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.
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.
Believe it or not, the above is the only one of the four illustrations that has the least dangerous-looking sight of a happy couple driving a Toyota that I whipped up on Bing. I've never seen a non-convertible acting as a convertible. Nice speed lines, though.
The reason that I've put that one up as a thumbnail was that a few years ago, singer-songwriter Vaundy had apparently been asked by Toyota to come up with a cool song for a campaign regarding their latest iteration of the Corolla Cross. After watching a rough edit of the ad, he started wondering about what he would like to listen to while driving. Ultimately, he came up with the idea of a tune whose rhythm and tempo conveyed not only a sense of speed but also one of calm. I gather that the Corolla Cross was equipped with some fine shock absorbers.
And so came "Tokimeki" as Vaundy's September 2021 single. The word "tokimeki"（ときめき）has been something that I've crossed paths with a number of times while writing the blog, and according to Jisho.org, it is defined as "beating (of the heart, with joy, excitement, etc.); palpitation; throbbing; pounding; fluttering". That's clear enough for me but when it comes to providing a proper translation for the title of a song, that Jisho definition is a bit academic so why not just say "Giddy"?
With words and music by the singer, it's a fun song that got me reminiscing of some of those upbeat Motown soul tunes from the early 1970s by acts such as the Jackson 5. Its history of fame certainly took its sweet time, though. For one thing, a music video for "Tokimeki" didn't get developed until 2023. At first, I'd assumed that the main actress in there was Non but it was actually Angela Yuen from Hong Kong. Nothing about driving and cars in this video, either, as it went more for something out of "The Wizard of Oz".
Finally, there was more fame for "Tokimeki" as it was the song that Vaundy performed on the Kohaku Utagassen last week. The NHK YouTube channel had put several of its performances up including Vaundy's sparkling show but they've all been taken down unfortunately. However, there is this live performance above. The song reached No. 35 on Billboard Japan.
We hit the big 1000 for the year through Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Denwa"（電話）last night. Well, thanks to today's articles including Noelle's tribute to Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) earlier today, we have now reached the 100th article for December, the most we've had for any month this year. And unless someone else among us wants to add anymore to the blog today, this will be my final posting for 2025.
The 100th article for December will be INSHOW-HA's "WANNA". I haven't posted anything by the duo represented by MICA and miu since 2022 for their 2013 "SWAP" which has one pretty nifty music video to go along with their brand of synthpop. The more pop-rock"WANNA" which leads off their most recent EP, "Sputnik", from May 2021 also has a stunning music video as the ladies portray relentless rebels in a future dystopia, fighting with the power of percolating and percussive music.
"WANNA" was also used as the ending theme for the late-night variety show "Kamaitachi no Okite"（かまいたちの掟...Kamaitachi's Law） on the regional San-in Chuo Television Broadcasting network. Kamaitachi happens to be a popular comic duo that I've seen from time to time even through Jme.
From all of us here at "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we wish you a very Happy New Year and a great start to 2026!
Always nice to have Kirinji（キリンジ）once more on the board as we approach the end of the year. And this one came out about a month ago as a track on their latest album"Town Beat".
"Suteki na Yoru"(What a Night) starts out with some really tight guitar and keyboards before things get into a fun and funky party jam...kinda reminiscent of Original Love. Written and composed by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）, I had assumed that the lyrics would be about a couple having the time of their lives painting the town red, but actually, it centres around some bizarre misunderstandings and misidentifications at a party. Time to lay off the absinthe of malice.
The crazy thing is that there was an original version when Kirinji offered the song to the aidoru group V6 to record as part of their 14th and final album"Step" from September 2021. The arrangement is slightly different but it's still a banger. "Suteki na Yoru" was apparently also used in the "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）kids' song show but the only footage I could find was in this cute kid's living room. In any case, V6 ended things well...the album hit No. 1.
From PR Times
Ah, PS here...since we are covering an R&B song, one of the commenters for a recent article mentioned that Disk Union will be releasing a book called "Japanese R&B Disc Guide" on February 10th 2026. This will cover the R&B from the 1990s up to today. Having witnessed the initial big boom at the end of the 20th century firsthand with singers such as Hikaru Utada, m-flo, and Misia, I think it would be interesting picking this one up.
Ohhh...still digesting my meal from last night. All that roast beef, roast turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes have continued to keep me fairly sleepy, so typing on the keyboard has taken on some rather hilarious tendencies. However, the show must go on as I complete the final 2025 day for Urban Contemporary on KKP.
