Songs from NHK's "Furu Café Kei Haru-san no Kyuujitsu"（ふるカフェ系 ハルさんの休日）

 

In a world of Starbucks, Excelsior and Doutour coffee shops in Japan, it was always nice to know that there were (and hopefully still are) also plenty of independent cafés run by coffee masters. I always had a soft spot for the mom-and-pop shops although I only had the franchises in my Ichikawa neighbourhood. However on occasion, I was able to visit such places with friends like the one you see above in Saitama Prefecture when I returned to Japan for a couple of weeks in 2017. From the décor to the aromas to the menu, every such café I visited there had its own sumptuous experiences for all of the senses.

So you can guess that an NHK program such as "Furu Cafe Kei Haru-san no Kyuujitsu" (The Old Cafés ~ Haru's Day Off)  would be right up my alley. Starting from 2015 as a pilot one-off, it got the green light for regular seasons in 2016 which have also been showing on our local Japan TV. I would say that the show is a "dramatimentary" (crushing together "dramatization" and "documentary") with actor Gouta Watanabe（渡部豪太）as Haru Sanada（真田ハル）, a blogger who has been traveling throughout Japan in search of those atmospheric and woodsy coffee houses. I can absolutely relate to him. Incidentally, the actual café owners and other real-life associates take part in the hijinks as well.

Now the reason that I'm even referring to "Haru-san" is not because of the theme song. It apparently doesn't have an official one but there have been rotating tunes over the past several years according to its J-Wiki article. I could track down three out of the four listed on YouTube and all four of them are cover versions of past kayo.

Ayano Tsuji -- Nantonaku Nantonaku（なんとなくなんとなく）

A cover of The Spiders'（ザ・スパイダーズ）classic from 1966 (and yes, that's partially the reason that I put the original up only a few hours ago), Tsuji（つじあやの）gives it her own quintessential spin via her trusty ukulele. Her version is on her 2004 album "Cover Girl".

Asako Toki -- Kimi ni Mune Kyun （君に、胸キュン）

I already gave my paragraph on Toki's（土岐麻子）cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's hit in the article that features both original and cover. A track on her 2006 "Weekend Shuffle" album, it's a groovier rather than technopoppier, and it fits that feeling of enjoying an afternoon at the coffee house with a good friend or book.

Hiromi Ohta -- FUN x 4

An intriguingly Caribbean take on Eiichi Ohtaki's（大滝詠一）doo-wop original from his classic "A Long Vacation" from 1981, Ohta's（太田裕美）cover was a part of a 2009 tribute album for "A Long Vacation" titled "A LONG VACATION from Ladies". Pass the sunblock, please.😎

Now the one song that I couldn't find was "Hatto Shite! Good"（ハッとして! Good） which was originally recorded by Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）in 1980 (ahh found it now).

indigo la End/Asako Toki -- Natsu Yoru no Magic（夏夜のマジック）

 

Going into the final days of June 2022, it is certainly feeling like summer out there. I have the fan on behind me and the sun is shining at full power outside. At the same time, I've been observing that Japan seems to have already entered the blisteringly hot and humid period with the authorities asking citizens to conserve on energy lest the grid blows. I don't think that I've seen that sort of announcement so early, and I'm hoping that water isn't the next thing that needs to be conserved.

Though the Japanese summer is one of the very few things that I don't miss about my time there (I barely swim in water, let alone atmosphere), it is admittedly nostalgic when I remember hearing the cicadas buzzing away and seeing the seasonal festivals happening in various neighbourhoods with folks in yukata and cute little firecrackers flashing away. I kinda wish that I had the chance to attend more of those, actually. But perhaps, that's because I've seen enough of those romanticized on anime.

Anyways, that's the vibe I get when I watch the video and hear this song by the band indigo la End, "Natsu Yoru no Magic" (Summer Night Magic). This was one of the coupling tracks on the band's 3rd major single, "Kanashiku Mae ni"（悲しくなる前に...Before It Gets Sad） from June 2015 (peaked at No. 12 on Oricon). Although indigo la End is known as an indies rock group, this particular song about finding that romantic magic one night in the hot season is more in the pop vein of things with that bluesy guitar and Enon Kawakami's（川谷絵音）plaintive vocals. I also enjoy the "fu, fu, fu, fuuu..." chorus; sounds and feels like a summer breeze.

