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.
Back in June 2024, I introduced a band called shaky which was anything but shaky. In fact, I really loved their debut digital single from 2019, "Closer". It was some really nice soulful Neo-City Pop.
The band finally put up a website but things are still rather sparse although they have a brief profile section. From what I've read there, the members are influenced by R&B, soul, funk, jazz and other genres. Any other news on shaky only comes as far as 2020 so I'm not sure what their current status is. However, speaking of that year, the Fukuoka group did release another single in March 2020 titled "silhouette". It's quite the percolating and funkier tune which makes one feel like taking a night drive into the big city.
Well, we're well into 2026 and I figure it's time to bring in the first Nash Music Library entry for the year. I think the last time I wrote about music maker NML was back on Christmas Eve last year when I had something seasonal.
This time around, today's NML entry doesn't have a particular seasonal purpose. "vi vi vid" is quite the title for this track which originates from the February 2020 collection "Neon Town". Even though it doesn't seem to have any special designation, it does have some spicy Latin rhythm along with a spacy electro melody. I can't help but think of some cute cartoon characters on a comically secret mission somewhere and making tons of mistakes along the way.
That is one mighty happy young photographer flying about in zero gravity on either the ISS or a space shuttle. If it were me, I would most likely be heaving all over the place.
Anyways, my final article tonight deals with the laidback sounds by Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）. "Mujuuryoku no Photographer"(Photographer in Zero Gravity) initially launches with some fairly happy piano-driven AOR that is reminiscent of the Doobie Bros before the speed ratchets down slightly to something more relaxing The song first appeared on the band's August 2020 2nd maxi-single"Kurage"（くらげ...Jellyfish） but also popped up as the coupling song to "Heart no Tekagami"（ハートの手鏡) from October 2021.
It's also nice that "Mujuuryoku no Photographer" and "Heart no Tekagami" share space on the same disc for comparison. There is the cafe-worthy former paired with the Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）City Pop of the latter.
Wow! All this time knowing the song "Akai Sweet Pea"(Red Sweet Pea) by Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and the above 1910 painting is the first time I get to see a real red sweet pea. This is by Edward H. Mitchell (1867–1932) and it's in the public domain according to Wikimedia Commons.
One other thing that I found out on the first episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）in 2026 last night was that "Akai Sweet Pea" is celebrating its 44th anniversary today since its release in 1982. Well, of course, I wrote up an article on one of Seiko-chan's evergreen hits all the way back in 2012 so I can't really repeat myself. However, I did look up the many cover versions of "Akai Sweet Pea" via J-Wiki and found this one.
It is indeed a very sweet version via the December 2020 album "VOICE ~ Seiyuu-tachi ga Utau Matsuda Seiko Song ~ Female Edition"（VOICE〜声優たちが歌う松田聖子ソング〜 Female Edition...Voice Actresses Sing the Songs of Seiko Matsuda）. As the title says, a whole bunch of the big guns in the anime voice actress industry came together to provide their own versions of Matsuda's music. Their take on "Akai Sweet Pea" is the 12th and final track on the album and it is an appropriately stately but adorable cover sung by all of the seiyuu involved in the project to wrap things up: Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）, Maaya Uchida（内田真礼）, Ayane Sakura（佐倉綾音）, Miku Ito（伊藤美来）and Momo Asakura（麻倉もも）. Probably not a dry eye in the house.
Anyways, all hail "Akai Sweet Pea"! All hail Seiko-chan!
Bill Withers' "Just the Two of Us" is woven so soulfully and well that it would take a mighty effort for any professional singer to screw up. Of course, there is the original by Grover Washington Jr. and years ago, I put up an article regarding a cover version by Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）and Caron Wheeler back in 1996.
Between then and now, there probably have been a handful of such covers but I've discovered a really good version by the band Neighbors Complain who already have a few articles up on KKP. In October 2020, the group put up their own soulful and jazzy take on the Withers' classic as the first track of their "Made in Street" album. Dang it, it's just the second coming of Sing Like Talking. I couldn't help shimmy to this one.
I gather that the 2020 release was either on CD or digital download. There is a 2024 LP version that has come out.
Back in February 2024, I posted an article on a band that I'd never heard before called Magic, Drums & Love with their 2023 song "KEEP ROMANCE ALIVE". To say that they have an eclectic sound is a bit of an understatement since that particular tune has a fascinating blend of reggae, synthpop, rock and pop.
