Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- AB'S, YMO & B'z

 

Welcome to another visit to the AI gallery. This time, we've got some lettered bands to help us out here with the imaging process.

AB'S -- In The City Night

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Rydeen (雷電）

B'z -- Ultra Soul

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Hiromi, B'z & NHK

 

Happy Weekend! Now that we are truly getting out of the Holiday season, things are getting back to normal which includes the inevitable and dreaded payment of credit cards, and in Japan, television broadcasting is veering away from special New Year's programming. As well, this also means that the AI art gallery is back open again.

This time, I'm involving some of the acts that we saw on the recent Kohaku Utagassen. I have to warn you that the images this time around are bizarre and a touch unsettling.

Hiromi Go -- Ni-Oku Yon-Sen-Man no Hitomi (２億４千万の瞳）

B'z -- Love Phantom

NHK Jido Gassho Dan -- Computer Obaachan （コンピューターおばあちゃん）

Sleep tight...

B'z -- Illumination（イルミネーション）

 

Well, another NHK morning drama serial has arrived. "Omusubi"（おむすび）started broadcasting in October and unlike in the previous two serials, "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）and "Tora ni Tsubasa"（虎に翼）, the main star isn't a fictionalized version of a famous person but a young teenage girl who has aspirations of becoming a nutritionist while going through a gyaru phase. Not surprisingly then, "Omusubi" also stands out for being set in relatively recent times with its earliest temporal setting being 1995. Yui Yoneda is most definitely a Heisei heroine.

The pop/rock duo B'z has had a long successful story all on their own but they also made their way into anison history by providing a number of tunes for the mystery show "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン）. Now, they've even entered the morning serial drama zone of Japanese pop culture for the first time by providing one of their songs as the opening theme for "Omusubi". "Illumination" was released as the duo's October digital download single and I've been hearing it plenty of times since I've been catching the show often enough. 

Written and composed by B'z, the title represents the light that awaits people after going through all of the usual peaks and valleys of life, according to a few media reports listed on the J-Wiki article for "Illumination". The song reached No. 1 on Oricon's Digital Download chart.

B'z -- Hoshifuru Yoru ni Sawagou（星降る夜に騒ごう）

 

Haven't heard this one in quite an age. I remember getting my copy of "Be There", B'z's hit in the quaint CD single format from the late 1980s and early 1990s, and as the coupling song was "Hoshifuru Yoru ni Sawagou" (Let's Make Noise on a Starry Night).

Y'know...I don't think I'd heard a rock boogie by a Japanese musician but one-half of B'z, Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）made it so when he composed and arranged "Hoshifuru Yoru ni Sawagou" (cute tribute to "The Final Countdown" by the way). It's catchy and it's no wonder that the song has been a favourite at their concerts. The other half of B'z, Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）, provided the lyrics of unshackling those chains and having one heck of a time in the big city. Considering Friday is coming up tomorrow, it's not a bad piece of advice.

Japanese Commercial Christmas Songs by J-Canuck

 

Yes, nothing says Christmas in Japan more than Sylvester Stallone and Ito Ham. My goodness...that glorious mane of hair back in the day could rival anything on KKP AI representative Kayo Grace Kyoku's head.

But just to get away from the weirdness of Hollywood celebrities in Japanese commercials, let's think about some of those other wholesome ads promising things like chicken covered in eleven herbs and spices and ten thousand calories (that was certainly the case when I was living in Chiba) when it comes to J-Xmas. Consider this special Yuletide Author's Pick a summary of those J-Xmas tunes for ads that I've already covered over the past dozen years.

(1983) Tatsuro Yamashita -- Christmas Eve for Japan Railways

(2000) Mariya Takeuchi -- Suteki na Holiday（すてきなホリデイ）for Kentucky Fried Chicken

(1992) KAN -- Kan no Christmas Song（KANのChristmas Song） for Kentucky Fried Chicken

(1992) B'z -- Itsuka no Merry Christmas （いつかのメリークリスマス）for Pepsi Nex

(1987) dip in the pool -- Miracle Play: Tenshi ga Furu Yoru（天使が降る夜）for Marui

Gosanke Imagined: The Goyonke of My JET Days

 

Well, I figured that if I could come up with a Yonin Musume（四人娘）of my days on the JET Programme in Gunma Prefecture between 1989 and 1991, I should have my own Goyonke（御四家...The Big Four） during that time as well, as opposed to the traditional Gosanke（御三家）; permit me my whimsical side. Of course, I'm referring to the quartet of male performers that garnered the attention of my ears and memories from that time.

KAN -- Ai wa Katsu (愛は勝つ）

B'z -- Bad Communication

Kome Kome Club -- Roman Hiko (浪漫飛行）

Kazumasa Oda -- Love Story wa Totsuzen ni （ラブ・ストーリーは突然にー）

B’z -- Taiyou no Komachi Angel (太陽のKomachi Angel)

 

*I haven't payed attention before but my fellow friend J-Canuck had already written an article for this song years ago, so click here for his original "Taiyou no Komachi Angel" post. Anyway, since I had already finished writing up mine, I'll just add the Follow-Up tag.

