" that pretty much give the show away.

However, the remaining 10% don't have any of those Christmas-y buzzwords in the title. Therefore, for those listeners who have just gotten into Japanese popular music and are starting to discover the Xmas section of kayo kyoku and J-Pop, as a public service, I've decided to start December off with some of those J-Xmas songs that don't overtly include anything Christmas-y in the title. Perhaps they can make for some delightful discoveries for some. So without further ado:

(1985) Akiko Kobayashi -- Stardust Memories

(1988) Kazuo Zaitsu -- Fuyu no Main Street（冬のメイン・ストリート）

(1990) Crayon-sha -- Tokyo Yakei（東京夜景）

(1991) Miho Nakayama -- Tooi Machi no Dokoka de （遠い街のどこかで）

(1997) Caoli Cano & Hiroshi Takano -- First Flight

(2004) Masatoshi Hamada & Noriyuki Makihara -- Chicken Rice（チキンライス）

Akina Nakamori/Mariya Takeuchi -- Aka no Enamel（赤のエナメル）

 

All the way back in the winter of 2017...some months before I even made that trip to visit Tokyo again which tells you how far back into personal ancient history we're venturing, I posted about the 1986 Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）album "Crimson". I gave my story about how I had abandoned it initially as another weird and unlistenable tape after going through the earlier "Fushigi"（不思議）. However, giving it another chance again many years later, I realized that it actually contained some pretty decent tracks. My mind had been simply too attached to Akina and her razzmatazz singles so that when the singer tried something different, it quickly rejected them.

Well, another song from "Crimson" that I've had to eat crow about as something that also sounds really quite snazzy is the second-last track "Aka no Enamel" (Red Enamel), written and composed by Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and arranged by Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）. The only thing that I had remembered about this one is the "bang-bang-bang" chorus that begins with a tick-tock rhythm and follows with a torch ballad delivery intro by Akina. Then the song goes into a cool urban contemporary gear with smooth background vocals behind her as the singer reminisces about a past relationship. I had first assumed that the red enamel in the title referred to her nail polish, but it was actually the heels that she once wore while dating the now-gone guy.

Sometimes, I wonder whether I'm a little too content with buying the original album instead of the remastered version with bonus tracks. Mind you, I've purchased my fair share of new versions of albums with those scrumptious extra songs including once-abandoned B-sides and remix takes, but one example that I didn't do that for is Takeuchi's "Variety" from 1984. I just have the original version but in 2014, a 30th anniversary edition of "Variety" was released (yes, a few years before "Plastic Love" exploded in one corner of YouTube) and it included a cobbled-together "Aka no Enamel" by Mariya. The vocal and rhythm tracks had been laid down before time constraints forced the song to be thrown by the wayside for years. However, it came back for the 30th anniversary edition and in not too bad a shape although it's less than three minutes and a bit sparse. 

Nagisa Cosmetic -- Cosmetic Happy

 

As much as sound producer and songwriter Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）has been associated with Perfume and capsule, I only discovered just in the last few weeks that he also belonged to a very short-lived duo.

From what I've read on the Japanese Music Wiki, Nakata had seen model Nagisa Ichikawa（市川渚）in a fashion magazine and just decided then and there that he had to see whether they could collaborate on something musically. Ichikawa agreed and the result was the duo Nagisa Cosmetic with the one-and-done album "Nagisa Cosmetic" which was released in July 2004. 

The second track is "Cosmetic Happy", a light and bouncy techno-Shibuya-kei ditty with Ichikawa's frothy vocals making things even airier like the best soufflé. If it had anything to do with anime, then I could have heard it as an Akibshibu-kei tune. Once the album was released, Ichikawa decided to focus on her college studies and so Nagisa Cosmetic quietly ended its time in the recording booth.

Sonic Coaster Pop -- Summer in the Pool

Wikimedia Commons
 Chr Grundo

Supposedly, we're in the final day of what has been a short heat wave here in Toronto. The public swimming pools are now open, but on the first day of the tropical temperatures and humidity, several of them weren't, much to panting people's chagrin due to sudden staffing issues which got the mayor in some hot water. But things are much more copacetic now.