Well, here's an even earlier single that was released in 2020 titled "Amazon Night" As a bit of an aside, whenever I think of Amazon, it's not usually about the river in Brazil anymore but the company that seems to deliver everything; a tad sad, actually. Anyways, I'd like to think that "Amazon Night" is a whole lot closer to the natural environment with guitarist Jinta=Jinta and drummer YURINA da GOLD DIGGER creating a relaxing synthy pop song with a reggae beat led by those kittenish vocals.
Just around three years ago, I was made aware of a stylish anime noir called "ODDTAXI" which had an appropriately stylish urban contemporaryopening theme song by the partnership of musician Skirt（スカート）and hip-hop MC/trackmakerPunpee, I didn't add much more than that regarding either fellow.
As for the high-toned Skirt, he is originally Wataru Sawabe（澤部渡）from Tokyo who began his Skirt project in 2006 which has dove into regular J-Pop, guitar pop and City Pop. In 2020, he released a digital EP titled "Extended Vol.1" which includes a snazzy jazz-pop number called "Chikatetsu no Yureru Rhythm" (To the Swaying Rhythm of the Subway). I don't think that would entail any of our subways here in Toronto but I can certainly swing to this song as would Glenn Miller...wherever he is. Helping Skirt out is trumpeter Motoi Murakami（村上基）from funk band Zainichi Funk（在日ファンク）along with a battery of other fine brass musicians. A vinyl version of the EP came out just a few weeks ago.
I decided to make this article a two-for-one post because this second song is so short but also so sweet. "Special" is the title track from Skirt's May 2025 5th album as a major artist, and I gather that this happy tune would qualify as one of his guitar pop tunes. It's still got plenty of groove and swing in its arrangement and the only thing that I was disappointed about was the fact that it cut short so quickly.
When talking about Toshiki Kadomatsu, the fact that he graduated from a Department of Philosophy is quite suggestive.
In 1981, Kadomatsu debuted with the album "Sea Breeze", but it's this and his following two albums that completely positioned him in City Pop embellished with a resort vibe. After that, he would go through a New York-style dance music phase with albums such as "Gold Digger" (1985), but his three albums starting with the 1991 "All is Vanity" up to the beginning of his hiatus in 1993 showed a more personal singer-songwriter side. As well, in 1988, he set up his own label, Om, which is based on a Buddhist term that revealed some influence from Indian philosophy, something that he had majored in.
Putting aside his amiable image from things such as his role as a radio personality, Kadomatsu was basically a deeply thoughtful and philosophical man. Even taking into consideration his early works, they could come across as feel-good love songs at first listen, but they also enveloped a world of truth and proven experience.
Furthermore, his pre-hiatus "Aru ga Mama ni"（あるがままに）and "Kimi wo Kikoeru Hi"（君をこえる日） laid bare personal anguish and isolation, and elicited strong sympathy from at least some of the listeners. As a result, Kadomatsu has possessed this charismatic attraction which hinted at a philosophical spiritualist side within himself. So for this sort of man, what was the message that he was willing to sacrifice himself to convey? You should be able to glean the answer from listening to each of his albums as meticulously as possible.
During his hiatus, Kadomatsu produced his VOCALAND project and was an incognito member of AGHARTA. In 1999, he came out with his "Time Tunnel" album after coming out of his half-decade hiatus and restarted his career and went into a new musical direction, and then in 2016, he welcomed his 35th anniversary.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
There is no rarer artist who has continued to release music of such high quality consistently since his debut as Yasuhiro Abe.
As well, his skill as a songwriter is considerable. One good example to prove this is "September Valentine"（セプテンバー・バレンタイン）, which Abe himself performed at the Yamaha Popular Song Contest in 1977 and was his notable debut as a songwriter when Yukio Sasaki（佐々木幸男）recorded it as a single. It's an outstanding and wonderful ballad, noteworthy for its beautiful melody, and when considering that 1977 was the golden age of folk and New Music in the music world, it could be said that the song was even a little too sophisticated for its time. At that time, Ryo Aska（飛鳥涼）once listened to "September Valentine" out of the blue on the radio and marveled at how much it stood out. Abe back then was often creating songs with a stylish bossa nova touch, and even since his amateur days, he'd already been making tunes that were totally extraordinary ("Gosenshi", which he provided to Mariya Takeuchi, also fell into this category). Thinking along those lines, one can be convinced by the high level of perfection that wouldn't normally be possible with a newbie when it comes to his debut album"Hold Me Tight".
