Midori Utsumi/Keiko Shimazaki/Hiromi Iwasaki -- Omoidasanaide（思い出さないで）

 

When I was thinking up the article for this song, I was reminded of one of the more hilarious scenes from the anime "Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai"（中二病でも恋がしたい）when Yuuta happened to remember how he had confessed his love to one girl through the deathless line "Love you forever...". Yup, he had every right to give himself a massive concussion for remembering that one.

But to the topic at hand. Commenter Jim Laker added a recommendation to my article "Midori Songs" in which I commemorated Greenery Day during Japan's Golden Week holidays by providing a few songs by singers whose given names were Midori. Well, I was given another Midori...actress, singer and TV personality Midori Utsumi（うつみ宮土理）who I used to see quite regularly on her own shows as well as a guest on other programs. She's in one KKP entry via a duet with her husband, the late Kin'ya Aikawa （愛川欽也）, for the 1978 novelty tune "Man Man March"（マン・マン・マーチ）.

Although Utsumi's J-Wiki article doesn't give the occupation of singer to her...just tarento and actress, she did release a number of singles over the decades, and to be honest, she has a pretty nice voice. Anyways, Jim told me about one of her singles which came out in 1977 (it was just before "Man Man March"), and in fact, it was her debut single "Omoidasanaide" (Don't Remember Me). A bittersweet kayo ballad arranged by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, the lyrics related a plaintive request about not remembering a past romance since the breakup still hurts like heck. There's something about the song as well that reminds me of Toi et Moi's "Dare mo Inai Umi" (誰もいない海）.

Now, the song was written and composed by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and Utsumi's first foray into recording music was actually a cover of the original by Keiko Shimazaki（島崎恵子）who has no information on J-Wiki or elsewhere, it seems. However, her 1973 single "Omoidasanaide" has an even richer arrangement which has me thinking some of the folk-pop balladry from the United States at the time.

Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）also recorded her own contemporary cover of "Omoidasanaide" as her 29th single in September 1982 with Nozomi Aoki（青木望）acting as arranger (No. 18 ranking). There's not much to say here except that it's another typically wonderful example of Iwasaki balladry. The interesting thing is that the song had been recorded some years earlier when it was included as a track in Iwasaki's March 1979 album of cover songs "Koibito-tachi"（恋人たち...The Lovers） which peaked at No. 14 on Oricon.

Haruo Minami -- Lupin Ondo（ルパン音頭）

 

I never became a dedicated follower of "Lupin III"（ルパン三世）although the music associated with the various shows and movies has interested me over the years because some of it has had roots in jazz and City Pop. But I do have to say that next year will be the 60th anniversary since the original manga was first published in 1967. 

Until today though, I hadn't even known of this "Lupin III" flick called "Lupin Tai Clone"（ルパンVS複製人間）which literally translates into "Lupin vs. The Clone" although the English title is "Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo" which got into theatres in December 1978. I have no idea what it's all about but I'm sure that it's got the usual Lupin hijinks with Fujiko, car chases and lots of derring-do. 

What it also has is a rather interesting insert song called "Lupin Ondo" (The Lupin Song). I never thought I'd see the day that a Lupin song would be a 80/20 mix of traditional festival-friendly min'yo and some of that Lupin jazz created by composer Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）. With "Lupin III" creator Monkey Punch（モンキー・パンチ）and Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）providing the lyrics, the finishing touch was inviting the legendary Haruo Minami（三波春夫）coming into the recording booth to sing "Lupin Ondo". 

I'd expected the characters to be involved in a typical Japanese festival as they danced to "Lupin Ondo", but I guess the producers went with a montage-style ending credit sequence while Minami was singing away.

Teresa Teng -- Furusato wa Doko desu ka（ふるさとはどこですか）

 

I was out for most of the day today with my anime buddy in a special one-off return to those old biweekly anime-and-meal Sundays that we used to have back in the 2010s. So we got to have some Taiwanese lu rou fan for lunch and then for dinner, it was some scrumptious lamb dumplings at a Chinese Halal restaurant. 

