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.
No "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）tonight but that's OK since we've got family coming over for dinner so we can't really be watching TV. Still, that means we haven't had any kayo programming here for a week since we weren't also able to catch "Uta Con"（うたコン）due to some emergency coverage of Japanese government deliberations.
However, last weekend when we could watch "Shin BS Nihon no Uta", semi-regular guests Junretsu（純烈）appeared to sing "Junretsu Damashii"(The Soul of Junretsu). This was the vocal group's 15th single from February 2024.
On the face of it, this might sound rather self-congratulatory but it's really a sweet thank-you song to the fans for their support all the way from their time entertaining guests at hot spring resorts. Junretsu leader Kazuyoshi Sakai（酒井一圭）was behind the grateful lyrics while the Old Man of Enka himself, Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）under his Joji Hara（原譲二）pseudonym, provided the sweet and laidback melody. "Junretsu Damashii" reached No. 4 on Oricon.
As is the case with many people, I appreciate a swig of ice-cold orange juice in the morning, just before I plow into breakfast. That tang of citric acid is part of what I need (along with the cup of coffee) to rev myself up from too little sleep.
Now, let's go back to the morning of December 31st 2025. Because of the 14-hour time difference between Toronto and Tokyo, the Kohaku Utagassen that started broadcasting at 7:30 pm JST was shown live here in my humble abode at 5:30 am EST. Of course, since the Japanese TV service Jme is a streaming service, I couldn't save the show into storage. Sure, the New Year's Eve special was also being shown at later times and dates up to January 3rd but I just had to see it live. Not exactly in the most alert or happiest of moods, I set everything up and the Kohaku began as scheduled. Then I saw this performance:
If I'm not mistaken, the aidoru group CANDY TUNE started the ball rolling for the 2025 edition and, boy did it wake me up...or maybe the better expression is that it blew me awake! All that cheerfulness and high-pitched voicing had a much more excessive effect on me than anything that orange juice could provide. The group only came into being in 2023 but around a year later in April 2024, they released their digital single "Bai Bai Fight!" (Double Double Fight!) as this dempagumi march of hyperspeed energy and happiness but for some reason, the ladies didn't get their invitation to the Kohaku until over a year later.
Couldn't quite sink down into my armchair to doze off after that and I actually held off on writing anything about this pure adrenaline of a song. But then, a few weeks ago when I was watching an excerpt on the national broadcaster's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information program that dealt with the comedic duo Sandwich Man traveling to various hospitals to cheer up and talk with patients, I saw one conversation they had with one young man. Several months earlier, he had suffered a major stroke which left his left side paralyzed. To be sure, those were tough times but he stated that he stuck with the difficult rehabilitation regimen while listening to "Bai Bai Fight!" as an aural tonic to keep him putting up the fight, and he made it through perfectly. The power of music, eh? I found my hook to bring it onto the blog.
"Bai Bai Fight!" was written and composed by Tamaya 2060%（玉屋2060%）. May this energize you up!
Couldn't tell sapphires from rubies aside from the colour, I'm afraid. All I know is that trying to acquire any of them would be way above my pay grade.
Mind you, acquiring Dirty Androids'"Classic" from 2024 with the track "Sapphire City" would be much more reasonable and perhaps more satisfying depending on how much of a music lover you are. I first mentioned the music producer, aka Daisuke Akitsu (秋津大祐), when I posted his collaboration with punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）, the 2021 "Private Sunset"（プライベート・サンセット）. Since then, I haven't gotten much more information about the secretive artist although I finally did find an entry on RemyWiki.
"Sapphire City" is a pretty cool and clubby City Pop tune of the 2020s...it's something to enjoy while savoring a cocktail during sunset in one of the tallest bars in Tokyo, perhaps. Yup, it's a very chill tune.
It won't officially be so until December this year, but Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）will be celebrating an anniversary in 2026 in that it will be 50 years since her first solo album"Grey Skies" was put onto record store shelves. Also, she may be aware that one of her idols, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Junos (Canada's version of the Grammys) last night directly from Prime Minister Mark Carney last night.
NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information show did what a lot of Japanese TV shows do at the end of March and the beginning of April, and that is to give things a refresh by swapping out hosts or reporters or changing the set. Two of those were done yesterday; although the hosts remained the same, the regular onsite reporters had a bit of a change and the set was given a redux of sorts.