Kawakami was also the lyricist and composer for "Natsu Yoru no Magic", and if his name sounds familiar to you, he was also doing double duty as the vocalist and songwriter for his other band Gesu no Kiwami Otome（ゲスの極み乙女。）. For indigo la End, which has been around since 2010, he is currently supported by guitarist Curtis Osada（長田カーティス）, bassist Ryosuke Gocho（後鳥亮介）and drummer Eitaro Sato（佐藤栄太郎）.

The same cool and mellow vibe exists in Asako Toki's（土岐麻子）cover of "Natsu Yoru no Magic" which is a track on her February 2021 album of covers "HOMETOWN ~ Cover Songs", with some more enhanced guitar and Toki's reassuring vocals.

Asako Toki -- Rendez-vous in ’58 (sings with バカリズム)

 

One old Japanese comedy-variety show that I never really got to watch was "Oretachi Hyokinzoku"（オレたちひょうきん族...We Are The Wild and Crazy Guys） starring Beat Takeshi（ビートたけし）and Sanma Akashiya（明石家さんま）among other comic up-and-comers who have all become decades-long presences on television. I watched far more of The Drifters'（ザ・ドリフターズ）"Hachi-ji da yo! Zen'in Shuugo"（8時だよ全員集合）which was the big comedy program in the 1970s but "Oretachi Hyokinzoku" was the successful upstart going into the 1980s.

The rotating series of ending themes for "Oretachi Hyokinzoku" also gained its share of fame since it included EPO's "Downtown" and "Doyou no Yoru wa Paradise" (土曜の夜はパラダイス）along with Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Doyoubi no Koibito" （土曜日の恋人）. Apparently, one of the loose guidelines for a song to be used on the show was that it should have some mention of Saturday in the title or in the lyrics because "Oretachi Hyokinzoku" was televised on that very night. All three songs mentioned were able to fulfill that guideline.

Anyways, according to singer-songwriter Asako Toki's（土岐麻子）website, Toki herself was a fan of "Oretachi Hyokinzoku" and those ending themes. In fact, she wondered where those adults went for fun after hearing the tunes by EPO and Tats. Certainly, I don't blame her...I've also wondered about the night life in good ol' Tokyo on listening to "Downtown" and "Doyoubi no Koibito" for the first time, and happily, I did get to indulge during my time in the megalopolis very often.

Well, for her February 2021 album "HOME TOWN ～Cover Songs～", she was able to come up with a track that paid some tribute to those cheerful uptempo ending themes back in the pre-Bubble Era days and nights. Titled "Rendez-vous in '58", Toki paired up with comedian, TV personality and lyricist Bakarhythm（バカリズム）to perform this just-as-cheerful and uptempo song hearkening back to the feelings of "Downtown" and "Doyoubi no Koibito". To keep things within the family, so to speak, EPO herself came up with the melody while Toki provided the lyrics about a couple imagining flying throughout time and space to settings such as Ibiza in 1985 and Newport in 1958 after having their real date cancelled due to a storm.

As the title for that 2021 album states, "HOME TOWN" is an album of covers, and it turns out that Toki first recorded "Rendez-vous in '58" as a solo final track for her June 2013 album "Heartbreakin'". Either way, it's a stylish contemporary version of the good ol' bright-lights-big-city and painting-the-town-red standards of long ago.

Asako Toki -- Blue Moon

 

We're currently receiving a brief respite of sorts from the typically bitterly cold temperatures of January in Toronto. Being above zero degrees Celsius is quite welcome here during this time of the year but the weather forecasters have promised the deep freeze will return by the end of this week.

