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.
I figured that I would still be able to find something new somewhere among my collection of "Light Mellow", and it was within the "Breeze" CD that I encountered this one that I hadn't yet covered.
Even though singer-songwriter Daisuke Mori（森大輔）has an entry on J-Wiki, he doesn't have a particularly long or detailed account of himself there. Hailing from Metropolitan Osaka, Mori is also a producer and arranger who graduated from Kobe University with a degree from the Faculty of Global Human Sciences. Having learned classical piano from the age of three and then music theory, he was signed to Atlantic Records with the title of First Brand New Artist of the 21st Century with his first single, "Trust Me", coming out in November 2004.
The track that I have of him on "Breeze" is his 8th single"Itsuka Moshi mo"(If, Someday...) from October 2008. The song fits hand-in-glove on a CD titled "Breeze". It's indeed a breezy pop song with some elegant piano and lovely harmonization. Plus, the chorus sounds like something sung from the 1970s. Not quite hammock-worthy but it makes for a nice accompaniment while on a drive down the coast.
Circus Town is one of my favorite albums of all time, and one of my top five favorite Tatsuro Yamashita (山下達郎) albums. As someone who’s been to New York, I think it captures the aura of the Big Apple very well. It’s got some well-known bangers like the title theme, “Windy Lady,” and my personal favorite, the doo-wop classic “Last Step.”
Although, in my opinion, the most underrated song is easily the closing number, “Natsu no Hi” (夏の陽). It has that typical ’70s folk-rock sound, but the ethereal backing chorus, combined with Tat’s signature belting, gives it a whimsical touch
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Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near the first song you think of when you talk about Tats, so color me surprised when I found out that the theatrical jazz-pop band Stardust Revue did their own a cappella cover of the song in 2008 for their album Always. This might be my favorite version.
I’ve heard a lot of Tatsuro Yamashita covers in my time, but this is one of the few that surpasses the original. Doesn’t surprise me one bit. The American revue-inspired band, hence the name, has a knack for creating excellent vocal harmonies and combining them with music you’d hear in some kind of vaudeville act. Plus, the lead singer, Kaname Nemoto (三谷泰弘), has performed live with Tatsuro in the past. Nemoto, joined by Tats and J-rock star Shōgo Hamada (浜田省吾 ), once performed a live a cappella version of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.”
When you get a chance to listen to Stardust Revue, make sure to check out their 2008 album ALWAYS. It's filled with great acapella and acoustic covers of various kayokyoku classics.
Fairly busy day today. Met up with an old friend of mine for lunch (that was one spicy steak sandwich from Bear Steak in The Well) and stopped off at Sonic Boom to pick up an LP for my niece's Christmas present. Needed a double nap when I got home tonight. But I'm ready to do some blogging for Hump Day.
A few months ago, I posted up a Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）song which was his March 2008 single"Koko", a elegiac piece for a Japan Post commercial which could have easily been a musical elegy for Sakamoto himself since he has left us. Well, here is one of the coupling songs from the single which will go down as the shortest song that I've ever covered on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since I started all the way back in 2012.
"Dancing in the Sky" is only a minute and nine seconds along but even within its very short time, it manages to weave together a story of sorts. Just with his wonderful piano, The Professor could have been melodically describing a little boy or girl sneaking down to the living room early on Christmas morning to open up those presents. Maybe the dancing in the sky is the joy the kid feels at getting what he wanted. Nope, it's not a Christmas song per se, but it certainly feels really jingly.
Well, another televised sign that the year is nigh along with the announcement of the Kohaku Utagassen lineup (probably in a couple of weeks) and the presentation of the Top 20 Buzzwords and Catchphrases of the Year arrived on screens today. Yup, it was time for another round of "Waga Kokoro no Osaka Melody"（わが心の大阪メロディー...Our Beloved Osaka Melodies） by NHK in their Osaka studios. I would have loved to have written something about the songs there but either I already did or I don't intend to.
