I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
I caught my first "Uta Con"（うたコン）in a couple of weeks, and not surprisingly, the theme of the episode this week was the summer song. So, of course, one of the ultimate J-Pop summery bands TUBE showed up, and I have to say that leader and vocalist Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）did a great job with Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Ride on Time".
Veteran aidoru group Juice=Juice was also there and if I'm not mistaken, they took care of the finale. They sang their 20th single as a major act, "More! Mi Amore" (Look Hot! Mi Amore) which is actually one-half of a double A-side single accompanying "Shi no Go no Iwazu Satto Wakarete Ageta"（四の五の言わず颯(さっ)と別れてあげた...I Made a Clean Break of It Without Any Fuss）. I'd assumed that the single was their latest from this year but it actually got released in October 2025.
Another crazy assumption that I'd had was that looking at the title, I thought this was some sort of tribute to Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Meu Amore" but that's further from the truth. Instead, the song was written and composed by singer-songwriter Aoi Yamazaki（山崎あおい）although both songs have got that frenetic Latin spice infused into their DNA. There's nothing like a Latin-arranged aidoru tune to get the group going all crazy with the choreography which will get the fans all into a lather at the concerts. The single managed to hit No. 2 on Oricon.
I do love my steak! In fact, I whip up a few of them for my family on the occasional Friday. My father and I prefer medium-rare while my mother will accept nothing rarer than well-done. What has gotten rarer for me these days are any trips to a steakhouse here in Toronto. Price is one factor. When I have to start snarking about how much of a down payment I'm obliged to put down for my tenderloin, then it's time to avoid places like The Keg.
Earlier today, I came across this steak franchise that I'd never heard about called Smith & Wollensky. When the name of a steakhouse sounds like either a Manhattan brokerage firm or a law office, that's when I begin to worry. And according to the founder of this place, Alan Stillman, there is no real-life Smith or Wollensky involved...he just pulled the names out of a phone book. Apparently S&W restaurants can be found all across America and around the world, and perhaps the newest one opened up in Tokyo...naturally Ginza. Good golly...they do pull out all the stops.
Well, seeing it is Hump Day...I got to think about whether there are any steak-related kayo out there, someone who really loves the meat and the music. Noting that Japanese songwriters can and have written about anything under the sun, it certainly is possible. I did find one character who goes by the name of Melody KicK, and perhaps they come up with short instrumental ditties along the lines of Nash Music Library or it's a whole AI thing.
First off, I found their short 2025 EP "Oishii Steak ya-san de Nagareru Kyoku"（おいしいステーキ屋さんで流れる曲...A Song Played at a Good Steak Restaurant） on Apple Music, and up on YouTube, I could come across one of the tracks "Steakhouse Master". It's done in the rip-rousin' American country style as are the rest of the tracks. Having noted that however, the music up in the Smith & Wollensky video is distinctly in the jazz oeuvre; I definitely heard "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck in there. Maybe "Oishii Steak ya-san de Nagareru Kyoku" is more for the Ponderosa or Outback Steakhouse set.
This isn't true with everybody but sometimes I associated certain bands and singers with famous areas. Southern All Stars（サザン・オール・スターズ）will always be connected to seaside Chigasaki because they are from that area, so that is easy. However on the other hand, I've felt that the late kayo chanteuse Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）and Shinjuku made a good pairing (although she's originally from Hokkaido) not only because she sang "Shinjuku no Onna"（新宿の女）but she just fit that urban angst in the back streets of that Tokyo neighbourhood.
This is straight from their website. Please don't kill me, Momo and Koharu.