We also got some anime from this spring season to watch and also I got to see a lot of my buddy's footage when he went on his latest sojourn to Japan back in May. One place he visited to apply his photography hobby was Fukushima Prefecture, and he just happened to get off at Aizu-Miyashita Station（会津宮下駅）on the Tadami Line（只見線）since from there he could get a great view of a special train bridge to take shots of. The above is brief footage by YouTube uploader jo “JO68” oku of that station from a few years ago.

Pretty quiet back then but when my friend left the station early last month, he heard some strangely familiar music and it turned out that a music plaque memorial or kahi（歌碑）as it's said in Japanese had been erected across from the station only last November. It turned out that it was a memorial for the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng（テレサテン）.

What was playing from the plaque was Teng's 8th single in Japan, "Furusato wa Doko desu ka" (Where is Your Hometown?), which was released in February 1977. It's been categorized as an enka and a kayo kyoku although I think in terms of its arrangement, it sounds more toward the latter genre. The tenderhearted song was written by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and composed by Yoshinori Usui（うすいよしのり）and it managed to peak at No. 42 on Oricon.

Now as for why Teng's music plaque was placed at Aizu-Miyashita Station can be explained by where the station is located which is the town of Mishima in Fukushima Prefecture. Back when the single was released, Teng visited Mishima to do a concert and was so moved by the kindness of the residents there that she considered it to be her Japanese hometown. The town also made the singer an honorary resident.

Yoshimi Tendo -- Chindo Monogatari（珍島物語）

 

In recent months, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has covered enka singer Yoshimi Tendo's（天童よしみ）more recent discography in the 21sth century. However, I've now got the opportunity to go a little further back finally when it comes to her songs.

The reason is that I was able to catch the NHK regular special "Waga Kokoro no Osaka Melody"（わが心の大阪メロディー...The Osaka Melodies of Our Hearts） the other night, and of course, anyone who's anyone in the Japanese music world from the Kansai district appeared to perform. One of those must-appears happened to be Tendo who hails from the ancestral home of my family, Wakayama Prefecture.

Possessing one of the finest voices this side of Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, Tendo performed the song "Chindo Monogatari" (The Tale of Jindo Island) which was released as her 28th single from February 1996. Written and composed by veteran Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）, who had come up with the lyrics for Chiyoko Nakamura's（中村千代子）"Jinsei Iroiro"（人生いろいろ）and Takashi Hosokawa's（細川たかし）"Onna no Juujiro"（女の十字路）, the singer delivers a smooth heartfelt message of yearning for a loved one separated by an ocean with South Korea's third-largest island as the motif.

My highlights for "Chindo Monogatari" include those strings, that trumpet and that singing by Tendo. The singer can provide plenty of throat-rumbling brio into other songs but for this particular enka, I was pleasantly surprised by her clear and smooth vocals this time around. They could be compared with the finest sake, if I can make that analogy. 

The song peaked at No. 35 on Oricon but more importantly, it provided Tendo with her first million-seller with more than 1.3 million copies sold. It also earned her a Best Performance prize at the Japan Record Awards at the end of 1996. With her career going all the way back to 1970, I ought to check out one of her very early singles when she was just a teenager.

Ichiro Toba/Eiko Segawa/Hiroshi Itsuki -- Wasure Yado（わすれ宿）

 

Over the years that I've been doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've been gaining some more aural experience in terms of the sounds of certain composers and/or arrangers. With Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, it's that odd pleasurable quirk that he can slide into his synthesizers while Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）can often put in that reassuring breezy melody. In the enka genre, I've realized that the late composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）may have always injected that distinctively pensive guitar of his, perfect for brooding over a tumbler of whiskey or a glass of shochu.