I really ought to be taking a look at her work with her old band Cymbals as well, but in the meantime, I have found this contemporary, classy and sad song by chanteuse Asako Toki（土岐麻子）from her 8th studio album "Pink" from January 2017. Given lyrics by the singer and a slow jam-like melody by singer-songwriter Tomi Yo（トオミヨウ）, "Blue Moon" refers to the sliver of lemon floating in a guy's cocktail as he finally comes up with the gut-wrenching words to end a relationship in front of his girlfriend due to the usual wrenches that get thrown into romance such as lies and betrayal.

The dreamy arrangement of "Blue Moon" and Toki's echo vocals fit the song well since thanks to the alcohol, the nerves and the overall situation, it could seem like the fellow is in a hazy state of mind and probably has remained that way long after he had officially broken things off with the lass. I can only imagine the hangover that he's going to have in the morning.

Asako Toki -- Ranhansha Girl（乱反射ガール）

Happy weekend! We finally got some of that rain that we needed although things are still rather steamy out there if a bit cooler.

I'm not quite sure when I first encountered Asako Toki（土岐麻子）and her brand of light pop. Certainly, it was when I was still living in Japan so probably in the late 2000s. Either it was her cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" （君に、胸キュン）or Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Komugi Iro no Mermaid" (小麦色のマーメイド）that I heard at the CD section of a department store in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from my city of Ichikawa. Being a fan of both songs helped but it was also that coquettish but not supremely high-toned voice that lured me into her grasp. Eventually, I would get a couple of albums by the Tokyo-born singer, her 2011 BEST album "Light" and then her 2010 original album "Ranhansha Girl" (Girl of Diffuse Reflection).

Both albums have one song that I've already covered, her own cover of "Human Nature" originally by Michael Jackson for the amazing "Thriller" album and performed by her and Sho Wada（和田唱）of the rock band TRICERATOPS.

But today is on "Ranhansha Girl" which is her 4th major studio album from May 2010. It's been categorized on J-Wiki as a rock album but after listening to it a few times, I really don't think so. Case in point: there's the second and title track about a guy who's about ready to give up on the journey of love when he gets hit by the light of a lady who's apparently half-woman and half-extremely polished prism. He doesn't stand a chance. Written by Toki and composed by Daisuke Kawaguchi（川口大輔）, this is very twinkly pop with strings attached for that light sophistication.

That J-Wiki rock label gets further driven away with Track 3, "Nessa no Onna"（熱砂の女...Hot Sand Woman）. The title track had its elements of synthpop but "Nessa no Onna" gets even deeper into the synths with this bouncy and dreamy tune that tries to encourage the title lady to get back onto the romance track again. Toki was behind the lyrics here, too, with G.RINA providing the melody.

"Usubeni no CITY"（薄紅のCITY...Light Pink City） is one of my favourites on "Ranhansha Girl" as it takes on that contemporary form of City Pop while it describes a refreshing view of the life in the metropolis as the shackles of winter finally come off. Provide a romanticized model of your favourite city (Tokyo, Toronto or New York, for example) and "Usubeni no CITY" can be the theme song as you head downstairs to that brunch place for prosciutto-filled croissants and coffee. Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）, guitarist for the band SUPERCAR, provided the lyrics while Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）of Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）was behind the happy music.

Along with Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", Toki has also provided another cover of a song by a legend. This time, it's The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" with that mix of Toki mellow pop and friendly small-town feeling. Kazumasa Hashimoto（カズマサ・ハシモト）arranged it, and I remember it well since it was used as the commercial song for docomo. Incidentally "All You Need Is Love" is the very first song by The Fab Four that I had ever heard...maybe it was because of my viewing of "Yellow Submarine" on CBS when I was a toddler.

My final song for the article today is "Sentimental" which is also another winner in my books. With lyrics by Toki and music by Kensuke Okuda（奥田健介）, guitarist/keyboardist of Nona Reeves, I love it for the sunny soulful groove. When I saw its involvement by someone from a band like Nona Reeves, I figured that it would get my aural stamp of approval. In addition to that groove, I also like the crystalline sound of the synthesizer that takes things into a more futuristic environment; I'm pushing it a tad far here, admittedly, but "Sentimental" almost sounds like the return of 70s/80s R&B in the 22nd century.

