Blogger Announcement: False Positives for "Malware and Similar Malicious Content policy"

 

Hello, folks. J-Canuck here and usually when I put up the apple pie photo, it means that I have an APB on an unknown song that we are searching information on. But this is not that sort of article but I needed to have something up, so I chose the apple pie.

Anyways, I wanted to inform readers and fellow bloggers on the Blogger platform that I received a message from KKP contributor Oliver Ebisuno92. Apparently for the past couple of days, there has been a rash of blogs getting flagged or even locked out due to Blogger automated systems going on a misguided search-and-freeze operation. From what I've read of some of the comments, it looks like any blogger on Blogger who has recently made any changes to the basic template may get smacked unfairly, although actual postings won't trigger anything. You can take a look at the actual announcement here.

Masashi Sada -- Kamisama no Iu Toori（神さまの言うとおり）

 

Welcome to Hump Day! And yeah, it feels even more like a Hump Day than usual. For one thing, I've been noticing for the past three days that our household has suffered micro-power outages of less than a second at around the same time in the morning. Now as I said, they are very short in duration so the power is back on lickety-split but it's enough to require me to wait five minutes for the Internet to return and I have to reset all of the clocks. Very annoying. I've sent our electric power company a letter of inquiry and complaint for which I've received a reply stating that it may take up to five days for a proper answer.

In any case, I've learned that people having a bad day tend to be more productive at work, presumably because they want to focus on anything other than the source of the bad day. Well, I'm focusing on this one here. And it has to do with a couple of observations regarding recent Japanese society. The first one is that Japan may have one of the larger populations of centenarians in the world and the other is that when the patriarch of the family retires from decades of work, he may tend to just lounge around the house with nothing to do all day which can aggravate the wife and perhaps even the children to no end. 

That seems to be the premise of the Japanese comedy movie franchise "Oshûkatsu Jukushun! Jinsei, Hyaku-nen Jidai no Sugoshi Kata"（お終活 熟春!人生、百年時代の過ごし方...The Final Years: The Golden Years of Maturity—How to Spend Life in the Era of the 100-Year Lifespan） that started in 2021. A third movie was released at the end of May this year. As to why I'm talking about this, well....last night, singer-songwriter and tarento Masashi Sada（さだまさし）appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）to sing this old-time jazzy number called "Kamisama no Iu Toori" (As God Says). I've heard Sada sing folk and City Pop but this is the first time that I've heard him sing anything jazz and this is where I found out that "Kamisama no Iu Toori" was the theme song for the third movie. Written and composed by Sada with Toshiyuki Watanabe（渡辺俊幸）handling the arrangement and the conducting of the orchestra, it's a sweet nostalgic tune that had Sada doing a bit of Vaudevillian soft-shoe on the stage and maybe the movie characters dancing cheek-to-cheek on the floor.

Mitsuko Nakamura -- Jinsei Banzai（人生万歳）

 

I was watching "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）last night when I saw the ever-beaming enka veteran Mitsuko Nakamura（中村美津子）appear on stage to perform a song that I'd initially assumed was one of her oldies. As it turned out, it was her latest (her 73rd) single from May this year.

"Jinsei Banzai" (Here's to Life) was released to commemorate Nakamura's 40th year in the music industry and I'm pretty sure when it comes to the annual Kohaku Utagassen, her name will probably be in the Red team lineup. Written by Kyosuke Kuni（久仁京介）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, it's a very genki song showing off her satisfaction and gratitude to everyone over the past four decades. The enka is in there of course, but I could hear a rumbling rhythm reminiscent of a 50s Latin-tinged number. 

Mrs. GREEN APPLE -- Brand New

 

I bumped into this video purely by accident yesterday when it was released onto YouTube, and I know that the band Mrs. GREEN APPLE has been known for participating in some really snazzy music videos. However, although the song was another supremely upbeat tune by the guys, I was rather marveling at the very ambitious parkour the three were doing all over the city in their latest video.