Funamura was responsible for the composition of this particular ballad by enka singer Ichiro Toba（鳥羽一郎）, "Wasure Yado" (An Inn of Forgotten Memories). The B-side to his 5th single "Wakare no Yado"（別れの宿...An Inn of Parting） released in April 1984, the lyrics by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）talk of a woman somehow looking on or imagining her former paramour and his wife following a brief affair at their old haunt of an inn. Through the tears, the heartbroken woman is wishing them well as she tries to reassure herself that this is for the best. Couldn't get more enka than this. Meanwhile, that Funamura guitar hits right from the start going high and then low as Toba gives a woodsy and resonant delivery. The heart-on-sleeve strings which alternately glide and pluck adds to the melancholy atmosphere.

Toba's version is actually a cover of the original by Eiko Segawa（瀬川瑛子）whose "Wasure Yado" was released in November 1983. I couldn't find the recorded version of the song but listening to the above performance, Segawa gives a more emotion-drenched take and the arrangement sounds folksier. I can definitely hear the disappointment and mourning in her vocals.

I don't know whether Hiroshi Itsuki's（五木ひろし）cover of "Wasure Yado" was ever officially released as part of a single or an album in tribute to Funamura, and if it was, when it was released. That Funamura guitar sound still exists but the arrangement takes on a bigger presence because of some epic strings and other added flourishes.

Miyoko Yagi -- Secret Love（シークレット・ラブ）

 

Going into October, things are feeling cooler now. Maybe it's time for more of that apple cider and perhaps apple anything...heated up, too.🍎

In any case, I've encountered another one of those obscure aidoru of the 1980s. Rather than being at the apex of the pyramid, she was one of the many bricks in the lower part of the structure, never to really make a break into the big time.

Miyoko Yagi（八木美代子）is someone that I had never heard of before and her career was fairly brief in terms of records although maybe she could have continued on for a while as a tarento or actress. Her debut single, namely the topic of this article, is "Secret Love" which was released in April 1981. Just from listening to this sweet tune alone, though, I thought she had a fighting chance to make it big because I think her voice is pretty good here.

Plus, the melody by Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）with arrangement by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）is actually quite appealing with the twinkly keyboards and the shimmering violins. Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）provided the lyrics. As you can see from the cover for "Secret Love", Yagi had that appearance of the typical aidoru from the early 1980s with that hairstyle and that slightly frilly white shirt. In fact, I would say that the entire song just has that quintessentially nostalgic aidoru feeling.

I don't know how her singles did and the only other information that I could get about Yagi comes from her profile on Idol.ne.jp which shows that she released only four more singles up to 1983. As well, she was born in 1963 in Miyazaki Prefecture with her real name possibly being Mizuyo Yanase（柳瀬瑞代）...both the given and family names have a variety of readings. Once again, I leave it to those in the know about Ms. Yagi to confirm or correct me.

Koji Handa -- Yokohama Concerto（ヨコハマ・コンチェルト）

Perhaps along with Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo, Yokohama seems to a favourite place when it comes to creating songs in the enka and Mood Kayo genres. And that isn't too surprising since the Kanagawa prefectural metropolis has been the happening place for decades as an international port.

Today, in my browsings through YouTube just to depressurize from another round of translations, I encountered this enka tune that I had never heard of before. Come to think of it, I had never heard of the singer before, either. This is Koji Handa（半田浩二）who trained under songwriter Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and made his debut in 1988.

His second single is "Yokohama Concerto" (July 1990) which stands out to me. It first starts off with this flourish that sounds like I'm going to get something from "Wuthering Heights" before a snare drum rat-a-tats into a dramatic and bouncing melody (words and music by Nakayama). That melody has an underpinning of what sounds like a combination of "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" and perhaps something from Eurobeat. It certainly gets the blood flowing, and I thought that the karaoke videos would have shown something from a suspense movie to go with the beat.

Handa, who was born Masahiro Iida（飯田政弘）in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture in 1963, has so far released 27 singles up to July of this year, but it doesn't seem as if he has hit the big time as of yet. According to his J-Wiki profile, he's only made a handful of TV appearances. However, now that I've heard "Yokohama Concerto", I'd be interested in hearing some more from him.