So I opted to find an Osaka kayo kyoku on my own through YouTube. It didn't take too long before I came across one by enka veteran Ayako Fuji（藤あや子）. "Ame no Osaka" (Rainy Osaka) is a story of a lady who's just broken up with her paramour in the titular city and while she's trying to be rather nonchalant about it, deep inside, she hurts like crazy. Of course, with the rain in there, I figured that it would be a heartbreak kayo (other signs would be migratory birds and the season of autumn in the title).
I couldn't track down any sign of it as a single on Fuji's J-Wikipage although it was apparently a track on her February 2008 BEST compilation"Enka Shikisai"（艶歌色彩...The Colours of Enka）, so I'm going with that for now (and from what I've seen elsewhere, this could actually be a cover version of a song from several years back). The lyrics were written by Shohei Mouzu（もず唱平）and it was composed by Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）.
I don't know supremely much about singer, songwriter and DJ Yukari Fresh but it's interesting to note that her own Wikipedia article is a fair bit more detailed than the J-Wiki for her old unit, Snapshot. And for that matter, the Snapshot J-Wiki piece has only added Fresh's record as part of the article. Fresh, aka Yukari Takasaki（高崎ゆかり）, and her professional partner-turned-husband Yugo Katayama（片山祐吾）, formed Snapshot in 1992 with six releases to their names before disbanding in 1996.
Fresh started her solo career the following year, releasing albums up to 2008. Her last album to date was one of her BEST compilations, "Flammable Tapes", from October 2008 from which I offer her "Yukarin' Disco". Perhaps it's disco for The Smurfs, but for me, it's a really happy 1980s technopop piece that has a bit of Shibuya-kei, especially with the samples in the latter half of the song.
It's been over a couple of years now since the passing of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, still greatly missed. Far from his session musician roots where he was helping out with funk, techno and the like, his last couple of decades will always strike me as being wistful and contemplative through his piano.
The other day on NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）information variety show, I heard this piece accompany the Premium Talk guest of the week...sorry, I can't remember his name, and I'm not sure whether it has anything to do with him or any of his work, but he just said that he simply loved this song when asked if he'd like anything to accompany him musically when introduced on the show.
From the languid playing, I should have known right off the bat that "Koko" was a Sakamoto number. Some decades earlier, he'd come up with "energy flow", the soothing song for the Regain vitamin drink brand, and "Koko" was something along that vein. Released as a single in March 2008, The Professor had once considered giving it the full title of "Kokoro" meaning "heart" but according to the J-Wiki article on the song, he felt a little too embarrassed naming it that so he went with just "Koko". I don't see any problem with "Kokoro" myself, but perhaps he had thought that "Kokoro" was a tad too cornball. I'm not sure.
"Kokoro" was used for a Japan Post commercial. Sakamoto himself stars in the ad. Seeing it and hearing the song definitely hits the feelings with an even more bittersweet and melancholy sense considering that he's left this mortal coil.
I haven't written about the Buffalo, New York State-based rock band The Molice since 2021 when we were all swamped with COVID and its consequences. At the time, the band led by vocalist/guitarist Rinko was back in Japan, not being able to return to The Queen City. I'm not sure about now though; hopefully, they have long resumed their activities. The first song I covered by them was "Hello, Hello".
Recently, I encountered their 2008 song "Headphone" which chugs away with their hard rock style and Rinko's rapid-fire patter. The video is interesting as The Molice performs in cramped quarters as if they were trying to impress Marie Kondo or spark joy and the ancient inspiration for NHK's "Tiny Desk Concerts". There's also something about Rinko's slinkiness in this one which reminds me of Gail from "Letterkenny".
For Japanese music listeners, especially those who like their Mood Kayo, enka and general kayo kyoku, you probably are well aware that airports have been the go-to settings for romantic endings and reminiscings, a place where songwriters have loved to establish their songs. I guess some broken hearts just need to go to their local terminals as much as they need to head out to the countryside resorts to drown their sorrows. Mind you, some of those airports have top-notch restaurants.