I never thought I’d ever like B’z, but here I am enjoying a good portion of the duo’s early songs. Before listening to them, a more serious and heavy rock style always came to my mind when I thought about the music created by Koshi Inaba (稲葉浩志) and Takahiro Matsumoto (松本孝弘). I’m not totally wrong, though, since they really focused in a more guitar-driven sound after some years, but by the late 80s and early 90s they were still doing this blend of rock with synthpop that was very reminiscent of TM NETWORK (well, Takahiro Matsumoto played for TM NETWORK, so he just went along with this type of sound when B’z was formed).

The epic and stadium-ready anthem “BAD COMMUNICATION” is a great example of their early hits, but it’s “Taiyou no Komachi Angel” that really caught my attention. Released as the duo’s fifth single in June 1990, this chart-topper song (their first one) is a Latin-tinged and bouncy pop song with a ferociously catchy chorus. Besides the verses, the song is almost entirely built around this main melody, since the synth arrangement even follows it. In the end, when Inaba is not singing the chorus, we can still hear it through the synths, making this a great and fun pop song.

“Taiyou no Komachi Angel” reached #1 on the Oricon charts, selling 464,000 copies. An English version was included in the duo’s second mini-album, “WICKED BEAT”, also released in June 1990. Lyrics were written by Koshi Inaba, while music was composed by Takahiro Matsumoto. As for the arrangement, Masao Akashi (明石昌夫) was the responsible.

Luckily, I was able to find an used copy of this mini-album here in Brazil a couple of weeks ago.

The Firsts, The Second (Male Singers)

 

Hope wherever you are, you are still digesting your bountiful repast from last night peacefully and satisfyingly. Our family had a very pleasant Xmas dinner and did the usual exchange of presents.

Back on December 13th, when KKP hit its 1000th article in one year for the first time in its history, I opted to create a "The First" article showing what some of my first aural experiences were with the singers that I've come to truly enjoy over the decades. However, since my list was going to be a fairly long one, I separated it between men and women. So for No. 1000, I dedicated that to what were the first songs that I'd heard from female kayo singers back then.

Now, thirteen days later, Article No. 1036 for 2021 will cover the first songs that I'd heard from the male kayo and J-Pop singers.

Hiromi Go -- Oyome Samba （お嫁サンバ）

Tatsuro Yamashita -- Your Eyes

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yokohama Tasogare（よこはま・たそがれ）

Anzen Chitai -- Wine-Red no Kokoro （ワインレッドの心）

Masayuki Suzuki -- Wakare no Machi (別れの街）

Sing Like Talking -- Subarashii Yume no Naka de (素晴らしい夢の中で)

B'z -- Bad Communication

J-Canuck's Favourite Commercial Tie-Ups

 

Y'know...we've gotten used to actress/singer Ryoko Shinohara（篠原涼子）stressing more of that first part of her job description over the past several years to the extent that perhaps it might be surprising to know that Shinohara did start out as an aidoru and sketch comedienne in the early 1990s. And yet, earlier this year, folks in Japan got a reminder of her less heavy material when she began to sing and dance in this series of McDonalds commercials which emphasized the good ol' days of show tunes, especially with Charlie Chaplin's "Smile".

Commenter James Noah sent me a message asking about all those commercial tie-ups which was a good question since in Japan, those popular pop songs and famous brands have frequently synergized as a win-win for all involved. James' favourite ad is the one for Gekkeikan sake with a very clean Hiroyuki Sanada（真田広之）, who has seemed to be appearing in Hollywood movies looking all scruffy for some reason, walking to the strains of Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）"Ano Koro e"（あの頃へ）. It's all about that beauteous mood and mood has always been a thing in Japanese commercials. In fact, it once took me a whole minute watching an idyllic scene in Switzerland with a happy family to figure out that the commercial was selling life insurance. You just never know...Clara could have fallen out of her wheelchair to her death off that cliff. Was she in good hands with Allstate?

Anyways, that did get me thinking about what some of my favourite Japanese commercial tie-ups have been over the decade. 

1. Tatsuro Yamashita -- Christmas Eve (1983) and Japan Railways

Now, the song itself first saw the light of day in 1983 but things really didn't get cooking for Tats in the Xmas department until half a decade later in 1988 when Japan Railways used "Christmas Eve" for their Christmas campaign. After those first commercials involving couples on the platforms and in the stations had aired, any romantic meetups in a train depot will most likely have this song planted in everyone's heads. Ironically for the fellow who's been hailed as the summer song guy and one of the pillars of City Pop, "Christmas Eve" may be Yamashita's（山下達郎）most famous song for the public at large.

2. Saburo Tokito -- Yuuki no Shirushi (1989) and Regain Vitamin Drink

I've had my fair share of vitamin drinks when I was living in Japan although I don't personally think that I worked anywhere near as hard as some of those businessmen that I had taught regularly. To me, they all tasted like some tangy-sweet water. I may have even coughed up the yen to guzzle down a Regain. But when the first commercials of the ultra-Japanese businessman played by actor/folk-rock singer Saburo Tokito（時任三郎）hit the air with the proud march "Yuuki no Shirushi"（勇気のしるし）, it had folks laughing and throwing out their chests in pride to see if anyone could work those 24 hours with a ton of Regain in them. I had just arrived in Japan when the Regain boom began and I believe that the commercial was of such fame that it even reached Anderson Cooper at CNN.