"Ranhansha Girl" had been another one of those albums that I let stew a while after my first listening to it but returning to it, I'm happy that I can appreciate it even more now. The album peaked at No. 32 on Oricon.

Asako Toki -- Fried Noodles

Hope everyone is having a good weekend out there. My province of Ontario is gradually re-opening for business as it appears that our Premier is aiming for a regionalized approach. For instance, it's possible that the eastern part will go into Stage II earlier since the infection rates are nowhere near as high as they are in Toronto. Overall, although the rate of daily new cases is still pretty high in the 300s, we're being reassured that we are past the peak for at least the first wave.

Anyways, getting past my COVID-19 report, one of my friends has been making good use of his Stay Home time. Before the pandemic walloped us, he was working as a librarian but he and his family have obviously been taking advantage of their love for cooking by posting up some of their creations on Facebook. I neither have my friend's level of enthusiasm nor his obvious talent but I'm still taking care of the roast chicken and steak within my family's schedule of dinner.

However, recently I've subscribed to food researcher Koh Kentetsu's YouTube channel. Koh is a fellow who I've seen on NHK with his own show about traveling around Asia in search of the region's local specialties. When I went to his channel, I discovered the above video for making crispy chicken steak with Japanese-style onion sauce and saw it as scrumptious enough that I decided to make it for the family last night.

It didn't come out too badly but I have two observations: ① Chicken over here is usually sold bone-in while in Japan, it's boneless and ② Gas heats hotter than electricity at any particular setting. The sauce isn't bad but I think it's frankly a tad too sweet for my taste especially when onions can generate their own sweetness when fried. I do enjoy the crispy skin on chicken so when I make this next time, I'll go for something more savory in the sauce or simply pour shoyu on the finished dish.

All of the above preamble for my culinary prowess (or lack of it) is due to the foodie article that I wrote under Author's Picks the other day, and the fact that commenter Matthew Cole was kind enough to inform me of another food-based J-Pop song by Asako Toki（土岐麻子）.

"Fried Noodles" is a dish...a quirky song created by Toki and DJ/singer-songwriter G. Rina for the former's 2017 album "Pink", and it's an 80s-ish technopop tune with some funky bass thrown in for good measure. Not sure at all, but it seems as if Toki may have been providing her own foodie report through music about a recent trip to a nation in Southeast Asia. Shrimp and mushrooms are apparently her toppings of choice; that's good for me, too, but I would also include water chestnuts and cha siu pork.

Recently, I've been curious about life in Singapore, and of course, that includes the cuisine there. One day, I will have to visit and visit the hawker centres.

Negicco -- Mujun, Hajimemashita.（矛盾、はじめました。）

Can't believe it's already halfway through August. At this rate, we may as well get the autumn jackets ready to launch.

It's nice to have the Negicco girls back with this for the summer. I've been seeing a lot of compliments for their 20th single, "Mujun, Hajimemashita" (Contradictions, Started), and it's rather refreshing to hear an aidoru group tackling a genre that I don't usually associate with the contemporary teenybopper-related singers, Latin. This came out in March 2016, and though it's got those samba horns, it's not super-high energy. It's quite relaxing, actually, especially with warm and honey saxophone solo.

Created by singer-songwriters Asako Toki（土岐麻子）and Yu Sakai（さかいゆう）, on first listen, I wasn't quite sure how to categorize "Mujun, Hajimemashita", the story of someone going through an existential crisis of sorts (anyone who thinks about having a cream puff with a can of beer...that's a red flag for me). I was wondering whether, along with the "Aidoru" label, I should also be thinking of it as a neo-City Pop or as a neo-Shibuya-kei piece, but with further listenings, I felt that the Latin label was perfectly fine.

As for the nice and simple music video, Negicco was joined in the latter half of the song by members of the now-disbanded Especia, along with members of other groups and individual singers that I'd never heard of such as PUMP! and lyrical girl. "Mujun, Hajimemashita" broke into the Oricon Top 10 by hitting No. 8 and it is also included in the group's 3rd studio album "Tea For Three"（ティー・フォー・スリー）from May 2016.

