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.
Yes, I realize that 85% to 90% of all plants have flowers but I hadn't been aware that the typical daikon was one of them. Of course for me, when it comes to daikon, I always think of the root part being grated into that pungent-tasting condiment for fish and tempura.
That is why question marks popped up around my head while I was watching enka legend Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）perform "Daikon no Hana" (Daikon Flowers) on the weekly broadcast of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）a couple of days ago. How would one make a song about these blossoms that I hadn't heard about?
Well, feel free to ask lyricist Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）since they were the ones behind Ishikawa's 97th single from March 2010. Yoshioka's lyrics read like a gentle treatise on how to approach life with all of its hills and valleys; the daikon blossoms only show up in one line as Ishikawa sings about how they will still be there as constantly as the sun rising up. Often when I've heard the singer perform recently, there's been a certain playfulness in her delivery but with "Daikon no Hana", that's been replaced by a reassuring grace and wisdom.
I've also realized that this is the first time that Ishikawa has been on the byline for an article since 2022. Good to see her again in the pages of KKP.
Some years ago, I mentioned a band by the name of The Last Show（ザ・ラストショウ）which was set up to act as backup for folk-rock singer Shigeru Izumiya（泉谷しげる）back in 1974 and then went on their own way from the latter half of that decade. However, following their 1978 album"Last Show 2", nothing more was heard from Koichi Matsuda（松田幸一）and his group.
But then in 2010, almost forty years later, The Last Show got together again and provided a new album in January called "Ieji ~ My Sweet Home"（家路）followed by a live album a few months later titled "The Noise From 80’s". I've already written about the title track and now here's a ballad from the album called "Tomo ni Genki" (Fine Together).
I dare you not to get all gooshy inside after listening to this one. Written by Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二）and composed by band guitarist Hirofumi Tokutake（徳武弘文）, it sounds contemporary but there's also a feeling of an anchor to the past via some of those 70s slow love songs in a Boz Scaggs way. I don't know for certain who sings the male part, but it might be Rina from the band indigo blue as the female half of the duet here. You may want to have a tissue nearby.
I have covered the female group Sayonara Ponytail（さよならポニーテール）a few times in the past, including their "Shin Sekai Koukyougaku"（新世界交響楽）which was one ending theme to the truly chaotic anime "Kill La Kill"（キルラキル）.
Just by happenstance, I stumbled across another song by this mystery group whose members have apparently never appeared live in concert or through any other visual media. They may not have even seen each other...at least as a full group. But anyways, there is much to like about their "Tenshi ni Fureta yo!" (We Met An Angel!) which was written by Emi Inaba（稲葉エミ）and composed by Susumu Kawaguchi（川口進）. It's got a nice groove but also has this wistfulness which comes with being reminded of those salad days in school. Plus, I like the illustrations accompanying the video which make it look like the disparate members of SayoPony actually hung out together all those years. The song was a bonus track on the group's three-disc album "Enban Utopia"（円盤ゆ～とぴあ...Disc Utopia） which was released in November 2015.
The crazy thing is that the SayoPony song is actually a cover of an insert song from the popular anime "K-ON". I'd always heard about this show from my anime buddy but never got to see it although it's gained quite the reputation over the years since it was first shown in 2009. I was surprised by the original version that was performed by the in-universe band Houkago Tea Time（放課後ティータイム...Afterschool Tea Time） with its different pop-rock flavour as performed by Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）, Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）, Satomi Sato（佐藤聡美）and Minako Kotobuki（寿美菜子）, seiyuu that have become very familiar to me through other roles in other anime. "Tenshi ni Fureta yo!" was placed as a track on the October 2010 album "Houkago Tea Time Second"（放課後ティータイムII）.
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.
The weathercasters have been stating that the last few days of snow have exceeded the total amount of the white stuff that we got for all of winter last year. I can believe it. I sludged through increasing centimetres of snow in my heavy boots to get some grocery shopping done this morning and my feet still hurt like crazy. I don't usually drink alcohol but I can certainly use a drink right now.
Maybe enka crooner Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）has got the right idea. In August 2010, he had a second release of his 115th single"Oshiroibana"（おしろい花...The White Flower）, and on it, he had an additional coupling song titled "Yukimizake" (Drinking While Viewing the Snow). As the Bing image at the top that I made shows, it can be considered to be one of those melancholy enka about drinking and watching the snow softly falling down to enter a stupor to forget about those romantic issues. What helps is Itsuki's slightly gravelly and reassuring tones as the protagonist internally grapples about an ardent love that hasn't been consummated quite yet for some reason. Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）came up with the tender melody while Miyuki Ishimoto（石本美由起）was the lyricist.