While his second album"Moderato" and his third album"Slit" were rooted in 60s pop music including The Beatles, Abe envisioned Gino Vannelli's"Nightwalker" when he came up with one of his early hits "Irene" (heard on "Slit"), which can be heard as Abe's own interpretation of David Foster, and as such, his smart approach to the AOR of that time and his stylish expressionism of "urban mellowness" can be said to define "Yasuhiro Abe Pop". His special skill with chorus and harmony and his unwillingness to compromise on the little details mean that we can continue to look forward to high quality music from him at his own pace.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
The first time that Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）met Kazuhito Murata was back in 1978. It was during when Murata had been active with his band Almond Rocca. Listening to a demo tape, Tats had been charmed by how good Murata's music was, and set out a plan for his solo debut. However, it reached a dead end midway and then the band broke up. Without any word on the Murata song, Yamashita had been thinking of doing a cover version of it, but after that, he caught up with Murata again all of a sudden when the latter had resumed his career. And in 1982, Murata debuted with "Denwa shite mo"（電話しても）under Moon Records.
With their teacher-and-apprentice relationship, there was a tendency to believe that they shared the same musicality, but Yamashita's roots had been into the Beach Boys while Murata had been more into the Beatles and American southern rock, so the difference was rather stark. However, it is also true that they did share some commonalities such as their predilection for that especial bittersweetness of 1960s pop.
When it comes to the biggest attraction of Murata's music, it is his generosity which fits his personality to a T. And to extend that distinct characteristic even more, America, and specifically the West Coast, was the most ideal environment. "Showdown"(1986), which was his first album recorded in Los Angeles, was a dynamic project which was slightly different from his past works, and appealed to listeners with a reborn Murata. His follow-up album "Boy's Life"(1987) was even more fulfilling with its polish which led to a career peak.
However, he moved over to Toshiba Records while he was on top where his "Go Pop" (1988) actually took a stumble. Murata wondered what could have been if he had stayed on the same track as "Boy's Life", but then after transferring to Victor, he regained his original mojo with "Hello Again"(1993). Afterwards, he would go at his own pace and give listeners his brand of mellow pop, but unfortunately, he passed away in 2016.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
The lead single from his 1983 album"Stargazer" and his first smash hit as a commercial jingle, "Vacance wa Itsumo Rain"（バカンスはいつも雨...It's Always Raining on My Vacation） was an important number and a turning point in Masamichi Sugi's career.
The previous year, Sugi had participated in the collaboration album "Niagara Triangle Vol. 2" with Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）and Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）. Advice that he had received from Ohtaki was the spark behind the creation of "Vacance wa Itsumo Rain" and that advice was to appeal to people by bringing more of himself into his music. From there, he rediscovered himself and developed a catchy chord progression which featured a harmonica intro with a beloved Beatles' rhythm. It was from this that clearly showed his own roots, something that he had never shown before.
And then, with his famous "Stargazer" completed and filled with all of this passion, he successively came out with the fulfilling albums "Mistone" and "Symphony #10", and managed to stake an unshakeable position in the Japanese pop scene.
I can only tip my hat in admiration to his sense as a melody maker which has had him dubbed as Japan's Paul McCartney and his talent in churning out song after song. After all, so many of his trademark songs in any of his albums come across as tunes that grab the listener's heart and don't let go.
By the way, I wonder how many people there are who remember the joint concert "Wonder Full Moon" with Sugi, Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）in 1982. I have rarely seen such a dreamy and exciting stage performance since then and I would have loved to have seen a reprise of the three of them getting together again.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
For people who had mainly listened to music centering on American and British pop and rock, Taeko Ohnuki's European music approach must have sounded oddly fresh. "Romantique", "Aventure", "Cliché", "Signifie" and then "Copine" in 1985 followed the same road, but what is notable here is that most of the songs were created in Tokyo under that quasi-European sound. Some of the songs on "Cliché" were actually recorded in France, but the vast majority of them were made in Japan's capital alongside people such as Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. For that matter, you can say that they really were of the City Pop world.
People become the most imaginative when they are heads-over-heels in love. They actually head off in the direction of the place of their desire that they only knew via their records, and so creating these songs while in thrall to their imagination everywhere can often take on a charm that is even bigger than recording them. When talking about City Pop, this is an extremely important element. Music of a refined Western taste that retains the scent of Tokyo...wouldn't this be the true essence of City Pop?
Another thing that can't be forgotten is the presence of Sakamoto. From "Romantique" to "Copine", it can be said that with him as the arranger and Ohnuki as the artist, it was a golden time. When he departed with his skill, the singer's European path could no longer move forward.
After that, Ohnuki created pop masterpieces in the 90s with "Drawing" and "Shooting Star in the Blue Sky", and always kept up the quality and freshness of her works through working with these excellent sound creators of that time.