Asako Toki -- Watashi no Koi to Tokyo （私の恋と東京）

Daimon in Tokyo

Lovely day out there. A nice happy Easter to you, especially to all you government types who unlike a lot of other people have another day off today. No worries...I won't be giving out sensitive information to those who resent.

I just came across this one today and found it lovely and perfectly reflective of the sunny weather and warmer temperatures out there in the GTA. "Watashi no Koi to Tokyo" (My Love and Tokyo) is by the lovely Asako Toki（土岐麻子）from her 2013 album "Heartbreakin'".

Composer Senri Oe（大江千里）, who's been more of a jazz musician in recent years, and lyricist Toki created this seeming combination of slow 60s swing and bossa nova about a couple of folks who aren't sure when to broach the topic of taking their relationship to the next level. It almost sounds like a breezy Hollywood romance from that particular decade with Audrey, Rock or Doris. And as someone pointed out at YouTube, it's a great song to read by...or blog by.

Asako Toki/Magokoro Brothers/Bird -- Summer Nude (サマーヌード)

At this point, I think I have two albums by the velvety-voiced Asako Toki（土岐麻子）, one of them being in the shot above. Still love that cover design for her 2011 "Light" album which is a BEST collection for the Tokyo-born singer.

She may have been born in The Big Sushi but for my own reasons, I've seen her as a Chiba lass. I remember seeing her for the first time on TV doing her version of YMO's classic "Kimi ni Mune Kyun"（君に、胸キュン）which got my curiosity. Then one time I was in the Tsudanuma district of Narashino City, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from Chiba City since I usually taught my English circle there on Tuesday mornings. I had a few hours of time to kill before my next lesson in Tokyo so I had lunch in one of the commercial complexes in the area which included a CD shop. It just so happened that "Light" was on sale there and so the CD was playing on the speakers. As I said, I did love that 80s-looking cover and the music was quite nice so I picked it up right then and there. "Light" has been one of the touchstones that has helped me remember that shop and Tsudanuma in general.

This article would be the 6th Asako Toki entry on the blog, so 5 of them are from this album: "Komugi Iro no Mermaid"（小麦色のマーメイド）, "Gift", "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic" (い・け・な・いルージュマジック), a cover of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", and this one, "Summer Nude". A nice glass of smooth sherry of a song, it's got that lovely laidback and tropical feeling to go with those wonderful Toki vocals. I'd say enjoy that glass while swinging in the hammock. It might be cold out there wherever you are; put this on the player...you'll warm up. All kidding aside, the first time Toki sang this one was on her 2008 album "Summerin'".

What I didn't know was that "Summer Nude" was a Toki cover of a song that had been originally performed by a rock and soul group Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）. I did hear of the name but never experienced their music before. And what a pity that is. Because I was really impressed by the original version of "Summer Nude".

Released in April 1995 as their 12th single, "Summer Nude" is a funky and jazzy delight by Magokoro Brothers that reminded me of another group which was quite popular around that time, Original Love. Love the horns! It may have only gone up to No. 81 on the charts but let's say that this wonderful song can be our own little secret. Once again, that analogy of some wonderful stuff in the underwater 90% of that J-Pop iceberg is coming into play.

"Summer Nude" was created by Magokoro Brothers, Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）and Yoichi "YO-KING" Kuramochi（倉持陽一）. The two first met in the late 1980s while students at Waseda University with Sakurai in the Faculty of Law and Kuramochi in the Faculty of Education. Their first single, "Umi" (うみ...Sea) was released in September 1989. "Summer Nude" was first included in an album through their 2nd BEST compilation, "B.A.D.(Bigger and Deffer) 〜MB's Single Collection" in June 1997. That album peaked at No. 10.

Bird released her rapid-fire version of "Summer Nude" as her 23rd and final single to date in July 2008. I'll have to be honest, though, and say that this was not quite up to the level of the ones by Toki and Magokoro Brothers and not even up to Bird's early wonderful material.

The Brothers came up with an improved version of their own masterpiece: "Endless Summer Nude" in 1997.