And then I saw the title: "Brand New". Then, 2+2 started popping up in my head immediately after which I checked the relevant J-Wiki article and sure enough, my rushed suspicions were verified. Mrs. GREEN APPLE's latest digital download single from July 13th was indeed the theme song for the Japanese release of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day". Reading that all three members were big fans of the superhero, they must have had the time of their lives acting like the webslinger.

Written and composed by vocalist Motoki Ohmori（大森元貴）, "Brand New" isn't actually the first time that Mrs. GREEN APPLE has come up with a theme song for people with super powers. I recall writing about another song of theirs that fits the bill years ago. In any case, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has come out here and in Tokyo, so I gather that my old movie viewing buddies there are already planning their big outing to see it. I will be catching it myself pretty soon.

Gen Hoshino -- Suki（好き）

red-heart-vector-graphics_200_w200_h200_cw200_ch200_thumb

 

With all of the various issues happening locally and abroad, it's no surprise that people could use some more of a salve for what ails them. 

Nothing medical here but musically, perhaps KKP can introduce singer-songwriter and hookmeister Gen Hoshino's（星野源）latest digital download single "Suki" (Love Ya) which was released only yesterday. And yep, it's got that catchy Hoshino hook along with some Hoshino scatting. Furthermore, I'm always going to be a sucker for any song that has those mellow horns from yesteryear...especially a snazzy flugelhorn. 

Not surprisingly, Hoshino came up with "Suki" for a TBS drama titled "Kimi no Suki wa Muteki"（君の好きは無敵...Your Love is Boundless） that started up a couple of weeks ago. He can come up with some of the great theme tunes such as "Kigeki"（喜劇）for the anime "Spy x Family" some years ago. According to one part of the J-Wiki article on "Suki", I was able to Google translate this paragraph regarding the song:

This track marks a new frontier in pop music for Gen Hoshino, characterized by a melody that instantly lifts the spirits, a groove that makes you want to dance, and a sound brimming with vitality. It captures the inner radiance felt the moment one falls for someone —as well as the immense power of that emotion—and serves to encourage anyone who is evolving with that passion as their driving force, adding vibrant color to the world of the drama.

I'm not sure if I would say that this is a new frontier for Hoshino. His reputation has usually involved very upbeat tunes and "Suki" is no different. But I would certainly agree with the groovy assessment and indeed, falling in love can pack quite a punch of positivity. I'm assuming that the final word "drama" is referring to the TBS show (unfortunately I couldn't find any footage on YouTube).

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu -- KURU KURU HARAJUKU

By Chris 73 via Wikimedia Commons

I've made my fair share of visits to Harajuku. Takeshita-douri, all those crepe stands, the fashionistas and the bubblegum-coloured stores...it's quite the amusement park. Of course, by entering the area (even back in my old Japan days), I immediately skewed the age line so I can't even imagine what it would feel like going there now. 

Speaking of age, it's hard for me to believe that the vivacious Kyary Pamyu Pamyu（きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ）is 33 years old now. She has always struck me as someone stuck in her late teens or early twenties, and her overall aura is such that she doesn't even have to physically appear in a music video to make it worthy viewing. Et tu, "DODONPA"（どどんぱ）?

Well, a couple of days ago, her latest single just dropped. Titled "KURU KURU HARAJUKU" (Spinning Harajuku), it's another percolating blippity-bloppity technopop treat from KPP about a Harajuku denizen's dramatic day in her favourite area of Tokyo. And this time, the mesmerizing video has multiple Kyarys of differing sizes bopping about in what looks like a costume of the Michelin Man in battle mode. Maybe the techno trio Perfume is off on indefinite hiatus but producer/songwriter Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）still has plenty of work.