Well, as for the eclectic accordion-driven sibling duo Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）, I picture them setting up shop in the shitamachi districts of Tokyo such as Ueno or Kanda. They actually do hail from the nation's capital (though the sisters Momo and Koharu were born in Chiba) but I don't know exactly where they were raised. Now as to why I think they feel just at home in the traditional quarter of town, and this is even before they released their album of kayo covers "Showa Hyaku Nen"(The 100th Year of the Showa Era) on Christmas Eve last year, their music always hit me as being something just as comfy, old-fashioned and woodsy as the architecture of the Taisho and early Showa eras. I'm not sure whether 2025 or 2026 would be considered Showa 100 according to the Japanese reign year system if Emperor Showa had survived up to now but let's give the sisters the benefit of a doubt.
So, let's take a look at three of the tracks from "Showa Hyaku Nen". One is a cover of Takao Hirata & Sellsters'（平田隆夫とセルスターズ）"Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa"（ハチのムサシは死んだのさ）, the novelty pop hit from 1972. Some great sisterly harmonizing here with the song taking on an arrangement that seems to be part ska and part old-fashioned street band chindon'ya style. And it comes with a music video that's swift and reminiscent of the old anime style from that decade. I'm especially happy that Charan-Po-Rantan picked this one since I don't think "Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa" usually gets selected in any kayo kyoku retrospective either on TV or compilation album.
Hey, and we all get a lovely video of vocalist Momo not only singing but showing off a bit of summery 80s aidoru cheesecake in the music video for the duo's rendition of Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）1984 hit "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。）The Charan-Po-Rantan style is fully in play here as well.
Finally, here is the Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）classic "Makkana Taiyo"（真赤な太陽）from 1967. There's perhaps even more of a funky element in this cover and Momo adds some Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）growl and Ego-Wrappin' attitude into her delivery. That chindon'ya saxophone really chews into the arrangement like me on a tenderloin steak. Frankly, "Makkana Taiyo" is a song that just begs to be covered in any kayo cover album because the singers can really have at it.
Feel free to take a look at the rest of the tracklist via the link to the album above and there are some more of the songs up on YouTube.
For the longest time, I'd wondered why these special Odakyu trains coming and leaving Shinjuku Station were called Romance Cars. I figured that they were popular with the young couples taking trips to the countryside, and as it turns out, I wasn't far off the mark. The Romance Cars contain what are basically love seats with no hand rest dividing the pair. Well, isn't that special?
I think that's what the band Special Favorite Music was referring to as well with their March 2025 single"Hashire, Romance Ichi-go"(Run, Romance No. 1). In my last article on the band which I wrote up a couple of months ago, it was for their 2015 single "Gold", and in there, I'd thought about what the band would sound like now after about a decade and with all of the lineup changes they went through,
Well, as it turns out, listening to "Hashire, Romance Ichi-go", there doesn't seem to be too much change and that's not a bad thing. This particular song is quite the breezy pop number with the SFM strings coming in as usual. Plus with the marimba-sounding synth (or maybe that's a real marimba being played here) and the strings, there is a certain feeling of posh life. In fact, I don't know whether they'd intended to or not, but there's something with "Hashire, Romance Ichi-go" that feels like 1970s New Music.
No particularly good reason to do so but I just wanted to post up another Author's Picks with the theme today being "good" songs. That is to say, songs with "good" in the title and they are good songs, to boot. Plus, it is a Sunday so a lot of whimsy to share.
After all of these decades of seeing Tom Cruise as the world's most amazing counterintelligence agent doing all that daring stuff such as hanging off a plane or flying a helicopter into a mountain (I was almost convinced that he was going to have a fight with a villain on the International Space Station in the last couple of "Mission: Impossible" movies), my earliest memories of him still evoke that iconic dance in "Risky Business" back in the 1980s. At the time, little did I know that this fellow was going to become the No. 1 box office guy.
Well, I was reminded of Cruise cruising on that smooth wooden floor when I watched the video for Kirinji's（キリンジ）"Room Dancer" which came out as a digital single on Halloween 2025. No rock n' roll here, though. It's a young lass who's tripping the light fantastic in her apartment but then takes it out on the road as far as Antarctica, and it's all to the familiar smooth and refined Kirinji beat (perked up with some Motown feeling). They're all joined by singer-songwriter Tomomi Oda（小田朋美）who made her first appearance on KKP through a more Gundam route. Both Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）and Oda worked on words and music.