The way to enjoy her City Pop is not just by listening to her as an artist, but also by focusing on her amazing behind-the-scenes work as a producer, arranger and musician.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
The works of Tatsuro Yamashita in the 1970s can be considered to be "style-oriented". That style was wrapped around a 16-beat structure and was funky to be sure, but at the same time, the melody was selected through collaboration with other musicians as if from a producer's point of view, leading to the albums that he created. It was this rationalism of his that sparked Charles Calello, who had an up-close-and-personal relationship in the recording of "Circus Town", to state that Yamashita went about things like a true professional. It was this methodology of competing with the sounds of the time that steadily gathered support within the music scene that finally led to his breakthrough album of 1980, "Ride on Time".
Yamashita, after his 1983 "Melodies", took an even bigger singer-songwriter approach, releasing music such as the huge standard "Christmas Eve", and achieved an unshakeable position in the Japanese world of pop music. As everyone knows, the fact that he is still around is due to the respect that he's earned from the steady work of quality of a higher degree for any album that he's involved in.
Well, when making the selections for this book, what I was most surprised about was how frequently he participated in recording sessions. He was especially no slouch when it came to his workload in the 1970s, but of particular note is that a lot of it involved him in background chorus work. At the time, he was focused on chorus; moreover, he himself commented that he had been highly valued because there was no one else who was good at falsetto. Within Japan's pop scene, his level of contribution when it came to his brand of harmony pop after the birth of rock-and-roll(Beach Boys, Four Seasons, doo wop in general, etc.) should be remembered in large part alongside his own solo work.
In this book, a lot of the works where his session work can be enjoyed have a large following. I hope that you can give these a try as well.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
When talking about Yoshitaka Minami, it's probably good to face the fact of his charm as a singer. His unique vocals with their presence and depth evoke a certain machismo. From 1973 when he debuted with a Takashi Matsumoto-produced（松本隆）song, "Matenrou no Heroine"（摩天楼のヒロイン）, to the present day, his excellent expressivity from his masterful singing of everything ranging from bright sambas to jazzy ballads hasn't changed one iota.
In the case of all of the City Pop artists listed in this book, when it comes to mentioning Minami in that one phrase as a singer-songwriter, I get the impression from many of his songs that it is his abilities as a songwriter that raises his expressivity as a singer. Namely, there is no small number of artists in the City Pop scene who don't have their own hits, although they have provided hits to other singers and aidoru, but Minami is the one first-class singer who can boast his own hits such as "Monroe Walk" and "Slow na Boogie ni Shite Kure"（スローなブギにしてくれ）.
As a songwriter, maybe it was because he performed jazz in his music circle, but Minami has been incredibly good at incorporating not just jazz but bossa nova and other Latin genres into his original compositions. It's through these sophisticated songs that his albums "South of the Border" (above) and "Seventh Avenue South" under the splendid arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Nick DeCaro respectively not only became Minami's masterpieces but two of the best works that City Pop has had to offer. No matter how much the times change, Minami's world of urban and refined music will never change. Even in these uncertain times, people would love to learn how adults truly live the stylish life through his music.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Since 1973, when she released "Fuyu no Tobira"（冬の扉...Winter's Door） at the age of 20, the musical garb she has worn at different times may change, but Minako Yoshida's music has fundamentally remained the same. To give an example, back in the early 1980s, although she was wearing some very flashy outfits in the form of funk, it's the spirit she expressed through her songs that has remained constant no matter what outfit she changed into.
There are plenty of passionate Minako fans surrounding me. Every time they go to one of her concerts, they frequently go into dance mode. I've often heard that she gets a lot of repeat attendees. At the concert sites, naturally, her vocal expression is more clearly revealed, and I'm sure her devoted fans have enjoyed the pleasure of being able to directly touch the spirit of her songs.
Her overwhelming vocal power and volume are reminiscent of Aretha Franklin, and in fact, Yoshida is a huge fan of hers, but she also loves Parliament-Funkadelic. Her work from the 1980s, which earned her the nickname "The Queen of Funk," can be said to be the embodiment of these tastes under the most favorable circumstances.
Yoshida is a musician's musician who also has lots of fans among her contemporaries starting with Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）. Her distinctive presence that continues to shine in the city pop scene is one of a kind. As one of the pioneers for female R&B singers today, I highly recommend you listen to her many masterpieces, and although it is not listed in this book, her premium album "Bells" which was only sold in 1986 is something that I highly endorse thanks to her high level of gospel expression. As well, in recent years, she also released a collaborative album, "Nowadays" (2008), with Japan's top guitarist, Kazumi Watanabe（渡辺香津美）, where you can listen to her splendid vocals.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Head arrangement was said to be the preferred method of recording for Yumi Arai and the band Caramel Mama（キャラメル・ママ）, and it involved deciding on an arrangement as recording went along on a case-by-case basis while swapping opinions without any detailed meetings beforehand (producer Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）, who had been the initiator of the technique in Japan, had witnessed this at a Carole King recording session at A&M Studios).