Strangely enough, in the past several weeks, I've been able to find a couple of songs with similar titles that are forms of airport kayowith the only difference being the airport in question. And the two airports are right in the Tokyo area.
One is "Narita Hatsu"(Departing from Narita) which describes one woman's wistful need to visit the international airport out in Chiba Prefecture (and it used to be the airport of choice whenever I returned to Canada on vacation) to remember the last time she saw her now ex-paramour. Sung by South Korean singer Cheuni（チェウニ）, this was her 13th single from January 2008 and it was written by Ichizo Fukuda（福田一三）and composed by Kazuya Amikura（網倉一也）. It's quite the classy and dignified example of New Adult Music or Mood Kayo; with those strings in there, I was almost convinced to even throw in the Fashion Music label. There was even something quite Teresa Teng（テレサテン）about the song.
Now, the whole reason that I decided to do this double take on airport kayowith two different South Korean singers was that I saw Park Junyoung（パク・ジュニョン）on an episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）several weeks ago as he sang his 6th single from August 2016, "Haneda Hatsu" (Departing from Haneda). Haneda Airport, right in the middle of Tokyo, has been my airport during my visits to Japan in the 2010s, and yep, they've got some pretty fancy and delicious fare in those restaurants.
But getting back on track, Park's song, which hit No. 21 on Oricon, has the protagonist taking a somewhat more disdainful and embittered view as she is the one who's getting on the plane and taking off forever. Her old boyfriend hasn't even shown up to say goodbye so she's giving him the kiss off in absentia. The music by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）is pretty folksy and whimsical considering Shinichi Ishihara's（石原信一）lyrics, and listening to that mandolin-esque instrument playing throughout the song, I was rather wondering about it being a modern-day Exotic Kayo.
Welcome to another work week at KKP! To start things off, I received a message from a downtown foodie emporium that Wednesday June 18th is International Sushi Day. Had no idea...I do love my sushi, though, although the realization hadn't punched in until that Japanese Language School trip to Japan in 1981. It wasn't just the love for music that arose within me that fateful July that year...sushi, sashimi and eel all became a thing for me.
Of course, I was scouting around for some sort of sushi-themed kayo kyoku. I'd already posted Shibugakitaki's（シブがき隊）"Sushi Kui ne!"（スシ食いねェ！）and Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）"Edokko Sushi"（江戸っ子寿司）, both of which are pretty genki tunes.
But on the other hand, enka singer Chiyuki Asami's（あさみちゆき）"Sushi ya de..." (At the Sushi Restaurant...), her 8th single from December 2008, there's quite a solemn and bittersweet atmosphere hanging over the father and daughter dining at the titular eatery. The lyrics by Chiho Inoue（井上千穂）talk of the daughter, on the verge of her wedding day, no longer being able to have regular talks with Dad and no longer being to talk with Mom for quite a while now. Not sure if Mom had already passed away or left the family, but there is plenty of regret emanating from the lass as the sushi chef is molding his wares. Masato Sugimoto's（杉本眞人）melody is also very sad in a folk music kind of way. Masashi Sada（さだまさし）would nod in approval. "Sushi ya de..." managed to reach No. 38 on Oricon.
Commenter Brian Mitchell and I were having a brief discussion on that recent Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）article where singers' works can intertwine two or even more genres. Basically, I guess we are talking about crossover music a la Taylor Swift or Shania Twain. I even indicated that the Queen of Kayo Kyoku, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, delved into a number of genres although most of her songs were encapsulated within their own genres with a few exceptions such as "Kawa no nagare no youni" (川の流れのように) which seems to have merged a couple of genres in a New Adult Music style.
I also get that impression from the song "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" (A Promise From Heaven),the 6th single by singer Miki Sawada（沢田美紀）. Released in April 2008, it was a little difficult for me to definitively put my stamp on a single genre for it. I could hear the enka, but there was also folk and so perhaps I could use the hybrid genre of New Adult Music for it.
Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" is a poignant message by Sawada as the protagonist tells her older brother who has been in heaven for a while that she's managing to do OK in life. The song was actually inspired by an incident involving the sister of the president of Tokuma Japan Communications (Sawada's recording company) who suddenly died during a trip through China.
Sawada's real name is Miyuki Oda（尾田美由紀）who was born and raised in Toyama Prefecture. While working in a company in 1996, she participated as a contestant in NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢） amateur singing contest where she eventually became a champion. She moved to Tokyo the following year to become a professional singer and released her first single in 2004.
Y'know, the other day, I saw this adorable little teaser from Sony Music Japan's YouTube channel.
Cartoon cutouts of the members of the legendary New Music band Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）appear and do some minimalistic moving around while their "Downtown" track is playing. Then the announcement comes out that their one and only "SONGS" album from April 25th 1975 is getting its special 50th anniversary release today.
Well, there was no way that I could let this one slide by KKP, especially on Urban Contemporary Friday. I did get my own special version of "SONGS" years ago at the old Shibuya RecoFan...I think it was the 30th anniversary edition and I wrote about the album way back in 2013, so that's all said and done. Plus, I had even written about the arguably most famous track "Downtown" more than a year previously in the first few weeks of the blog's existence.
However, as I said above, I'm not about to ignore the significance of this opportunity. Therefore, I've opted to provide as many of the cover versions of "Downtown" as created by composer Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and lyricist Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）that I've known and written about here including one that I discovered only last night.
As for why "Downtown" has been popular among listeners and musicians alike, I mentioned in the original article for the song that my favourite version among the covers has been EPO's 1980 City Pop take since it was not only the first version that I had ever heard, but also because it was just a bright and happy and welcoming song about enjoying a Saturday night in the big city, aka Tokyo. And I think despite all of the different arrangements that "Downtown" has undergone depending on the band or singer, that feeling of optimism and fun hasn't been diminished. Starting with Sugar Babe, the song dares listeners to come to the metropolis. Imagine what it must have been like back in 1975 or 1980 with the Sugar Babe original and then the EPO cover respectively when Tokyo and Japan were further going up in the world and the economy.
Sugar Babe (1975)
I have to admit that the original by this band took a while to grow on me since I was so attached to the EPO cover version. However, I can say that Tatsuro's take is also some rollicking rock n' roll fun which sounds like the gang busking about in Shibuya or Shinjuku.
EPO (1980)
EPO's EPO-tastic version is something that I will always put up alongside Mariya's "Plastic Love" and Miki's "Mayonaka no Door" as a City Pop anthem. Whenever I listen to it, I get those images of West Shinjuku and its skyscrapers at sunset and how they eventually got me to come over to Japan finally.
Another City Pop Queen, Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）cover of "Downtown" is available on her 1982 album"Moonlight Island". Compared to Sugar Babe's rollicking original and EPO's groovy cover, Kuwana's take goes into a funkier and just-as-fun direction but it is no less City Pop.
YMCK and DE DE MOUSE (2008)
Apologies to DE DE MOUSE that I couldn't include him in Labels but I got the warning from Blogger that I reached my 20-label limit; I'll compensate on the original article since until today, I hadn't known that the chip tune band YMCK had collaborated with DE DE MOUSE on this cute-as-all-heck techno cover.
Maaya Sakamoto's（坂本真綾）"Downtown" was a pretty cool take because it incorporated a couple of genres into one cover: ska and jazz. Plus, the fact that it was being used as the opening song of an anime brought me lots of joy since it would mean a new generation of folks were getting their share of this song.