Tokimeki Records feat. Mai Zaitsu -- Tsuki wa Mirror Ball（月はミラーボール）

 

Not sure what the situation is regarding the huge billowing mass of forest fire smoke that's been coming down into Southern Ontario for the past few days. Apparently, some winds were supposed to give us some respite from the smaze before returning tonight. Well, so far, I've got the window open but I haven't exactly been coughing up my lungs yet, so maybe this is a good development.

Anyways, I have another song by Tokimeki Records. Up to now, I've collected a small group of their songs which have been covers of some of the City Pop classics. But this time, the unit has come up with an original tune "Tsuki wa Mirror Ball" (Under the Mirror Moon) which came out in June. Still, as usual, a featured female vocalist is on the mike and her name is Mai Zaitsu（財津マイ）. I couldn't find out anything at all about her although she's been depicted as an anime character thus far in Yahoo Images. Her voice is nice and smoky alongside the Neo-City Pop showing some of that nocturnal bouncy rhythm (maybe good for the car stereo). The only other question that I have about the singer is whether she is a relative of Tulip singer-songwriter Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）.

Tomita Lab -- Futari no Amaterasu（二人の天照）

Wikimedia Commons

Amaterasu is a name that I've been hearing since I began university in the mid-1980s. I've heard about her in lectures within my Japanese Studies major and read about her in books on religion and mythology in Japan. In Shintoism, she is known as the sun goddess and the mythical ancestor of the Imperial family.

But enough of the professorial lecture from me. This is "Futari no Amaterasu" (The Amaterasu of Two), the latest single by Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）that was released last month, and according to the good folks at the Otomo website, it's "...an urban pop song focusing on the inner workings of people whose days shift under the influence of the weather". Man, considering the weather that Toronto and Tokyo have been wrestling with over the past few days, I'm hoping that our collective inner workings are hanging on for dear life.

With vocals provided by Yo from the duo Natsudaidai (about whom I posted about back in 2024), it's a cute and blippy tune whose modern arrangement may actually hold an old-fashioned melodic vibe of optimistic American sitcom spunk theme tunes, along the lines of "That Girl" and "The Doris Day Show" from the 1960s. Not sure if Tomita Lab had meant it to be so, but that's how I'm taking it. Then as we approach the grand finale, things go all techno jazzy harmony. Maybe "Futari no Amaterasu" should be looking for a cute Japanese rom-com somewhere. While Tomita took care of the music, Sasuke Haraguchi（原口沙輔）provided the lyrics.

Monaki -- Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo（ほんまやで☆なんでやねん☆しらんけど）

 

I can't call myself a dialectician or an expert on linguistics although I've had a passing interest in the dialects of Japan, America and Great Britain. Because of my family background though, I've known about the differences between standard Japanese and the Kansai dialect since I was a kid. I won't get into any details (you can look at the above video provided by Miku Real Japanese) but let it be known that when I was visiting my relatives in Osaka years ago, I was literally barraged by loud and boisterous Kansai dialect. They probably thought I was some sort of imposter because frankly I sounded virtually mute compared to them.

My rather academic introductory paragraph is due to the fact that this article is based on the April 2026 debut single by new group Monaki（モナキ）. Titled "Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo" (Hey, It's True☆What the Heck?!☆Got No Idea), it's quite the raucous nostalgic dance club-happy beginning for this quartet of Jin（じん）, Kenken（ケンケン）, Sakai Jr.（サカイJr.）and O-Yone（おヨネ）. I really have no idea why they've come up with this title consisting of Kansai dialect expressions since only one of the four, O-Yone, hails from Osaka (Sakai Jr. was actually born in Texas!). To further add to the nostalgia, I swear that the guys sound like an 80s male aidoru group like Shibugakitai（シブがき隊）or Shonentai（少年隊）.

Monaki, whose name derives from the expression namonaki（名もなき）meaning "nameless", showed up on a recent episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）, and apparently the guys were running late due to traffic, although they were fortunate in that they had been scheduled to be the final act in the show. Indeed, they finally made it to the NHK Osaka studio only a minute or so late to perform "Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo". The song by the way was a great premiere for the guys since it reached No. 3 on Oricon.