Meanwhile, I'll just keep enjoying my time inside my abode for the rest of today while figuring out how the heck I'm going to be navigating through the white mountains in my neighbourhood tomorrow.
I mentioned Minuano about half a year ago as being a sub-unit of the band Lamp due to their contribution to the 2022 compilation album "City Music Tokyo: Junction". Just mentioning it again, but percussionist Takeru Ogata（尾方伯郎）and vocalist Kaori Sakakibara（榊原香保里）have been providing their mixture of City Pop, jazz, soft rock and Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) since 2009.
"Paper Moon" has nothing to do with Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Paper Moon"（ペイパームーン）from the 1970s and even their individual interpretations in katakana are different. Minuano's "Paper Moon" is a track from their sophomore album "Aru Haru no Koibito"（ある春の恋人...Spring Lovers） from April 2010, and it's a lovely and relaxing Sunday brunch-friendly tune featuring Sakakibara's whispery vocals and Ogata's melody which is said to have that MPB flavour but I also pick up on some reggae rhythm in there as well.
There have been a few different remixes of "Paper Moon" over the years including one by Minuano itself for a compilation of rearranged versions titled "Kikai Shikake no Kajitsu ~ Saikoujitsu Ongenshuu"（機械仕掛けの果実 -再構築音源集-...Fruits Mechanical -reimagined works-）which was released in August 2024. This one has a bit more oomph with some 1970s City Pop and funk coursing through its system here.
Happy Monday! And yes Virginia, there is snow on the ground right now and areas north of us will be getting pounded with a lot of the white stuff starting from this afternoon, so those odds of a White Christmas have gotten a lot better. Just hope that the drive up north to the lodges and cottages won't be too arduous.
Back in October, "Holly Jolly X'masu" highlighted jazz singer Mami Horie's（堀江真美）2010 album“The Swingin’ Christmas" which I found to be a delightful collection of the standards. If you have a chance, have a listen to Scott's review of the entire album since he goes into the background of Horie's history as a singer. Interestingly enough, I'd forgotten that Horie already has had a presence on KKP through a gushy City Pop song that she provided all the way back in 1979, "Loving You"; the track was part of the "Light Mellow" compilation CDs.
After listening to "The Swingin' Christmas", I immediately searched for anything of the album on YouTube, and I was soon rewarded with the presence of the first track, Horie's rendition of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" which has had the word mommy strangely misspelled as "mammy", maybe as a portmanteau of Mami and mommy. But that aside, Scott said it best when he refers to Horie's version as one of the better takes on the old Xmas song and describes it as a cute and playful tribute. I can say that it does sound like Mami was at a gorgeous Xmas party of friends and she suddenly decided to sing it with a trio of instrumentalists in the living room. Compare this version with the Big Band Swing take on "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by fellow jazz chanteuse Yasuko Agawa（阿川泰子）who I covered a few weeks ago after listening to her cover on "Holly Jolly X'masu" as well.
Scott mentions it in the podcast and I've mentioned a little bit of it in "Loving You" but just when Horie was about to get her big break in the music business, she and a music publishing company had a dispute in the early 1980s which unfortunately got her blackballed in Japan for several years. However, it seems as if her redemption began in the 1990s and her career has been in fine fettle for the past few decades. In fact, according to the Casio website, a voice training book that she published has become a bible for singers and in recent years, she has even become a tourism ambassador for her native Kochi Prefecture.
Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) recorded a lot of cover songs, ranging from Meiji-Taisho enka to early Showa kayo to 1980s pop enka. It's thanks to these covers that I got to learn a fair amount about a wide array of songs, some of which becoming personal favourites. But did you know, that the concept of covering pop songs, produced by record companies, wasn't as commonplace as it is now prior to the late 1960s?
Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken, but based on my understanding of sources like Yusuke Wajima's (輪島裕介) "Tsukurareta 'Nihon no Kokoro' Shinwa" (創られた「日本の心」神話) (2010), it was due to the old record company contract system from the late 1920s. What this system entailed was that a songwriter or singer, bound to a particular record company by contract, could not provide songs for a different company/sing songs made by a different company. There was also this concept of the mochi uta, where a song made for a singer was theirs and theirs only; to cover another's song (officially) was, I quote from venerable lyricist Kikutaro Takahashi (高橋掬太郎), "akin to betrayal", even if they were from the same company. For instance, Akira Matsudaira (松平晃) would not be able to cover Tadaharu Nakano's (中野忠晴)"China Tango" under most circumstances, even though they were both from Columbia Records. Or Columbia's Mr. Nakano would not have been able to cover King Records' Isao Hayashi's (林伊佐緒) "Kiso Bushi Bolero" (木曽節ボレロ). Rather limiting stuff.
