Japanese Pop Music x Bon Odori（盆踊り）

 

Being summer, it's festival season in Japan and I know that it's in full swing whenever I hear about or see Tokyo's Sumida River Fireworks Festival on the final Saturday of July. I've seen it on television from the air-conditioned comfort of my Ichikawa apartment and around thirty years ago, I actually saw it with my own eyes from the apartment of a student who generously invited teachers and fellow classmates over for a fireworks party. We were very fortunate in that the apartment was right by the Sumida River in Asakusa where I used to work, so the fireworks literally exploded right over our heads. Getting back home, though, was quite the adventure in time and physics.

Festivals in Japan also mean bon odori...the great communal dance around the raised stage all draped in red and white like the colours of the Japanese flag. Nothing says the dog days of summer than doing those rhythmic steps while sporting a colourful yukata and geta while a min'yo is being sung and performed on stage.

However, in the last several years, there has been some relaxation of the rules in terms of the music, so instead of the traditional stuff, examples of kayo kyoku and J-Pop have been used to get the crowds all roused up and dancing. Thanks to an NHK report yesterday, I was rather inspired to put up this list that I got from a far bigger list on Line Music. Yes, you can dance to these in the Bon Odori style!

(1984) Ann Lewis -- Roppongi Shinju （六本木心中）

(1985) Yoko Oginome -- Dancing Hero （ダンシング・ヒーロー）

(1993) Pizzicato Five -- Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichi-ji (東京は夜の七時）

(2001) B'z -- Ultra Soul

(2013) AKB48 -- Koisuru Fortune Cookie (恋するフォーチュンクッキー)

P.S. They could even make a Bon Dance out of this classic!

J-Canuck's Four Favourite Songs by Original Love

 

For the Friday edition of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）, we all got the delight of being serenaded by Takao Tajima（田島貴男）, aka Original Love. It was a reminder of how great a singer he has been for well over thirty years. Ever since I first heard one of his tunes on my friend's car radio, I've been hooked by his distinctive voice and his happy adoption of various genres including jazz, rock and soul.

Much to my surprise, I realized that I had yet to provide a Favourites list regarding Original Love so here it is to finish today's cadre of urban contemporary on KKP Friday! Have a great weekend!

(1993) Seppun (Kiss) （接吻）

(1993) Sunshine Romance (サンシャイン ロマンス)

(1994) Asahi no Ataru Michi （朝日のあたる道）

(1996)  Primal

Nagoya Singers

Nagoya Castle
by Base64 via Wikimedia Commons

Last week, I posted up "Sagamihara Singers" in tribute to the fact that my hometown of Toronto and the city of Sagamihara had a sister-city relationship. Tonight, I'm talking about "Nagoya Singers" but my inspiration isn't connected to any similar bond between Nagoya and a Canadian city. In fact, I don't think Nagoya has any sister-city relationships with any urban zones in my nation although it does have them with Los Angeles, Mexico City and Sydney.

Nope, the impetus for writing about singers or bands who come from Japan's 4th-largest city is today's edition of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information show. It just so happens that the focus was on Nagoya and all of those scrumptious dishes that originate there and elsewhere in its Aichi Prefecture. When I saw that wonderful dish of grilled eel called hitsumabushi（ひつまぶし）on my screen earlier, I just went "OK...got my second article for Hump Day!". But have a look at hitsumabushi and some of the other famous local treats in the video above from Mui's Diary.

Anyways, I've got four acts here from Nagoya. Please enjoy!

(1983) Junko Yagami -- Jealous

(1984) Yukiko Okada -- Dreaming Girl

(1993) Yoshiko Goshima -- Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro （白い色は恋人の色）

(2011) Sentimental City Romance -- Sun Sunny Friend

Anyways, Nagoya has been in the news for being one of the hottest places in Japan right now, so I'm hoping that folks there are trying to keep cool and safe. As a PS, you can also take a look at another Nagoya specialty, ten-musu（天むす）, from YouTuber Just One Cookbook.

J-Canuck's Second Tribute to Umi no Hi（海の日）

 

Happy Monday! Well, the third Monday of July has already passed in Japan but they did celebrate a long weekend culminating in the national holiday of "Umi no Hi" or Marine Day (or Sea Day or Ocean Day). I was watching the NHK news footage of kids and grownups hitting the sea and having oodles of fun while the heat wave bombarded on them. And so I figured about whether I actually had done a tribute to the national holiday. As it turned out, I did do a tribute back in 2023, also on the third Monday of July.

