Nobue Matsubara -- Enka Michi（演歌みち）

Yahoo News

Unfortunately, this week of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" will begin with some sad news from the Japanese music industry. Along with a number of famous people in the USA and UK who have passed away recently, I also have to inform readers that veteran enka singer Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）died suddenly yesterday at the age of 65 although the cause hasn't yet been determined definitively. I found out last night through the Mixi news feed.

Born as Nobue Hirohara（廣原伸恵）and raised in Oita Prefecture, she was scouted into the show business industry as a junior high school senior and made the move to Tokyo while in high school. "Onna no Defune"（おんなの出船）was her debut single in 1979 which earned her a Best New Artist prize in a number of competitions. She would have to wait several years until the invitation from NHK came for her to appear on the 1985 Kohaku Utagassen to sing that hit song, though.

Matsubara made a total of seven appearances on the Kohaku between 1985 and 1992. Her second appearance came at the end of 1986, thanks to her 10th single released in June 1985, "Enka Michi" (The Path of Enka). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, it comes across as a bittersweet telling of the life of an enka singer with all of its ups and downs. I'm not sure whether it was meant to be autobiographical or just a general impression of a career of someone in the industry. 

My condolences go out to Matsubara's family, friends and many fans. Her 67th and final single, "Tsutenkaku no Sora no Shita"（通天閣の空の下...Under the Sky of Tsutenkaku） was only released last October.

Sayuri Ishikawa -- Daikon no Hana（だいこんの花）

Wikimedia Commons

Yes, I realize that 85% to 90% of all plants have flowers but I hadn't been aware that the typical daikon was one of them. Of course for me, when it comes to daikon, I always think of the root part being grated into that pungent-tasting condiment for fish and tempura.

That is why question marks popped up around my head while I was watching enka legend Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）perform "Daikon no Hana" (Daikon Flowers) on the weekly broadcast of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）a couple of days ago. How would one make a song about these blossoms that I hadn't heard about?

Well, feel free to ask lyricist Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）since they were the ones behind Ishikawa's 97th single from March 2010. Yoshioka's lyrics read like a gentle treatise on how to approach life with all of its hills and valleys; the daikon blossoms only show up in one line as Ishikawa sings about how they will still be there as constantly as the sun rising up. Often when I've heard the singer perform recently, there's been a certain playfulness in her delivery but with "Daikon no Hana", that's been replaced by a reassuring grace and wisdom.

I've also realized that this is the first time that Ishikawa has been on the byline for an article since 2022. Good to see her again in the pages of KKP.

Mitsuko Nakamura -- Izakaya Banashi（居酒屋ばなし）

 

It was almost a month ago that I posted up enka singer Mitsuko Nakamura's（中村美津子）March 2025 72nd single, the brio-laden "Uta da yo! Jinsei"（歌だよ!人生）that should have a certain generation of karaoke enthusiasts singing its praises, especially in the final week of this year.

Well, the coupling song is a bit less fiery but it's also quite wholesome and reassuring just like a veteran custodian of an old-fashioned bar in Japan. In fact, the title of this enka ditty is "Izakaya Banashi" (Izakaya Talk) which sounds like two enka tunes in one. There is the main major-chord song with a slight diversion into a minor-chord number for one verse, as if composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）were musically bringing to life Reiji Mizuki's（水木れいじ）lyrics of that mama-san in the izakaya welcoming back an old customer who'd been transferred from Osaka to the Tokyo branch and then listening to his grievances on work and women for a bit before bringing his spirits back up.

Mitsuko Nakamura -- Uta da yo! Jinsei（歌だよ!人生）

 

I figure that the scenes like the one above will become even more frequent as we near the end of the year in Japan, and all of those bonenkai start up once more. All of those business workers have got to gush all of that stress from their systems at the year-end parties and subsequent karaoke sessions.

Well, I guess that the karaoke song menus now have one more boisterous tune to get the salarymen and women to scream their lungs out while dousing themselves in beer and other libations. This is "Uta da yo! Jinsei" (Life is Music!), the March 2025 72nd single for enka singer Mitsuko Nakamura（中村美津子）. Written by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, this is one charming barnburner of a song celebrating all that is life and music, a philosophy that I can wholeheartedly embrace although the chances of me getting drunk with a necktie wrapped around my forehead while singing out my own lungs are now very remote. Mind you, I can imagine a number of folks throughout the generations sharing the same level of brio that Nakamura does to sing their hearts out. Reserve those karaoke boxes when you can!