Miura, Hachi, Yukiko Nomura From "Shinobu"
Of course, there were multiple exceptions and there were instances of insane loophole gymnastics. And one of these loopholes would change the record industry game for the better. This watershed moment that got rid of this limiting restriction was Shinichi Mori's (森進一) (Victor) cover album of Masao Koga's (古賀政男) (Columbia) works, "Kage wo Shitaite"(影を慕いて), from 1968. Initially seen as inconceivable, composer Kosho Inomata (猪俣公章) who was the album's director managed to do some insane contract red tape gymnastics and dodging Koga Sensei's initial wrath to get it done. This involved picking only the Koga Melody that did not "belong" to Columbia Records, i.e. those that were from the legendary composer's early Victor and Golden Age Teichiku days. The album's resounding success threw out the stigma around covers and cross-company collaborations. So much so that now it's essentially a given in at least the enka world. I'd go so far as to say that some past kayo have become "must covers"/a rite of passage for any modern day enka singer. Oddly enough, one of these enka rites of passages is doing a Koga Melody cover.
In terms of same company covers, assuming the producers at King Records weren't being hyperbolic, the first full-on same company artist collab album was Hachi and his junior Michiya Mihashi's (三橋美智也)"Ougon no Utagoe" (黄金の歌声) from 1970. That was where both artists covered about 14 of each others' mochi uta. I believe it was also in 1970 when Kasuga began recording cover songs in earnest.
Anyways, this brief Japanese record industry history tidbit leads me to what I want to feature for my Hachi Centenary Project article: Hachi's cover songs I enjoy. I've always been picky about original singers, but sometimes covers just hit different, sometimes with better arrangements or better vocals. It's with these factors in mind that I share my picks of Hachi covers. At the same time, perhaps these songs may introduce you to some Taisho and Showa era classics, as they did for me. As a side note, I will also mention some of the albums each song is in.
This song is difficult with some intense peaks and dips, but Hachi maneuvers them so effortlessly and smoothly in this classic nagashi/sasurai mono. Maybe folks are right in saying that Hachi is just good at these sort of enka style kayo.
Albums: Showa no Enka Kasuga Hachiro Fukyu no Meisaku wo Utau (昭和の艶歌 春日八郎不朽の名作を歌う) (1971), Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyaku Sen (春日八郎 演歌百選) (1973)
Hachi said that jazz doesn't fit him and some have said that he couldn't express that jazz feeling. I have to admit that there are some number where I felt that the jazz feeling was lacking a little. But not with this one. Also, it may be a hot take to fans of early Showa Japanese jazz, but this is the best version of "Dotonbori Koshinkyoku" with the best arrangement. I will die on this hill.
A point to note is that Hachi re-recorded this in his 1975 "Kasuga Hachiro no Osaka Jocho" (春日八郎の大阪情緒), but its arrangement was not as raw and... jazzy. The original cover from the 1962 "Taisho/Showa Hayari-uta" (春日八郎の大正・昭和はやり唄) album is the one I'm for.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro no Taisho/Showa Hayari-uta, Kasuga Hachiro no Osaka Jocho, Kasuga Hachiro Osaka wo Utau (春日八郎 大阪を歌う) (2011)
I praise the creative decision to have Hachi sing the chorus, "Batten Nagasaki __ no machi, mimase yokatoko yori masse" (But Nagasaki's the city of__, c'mon over and check out this fine place... The line is in the Nagasaki/Kyushu dialect), unlike Higuchi's original. Higuchi's wasn't bad, but it just felt lacking to have just the back-up singers handle that crucial bit.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro no Nagasaki no Jocho (春日八郎の長崎情緒) (1976), Kasuga Hachiro Showa Kayo wo Utau (春日八郎 昭和歌謡を歌う) (2010)
Karisome no Koi (かりそめの恋) (1949) -- Machiko Sanjo (三条町子)
Fun fact: I believe this was one of the songs Hachi saw/hear Mrs. Kasuga, Keiko Watabe (渡部恵子), sing while she was working as a part-time singer at the same restaurant as him back in the day. On a side note, I feel that Hachi's soft, forlorn-tinged voice fits this sort of blues/Mood Kayo-like songs to a T.
