I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
True to age and the state of my memory, I was on the way to create an article on 1970's folk group Belle's"Coffee Ippai no Shiawase"（コーヒー一杯の幸福）...only to realize that I had already done so way back in 2021. Not sure if I should be increasing or reducing my intake of coffee on that situation.
Anyways, to compensate, I did find an earlier 1975 single by Belle called "Denwa" (Telephone). In terms of arrangement, it has a similar style to that of "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase": quite lush and classical (with that familiar background chorus of the 1970s), although this time, it even has a hint of exotic kayo through the use of one particular instrument that I can't readily identify. Both songs were created by Masami Koizumi（小泉まさみ）. Also, another common point between the two is that it involves a reunion between two former lovers; of course, the phone is the connector here.
One of the many things that I have missed about living in Japan is the privately-owned coffeehouse. I mean I was OK with places like Starbucks, Doutor and Excelsior Coffee but it was those cafés in the neighbourhoods of Tokyo and surrounding environs that had their own cozy ambience that I really appreciated. The coffee may have been expensive but I think the experience was well worth it.
Just today (in fact, only within the last 30 minutes), I discovered this folk group called Belle which had its time in the 1970s. There's nothing about them up on J-Wiki and very little information elsewhere online, aside from the covers of their singles which show a four-man band. Apparently, they had a couple of notable songs at least.
One such song is "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase"*(A Coffee Cup of Happiness) which was written and composed by Masami Koizumi（小泉まさみ）who wasn't a part of the band although he did have his own folk group called Koizumi Masami & Kongari Toast（小泉まさみ&こんがりトースト...Masami Koizumi & Dark Toast）. It's a wistful and slightly baroque number about a young man sending a letter to a former flame and wondering how she's been doing. The main reminiscence is set around their old haunt of a coffee shop that they used to frequent despite the fact that the guy was no coffee fan.
As for the release year, I've been seeing 1974 and 1976. Belle had participated in the Yamaha Popular Song Contest, so from what I remember of the pattern of songs and bands regarding this competition, the band probably entered the 1974 contest with "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase" and then perhaps the song was released as a single in 1976. However, I will throw in the two years in Labels just to cover all of the bases. It's indeed a pleasant ballad with the harpsichord (I think) and the strings.
*From the kanji reading, it's actually supposed to read "Coffee Ippai no Koufuku" but I gather that Koizumi and Belle preferred to have the warmer term of shiawase as the furigana. However, if someone can confirm this for me, I'd appreciate that.