As well, the theme song for "Asaichi", TENDRE's "Switch", was retired after a few years and it's now been replaced by "Ohayou"（おはよう...Morning!）which is a collaboration between Ohnuki and trackmaker/producer STUTS. The only thing is that I can't find any evidence of this song on YouTube as of yet. Ah, well. However, I found out that this wasn't the only time that Ohnuki and STUTS have worked together. Apparently, a couple of years ago, the two came up with their own cover version of the kayo chestnut "Ii Yu da na"(Wonderful Bath, Ain't It?), the ode to the onsen that had been recorded all the way back by vocal group Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）in 1966 and then popularized several years later by the comedy group The Drifters（ザ・ドリフターズ）as the ending theme for their long-running variety show "8-ji Da Yo! Zen'in Shuugo!"（8時だよ！全員集合...It's 8 O'Clock! Everyone Assemble!) .
Although hot springs are warm to hot, Ohnuki and STUTS' "Ii Yu da na" is a pretty chill take with some jazzy samples thrown in. All those samples can get a bit noisy but at least the underlying MPC thrumming accentuates the feelings of relaxation that actor Sosuke Ikematsu（池松壮亮）while lounging around in the onsen. Of course, Ohnuki and her calming voice provide veteran reassurance that it's OK to let the stresses of life melt away once in a while.
The Nagoya-born STUTS has been plying his trade since 2008. Several years later, he moved to New York City and did some busking with his MPC.
Fridays are usually reserved for the urban contemporary music but today also happens to be January 30th 2026, aka the 14th anniversary of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Grace and Mr. Calico are celebrating up above so we will, too.
I just wasn't quite sure how we were going to commemorate and celebrate fourteen years of Japanese music blogging. However, for starters, I opted to search for cover versions of the song that became the point of the very first article on KKP back on January 30th 2012, and that was Jun Horie's（堀江淳）big hit "Memory Glass" from 1981. For example, I found this urbane version by Ms. OOJA that she recorded for her April 2024 album"Nagashi no OOJA 3 ~ Vintage Song Covers"（流しのOOJA 3～VINTAGE SONG COVERS～...Strolling OOJA 3）. I don't know who arranged it but they apparently went for the Old City Pop rather than the Neo-City Pop which is perfectly fine for me. There's even more of an urge to drop in at that hotel top bar for a cocktail now.
Decades earlier...in fact, in the same year that Horie's original was released in 1981, veteran chanteuse Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）recorded her own take on "Memory Glass" via her November album "Hotarubi"（螢火）which can be translated as either "Firefly Glow" or "Embers" (depending on how romantic you feel, you can pick either one). Fuji's take is much closer to Motoki Funayama's（船山基紀）original arrangement of the song.
Ten days ago on the 14th, I posted a Nash Music Library Xmas-themed song titled "Kamakura de X'mas" from the October 2024 compilation by NML titled "Christmas Avenue". It got the two labels of Xmas and Traditional Instrumental which would certainly explain the title.
Another track from "Christmas Avenue" is more conventional. Well, at least the song itself. The title has made me wonder, though. "Tipsy Reindeer" sounds more like an occupational hazard for Santa Claus after his eight employees and perhaps Rudolph got too much into the egg nog. Still, the actual song is a very pleasant pop tune that almost approaches Smooth Jazz status. The entire album would make for some fine kitchen cooking accompaniment.
Well, it wouldn't be a KKP Christmas season without including something Yuletide from the good folks at Nash Music Library. I did have something from them last year with "Happy Christmas". And so, I thought "Why not have them aboard again?".
This time, I have "Kamakura de X'mas" (Christmas in Kamakura). Now, to be honest, Kamakura would be one of the last places where I would imagine anything having to do with Noel and the like, but hey, this ancient city gets snow and illumination so again, why not? "Kamakura de X'mas" is most likely the first KKP entry which has both the Xmas and Traditional Instrumental labels for the same song and with the piano and the jingling bells in there, I couldn't help but get images of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and even Studio Ghibli vibes via Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）. The song was part of the October 2024 compilation "Christmas Avenue".
Everyone needs an escape once in a while. Whether it be to a hot spring in Japan or just even meeting up with old friends in a restaurant in Toronto, it's healthy to get away from the usual routine for some good food and conversation.