Initially, when I took a gander at the video, I'd thought that it was Wild Child SUZUKA from the song and dance group Atarashii Gakko no Leaders（新しい学校のリーダーズ）who was dancing all about. However, as it turns out, the young lady here is Miki Ayane who is a model and a staffer at a vintage store in Harajuku. "Room Dancer" can also be found on Kirinji's latest album"Town Beat" which came out in January this year.
Yes, the man so cool his sunglasses sprouted from his face organically is back on KKP. Indeed, I'm talking about the God of Love Songs himself, Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki（鈴木雅之）.
I'm usually not a huge fan of tribute albums of famous artists in Japan, although I did buy one for Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）several years ago. And so I was surprised to find out a few days ago that such a tribute album dedicated to the songs of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）had been produced and released in May 2025. Titled"Meikyo: Tribute to Akina Nakamori"（明響...Akina Resonates）, it apparently consists of two CDs with the first one consisting of those other singers covering her hits while the second one has the original versions of those hits sung by Akina herself back in the 1980s.
Speaking of Martin, he contributes his golden tones to one of Akina's biggest hits, "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" (These Tears Ain't For Show) and I gotta say that he hits this one right out of the park like a Kazuma Okamoto homer (which I hope the newest Blue Jay will do later today on Opening Day). I remember when I first heard the original version and thought it a pretty upbeat song which got my OK. But then when I heard the extended album version of the original 1984 single which launched her landmark "Bitter & Sweet" album from 1985, my ears and brain were sent into the stratosphere so that I ended up hearing the track a few times that night when I purchased it in Chinatown.
A similar feeling rammed into me when I heard the Suzuki cover version a couple of nights ago, and it combines quite the potent cocktail of crystalline Neo-City Pop, funk and 60s guitar rock. Singer-songwriter Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）probably smiled through his own dark sunglasses and said "Yes, we have the singer" (a slight joke from "F1"). If there were going to be a fourth season of the anime "Kaguya-sama"（かぐや様は告らせたい）, I wouldn't mind having this be the theme song.
Continuing with the name segues, Inoue brought his own cover of "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" from his own self-cover album "9.5 Carat"（9.5カラット）from December 1984 which ended up as the No. 1 album for 1985. For some reason, I never got around to posting this one up until now, despite the fact that I remember hearing it on my old beloved CHIN-FM radio program "Sounds of Japan" decades ago. Anyways, Inoue's cover seems to have a darker and more haunting tone. Plus, the other notable thing about it is that it was arranged by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）, the man behind all that Studio Ghibli music.
I've mentioned about sentimentalism a few times over the past few days, and yesterday was a prime example. As some of you know, I used to have a biweekly Sunday anime + food outing with my anime buddy for about a decade but when COVID stopped those plans, we never really got around to picking things up again.
However, yesterday, a few of us did get together for some lunch at our favourite diner and then for dinner, we grew our group by three times to make the annual Shinta run, and what I mean by that is that every year around this time, we all get together at our favourite yakiniku restaurant, Shinta, up in Richmond Hill for tons of meat for an hour and a half, and then a fair amount of creme brulee and soft-serve ice cream to cool us down. Man, I sure don't eat as much as I used to.
We did plug in some anime between meals though. But as a bit of backstory, allow me to explain. In the pre-COVID era, my buddy and I did watch the first season of what has become a successful video game-to-anime adaptation of a franchise called "Uma Musume: Pretty Derby"（ウマ娘 プリティーダービー...Horse Girls）, all about horse girls who vie to become the very best at their craft. The characters have been named after some of the finest true-life thoroughbreds that have ever raced in Japan over the last several decades, and it seems like the characters have been portrayed by pretty much every female seiyuu that has gone behind the mike.