Incidentally, the musical background of Caramel Mama, which was a hybrid of the bands Happy End（はっぴいえんど）and Four Joe Half, followed the American rock of groups such as The Band and The Section (which backed up James Taylor). In contrast, Arai had a deep interest in British progressive rock bands such as Procul Harum along with European music and bossa nova.
This led to the evergreen masterpieces of "Hikoki Gumo"（ひこうき雲）, "Misslim" and "Cobalt Hour" which were born from these different combinations of music, and when speaking of the history of Japanese City Pop, these are extremely important elements.
There's no doubt that almost all of the albums introduced here in this book more or less can be thought to contain these elements of different combinations. Rock and pop, to be sure, but also soul, jazz, bossa nova and so on. City Pop was born from this masterful fusion of different genres of music, and especially the refined pop created from the collaboration between Yuming（ユーミン）and Caramel Mama should be considered to be the very first appearance of this. Certainly, this would be the brilliant and shining monument to the dawn of Japanese City Pop.
Afterwards, when Yuming became the First Lady of Japanese Pop once she turned into Yumi Matsutoya, what would become the core of her music can be said to have been nurtured during her days as Yumi Arai.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Shigeru Suzuki, among the Happy End/Tin Pan Alley family, is the musician closest to refined music that includes bossa nova, easy listening, jazz and AOR. What can't be definitely ignored is how his solo albums beginning from "Lagoon" (1976) have influenced artists from the 1980s onwards such as Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）and Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）. For City Pop fans, the projects that he was involved in as a sound producer including Sumiko Yamagata's（やまがたすみこ）"Flying" and Makoto Iwabuchi's（岩渕まこと）"Super Moon" have to be checked out.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Three out of the four solo albums that Haruomi Hosono put out in the 1970s, "Tropical Dandy", "Bon Voyage Co." and "Paraiso", were set in Tokyo, but they were also notable for greatly absorbing a plethora of musical rhythms from all over the world. I am well aware that there is no point in forcibly categorizing them as City Pop, but if musical adventure has driven the evolution of Japanese pop, and the works introduced in this book are part of that, then there is no doubt that Hosono's bold challenge has become one of the guiding principles of City Pop. He truly is the King of Music in Japan.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Eiichi Ohtaki's Niagara sound, based on American pop music of the 1960s, was created from his own unique viewpoint of well-versed pop music historical knowledge, irrespective of whether it was Japanese or Western. The culmination of all that was his timeless masterpiece "A Long Vacation". The success of that album was especially due to the lyrics of Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, I believe. When Matsumoto's prose, which came straight out of a page of vibrant youth like a watercolour painting, was layered onto Ohtaki's one-and-only Niagara sound, truly evergreen pop music was born.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
As has been the case in previous issues of "Japanese City Pop", this book has defined Japanese City Pop as "urban music for city dwellers", and there probably has been no debating the opinion that the band Happy End was the starting point.
The music world of Happy End that expressed the dreamscape of Tokyoites as a "windy city" goes hand in hand with a refined Western style of sound and it has become the source for the great stream that has connected to today's J-Pop. No matter how big the river, going back to its beginnings will lead to a tiny stream up in the mountains, and in the same way, Happy End's music made only a tiny ripple back in the day, but it's now been appraised as the headwaters for this mighty river of music.
Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Eiichi Ohtaki（大瀧詠一）, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）and Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, the four members of Happy End, have each gone onto their own careers after the band's breakup and contributed greatly to the maturation of Japan's pop music. It wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to point out that the four of them became the core of the history of Japanese City Pop, considering that it would be rather difficult to seek out any albums within the more-than-500 examples in this book that hasn't been touched by them.
Caramel Mama (later to be known as Tin Pan Alley), which was created by Hosono, Suzuki, Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）, made masterful use of their transcendent performing prowess, and from a sound point of view, they revolutionized Japanese pop. Over here as well, just like Happy End, though it made a little headway back in those days, when comparing and listening to the folk and kayo kyoku that had come before Tin Pan Alley and then listening to music after their arrival, the difference couldn't be clearer. Simply put, what made the Japanese sound cooler came following Tin Pan Alley.
If possible, I'd like the young people of today to realize how cool and sophisticated music was more than forty years ago in our country.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
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