But I still wouldn't let the idea of another Author's Picks go. So thanks to a J-Wiki entry called "Umi wo Daizai to Shita Gakkyoku"（海を題材とした楽曲...Songs Themed on the Sea）, I was able to find some more ocean-frolicking-themed tunes that I had already written about way back when. Without further ado then:

(1966) The Wild Ones -- Omoide no Nagisa（想い出の渚）

(1980) Seiko Matsuda -- Aoi Sangoshou（青い珊瑚礁）

(1984) Junichi Inagaki -- Ocean Blue （オーシャンブルー）

(1984) Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue （君のハートはマリンブルー）

(1985) Yukiko Okada -- Summer Beach

(1986) TUBE -- Season In The Sun

Osaka Songs - Part 2

  A friend of mine went to Japan for vacation about a month ago. Last time we spoke he was on the train headed to Osaka. While he was planning his trip he had asked me to hook him up with a Osaka playlist for when he got there. Of course I included the essential hits by Masaki Ueda, but I also found him some other great artists like Takajin Yashiki, and Masahiro Kuwana. One common theme I find with Osaka music is that they really love the blues. Which makes sense since I'm pretty sure they had a big Blues Rock scene back in the 70s, spearheaded by bands like West Road Blues Band, Funny Company,  and Ukadan. Here's some of my favorites, let me know if I should have recommended others.

Osaka Big River Blues (大阪ビッグ・リバー・ブルース) by Ukadan

Sweet Home Osaka by Funny Company

Your Osaka (あんたの大阪 ) by  Hako Yamazaki (She's from Oita Prefecture but its still a nice song)

Since coming to Osaka (大阪へ出て来てから) by Junji Ariyama (有山じゅんじ) and Masaki Ueda 上田正樹 

おそうじ Obachan by Ukadan

As a bonus, here's an updated version of Since coming to Osaka from 2007. much jazzier while still retaining the honky-tonk nature.

Sagamihara Singers

 

I knew that the city of Mississauga right on the west side of Toronto has had a sister city relationship with Kariya in Aichi Prefecture since 1981. For one thing, an old friend of mine from my hometown had a position as a liaison between here and Kariya by being assigned there on the JET Programme. What I hadn't known was that Toronto itself has had a similar relationship with the city of Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture since 1991 (so I guess we're celebrating (?) 35 years of friendship this year). I only found out about the connection in the last year when I was curiously looking for whether Toronto itself had any sister cities in Japan. The ironic thing is that I had a couple of students who hailed from Sagamihara including one who was my regular Wednesday night Arashi-loving superfan student.

As for singers from Toronto, we have Drake, The Weeknd and Alessia Cara. But I was also wondering which singers hail from Sagamihara. I could find three such people.

(1976) Seri Ishikawa -- Asayake ga Kieru Mae ni （朝焼けが消える前に）

(1984) Sayuri Iwai -- Tokimeki no Kisetsu（ときめきの季節）

(1996) Kenji Ozawa -- Otona ni Nareba （大人になれば）

By the way, I do speak three languages: English, Japanese and food!

Glass Kayo

 

The above is a Very Berry Shake that I got at a place called Petit Potato. It was indeed very flavorful and thirst-quenching. However, the theme isn't on the contents but the container. Early this year, I came up with an Author's Picks called "Substance Kayo" which focused on those kayo titled with various substances. But then, I realized after writing up one recent article and remembering a couple of oldies that I'd written early in this blog's history that a subset can be made of kayo kyoku containing the word "glass" in their titles. As such, let me start this Tuesday edition of KKP with some glass kayo.

(1977) Yujiro Ishihara -- Brandy Glass (ブランデーグラス）

(1981) Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

(1983) Seiko Matsuda -- Glass no Ringo （ガラスの林檎）

(1997) Kinki Kids -- Garasu no Shonen （硝子の少年）

(2009) Cheuni -- Glass no Tokyo Tower（ガラスの東京タワー）

J-Canuck's "America" Tunes 2

Wikimedia Commons

To any and all American readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Happy Fourth of July and also a Happy Sestercentennial (250th birthday). I recall that three years ago, I also provided a special list of America-related songs on July the 4th and mentioned that we would have to do something about 2026. Well, the day is here.