Heck, even the contemporary aidoru group Juice=Juice was having their fun with "Downtown". Sounding like a spacy version of EPO's "Downtown", I wouldn't mind visiting Odaiba in Tokyo Bay while listening to this one as accompaniment. Nice oomphy percussion!
the band apart (2024)
And we come full circle with the latest version that I've gotten to know. the band apart has actually been around since 1998 and in July 2024, they came up with their "Downtown ep". Their take is more along the lines of Sugar Babe's original, and the bright and glossy music video above signifies what I've always imagined about the song vis a vis Tokyo. I'll see if I can find another song to cover by the band soon.
Strangely enough, April 25th is also an anniversary for another City Popclassic.
With Kingo Hamada and Mariya Takeuchi（濱田金吾・竹内まりや）earlier today, we were talking about original and cover when it came to their "Lonely Wind". Now, we come to a cover of a cover.
One of the earliest Japanese pop songs that I fell for when I really got into kayo kyoku in the early 1980s was Circus'（サーカス）"Mr. Summertime", thanks to that episode of "Sounds of Japan" on CHIN-FM here in Toronto. However, I wouldn't find out for years that the 1978 hit for the vocal group was actually a cover for Michel Fugain's"Une Belle Histoire" in 1972. By the way, I never mentioned it in the original Circus article, but Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）had been responsible for the Japanese lyrics.
Well in 2008, the duo paris match performed their own cover of "Mr. Summertime" for their February 2008 7th album "Flight 7". Compared to Circus' take, this one has a bit more oomph thanks to a rocking Shibuya-kei organ and an electric guitar. At the same time though, there is some lightness thanks to Mari Mizuno's（ミズノマリ）tender vocals. Basically, when compared to the relaxing Riviera vacation that I envision when I listen to "Mr. Summertime" 1978, this version thirty years later has a bit more of spy intrigue and jet-setting adventure perfect for a 1960s caper.
I was sparked to write this article from a commenter under yesterday's Pizzicato Five"Twiggy, Twiggy" article. The person pointed out that the model Twiggy often brought back memories of a music video for a certain Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）song from years ago.
And yep, looking at that video above, I can certainly agree because it seems to celebrate the entire time and milieu when Twiggy was queen...back in those late 1960s. Now, my time to enjoy the oeuvre of Ms. Amuro was really back when I had arrived in Japan to start my second tour of duty as an English teacher at the end of 1994. Amuro was the first singing star that I had encountered then via television commercials and of course, she did become not just a huge pop superstar but a pop cultural diva of legend as well. However, my time picking up those CD singles of her didn't go too much longer. I think after buying a copy of "Can You Celebrate?", that was about the length of my fandom for her since she started heading into the direction of hip-pop, a genre that I wasn't a big fan of.
Still, from time to time in the years since, she would pop up with another big single. One that did catch my eye although it wasn't enough for me to buy the single was the song that yesterday's commenter had alluded to. "New Look" was the first track on Amuro's 34th single from March 2008, "60s 70s 80s". The video was a love letter to all things cool and swinging 60s in a way that would have had Austin Powers salivating. And what I hadn't known at the time regarding "New Look" was that the song created by michico and T. Kura had been overlaid onto the original arrangement for Diana Ross & The Supremes'"Baby Love" from 1964. In fact, the songwriters for the original song have been included in the songwriting credits: Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland. Interestingly enough, "Baby Love" is one of the first pop songs that got into my head as a baby.
Although that music video stayed within my memory, I ended up forgetting the song title and with so many singles in Amuro's discography, I gave up any search for what the song was. Thankfully, the commenter reminded me. The single "60s 70s 80s" hit No. 1 on Oricon and ended the year as the 18th-ranked single.
Happy Monday to everyone out there. We've got another article via contributor and commenter Fireminer.
