Rina Aiuchi -- Close To Your Heart

Man, what a debut song for singer-songwriter Rina Aiuchi（愛内里菜）, and it was also the third opening theme song for the first season of the anime "Monster Farm"（モンスターファーム）. When the TBS show had its run at the turn of the century, supposedly it got the 7:30~8:00 morning slot on Saturdays, and although I have yet to hear the first couple of opening themes, "Close To Your Heart" must have gotten the children bouncing off their beds and into the living room in front of the telly.

Sounding something that Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）would have concocted for one of his singers during the Komuro Boom of the 1990s and with vocals by Aiuchi reminiscent of another up-and-coming singer who also started during that time, Mai Kuraki（倉木麻衣）, "Close To Your Heart" probably got really close to everyone's heart, ears and mind. With that warp speed dance beat and melody, the song could have easily been released without any need for a tie-up or perhaps as a jingle for a commercial targeting the young. But for an anime quest with a young boy recruiting the help of monsters to defeat ultimate evil? Hey, that works too.

Released in March 2000, "Close To Your Heart", written by Aiuchi and composed by Aika Ohno（大野愛果）, who also made songs for the aforementioned Kuraki, peaked at No. 19 on Oricon, and was also a track on her January 2001 album "Be Happy" which did even better by placing in at No. 3. The album finished the year as the 74th-ranked release.

Born in Osaka as Rikako Kakiuchi（垣内里佳子）, also wearing some other hats as a model and tarento, Aiuchi initially put a stop to her singing career in 2010 with 32 singles and 8 original albums, but then released a couple of digital download singles in 2018. According to her Wikipedia article, she also founded a dog clothing brand earlier last decade.

ZARD/Aika Ohno -- Get U're Dream

Yes, folks, we've now passed the 1-year mark in the countdown toward the Tokyo Olympics, something that NHK has not failed to inform us about. I figure that there will be features on the athletes and venues every day on the national network from now til late July 2020.

To be honest, when it comes to my benchmarks for Olympic theme songs, and all of the Japanese TV networks have loved coming up with such tunes for the past couple of decades, I have to go with Maki Ohguro's（大黒摩季）blood-pumping "Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）for the Summer Games in Atlanta 1996 for the uptempo stuff, and the epic ballad "Hatenaku Tsuzuku Story"（果てなく続くストーリー）by Misia for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, both from NHK.

Now, it seems as if when it came to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, hitomi's "LOVE 2000" became the popular tune associated with those Games due to marathon runner Naoko Takahashi's（高橋尚子）love for it. But that wasn't the official NHK theme. Actually, it was "Get U're Dream" by ZARD that was her 32nd single released in September 2000.

I'm not sure but perhaps "Get U're Dream" may have gotten overshadowed by "LOVE 2000". Still, ZARD's contribution to the Olympic theme songs isn't too bad. With lyrics by the singer under her name of Izumi Sakai（坂井泉水）, and music by singer-songwriter Aika Ohno（大野愛果）, "Get U're Dream" won't get listeners wanting to run the 100-metre dash or do a clean-and-jerk like "Atsukunare", but it's a fun enough song to get folks in the mood for some sports viewing. The single managed to peak at No. 4 on Oricon and was also placed as a track on ZARD's 9th album "Toki no Tsubasa"（時間の翼...Wings of Time） from February 2001. It went Platinum and hit the top spot on the charts.

On Xmas Day 2013, Ohno released her own 3rd album "Silent Passage" which contained a cover version of "Get U're Dream" (the entire album consists of covers of songs that Ohno had composed for other artists including ZARD). When it comes to her Ohno's own presence on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", she's just been listed as being the songwriter for Mai Kuraki's（倉木麻衣）tunes including that singer's debut "Love, Day After Tomorrow", so it's nice that I can have Ohno show up here again this time as a singer herself.

Ohno's "Get U're Dream" has got the same level of cheer but with its synth orchestral arrangement, it sounds like something more attuned as a theme for a story of gothic intrigue. "Silent Passage" went as high as No. 110.

Mai Kuraki -- Secret of my heart

It's not every day that I get to see Haibara speechless on "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン）so that is the reason that I put up that video above. Yup, now that the Holidays are over for another year, "Case Closed" is back on its regular Thursday night lineup on TV Japan. It's always amazing how these kids manage to see bodies on an almost daily basis without ending up in perpetual fetal positions.

I was a bit surprised to find out that Mai Kuraki's（倉木麻衣）3rd single "Secret of my heart" was actually an ending theme for the long-running "Conan", although I shouldn't have been since Kuraki has provided a lot of the show's theme songs over the past couple of decades. According to the Wikipedia article for "Secret of my heart", the count is up to 21 including this one which probably means that Kuraki may rival (or even exceed) B'z's contributions to the "Conan" song file.