Maybe that's the case with Galali's（がらり）"Escape" which was released about a year ago in late 2024. It's got the usual groove and keyboards and vocoder. And I guess with the music video above, even a couple of robots have decided to go out on the town. Galali's even thrown in a bit of rap and keyboard jazz riffing. I gather that he also likes to keep things short and sweet, a la my first discovery of him through his "Sayonara wa Mayonaka ni"（さよならは真夜中に）...kinda too bad since I could use some more of his groove but I respect his artistic desires.
At the risk of sounding a little overly florid here, but there are millions of stories in the city. Here are two of them.
That's the impression I'm getting from the video for singer-songwriter Hibiya's "Imaginary Tokyo", her 3rd single from 2024 according to this website. Done up like a contemporary film noir mystery set in my old stomping grounds, a couple of mystery lovers (one of them portrayed by Hibiya herself) have their running adventure on the sign-filled nocturnal grimy streets. Hibiya took care of practically most of the project including words, music and the video itself. "Imaginary Tokyo" has that galloping 80s-style synthpop beat that shines a lot of light into what would be a pretty dark and gloomy portrayal of the night life in Tokyo.
Hibiya has shown up here on KKP through the songs "I'm In Love Again" and "Sunday Lonely Night" as a featured performer, so I'm glad that she has star billing here with "Imaginary Tokyo". I finally got to get some more information about her as well. She hails from Kanagawa Prefecture, and took up classical piano from the age of 3 and then acoustic guitar from 15. At a music university, she majored in piano while also beginning songwriting and arrangement.. Hibiya has also been greatly influenced by the culture of the 1960s to the 1980s including music, and apparently she does love those vintage synthesizers.
I've only known about the Cosmic Funk duo KAGAMI since September but they're already leaving quite the lovely impression upon me with their take on Neo-City Pop. And it appears that I am going back in time with Lucas Sim and Rotem Gerad. I first started with their "Friends" track from their April EP"Time Machine" and liking that, I really enjoyed their "Endless Midnight" featuring City Pop singer Hikari which had come out a couple of months earlier in February.
Well, now I've learned that there was a single released by the duo in October 2024 titled "Itsuka Sonotokiga" (If That Moment Comes Back Someday). And this time, the singer helping out here is City Pop/reggae-loving Natsu Summer. Written and composed by Gerad, it's a short and catchy song which is notable for Summer not showing off any reggae vibes here. Nope, it's straight-up blippity-bloppity Neo-City Pop with that crystalline keyboard and a thumpy bass. And the craziest thing is that the whole arrangement sounds like a contemporary form of the music that Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）had been doing in the late 70s and early 80s.
Now, that's what I call a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong! There's no way that I could catch up with Hitomitoi（一十三十一）at that speed. I'd be crying "Uncle!" and slinking into some cheap noodle place.
The Hokkaido-born singer-songwriter was someone I profiled last year for her 2023 "Love Groovin'" with DÉ DÉ MOUSE. Well, last year in December 2024, she cooperated with indie rock project Wild Nothing, aka Jack Tatum, for her next digital single, "Like a First Kiss". The song was also included in Hitomitoi's latest album "Telepa Telepa" which was released in March 2025. Wild Nothing came up with words and music while Hitomitoi helped with the Japanese lyrics.
What I've liked so far (along with the speedy video) about "Like a First Kiss" is the frenetic pace and the arrangement of the song which seems kinda nostalgic...like something from the 1970s. Maybe it's just me but there's something that feels rather Santana. I also enjoy that certain way Hitomitoi sings the lyrics; there's a stylized delivery in there.
Getting drunk under a full moon, eh? Must be a September in Ueno Park then during tsukimi season. It probably does happen a fair bit although I have never participated in a moon-viewing session myself.
The last time I wrote about enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）was a little more than six months ago when I noted her 1990 single"Noto wa Irankai ne"（能登はいらんかいね）that has gained quite a lot of poignancy since the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year's Day 2023. But this time around, it may be time for a little more fun in a teasing way.
In February 2024, Sakamoto released her 55th single,"Horoyoi Mangetsu"(Tipsy Under a Full Moon). The cover of the single features a sultry-looking Sakamoto not looking like a prim and proper enka singer at all with those long luxuriant tresses, black dress and shoeless feet which should be enough to convey that things could get a little irresponsible, carefree and chaotic, thanks to some libations. Written by Mami Takubo（田久保真見）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, I could say that the arrangement of "Horoyoi Mangetsu" kicks things between the genres of enka and rock n' roll, so maybe we can categorize it as a New Adult Music tune. The song reached No. 39 on Oricon.