About a month ago, I introduced a duo by the name of Sonic Coaster Pop which put forth their brand of technopop for a few years between 1999 and 2002. However, maybe that time frame is mistaken since they also put out an album in 2004 titled "Super Miracle Circuit". 

In any case, one track from this album is "Summer in the Pool". My first article on SoCoPo dealt with their "Usagi-chan Dancin'!"（ウサギチャンダンシン!）which brought together their technopop, some Shibuya-kei and maybe even some Precure theme excitement. "Summer in the Pool" is more attenuated in that it sounds like a very pure and crystalline synth number, something that one would hear in a video game. The pool water would be pink and the sky would be orange.

QYPTHONE -- Scooter

 

I can barely remember any major scooter scenes in movies. They just don't seem to add anything to exciting chases. However, I have some affection for the Vespa ride that Princess Anne and Joe Bradley took through the streets of Rome in "Roman Holiday". If I'm not mistaken, it's still probably Japan's favourite Audrey Hepburn flick.

And for some reason, I think of that scene when I listen to this snazzy number by QYPTHONE called "Scooter". The last time I wrote about the mastermind behind QYPTHONE, sound meister Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）, it was for his contribution "How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese" for the compilation album "BGM Vol. 1 for Modernica" from 2004. Well, Nakatsuka/QYPTHONE had another foodie connection in that same year, this time through yet another compilation 2-CD set titled "Camembert & Sushi" which is contained on the second "Sushi" disc.

"Scooter" isn't too long at just a sliver over three minutes but it's sure catchy with the boss horns and lyricist Izumi Ookawara（大河原泉）on vocals. I'd probably say that rather than get on a scooter, listeners would be more than willing to get on a stand and do some energetic 1960s dancing. In fact, I think "Scooter" has a cousin-like relationship to Quincy Jones' iconic "Soul Bossa Nova".

Takeshi Nakatsuka -- How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese

 

This might sound downright shocking coming from a foodie like me, but I was never a huge fan of macaroni and cheese. At least, not at main course levels. I just find mac n' cheese way too rich in those quantities. If it's very much a really minor side dish, then I can take it.

Still, I'd like to offer this for your listening perusal. This is "How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese" by singer and sound creator Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）. I wrote about him and his QYPTHONE project earlier this month via "On the Palette", but I also realized that I hadn't written anything about him on his own since my 2019 article on his visually mesmerizing "Japanese Boy". 

"How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese" is Nakatsuka's contribution to the 2004 compilation album "BGM Vol. 1 for Modernica", and what it lacks in an equally mesmerizing music video, it gains in having Mr. Macaroni and Ms. Cheese performing light, soothing and amiable banter regarding the titular dish. It almost sounds like one of those old-fashioned cooking segments I used to watch on morning or late afternoon television as a kid. Instrumentally, it's only a piano and an acoustic guitar but accompanying the happy talk, it's as filling as a bowl of mac n' cheese...not that I would ever have one willingly. A couple of spoonfuls, and I'm happy.

Suzuka Nakahara -- Lampin'（ランピン'）

 

When we used to have those biweekly anime-and-food fests on Sunday, this particular song was one of the regulars during the anison hour. I used to hear it all the time without asking about it, mostly because I was dozing off in the chair in the middle of the warm room. The other day, when a whole bunch of us got together for a yakiniku dinner, I had a reunion of anison hour at my buddy's house and I finally asked him from which anime this was from, and he mentioned that it wasn't an anime but an eroge. 

Ah, I see...I would have thought more along the lines of a wacka-wacka electric guitar but of course my mind was going back to the 1970s and 1980s.

The adult game in question is the 2004 "Quartett!" which involves four students among many vying to be the best string quartet. From what I've seen so far, I haven't gotten any hint that there's any hentai but the YouTubers must have been very careful in their selection of scenes. Plus, there's some rather exquisite string quartet work that I also heard from the soundtrack.