From Soundcloud
Despite the celebration of Kyu Sakamoto’s Sukiyaki, the Japanese record industry has had a difficult time exporting their products. We can go as far back as Pink Lady’s ill-fated expedition to America, which culminated in a truly terrible variety show. J-Pop and Japanese music in general haven’t gathered the same amount of international cache when compared to K-Pop and, to a lesser extent, Cantonese Pop. Things are changing for the better, though. From the anecdotes of friends and relatives living overseas, it seems like the Japanese record industry is banking on anime and video games to popularize J-Pop. It is more common now for Japanese singers to perform at anime conventions or Japanese cultural festivals in countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc. while ani-songs and game musics are being made available on day one on multiple streaming platforms.
It is baffling to see how long did it take the Japanese record industry to realize all of these. As far back as the late 70s and early 80s, when anime in America was still mostly the purview of chop-up syndicated TV animation and VHS tapes being passed around C/FO members, anime fans had already clamored for the music they heard from the shows. There were anime albums sold in limited quantities at specialty shops in America. But the Internet supercharged things. The widespread popularity of Vocaloid, MMD, Bad Apple!!, vaporwave, etc. in the West, as well as the revitalization of City Pop, had a lot to do with kids being able to just go to YouTube and explore the world of Japanese music.
So let’s us remember an early viral hit of that era, Omoide wa Okkusenman! (思い出はおっくせんまん!) which can be translated as “110 million memories!”. The original song was composed by Capcom’s former sound designer Takashi Tateishi (立石 孝) as the background music for Doctor Wily's Stage in Mega Man 2. It was rearranged and had lyrics written for it by Japanese YouTubers in early 2007. And then it blew up when the vocal versions were uploaded to Nico Nico Douga (NND) -- and there were multiple of them. Omoide wa Okkusenman! had already become a meme by the time it spread on YouTube. It also inspired another NND hit based on Mega Man 2 music called Air Man ga Taosenai (エアーマンが倒せない).
The original Mega Man 2 music is an earworm alright, but Omoide wa Okkusenman!’s lyrics go perfectly with it. It’s a reminiscence of youth, of someone who had gotten tired of adult life and so looked back at his innocent childhood fondly, only then to realize that he could not go back to those days and instead chose to use his sweet memories as motivation to keep going forward. This universal message is the primary reason why the song connects with so many people. Screaming “Ultraman! Ultraman Seven!” -- two Japanese cultural institutions -- on top of his lungs also helped.
Jam Project Omoide wa Okkusenman!
The most famous “official” cover of Omoide wa Okkusenman! is arguably the one by JAM Project, which appears as the bonus track in the album Nico Nico Douga Selection: Sainō no Mudazukai (ニコニコ動画せれくちょん～才能の無駄遣い～). It gives out the arena rock vibes here, and the keyboard in particular reminds me of that period in the mid-70s, before arena rock became really bloated and bands were still experimenting with electronic music.
A few months ago in the spring, thanks to the "Weathernews Live" segment "Weather Music", I heard about the rock band Fujifabric（フジファブリック）and their major debut single "Sakura no Kisetsu"（桜の季節）from 2004. I remarked on their sound which reminded me a bit of an earlier band, GREAT 3, and not surprisingly, the song was produced by that band's Akito Kitayose（片寄明人）.
Some Fujifabric lightning struck twice recently because I was watching "Weathernews Live" once more and through "Weather Music", I got to hear another catchy song by the band. "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni Nattara" (Shooting Star Night) is a track from Fujifabric's third original album"TEENAGER" from January 2008. There's a lot of thumping percussion and wailing guitars which fuel the rocket engines on this one, along with the soaring vocals of Masahiko Shimura（志村正彦）. Although "Sakura no Kisetsu" isn't really a spring song despite its inclusion of cherry blossoms in the title, "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara"is a summer song and it feels like a young couple in their yukata having the time of their lives through a spin at their local festival. Especially love the chorus.
The song was written by Shimura and composed by him and keyboardist Daisuke Kanazawa（金澤ダイスケ）. "TEENAGER" reached No. 11 on Oricon. I can imagine "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara" being a favourite at the concerts.