Asako Toki with Sho Wada from TRICERATOPS -- Human Nature

I remember Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" getting heavy rotation on the radio back in the early 1980s and also in my ears and heart. It was a wonder that I didn't rush out and get "Thriller" in those days but it wouldn't be until well into my time teaching in Tokyo that I finally got the classic album. By that time, I was no longer listening to radio so hearing the song again (and every other song) fired off waves of nostalgia for the R&B of my youth.

Speaking of my Tokyo days, I have to give my thanks to Tower Records since it was there that I had first heard of Asako Toki（土岐麻子）, the chanteuse of contemporary mellow pop. It was often the case that I entered the huge Shibuya branch and when I got onto the 2nd floor, there was a display of one of her albums. Always interested in giving artists that I had never heard a chance, I put the headphones on when her 2011 BEST compilation of covers and commercial songs "LIGHT!" was first released. Among one of the tracks was her own version of "Human Nature" with Sho Wada（和田唱）from the rock band TRICERATOPS. Suitably mellow and more acoustic than the original by Jackson, I was quite struck at how close Wada sounded to the legendary Michael.

In any case, the duet by Toki and Wada plus some of the other tracks (one of them is "Gift", a duet with EPO) did the trick and I bought my first Toki album. But actually, her version of "Human Nature" originally came out on her 13th studio album from 2010, "Ranhansha Girl"（乱反射ガール...Girl of Diffuse Reflection）which I would also purchase some time later. It would peak at No. 32 on the album charts.

Kiyoshiro Imawano & Ryuichi Sakamoto/Asako Toki -- I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic （い・け・な・いルージュマジック）

The late Kiyoshiro Imawano （忌野清志郎）was a figure that I'd seen off and on over the 30-or-so years that I've been involved with Japanese pop music. I didn't get into his music when he was fronting RC Succession or his solo efforts, but he was one that stood out whenever he showed up on television. In his later years, he appeared as a mix between a Japanese Doctor Who and a retired glam rocker, but I also knew him for one excerpt from an old 80s performance that has been the video piece to show whenever 80s Japanese music or his music is discussed. The excerpt was him in Full New Wave mode prancing about the stage and kissing keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto （坂本龍一）while he was performing "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic" (Taboo Rouge Magic). Those particular seconds have been shown so often that I wondered whether Imawano was tempted to strangle the host or the director of the show.

Imawano was born Kiyoshi Kurihara（栗原 清志） in Tokyo in 1951 and has worn many hats in the entertainment industry as rock singer, songwriter, producer and actor. Starting a band called The Clovers back in his high school days, that band later turned into RC Succession in 1968 with their official debut in 1970.

"I-ke-nai-i Rouge Magic" was born from a desire from both Imawano and Sakamoto to work together. And with Imawano taking care of the lyrics and Sakamoto creating the music, their New Wave-y love child was born on Valentine's Day in 1982. The two of them embraced their inner New Romanticism for the official music video above by wrapping themselves in what looked like shapeless quilts and putting on the full lip gloss, eye shadow and foundation. What also made the video stand out was all that money that was literally bursting out of their clothes. Supposedly, those were real 10,000-yen bills that were billowing out of them and then off the roof of a tall building one night. And then there was the kiss near the end. It certainly wasn't a boring presentation.

Here is that famous TV performance I was telling you about earlier. Y'know, I'm not surprised that the excerpt was perennially shown during any retrospectives of the old Showa era music. Looking at the video, the music and the performers reminded me of all things 80s: New Wave, MTV and British musicians. Although growing up in Canada, I fully absorbed all of the above from the US and the UK, I don't think they became too mainstream in Japan, so I'm pretty sure several hundred folks at home probably choked on their food or drink when they first caught the scene of Imawano raggedly singing and skipping about like Mick Jagger and planting that big wet one on Sakamoto (along with several licks on his cheek). But that's why he has been called "Japan's King of Rock". I'm not a rock person but my impression of an ultimate rock singer is one who pokes holes in the conventional whether it's singing or stage performing without giving one care to what anyone thinks. I'd say that performance was one example of that.

With the word "rouge" in the title and a No. 1 ranking on the charts, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Shiseido would come knocking and use the song as the campaign jingle. It became the 20th-ranked song of 1982.

