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.
Ah...yes. Shiroi Koibito（白い恋人...White Lovers）...commenter Brian Mitchell (who lives in Aomori Prefecture) and a lot of Japanese travelers ought to know the above wafer cookie very well. I even bought some of them myself as souvenirs. It's one of the more famous ones from the Tohoku area and it goes well with coffee or tea.
Now, I realize that it's Urban Contemporary Friday but when I was watching Jme earlier tonight, I was quickly reminded that March 14th is indeed White Day, the day when the guys give their own version of Valentine's Day chocolates to the gals at school or in the office. So it's a bit of a rush job and after looking out for the appropriate songs on this list, I just didn't want to throw all that out and wait until tomorrow, so the fifth slot today will be for songs that have the word "white" or "shiroi" in their titles.
Since I was a child, my family had often used the Japanese term "buranko" for a swing. But considering that it was written in katakana and it sounded like something non-Japanese such as "bronco", I wondered about its origins. Apparently, one theory states that "buranko" originated from the Portuguese word for "swing", "balanço", which sounds pretty solid to me.
Anyways, I heard "Shiroi Buranko"(White Swing) for the first time on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）the other day. Interested, I then turned to YouTube for the original version by the folk brother duoBilly BanBan（ビリーバンバン）. It turned out to be the veteran group's debut single from January 1969 and there's nothing like a lone piercing trumpet to bring back the kayo nostalgia, and this is what "Shiroi Buranko" is all about: reminiscing about past times including enjoying a swing on the swing.
Written by Nahomi Kodaira（小平なほみ）and composed by one of the brothers from Billy BanBan, Susumu Sugawara（菅原進）, as his very first composition, the languid rhythm and the brothers' singing make it really easy to sigh wistfully and remember the past. According to the J-Wiki writeup on "Shiroi Buranko", the song was created in 1966 and inspired by Susumu when he was sitting on a swing at singer-songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi's（浜口庫之助）house in Daikanyama, Tokyo while he was a student at Hamaguchi's music college.
Once the song was released, it eventually sold 150,000 records and became a hit. It would also spark the boom in sibling-based folk duos for a while.
I found this short and sweet folk song some weeks ago.
"Kaze ga Hakobu Mono", whose official English title is "Voice in the Wind", is folk singer Rutsuko Honda's（本田路津子）2nd single from February 1971. At only two-and-a-half minutes long, indeed it's short but it's also a very pleasant song performed with a pure voice by the Fukuoka-born Honda. I can just see her singing this under a summer tree with her guitar while a gentle breeze is flowing through the branches. Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）would provide the lyrics of sending her love through the wind while Susumu Sugawara（菅原進）from the folk duo Billy BanBan（ビリーバンバン）took care of the music.
I have to admit, though, considering that I have a passing interest in Japanese names, I was intrigued by Ms. Honda's first name. And according to her profile on J-Wiki, there is a reason behind what is considered to be a rather unusual given name for her. Both her parents were Christians (although in J-Wiki, it's pointed out that Honda herself didn't convert to Christianity until she got married) and so she was named after The Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible with some wrangling over the appropriate kanji to express the name.
Although at the time, a lot of folk fans (and presumably artists, too) were in thrall to Joan Baez, Honda actually admitted that she was more of an admirer of Judy Collins. Between 1970 and 1975, she would release 13 singles and 7 albums, and would appear on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen for the 1971 and 1972 shows (although not for this particular song). In 1975, she got married and would move to the United States, and after returning to Japan in 1988, Honda would become a gospel singer.
A few months ago, I introduced the fraternal folk duo Billy Ban Ban（ビリーバンバン）via their late 2010s single, "Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru"（また君に恋してる）, a ballad that also became further popularized by enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto's（坂本冬美）cover version.
But I figured that I had heard about Billy Ban Ban for years and years, I should also write about their early era, and this was one of their big hits, "Sayonara wo Suru Tame ni"(To Say Goodbye) from February 1972. It stands out for an arrangement that is sprinkled with classical violin and characterized by those wonderful harmonies between Takashi and Susumu Sugawara（菅原孝・菅原進）. At times, the ballad makes me think more of France than it does Japan.
As I said, "Sayonara wo Suru Tame ni" was a huge success for Billy Ban Ban as it hit No. 1 on Oricon and even became the 3rd-ranked single for 1972, selling approximately 800,000 records. That also meant that NHK came on calling and so the duo made their first appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen that year.