And there's nothing better than a fine emulation of the old days of music. As soon as I heard the opening notes of Uwanosora's（ウワノソラ）"Heart no Tekagami"(Hand Mirror of Heart Shape) from October 2021, I immediately thought Sakanaction's（サカナクション）"Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）and felt that both bands were plucking from the optimistic synthpop songbook of the 1980s.
"Heart no Tekagami", which was written and composed by Uwanosora's leader Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）, is definitely pulling one page out of the "Heart Cocktail" book by that design on the CD cover. The use of those particular keyboards (and the melody they spell out) is thrilling to hear as an old City Pop fan, and vocalist Megumi Iemoto's（いえもとめぐみ）singing style reminds me of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）in the late 1970s when she took on a peppier approach to her music once she got married. It contrasts quite nicely with the previous Uwanosora song I posted, "Autumn Ballad" , from 2023.
Walking back home near midnight after a long day at work twenty years ago in July meant a ten-minute stroll from Minami-Gyotoku Station in humid 26-degree-Celsius weather to my apartment deep in the suburbs of Ichikawa City. The two vending machines just some metres away from the staircase up to my place were my welcoming guardians like dragons at a gate of a temple as they plied me with well-needed drinks for my parched mouth. The shower was well needed after peeling off my clothing and then I drank down the cans and rested for some minutes before hitting bed. Nope, summer wasn't my favourite season in Japan but I always enjoyed the walk home in my suburban environment.
The memories were activated by the first and title track from "Town Pop", a 2021 release by a singer-songwriter and musician called takezoo. I couldn't find much of anything by this fellow except for the fact that he had been born in Hiroshima but currently resides in Kanagawa Prefecture and that he has put out a lot of music over the past several years. Strangely enough, before finding the album on YouTube, I'd discovered this on an Internet archive.
"Town Pop" is indeed a technopop song but as I listened to the four minutes and change of that title track, I also got quite a bit more in terms of musical influences. Starting and ending with a twinkly keyboard which struck me as being so reminiscent of early American television variety show signoff music, "Town Pop" bounces into a funky pop melody describing a couple making their way to a new town and a new home, presumably a fair bit into the future. And along the way, I get Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, chip tune, a taste of a waltz and even a spot of Fashion Music greeting me like some really great neighbours. I wouldn't mind a suburb like this!
On a recent Friday episode of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）, the morning information variety show got a whole lot livelier with longtime band Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra getting on the floor for some very exciting music. Not surprisingly, the faxes and email were flowing in like water at the spectacle of party time just after 9 am in the morning.
I forgot who was the subject of the "Premium Talk" segment that usually comes on those Fridays but another actor did show up to help TSPO. And he was definitely essential since he helped write and perform the song. I may have seen Tsuyoshi Muro（ムロツヨシ）in a few dramas but at this point, his performance headlining "Medetashi Song"(Congratulatory Song) will be my highlight of him.
With TSPO baritone sax player Atsushi Yanaka（谷中敦）and Muro behind lyrics, and TSPO trumpeter NARGO taking care of the melody, "Medetashi Song" is a splash-bang ska tune with some surf rock thrown in there. It's all well and good as a tune about getting through the bad stuff and celebrating the good stuff. With these guys, it's all too easy to doff off the blues and hit the dance floor. The song was placed onto the band's 4th mini-album"S.O.S. ［Share One Sorrow]" from November 2021; the album peaked at No. 13.
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.
Back in high school, our teachers were woven from fairly standard cloth. However, one English teacher was definitely someone who went to the beat of his own drum. His raw intelligence, appearance and reputation were all quite massive, and he tended to go off on rather mighty tangents within class. Some of our comic relief students were more than willing to play off of him. My desk in his classroom was right in front of his desk, and he often confided to me through a whisper and a straight face just before class began, "Should I actually teach today, J?".
One rare thing that unfortunately I never got to see in his class but was witnessed and felt by some of my old classmates was THE TRIBAL EXPERIENCE. It's hard to describe but apparently Shakespeare could sometimes trigger that and when my English teacher was going through "MacBeth" and he came across the quote "...shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.", that sparked a major march with everyone in class participating as he himself led the troops to defeat MacBeth of Scotland. It must have been quite THE TRIBAL EXPERIENCE in 5th period in the afternoon.
Perhaps in a way, the video and title song which launches Susumu Hirasawa's（平沢進）July 2021 solo 14th album"Beacon" is something akin to THE TRIBAL EXPERIENCE that I never got to feel in my teacher's class. It's been referred to as a religious experience and an avant-garde opera in the Hirasawa style. Seeing the man himself in the video in his dark "Matrix" cloak with that distinct white hairstyle while armed with that guitar and that distinctive voice, I can easily see him as a futuristic man of the cloth commanding a starship somewhere other than Earth. As for "Beacon" the album, it scored a No. 12 ranking on the Oricon weeklies.