And so, this is my "America" Tunes 2. Unlike the first one which mostly dealt with songs that had "America" in their titles, I'm being a bit more geographically precise so I'll be listing those numbers referring specifically to states and cities. Without further ado then:

(1948) Haruo Oka -- Akogare no Hawaii Koro (憧れのハワイ航路)

(1983) Mayumi Itsuwa -- California

(1978) Goro Noguchi -- Catalog L.A.（カタログL.A.）

(1984) Himiko Kikuchi -- Hollywood Illusion

(1979) Casiopea -- I Love New York

(1983) Seiko Matsuda -- Miami Gozen Go-ji （マイアミ午前5時）

Flower Kayo

 

Yesterday on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, the episode's theme was on flower-titled kayo kyoku. That did get me to thinking...as I recall, there have been quite a few such songs that I've remembered over the decades, so I've decided to provide my own short list. My list kinda breaks out a little more widely although the first entry here was also included on the program's own list. Anyways, without further ado:

(1964) Harumi Miyako -- Anko Tsubaki wa Koi no Hana （アンコ椿は恋の花）

(1966) Mike Maki -- Bara ga Saita （バラが咲いた）

(1980) Mariya Takeuchi -- Morning Glory

(1983) Yumi Matsutoya -- Dandelion ~ Osozaki no Tanpopo （ダンデライオン〜遅咲きのたんぽぽ）

(2012) Yoko Kanno -- Hana wa Saku （花は咲く）

Airport Kayo

 

I was once asked by one of the commenters about an Author's Picks regarding airports. After all, in terms of an old kayo kyoku, the airport serves as a setting for romantic farewells and (rarely) greetings. Plus, they can also be the launching point for adventures abroad. Now, I believe that I had yet to post such a list of airport-themed songs so I'm going with this one today to finish my trio of articles.

(1974) Teresa Teng -- Kuukou （空港）

(1975) Hi-Fi Set -- Doyoubi no Yoru wa Haneda ni Kuru no（土曜の夜は羽田に来るの）

(1984) Akina Nakamori -- Kita Wing （北ウィング）

(1987) Kye Eunsook & Keisuke Hama -- Kita Kuukou（北空港）

(2013) Keisuke Yamauchi -- Kushiro Kuukou （釧路空港）

Well, Jme, If We Can't Have Uta Con Because of the Beatles...

 

This week, we're not watching any "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK which was a bit weird because I swore that I'd seen "Uta Con" concierge Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）give out the lineup at the end of last week's episode for this week. And then, I figured something was up. Indeed, something was up...the number of non-Japanese songs being sung on the June 9th episode. Notably, the show's theme tonight was all about The Beatles, and this was confirmed by commenter Brian Mitchell in my last article yesterday. 

I've mentioned it before but our streaming provider of Japanese programming here in North America is Jme, and they've given us the heads-up on their website, but when it comes to the performance of American, British or any non-Japanese songs by Japanese artists in Japan, due to copyrights and all that legal stuff, they simply can't allow them to be heard. Usually, if it's one or two songs, Jme will put up the warning blurb at the top of the screen in Japanese and then mask the aural performance with Muzak although viewers can still see the singers doing the cover. However, when there's a whole bunch of foreign music played on a program, then Jme basically can't allow the episode to be shown. This has happened once before with "Uta Con" when the theme for that episode was Disney music.

This time, it's the Beatles. Not that I'm a huge fan of the Fab Four although there are several songs that I do like by Paul, John, Ringo and George, but it still gets rather annoying to have something that my family looks forward weekly get cancelled due to legal and money stuff (and personally, I did want to see Hiromi Iwasaki and Junko Yagami give their covers). Therefore, just off the top of my head, I've decided to put up some covers of the Beatles discography by Japanese singers...simply for the heck of it.

B'z -- Let It Be

Masayoshi Yamazaki -- All My Loving (and he's performing this in front of Sir Paul himself!)

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Day Tripper

Mone Kamishiraishi -- Yesterday

Akiko Kanazawa -- Yellow Submarine Ondo（イエロー・サブマリン音頭）

"Telephone" Songs

Infrogmation of New Orleans via Wikimedia Commons

I can say that the above looks just like the first telephone that I ever saw in my apartment in the late 1960s. The good ol' rotary phone. Never got to use the even older model where people had to crank it up and yell "Maisie! Is that you? I'm calling Pennsylvania 65000!".