It was a fun first season and I did watch some of the episodes of the subsequent seasons, but I never really got all that excited about the various theme songs used at the beginning and endings of each episode.
Well, yesterday, I got to see the first few episodes of the second separate anime from the franchise. "Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray"（ウマ娘 シンデレラグレイ）which had its run throughout much of 2025 last year. Again, it has that feeling of The Little Train That Could as the button-down but brilliant Oguri Cap（オグリキャップ）begins to make her mark on the racing world in Japan while making friends and even making enemies into friends (or frenemies).
Oguri Cap (1985-2010) was indeed a legendary racehorse whose popularity loomed so large that he was dubbed "The Idol Horse". I was never a big fan of horseracing myself although I remember my parents taking my brother and I down to the old Greenwood Racetrack here in Toronto to watch some of the races. Making origami cranes out of the thrown-away ticket stubs was more our thing between races. However, even I had heard of Oguri Cap via television; it would be hard not to forget with that name.
Anyways, the anime version of Oguri Cap as played by seiyuu Tomoyo Takayanagi（高柳知葉）actually got to sing the first ending theme for "Cinderella Gray", and it's the first acknowledgement of a "Uma Musume" theme song on KKP. "Mugen" (Infinity) has a nice indies pop sound to it which is reassuring to hear, especially if things get a little too intense by the end of an episode, and I have to say that Takayanagi has some fine vocals to the point that I wonder if she has released some non-anime albums. The song was written and composed by Honoka Takahashi（たかはしほのか）, one-half of the pop-rock duo Regallily（リーガルリリー）.
What I had also forgotten was that Takayanagi already has standing on the blog since she was part of Coro Machikado（コーロまちカド）, the seiyuu quartet who came up with the beefy bass-heavy "Yoi Machi Cantare"（よいまちカンターレ）for the anime "Machikado Mazoku"（まちカドまぞく...The Demon Girl Next Door）.
A few months ago, I posted up an article regarding a collaboration between Neo-City Pop singer-songwriter Hitomitoi（一十三十一）and indie rock project Wild Nothing, aka Jack Tatum, which was titled "Like a First Kiss" and included on the singer's March 2025 album"Telepa Telepa". That song had some of that 1970s nostalgia imbued into it.
Well, from the same album is the track "Deja Vu no Blue"(Deja Vu Blue) which was written by Hitomitoi and composed by Dorian. There is no doubt about the time placement for this one. It's the danceable 2020s brand of City Pop as the video shows all that is fun and games in Tokyo. Some wonderful self-harmonizing by the singer and the images of the city and dancing feet may have inbound tourism into Japan rising again. By the way, I heard that last year was a record with over 40 million tourists coming in from abroad. Anyways, there is one piece of nostalgia included in the video for this very skippy song and that is the old-fashioned green public phone, although it looks pretty sauced up (maybe it imbibed too much of the Long Island Iced Tea I'd mentioned in the previous article).
It's been a while since I posted anything by the dynamic contemporary aidoru (or should I say song and dance?) group TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE（東京女子流）, and I was surprised to realize that it's been a dozen years since I put up their first KKP article for their "Partition Love". They have had the lasting power of any of the alphabet aidoru groups and Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）, but I've just read on their J-Wiki article that their show's going to be ending this year.
Their 35th and most recent single as of this writing was released in June 2025. "Doukasen, Flashback" (Fuse, Flashback) is a fairly smoking and funky tune which sounds like something that was arranged in a K-Pop vein. Written and composed by Umi Kinami（きなみうみ）, there is a certain nocturnal panther-like quality to this one. Strangely enough, I had been under the impression that there were a lot of members in TGS so to see just the four on the cover of the single was a bit jarring, but actually it's only been one member that had dropped out from the original five.