Just imagine...a veteran vocal group from decades ago collaborating with a songwriter and producer famous for a trendy music genre from a few decades ago. But that's what we get with Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）writing and composing a song called "Atarashii Uta"(A New Song) and Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）tackling it at full throttle. And indeed, it's the familiar voices from yesteryear singing about creating that song for that significant other against a wall of Shibuya-kei sound goodness.
Duke Aces first covered "Atarashii Uta" on the March 2002 Pizzicato Five tribute album"Sensou ni Hantai suru Yuuitsu no Shudan wa. ~ Pizzicato Five no Uta to Kotoba"（戦争に反対する唯一の手段は。-ピチカート・ファイヴのうたとことば-...The Only Way to Oppose War ~ Words and Music by Pizzicato Five）. The project was released on the 1-year anniversary of P5's disbanding. The Duke Aces' cover was once again put out years later in 2017 as a single.
(31:23)
The original "Atarashii Uta" can be found on P5's 11th studio album"Playboy, Playgirl"（プレイボーイ プレイガール）from October 1998 with the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）singing with Hisashi Kato（加藤ひさし）of The Collectors. The arrangement is "slightly more subdued" but still an exciting trip around town. Kato and Nomiya teamed up as well for "Nagame no Ii Heya"（眺めのいい部屋）.
One more version of "Atarashii Uta" can be found as a twee technopop take with Nomiya behind the mike once more through the special album "Haishin Muke no Pizzicato Five ~ Sono San Nomiya no Maki"（配信向けのピチカート・ファイヴ その3 野宮の巻...Pizzicato Five for Streaming Part 3: Nomiya） which came out in November 2021.
And here I thought that I had cornered the market on all of those Japanese words meaning "twilight" as I wrote about those twilight songs last year. However, I've found another term: hakumei. And for that I have to thank the good folks at Kirinji（キリンジ）along with Maika Loubté, a half-French half-Japanese singer-songwriter, producer and DJ whose first album came out in 2014.
"Hakumei" happens to be a track on Kirinji's December 2021 15th album"crepuscular", and it's another wonderful example how Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）can weave together synthpop and City Pop together into a dreamy soundscape of possibility. Loubté also co-wrote the lyrics about a mesmerizing walk/drive around Yokohama at the titular time. I've done that exact thing myself when I was staying in the international port city for one night although the experience wasn't quite as atmospheric; I was rather hungry for dinner in Chinatown.
Well, as Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico are showing up above, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is celebrating its 13th birthday today, so I gather that the blog might be showing signs of teenage rebelliousness in the years to come. As was the case last year, I've opted to show off any other Japanese singers who are celebrating their birthday on January 30th, too.
(1948) Sumio Akutagawa of Toi et Moi -- Dare mo Inai Umi (誰もいない海）
I don't quite remember the circumstances when I got the above image from an earlier AI art generator (not Bing), but I think I just threw in the phrase "City Pop Tokyo". It's unique, I'll give you that. And I don't think there is a pagoda anywhere on Earth that has that many floors.
Anyways, let's begin Urban Contemporary Fridays on KKP with another tune from Neo-City Pop singer-songwriter Rie Aono（青野りえ）. Back in October 2021, she released the digital single "Never Can Say Goodbye", a peppy yet simultaneously relaxing tune that was written by her and composed by Tohru Horasawa（洞澤徹）of the bands mana mana and The Bookmarcs. As Aono herself shows you, the song is an ideal one for spending a lazy afternoon either on the seashore or in a stylish café. "Never Can Say Goodbye" can also be found on her November 2023 3rd album"Tokyo Magic".
Usually when it comes to Osaka, my image will go to loud and boisterous people with plenty of tasty food in many restaurants. But then when it comes to music, especially the kayo kyoku stuff, it often but not always brings out the tenderhearted feelings in folks.
Case in point is "OSAKA ~ Yuugurete" (Osaka at Dusk), the coupling song to the November 2021 single by singer KANA, "Dare yori Itoshii Hito"（誰より愛しいひと...Someone I Love More Than Anyone Else）. KANA is a singer that I first mentioned back in 2019 with a February single from that year, "Shiokaze no Machi"（潮風の街）which is more along the lines of a contemporary Mood Kayo.
"OSAKA ~ Yuugurete" has a sweeping arrangement to Hirokazu Kobayashi's（小林宏和）original melody accompanying Chihiro Fuyumi's（冬弓ちひろ）lyrics. It pretty much demands that a recently heartbroken lady strides over to the nearest river in Osaka and cries under the moon. I probably would have preferred real strings instead of the synthesized version heard here, though.