Ah, while I'm at it...one of my businessman students taught me one way to get rid of a cold lickety-split because of course, businessmen can't be allowed to take a day off. As soon as you get home, take a hot shower, drink down two bottles of vitamin drink and then wrap yourself up in as many blankets as you can in bed. Basically, you're to sweat your cold to death at the sacrifice of some very smelly blankets the next day.

3. B'z -- Bad Communication (1989) and FM Towns

As I have already mentioned in the original article for B'z's "Bad Communication", this was the song that usually woke up in the mornings when I was living in Gunma Prefecture. I believe that it was the morning business show on TV Tokyo or TV Asahi and the commercial was of Rie Miyazawa（宮沢りえ）touting the charms of Fujitsu's FM TOWNS computer which sounds more like a local radio station. "Bad Communication" was the jingle and it was the most dynamic one that I had ever heard thus far. Alarm clocks should be as effective.

4. Carl Anderson -- Pieces of a Heart (1990) and Parliament Cigarettes

Parliament had a long reputation for putting out some very urban and urbane commercials for their death sticks, and although I've never smoked a cigarette in my life thankfully, watching the Parliament ads even had me thinking "I really need that lifestyle...NOW!". Of course, some of those urban contemporary songs by folks like Bobby Caldwell and Boz Scaggs came in handy to add that touch of class. But the one that really hit the heart was "Pieces of a Heart" by Carl Anderson. I believe that the ad came out during episodes of "Music Fair" on Fuji-TV late on Sunday night, and it was definitely something when I always looked forward to watching that one minute and change of the good life in Manhattan or San Francisco.

Are there any Japanese commercials and their tie-up songs that you've cherished over the ages? Let us know.

B'z -- Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi dake o Kizutsukenai（愛のままにわがままに 僕は君だけを傷つけない）

Welcome to the last full week in August 2020. A few days ago, I put up "Oricon Top 5 Most Commercially Successful Composers" which included one-half of B'z, Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto（松本孝弘）. It seems as if virtually all of Matsumoto's compositions have been centered on his duo's songs, and that also includes his (and B'z's) most successful tune, "Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi dake o Kizutsukenai" (Even Though Love is Selfish, I Will Never Hurt You), which may end up being the longest title so far to grace the top of a "Kayo Kyoku Plus" article.

Listening to their 12th single released in March 1993, "Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi dake o Kizutsukenai" starts off in a rather mellow way and similarly to their later hit "Love Phantom". It's a gentle introduction to what becomes another B'z spectacular with those horns and electric guitar and Koshi Inaba's（稲葉浩志）super voice. I really feel like hitting outside and running about 10 kilometres from playing this, and this is from a guy who eschews exercise whenever he can.

The song is very familiar to me but I had no idea that it also served as the theme song for the 1993 live-action adaptation of "Saiyuki"（西遊記）. I knew about the earlier version from the late 1970s for which its theme song was Godiego's（ゴダイゴ）"Monkey Magic". For both of them, I could say that they are famous products of their time.

Unsurprisingly, "Ai no Mama" hit No. 1 and stayed at the top for 4 weeks, eventually selling more than 2 million copies and going Gold. It would end the year as the No. 2 single and currently holds the No. 21 spot in Oricon's All-Time Singles list. The song's first appearance on an album was on "B'z The Best 'Pleasure'" which came out in May 1998.

Oricon Top 5 Most Commercially Successful Composers (as of January 2018)

I was always rather curious after putting up "The Top 10 Singles in Oricon History" about how the company that has been compiling all of those statistics and rankings in music treated songwriters. Well, I was able to track down the Top 5 Japanese composers of all time so far and will eventually come up with the lists for lyricists and arrangers. The J-Wiki article for Kyohei Tsutsumi provided the information which had originally been published at "Buzzfeed News" in January 2018.

As for the numbers, the Wikipedia article for Tsutsumi stated in its first paragraph that he was responsible for "...selling over 76 million units on the country's single chart from 1968 onwards.". I'm not certain whether those singles include the B-sides that he (and the rest of those composers) may have also composed. Plus from that quote, it's possible that non-single tracks from albums may have been excluded, so the list may really not be a wholly complete one. It's also been more than 2 1/2 years since it has been compiled so there's a chance that there may have been some shifting.


1.  Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）   75.6 million units
2.  Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）    71.8 million
3.  Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）           41.8 million
4.  Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）    38.9 million
5.  Tak Matsumoto （松本孝弘）    38.1 million     

Furthermore, the J-Wiki list was generous enough to also include each composer's most successful single. Unfortunately, I have yet to write up an article for Matsumoto's (B'z) song but I will try to rectify that in the coming days (and I did).

Kyohei Tsutsumi -- (1979) Miserarete （魅せられて）

Tetsuya Komuro -- (1997) Can You Celebrate?

Tetsuro Oda -- (1992) Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto （世界中の誰よりきっと）

Keisuke Kuwata -- (2000) TSUNAMI

Takahiro Matsumoto -- (1993) Ai no Mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi dake o Kizutsukenai（愛のままにわがままに 僕は君だけを傷つけない）

B'z -- Risky/Itoshii Hito yo Good Night（愛しい人よGood Night...）

There is a fair share of people over here in Canada and the United States who have an interest in the supernatural, and that is also true for the Japanese. Folklore abounds there with tales of long-necked women, kappa sprites, and other creatures, and there are plenty of scary tales to chill listeners right down to the bone even in the hottest of summers.