Fumiya Tokodai -- Samui Kuni kara kita Tegami（寒い国から来た手紙）

 

Another "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）graduate-turned-professional enka singer made his presence known to me recently on an episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. He's got quite the interesting name, too, and I've been one to have a passing interest in Japanese family names, especially the rarer ones. Fumiya Toshidai（戸子台ふみや）has a family name that I had never heard of before, and he hails from Sapporo, Hokkaido, so perhaps his name is a regional one. 

In any case, that first appearance on "Nodo Jiman" took place a decade ago, and he made his professional debut in 2020 from what I've gleaned. On that episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta", he sang his latest single which was released earlier in March, "Samui Kuni kara kita Tegami" (Letter from a Cold Country).

Written by Kyouno Madoka（円香乃）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, it may be an enka tune but it also has an even more dramatic heft in the arrangement that reminds me of not only a theme from a samurai drama or a Western oater but Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）classic "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" (さらばシベリア鉄道）from 1980.  There's even something in there that also has me thinking tokusatsu superhero drama. However, the lyrics are about a former romance with one person presumably living all by their lonesome in the cold north country. 

Konomi Mori -- Yuugiri Minato（夕霧港）

 

I'm not sure how often it happens during the year, but my family managed to watch a variety special last night featuring some of the star sumo wrestlers and some singers together to perform songs and games. Current ozeki Takayasu（高安）was one of the performers and as you can hear him above, he's no slouch in the karaoke department either. 

The folks here in my household watch examples from both the worlds of sumo and music a lot and we are looking forward to the spring tournament in Osaka starting next week. What I hadn't been aware of, though, was that Takayasu, someone that we are familiar with in the dohyo, has been married to enka singer Konomi Mori（杜このみ）since 2020. Mori is also a singer that we've become familiar with on the usual kayo kyoku shows such as "Uta Con"（うたコン）. I never made the connection, although of course, I know that sumo rikishi and entertainers have gotten married such as former 1970s aidoru Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）and the former Wakashimazu（若嶋津）. 

Mori has been mentioned once on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in Noelle Tham's article on Takashi Hosokawa's（細川たかし）"Bokyo Jonkara" (望郷じょんから) since Mori was a student of the veteran Hosokawa. But I wanted to feature her via her most recent single from July 2024, "Yuugiri Minato" (Port of Evening Mist), a song that she performed on that variety special. Written by Kyouno Madoka（円香乃）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, it is a typical enka of love gained and lost with a pier as the site of reflection with a lot of fog rolling in. It reached No. 48 on Oricon.

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yukimizake（雪見酒）

 

The weathercasters have been stating that the last few days of snow have exceeded the total amount of the white stuff that we got for all of winter last year. I can believe it. I sludged through increasing centimetres of snow in my heavy boots to get some grocery shopping done this morning and my feet still hurt like crazy. I don't usually drink alcohol but I can certainly use a drink right now.

Maybe enka crooner Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）has got the right idea. In August 2010, he had a second release of his 115th single "Oshiroibana"（おしろい花...The White Flower）, and on it, he had an additional coupling song titled "Yukimizake" (Drinking While Viewing the Snow). As the Bing image at the top that I made shows, it can be considered to be one of those melancholy enka about drinking and watching the snow softly falling down to enter a stupor to forget about those romantic issues. What helps is Itsuki's slightly gravelly and reassuring tones as the protagonist internally grapples about an ardent love that hasn't been consummated quite yet for some reason. Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）came up with the tender melody while Miyuki Ishimoto（石本美由起）was the lyricist.

Meanwhile, I'll just keep enjoying my time inside my abode for the rest of today while figuring out how the heck I'm going to be navigating through the white mountains in my neighbourhood tomorrow.

Miyako Otsuki -- Kita no Hate...（北の果て…）

 

Good ol' Kuga's Travel. Taking those rail and ferry trips when we can't easily do so. About a year ago, he took the five-hour Soya Express from Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido, all the way up to Wakkanai, a city which is at the northernmost tip of the prefecture and therefore the northernmost tip of Japan itself. 