Album: Nihon no Uta Meiji/Taisho/Showa Hayari-uta (日本の歌 明治・大正・昭和はやりうた) (1977)
Onna no Kaikyu (女の階級) (1936) -- Shigeo Kusunoki (楠木繁夫)
Of all the songs on this is one of the rare numbers where I enjoy both the original and the cover in equal measure. Anyways, I've read that Koga Sensei wanted "Onna no Kaikyu" to be of a slower pace, contrary to the brisk pace of Kusunoki's original. I think it's in covers like Hachi's where you can hear the composer's intended vision.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro Koga Melody wo Utau (春日八郎 古賀メロディーを歌う) (1971/1975/1992), Kasuga Hachiro Koga Masao wo Utau (春日八郎 古賀政男を歌う) (1974), Showa no Enka Kasuga Hachiro Fukyu no Meisaku wo Utau, Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyaku Sen
Palau Koishiya (パラオ恋しや) (1941) -- Haruo Oka (岡晴夫)
Hachi's smooth delivery makes Okapparu's mochi uta more polished, and I think you can feel it in a relaxed tropical island number like "Palau Koishiya". Interestingly enough, even though Kasuga recorded this cover, it wasn't included in his 1977 Oka cover album, "Kasuga Hachiro Oka Haruo wo Utau" (春日八郎 岡晴夫を歌う). Rather it seems to have only been released decades later in 2010 via "Showa Kayo wo Utau". Perhaps they'd already hit the song limit for the 1977 one, so "Palau Koishiya" got dropped.
Fun fact: Okapparu, known for that strident and nasally delivery with large lung capacity, was said to have developed these attributes during his days as an enka shi/nagashi (street musician). Because of the cigarette smog in bars, he learned to sing in this manner to reduce the need for inhaling the smoke and damaging his vocals.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro Showa Kayo wo Utau
Hoshi no Nagare ni(星の流れに) (1947) -- Akiko Kikuchi (菊池章子)
The hardship of immediate postwar Japan can be felt in this song about the realities of many women who had to turn to working the night to survive. Perhaps it would be more appropriate sung by a woman, but Hachi's voice is more filled with a pained longing than heavy melancholy, which fits the emotions expressed in this song.
Albums: Enka to wa Nandarou Kasuga Hachiro Show (演歌とは何だろう〈春日八郎ショー〉)(1973), Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyaku Sen, Kasuga Hachiro Showa Kayo wo Utau
Epilogue
Something I noticed when studying the covers Hachi recorded was that he never covered any (Ryoichi) Hattori (服部良一) Melody save for one: Mieko Takamine's (高峰三枝子) "Kohan no Yado" (湖畔の宿) - correct me if I'm wrong. I wonder if it's because R. Hatter was known for jazz and "pop", and thus not fitting with the enka rhetoric in the 70s and 80s.
On a different note, among the other fellas I love, Hachi has covered Akira-san's, Bin Uehara's (上原敏), and Yoshio Tabata's (田端義夫) stuff. As I've said, I can be very picky with covers. As much as I love Hachi, originals win here, especially for Bin-san and Batayan. I'm more forgiving with the Akira-san covers, though. This is because Hachi and Akira-san vaguely share a similar vocal quality in that they are great at conveying forlornness - the difference is that Hachi sounds empathetic while Akira-san sounds needy (purely subjective). So, I thought the former's covers of the latter's hits, "Isoge Horo Basha" (急げ幌馬車) and "Circus no Uta" (サーカスの唄), were pretty good, but the arrangements just fell short.
"Isoge Horo Basha"
But, y'know, a dream Hachi cover of mine is "China Tango". I know I'll regret it because, while I know it'll be good, Hachi has nowhere near the same level of sex appeal as Mr. Nakano to pull it off. But I just want to hear it. Not because it'll be hot, but because I think it'll be kinda funny.
Although Torontonians learn never to say never when it comes to seasonal events such as snow, and yes, snow has fallen here in May, I think that we can all finally breathe some relief and perhaps do things such as change our snow tires back to summer ones. If you are Torontonian and you read this article, knock on wood firmly...just to be on the safe side.😉
Now, this is a song that I heard a few months ago on the "Weather Music" segment of "Weathernews Live" when snow was still all too real a thing in my neck of the woods. "Nagori Yuki" (Winter's-End Snow) has been a favourite of mine when I first heard it by 70s aidoru Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）on the 1982 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen and then heard the most famous 1975 cover version by folk singer Iruka（イルカ）. The original version was by folk band Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）and placed on their 1974 4th album, "Sankai Tate no Uta"（三階建ての詩...Three-Floor Poem).
The "Weather Music" segment had singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata（秦基博）perform his own take on "Nagori Yuki" and it still retains that wistful and woodsy flavour of the 1970s versions. There is nothing over-the-top here...it's Hata and his guitar for the most part, and that is all that is needed to send the emotion out to people. Hata's version was a track on an extra CD that was only available in the first pressings of his October 2010 3rd album"Documentary" which hit No. 3 on Oricon.