One of the more recent phenomena to get folks' hackles up is the shinrei shashin（心霊写真...ghost pictures） in which faces or other body parts mysteriously pop up behind people and in structures. Personally, I think it's more of a visual coincidence or a double exposure in those photos than anything else but I've watched variety shows in which the tarento turned multiple shades of blue and grey and screamed their heads off at all sorts of weird shots. The above video has about 7 minutes' worth of shinrei shashin so watch...if you dare.😝😝

Another phenomenon is the audio version of the shinrei shashin...ghost sounds. Years ago when I was living in Ichikawa, a couple of my good single friends who used to visit me all the time at home (they are now both happily married with kids) dropped in one time and told me about the urban legend that a Dreams Come True single "go for it!" had some weird voice pop up near the end. Now, I did write about that song all the way back in 2013 but never mentioned this part since frankly I had forgotten the whole incident, but I did have the CD so I played it on the Onkyo a couple of times for them with the volume way up.

Now, the supposed weird voice pops up at about 2:54 in the above video (Sorry but the recorded version has been taken down so you'll have to rely on your own copies) for "go for it!". My good buddies' faces froze when they heard it but I couldn't quite get it myself since I had heard it every time that I played the cheerful DCT song. To me, it was just an added spoken vocal for flavour...not an anguished cry from Hell.😏 I looked at them, both of who were/are far more kakkoii than me, and wondered what the problem was here.

There was a similar story regarding rock band B'z. Their November 1990 album "Risky" was a big No. 1 hit to be sure, but it also garnered some more infamy and the story even reached the popular Fuji-TV noon hour show "Waratte Ii Tomo!"（笑っていいとも！）one day in 1993. Supposedly, certain CD copies of the album didn't start off with that 1-minute-and-change instrumental which was the title track. Instead, as host Tamori and comedy duo Utchan-Nanchan found out, it started out with a moaning female voice. Consider your hackles risen!😱

excerpt only

Anyways, here is that first track "Risky" from the album of the same name, sans spooky voice (although there is some sexy exhalation in there...I'd take that). At the end, vocalist Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）poses the question "Where do we go?".

Well, let's go to another track "Itoshii Hito yo Good Night" (My Dearie, Good Night) which also happened to be the duo's 7th single released in October 1990. The song was also tagged as the first B'z ballad to be released as a single, and it sounds like a song that should have been added to the "Top Gun" soundtrack. Just something about that proud and elegiac guitar in the intro and the more emotional heft in Inaba's vocals.

However, it was actually made into the ending theme for the TV Asahi drama "Daihyo Torishimayaku Deka"（代表取締役刑事...Representative Director Detective） from that same year. Well, we've had a busybody maid, two housewives and high school students become sleuths on live-action TV from my memories. Why not a representative director?

Not surprisingly, "Itoshii Hito yo Good Night" hit No. 1 and went Platinum, selling 354,000 copies according to Wikipedia. It would become the 62nd-ranked single for 1990. As for "Risky" the album, it was truly the gift that kept on giving (spooky-voiced copies aside) because it wouldn't only be the 26th-ranked album of 1990, but also the 10th-ranked album for 1991 and finally the 50th-ranked album for 1992. In total, it sold almost 1.7 million copies! For the record stores and supervising studio, not risky at all! Incidentally, "Easy Come, Easy Go!", a previous single, is also included on the album.

B'z -- Hadashi no Megami（裸足の女神）

When I was reading about the subject of this article in J-Wiki, I discovered the term Being Boom. In terms of 1990s J-Pop, I knew about the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）boom and then the later rise of Hello Project going into the 2000s but didn't know about this exact term. However, I knew about the success of the artists it depicted. Being Incorporated is the entertainment juggernaut that represented acts such as TUBE, Zard, Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）, and Wands. And so, I went "Ah...naruhodo".

Of course, another mighty engine in the Being steamroller is B'z through the subsidiary Vermillion. Anyways, what got me to start the article on "Hadashi no Megami" (Barefoot Goddess) was finding its lyrics in one of my ancient copies of "Young Song", the booklet of the hit songs of the time which was always inserted in the monthly editions of "Myojo"（明星）, the famous music magazine. The thumbnail above is a shot of that page for those lyrics.

"Hadashi no Megami" was B'z's 13th single from June 1993 and what can I say...it's a darn cool tune. As usual, it's vocalist Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）taking care of the lyrics and Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）behind the music and arrangement. The story here is Inaba reassuring the titular barefoot goddess that though the world may be full of snakes and broken ladders ready to betray her in love as has been the case recently, she'll be able to push through and become stronger for it when the sun rises once more.

What got me hooked onto the song was that persistent thrumming throughout it, kinda like the world's most dependable vehicle to take folks out of harm's way. Usually with a B'z tune, I expect a lot of action and drama, and with "Hadashi no Megami", I also get the addition of an optimistic vibe. Inaba and Matsumoto promise a smooth ride and a happy ending over the horizon.