Happy Monday! As I've mentioned in the past, I generally don't watch the Oscars anymore for a number of reasons, and as for last night's reason, I was out with friends for a nice if pricey Korean BBQ dinner (just wish the restaurant would accept credit cards). I've heard that there really wasn't anything cringe about this year's ceremony as there has been in the past (such as the slap heard around the world) and the big shocker was that Jimmy Kimmel and company were able to finish the program before 11 PM Eastern Daylight Time! I actually had to check things to make sure that there hadn't been some sort of terrorist attack.
I had heard beforehand that there were three Japanese movies that were in contention for Oscars, and I'm glad to hear that two of them won. Many congratulations to "Godzilla Minus One" for Best Visual Effects and "The Boy and the Heron" for Best Animated Feature. The amazing thing is though I haven't been one who watches a lot of Oscar movies, I managed to catch four such flicks in 2023: the above two, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer".
I wondered about putting something up to begin this week's round of KKP entries to commemorate the Oscar victories but I had already contributed articles regarding "Godzilla Minus One" and "The Boy and the Heron" back in December. Didn't want to quit quite yet so after breaking a brain cell or two, I realized that the movie "Okuribito"（Departures） had won for Best Foreign Picture back at the 2009 Oscars.
Never thought that I would see two former cute teenage singers from Japan show up on Hollywood's biggest staged event but it did happen.
I figured that any major Japanese motion picture would have some sort of song attached to it, and sure enough, Japanese-American R&B singer AI provided one. "Okuribito" is a tenderhearted creation written by AI and composed/arranged by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）. It's certainly a different tune for AI since "Okuribito" has a heartfelt orchestra backing up a hushed and solemn delivery by the singer. There's even some prominence given to the cellos which happened to be the instrument of profession for Masahiro Motoki's（本木雅弘）main character before transitioning to become a ritual mortician. It's a perfect fit for the tone of the story. "Okuribito" was the coupling song to AI's 18th single"So Special -Version AI-" from September 2008.
Of course, there were a few highlights in last night's ceremonies. After his antics, John Cena has been compared here in Japan to one other local comedian with a similar shtick.
"...I really can't even imagine how she would sing it well. It would frankly sound boring and flat, so it has to remain at its craptastic best!"
I made the following statement back in June 2019 when I wrote up the article on seiyuu/singer Yuko Goto's（後藤邑子）"Koi no Mikuru Densetsu"（恋のミクル伝説...The Legend of Mikuru in Love）, a song so hideously incredible by her character of Mikuru Asahina（朝比奈ミクル）, and one that began the whole "Haruhi Suzumiya"anime franchise that it actually made me flee from watching the show. That is, until my anime buddy reassured me that the first episode of "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu"（涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya） was a very amateur student movie produced by Haruhi herself and that I should give the rest of the first season a chance (he did shoo me off from watching Season 2 however).
Well, I no longer have to imagine it anymore. Goto did get a chance to sing it well. When PlayStation 2 was released to the masses, a game was produced titled "Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi"（涼宮ハルヒの戸惑...The Bewilderment of Haruhi Suzumiya） in January 2008 and in it was "Koi no Mikuru Densetsu: Joutatsu Shita Version" (The Improved Version). It's the same Eurobeat-y melody and arrangement by Satoru Kousaki（神前暁）but Goto's intentionally on point this time in her delivery (as opposed to intentionally off tune the first time).
OK, I'm going to have some crow with my chicken tomorrow. I will have to admit that the new and improved "Koi no Mikuru Densetsu" is not bad at all. My initial reluctance about an improved version was all about missing those times to cringe when the off-tune moments in the original exploded.
Part of the reason that I'm posting this particular song is that my friend Scott from "Holly Jolly X'masu" made his first podcast in a while last week focusing on the soundtrack of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". The 1983 movie starred David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）with the latter even providing the soundtrack (in fact, Scott points out that a reluctant Sakamoto only joined the cast once director Nagisa Oshima allowed him to score the movie...his very first time to do so). Anyways, if you like, have a listen to the episode through the above link.
