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.
Once again, Saturday is among us so it's time for the latest round of go-touchi songs, a series that I began about a month ago to commemorate some of the geographically based kayo depending on the official regions within Japan. Last week, we took care of the Kinki region including Osaka. This time, we're doing a two-for-one deal just like I did for the very first entry which looked at Hokkaido and the Tohoku region up in the north. Today, it will be the small island of Shikoku which consists of Ehime, Kagawa, Kochi, and Tokushima Prefectures and the westernmost Chugoku region on the main island of Honshu which has Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi Prefectures.
6. Angela Aki -- Home for Tokushima Prefecture (2005)
As usual, let's finish this off with some scrumptious dishes from the two areas. Today, we have Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki（お好み焼き）and then sanuki udon（讃岐うどん）from Kagawa Prefecture. Next week will be the final segment as we look at Kyushu and Okinawa.
In the past few days, the Japanese entertainment world lost a couple of notable figures.
Rakugo-ka comedian San'yūtei Enraku VI（6代目 三遊亭円楽）lost his battle to illness including lung cancer on September 30th a few days ago. He was 72.
I knew him simply as Enraku, and not being a fan of rakugo, I always saw him solely on Japanese television's 2nd-longest running variety show "Shoten"（笑点）on Sunday nights here and in Japan. He was the purple-garbed panelist during the ogiri session with that tanned complexion and the sly grin who had the silver and sharp tongue, often to skewer the host for no particular reason except fun. He had been away from "Shoten" for several months due to his health issues but since TV Japan's broadcasts of the program are a few months behind the ones in Japan, the show has been inviting guest comedians in Enraku's stead and usually letting him know that his place would always be open for him. Unfortunately, that will not happen now, and I can only imagine that there is a lot of grieving among the "Shoten" cast and his fans.
I got the news this morning from NHK, but former wrestler, entertainer and Parliamentarian Antonio Inoki（アントニオ猪木）passed away yesterday at the age of 79 due to systemic transthyretin amyloidosis.
I didn't see him nearly as often as I did San'yūtei Enraku VI, but whenever he did appear, he always made quite the entrance. He had that epic theme song which accompanied him wherever he went (and I even wrote about it a few years ago); it was the song for such a big man in physical size and personality. He always had those loud greetings: "Genki desu ka?"（元気ですか...How are ya?）and "1, 2, 3, DAA!" to rouse up the crowd. As I was telling one of the commenters here, James, Inoki was the type of guy to either cheer you up or give you a slap across the chops to knock you out of the blues. A lot of his fans are probably wondering how they are going to get out of those blues right now.
Not that I would presume that this song would be the ultimate cure for fans of Enraku and/or Inoki feeling badly right now, but the message behind Angela Aki's（アンジェラ・アキ）lyrics in her "Hajimari no Ballad"(Ballad of Beginnings) is one of reassurance and encouragement for those in dark times who may feel that the tunnel never ends. The singer's 11th single from June 2011 is as comfortable as a warm blanket, and as someone who used to listen to his fair share of the radio back in childhood, there is something of the 1970s soft rock feel in the song.
"Hajimari no Ballad" reached No. 17 on Oricon and was used as the theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "Namae wo Nakushita Megami"（名前をなくした女神...The Goddess Who Lost Her Name） back in 2011. The song is also included as a track on Aki's 5th album"White" from September of that year, and it reached No. 4.
My condolences go to the families, friends and fans for San'yūtei Enraku VI and Antonio Inoki.
Another one of my purchases in the last few weeks from CD Japan has been Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）triple-CD package commemorating his 40th anniversary in the music business, "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL". Released earlier in April, I wanted to get this primarily because of his more recent material all put onto CD 3, but unlike "Martini" and "Martini II", his earliest BEST albums as a solo artist, the first two discs are a celebration of his doo-wop days as the lead vocalist of Chanels （シャネルズ）later to be known as Rats and Star.
Now I mention that I got the 3-disc album. The first-issue version of "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" has an extra 4th CD which has mostly karaoke versions of those Chanels hits but also a few live recordings that hadn't been released. I think that special first-release package is still available but I didn't bother paying the extra cash for that since I have never and never will perform karaoke at home.
Irasshaimase, baby!
Usually for a BEST article, I would put down the list of the tracks but considering the overwhelming amount of tracks for this one, I've decided to put up the link to a website that has them written down in romaji.
Disc 1
Disc 1, titled "Mr. Black 2nd" consists of new re-recordings of some of those Chanels/Rats And Star hits along with some of the songs that probably inspired young Martin. First off, the CD starts with "Ultra Chu Chu Medley", Suzuki's 41st single which was released in July 2020 and includes "Hurricane", "Machikado Twilight", "Akogare no Slender Girl"（憧れのスレンダー・ガール）and "Shuumatsu Dynamite"（週末ダイナマイト）. Given an added dance beat by Pizzicato Five's Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, it's an invitation by Suzuki saying "Hey, this is where I came from!".