As I mentioned in my thoughts on the most recent Kohaku Utagassen, Japanese rock legend Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）made his third appearance on the NHK special for the third time (his other appearances were in 2009 and 2012), as he sang his new song before going for that "Kohaku B'z" shot and coming up to the main stage to perform his old hits.
That new song was "Shinjitsu"(The Truth) which was released in September 2025 as part of his 35th album "I believe" which hit No. 1. First and foremost, it's a love ballad and judging from the official music video below, it seems to be addressing the love between a couple that's been around for quite a while. Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Yazawa, I actually threw the YouTube link for the above video into one of those AI music analyzers which got me the result of folk rock. I know that the 76-year-old is a rocker at heart but I'm not quite sure that "Shinjitsu" would rate as a rock song...more of a pop ballad that sounds like it came from yesteryear; maybe it's even got some blues in there.
"Shinjitsu" was also used as the theme song for a Fuji-TV live-action drama adaptation of the novel "Saigo no Kanteinin"（最後の鑑定人...The Final Appraiser） that had its run between July and September 2025.
In recent years through Japanese television, I've become aware of a type of vacationing called glamping which is a portmanteau of "glamorous" and "camping". From what I've seen, it apparently looks like bringing 5-star hotel accommodations out to the woods. I've seen tarento partake in the activity. I've gone camping only once in my lifetime so it's not something for me but there is a part of me that wonders whether glamping kinda takes the meaning out of camping...but I'm not judging. I only know of one person who has gone camping by herself so if I ever meet her again, I'll have to ask her about her feelings on glamping.
I was reminded of this by the music video for YONA YONA WEEKENDERS' September 2025 EP"Yoyoi no Yoi". Now, it translates into "Pre-Drunken Evening" but I have heard it before as a part of a chant during some Japanese party game such as a really intense version of paper, rock and scissors (the strip kind). If I'm mistaken, please correct me here. To extend the definition further, the expression was used to describe the early evening when partygoers are already feeling the effects of alcohol but are still looking forward to the main event of drinking, eating and carousing. For those 80s music fans, I guess it's the stuff before everyone wang chungs that night.
However in this case, vocalist Isono-kun's（磯野くん）lyrics seem a bit more toned down. It's all about having a few friends get together to chill or maybe for a couple to snuggle one night. I've usually categorized YYW's music as Neo-City Pop but this time, I would probably say that it's more really groovy pop. The environment shown in the video helps in my decision although I posit that Isono-kun and his bandmates are taking part in camping rather than glamping.
Good day? Here? Meteorologically, no. It's rather dreary outside and in the next few hours, the temperature will plummet like Wile E. Coyote after foolishly running off a cliff.
However, we have here for Hump Day, Mrs. GREEN APPLE's big hit from September 2025, "Good Day". Written and composed by vocalist Motoki Ohmori（大森元貴）, it's a sunny side of fun and happiness that has a touch of that early 1970s Motown soul-funk and pop. Quite the day-glo colour scheme in the music video as well; I swear that the boys were going for that United Colours of Benetton pimp feeling.
I know that actors do pop up in music videos anywhere around the world but I was still curious as to why Haruka Ayase（綾瀬はるか）, Minami Hamabe（浜辺美波）and Ryohei Suzuki（鈴木亮平）showed up in this video to represent different worlds. Well, it turns out that "Good Day" was supposed to become the theme song for the Kirin Good Ale commercial which features all three plus Ohmori.
"Good Day" was also performed on last year's Kohaku Utagassen on NHK with Mrs. Green Apple showing up as the second-last performer of the night. For reasons that I mentioned in my summary on the New Year's Eve special, I thought that "Good Day" should have been the one to finish off the festivities. It was fun and everyone could get to sing along. The song reached No. 3 on the Oricon Digital Singles chart.
The trio Perfume had their final public performance on last year's Kohaku Utagassen and they showed off the first song that I had ever heard by Kashiyuka, A-chan and Nocchi, "Polyrhythm"（ポリリズム）, from 2007. That was one standout PSA!