Looks like it wasn't just Kuga who wanted to pay tribute to Wakkanai last year. Enka veteran Miyako Otsuki（大月みやこ）made use of her opportunity to sing of the area though her own go-touchi song, "Kita no Hate..." (The North End). Released in March 2022 as her 135th single, it's an enka with a pretty illustrative arrangement thanks to composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）and arranger Norio Ido（伊戸のりお）, reflecting the harsh winter climate while Otsuki, through Suzuko Sawada's（さわだすずこ）lyrics, in alternating soft and then emotional tones, sings of her pursuit of a loved one all the way north. It makes for an interesting lyrical switch since whenever I hear enka, it's usually been the impression that the woman heads somewhere to get away from a broken romance. In a way though, it's quite similar to Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）famous "Hakodate no Hito"（函館の女）where a guy is tracking down his lady love in a Hokkaido city.

I've also noticed that Otsuki will soon be celebrating her 60th anniversary in the singing business, so allow me to send some advanced congratulations to her.

Christine McVie -- Got a Hold on Me

 

Sad to say, but less than a week following the news of Irene Cara's untimely passing, I heard the report that Christine McVie, the keyboardist and vocalist for the band Fleetwood Mac, had died yesterday. My condolences to her family, friends and fans.

Although Fleetwood Mac has been around since 1967 and I also heard the name when I was a wee lad, it really wasn't around the 1980s that I really got to know their music and the people involved. Gradually, I got to know Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks through not only their work in the band but also through their solo creations. 

In terms of the vocalists for Fleetwood Mac, then, McVie was the last person that I got to hear from, and it was through her hit solo single "Got a Hold on Me", created by the singer and guitarist Todd Sharp. Released in January 1984, this upbeat and optimistic song about finally getting that one love after all of the previous trials and tribulations. McVie certainly sounded different from her bandmate Nicks with the former possessing a mellower set of vocal cords. And with "Got a Hold on Me", although it's been categorized as a pop tune, there has been something about the song that struck me as being a crossover country tune in terms of the basic rhythms and McVie's delivery.

In America, "Got a Hold on Me" hit No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 but did even better on its rock and adult contemporary charts by reaching No. 1 in both cases. The song also hit the top of the charts in Canada's RPM Adult Contemporary division, and it got as high as No. 30 on the RPM overall singles chart. I was telling Scott of "Holly Jolly X'Masu" earlier this morning that "Got a Hold on Me" was in such heavy rotation on radio and television back in the day that I was beginning to tire of the song after several weeks. However, giving a listen to it again last night after so long was like hearing from an old friend.

So, what else was hot on the Oricon chart back in January 1984? I will give you Nos. 4, 5 and 6.

4. Anri -- Kanashimi ga Tomaranai (悲しみがとまらない）

5. Jiro Atsumi -- Busan Ko e Kaere (釜山港へ帰れ)

6. Harumi Miyako & Chiaki Oka -- Naniwa Koi Shigure (花恋しぐれ浪)

Kouhei Fukuda -- Furusato Sanga（ふるさと山河）

 

After what my anime buddy told me about heading to the Tohoku region of Japan, especially to the northern city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture, I've been getting a bit of interest in making my way up north. The train routes show that it's not all that difficult to get up there and when I heard about the famed apple pie in Hirosaki, I kinda felt that it may be my type of place. Now, just above this paragraph is a video of the grand Ōu Mountains in Iwate Prefecture, another part of Tohoku.

Speaking of that mountain chain, I'm drawn to enka singer Kouhei Fukuda's（福田こうへい）"Furusato Sanga" (The Mountains and Rivers of Home). The lyrics by Takashi Maki（万城たかし）speak of the Ōu Mountains in very glowing terms, something that is given more significance by Fukuda himself since he hails from Iwate Prefecture. The melody is provided by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, and it's a proud enka filled with brio and enhanced by horns and shakuhachi that would make Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）swell with pride.

(shortened version)

"Furusato Sanga" was paired with "Ichiban Maguro no Uta"（一番マグロの謳）to become a single that was released on New Year's Day this year. It reached No. 5 on Oricon.

Sayuri Ishikawa -- Natsu, Ureshii ne/Osaka no Onna（夏、うれしいね・大阪のおんな）

 

Summer has come back with a blast here today as the heat and humidity have soared once more. The Canadian National Exhibition, one of our local examples of late summer festivities, will be wrapping up its time over the Labour Day weekend. I'm sure that even now the Japanese summer festivals are still being held throughout the nation, although I think the bulk of them got their time last month. All that yukata-wearing, food-noshing, fireworks-viewing and sparkler-holding stuff have become so ingrained into culture that even anime franchises would be lacking if they didn't have a summer festival episode.