Released in April 2000 during my time in Japan, my surprise was due to the fact that I had always seen "Secret of my heart" only on the various rankings shows on television and there was never any connection made to "Conan". The single, which was written by Kuraki and composed by singer-songwriter Aika Ohno（大野愛果）, solidified that laidback and creamy sound that I've always associated with Kuraki.

From the J-Wiki article for the ballad, Kuraki had written the lyrics to relate her feelings about having to conceal her identity from at least some of her friends...or from a particularly close buddy. That led to my second surprise which is that apparently Kuraki may just be her stage name but not her real name. "Secret of my heart" became a million-seller and peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies, ending up as the 16th-ranked single for 2000. Furthermore, getting back to the "Conan" sphere, as of 2016, "Secret of my heart" is the best-selling single associated with the series.

The song also ended up on Kuraki's debut album "Delicious Way" released in June 2000 which later became the No. 1 album of the year, breaking the 3-million barrier.

Mai Kuraki -- Stay By My Side

Squeezing among all of the rebirth of the female aidoru via Hello Project, the glory days of SMAP and the other young turks at Johnny's Entertainment, and the big burst of J-R&B at the beginning of the 21st century was Mai Kuraki（倉木麻衣）. Well, I don't think it's fair to use the verb "squeeze" since it would hint that the lass was somehow struggling to keep her head above water at the time, and that certainly wasn't the case here. She carved a nice little niche for herself in terms of the charts and public attention as someone who was not an aidoru and not an R&B chanteuse but an up-and-coming singer with her own brand of gentle pop. Perhaps the reason that I had mistakenly assumed that she was a native or near-native speaker of English was that her delivery of her first few singles struck me as being so American...not along the lines of a Britney Spears but more along the lines of earlier teen popsters such as Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.

(short version)

Like her breakthrough single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow", her 2nd single, "Stay By My Side" was one of those songs whose video excerpt popped up all over the TV for months and yet, it was awfully hard to see her perform it on the telly through shows like "Music Station". But at the time, I found that a number of singers also refrained from TV appearances such as Misia and bird. Not that I complained too much since I could understand the desire to keep the mystery and freshness of a talented singer from getting overexposed.

In any case, "Stay By My Side" is a pleasant and gentle ballad written by Kuraki and composed by Aika Ohno（大野愛果）which came out in March 2000. Not only did it hit the top spot for 2 weeks on Oricon, it went Triple Platinum and became the 17th-ranked song of the year. And although it took a few years, Kuraki was finally invited onto the 2003 Kohaku Utagassen to perform it live from a temple in Kyoto. As for the setting in the music video, it was filmed at Oimachi Church in Tokyo.

Up to now, I never purchased a Mai Kuraki album or single but remembering some of the excerpts of songs that she has released over the past 16 or so years, I would be tempted in getting a BEST compilation. The only strike I might have against her is that I've perceived a certain sameness in her singles output at least. However, I hope that I can be proved wrong. Perhaps a Mai fan could give his or her opinion on this.

Mai Kuraki -- Love, Day After Tomorrow

Interesting thing about Mai Kuraki（倉木麻衣）. I had often seen her as the Greta Garbo of Japanese pop music along with the late Izumi Sakai（坂井泉水）of ZARD since neither of them showed up all that much on the music shows, and even though the songs and videos by Kuraki came out fairly frequently over the years, she struck me as a singer whose fame progressed somewhat quietly. Once in a while, an announcer on Fuji-TV might declare one of her new singles coming out but otherwise media attention didn't seem to be over the top when it came to her.

Perhaps the mystique surrounding Kuraki has all been just in my head but what added to it was the repeated showing of excerpts from the official video of her very first single, "Love, Day After Tomorrow" which was released back in December 1999. TBS' "Countdown TV" made it a habit to show Kuraki bopping about on that comfy sofa in monochrome for what seemed to be months on end. And I'd heard rumours to the effect that I assumed that she was either a very fluent speaker of English or she was a Japanese-American like Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）. Utada's star was very much in the ascendant at the time Kuraki got her start and Kuraki's vocal style resembled that of Utada which had me connecting a few dots....erroneously as it were. But as it turned out, Mai-chan was actually from a city which was just a few stations down my old Tozai Line, Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture. She was practically a neighbour! And all that talk about her connections with the United States was probably connected with the fact that she had actually made her US debut before her Japanese one under the name of Mai K. with the song "Baby I Like" around a couple of months before "Love, Day After Tomorrow". The song didn't make any waves Stateside so it was back to Japan.

In any case, the 2nd time was the charm. "Love, Day After Tomorrow"  debuted at No. 18 on Oricon before going all the way to No. 2, selling around 1.4 million copies. It would become the 4th-ranked single of 2000. Kuraki was the one behind the lyrics while Aika Ohno（大野愛果）took care of the melody. Ohno would compose music for many of Kuraki's songs and also for ZARD.

I realize that she's been around for 15 years but it's hard to believe that the lass is in her 30s now.