Earlier today, the first article for Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP was Mariko Tone's（刀根麻里子） "Private Number" and that got me thinking that among the many different themes I've had for Author's Picks, one common object that I had yet to highlight was the telephone. And yet, as soon as I put up "Private Number", suddenly all these phone-themed tunes came back to mind. So, to finish my contributions today, I'm putting up my telephone or denwa songs. Not all of them are City Pop, mind you, but enough of them are including the one with City Pop's most famous number.

(1973) Finger Five -- Koi no Dial Six-Seven-Oh-Oh （恋のダイヤル6700）

(1976) Akiko Yano -- Denwa Sen （電話線）

(1981) Kyoko Endo -- Kokuhaku Telephone （告白テレフォン）

(1981) Junko Ohashi -- Telephone Number

(1987) Junko Yagami -- Telephone Number

(1988) Keiko Kimura -- Denwa Shinai de （電話しないで）

"City" Songs

 

I heard a rather interesting piece of news last Friday via NHK. Today, June 1st (and indeed, welcome to June 2026!), is the 900th anniversary of the founding of Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture. 1126...what a year! Chiba Station right in the heart of Chiba City was a regular stop for me on Monday afternoons since I had a regular class at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; I was picked up by the regular company bus at one corner and spent a 20-minute ride to the factories in the suburbs. 

I didn't explore too much of the city outside of the immediate station area, but I do recall having a couple of dinners there and having a quick bite to eat at the station hamburger shop (and no, it wasn't a McDonalds) along with buying a few CDs at the music shop...also in the station. Of course, the monorail was always zipping by above me.

Anyways, in commemoration of Chiba's 900th birthday, I'm bringing in some "city" songs: songs that have the word "city" or "tokai" in them. I would have included Anri's（杏里）"Surf City" here but it had already gotten a shoutout in last week's "HANDS Down!" article. So, without further ado:

(2020) Ai Furihata -- CITY

(1989) TUBE -- Summer City

(1977) Taeko Ohnuki -- Tokai（都会）

(1979) Crystal King -- Dai Tokai (大都会）

(1987) Yoshitaka Minami -- Video City

Birthdays for May 28th

 

Well, just like that segment on "Entertainment Tonight", let's go with some birthday announcements for two singers who are still around and one composer who did leave this mortal coil several years ago.

(1940-2020) Composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）

(1961 ~ ) Singer-songwriter Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）

(1968 ~ ) Singer Kylie Minogue

HANDS Down!☹️

 

It's been almost a decade since I mentioned through my article on Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）album "Crimson" that Jaws, my tape recorder, made a meal out of my audiotape of the album. It died rather gruesomely, kinda like Ben Gardner in "Jaws". Well, around this time yesterday, I realized that my home printer Sam breathed its last. It was 14 years old and from what I've read of life expectancies of such devices, ol' Sam lived an unusually long life so I'm not mourning too badly and I've got a new one on the way.

However, I have to state that another beloved thing from my memories is now in its last months. That would be the very first branch of the iconic Japanese DIY and hobbyist store Tokyu Hands (now known as Hands) in Shibuya. The doors will close at the end of this November and unfortunately, I will not be there to say goodbye. As usual for the fate of such emporia, the cause is the whole online thing and declining of foot traffic which is hard for me to imagine because the last time I was there was many years ago when the store was packed with customers.

During my years in Tokyo, next to Tower Records a few blocks over, Tokyu Hands was my regular go-to place in Shibuya. It was always the case of walking on one particular street from Tower and then eventually coming down the hill to see good ol' Hands to my left. I used to visit this ivory tower filled with mezzanines to purchase calendars and other examples of stationery along with other sundry items that I can't remember. I do remember the incense area on one floor where I picked up a lost-lasting box of incense cones. I lit up a cone with a match and quickly waved out the flame after which the smoke basically coated my living room in very heavy herbal scents for several days at a time. Basically, if there was something I wanted to buy for the home or make in the home, Tokyu Hands was the place. Now, Hands will go on throughout its other branches but Branch No. 1 has been given its terminal diagnosis and I will miss it.

By DeepSkyBlue via Wikimedia Commons

Now, I couldn't find any sort of music or singer that was attached to Tokyu Hands so I was at a quandary about how to pay tribute to the store. But then, I figured that I'll just provide a list of songs whose titles' first words begin with the letters in HANDS. So, here's my Author's Picks on the shop.