When I first looked down on the playlist for "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL", I noticed "Tears On My Pillow". The 1958 classic by Little Anthony and the Imperials was a song that I used to hear all the time on those K-Tel compilation LP commercials back in the 1970s; probably at the time, there was some of that returning love for the oldies thanks to George Lucas' "American Graffiti" and then TV's "Happy Days". I don't think even Suzuki can eclipse The Imperials but dang, he's pretty close with this one which is the coupling song to "Ultra Chu Chu Medley".
Another one that caught my eyes and ears was Suzuki's cover of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" originally by Queen. When I was first discovering the band, this was one of the songs that helped me in their introduction to my memories and senses. It's not just the doo-wop for this version but an extra dollop of rockabilly jazz with added thanks from rock n' roll band The Shaolin Brothers（少林兄弟）and Chanels member Yoshio Sato（佐藤善雄）. Lots of fun to be had here.
There was a cool new song that I hadn't heard before titled "Tamashii no Brother"（魂のブラザー...Soul Brother） but I will cover that on its own sometime next month since there is the new version in "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" and then the original version during the Chanels' days.
Disc 2
Disc 2 is "the year of RATS best" and is for all of those die-hard Chanels/Rats And Star fans out there. The longest of the 3 discs by far at around 74 minutes, it has a lot of the band's original material. To be honest, I realized that I'm probably going to be more of the Masayuki Suzuki fan than a fan of Chanels unless the disc's contents grow on me some more since I think having over an hour of doo-wop going through my head is a tad much.
However, having said that, listening to the tracks on Disc 2 piecemeal has been more enjoyable. For example, there is "Akogare no Slender Girl"（憧れのスレンダー・ガール...Slender Girl of My Dreams）, Chanels' 6th single from March 1982. Written by Chanels' member Masashi Tashiro（田代マサシ）and composed by Martin with arrangement by the band and Kunio Muramatsu（村松邦夫）, "Akogare no Slender Girl" stands out for some of those horns which sound like the Tijuana Brass with Herb Alpert. The original single peaked at No. 13 on Oricon.
Yes, I now have to insist that it's good for me to appreciate the Chanels discography on a slowly, slowly basis since I really like their 5th single"Namida no Sweet Cherry"（涙のスウィート・チェリー...Sweet Cherry of Tears） from September 1981 on its own instead of being sandwiched between tracks like sweet cherry jam between Wonder bread. It's so doo-wop 50s that names like Richie and Mary Beth and things like jukeboxes, bobby socks and slow dances came immediately to mind (though I wouldn't be born for another decade after that era). This actually hit No. 12. Lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composer/arranger Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）were responsible for this ballad for all you lovers out there.
The last one I'm gonna cover from Disc 2 is "Madonna wa Omae dake"（マドンナはお前だけ...You're The Only Madonna For Me）, Rats And Star's penultimate 16th single (including the Chanels' singles) from their original run together released in April 1985. It's still got that band swagger with a bit of Latin incorporated into the doo-wop. Yukawa was once again behind words while this time Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）provided the music. The song was perfectly fine for Rats And Star fans but I think from the No. 57 ranking, music tastes were moving on from the doo-wop craze at the turn of the decade. Of course, the disc also includes hits like "Runaway" and "Me Gumi no Hito"（め組のひと）.
Disc 3
"Perfect Vision" is the title given to the third disc which is half-filled with Martin's 5 new releases and half-filled with the karaoke versions. Of course, "DADDY! DADDY! DO!", "Motivation" and "Tatoe Sekai ga Soppo Muite mo"（たとえ世界がそっぽ向いても）are included. The first track, though, is "Iki mo Dekinai Gurai"（息もできないくらい...Can't Even Breathe）, a swing stomp perpetrated by the singer and rock band Kishidan's（氣志團）Sho Ayanokoji（綾小路翔）. As someone mentioned in the comments for the above video, this would probably have been ideal as an opening theme for another fun anime although I don't think it quite fits the "Kaguya-sama" franchise. Ayanokoji and Takeshi Kiuchi（木内健）came up with the song.
The final sung track is "Polaris"（ポラリス）, a bluesy ballad with a touch of gospel written, composed and co-sung by Angela Aki（アンジェラ・アキ）. It was used as the theme song for the 2019 NHK drama"Banjou no Himawari"（盤上の向日葵...Sunflower on the Board）. After all of the action within this CD alone, it's nice to finish off with something relatively quiet.
"ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL", I'm happy to say, broke into the Top 10 and hit its high of No. 4. My congratulations to Martin and the production staff for another wonderful BEST album. Also I missed his big day by a few days, but Happy Birthday to him on his 64th which he celebrated on September 22nd. The Kohaku Utagassen won't be the same this year but I do hope that he will get selected, if only to perform "DADDY! DADDY! DO!".
As I mentioned long ago in the article for Akai Tori's（赤い鳥）"Tsubasa wo Kudasai"（翼をください）, when I was teaching on the JET Programme in Gunma, one of the major events during a junior high school year was the annual school chorus competitions. During one of the two years I was there, I went with the teachers and students of one grade for the day to watch our choruses compete against their counterparts from other schools in the prefecture through songs that had been practiced over and over again daily. "Tsubasa wo Kudasai" was one of the mainstays as a go-to chorus song along with "American Feeling", originally by Circus, and then "Die Moldau" as seen above. "Die Moldau" is actually the German name for the original "Vltava" as one of 6 symphonic poems in the set known as "Má vlast" by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.