I'm covering an entire single by enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）but I'm beginning from the coupling song. "Natsu, Ureshii ne" (Summer's Fun) is an enka/pop tune celebrating the season. Written by Satoshi Tarumi（垂水佐敏）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本真人）, it's a traditional-sounding jaunty song centering around the quintessential scene of romantic couples in their summer garb making the rounds at the festival at night. 

The above video has a number of commercials for mostly Kincho insect repellants, another symbol of summer life in Japan. At 1:00, one ad uses "Natsu, Ureshii ne" as the jingle.

The A-side, so to speak, was Ishikawa's 67th single from July 1995, "Osaka no Onna" (Woman of Osaka). This is definitely solid enka written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, and the lyrics perhaps tell of a story of a woman working at a bar in the titular metropolis falling for one of her customers and quixotically hoping that the magic elixir of sake will change his attitude into a more accommodating one toward her. Well, there are such things called affairs. I didn't see any indication that "Osaka no Onna" was ever used for any commercial dealing with a sake brand, but on second thought, perhaps taking into consideration the lyrics, it was a good thing that it wasn't used in that way.😅

Hiroshi Itsuki/Chiaki Oka -- Yume Shizuku（夢しずく）

 

Well, sure enough, enka singer Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）will be making another appearance on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）later tonight I will see what he has in store in terms of any new songs or one of his past hits. My parents have always tended toward the old traditional music, so I'm always relieved when one of the veterans shows up on the show.

I guess then that this enka, Itsuki's 51st single from October 1985 "Yume Shizuku" (Dream Drops), reflects the sweet pain of love. Written by Yurio Matsui（松井由利夫）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, the veteran singer does his usual heart-on-a-sleeve best expressing how the emotion can be fleeting at best; two ships passing each other in the night and all that. Tsuneo Saito's（斉藤恒夫）arrangement pretty much brings together a scene of either two lovers under the cherry blossoms a couple of centuries back exchanging some final words before parting for good or a contemporary pair doing the same thing in an old out-of-the-way bar.

"Yume Shizuku" ranked in at No. 17 on Oricon and it ended up as the 75th-ranked single for 1986. Parting is such sweet sorrow indeed.

Although I couldn't find out when this version came out, Oka himself tackles his own creation here. The sparer arrangement and the composer's crustier vocals makes the protagonist sound even more forlorn and lonely.

Yuri Harada -- Tsugaru no Hana（津軽の花）

 

I gather that I'm going to have to travel to the Tsugaru area up north in Japan someday. My anime buddy has far more traveling experience in the Tohoku region than I do, and I would be interested in visiting Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture...but most likely not in the winter.

Spring is more my thing (autumn is fine, too) and I have to say that Tsugaru seems to be one of the favoured sites for enka songs for some reason. Maybe the most famous enka about that area is Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）for example, but on last week's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, I was also able to hear another Tsugaru-themed enka by Yuri Harada（原田悠里）.

Released in February 1999 as her 24th single, "Tsugaru no Hana" (Flowers of Tsugaru) was indeed a creation in the Heisei Era but there is something about the arrangement by Tatsuya Nango（南郷達也）that makes it sound so Showa. It's quite the jaunty piece delivered by Harada's sprightly vocals about love taking bloom in the spring in the titular area which makes for a nice change of pace when taking into consideration the theme behind "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki". Lyricist Koyomi Asa（麻こよみ）and composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）were behind the song.

The elementary school music teacher-turned-enka singer, born in Kumamoto Prefecture as Yoshimi Harada（原田よしみ）, debuted in 1982 and had a million-seller with her 1985 single "Kisoji no Onna"（木曽路の女...Woman of the Kiso Valley）. However, it would be another 14 years before her "Tsugaru no Hana" brought her another bona fide hit. On Oricon, it went up as high as No. 42 but it stayed up on the charts for a long time, resulting in sales of 600,000 copies. The song would also earn Harada a Japan Record Award and an invitation to the 1999 Kohaku Utagassen for the first of three consecutive appearances.