(1982) Minako Yoshida -- Hoho ni Yoru no Akari（頬に夜の灯）

(1977) Iruka -- Ame no Monogatari （雨の物語）

(1983) Yu Hayami -- Natsu Iro no Nancy (夏色のナンシー）

(1983) Yumi Matsutoya -- Dandelion ~ Osozaki no Tanpopo （ダンデライオン〜遅咲きのたんぽぽ）

(1983) Anri -- Surf City

"New York" Tunes

 

Last Friday, when I put up Iruka's（イルカ）"NYC wa Toosugite"（NYCは遠すぎて）, I realized that there have been a number of New York-themed tunes posted up here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years. And since we have those "America" tunes that I posted as an Author's Picks back in 2023, why not become even more localized and go straight to the Big Apple? A couple of them on that list ("Kennedy Airport" and "Purpletown") could comfortably belong on this list but since they're already up there, it wasn't too difficult to find two more. But without further ado, here are my five New York tunes.

(1978) Akiko Wada -- Park Avenue 7 PM

(1978) Jun Fukamachi -- Letter to New York

(1978) Cools Rockabilly Club -- Sentimental New York（センチメンタル・ニューヨーク）

(1983) Yasuhiro Abe -- Manhattan

(1985) Naoko Kawai – Manhattan Joke 

"Good" Songs

Wikimedia Commons

No particularly good reason to do so but I just wanted to post up another Author's Picks with the theme today being "good" songs. That is to say, songs with "good" in the title and they are good songs, to boot. Plus, it is a Sunday so a lot of whimsy to share.

(1980) Plastics -- Good

(1988) Keiko Kimura -- Good Morning

(1995) Kahimi Karie -- Good Morning World

(2001) Kirinji -- Good Day Good Bye（グッデイ・グッバイ）

(2025) Mrs. GREEN APPLE -- Good Day

May the 4th Birthdays

 

Yes, along with the fact that May the 4th is Greenery Day in Japan, it's May the 4th as Star Wars Day everywhere on the planet. I figure that if I'm going to commemorate Greenery Day, then why not this pop cultural holiday as well. The opening scene from "A New Hope" will always be one to awe the heck out of me. I'm sure that the first audiences to see the movie back on May 25th 1977 had eyes and mouths fully agape at the sight of the Imperial Star Destroyer chasing and capturing the Rebel Blockade Runner over Tatooine. 

But let's focus on this day, May the 4th. I figure that it might be time to look at a few birthdays of Japanese singers. Cue "Entertainment Tonight" theme!👉

Happy Birthday to...

Kazuko Aoyama（青山和子）

Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）

Fusanosuke Kondo（近藤房之助）

Daisuke Ono（小野大輔）

And Happy Birthday to Audrey Hepburn who would have been 97 years old today!

Midori Songs

I gather that Golden Week has reached the halfway point so according to NHK this morning, the U-turn rush has already begun with the cars heading back to Tokyo stuffing the highways rather than the opposite. 

As of 2007, May the 4th became known as Greenery Day in Japan so I'm not sure whether there are (or were, as of this writing) any horticultural events throughout the country but hopefully, the plants and trees are growing luxuriantly. In Japanese, Greenery Day is translated into Midori no Hi（みどりの日）so I thought that it would be nice to have an Author's Picks on some of those songs sung by ladies with the given name of Midori.

(1962) Midori Hatakeyama -- Koi wa Kamiyo no Mukashi kara （恋は神代の昔から）

(1978) Midori Kinouchi -- Yokohama Eleven （横浜いれぶん）

(1992) Midori Karashima -- Hitomi - Genki （瞳・元気）

(2019) Midori Oka -- Kami no Tsuru（紙の鶴）

Vacation Songs

 

Although the next couple of days following Showa Day are technically regular days, the Golden Week holidays have begun and apparently folks could have as many as twelve straight days off depending on how nice the bosses are. I knew that GW was on when I saw NHK show the annual Bullet Train capacity percentages and shots of highways showing a packed route going away from Tokyo and a relatively empty one going to Tokyo. From what I've seen so far, it looks like a lot of the Japanese may be keeping things within the nation instead of flying overseas due to the yen looking rather middling and the rise in a lot of things such as airplane fuel.

So I gather that it's time for an Author's Picks on vacations, and I'm surprised that I hadn't already done this in the past but I can rectify this right now.

(1962) Mieko Hirota -- Vacation

(1972) Takuro Yoshida -- Tabi no Yado （旅の宿）

(1986) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Chiisana Tabi (小さな旅）

(1990) Kome Kome Club -- Roman Hiko (浪漫飛行）

(1997) Yumi Yoshimura -- V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.