Not surprising as well was the fact that the song became yet another No. 1 for the duo for two straight weeks in June 1993, ultimately selling over 1.7 million copies and becoming their 6th straight million-seller which broke the record of consecutive million sellers that had been held by 1970s duo Pink Lady. "Hadashi no Megami" would become the 5th-ranked single of the year and is currently B'z's 4th-most successful hit. In terms of the Oricon historically successful singles, it ranks in at No. 47. It also first showed up on an album via their first BEST compilation "B'z The Best 'Pleasure'" from May 1998, which is in itself a historic album by being the 2nd-highest release in Oricon history.

Finally, as the cherry on the top of this sundae, "Hadashi no Megami" even became the commercial song for the Toyota Corolla Levin.

My Heisei by J-Canuck

As I write this, Japan is now in the last 24 hours of the Heisei Era, a period of time that I was happy to have spent much of in Gunma and then Tokyo/Chiba. Of course, being the sentimental and nostalgic guy I am, I've decided to put out a small list of the singers and bands which fairly screamed "HEISEI" to me. I'm not going to so much highlight any particular songs but rather put them up as representatives in this Author's Picks this time around...just the artists themselves. Moreover, this is a personal list; I'm not basing this on Oricon charts and numbers of albums sold. It's all about the affection for certain folks that hit the big time during this time, and to be honest, my picks will mostly be in the 1990s.

1. Wink

"Samishii Nettaigyo" was a title that I couldn't remember or say at all even though this was a Wink single that had just gone gangbusters when it was released in July 1989, a few weeks before my arrival in Gunma Prefecture to teach at the junior high schools there. All I could say was "that WINK song"! With expressions and movements reminiscent of porcelain dolls, Sachiko Suzuki and Shoko Aida struck me as being the anti-aidoru: no smiling and no skipping around. Their time at the top was relatively brief but boy, did they pack their hits in.

2. B'z

As I mentioned in the actual article for "Bad Communication", this was the song that woke me up during my mornings in the first year of my Gunma stay because of Rie Miyazawa in those computer commercials. Takahiro Matsumoto and Koshi Inaba did it fun and did it loud and have continued to do so right to the end of Heisei with other rockers such as "Be There" and "Love Phantom". I always wondered which would win the ultimate battle between Inaba's voice and Matsumoto's guitar.

3. Kazumasa Oda

(covered by Chris Hart)

Still awfully hard to find any of his original solo songs on YouTube but that hasn't deterred me to include the former member of Off-Course on the list since this was an artist who managed to come up with his own sound separate from the one that he and his bandmates created back in the 70s and 80s. "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni" was just one example of how he put together those synthesizers and those other instruments to come up with tunes for himself and other singers that would put him up as an urban contemporary balladeer in the last decade of the 20th century.

4. Namie Amuro

I guess for a lot of people that when Namie Amuro announced her retirement from the music business a couple of years ago, they figured that the Heisei Era really was heading for its end. She was one of the first singers that I heard on landing at Narita to start my second stint as an English teacher, this time in Tokyo. She wasn't just dynamic, she was a dynamo! Dancing, singing, showing off her fashion, Amuro started off a pop cultural trend all her own for a few years and I think she was one of the factors in the Komuro Boom that took over J-Pop for the middle years in the 90s. In fact, I still remember being in an Ikebukuro game centre one Saturday night and while my friend was doing his games, I was in a music video capsule watching her "a walk in the park".

5. Ayumi Hamasaki

I wasn't ever a huge fan of Ayumi Hamasaki but as much as Amuro had taken the Japanese pop world by storm around the middle of the 1990s, Hamasaki carved her huge slice of the pop culture pie by the end of that decade and into the new century. There isn't too much exaggeration involved here when I say that ads plugging her next big single and her appearances on "Countdown TV" were basically everywhere.

6. Dreams Come True

This was another band that was making its mark especially in the early 1990s. When I saw that "Music Station" episode on my host family's TV back in 1989 and Dreams Come True make that introduction with a beaming ear-to-ear Miwa Yoshida declaring herself in English, I felt that there was a seismic shift in pop music. I had equated Dreams Come True as a Japanese version of Swingout Sister but that wasn't quite accurate. They also had their own unique voice of sunny uptempo songs and heartbreak ballads.

7. Sing Like Talking

These guys may not have become hugely known on television per se, but I am so glad that I found out about Chikuzen Sato's amazing band and purely by mistaken identity. Cool and urban with plenty of soul, Sing Like Talking was a group that I had thought was another band whose name and output have largely disappeared from my memory. SLT, on the other hand, has stuck with me all these years and I've got a number of their albums to show for it.

8. Misia 

It was through the above video that I first got to know Misia. She among a few others symbolized my opinion that good ol' soul was coming back into Japanese popular music for a while from the late 90s, and that voice of hers was just incredible. One of my wishes that she will participate in the Opening Ceremonies for next year's Olympics...preferably to do a cover of Minako Yoshida's "TOWN".

9. Morning Musume

Just when I thought that the concept of female aidoru had gone onto the pop culture heap of history, Tsunku from Sharam Q took this group of runners-up in a television show singing contest and molded them into the core for Hello! Project. Morning Musume had some successes in their early years, but "Love Machine" in 1999 was the booster rocket that sent them soaring, and for a few years, the hits and the TV shows and the new members kept rolling in. It might be all about the alphabet teams now but for me and some of my contemporaries, Morning Musume was our beloved girl group.