If the group and their antics seem familiar to you, that's probably because they are following a well-established group in entertainment, the popular trio Junretsu（純烈）. In fact, Junretsu's leader Kazuyoshi Sakai（酒井一圭）has been mentoring and producing Monaki, and he even co-wrote the lyrics for "Honma ya de☆Nande ya nen☆Shiran kedo" along with Takafumi Iwasaki（岩崎貴文）who also composed the song. I had no idea that Sakai had once been a professional wrestler.

Happy 61st Birthday, Akina-san! (中森明菜)

Happy Birthday, Akina-san!

I'm glad that Akina is healthy again and has been active recently.  On July 1st, she just released her new single, "Gomen to, Suki to"「ごめんと、好きと」(Sorry, I love you).  This is her first single in 10 years.  She is also having a concert tour that started on the same day in Nagoya.  After a detour to Osaka, the tour will end in Tokyo with 2 shows on July 13th (her birthday) and July 14th respectively.  It's been 20 years since she did her last concert tour back in 2006!  Building on her success last year, I'm pretty hopeful that she'll do another dinner show this year during the Christmas holidays.

All in all, 2026 has been a pretty good year so far for Akina and her fans around the world.

The new song, "Gomen to, Suki to", is a ballad.  But unlike her past ones like Nanpasen (難破船) and Eki (駅), this one has a happy ending.  The song talks about two lovers who parted but eventually got back together.  The song was written by Jun Koami.  Although not 100%, I'm 99.9% sure that this is the same person.  Koami has apparently written quite a number of songs for idol groups such as AKB48 and SKE48.  Lyrics was written by HZ Village, which is the name of Akina's own management company.  I suspect it's Akina herself who penned the lyrics.

Her new single, according to this post on X.com, reached 7th place on the Oricon weekly chart upon its release.

It's good to see that Akina is healthy again.  Having said that, when I listened to her new song, I can't help but think that her voice has deteriorated.  I'm not sure if this is just how she interprets the song and sang it in a somewhat whispering voice, but I felt like her voice is not as stable as in the past.

Anyway, let's wish Akina-san good health for the years to come.

Yutaka Mizutani -- Omoihateru made（思い果てるまで）

 

Wow! The series "Aibou"（相棒）has been on so long that even with all of the partners that refined detective Sugishita has had for close to a quarter of a century, the producers have gone back to the original aibou. The man still has time for his cup of tea.

Thespian Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）has been Ukyo Sugishita for so long that it may be easy to forget that he once had a recording career. And in fact, all of my articles on his singing are based in the 1970s and 1980s. However, a few weeks ago, the actor appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）to introduce his first digital single in a decade, "Omoihateru Made" (Until My Heart Is Spent), which got released on June 30th.

Listening to "Omoihateru Made" a few times, it comes across as if Mizutani were trying to channel his inner Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. Although his voice doesn't really equate with the one owned by the God of Love Songs, he does a game performance with the song that was even written and composed by him. The song would give a nice little zip to any action scenes in his "Aibou". Yoshiki Yamamoto（山元よしき）was responsible for arrangement.

Ichiro Toba, Yutaka Yamakawa & Tetsuji Kimura -- Aah, Hitori Tabi（あぁひとり旅）

 

All for one, one for all!

You'll never walk alone!

The Force will be with you...always.

Yes, there is nothing like the above phrases to let you know that whatever trouble you may face, you will always have comrades to have your back.

Well, apparently, there has been an Opposition rebuttal in Japan. Back in January this year, an enka song came out titled "Aah, Hitori Tabi" (Ahh, The Journey Alone) and it's about taking that path and facing all those obstacles that might come in the way...all by your lonesome because ultimately it is really all up to you. This must sound like manna from heaven to all those lone wolves out there.