Another reason is that I'm still missing The Professor after his passing earlier this year, and it's still a bit of a shock to realize that both he and Bowie have now left this mortal coil. Still grateful though that they also both left a large legacy of music.
I encountered this track from Sakamoto's second original album"B-2 Unit"（B-2ユニット）which was released in September 1980. "Thatness and Thereness" is his first try singing on an album, and as his good friend and YMO bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）pointed out in a 2011 issue of "Switch" via J-Wiki: "It's not that he's a good singer, and the Professor knows that when he sings, but it's a really good song". (translated by yours truly)
Well, if Takahashi is willing to say that, I can also agree that Sakamoto would never have won any prizes for his vocals, but "Thatness and Thereness" is a contemplative and sumptuous (despite its short time) technopop tune based on one experience with the student movement when he was back in school. Written and composed by The Professor with a co-writing credit given to Yoshitaka Goto（後藤美孝）and translation into English by Peter Barakan, the languid pace of the song makes me wonder whether that scene he had witnessed was so affecting that he saw it in slow motion. The title, which is based on a couple of examples of psychological jargon, adds to my feeling on that possibly very intense memory. Sakamoto also indicated that the song was influenced to a degree by Bertolt Brecht's"The Threepenny Opera" from 1928.
Takahashi himself covered the song (as did many other artists) for the November 2008 2nd album compilation by musician and producer Bajune Tobeta（トベタ・バジュン）, "Aoi Chou"（青い蝶...Blue Butterfly）.
Actress Reiko Mizumachi（水町レイコ）was born Reiko Ono（大野領子）in Tokyo as one of five siblings. I had never heard of her and perhaps you hadn't either but if you're like me and have an interest in the wide spectrum of Japanese popular music, you will know her father: enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）.
Her J-Wiki file has her also listed as a singer although I only see one music-related output there which is "Bokura no Sekai"(Our World). It was used as a special one-off ending theme for the May 23rd 2008 episode of the long-running "Ojarumaru"（おじゃる丸）anime. A couple of months ago, I'd written about a much more recent ending theme for the series, "Ito wo Kashi"（いとをかし）by Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）, and like that one, "Bokura no Sekai" also has that waltz feeling, albeit in a slower circus-type arrangement. Mizumachi's song is so child-friendly that the single probably came with a safety cap. Interestingly enough, her father was responsible for singing both opening themes for "Ojarumaru".
"Bokura no Sekai" was written and composed by MAKOTO゜ who was Mizumachi's brother (and Kitajima's son). Makoto Ono（大野誠）was the vocalist for the rock band 1st Blood who also created songs for his father under the pen name of Toko Daichi（大地土子）including those opening themes for the show. Sadly, he passed away in March 2018.
As it says up there, Happy Canada Day! How's it going, eh? Everything is closed today which means I get to have lots of time to figure out how to commemorate the occasion on our humble little blog. But first off, a little aside here regarding another old interest of mine.
The most recent episode of the latest "Star Trek" entry, "Strange New Worlds" showed off its third episode this season, and it involves time travel which is not a new thing at all for the franchise. But this time, a couple of characters end up in 21st-century Toronto, and this time around, Toronto isn't sitting in for another metropolis. La'an Noonien-Singh actually pegs it as my hometown right in the middle of Yonge-Dundas Square (mind you, it helps that the show is actually filmed in the Toronto area)! And who da thunk it?! James T. Kirk actually loves hot dogs and poutine. Get this guy a Timmies Double-Double!
Anyways, the soft tradition that I've had around July 1st is putting up a Canada-affiliated kayo kyoku or J-Pop song. Nope, it's not easy to do but I've tried my best over the years. And I finally decided to make this Canada Day's edition on KKP an Author's Pick compilation bringing together those relevant songs that I've mentioned. So, without further ado, here we go! And by the way, I also have the "America" tunes up and running as well.