I remember when the media announced his passing away due to cancer in 2009. The following days had a lot of time on TV devoted to Imawano...more than what I had usually seen for departed celebrities in recent years. His funeral apparently attracted as many mourners as those for the late Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, perhaps the most beloved kayo kyoku singer in the early postwar period. A tribute concert was also held at the annual Fuji Rock Festival a few months later with artists such as Chara, UA, Tortoise Matsumoto from Ulfuls and Hiroto Komoto from the Blue Hearts performing.

Going back to the official music video for "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic", whatever happened to all those 10,000-yen bills being thrown off the building? Who knows? Apparently a good chunk of them disappeared forever, which goes to show that the Japanese may be some of the most generally law-abiding folks but they also don't ignore it when opportunity knocks.

In 2011, Asako Toki （土岐麻子）gave her own cute cover of "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic" via her album, "Light". There's a lot less of the rock and some more of the AOR feeling here.

Asako Toki & EPO -- Gift - Anata wa Madonna （あなたはマドンナ）

Taking into consideration that in the last number of days I've come to the realization that there has been a resurgence of the City Pop groove from the late 70s/early 80s, I think it was once again time to bring Asako Toki（土岐麻子） to the fore.

In the last number of years that I lived in Chiba Prefecture, I often saw the lovely Ms. Toki do a lot of fine covers of songs from the 80s, Western and Japanese. In fact, the first two articles devoted to her are on a couple of her interpretations of classics from the Yellow Magic Orchestra and Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. However, "Gift ~ Anata wa Madonna" (You're The Madonna) is an original but created and written by one of the prime participants in City Pop over 30 years ago. Songbird EPO was responsible for coming up with this shiny tribute to the metropolitan sound of Japan in words and music with Takeshi Ono（小野健） collaborating on the lyrics.

The original version of "Gift" is played in the official video above. It was the starting track on her BEST album from February 2011, "Toki Asako 'LIGHT!' -- CM & Cover Songs" which, as the title says, had all of her tunes for commercial usage. She covered not only some of the old 80s J-Pop but Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Bill Evans' "Waltz for Debby". Toki has a light and sunny touch to her versions, nice for a Sunday listen at home or over the speakers at the neighbourhood café. What finally triggered me, though, to plunk down the yen at Tower Records for the album was the look of the cover: the colours and the type style just declared "CITY POP!"

"Gift" was used as the commercial campaign song for a Shiseido cosmetic, and not surprisingly the official video has that sort of feel as well....y'know, in my eyes Toki somewhat resembles Maggie Gyllenhaal.

While the official single (her 4th from January 2011) was Toki solo, in her next mini-album from November of the same year, "sings the stories of 6 girls", Toki and EPO herself teamed up for an even more spritely, perhaps even more EPO-esque duet version of "Gift". It sure was nice to hear that voice again.

Yellow Magic Orchestra/Asako Toki -- Kimi ni Mune Kyun （君に、胸キュン）

"Open cheek, stick tongue in..."

That was the first impression I got when I saw the music video for YMO's "Kimi ni Mune Kyun"(Making Your Heart Go Boing). And I'm sure that was what Ryuichi, Haruomi and Yukihiro were going for when they did both the song and the video.

Released in March 1983 as their 7th single, the song surprised me....and probably the rest of the technopop fans. Compared to their previous songs, "Kimi ni Mune Kyun", is the poppiest effort I'd ever heard from the band. And according to the J-Wiki article on the song, the lads wanted to doff off their image as the cool and cold robotic warriors just once and become ".....adorable old geezers..."(translated from the article). Judging from their choreography, I'd probably change the first word in the quote to "adorkable". And considering that at the time, the individual members were also penning a number of songs for aidoru singers, I guess they were also trying to get that cute soft image. But I have to admit that during the part of the video where they're chasing that frouncy French girl in the avant-garde forest, I am still doing involuntary cringes.