Kiyoshi Hikawa -- Gunjou no Ito（群青の弦）

 

I've brought back a clip of Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）performing Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）"Uta wa Waga Inochi"（歌は我が命）last week, which he had also sung at the Kohaku Utagassen last month. It didn't strike me as being too strange at the time, but I'm not sure whether Hikawa showed up for any of the interview segments and I don't think that he performed any other songs that night. Perhaps my memory was addled but, in any event, he kept a very low profile on Tuesday, and now that I've seen the last few seconds where his final words sounded very much like a goodbye, maybe I did miss something significant.

Well, I didn't since the message was thrown at us loud and clear a couple of days ago. I watched NHK News which announced that Hikawa, the Prince of Enka who's appeared on the Kohaku for 22 straight years since his first appearance on the annual special and has been singing and performing non-stop, was taking an extended break as of New Year's Eve last year. So I gather that his "Uta Con" appearance was indeed the swan song for now.

(shortened version)

However, Hikawa has recorded one more single which will be released on February 1st this year, "Gunjou no Ito" (Ultramarine Strings). Written by Fumihiko Hara（原文彦）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, Hikawa's final single for at least a while was arranged by Masahito Maruyama（丸山雅仁）and it was apparently simmering on the back burner for a few years. But with the arranger's death in June 2020, the go-ahead was given to release this as a single in tribute.

Hikawa has gone into the pop and rock genres and has even provided an anison or two, so to hear him go back into the genre that he started his career with, enka, was nice, especially now that we won't be seeing him for an extended time. And wow, "Gunjou no Ito" is quite the atmospheric enka which seems to grandly gather together all of the elements of nature ranging from the seasons to the sound of fog (!) for mutual appreciation. Everyone involved even brings in those enka tropes of a loving mother and tears, and perhaps all bound together with the titular strings. Admittedly though, I don't have a full grasp of what's going on with "Gunjou no Ito", so if anyone can perhaps explain the meaning of it all, I'd greatly appreciate it.

This video also has the recorded version of the song, but I just wanted to show how Hikawa's presented here. If he were going to still appear on TV programs and on stage, he probably would show up looking like this dignified and fantastical figure. The single is going to be presented through three different arrangements (unfortunately that video has been taken down).

I'm certainly grateful to Hikawa for all he's done for enka and entertainment thus far including "Gunjou no Ito" which will be KKP's first official article for a 2022 song. He can happily have his time off and I wish him well in his future endeavors. Hopefully, it won't be too, too long before he returns to the stage.

Kotomi Maki -- Koi Mangetsu（恋満月）

 

Before folks start inquiring about the lady whose CD cover is up in the celebrity photo corner at top-right this week, I ought to cover her song.

Kotomi Maki（真木ことみ）is an enka singer who hails from what is now known as Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture along the border of Yamanashi Prefecture. With her parents loving enka, she pursued her dreams of being an enka singer and in April 1991, she made her debut with "Aishuu no Doushigawa"（哀愁の道志川...The Sorrowful Doushi River）. The river happens to be right by her hometown.

However, the song for this article was her 4th single from March 1995, "Koi Mangetsu" (Love Full Moon). Although it was released over a quarter of a century ago, that electric guitar among the strings in the melody by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）still makes me think of it as a contemporary enka. Maki has got some steel under her silky vocals as she sings Eiji Takino's（たきのえいじ）lyrics about the delicious aches and pains of love. According to her J-Wiki profile, she has made appearances on television but as such, I have never seen her on any show such as "Uta Con"（うたコン）, but she has been releasing singles up to 2021.

Hideo Murata -- Meotozake (夫婦酒)

 

I love sweets, but this will be what gives me cavities.

I think I've established that enka veteran Hideo Murata (村田英雄), in spite of his larger than life manly man demeanor, can turn on a dime and turn that ferocious scowl into an adorable grin... Pretty much the inverse of fellow kayo-rokyoku artiste Haruo Minami (三波春夫). He's like a burnt marshmallow - crusty and hard on the outside, but gooey and sweet on the inside. His penchant for recording very many meoto (husband and wife) enka over his long career furthers this soft side of his. The best example of that would probably be "Meoto Shunju" (夫婦春秋), with "Meotozake" being a close second. 