I swear that I've seen the band name moumoon somewhere before, so I assumed that I had covered the duo consisting of vocalist/lyricist Yuka and multi-instrumentalist/composer Kousuke Masaki in the blog before. But such was not the case at all.
So, allow me to make amends. The single here, their 7th to be exact, is "Sunshine Girl" which was released in May 2010. It was created for a commercial featuring Shiseido's Anessa sunblock line and though it begins with a stompy drum, the melody soon becomes so bouncy with Yuka's lyrics tripping the light fantastic. The beat just about takes things into a reggae pattern. "Sunshine Girl" hit No. 10 on Oricon and went Double Platinum. It's also a track on moumoon's 2nd album"15 Doors" from March 2011 which peaked at No. 8.
I'll leave Wikipedia to give a brief description of moumoon: The band's name is a portmanteau of the French word "mou" (soft) and the English "moon". The duo met at a summer rock festival in 2004; after swapping demo tapes, the pair decided to work together professionally. The band self-produced and arrange the vast majority of their songs, with Masaki composing the music while YUKA writes the lyrics. Both band members were brought up on classical music, with Masaki playing piano and YUKA a keen violinist. Their present musical style covers various types of music such as pop, alternative rock, electronica, folk and indie rock.
Welcome to the last few days of February. The temperature roller coaster has been continuing here in Toronto so we had a wind chill factor of -23 C on Saturday but by this coming Thursday, we may be up to +14 C. Whatever the meteorological case may be, our winter will likely end up as one of the warmest that we've had.
It's been a few years since I posted anything up for the song-and-dance group World Order starring former MMA athlete Genki Sudo（須藤元気）. I do remember when I first found out about them via their December 2014 song "Have A Nice Day" and more importantly, their performance as besuited automatons enjoying a disjointed stroll through areas such as Shibuya.
Now, I've gone even further back. In fact, I've dipped into their very first album "World Order" from July 2010 and realized that Sudo and the gang did a cover of trf's "Boy Meets Girl". I don't think that it eclipses the 1994 original by the techno song and dance group that Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）built but it's still nice to hear the cover version and watch the guys doing their distinctive choreography while picking up some women during an evening encounter. Plus, you get to see a bit of what salaried workers in Japan do after they punch out of work. "World Order" managed to reach No. 82 on Oricon.
Ahhh...happy to find my favourite remix of "Boy Meets Girl". Man, was this a popular song back in the day!
Just for this article, I asked the AI art generator to cook up KKP representative Kayo Grace Kyoku to be draped over a chaise longue or chaise lounge (according to Wikipedia). However, Bing decided that the result would be too "racy" so I had to settle for the empty furniture. As for the reason that I made the request in the first place was that I was planning to talk about a song that could be considered to be within the sphere of Fashion Music, a particularly refined form of 70s New Music which I've often compared to Baroque Rock or Baroque Pop. I've given my examples on a 2018 article titled "J-Canuck's Fashion Music"（ファッション・ミュージック）. In all aspects, my genre is something that I impressed upon the blog on my own since its very brief usage in Japanese media had only been for singer Asami Kado（門あさ美）as a catchphrase for her 1979 song "Fascination". But in my opinion, there has been a good chunk of songs with that certain baroque quality so that the genre name is worthy of continued existence.
Anyways, one of my fellow Japanese music-loving Twitter companions, -3°C, informed everyone quite happily about how much they have have enjoyed this song "Koibito no Ryoubun" (Lovers' Domain) by Tomoko Kuwae（桑江知子）. Listening to it myself, I agreed and opted to write about it today on KKP seeing it is Hump Day and by this point, a lot of folks would probably love to lie down on the chaise longue, KKP's official furniture of Fashion Music.
It's got the gallant languidness that would suit the genre but it also possesses a certain relaxing country music lilt, and so I could easily imagine other singers such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）or even the aforementioned Kado covering "Koibito no Ryoubun" as well. Maybe even Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）back in those early years. Speaking of which, the song was a track on Kuwae's 2nd album, the December 1979"Neppu"（熱風...Tropical Winds）. The sibling songwriting duo, lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composer-singer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）were responsible for "Koibito no Ryoubun" which doesn't surprise me since those two are quite famous for their smooth and languid arrangements.
Kuwae has dabbled in pop and City Pop, so why not something like Fashion Music? But since you're here, you can additionally try out her most well-known song, "Watashi no Heart wa Stop Motion"（私のハートはストップモーション）from that same year of 1979.
Takao Kisugi himself covered his composition in his December 2010 album"Hitasura ni"（ひたすらに...Devotedly） to mark his 35th anniversary in the business. His version seems almost elegiac as if he was thinking about putting a close to his career. Thankfully, that has yet to happen.
