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.
The news came in last night just before I was about to turn in, but singer and commentator Akihiro Miwa（美輪明宏）had passed away at the age of 91 on June 20th from old age. Miwa was a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, chanson singer, drag queen, raconteur and commentator on a number of topics including government policy, and he even had at least a couple of shows where he provided advice to people, famous or not. In fact, the last show featured on TV Japan before it converted to Jme over a couple of years ago was his advice program on NHK. Most times, he was very courteous and elegant but there were a few times where Miwa verbally eviscerated other people onscreen in a rage if he felt they deserved it.
Up until 1971, Miwa had been known by his birth name of Shingo Terada（寺田臣吾）or his first stage name Akihiro Maruyama（丸山明宏）. In his obituaries on television, reporters noted his most famous song "Yoitomake no Uta"（ヨイトマケの唄）from 1965. I've already noted that so I wanted to provide a song of his titled "Itoshi no Gin-Pari"(My Beloved Gin Paris). I couldn't definitively track down the recording year but according to his discography on J-Wiki, the earliest that I've seen it mentioned is 2003 so I will go with that.
Miwa's creation is done in the lightly lilting chanson style and he's paying tribute to Japan's first cafe devoted to chanson, Gin Paris（銀巴里）, which was open between 1951 and 1990 in Ginza 7-chome in Tokyo. It was also where Miwa built up his career and a number of other artists have found it to be their breakthrough home such as the late Mina Aoe（青江三奈）. At this time, there is a stone monument at 7-chome near the former site of Gin Paris which has its name carved in.
My condolences go to Miwa's family, friends and many fans.
Well, my Sunday is one of the more refreshing ones that I've had in a while. The modem odyssey was finally resolved yesterday with the technician coming over; apparently it's one of the best devices according to him and a few other online articles. My Skype student was looking very clear last night. Also, Swiftie mania finally finished on Saturday when Taylor Swift held the last of her six concerts here in Toronto.
But a new season begins today. The annual Santa Claus parade will be taking place today in downtown Toronto for the 120th time (the highlight video above is from last year) which means that the Xmas season is now in full gear.
Of course, that means "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is now in Christmas mode, too. So for the next four weeks, viewers will be getting the occasional J-Xmas tune thrown in along with the regular stuff. I'm actually starting a day early because I usually begin from November 25th but with the Santa Claus parade heralding Season's Greetings today, I just went, "Heck, why not?".
The season will begin with a bit of an unusual choice because I had never expected singer and raconteur Akihiro Miwa（美輪明宏）to sing an old classic like "Jingle Bells". Most of the time, I've seen him over the decades chatting it up on talk shows and giving a rare scolding to an errant tarento but I have seen him perform chanson and tunes that I would probably say verge on the operatic and art poppish. He's already up on KKP with his 1965 "Yoitomake no Uta"（ヨイトマケの唄）.
However, years earlier, a young Miwa when he was going by the name of Akihiro Maruyama（丸山明宏）until 1971, released a first mini-album in September 1957 titled "ME-QUE ME-QUE"（メケ・メケ）, and among the tracks was his rendition of "Jingle Bells". I first found out about Miwa's version via Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast so I should give him thanks for that; unfortunately, I don't remember which episode it was. Anyways, it's quite the tour de force performance by Miwa with a jaunty country-style arrangement by Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）and lyrics by Miwa himself. The singer practically demands that everyone join him in a singalong which would be further emphasized by everyone getting out of their seats and doing an old-fashioned dance in the saloon. By the way, "ME-QUE ME-QUE" got a re-release in 2014.
I've known about singer and outspoken commentator Akihiro Miwa（美輪明宏）for years due to his frequent appearances on television. He's been more than willing to give out advice and opinions, and at least once, he's given a huge on-air tongue-lashing to fellow celebrities if warranted. As for his singing, I believe chanson has been his domain since he began his career in the 1950s though his time as a commentator is by far how I know him best.
A few days ago, someone left a comment at the article for Ichiro Fujiyama's（藤山一郎）"Nagasaki no Kane"（長崎の鐘）inquiring about a song that Miwa had recorded in the 1960s. It's often the case that a commenter will state that a certain tune is fun and/or enjoyable, but for Miwa's tune, they stated that it was important. So, my curiosity was peaked, especially on learning that this particular kayo had been banned from radio for apparently a good length of time even after becoming a popular hit.
The song is "Yoitomake no Uta"(The Day-Labourer's Song) and though it was first released as a single in July 1965, it had been first sung by Miwa back in 1964. According to J-Wiki and Wikipedia, the circumstances behind its origins are two-fold. "Yoitomake no Uta", which was written and composed by the singer, is based on the mother of a childhood friend who died while working as a day-labourer known as a yoitomake（よいと巻け）in the construction industry. The character of the young boy in the song was bullied because of his mother's job but seeing her toil for her family galvanized him into eventually becoming a top-level engineer.
The second circumstance was the trigger behind the creation of the song when by accident, one of Miwa's associates had booked him to perform in a small mining town in 1964. Although unhappy at first, Miwa went ahead with the show but noticed that the audience members were workers who had gathered together their meager wages to purchase tickets. Feeling ashamed for his initial attitude, the flamboyant and expensive clothing that he was wearing in front of them, and the fact that he didn't have any song directly meant for them, he created "Yoitomake no Uta". Whenever he performed the song in concert, Miwa shunned his usual fancy garb and hairdo for something far more plain. The lyrics' translation is available here.
My own observation of "Yoitomake no Uta" is that although it's undeniably Miwa singing, the song itself doesn't sound anything like a chanson at all. Instead, it's arranged as a simple and innocent and proud kayo kyoku, and Miwa sets the tone right from the beginning by declaring loudly that the work is being done on behalf of the mother's husband and children.
Although I was obviously not around in Japan in the immediate postwar years, I've read and imagined that the country, though on the road to recovery by the 1960s, still had many people working hard in the factories, the fields and the mines so it wasn't surprising that "Yoitomake no Uta" would hit hearts and become a popular kayo. When he performed it on a TV morning show in 1965, the favourable response was so immense that he was asked to do an encore which was very unusual at any time. As well, when that single was first released in the summer that year, it managed to sell 400,000 records.
But the surprising thing was that the organization currently known as The Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association banned the song from public broadcast due to what it felt was discriminatory wording within Miwa's lyrics including the words "yoitomake" and "dokata"（土方）. Not surprisingly, Miwa and fans of the song cried foul. I looked up those words on places like Jisho.org and found only "heave-ho" and "labourer" respectively. I don't know the deep cultural nuances of the Japanese language but even considering the time period, I haven't been able to glean what the problem was through using that vocabulary, and so I ask any Japanese readers of the blog along with any of those viewers who have a strong handle on the language to provide any insight.
I also don't know how long the ban lasted although it seems as if Miwa, his fans and other singers simply ignored it with that third group doing their own covers including Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）and Shinobu Otake（大竹しのぶ）.
Ultimately Miwa was even able to perform "Yoitomake no Uta" on the 2012 Kohaku Utagassen, something that could have happened half a century earlier when he had been invited to sing the song on an earlier Kohaku. However, because neither NHK nor Miwa would budge on their positions during negotiations for shortening the six-minute song to fit the special's schedule, the latter had to decline the offer.
.jpg)