But you know, kinda like in the way that adding salt to watermelon ironically brings out the sweetness in the flesh, I think putting this song into their repertoire added that extra oomph. I can't explain why....it just does. And certainly, the citizenry of Japan thought so as well. "Kimi mi Mune Kyun" became the highest-ranking technopop single to debut on Oricon at No. 2....a record that YMO would retain until Perfume took it over in 2008 with "Love The World". It was also a track on the band's 6th album, "Naughty Boys", released in May 1983. "Naughty Boys" was the final YMO album to top the charts, and the last technopop album to hit No. 1 until once again the girls from Perfume did so with "Game" in 2008. Strangely enough, both album and single ended up at No. 28 on the yearly rankings. Ah, by the way, the band was responsible for the music, but the lyrics were by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, Haruomi Hosono's old bandmate from Happy End.

Asako Toki（土岐麻子） gave her own groove-a-licious version of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" along with cute little video as part of her 5th album, "Weekend Shuffle" in December 2006. The soft-singing artist has often given summery light covers of famous J-Pop/kayo kyoku tunes such as "Komugi Iro no Mermaid" by Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）.

A lot of other covers out there such as Miku Hatsune's （初音ミク）take.

And there is also Human League's take on the song. Gotta say that a match between YMO and Human League is one made in techno heaven!

March 14 2021: Also have a look at Ginger Root's own cover of the song!

Seiko Matsuda/Asako Toki -- Komugi Iro no Mermaid (小麦色のマーメイド）

After first hearing and seeing Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子） on the 1981 Kohaku perform "Natsu no Tobira"（夏の扉....The Gates of Summer), I asked my brother when he went on his Japanese school class' graduation trip to Japan during July 1982 to get a Seiko record of some sort, a 45" single or a cassette tape (quaint reading words like "45 single" and "cassette tape", isn't it?). So, it was basically a month-long wait before he came back to Toronto and brought me my very first Seiko-chan piece of vinyl.

I had been expecting a bouncy number a la "Natsu no Tobira", but "Komugi Iro no Mermaid"(Tan-Coloured Mermaid) was something different....it was a slower, swaying tune with Seiko sounding a little more relaxed as if she were that mermaid resting on that rock in the ocean (no doubt an image that many a boy in Japan...and Canada....had while listening). I recall that I was slightly (and mistakenly) disappointed when I first heard it in light of my initial exposure to the Queen of 80s Aidoru and other starlets like Naoko Kawai(河合奈保子）and Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）, but of course as I started getting further into Japanese pop music, my appreciation for the song grew. "Komugi" may have been sung by an aidoru, but it didn't quite sound like the typical aidoru song.

Of course at the time, I hadn't known the credentials behind the production of the tune, but it turned out that Seiko's 10th single had been written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆） and composed by Karuho Kureta（呉田軽穂）...which was the pseudonym of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）. A couple of singles and six months earlier, the duo had created one of Seiko's biggest hits, "Akai Sweet Pea"（赤いスイートピー...Red Sweet Pea). That was the New Musician's first time composing a song for Seiko under her fake moniker, and for a lady who had once declared that she would never make tunes for aidoru, she ended up making a few more for Seiko....and with very good results, might I add. "Komugi"entered the Oricon charts at No. 2, so hitting the top spot was a no-brainer. It became the 15th-ranked song for 1982, just three spots down from "Akai Sweet Pea".

Singer Asako Toki（土岐麻子） is someone that I came across just in the last few years of my time in Japan. She is an artist who seems to concentrate on her own brand of light pop, often inflected with some Latin and jazz influences. I'd say that her music would be perfect in a trendy cafe/bar...of which Tokyo has tons. Toki also has a penchant for doing covers of 80s Japanese pop, and so here is her version of "Komugi Iro no Mermaid".

Overall, the interesting thing about this song (that my brother must've bought just a few days after it had been released on July 21) is that it may have been penned by Yuming, but it sounds custom fit for Seiko....and yet it showed the aidoru in a new, more mature light.

Ah, by the way, Seiko's original also came out as a track on a special Christmas album, "Kin Iro no Ribbon"(金色のリボン...Gold Ribbon) in December 1982. Meanwhile, Asako Toki's version is on her album, "Summerin'", which was released in 2008.