The above is a theatre near the Toei Animation Museum in Nerima Ward, Tokyo. My friend and I visited the museum in 2014 although we didn't actually see a flick at the T-Joy. As someone who's been catching movies for decades, a multi-year move to Japan didn't change my habits for the most part and so I continued to see the Hollywood blockbusters in Tokyo. I think in the last half of my stay in Ichikawa, I noticed that theatres were getting more advanced up to the level of VIP versions which I've gotten spoiled on. But before then, a number of the movie houses had been darn old with seats small enough that at one point, I was virtually wearing them like a diaper...yes, let's not imagine that, shall we? I don't think red velour is that absorbent anyways.
It's those old places of Ginza, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro that I used to frequent that get the spotlight in Chiyuki Asami's（あさみちゆき）"Tasogare Cinema" (Sunset Cinema). I first wrote about the Yamaguchi Prefecture native in November 2023 regarding her 2004 song "Inokashira-sen"（井の頭線）, and noted how her choice of music settled in that middle ground known as New Adult Music between folk and enka.
"Tasogare Cinema" was released as her 10th single in April 2010 and it's a poignant ballad about a woman returning to a neighbourhood for the first time in a decade where she and her ex-boyfriend used to hang out. An old theatre there was one of their haunts and she goes inside noting that her old flame is probably now still living in the neighbourhood with his current girlfriend or wife. Written by Mami Takubo（田久保真見）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, there is very much a "que sera sera" feeling in the song as if the woman has moved on with her life but still wants to remember old times. The single peaked at No. 40 on Oricon.
"Tasogare Cinema" also appeared in an earlier version as a track on Asami's 2nd album from June 2005"Asami no Uta II"（あさみのうたII...Asami's Songs II）. The original version has an even more elegiac feeling with that orchestra backing the singer up. On the other hand, the later 2010 single feels more along the lines of some of the power ballads from the 1970s and maybe early 1980s such as Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue" and Saburo Tokito's（時任三郎）"Kawa no Nagare wo Daite Nemuritai" (川の流れを抱いて眠りたい）.
Writing about theaidoru sub-unit Twinklestarsyesterday and then remembering its sister unit, the heavy metal group BABYMETAL, I figured that it was time that I should see about the mother group, Sakura Gakuin（さくら学院...Cherry Blossom Academy）. We've never posted anything about this aidoru conglomeration onto the blog, so the time is now.
Therefore, why not talk about the very first single by Sakura Gakuin which lasted between 2010 and 2021? "Yume ni Mukatte" (Toward the Dream) , which was released in December 2010, is a typically cheery anthem of friendship and positivity that was written by Yuriko Mori（森由里子）and composed by Ryo from the Visual-kei rock band defspiral. Viewing the music video, I noticed that even for teenyboppers, these girls looked really young, and so I found out that another gimmick of the group is that the members were only to be 10-15 years of age and once members reached the third year of their junior high school stage (which would be Grade 9 here), it's time for them to "graduate" from the Academy. As I also hinted in Twinklestars'"Tenshi to Akuma"（天使と悪魔）, Sakura Gakuin was seen as the school with the sub-units being the school clubs for the members to split up into.
"Yume ni Mukatte" was part of the official single "Yume ni Mukatte/Hello! IVY" which peaked at No. 35 on Oricon. Both songs were also tracks on Sakura Gakuin's debut album"Sakura Gakuin 2010 Nendo ~ message ~"（さくら学院 2010年度 〜message〜...Sakura Gakuin School Year 2010）, released in April 2011. That album got as high as No. 54.
Happy Christmas Eve! Yup, I'm getting into the final touches before the annual family Xmas get-together tomorrow, but of course, I have to do my usual duty and provide some more J-Christmas tunes here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
Thanks to Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast, I have here a song from the 2010 compilation "We Wish You a Merry" that he spotlighted back in the fall of 2022. The Keys'"The Land of Celebration" is a happy jangly pop tune that reminds me of some of the sunny side pop of the late 1960s and according to Scott, the lyrics talk of a guy who meets up with a lady during a snowy Yuletide every year with the promise of showing up the next day for a further development in their relationship, only for him to pull a no-show due to short-term memory issues. It sounds like an old Adam Sandler movie, and how the woman puts up with getting ditched annually is beyond me. But the music is fun and should get folks in a good mood.
I could find absolutely nothing on The Keys online, and all that I know has been from Scott's narration from a little after the 23-minute mark on the podcast. So I urge to you to have a listen. The band apparently didn't last all that long after their beginnings in the mid-2000s although all three members are still in the music industry.