Earlier today, I did hear about the Shindo 6+ quake that had hit Hokkaido. There was the resulting structural damage including a wide swath of power outages but I hope that the people there are coping as best as they can.

Daisaku Ogata -- Mushaku Ryojou（無錫旅情）

Wow! This is a fellow that I haven't heard from in years. When we were still renting out VHS tapes from Nippon Video, our family used to see this young strapping lad, Daisaku Ogata（尾形大作）, belt out the enka tunes.

Ogata was born Hiroyuki Matsuo（松尾浩之）in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1963. He made his debut back in 1981 with "Shiawase Namida Iro"（倖せ なみだ色...The Colour of Happy Tears）, but it wasn't until his 6th single in September 1986 that he got that first huge hit with "Mushaku Ryojou". Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）was responsible for both words and music, and the lyrics are about traveling through the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province in China.

Now, if I were to translate the title directly, it would come out as "My Mood While Traveling Through Wuxi". For me, that sounds pretty wordy so I've decided to go with "Memories of Wuxi"; has more of that romantic feeling.

But that's ironic since Nakayama's lyrics talk of a man fleeing to China to forget about a romance gone bad. As soon as I heard Ogata sing, I was rather reminded of Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）classic "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）from a decade earlier in that Ishikawa's protagonist is also traveling to a far-flung place outside of Tokyo to forget about love for a while. Broken hearts and traveling are a common theme in enka tunes, but I guess for the guys, there's a need to get out of the country proper.

Another observation is on hearing the piercing heroic trumpets and Ogata's delivery of "Mushaku Ryojou", I rather thought about Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）manly-man discography. His J-Wiki file doesn't mention any deshi relationship with a master, so currently not sure whether Ogata ever trained under Sabu-chan. Appearance-wise, he has that short hair and the really arched eyebrows.

"Mushaku Ryojou" was a mega-hit for Ogata. It hit No. 9 on the Oricon dailies and won a Gold prize at the Japan Record Awards. The singer also got onto the 1987 Kohaku Utagassen on the strength of his most famous song for the first of two consecutive appearances. By the end of the year, it actually became the 8th-ranked single for 1987 and then the 50th-ranked single for 1988, selling over 1.3 million copies.

His last single came out in December 2009, and he has been indulging his other hobby of motocross racing. Currently, he is enjoying life with his wife and daughter in Fukuoka.

Keiko Fuji -- Aka Chochin Blues（赤ちょうちんブルース）

Came across this unusual Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）song today. I say "unusual" because "Aka Chochin Blues" (Red Lantern Blues) is pretty darn sprightly for a Fuji song, and an enka tune to boot, since I've been accustomed to her much darker Mood Kayo outings from the early 1970s. And although it does have the word "blues" in there, I'm not sure whether Fuji's bar mama-san is really all that down in the dumps as she describes the trials and tribulations of owning a watering hole for the variety of drunken fellows.

Words and music were provided by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and Toru Funamura（船村徹） respectively. The music by Funamura was especially notable in that with the skippy melody and the clarinet in there, I wondered whether he was going for something reminiscent of a chindon'ya（チンドン屋）, the Japanese traditional marching band. It definitely puts an interesting kick into the proceedings.

"Aka Chochin Blues" was released as the B-side to Fuji's 35th single from October 1979, "Kawaii Onna"（可愛い女...Pretty Woman）.

Shiro Saijo/Shinichiro Hakozaki -- Yoru no Gingitsune（夜の銀狐）

I've heard the various versions a few times now and I always get that urge to order something on the rocks (most likely for me it will be a Brown Cow).

Most of the article will deal with a couple of Mood Kayo singers that I had not heard of before. But with "Yoru no Gingitsune" (Silver Fox of the Night), the sound is so romantically Mood Kayo on the Latin side of things that I was slightly surprised that it was actually a solo singer instead of the usual quartet or quintet of the genre that got the ball rolling on this ballad.