Nana Hazono's (はぞのなな) words to "Meotozake" (Husband and Wife sake) talk about a couple who's been through some really rough times but have now achieved the happiness they strived for, and so are having a drink to that and to many more years to come. With words like that, one could imagine that "Meotozake" is like a sequel to "Meoto Shunju"; the latter highlighting the beginning and trials of the relationship and the former a celebration at how far they've come. Chiaki Oka's (岡千秋) rather grand sounding melody seems to aptly fit this celebratory, maybe even triumphant occasion. In true Murata fashion, he fiercely growls out certain bits and has his eyebrows set in a frown a third of the time, but somehow that just makes it sweeter every time he breaks into a smile and emphasizes the fact that the message is coming from a stoic showa era man who's usually too shy to bear his heart to the woman he loves. 

"Meotozake" was released in 1980 and I think it was popular enough since Muchi sang it during the Kohaku in that same year.

Anyways, although I have "Meotozake" in one of my Murata compilation albums, the live versions just hit better, as with a number of songs I like in general. But, no live version of this ode to a happy marriage hits better than Murata and Minami's version in a rare joint performance in 1983, the whole of which can be watched here. Every enka fan's dream come true, the hilarious duet is easily my favourite part of this amazing collaboration. The biggest kicker being the moment the announcer said, "One of you has to be the WiFe, though." I think it's pretty obvious who took on that role... And I love how Haru-san is able to make Muchi blush. 10/10 I don't know how many times I've watched it already.

Objectively speaking, though, I like this duet because I thought the back and forth between man and wife fit the context of the song well. But, after being blessed with this rendition, I can never hear/see the studio-recorded "Meotozake" the same way again.

My heart...

OH, if the enka world EVER did shipping they'd surely be number one. Not even Hachi and Michi can top that. So, I tried giving them a ship name and settled with "Haru-Hide" because combining their names otherwise gave either "Haru-o" or "Hide-o" which defeats the purpose of a ship name... I'd drink to that. Oolong tea, of course.

Mitsuko Nakamura -- Wasurezake（わすれ酒）

For me, when it comes to drinking, I do that at an izakaya and I try to forget but it doesn't go too well. I remember my first birthday spent in Gunma on the JET Programme so my board of education guys decided to take me out for dinner and drinks. Of course, one of the things that a new teacher learns on the programme that his/her liver has to be in fighting trim since at those parties, drinking the harder stuff is what one does to socialize. That was not easy for me since aside from the sweet cocktails in university, I barely touched alcohol.

Anyways, I was doing a lot of chug-a-lugging at that birthday party in that izakaya in Numata City, and pretty soon, the room was spinning faster than disco lights. My memory was still intact enough to remember getting dragged up the stairs to my room in my host family's house and hearing repeated grunts from my fellows to the effect that I was a pretty heavy guy. I think my colleagues learned a valuable lesson that night and so I don't recall getting plied with as much booze from that point forward.

Mitsuko Nakamura（中村美律子）must be doing a lot better with her own "Wasurezake" (Drinking to Forget). This is her latest single from April 2019, and I first heard it on last week's episode of "Gogo no Uta"（ごごのウタ）. She remarked that through this song, her character doesn't simply drown her sorrows in that ladylike manner; she can just as easily glug it down and collapse into a messy heap on the counter. I'm sure her buddies would be able to carry her home more easily than my colleagues did with me back in 1989.

Still, despite Nakamura's explanation, I think "Wasurezake" does have that enka elegance although the actual recorded version sounds like her getting quite soused at the nomiya. Veteran composer Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）took care of that lovely music while the late Akiko Shimoji（下地亜記子）provided the lyrics.

Kouhei Fukuda -- Otokogawa（男川）

It's been a couple of good episodes for "Uta Con"（うたコン）over the past few weeks. I had been a little worried about the show since things seemed to be getting a little stale for some reason but then with their so-called final show of the Heisei era, things perked up to the extent that I thought it was a mini-version of the Kohaku Utagassen. Then, tonight was the first episode of the Reiwa era, and once again, it was a lively show with a good variety representing the pop and enka sides of Japanese music. Heck, the producers even pulled off an exciting bait-and-switch with everyone for one song when it seemed like the NHK orchestra suddenly jumped out of their seats in the rear alcove on the stage and got into dance mode (it turned out that they were actually professional dancers while the real orchestra was ensconced somewhere else to perform).