Ironically, the song is tackled by a trio (not one lone wolf) and it's a family affair, to boot. We've got the brothers Ichiro Toba（鳥羽一郎）and Yutaka Yamakawa（山川豊）plus Toba's son, enka singer Tetsuji Kimura（木村徹二）, behind the mikes solemnly singing about the solo path. Furthermore, "Aah, Hitori Tabi" was produced, written and composed by Kimura's older brother, enka singer and songwriter Ryuzo Kimura（木村竜蔵）just to add to the family contributions. 

Of course, Toba and Yamakawa are famous for often getting together to perform the classic enka, Toba's own "Kyodai Bune"（兄弟船）, about sharing the challenges of catching that fish on a boat. Interestingly enough, Kimura's lyrics also include the fact that women as well as men also face that resolute journey on their own.

Since "Aah, Hitori Tabi" can be considered to be one of those shibui enka, karaoke singers will probably have to make sure that their most stoic faces are on display. Because after all, that is the ippiki ohkami way.

STUTS & Taeko Ohnuki -- Ohayou（おはよう）

 

Recently, the NHK morning information show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）has been getting cancelled or truncated. That's not a real surprise since there are a couple of phases during the year when this happens but this year, it's a bit more prevalent right now because of a national track-and-field meet, the World Cup and televised government deliberations. We were a bit luckier yesterday though since we did get the full one-hour-and-forty minutes.

Well, I figure that we'll have only a couple of more weeks of this before things get back to normal. The good news is that the theme song for "Asaichi" finally has a full version out on YouTube. A few months ago, when the new theme "Ohayou" (Good Morning) started each show, I couldn't find it on the platform although in my exertions, I was able to find a past collaboration by trackmaker/producer STUTS and legendary singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）from 2024.

Still, it's nice to find "Ohayou" at last which apparently hit YouTube a little over a month ago. It's a nice breakfast plate of musical nostalgia via fluegelhorn and electric piano. Those two instruments give the song a sunny 70s feeling...in a way, it feels rather Carpenteresque, and it's a friendly way to start off "Asaichi". Maybe it can even get folks up-and-at-'em all on its own.

punipunidenki x Kan Sano x Shin Sakiura -- Gakugeidai-mae（学芸大前）

 

In the late 2000s, I was teaching a couple of students privately in the western end of Tokyo so I took the Toyoko Line to the tony Den'en-Chofu district, and each time I headed out there, the train passed through Gakugei Daigaku Station which had been built about a century ago right by Tokyo Gakugei University. The university itself though was uprooted and moved off a fair bit away in 1964 so that the station isn't anywhere near the campus anymore but the name of the station remained...maybe just to confuse newbies. While researching about the song here, I learned that the area around the station has become one of the trendier neighbourhoods west of Shibuya along the lines of Jiyugaoka and Shimo-Kitazawa. I never got to stop off at Gakugei Daigaku Station but we can all travel there vicariously through the video above.

And speaking about that song, I'm talking about "Gakugeidai-mae" (In Front of Gakugei Daigaku Station), a collaboration among those Neo-City Pop hipsters punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）, Kan Sano and guitarist/music producer Shin Sakiura. Released a few months ago, I'm now pretty confident that the title is referring to the Toyoko Line station rather than the actual university itself. From what I've read of the explanation underneath the music video at YouTube, it all revolves around the lyric "I wanna meet you, darling, at Gakugeidai at 9 tonight" and has other enticing phrases such as "the lights of a small bar," "that song from the 80s," and "magical clichés". Melodically, there are some nostalgic chord progressions that personally take me back a bit to the original City Pop days. Meanwhile, punipunidenki and Sano trade vocals in a give-and-take between the one who is courting and the one who is being courted (and who's playing somewhat hard-to-get).

To finish off, here's a video on the actual Tokyo Gakugei University, just so that it doesn't feel left out. As well, there is a 2024 KKP article focusing on punipunidenki and Kan Sano and an earlier collaboration.