Although we're not even into August yet, I can safely say that this summer in Toronto has been one of our hottest in recent years. We've just gone through another heat wave with the appropriate humidity, to boot. It's a bit more comfortable now but I figure that we'll be in for some more 3H weather in the weeks to come until we hit late September.
Back about a year ago, Natsu Summer released a 2024 online album titled "Orange Airmail", and the title track has some nice and mellow goodness thanks to songwriter Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）. Of course, true to Natsu Summer's aesthetic, the arrangement has that relaxing mixture of City Pop and reggae. It's something pleasant to listen to while sipping some sort of orange juice cocktail (like a screwdriver, perhaps?) on a bar patio. Have a good weekend!
Guitarist Yusuke Nakamura（中村裕介）has been mentioned in four articles on this blog but as a songwriter, including his melody for Keiko Mizukoshi's（水越恵子）"Wine Night"（ワインナイト）from 1984. So, he had never been on the byline until today, but a while back, someone told me that he had released an album called "80s Works" last September.
"80s Works" apparently includes all of his previously unreleased songs from those 1980s and they are supposedly in the realm of soul and City Pop. Certainly one track, "Lavender", has that groovy City Pop sound but provided through contemporary instruments and arrangements. And there is something quite Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）through this song and his delivery at least.
On a recent episode of "Asaichi"（あさイチ）when they were holding their Friday "Premium Talk" segment, the interviewee was model/actress/singer Elaiza Ikeda（池田エライザ）who usually goes by her mononym of ELAIZA. I've heard the name before but never saw what she looked like. As the interview went on, we discovered that back in 2018, she'd gotten the gig as host of the NHK BS show "The Covers" where singers of all stripes give their own twist on cover versions of their favourite songs. And apparently, ELAIZA herself got to perform some of her own covers a few months into her time and people found out that she has a pretty good set of smoky vocals. Above you can hear her take on Miyuki Nakajima's（中島みゆき）"Jidai"（時代）although that was on a different program.
A few years later, ELAIZA released her own debut single and album, and then recently, I came across this digital single released in September 2024 which has her collaborating with the fluid collective known as Jazztronik with organizer Ryota Nozaki（野崎良太）providing the melody while ELAIZA and Sonomi Tameoka took care of the lyrics. The Neo-City Pop and club music vibe reminded me of those early 2000s when bird and Misia held centre court for J-R&B.
Jazztronik has worked with other singers such as Miki Imai（今井美樹）and Giovanca. In a way, there's a parallel between ELAIZA and Imai in that both ladies started out in the modeling and acting field only to fall into singing a few years into their career.
Last month, I was surprised and delighted to discover that microphone-reticent singer-songwriter Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, who had basically only made her lovely vocals known through her contribution to Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）in 1982, had released a digital single about a year ago in July called "Do Yah!". The song was a bouncy reflection of what Bubble Era City Pop was all about.
Well, about a month after that release, the lady released another single online called "UTOPIA". As provided by lyricist Yukako Niizuma and composer/arranger Yamakawa, it's more of a woozy midnight stroll along a park. Perhaps that late-night walk in Tokyo is perhaps a utopia indeed. There's a combination of Burt Bacharach-friendly bossa nova and Kirinji（キリンジ）enveloped in a Neo-City Pop film when I listen to this smooth-as-Baileys song. Of course, Yamakawa's kittenish vocals are still the chef's kiss.
I was flabbergasted when I caught this video put up by MeTV about a decade or so ago. This scene from the popular NBC cop show "CHiPs" which ran from 1977 to 1983 not only has roller disco, which was a thing back in my adolescence, but it also contains the greatest concentration of TV stars that I've ever seen outside of the annual autumn promotion commercial for the network. Of course, I was a tad too young to partake in roller disco, but then again, I never learned how to ice skate when I was smaller so roller skating was pretty out of the cards for me as well.
Has roller disco returned somewhere on the planet? Maybe. I could see a resurgence in Japan for some months. Maybe even in America. Regardless, it's back in this music video for Deep Sea Diving Club's 10th and most recent digital single "Shooting Star" from September 2024. I wrote about these guys a couple of months ago for their Neo-City Pop"City Flight" from 2022 and I've been keeping an eye on them ever since.