There's barely anything on singer Shiro Saijo（斉条史朗）aside from the fact that his "Yoru no Gingitsune" which is the original version became a huge hit for him when it was released in 1969. I had to dig deep into the search engines but all I could find was one Japanese blog entry about the song in which the author indicated that Saijo had been a nightclub singer in his early 20s when this ballad came out so he would most likely be in his early 70s by now.

The above video has Saijo singing on some TV show and it's the perfect setting with him in his tuxedo while the orchestra is playing that Latin-spiced song and the white lacy curtains behind him. Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）wrote the lyrics of a woman pining for what I am assuming is a grey-haired Lothario while Hiroyuki Nakagawa（中川博之）came up with the sweeping melody.

At least, there is a J-Wiki entry for the late Shinichiro Hakozaki（箱崎晋一朗）who sadly passed away at the young age of 43 from liver cancer in 1988. The native from Iwate Prefecture made his debut in 1969 with the hit "Atami no Yoru"（熱海の夜...A Night in Atami）, and he became notable for his falsetto. Unfortunately, aside from perhaps one other song in his repertoire, he never really became a household name in music. His cover of "Yoru no Gingitsune" came out on a 1980 LP titled "Onnagokoro wo Utaimasu"（女心を歌います...Singing of the Woman's Heart） with the arrangement including that French accordion, another Mood Kayo instrumental trope. I guess that that particular instrument had its heyday in the 70s and 80s perhaps.

(13:05)

Although I couldn't find out whether or when the Mood Kayo group Los Indios（ロス・インディオス）had officially recorded "Yoru no Gingitsune", they nonetheless covered it on stage. The above has them and Alicia who was their 7th female vocalist. I'm pretty sure that the other Mood Kayo units have probably given their tribute to the 1969 tune since it seems tailored made for them.

Masao Sen -- Miso Shiru no Uta （味噌の詩）

Tonight, another group of folks and I rode the bus all through the suburbs outside of the city limits of my fair city to head to an elite sushi restaurant that is in the middle of a bunch of industrial parks. The place is called Zen and it used to be just a general Japanese restaurant in the east end of town in what is frankly a pretty seedy area (it was located next to a lot whose building had burned down). However in the past several months, the management moved the place to a much safer, albeit less accessible, neighbourhood, and streamlined and upscaled its operations so that it basically specializes in sushi now. We went for the most expensive kaiseki and were not disappointed. Of course, having a good soup with that meal was important, too.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Seguing somewhat clumsily then to an NHK program that I saw last week via TV Japan, "Utau! SHOW Gakko"（歌う!SHOW学校...Sing! SHOW School） stars enka legend Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）as the comically amiable teacher of a singing variety program shaped as an old-fashioned elementary school in which comedians and other singers appear as students to demonstrate their prowess (or not) in singing the old kayo.

Enka darling Kohei Fukuda（福田こうへい）earned his gold star in that "class" for performing an old 1980 enka tune originally sung by Masao Sen（千昌夫）. Starting off with the necessary "Brrrrr" to illustrate the winter setting, Fukuda launched into "Miso Shiru no Uta" (The Song of Miso Soup) which had his classmates and audience swooning and perhaps reminiscing.

Masao Sen had sung what is probably his most famous ballad, "Kita Kuni no Haru"（北国の春）from 1977 on the Kohaku Utagassen three straight years. The enka song about the longing for home in the old countryside away from the big city had that much of an impact on a listening public who love their nostalgia spread thickly on their toast like peanut butter. But then in May 1980 came his 33rd single, "Miso Shiru no Uta" which was another musical reminiscing of home, represented by Mom's miso soup. As Sen sings in his song, the son might act all big and tough for striking out on his own as a cog in his company but once the winter rolls in and visions of that hot soup materialize, he just turns into jelly and can't wait to head back on the Bullet Train for his hometown.