10. SMAP

As was the case with Hamasaki, I was never a dedicated fan of SMAP's music although I did buy a few of their singles such as "Celery" and the super-catchy "Shake". But again, for many years, it just seemed that every one of their songs was destined to reach the top of the Oricon charts or at least hover in the Top 10 for several weeks. It didn't hurt either that all of the members achieved fame in other facets of mass media as well through dramas, variety shows, specials and commercials. I did enjoy my "Bistro SMAP", and wouldn't it have been something if it had still stayed on the air to host The Avengers?

My list is not a complete one by any means but I did want to keep things at 10, and obviously any music memories that you might have of the Heisei Era may be vastly different from mine. So I offer the invitation to commenters and fellow contributors alike...if you have your own Heisei list, by all means, let us know! Meanwhile, let's get ready for Reiwa.

B'z -- Sekai wa Anata no Iro ni Naru（世界はあなたの色になる）/Mai Kuraki -- SAWAGE☆LIFE

As usual, Thursdays at 6:30 is time for "Case Closed", aka "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン）, the adventures of the pint-sized master detective.

Usually it's a case of take-it-or-leave-it when it comes to the large store of "Conan" opening and ending themes. Obviously, the ones that appear here on KKP are the ones that I have actually enjoyed. And in this case, I am currently liking both opening and ending themes for the 2016 season of the show (apparently TV Japan is about two and a half years behind).

The 43rd opening theme, "Sekai wa Anata no Iro ni Naru" (The World Becomes Your Colour) by B'z is a digital download from October 2016. As the original song, I could only find the actual opening credits, and therefore, truncated version (just the opposite now😖). I have to say that the song which was also written and composed by the B'z boys, is helped a lot by that opening sequence that has almost every character in battle mode, and heck, even snarky Haibara looks scared! The song strikes me as being a bit reminiscent of late Beatles with the inclusion of those strings. "Sekai" reached No. 1 on iTunes and was ranked No. 50 for that year according to the mora music store.

The 52nd ending theme, "SAWAGE☆LIFE" (Exciting Life) by Mai Kuraki（倉木麻衣）was also a digital download from July 2016. It comes across to me as this quiet rock strut that could have been sung by someone like Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku Girls. Again the ending credits are of a cast-participatory variety with the Detective Boys and the high school buddies of Ran, Sonoko and Masumi deciding to get the band together. The cheerleading element of the song has dug itself into my brain. While Kuraki wrote the lyrics, Alaina Beaton and Bobby Huff took care of the melody.

J-Canuck's 90s Playlist

Yup, don't those 90s CD singles look cute? If I were at one of my old music store haunts such as RECOfan right now, they would probably be going for something like 50 yen a disc. Would like to peruse the bins again someday.

Good evening, folks! And in commemoration of the 7th anniversary of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I would like to put out my 90s playlist...those go-to songs from the decade of the Komuro Boom, guitar pop/rock bands and the return of aidoru via Hello Project. I think it was about time since it was at the end of 2013 that I put out the 80s playlist and the middle of 2014 when the 70s playlist got written up. So it's been about 4.5 years between the last time and this list. Also, another reason for finally putting up the 90s list is that I was inspired by Noelle herself putting up her 60s playlist.

As with those lists, I searched the old memories for my favourite Top 10 from the 1990s, and once again, it was another lip-biting and mind-grimacing process of whittling down the list to just ten entries. So, for example, I had to sadly let go entries by Dreams Come True, Pizzicato Five and Original Love. The interesting difference between this list and the other two lists is that for a lot of the songs here, I was actually in Japan when they first saw the light of day due to my time on the JET Programme and then my early years as an inhabitant in Ichikawa.

So, without further ado...

1. Kazumasa Oda -- Love Story wa Totsuzen ni (1991): Finding the Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）original is currently impossible (as it usually is) although there are plenty of covers, so let me go with Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）here. I realize that this hit was going up against Chage & Aska's "Say Yes", but in the end, I had to go with this magnum opus by the lead singer of Off-Course（オフコース）. What is it about "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni"（ラブ・ストーリーは突然にー）that still continues to thrill me right from the intro? It just seems to possess that feeling of excitement and drama of living in one of the world's biggest cities as these complicated love relationships play out on Fuji-TV.

2. Noriyuki Makihara -- Donna Toki mo (1991): From the drama of "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni" in the early months, I encountered the happy joy of Makihara's（槇原敬之）"Donna Toki mo"（どんなときも）just when I finished my time on JET and did a final trip around southwestern Japan. I was so drawn by this song that whenever I got into a department store, I made sure that I coursed through every CD shop to track the single down. I finally got it after a few tries. Yeah, my first attempts only saw it sold out.

3. trf -- Boy Meets Girl (1994): I had heard of this technopop tune even before I made my return trip to Japan at the end of 1994. Never heard of trf, never knew about Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）creating his huge steamroller of acts and never realized that "Boy Meets Girl" was meant to sell cola. All I did know was that this song was percolating through my head for days. It ended up being one of the first CD singles that I bought during my Ichikawa life.