Perfume also performed one of their final singles titled "Meguloop" (Tour Loop) which had been released back in July 2025. Apparently, "Meguloop" was also a track from their final album (for now) "Nebula Romance Part II" that came out a month later. It was all part of some grand concept for a space opera which has been acted out in the video above. As with everything that Perfume has recorded, the song was written and composed by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）, and this one stands out because I couldn't really hear anything technopop about this one and that's including the vocoders that the ladies have often used. I'd say that there was more warm and sunny 80s pop in this one...perhaps as a bittersweet goodbye to all involved in the trio's success for the past quarter-century. May the ladies enjoy some of that relaxation now that they have gotten some of that "civilian" life now.
"Meguloop" was also used as the theme song for the 2025 TV series sequel in the live-action part of the "Chihayafuru"（ちはやふる）franchise.
Well, in less than a month, the Winter Olympics will begin anew through the joint organization by the Italian venues of Milan and Cortina. It feels as if it were only several months ago that I was writing something for the Paris Games in 2024.
Of course, with the Olympics being just around the corner, NHK will have its own coverage which means their own theme song for these Games. As well, the national network has been careful to categorize it blandly as "winter sports theme song", probably not to get the IOC's feathers all ruffled about copyright, official recognition and that sort of stuff.
This time, it's the pop-rock band back number that has gotten the gig, and although their "Doushite mo Doushite mo" (No Matter How, No Matter How) was only released as their 13th digital download single on December 27th, NHK viewers have already been hearing it for some weeks, and in fact, back number performed it on the 76th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen during their 2nd time on the New Year's Eve special. A suitably inspiring and optimistic number about basking in the glow of ultimate achievement after working one's tail off, it will hopefully get some or a lot of Team Japan onto the podium. Of course, I've got my own nation to root for as well.
Although I've heard about the band from southern Gunma Prefecture for some time, this is the first time for them to get onto KKP, and I was wondering about how they got their name. Well, apparently, the way it's been described on both their J-Wiki and Wikipedia pages, there was enough sturm und drang behind the naming to fill an entire cour of J-Drama. One big surprise to me that I discovered while looking up the band was that back number has been around since 2004 so it's already celebrated its 20th anniversary. Anyways back in the old days, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Iori Shimizu（清水依与吏）had an ex-girlfriend who ended up as the girlfriend of a rival band member so he self-flagellated himself as a "back number" (maybe something like a "used tissue") and resolved to make his newly-named band, back number, better than the other band so perhaps his ex would return. Not surprisingly, that didn't quite happen and there were various disagreements and stuff on the odyssey to create a stable successful group over the next few years. Hey, maybe "Doushite mo Doushite mo" could also be the official song for back number's own journey. In any case, the current lineup also has bassist Kazuya Kojima（小島和也）and drummer Hisashi Kurihara（栗原寿）.
I've given my translation of the title above but the official English title for "Doushite mo Doushite mo" is "Want Want Want". Unfortunately, I couldn't find the footage but that really avaricious English title reminded me of one Japanese Olympic swimmer who had just earned a silver medal but in the ensuing interview, she cheerfully admitted to some disappointment in her results and yelled out "I want gold!".
Well, another year has gone by which means that another Kohaku Utagassen has gone by which means that another article on my own thoughts, opinions and observations (and they are my own only) on the latest NHK New Year's Eve special will go by. As it was the case with the 2024 75th edition, No. 76 in 2025 did its job. I think that it entertained the viewers who dedicated themselves to it (and yep, I woke up at 5 am to watch it live) and at a fairly brisk pace. There were no distractions to slog things down; it was all about the music. And the average rating was around 33.0% which was actually not too bad for the Kohaku considering that there is usually a whole lot of other things to do outside such as visiting the temple or going out to a restaurant for toshikoshi soba.