One thing that I didn't mention about Kobayashi, who had also composed the aforementioned "Shiokaze no Machi", in the first article is that he is actually KANA's older brother. Back in their high school days, she used to sing over Kobayashi's music on his demo tapes which finally got her noticed, leading to her debut in the late 1990s.
If you think that you've read the name Natsu Summer recently on the blog, you're thankfully not hallucinating. Indeed, I included the Neo-City Pop/reggae singer in my Author's Picks of twilight-titled songs several days ago because of her "Twilight Shadow".
And here she is once again with a June 2021 single titled "Shiosai Sunset"(Sunset Sound of Waves), and yup, she really does love that time of day, doesn't she? Written and composed by Ryusenkei's（流線形） Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, I'd say that the City Pop isn't really there; it's more along the lines of summery reggae pop which doesn't bother me one whit. If I can relax to it with a margarita, then I'm perfectly fine. The song was also included on a compilation called "HONEY meets ISLAND CAFE -Sea of Love 6-".
This song was also a track on "City Music Tokyo: Junction", the 2022 compilation album curated by Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）that I had covered in part back at the beginning of this month. I did say that I would check out some of the other tracks that I hadn't noted in the original article, so here is one right now. Usually the byline for a post would start with the name of the band or singer followed by the title. However, this time around, I really didn't want to "break up the band", so to speak, and therefore I put up the title in the way that the song has been introduced to the masses: "Citypop Lullaby -- Keitarou Takanami mad FPU Lovers Rock Remix".
Now, if Keitarou Takanami（高浪慶太郎）is a name that rings a bell, well, you may be a Pizzicato Five going all the way back. Yep, he was one of the founding members of that band in the mid-1980s when they came out as Pizzicato V with "The Audrey Hepburn Complex", years before they became known as Shibuya-kei darlings. He left the band in 1994 but kept busy throughout the 1990s and 2000s by providing songs for other artists and starting up a new band called playtime rock with singer Mina Ichiba（市場美奈）in 2013.
In this case, though, Takanami collaborated with electronic pop groupam8, which started up in 2020, and arranger mad FPU, to create "Citypop Lullaby". It was originally part of the June 2021 am8 single"am8 killed by mad FPU" with the group handling words and lyrics. Despite the title, I'd say that the gently jaunty number was less City Pop and more light technopop with a reggae beat. It's something nice to hear while nursing a drink...probably something with a lot of rum in it. Just to be a little more detailed, I also like how Takanami purrs out "city popssss" with the dreamy crystalline synth and the background chorus. As well, that cover of the single is pretty darn cool, too.
Remembering that I wrote about Akina Nakamori-related article on the 100th anniversary of Kiyose Station in Tokyo yesterday, and then encouraged by Noelle's article on Columbia Rhythm Boys'"Kappore" (かっぽれ) just this morning, I was wondering about what had come out in the record shops in Japan a hundred years ago in 1924, aka Taisho 13（大正13）.
Well, a beloved children's song titled "Ano Machi Kono Machi"(That Town This Town) was first created by the popular songwriting duo consisting of lyricist Ujou Noguchi（野口雨情）and composer Shinpei Nakayama（中山晋平）in that very year. Its first appearance was in the January issue's pages of a magazine known as "Kodomo no Kuni"（コドモノクニ...The Land of Children）. However, the earliest actual recording I could find on YouTube was the one by 10-year-old singer Hideko Hirai（平井英子）in 1928. Noguchi's lyrics and Hirai's voice gently send the message that it's time for the kids to head on home from playing outside before it gets too dark.
In 2007, "Ano Machi Kono Machi" was selected to be included in the "Nihon no Uta Hyakusen"（日本の歌百選...Collection of 100 Japanese Songs）, a collection of a hundred songs and nursery rhymes. On top of that, a stone monument with Noguchi's lyrics was established in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture where the lyricist had once lived. The veteran vocal group Bonny Jacks（ボニージャックス）also included their rendition of "Ano Machi Kono Machi" in their December 2021"Bonny Jacks ni yoru Nihon no Jojou Uta Senshuu Nana-juu Kyoku"（ボニージャックスによる 日本の抒情歌選集 70曲...A Selection of 70 Japanese Lyrical Songs by Bonny Jacks）. Their version really amps up the folksiness of the song.