I gather that back in the day, anime comedies always involved some alien or magical creature getting into the lives of a feckless schoolboy and creating general mayhem for him and his buddies. For me, that would include "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）and "Obake no Q-Taro"（オバケのQ太郎）. The above 1984 anime adaptation of the 1982 manga "Gu-Gu Ganmo"（Gu-Guガンモ）is something that I had never heard about before, but it fulfills the trope, although this time, the weird character is in the form of a pudgy chicken named Ganmo.
I've been reading some of the comments for the YouTube clips of "Gu-Gu Ganmo" which seem to feature the hapless Hanpeita ending up half-naked. Well, back in the day, the animated funnies in Japan didn't seem to mind having nudity among the kids as long as it was deemed in good fun. "Dr. Slump"（ドクタースランプ）was practically the master of the bawdy.
What got more of my attention was the opening theme song for "Gu-Gu Ganmo", "Ganmo Doki!"(Ganmo Gulp!). Written and composed by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）, this was recorded by the one-and-only Miki Matsubara（松原みき）, although for some reason, she opted for the name Suzie Matsubara（スージー・松原）. One comment under one of the videos for the song mentioned that she probably went for the name change out of a certain sense of embarrassment over doing an anison. Frankly, I'm not sure whether that was the case since Miki/Susie certainly doesn't sound as if she's phoning her performance in. Moreover, I don't know how much of a household name she became in the half-decade since her big hit "Mayonaka no Door"（真夜中のドアー）, but her distinctive voice of sweet, spicy and sultry is still rather recognizable. Maybe it was more of an affectation that Miki Matsubara just opted to go with Susie whenever she was doing anison, and apparently she did quite a few of them from the 1990s. But if someone has a different theory, please let me know.
Mori's melody for "Ganmo Doki!" has got that tropical Latin jazz and funk that I've heard before on either side of the Pacific, but it was the comment under the J-Wiki description of the theme song that got my interest. Apparently, the composer had woven it under the genre known as Funk-a-Latina（ファンカラティーナ）. That was news to me since it was the first time I heard of it (love the opening credit dance sequence, by the way). It took a bit of doing but I found the "Rate Your Music" site had some information on this genre:
Funk-a-latina is a term most likely coined in Japan for a danceable, Pop-oriented and primarily British subgenre of New Wave that, as the name implies, takes inspiration from the rhythms of Funk and Latin music (including both Hispanic American Music and Brazilian Music). Specifically, funk-a-latina is closely related to the Britfunk offshoot of Jazz-Funk, incorporating its energetic, uptempo beat and heavy use of brass; its Latin influences show through the incorporation of Salsa and Samba rhythms as well as percussion. Other major influences include Disco and the vocal stylings of British Blue-Eyed Soul. Sophisti-Pop in comparison is less manic, lacks the latin sound, and is much more jazz oriented.
The interesting part is right in the first line where the name Funk-a-Latina was supposedly whipped up in Japan. Maybe it was a Dentsu invention or something that the record company thought up of. Regardless, if that is indeed the case, then I believe Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）"Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。）could certainly be considered to be part of the genre. Matt Bianco is a band that I also know, but I'm also reminded of Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
The ending theme, "Hyokopon Kankei" (Hyokpon Relationship), was also recorded by Suzie and created by Mori. It's not quite as standout as the opening theme but it does have that old-style rock n' roll feeling.
Seiyuu Yuko Goto（後藤邑子）did her own version of "Ganmo Doki!" as a track on her 3rd album"Gotoson"（ごとそん）from January 2010 which provides plenty of anison covers. It reached No. 74 on Oricon.
The first time that I ever had okonomiyaki（お好み焼）was when I was on that 1981 graduation trip from the Toronto Japanese Language School as a teen. I was spending three days with my host family associated with Tezukayama Girls' High School in Nara and they were kind enough to take me to lunch at an (Osaka-style) okonomiyaki restaurant.
It was an amazing experience seeing my host sister, Akiko, pouring the thick and chunky batter onto the teppan（鉄板）hot plate built into our table. As it turned into something like a pancake through a few practiced flips, she finalized everything by slathering on the sauce, squirting the Kewpie mayo, sprinkling the bonito flakes so they looked like they were waving at everyone and finally a few shakes of ground nori. For a Japanese-Canadian who was used to having his pancakes with butter and maple syrup, the savory okonomiyaki was a gastronomic revelation.
Years later, as a working teacher in the Tokyo area, I'd already had my share of okonomiyaki but it was my first time to have the Hiroshima-style version when my friends took me to a restaurant in trendy Shimo-Kitazawa. Visitors will believe once and for all that a huge half-head of cabbage and a ton of yakisoba can be cooked down into a golden brown mix of flour and other ingredients. But why not have a watch of the above video by WAO RYU!ONLY in JAPAN and compare the two types?
