Akira Mita -- Koi no Ameriachi（恋のアメリアッチ）

 

When I was a kid hearing some of my parents' old records on the RCA Victor, there was one brand of Japanese music that would have me much later think about what kind of music it was. It definitely sounded Japanese so the kayo kyoku was in there but there was some really frenetic rock drumming thumping away. At the same time, though, I could also remember hearing some jazzy horns blaring as well.

Well, thanks to last night's edition of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, the mystery has been solved. NHK brought out the really veteran kayo singers who had hits from half a century to 60 years previously and that included singer and actor Akira Mita（三田明）. The 78-year-old Mita, who wasn't quite an adult yet at the time he had released his 24th single in August 1966, "Koi no Ameriachi" (Ameriachi of Love), performed that very song last night.

The performance rang some memories including that interesting brand of kayo music from my childhood and that also brought a second question: what the heck was an ameriachi? Well, it is written up on J-Wiki but the best source is none other than "TIME" magazine which explains it as a form of 1960s fusion music bringing Mexico's mariachi and squirting it with a healthy dose of American jazz and/or rock n' roll. Apparently, Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass were some of the best practitioners of the genre.

However, Herb didn't have anything to do with Mita's song. For this one, Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）was the composer and arranger to get the kids back then to move their feet and snap their fingers to the beat. Meanwhile, Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）came up with the lyrics about a year before he had his first major hit as a lyricist when he wrote for Naomi Sagara's（佐良直美）"Sekai wa Futari no Tame ni"（世界は二人のために）.

Akira Mita -- Night in Roppongi（ナイト・イン 六本木）

 

When I was making my acquaintance with the various parts of Tokyo once I landed there at the end of 1994, one area that I got to know was Roppongi, one of the big entertainment spots in a megalopolis filled with entertainment spots. At the time, the action was basically on the main strip which is Gaien-Higashi Dori which goes through Roppongi Crossing and heads over to Tokyo Tower. It was (and still is) lined with all sorts of establishments such as The Hard Rock Café, Tony Roma's, a lot of clubs and bars, and the notorious Gas Panic. There is a certain Showa Era grottiness to the avenue that kinda developed over the decades but there is no doubt that the strip has been popular especially when Halloween hits the area.

However, perhaps to counteract that grottiness, the huge shiny development that is Roppongi Hills rose up just west of Roppongi Crossing in 2003. With its representative Mori Building jutting up like a massive silver cylinder, I remember when the area first opened up since for the first few months, it was virtually impossible to enter because of everyone else who had wanted to take a look at the place. But I eventually got into the complex and even got to meet a student in one of the cafés there on a weekly basis. Some years after that, another commercial complex was erected by the name of Tokyo Midtown north of Roppongi Crossing. There was a decent hamburger joint there and one of my favourite tonkatsu restaurants, Hirata Bokujo, is also located in Midtown.

Of course, being born and raised in Toronto, I never got to know what Roppongi was like back in the early days. Was it a gleaming place to be seen in economically recharging Tokyo? No real idea, but perhaps I can get a slim glimpse via Akira Mita's（三田明）"Night in Roppongi", his September 1968 single. 

Mita was someone that I first introduced through his November 1963 debut single "Utsukushii Juudai"（美しい十代）which was representative of that innocent seishun kayo of young love in high school. But with "Night in Roppongi", it looks the lad has grown up and is taking on the grownup entertainment and love in the famous neighbourhood. Written by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the song takes full advantage of the Group Sounds music that was having its heyday during that time, thanks to the jangly guitars and rollicking percussion.

If any of you viewers ever get to Tokyo for the first time, have a walk through the area, old and new.

Sayuri Yoshinaga & Akira Mita -- Asu wa Sakou Hana Sakou（明日は咲こう花咲こう）

 

I caught this being performed by a married couple on today's episode of "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）which took place this week in Okinawa. Good to see that the show is still active out there, by the way.

This article is for the Sayurists since we've got actress Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）paired up with singer Akira Mita（三田明）for the jaunty and hopeful "Asu wa Sakou Hana Sakou" (Let Tomorrow Blossom, Let The Flowers Blossom), a single that was released back in April 1965. Yoshinaga is no stranger to duets especially since she performed one of the most famous kayo of them all with Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）, "Itsudemo Yume wo" （いつでも夢を）back in 1962.

(karaoke version)

Not surprisingly, this was another hit for Yoshinaga, and true to form for the connection between music and cinema back then, "Asu wa Sakou Hana Sakou" got to become a movie released later in August under the same title starring Yoshinaga as a health worker assigned to a backwater village outside of Tokyo that is in desperate need of help of any kind due to the rampant poverty. I've not seen the movie, but with a title song this genki, I think it's pretty much a given that the village gets at least somewhat better by the end. Mita himself even shows up in one scene as a popular entertainer with the same name who just happens to be from that very village. Hmm...guess which song he sings with Yoshinaga? By the way, the above video has Mita's performance with singer Midori Oka（丘みどり）.

The lyrics were provided by Sou Nishizawa（西沢爽）while the melody was composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the same person behind "Itsudemo Yume wo".

Akira Mita -- Utsukushii Juudai （美しい十代）

Saw my first "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）in a few weeks. One indication that the old kayo ought to be lasting for a good while longer is seeing some of the young kids performing it on stage. I saw a 13-year-old boy singing the tune of this article less than an hour ago, and although he didn't get the full triumphant barrage of bells, he still got a thumbs-up from me. He wasn't totally on tune but it was because of that, he probably got the lion's share of accolades.

The song in question was "Utsukushii Juudai" (The Beautiful Teens) as originally sung by Akira Mita（三田明）. It's been included in that sub-genre known as seishun kayo（青春歌謡...salad day pop music）with all of those nostalgic stories of high school life. I believe Kazuo Funaki's（舟木一夫）"Koukou Sannen-sei"（高校三年生）would be the quintessential example of such a song.

According to J-Wiki, "Utsukushii Juudai" was the debut single of Mita who became popular for his innocent looks and wonderful voice. Released in November 1963, the song was written by Tetsuo Miyagawa（宮川哲夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, and focused on that adorable young love during those tender if sometimes turbulent time in life. Couldn't get more musically sepia than those strings and backup chorus.

A few months after the release of the single, its success meant that a movie with the same title was produced with Mita taking on a supporting role.

Mita was born Ushio Tsujikawa（辻川潮）in Tokyo in 1947. In 1962, while appearing on the NTV music variety program "Ajinomoto Hoihoi Music School"（味の素ホイホイ・ミュージック・スクール）, composer Yoshida took the young Mita under his wing, and several months later, the singer and actor made his debut. At the time, the Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three） trio of Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）, Teruhiko Saigo（西郷輝彦）and the aforementioned Funaki were the singing heartthrobs but although Mita was seen as being a Johnny-come-lately to the proceedings, the media did place him with those three, thus having the quartet dubbed as the Shitennou（四天王...The Four Heavenly Kings）.

It looks like Mita's heyday was the 1960s which was punctuated by his 6 straight appearances on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen. However, he never sang "Utsukushii Juudai" during that run between 1964 and 1969.