"Shooting Star" continues the groovy urban contemporary and it shows what is basically a colourful PSA for women in the workplace to not only work hard but also play hard. One young executive decides to trip the light fantastic in her roller skates to let off some steam and enjoy her evening in the grand futuristic metropolis. Not surprisingly, the music by drummer Showhey Idehara（出原昌平）incorporates some disco into the proceedings. Guitarist and vocalist Sota Tani（谷颯太）provided the lyrics.
With a name like Nomad Pop, readers can be forgiven if they thought that ol' J-Canuck came up with a new genre heading again. Actually, that's not the case here. It's the name of a rock band that first assembled in 2019 with a first EP coming out later that year. Led by vocalist and songwriter Ryusuke Sameshima（鮫島竜輔）, it's a five-piece group that, according to its own biography, takes on the topics of isolation and doubt with some rich sounds and humour. Another site mentions that Nomad Pop bases its sound on R&B, rock and hip-hop.
In January 2024, Nomad Pop released their single "We Live" which actually had me thinking Neo-City Pop for the first several seconds but ventured more into the crystalline world of technopop, if anything. Gliding through the lyrics, it's about a man who initially proclaims that he's over someone from a past relationship but isn't really fooling anybody except perhaps himself. Meanwhile, the music video seems to be set in the final decade of the 20th century with the first half of the video centering around an old-fashioned phone booth as an alien tries to connect with someone late at night. By the end, a few other mild happenings take place with no one noticing the alien. Yeah, I think those themes of isolation and doubt are infused. And it's pretty much a cliché now that aliens have those feelings of isolation and doubt ranging from Superman to Mr. Spock.
Back on Wednesday, I wrote up an article based on the late Hiroshi Narumi's （鳴海寛）"Ame Agari"（雨あがり）and since I will always think of him and singer-songwriter (almost always the latter) Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）as the City Pop duo Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）, I decided to whimsically throw her name into the YouTube search engine to see if she might have popped up with anything on her own. After all, in Part 4 of that translation that I did of the liner notes for Tohoku Shinkansen's one-and-only "Thru Traffic" (1982) last year, it was noted that Yamakawa hadn't been too fond of being front and centre behind the mike.
Well, I actually hit an unexpected Bingo when I put her name into the search engine. In July 2024, she released a digital single called "Do Yah!" with her behind the melody with veteran Goro Matsui（松井五郎）behind the lyrics. Perhaps time and circumstances mellowed her out on the old unwillingness to sing out on her own. In any case, she sounds great in a cute and kittenish way while handling her own tune which is reminiscent of late 80s-early 90s Bubble Era City Pop with some of that funk intertwined in there. Plus, there are some nice subtle harmonies in the background. For me, "Do Yah!" is Oh Yeah! Nice to hear her behind the mike again after 42 years.
And once again, Bollywood + anime = incredible hilarity! This is how I found out about this theme song to a deer-based anime whose central figure was someone that I had seen from time to time over the past several months.
For the last few years, my viewing of anime has gone down considerably, mostly because my friend and I no longer have those biweekly anime-and-dinner outings anymore but if I did have the opportunity, I probably would have gotten my own copy of the zany "Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan"（しかのこのこのここしたんたん...My Deer Friend Nokotan）, which ran during the summer season of 2024, since it is a slice-of-life comedy which happens to be my preference when it comes to Japanese animated stuff.
From what I've read, the opening theme of "Shikairo Days" had always been meant to be an earworm since the producers demanded exactly that of lyricist Kana Yaginuma（やぎぬまかな）and composer Yūki Waga（和賀裕希）, formerly of the band fhana. And apparently, the song granted everyone involved everything beyond their dreams. For me personally, the catchiness of the song reminds me of when I first heard "Witch Activity"（ウィッチ☆アクティビティ）by KMM Dan（ＫＭＭ団）for the anime "Witchcraft Works" over a decade ago.
"Shikairo Days" hit No. 2 on Oricon's Digital Singles list and No. 32 on the regular Oricon list. It also achieved meme status (wouldn't be surprised if there had been flash mob performances in Nara Park), and I'm trying to look for examples of those beyond the Bollywood parodies. And before I forget, the song was performed by the main seiyuu in the show: Megumi Han（潘めぐみ）, Saki Fujita（藤田咲）, Rui Tanabe（田辺留依）, and Fūka Izumi（和泉風花）under the group name of Shika-bu（シカ部...The Deer Club）.
Of course, when it comes to deer and anime, the ultimate battle was in "Nichijou"（日常）.