I've just discovered that the expression "out of the blue" had been popular enough in the television zeitgeist that several shows around the world used it for their title. Well, my "Out of the Blue" was a very short-lived 1979 sitcom involving an angel who decides to live with a family. According to its Wikipedia article, there's been a hopefully good-natured debate among those who can remember the old sitcom days on network TV on whether "Out of the Blue" was a mere weird crossover or an actual spinoff of the famous "Happy Days".
To be honest, I barely remember watching the pilot episode of "Out of the Blue" in which Mork from Ork (Robin Williams) popped in for some quicksilver-witted banter with Random the angel. Since "Mork & Mindy" was a direct spinoff of "Happy Days", I always considered "Out of the Blue" as a "Happy Days" spinoff twice removed. I remember even less about the fact that Random even did a cameo on a "Happy Days" episode.
All that preamble ramble about old and obscure American sitcoms is just to introduce "Out of the Blue", a coupling song for Nogizaka46's（乃木坂46）Type-D CD of "Boku wa Boku o Suki ni Naru"（僕は僕を好きになる...I am Starting to Like Myself）, the aidoru group's 26th single from January 2021. I hadn't heard this one before, but a couple of days ago, NHK's morning variety show "Asaichi"（あさイチ...Morning Market） spent most of its air time on folks' own cheer-up songs and apparently "Out of the Blue" passed muster with a lot of music-loving citizens.
And why not? The disco already grabbed me from the start. Yup, that's cheerful for me, I thought. A song about how one fateful encounter can change a person's outlook on life, I can understand why a lot of people have listened to this one to get out of the doldrums. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）as usual, "Out of the Blue" was composed by youth case. The official music video has the group partaking in one of the rites of Japanese youth: the school field trip.
Yes, I do realize that Urban Contemporary Friday was yesterday but I just can't help but put this one up tonight. After the Blogger technical kerfuffle earlier this afternoon, I think I want to post up something especially fun.
It looks like one of the premium City Pop songs to be absolutely adored and devoured by a lot of people inside and outside of Japan, Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Mayonaka no Door"（真夜中のドアー）, aka "Stay With Me", has become the gift that has kept on giving. The list of cover versions on the J-Wiki article for the 1979 hit is beginning to appear like an annual Kohaku Utagassen lineup. A few years ago, I even wrote on Yuko Imai's（今井優子）funk n' groove n' sophisticated poptake on the song which she released as part of her 2016 album"Sweetest Voice", a few years before "Stay With Me" exploded onto the international scene.
A couple of slaps on the head later earlier this month made me realize that Tokimeki Records isn't a recording company. It is the name of a music unit which started up in 2019 that specializes in cover songs originally done by singers from the 1980s and 1990s. The group immediately sprinted out of the gate with their cover of that other City Pop hit "Plastic Love" in August 2019. But then a few years later, in June 2021, Tokimeki Records brought singer Hikari (one of a number of singers who have contributed to the unit's projects) on board to record their version of "Stay With Me". And it's another barn burning banger of a cover with a bit more of a dance club flavour infused into the original arrangement by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）.
Well, since we are celebrating Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）birthday today, I figured another song associated with her (to join the previous article) wouldn't be a bad thing at all. And it's rather seasonal, to say the least.
Coincidentally (or not), I heard this particular song for the first time on Japan's Weathernews'"Weather Music" segment a few days ago and I thought it was the most adorable thing. I've known actress Mone Kamishiraishi（上白石萌音）for her appearances on TV although I've heard that she was also a very capable singer. Interestingly enough, back in June 2021, she released a couple of albums side-by-side titled "Ano Uta 1"（あの歌-1-...Those Songs） and "Ano Uta 2"（あの歌-2-）showing her love for the old kayo kyoku. "Ano Uta 1" covers her covers of 1970s pop songs while "Ano Uta 2" spotlights her versions of songs from the 1980s and 1990s.
From "Ano Uta 2" then is Kamishiraishi's cover of Seiko-chan's "Seifuku"(School Uniform), the B-side to her signature song and single, "Akai Sweet Pea" (赤いスイートピー）from January 1982. Created by lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）under her stage name of Karuho Kureta（呉田軽穂）, the arrangement by Shin Kouno（河野伸）basically keeps to Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）original style with perhaps a bit more embellishment in the classical strings. What's even neater is that Kamishiraishi's singing is very pure and outside of the aidoru realm...not to put Seiko-chan's vocals down any.
Just to reiterate from the original article for Seiko's "Seifuku", Matsumoto's lyrics describe a turning point in a high school couple's lives as the young man graduates from his small town alma mater so that his girlfriend realizes that he will no longer be sporting the uniform as he heads off to school in the big city. That would explain the photo of Kayo Grace and her beau at the top under the cherry blossoms. It is after all the graduation season now in Japan.