Kiyoshi Hikawa-- Tabi de Gozansu Ojarumaru（旅でござんす おじゃる丸）

 

A few years ago, I noted that the anime "Ojarumaru"（おじゃる丸）has a long-running list of theme songs to match its own longevity on television. It would seem that anyone who's anyone in the music industry has given their contribution to the purin-loving title character. Eclectic rock diva Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）is one of those people.

Well, a few weeks ago, I saw enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）provide his own song to this current season of "Ojarumaru", and though Hikawa has been dabbling into other genres over the years, he has come back to his genre roots for this one. His "Tabi de Gozansu Ojarumaru" (It's a Journey, Ojarumaru) is a spritely old-school enka tune with a nice amount of brass. Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, the song takes me back when Hikawa began his career as the Boy Prince of Enka.

Kenshi Yonezu -- Karasu（烏）

Wikimedia Commons

Well, World Cup 2026 is now a little over a week old now, and so far, my biggest impression is that we are getting a lot of tied games this time around.

Toronto, one of the host cities for the event, has been quite busy entertaining, feeding and quenching the thirst of the tourist masses flowing in. I'm hoping that everyone has been enjoying themselves. As for me, I'll be happy just staying home.

For the past few months, this song has been filling the airwaves at NHK to represent the national broadcaster's share of showing the sports tournament. It's been a couple of years since I've covered a Kenshi Yonezu（米津玄師）song but I've got another opportunity with his latest digital single "Karasu" (The Raven) which was only released a few days ago.

I guess it's a Yonezu characteristic to bring in some of the whimsical and classical to one of his songs, and "Karasu" is no different. By the way, the video was filmed at one of the Imabari Shipbuilding Corporation's facilities in Shikoku, I believe. According to the J-Wiki article for "Karasu", Yonezu came up with the title after the bird on the emblem of the Japan Football Association. Plus, he also mentioned that he had become friends with one raven at his house when he was a kid. Of course, Yonezu was responsible for words and music, and the translation of the lyrics can be found at "Lyrical Nonsense".

Fuyumi Sakamoto -- Tooi Mukashi No Koi No Uta（遠い昔の恋の歌）

 

Enka veteran Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）appeared on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）last weekend and stated that she has long been an admirer of fellow enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, and like her great sempai, Sakamoto has dabbled into other genres during her long career.

On the same episode, Sakamoto performed her latest single from March of this year, "Tooi Mukashi no Koi no Uta" (A Love Song From Long Long Ago). Written and composed by Yuka Kawamura（川村結花）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）handling the arrangements, it's a relaxing jazz ballad that has me thinking of Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）own jazz songs from long long ago. In a way, it seems to bring together the strings of the beautiful music that had been seen as the "good" music of yesteryear and the trombone of jazz that had been considered to be the "evil" music way back when. 

I also recall Ishikawa tackling the century-plus-old genre a few decades back with "Whiskey ga O-Suki deshou?" (ウィスキーが、お好きでしょ）.

Spinning Plums -- Monochrome Syndrome

 

Always enjoy new discoveries. Spinning Plums is a new band to me that I discovered only a few weeks ago. They don't seem to have their own website outside of an Instagram account but I managed to find an introduction regarding Teruko, Kishin, Oshu, Daniel and Saishin:

Spinning Plums is a five-member band based in Tokyo. Their music blends the essence of 1990s-2000s indie rock with rich guitar-driven sounds, complemented by the clarity of synthesizers and the harmony of twin vocals. The bass and drums, rooted in funk and soul, create a pop-infused, dynamic ensemble. Each member brings a unique background, harmonizing their individuality to shape their distinctive sound. With a strong focus on live performances, they continue to actively refine their craft. Pushing beyond genre boundaries, they aim to deliver fresh musical experiences and expand their creative reach.