Now, why am I expressing my okonomiyaki dreams out loud? Well, this 2010 NHK morning serial drama "Teppan"（てっぱん）has to do with a young lady who wants to open her own okonomiyaki restaurant in Osaka. The theme song "Himawari" (Sunflower) was recently performed once more on "Uta Con"（うたコン）by its composer, violinist Taro Hakase（葉加瀬太郎）, and though I haven't really been a purveyor of the asadora（朝ドラ）, "Himawari" has been a rather familiar song to me.
Sounding as comfortable and homey as a visit to an actual neighbourhood okonomiyaki restaurant, I can imagine that "Himawari" pretty much set the tone for the drama. The first half of the song has that innocent and homey feel before things go off on a tangent of jazzy self-exploration and then so that things don't get too self-indulgent, Hakase pulls back to the innocence once more. There's also something in the percussion that made me think that there was also something Okinawan in the arrangement. It's been placedas a song on Hakase's 14th album "Emotionism" from September 2010. The album, which peaked at No. 25 on Oricon, has been categorized as a New Age product on J-Wiki, and maybe I will eventually put up that genre onto Labels, but for now, I'll just place it as a jazz and pop song.
A little over three years ago, I featured a song by a band known as The Last Show（ザ・ラストショウ）led by Koichi Matsuda（松田幸一）and Ritsu Murakami（村上律）which had been active during the late 1970s. "Blue Lonesome Lady"（ブルー・ロンサム・レディ）from their 1978 2nd album"Last Show 2" is a lovely country tune that could have made its way to the Grand Ole Opry, and according to their J-Wiki article, all three albums that they've released are extremely hard to track down.
That apparently even applies to their January 2010 album "Ieji ~ My Sweet Home"（家路）which was released after getting back together in 2008 and doing concert gigs. Despite the fact that it's been quite a few decades, the title track doesn't sound any different from how they sounded back in the 70s. Written by Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二）and composed by band bassist Tetsuzo Kawai（河合徹三）, it's a folksy country tune about a couple of good buddies from a gang and how they've enjoyed each other's company over the past few years. Wouldn't mind hearing some more of the old-school stuff in the 2020s.
Sad to say, but one of the natural phenomena that I have yet to see despite being over half a century old is the Northern Lights. One of my regular students was able to take a trip to the Yukon and braved the very sub-zero weather to witness the spectacular nature of an aurora.
A couple of years ago was the last time that I wrote about singer-songwriter Shiho Nanba（南波志帆）who has been noticed for her whispery voice and some association with the newer J-AOR acts such as Blue Peppers. My article back then was for her 2009 "Pool no Ao wa Uso no Ao"（プールの青は嘘の青）, a Sunshine Pop sort of number that was provided to her by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）of Kirinji（キリンジ）. It wasn't released as a single; instead, it was a track on her "Kimi ni Todoku ka na, Watashi."（君に届くかな、私。...Will I/It Get to You?）indies album.
The mid-teens Nanba would release her first single as a major artist in December 2010, "Aurora ni Kakurete"(Hiding in an Aurora), and rather than the light and mellow stuff, this particular song has more of a bubbly pop flavour reminiscent of Tommy february6. However, it was Takaki's brother, Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）who came up with the melody while YUKI from Judy & Mary wrote the lyrics regarding an adorable Christmas date. The arrangement was handled by Hiroyasu Yano（矢野博康）from the Cymbals, and as mentioned in the "Pool" article, he was the one who advised Nanba to try the whispery voice treatment.
My anime buddy is currently in East Asia right now, and he will be visiting the Matsushima（松島）area up in Miyagi Prefecture（宮城県）during his return to Japan. I'm expecting that he'll be taking hundreds of photographs of what is one of the three big Japanese landscapes. The above video is from Planetyze.
The Queen ofGo-Touchi Songs（ご当地ソング...geographically-based kayo）, Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）, appeared on an "Uta Con"（うたコン）a few weeks ago where she said that she only has two more prefectures to sing about before completing her epic journey of providing enka tunes for all 47 territories ofJapan. And then she went on the stage to sing about one of her earlier go-touchi songs.
"Matsushima Kikou" (Matsushima Travelogue) is her 18th single from April 2010, giving tribute to the titular region. Written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, Mizumori gives one of her gallant and gentle renditions of the area as she relates the story of a lady running away to forget the death of a romance but try as she might, she can't keep the dark cloud away from the sky above her head.
The song hit No. 2 on Oricon and became the 57th-ranked single of 2010, earning Mizumori her 8th invitation to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of that year.