4. Sing Like Talking -- Mitsumeru Ai de (1994): And to think that I bought my first SLT album, "Discovery", as a pure mistake. Best mistake that I ever committed. Thus started my happy hunt to get more of their albums, and from "Discovery", I discovered the urban and urbane "Mitsumeru Ai de"（みつめる愛で）created by Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）and keyboardist Satoru Shionoya（塩谷哲）. To be honest, it was difficult to come up with a song by Sing Like Talking since the band has had so many scrumptious contributions but "Together" has already been put up on a couple of lists, and it was time to give some more love to this one.

5. Namie Amuro -- Chase The Chance (1995): Granted that a lot of Amuro（安室奈美恵）fans will probably go with other bigger hits by the just-retired Okinawan singer, but I've always gravitated to "Chase The Chance" for some reason. I guess that I will always be attracted to high-energy tunes that give off that sense of action although this song was used as the theme for a show about a crusading hero chef. Those were good times.

6. B'z -- Love Phantom (1995): For me, if it comes to a B'z ultimate favourite, I would have to go with either "Bad Communication" or "Love Phantom". Considering that this was a promotion song for TV Asahi's broadcast of "The X-Files" (which I did watch on my remote-less, dial-only TV every Wednesday night), this may go down as the quintessential cool J-Halloween song. I can no longer listen to this song without images of Mulder, Scully and Fluke Man forming in my head.

7. Toko Furuuchi -- Dare Yori Suki Nanoni (1996): Another beautiful ballad to remind me that some soul music still existed since the transition from kayo kyoku to J-Pop. Whenever I think of the 90s brand of popular Japanese music, "Dare Yori Suki Nanoni"（誰より好きなのに）never fails to pop up in the head. The arrangement of Furuuchi's（古内東子）representative song also has me thinking back to the 1980s. It's no surprise that it has been covered by other singers since its release.

8. Maki Ohguro -- Atsukunare (1996): As much as one of my favourite songs by Furuuchi always calms me down, Maki Ohguro's（大黒摩季）"Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）works very well in getting my blood flowing at beyond the official speed limit. In fact, I'm typing faster (and making more typos) since I'm listening to it as I get this paragraph down. NHK chose wisely in adopting this for the 1996 Games in Atlanta, and I can hope that the network can find a song that ups the ante in excitement for the 2020 Games next year.

9. Misia -- Tsutsumikomuyouni (1998): Man, did Misia make a splash. Along with Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）and bird, the three of them along with some other artists heralded a J-R&B boom, and Misia brought some good old-fashioned R&B of years past and present. "Tsutsumikomuyouni"（つつむ込むように）is still a title that has problems sticking in my head due to its length and pronunciation, but there is no doubt about the music there.

10. Morning Musume -- Love Machine (1999): At the beginning of the 1990s, I do remember aidoru acts such as Wink and CoCo, but then it seemed like the whole teenybopper thing that wound its way through the decades since the 1960s finally petered out. For a lot of my time in the final decade of the 20th century in Japan, female aidoru struck me as being extinct although Johnny's Entertainment had SMAP and other groups going on the male side of things. But then came the whole Tsunku-led Hello Project umbrella of aidoru groups and individual aidoru, and it all started with Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）. Things were moving slowly but steadily in the early years of the group but then it all exploded into super fame and popularity with "Love Machine"（LOVEマシーン）, and soon, the various members were showing up on their own myriad TV programs for a few years before more groups started forming. "Love Machine" became the funky choice to sing at the various karaoke boxes and year-end parties before the turn of the century, and Morning Musume took a new electrifying direction in their career.

Man, that was quite the decade, and there were so many other songs and singers that I would have loved to have included in the list, but I'm keeping it to ten. However, if any of the fellow collaborators would like to give their own 90s lists, they're more than welcome and commenters are also very welcome to provide their own contributions.

B'z -- Alone

Amazing the things that one can learn. All these years that I've still been listening to my old 80s songs from both sides of the Pacific, and I hadn't known that there was an actual term to describe one of the biggest sound cliches in the music from that decade. You can listen to it above.

Yes, I didn't know about the term "orchestra hit". But I certainly heard it all the time in various songs, and I think the go-to tune for me was Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

When I was reading the J-Wiki article for B'z's "Alone", I read that the intro for the recorded version utilized the orchestra hit, which is how I learned of the term.

As for "Alone", B'z could make solitude or loneliness sound really cool. This was the duo's 9th single released in October 1990 with vocalist Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）behind the lyrics and guitarist Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）taking care of the music. According to the J-Wiki article, Matsumoto had long wanted to make a major ballad for a rock band and Inaba said that "...he had always wanted to make this type of song".

There is something very Queen and classical and maybe even regal about "Alone" as Inaba sings about a person who is alone again after the end of a relationship. I think the person is still hurting to an extent, but he/she is also saying that better days are around the corner. Perhaps "Alone" has been the ideal tonic for folks at karaoke to get over heartbreak.

"Alone" is quite the fine title in terms of B'z's success at that time and right now since Inaba and Matsumoto were always at the top alone. The song was yet another No. 1 hit (for 2 weeks) as it became a Triple Platinum million seller and found itself the 10th-ranked single of the year. A year later at the end of 1992, it would still rank at No. 56. "Alone" was also a track on B'z's 5th original album, "In the Life", which came out in November 1991. Not surprisingly, it was also a No. 1 hit, the 2nd-biggest selling album for 1992 and the 77th-ranked album for 1993 and sold over 2 million copies.