In the years since my time in Gunma (1989-1991), there probably have been multiple additions to the chorus song slate. One that has been added is singer-songwriter Angela Aki's（アンジェラ・アキ）"Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e" (Letter: Greetings to a 15 Year Old) that was her 8th single from September 2008. And as you can hear in the video, it's a perfect fit. According to the Wikipedia article for the song, her single was a self-cover for the original version that had been created by Aki at NHK's request for a 2008 national school chorus contest that the national broadcaster was sponsoring.
The whole premise behind "Tegami" is a communication between a teenager and his/her much older self during which the latter provides some of the necessary reassurances and wisdom that have been gained during the time difference. It is almost like a reverse time capsule to lovingly benefit the young student.
"Tegami" became Aki's most successful hit to date, selling over 210,000 copies and going Platinum. It reached No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies, becoming the 45th-ranked single of 2008 and then hanging around to become the 71st-ranked single of 2009. Not only has it become a part of the chorus competition lineup but it's also become popular as a ballad to be performed at graduation ceremonies (dry eyes would probably be fairly rare here).
Continuing with the NHK connection, the song also became part of the "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）lineup although I couldn't find that particular video, and Aki was able to perform "Tegami" in consecutive Kohaku Utagassen broadcasts in 2008 and 2009. In total, she appeared on the NHK special 6 times. It has also ended up in a few commercials as well.
Continuing my re-discovery of the works of singer-songwriter Angela Aki（アンジェラ・アキ）. I knew of her and her success in the first decade of the 21st century but never really dug too far into her discography.
(cover version by Yasuko Tanaka)
Then I found her debut single"Home" which was quite heartwarming, and now I write about her second single from January 2006, "Kokoro no Senshi" (Warrior of the Heart). In that first Aki article, I remarked about her influences from folks such as Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian and Sarah McLachlan. Listening to "Kokoro no Senshi", I was automatically drawn in by the piano arrangement, and indeed, I was thinking of Mitchell and maybe even Carole King. My impression is that there was something quite 1970s about the song that was quite reassuring to me.
Written and composed by Aki, the lyrics for "Kokoro no Senshi" relate someone's attempts to get out of their blues of a lost relationship, and the music does sound very encouraging and perhaps sends a well-intentioned kick to the ol' butt. The song went as high as No. 13 on Oricon. Strangely enough, "Kokoro no Senshi" was even used as the ending theme for a regional newscast in the Tokai region of Japan. The video above is of that newscast but for a much earlier episode in 1993. I guess after an episode of news, people may feel the need for some encouragement.
I've found that over the decades, certain singers/musicians held sway over a certain number of years whether it be Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）during the early 1980s, Tetsuro Komuro（小室哲哉）for much of the 90s and Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）for those years going into the 21st century. And I'm not saying that it was just those artists alone for those periods. Of course, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）and Misia among others also held the media gaze during those times.
Then, there was Angela Aki（アンジェラ・アキ）. Without looking it up, I couldn't remember when she first burst in on the J-Pop scene but for a time, she was a familiar figure on TV and probably one of the most down-to-earth-looking singers that I had ever seen. In her glasses, jeans and baggy T-shirt, she came off looking like the most comfortable college student that I could have witnessed sipping back a cuppa at a cafe in my university or cramming for an exam in one of the stacks.
One of her most famous songs was her debut single in September 2005, "Home". At the time, I wasn't quite sure what the J-Pop trend was; I think it was just before the alphabet aidoru groups started sprouting and perhaps the J-R&B boom from the turn of the century was beginning to wane somewhat. However, I think "Home" perhaps hit an endorphin-stuffed nerve in the country. From what I've read so far about the single was that it hadn't been part of any commercial tie-up so it was a fairly slow launch but the word-of-mouth started building about Aki's glorious vocals from her hometown area of Tokushima Prefecture.
Perhaps it had also been a while since a Japanese pop song with strong vocals and merely a piano made waves. With all of the production values and computer technology that were force-fed into a recording, something like "Home" made for a very refreshing revelation...again. And Aki had a number of influences ranging from Janis Ian, Coldplay and Fiona Apple to Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）, Sarah McLachlan and Joni Mitchell. With those last two artists being from my country, I would proudly like to shout "Oh, Canada"!
"Home" did have that feeling of home, thanks to Aki. Some of those artists that I mentioned in the previous paragraph were familiar figures on the radio back when I was a kid. And perhaps she has already done so, but I could imagine Aki covering Mitchell's"Help Me" (although one commenter for one YouTube video of the song remarked that perhaps only Mitchell could do it justice) or even Ian's "At Seventeen". In fact, the coupling song to "Home" happens to be Ian's "Will You Dance".
Eventually, Oricon took notice and "Home" peaked at No. 31, and perhaps even more importantly, Aki was invited onto the 2006 Kohaku Utagassen to perform that very song. The singer would have her consecutive string of appearances on the New Year's Eve special from 2006 to 2011.