In any case, the theme song for "Quartett!" is "Lampin'" by Suzuka Nakahara（中原涼）. The Nagano Prefecture-born singer got into music at a young age through piano lessons and chorus work. However, during her student days, her views on music (which had been in the classical vein up to that point) changed when she heard Chage & Aska's "Say Yes", and from then onward, she wanted to sing that type of music. Her career in music began in earnest around 2001 once she graduated from high school and performed at the live house Yotsuya Tenmado（四谷天窓）in Tokyo. Since then, she's been providing her brand of pop music and game music.

Not sure what "Lampin'" means but it's a pleasant and soothing tune with a hint of soul, and sometimes during the song, I get the impression that Nakahara has a bit of Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）in those vocals. Azuki Sawada（沢田あづき）was responsible for the lyrics while Soushi Hosoi（細井聡司）came up with the melody. By the way and sad to say, but Yotsuya Tenmado closed down for good at the end of November 2020.

Coffee Color -- Jinsei ni Kanpai wo! ~ Wakare no Kyoku（人生に乾杯を! 〜別れの曲〜）

Good Free Photos

Coffee Color（コーヒーカラー）is a group that I had never heard of before. The name had me wondering how it even came to be but luckily there is a short J-Wiki article on them, and apparently it's from a Serge Gainsbourg song title. Currently consisting of just vocalist Uzuki "Paris" Nakayama（仲山卯月） (although at the beginning, he had been joined by pianist TESHI and drummer Koutarou), Coffee Color got its start in 2000 as an indies unit but then got under a major label in 2004 with five singles and five albums under their belt.

Perhaps the Serge Gainsbourg origins may be responsible, but listening to their most recent single to date, "Jinsei ni Kanpai wo! ~ Wakare no Kyoku" (Here's to Life! The Goodbye Song) from February 2009, I get the impression that Coffee Color is all about the rousing and commiserating and celebrating tune. Nakayama wrote and composed this tune and the accompanying music video says it all as a small company, despite all of the hardships and hard work, ends up going under with the president taking his erstwhile staff for one final drink. One door may be closing forever but another one is on the verge of opening.

Ironically, an original and slightly more elegant version of "Jinsei ni Kanpai wo!" was Coffee Color's debut single from October 2004. Since the release of the song, it's been a popular karaoke request at the annual year-end and New Year's parties. I can imagine so.

Kaela Kimura -- Rirura Riruha（リルラ リルハ）

 

Recently, I saw an episode of "Tsurube Kazoku ni Kanpai"（鶴瓶の家族に乾杯...Tsurube's Here's to the Family）, an NHK onsite variety show where rakugo artist and comedian Tsurube Shofukutei（笑福亭鶴瓶） and a guest visit some of the smaller towns and villages in Japan. The two then simply talk with the folks there and visit some of those folks' recommendations in terms of restaurants and shops, and if so inclined, Tsurube and guest can even entertain the populace, too.

That one episode featured singer-songwriter Kaela Kimura（木村カエラ）and she stated off-handedly that her son is now in high school which kinda threw me for a loop. It shouldn't have but it did because I'd always seen Kimura as the 2000s version of 80s aidoru Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）: a cute and cheeky kid with a lovely smile who could potentially cut you down with a sharp riposte. Of course, we're now older people in the 2020s and most likely, Kimura's kid is probably now armed with his own slicing bon mots. (P.S. It's quite ironically coincidental then that both Kimura and Koizumi appeared together on the September 27th episode of "Asaichi"（あさイチ）a few hours ago.)

I believe she was all of twenty years of age when she released her 3rd major single "Rirura Riruha" in March 2005. I could never remember the title for Kimura's biggest hit to date because of its weirdness, only to find out that it's an abbreviation of sorts for "Real Life Real Heart". What I do remember is the music video attached to the song which brings in a few effects such as the stop motion animation that had put Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" onto the map. 

But as it is, "Rirura Riruha" is a pretty melodic rock tune with those buzzy guitar chords underlying Kimura's high but strong vocals. It's the type of song that I think Avril Lavigne could have covered. The song peaked at No. 3 on Oricon, becoming a million-seller. It eventually became the 87th-ranked single for 2005. The song is also a track on her March 2006 2nd album "Circle".