B'z -- Easy Come, Easy Go!

Time for some of that B'z sound once more, and for today, this will be through the duo's 6th single "Easy Come, Easy Go!"

Released in October 1990, and of course, written by vocalist Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）and composed by guitarist Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）, I was reading in the J-Wiki article on the song about how there was opposition from people around the duo about making this an actual single, and apparently there were record and CD shops when the powers-that-be were making visits to them to campaign for "Easy Come, Easy Go!" that simply remarked that the song was too blah to sell successfully.

I gather with that story behind it, this single was well-named then. To be frank, "Easy Come, Easy Go!" isn't exactly my favourite B'z song with other singles such as "Bad Communication" and "Love Phantom" easily ranking over this one. What it has is the remembered title and the nostalgic aspect of the melody in a "Aw, yeah...I remember this one!" sort of way.

Still, "Easy Come, Easy Go!" proved the naysayers wrong. It went Platinum, hitting the No. 1 spot on Oricon and staying there for 3 straight weeks, the first B'z single to hang in there on top for more than 2 weeks. Selling over 470,000 copies, it ended up as the 28th-ranked single of 1990. It also ended up on a number of albums, the first one being "Risky", B'z's 4th original album from November 1990 which also hit No. 1. The album quickly ranked in at No. 26 on the annual charts for that year and even became the 10th-ranked release for 1991. Still hung in there for 1992 as well by charting in at No. 50. Becoming a million-seller was pretty much fait accompli.

The single was re-released in 2003 and charted in at No. 7.

J-Canuck's Earworms

As much as the departing airplane has been my unofficial logo for the genre of Japanese City Pop, I think for me, the Ceti Alpha eel from "Star Trek II -- The Wrath of Khan" (still the best "Star Trek" movie in the entire franchise) will be unofficial symbol for the musical earworm.

But unlike the eel and poor Commander Chekov's and Captain Terrell's reactions in the scene above, I've happily accepted my earworms wrapping around my cerebral cortex over the years. And since I've mentioned some of my favourites as such, I've decided to give a list here of some of those great tunes. Now, I've separated my choices by genre, and by no means is this the ultimate comprehensive list of my favourite earworms. That would go way too long past my bedtime. These are merely the representatives and they've each been covered already in past articles so I won't be providing too much of a commentary but of course, they've been linked to the original articles. So, here goes.

J-Rock: B'z -- Love Phantom

Still marvel how well this song fit as the companion tune for TV Asahi's broadcast of "The X-Files". There should have been a video made with clips from the old show to go along with "Love Phantom".

Anime: KMM Dan -- Witch Activity

After I saw the ending credits to "Witchcraft Works" for the first time, it took all of my strength once I got home NOT to end up watching the YouTube video for "Witch Activity" ten times in succession. That tickety-tackety delivery by the seiyuu and the technopop...damn you, TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND! Perhaps out of all of the genres here, I think anime has got the largest crop of earworms.

City Pop: Tatsuro Yamashita -- Itsuka

Such an uplifting song that whenever I need it, I play it! So cheerful and it comes with bass that hits the pavement like Size 14 shoes. Tough call but this may be my favourite Tats song.

City Pop: Mariya Takeuchi -- Plastic Love

I was surprised and delighted that "Plastic Love" has been given a second life, so to speak, after being discovered by the Japanese Future Funksters and/or Vaporwavers. Kinda wonder if Takeuchi herself has realized all of these YouTubing fans going ga-ga over one of the most urban contemporary songs that she has created. Believe me, folks, I empathize...I think at one point, I was putting this on repeat play. (Feb. 27 2018: One of my other go-to websites, "Know Your Meme" has given the "Plastic Love" phenomenon meme status.)

Aidoru: Morning Musume -- The Peace

Yup, even more than "Love Machine". The catchy chant, a bit of old-style jazz and full-on disco. I never stood a chance! I think this earworm gave multiple births in my head.

Enka: Takashi Hosokawa -- Kokoro Nokori

Indeed, I've had earworms in this genre too. I fell in love with the sax in the intro and there was that drum-and-strings riff which comes tumbling down just before Hosokawa sings that has stuck with me all these decades. One of my memories involved me at a family friend's house on New Year's Day while being right beside the stereo with a digital display that absolutely bubbled when our host played "Kokoro Nokori".

Pop: Eri Hiramatsu -- Suteki na Renaissance

Wanted to have a representative from the straight pop genre so I went with Hiramatsu's "Suteki na Renaissance". It's those jingly keyboards and Eri's happy delivery. So very early 90s!

Aidoru: Akina Nakamori -- Lonely Journey

Perhaps at this point, Nakamori was already transitioning from popular aidoru to pop superstar but I can't deny that "Lonely Journey" was also a song that took up long-term residence in my head. Catchy and cool...I never mentioned this in the original article but I think this could have been a good theme song for a cop show.

Technopop: Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Rydeen

What can I say about "Rydeen"? If there were an ultimate theme song for not just YMO but for techno kayo in general, this would be it. I remember being especially desperate to get this song into my collection.

Well, these are some of the earworms that have infected me over the decades. What are yours?