One of the guests tonight was perennial enka favourite Kouhei Fukuda（福田こうへい）. His latest single in February 2019 is "Otokogawa" (River of Man), a stately song about the nobility and power of a river with the hint that we should all be like that body of water. It seems like rivers are the geographical features to emulate in Japanese society if the various enka is to be believed.

Fukuda is the go-to guy for this sort of proudly delivered enka. All of the melodic tropes are there: strong timpani, the jaunty and robust combination of strings and horns, the leavening addition of shakuhachi and guitar and of course, the bombast of the singer's vocals. Ryuichi Satomura（里村龍一）provided the lyrics while Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）composed the music.

Sayuri Ishikawa -- Osaka Tsubame（大阪つばめ）

I only heard the news within the last half-hour on NHK but apparently Osaka won the rights to hold the 2025 Expo. Many congratulations to them. My first trip to Osaka was 2 years after the 1970 Expo and from that event, I found out about the famous song by the late Haruo Minami（三波春夫）, "Sekai no Kuni Kara Konnichiwa" (世界の国からこんにちは）which became the theme tune.

Now, since I've already written about that legendary kayo and because no theme tune obviously has been created for the 2025 Expo yet, I've had to scrounge around YouTube to see if I could come up with a new Osaka tune in tribute to the happy news (I've actually written up about a number of other Osaka-based tunes).

Well, I've decided to go with Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Osaka Tsubame" (Osaka Swallow). It's been a while since Noelle or I have put up a song by the veteran enka singer, and I had never heard this one before although it was released in February 1986 as her 42nd single. It's a perfectly mellow enka tune in love with the city, and the use of a bird in the title and song simply reiterates a theme for a lot of these kayo of using birds to represent a longing for a certain area or a loneliness within a person who can't seem to settle down in one place. I think along with tsubame, the kamome (seagull) is another popular bird in these songs.

"Osaka Tsubame" was written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）. Folks, if you're heading for Osaka in the next number of years for the first time, you're gonna love the food there.

Mitsuko Nakamura -- Kawachi Otoko Bushi（河内おとこ節）

Another TV sign in Japan that the year is coming to an end along with NHK's Kohaku Utagassen and Fuji-TV's FNS Music Festival is NHK's "Wagakokoro no Osaka Melody"（わが心の大阪メロディー...Osaka Melodies of My Heart）. A relative baby sister when compared to the first two specials, the national broadcaster's tribute to all music Osakan started only from 2001 but it's been quite popular and certainly my family has made it a custom to see it whenever it broadcasts in December.

The beginning of this year's special which was broadcast here in North America during the same time slot for "Uta Kon"（うたコン）on Tuesday night had bubbly (I'm using Noelle's apt adjective here) Mitsuko Nakamura（中村美律子）and the stalwart Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）go into a friendly sing-off. Hosokawa performed the classic "Naniwa Bushi da yo, Jinsei wa"（浪花節だよ人生は）while Nakamura sang a song that I hadn't heard before, "Kawachi Otoko Bushi" (Melody of a Kawachi Man).

Written by Miyuki Ishimoto（石本美由起）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, "Kawachi Otoko Bushi" has that same festival jauntiness as "Naniwa Bushi da yo, Jinsei wa". According to the J-Wiki article on the song, the rhythm is based on Kawachi ondo（河内音頭）, the brand of Japanese traditional folk song that originated in what is now part of Osaka Prefecture. It was released back in June 1989 as the Osaka native's 3rd single, and the timing was great since festival season usually starts up from mid-summer.

And it has apparently been used for the bon odori performances that take place in the Kansai area. On the Oricon chart, "Kawachi Otoko Bushi" only made it up to No. 69 but it's more than compensated since Nakamura has sung it a total of 8 times in her 15 times on the Kohaku Utagassen which makes it the No. 3 song in terms of the most repeated performances of a particular song on that special. Only Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Amagi Goe"（天城越え）and "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）have had more appearances at 10 and 9 times respectively.

"Kawachi Otoko Bushi" was a hit right from the start in the Kansai area but it took 3 more years before it got its national attention. That late-coming fame was punctuated by Nakamura's debut appearance on the Kohaku in 1992, singing this very song.

Nakamura hasn't appeared on the Kohaku since 2010 after singing her trademark song three straight times up to that year, so I gather that perhaps she and her listeners probably wanted to take a break. However, it would be pretty nice for her to get onto the NHK stage again and bring back this crowdpleaser.