--Tunecore

Spinning Plums, a five-piece band from Tokyo, Japan, craft gentle yet powerful walls of noise infused with indie pop and city pop shimmer, led by intertwined male–female twin vocals. Drawing from post-2000s indie rock and shoegaze influences while grounded in reggae- and funk-rooted rhythms, the band has steadily gained attention in Japan and overseas, including an appearance at the 2024 Ringo Music Festival.

--Gerpfast Records

I'm listening to one of their tracks, "Monochrome Syndrome" from their latest EP this year, "Spinning Hours" (although it's gotten its own single release, too). With lyrics by vocalist Teruko and melody by the entire band, the song is rather esoteric, to say the least, as a girl seems to be wrestling existentially with her past and present now that those two selves are quite different now. For a shoegaze tune, it's quite the upbeat and happy ditty that starts out with what sounds like a toy piano infused with the soul of Tom Waits. No one's really looking down at the floor here; it's more gazing at the shiny metal towers around them.

Well, Jme, If We Can't Have Uta Con Because of the Beatles...

 

This week, we're not watching any "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK which was a bit weird because I swore that I'd seen "Uta Con" concierge Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）give out the lineup at the end of last week's episode for this week. And then, I figured something was up. Indeed, something was up...the number of non-Japanese songs being sung on the June 9th episode. Notably, the show's theme tonight was all about The Beatles, and this was confirmed by commenter Brian Mitchell in my last article yesterday. 

I've mentioned it before but our streaming provider of Japanese programming here in North America is Jme, and they've given us the heads-up on their website, but when it comes to the performance of American, British or any non-Japanese songs by Japanese artists in Japan, due to copyrights and all that legal stuff, they simply can't allow them to be heard. Usually, if it's one or two songs, Jme will put up the warning blurb at the top of the screen in Japanese and then mask the aural performance with Muzak although viewers can still see the singers doing the cover. However, when there's a whole bunch of foreign music played on a program, then Jme basically can't allow the episode to be shown. This has happened once before with "Uta Con" when the theme for that episode was Disney music.

This time, it's the Beatles. Not that I'm a huge fan of the Fab Four although there are several songs that I do like by Paul, John, Ringo and George, but it still gets rather annoying to have something that my family looks forward weekly get cancelled due to legal and money stuff (and personally, I did want to see Hiromi Iwasaki and Junko Yagami give their covers). Therefore, just off the top of my head, I've decided to put up some covers of the Beatles discography by Japanese singers...simply for the heck of it.

B'z -- Let It Be

Masayoshi Yamazaki -- All My Loving (and he's performing this in front of Sir Paul himself!)

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Day Tripper

Mone Kamishiraishi -- Yesterday

Akiko Kanazawa -- Yellow Submarine Ondo（イエロー・サブマリン音頭）

Perfume -- Cold Sleep（コールドスリープ）

By Gene Wang via Wikimedia Commons

I'm starting to get those Arashi（嵐）retired/not retired vibes when it comes to the group Perfume. Up to now, I'd gotten the distinct impression that Nocchi, Kashiyuka, and A-chan were on an indefinite hiatus after spending a quarter century with each other, mostly creating technopop treats for the masses. Well, I know now that Arashi has officially retired, but I should have reminded myself that "indefinite hiatus" doesn't mean "permanent retirement". 

In fact, when I finally read the fine print of their current status, Perfume stated that they were entering a phase of "cold sleep", and when the time is right, they will return as a different form of Perfume. And interestingly enough, to emphasize the point, Perfume and songwriter/producer Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）put out the group's latest digital single "Cold Sleep" on May 15th. 

Quite the bubbly and percolating Perfume song with some nostalgic synths (and some nicely syncopated vocals, to boot) for a group that is supposed to be in cold sleep, the ladies seem to be trying very hard to make sure their fans don't forget their old selves and style. "Cold Sleep" is also supposed to be the theme song for an upcoming documentary commemorating their 25 years in show business.