I was discussing the Kohaku results with KKP contributor and good friend JTM on Sunday night and we agreed that there were certain acts that brought spikes into those ratings:
1. Seiko Matsuda 39.9%
2. Mrs. Green Apple 39.4
3. AKB48 37.1
4. Misia 36.7
5. TUBE 36.4
6. Hiromi Iwasaki 36.3
7. Eikichi Yazawa 36.0
Kenshi Yonezu 36.0
9. Koji Tamaki 35.7
Masaharu Fukuyama 35.7
In all likelihood, most if not all of these videos will end up being taken down by NHK by next month (Wow! January 8th...that's a record) but at least we can enjoy them for a few weeks perhaps. Anyways, to start off, it seems like the hosting pattern has been set with comedian Hiroiki Ariyoshi（有吉弘行）and then the main actress from a previous NHK morning serial drama, in this case actress/model Mio Imada（今田美桜）followed by another actress who has had NHK experience, the adorably awkward Haruka Ayase（綾瀬はるか）, and finally a veteran NHK announcer in the form of Naoko Suzuki（鈴木奈穂子）.
1) It was nice of the organizers to bring back an opening medley of some of the old kayo kyoku including the evergreen "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう). And then we were off to the races with the first two Red team entries including aidoru group Fruits Zipper. The old style of Red, White, Red, White, etc. went out the window years ago. It's just unfortunate that the Jme gremlins had to block out "YMCA" due to copyright restrictions but at least those situations weren't as prevalent as they were in past Kohaku.
2) The relatively few enka performances were fine and it appears that for at least some of them, the gimmicks are here to say. Hiroshi Miyama（三山ひろし）brought back the gang for another chance to achieve the kendama world record. Plus, Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）had her dominoes back.
3) This Kohaku also seems to be the one which had a couple of final performances. I knew about Perfume's intention to go on hiatus as of 2026 but I was surprised to hear that Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）was calling it a day as a Kohaku participant. I have mixed feelings here and I did mention about this on my observations for last year's Kohaku as well. Frankly, I was no fan of the decision for him to keep on singing "Ni-oku-yon-sen-man no Hitomi"（２億４千万の瞳）year after year and in the first few seconds after his declaration of "graduation", I instinctively thought "Ah...it finally ends" but then again, it'll be too bad that he won't show up again to sing some of his other hits...which were perfectly fine as Kohaku kayo.
4) There was also a bigger chunk of participants celebrating their anniversaries in the music business such as AKB48, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, Perfume, Akira Fuse（布施明）, TUBE and R&B artist Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）. Again, this is just my own observation but while the rest of the anniversary-celebrating group got their accolades onscreen before their performances, for some reason, it seems as if Kubota wasn't accorded the same treatment; he had to state that 2025 was his 40th anniversary which had host Ariyoshi looking a little sweaty for a few seconds. Spontaneity is always fun to watch. It was good to watch TK perform "LA・LA・LA LOVE SONG"...without Naomi Campbell, though.
5) The coolest senior citizen on stage though was Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）, who at 76 years old, showed that he certainly didn't act his age. He also provided the "Kohaku B'z" moment for the 76th edition when he pulled off a surprise by finishing his scheduled song "Shinjitsu"（真実...The Truth） and then nonchalantly making his way to the main stage to sing a couple of his big hits.
6) The Otori final stage consisting of the final singers from the Red and White teams to provide that final snap and gravitas was changed for the first time in a few years. Misia was back for the Red team but this time, Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）had his moment somewhat earlier. In his place was Mrs. Green Apple with "Good Day"which was a rousing pop number that I'll have to cover. It was a good place to end the official competition.
7) Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）was the final touch to the extra additions and according to those NHK ratings, it was a winning one. From what I've read so far, her appearance was much lauded, and for me, I had no problems with her being included in the festivities and certainly no argument with the song which is one of my favourites by the Eternal Aidoru. However, I have to disagree slightly and say that I think it would have been better if she had been inserted somewhere in the middle of the broadcast. Her appearance and the arrangement of"Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）struck me as being anticlimactic and took some of the air out of the supremely cheerful atmosphere that Mrs. Green Apple had built up.
To wrap up, the performances that stuck with me were by Vaundy, Mrs. Green Apple, Humbert Humbert, Sakanaction, Eikichi Yazawa and Toshinobu Kubota. If any of you have your own opinions and insights into Edition No. 76, let me know below.
Well, it's been a few years but it looks like the pop group cinnamons and the AOR unit evening cinema have brought their energies together once more (one of their earlier examples is "Fuyu no Tokimeki"（冬のトキメキ）) and this time, it's a cover of a City Pop classic.
A few months ago, cinnamons x evening cinema recorded their own version of "Shibuya de Go-ji" (渋谷で5時...Shibuya at Five） which had been originally sung by Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）and Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）back in 1994. Can't believe it's been over thirty years but hey, we're a patient lot. Anyways, to also give credit where credit is due which is something that I didn't do when I wrote up the original article, Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）took care of the lyrics while Martin himself came up with the thrilling melody with the late Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）being the original arranger.
"Shibuya de Go-ji" still retains some of that City Pop feeling although I think the arrangement this time around takes things into a slightly more pop direction. But that doesn't detract from the overall effect at all. It still gives off that fun invitation to one of the most exciting centres in Tokyo and I will always love that music video...it does look like the perfect date if the two can find each other by 5 o'clock in the huge masses of humanity around the statue of Hachiko on a Friday night.
And here I thought that all I needed for a bit of suspense during the Holidays was to watch "Die Hard". However, it looks like the next couple of days in Toronto will be seeing wind warnings which could lead to power outages. Not great during a cold time like now. A lot of folks here including myself still remember the Ice Storm of 2013 which knocked most of the city out for at least a couple of days and many for many days after that.
Still, I'm gonna still slog my way to 1000 articles as best I can. I've got another Author's Picks based on days of the week since I recall that certain Japanese songs have used days of the week in their titles and even their own artist names. All but one of the songs that will be included in the list are already represented on the blog.
(1993) Pizzicato Five -- Yasashii Mokuyoubi（優しい木曜日）
Yup, "Yasashii Mokuyoubi" (Sweet Thursday) is the odd group out this time, but it is most certainly not an odd song. It's a very pretty tune by Pizzicato Five evoking a pleasant spring walk in Paris on that day. With the feeling of Shibuya-kei, the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）vocally gives her version of a waltz along the Seine. I had a bit of a time tracking this down regarding when the song was originally released but thankfully its inclusion in "The Band of 20th Century: Nippon Columbia Years 1991-2001" gave me the big hint. It was just a matter of looking up those albums under Columbia and finding out that "Yasashii Mokuyoubi" had been placed in the June 1993 album"Bossa Nova 2001"（ボサ・ノヴァ2001）.
It was almost a month ago that I posted up enka singer Mitsuko Nakamura's（中村美津子）March 2025 72nd single, the brio-laden "Uta da yo! Jinsei"（歌だよ!人生）that should have a certain generation of karaoke enthusiasts singing its praises, especially in the final week of this year.
Well, the coupling song is a bit less fiery but it's also quite wholesome and reassuring just like a veteran custodian of an old-fashioned bar in Japan. In fact, the title of this enka ditty is "Izakaya Banashi"(Izakaya Talk) which sounds like two enka tunes in one. There is the main major-chord song with a slight diversion into a minor-chord number for one verse, as if composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）were musically bringing to life Reiji Mizuki's（水木れいじ）lyrics of that mama-san in the izakaya welcoming back an old customer who'd been transferred from Osaka to the Tokyo branch and then listening to his grievances on work and women for a bit before bringing his spirits back up.
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.
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