Mom's home cooking, indeed. Written and composed by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）, J-Wiki apparently pointed out that "Miso Shiru no Uta" was a cover of a song written in a slightly different manner（みそ汁の詩）which originated in 1976. However, that is the only information of its origins; no mention of who the artist was or even if it had been officially released. Still, it really doesn't matter since the song has basically become another beloved Sen tune. In fact, it sold around 600,000 records. Plus, Sen was once again able to appear on the 1980 Kohaku Utagassen but instead of singing his homesick-inducing "Kita Kuni no Haru", he sang his homesick-inducing "Miso Shiru no Uta" for the only time. I wonder whether fathers and sons watching the program at the time suddenly demanded Mommy to whip up some miso shiru after seeing Sen's performance, especially regarding those families in the cold north country of Japan.

Takashi Hosokawa -- Onna no Juujiro （女の十字路）

I recently heard this on one of my old "Sounds of Japan" tapes when I actually taped an enka episode. Then I came across Takashi Hosokawa （細川たかし）singing "Onna no Juujiro" (Crossroads of a Woman) just a few nights ago on NHK's "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）.

"Onna no Juujiro" was Hosokawa's 3rd single from February 1976, and it starts with a jaunty drum roll and a bluesy saxophone reminiscent of his debut the previous year, "Kokoro Nokori" （心のこり）although the composer this time was Keisuke Hama （浜圭介）instead of Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）. The lyrics were by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）, and they seem to have the singer giving fair warning to the woman who has fallen in love with him to make sure she knows what she's getting into (very charitable of the fellow). Now, I say seem here since I'm not absolutely sure whether Hosokawa is singing from the man's or woman's point of view (can use a 2nd opinion). In any case, the lady is certainly at a crossroads of sorts.

It may be a sticky situation, but Hosokawa and the music brashly and proudly describe the woman's dilemma...almost as if it were a dare for her to take that next step in the relationship. Not sure if the creators of the song had been reading their "Faust" at the time.

Chiyoko Shimakura -- Jinsei Iroiro （人生いろいろ）

I woke up this morning to view the news on NHK of the passing of enka singer Chiyoko Shimakura（島倉千代子） at the age of 75. Debuting at the age of 16 with "Kono Yo no Hana"（この世の花...A Flower of This World）, she had a career that spanned over half a century with multiple hits, and was also a pillar in terms of her attendance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, having come onto the show annually from 1957 to 1986.

The name and the figure were very familiar to me as she often appeared on TV as that slightly portly figure with the beaming smile. However, I was never all that familiar with her discography until I heard "Jinsei Iroiro", which was released in April 1987. It was written by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and composed by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. As for the meaning of the title, it literally means "Various Things In My Life" but I think the feeling would be better conveyed with something like "The Ups and Downs of Life". In any case, it's the song that I will always associate with her. And whenever she sings it, her face takes on that countenance of an older, wiser and sadder woman but still with that wide smile.

And Shimakura and just about everyone familiar with her knew that she sang this one from the heart. Back in 1975, there was an incident in which the singer allowed herself to be the guarantor of an acquaintance who since fled after owing a significant amount of money to a loan shark. When I was watching the NHK elegy this morning, I heard that the collectors went to her home and terrified her so much that she had to seek safety in one of the theatres she performed at for some time. It took her about 7 years to pay back the hundreds of millions of yen owed during which she had to take side jobs working in cabarets and publishing photo books. However, at the same time, she was never ostracized from the Kohaku Utagassen, a fate that befell some other singers, and her popularity was still as high as it ever was, since she also appeared as a tarento on TV.

Ironically, Shimakura first sang "Jinsei Iroiro" in the year that her illustrious record for appearances on the Kohaku was finally broken. For some reason, she wasn't invited onto her musical home-away-from-home in 1987, but amends were made the following year when she was able to perform "Jinsei Iroiro". I guess the song may have been a late bloomer since the accolades came in 1988 with a couple of Japan Record Awards and a peak ranking of No. 16 on the Oricon weeklies. It finished the year as the 54th-ranked song, and spent 86 weeks on the charts.