Ironically, though, there was some consternation over Billy Ban Ban's 10th single. At the time, the Sugawaras had been in a slump and they hadn't gotten that really big follow-up hit since their debut single, "Shiroi Buranko"（白いブランコ...White Swing）in 1969. But when "Sayonara wo Suru Tame ni" was placed onto their collective laps, younger brother Susumu initially refused to have anything to do with the recording because he had felt that it was a source of shame for folk singers having to sing something that was not one of their own creations. Certainly, "Sayonara wo Suru Tame ni" wasn't created by the brothers but by lyricist Koji Ishizaka（石坂浩二）and composer Koichi Sakata（坂田晃一）.
Ishizaka's input was a bit of a surprise because I had been seeing him all these decades on TV as an actor and TV personality. Strangely enough, he was one of the stars on the NTV drama "San-chome Yon-banchi"（3丁目4番地...District 3, House Number 4）that had "Sayonara wo Suru Tame ni" as the theme song. Obviously, cooler heads prevailed and the show went on....much to their success.
According to J-Wiki, "Sayonara wo Suru Tame ni" has been covered by various artists in the years since its release, adding to its legacy. One example is Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）who covered it in her September 1983 album of cover songs, "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai"（あの日に帰りたい）. Her version has a lighter pop touch although it still retains that drama of the original.
Amazing what a sake commercial can do for a song. Well, actually, I'm not sure whether it was the song that enhanced the ad or vice versa, but whenever I hear this number, I can only remember this one.
I believe that is actor Koji Matoba（的場浩司）, a fellow that I used to know for playing insolent punks back in the day, in ancient warrior garb making that mad dash for the camera. Ordinarily, I would have snarked that he really needed that drink, but with this ballad playing in the background, the ad now comes across as an epic scene from a period romance in the Edo Era in which the samurai is desperately catching up to his lady love who he hasn't seen in weeks or months.
The song is "Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru" (I'm In Love With You Again) by Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）. Usually my image of Sakamoto is that she gives out plenty of brio-laden enka tunes, but this ballad is purely pop. In fact, according to the Wikipedia article for the song, when Sakamoto had her first looks at the song, she had it pointed out by the original singer that it was indeed pop when she had initially thought about asking for the song to be changed slightly where the refrain comes in at "...mata kimi ni..." and the tone goes high there. She'd felt that it was a little unnatural for her, but he stated that this was perfectly OK in the pop oeuvre and that the vocal ramp-up was used a lot in British (!) music.
In all honesty, that particular part in the refrain is the most recognizable part of "Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru" for me, and it's what makes the song. Veteran lyricist Goro Matsui（松井五郎）provided the words while guitarist Masaaki Mori（森正明）was given the composer credits; apparently, a lot of other musicians including had a hand in the crafting of the song, but ultimately, it was decided that Mori would be the official composer.
"Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru" was released as the coupling song for Sakamoto's 37th single in January 2009, "Asia no Kaizoku"（アジアの海賊...Pirates of Asia）. Any remaining doubts that Sakamoto had held probably dissipated quite quickly as the single went Platinum and eventually as high as No. 3 on Oricon. It later became the 14th-ranked single for 2010, and it was so popular that the singer got to sing it in succeeding Kohaku Utagassen shows in 2009 and 2010.
The intriguing thing is, though (and I've already hinted at it above), that as much as this tune has become one of Sakamoto's trademark songs, it's actually a cover of a single that folk duo Billy BanBan（ビリーバンバン）had released twice, starting a couple of years earlier in November 2007 and then August 2009 (probably with the success of Sakamoto's cover) as their 31st and 32nd singles.
I finally get to write about Billy BanBan since I've heard about these guys for years and was interested just on the name of the duo alone. Like another folk duo, Bread & Butter, Billy BanBan is a brother act with Takashi and Susumu Sugawara（菅原孝・菅原進）from Tokyo. They have been performing since 1969 (although there was a break between 1976 and 1983), so I was a little surprised on finding out that they were the original singers for such a contemporary song. The guitarist-composer, Masaaki Mori, that I mentioned a few paragraphs above happens to be a member of Billy BanBan's backing band.
The original version sounds even softer going towards the folksier side of things, and I love the gentle harmony between the Sugawara brothers in the refrain. Their "Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru" did more modestly by hitting No. 72, marking the first time in 36 years that Billy BanBan got into the Top 100 again. Interestingly enough, the original also got to adorn the same brand of sake in a commercial.
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