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.
Look at all those abbreviations in the United States. Makes things rather compact, don't they? Well, it's time for a bit of whimsy here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" today as this thought came to my mind for the latest Author's Picks. I think they're rare enough but there are some Japanese songs that have two-letter abbreviations in their titles, so why not give a few out?
As I mentioned in my thoughts on the most recent Kohaku Utagassen, Japanese rock legend Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）made his third appearance on the NHK special for the third time (his other appearances were in 2009 and 2012), as he sang his new song before going for that "Kohaku B'z" shot and coming up to the main stage to perform his old hits.
That new song was "Shinjitsu"(The Truth) which was released in September 2025 as part of his 35th album "I believe" which hit No. 1. First and foremost, it's a love ballad and judging from the official music video below, it seems to be addressing the love between a couple that's been around for quite a while. Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Yazawa, I actually threw the YouTube link for the above video into one of those AI music analyzers which got me the result of folk rock. I know that the 76-year-old is a rocker at heart but I'm not quite sure that "Shinjitsu" would rate as a rock song...more of a pop ballad that sounds like it came from yesteryear; maybe it's even got some blues in there.
"Shinjitsu" was also used as the theme song for a Fuji-TV live-action drama adaptation of the novel "Saigo no Kanteinin"（最後の鑑定人...The Final Appraiser） that had its run between July and September 2025.
Welcome to the regular weekly Reminiscings of Youth session where I post about songs that I used to hear in my youth (toddlerhood, young adulthood). This time around, I'm also including this one since it's been reported that the late great Donna Summer (who had passed away in 2012) was just inducted into The Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
It's kinda too bad that the only trailers I could find of the movie "Thank God It's Friday" from 1978 are pretty darn murky, but I guess that they reflect how dark the interior of the discos were back in the day, aside from the blinding lights. As a kid, I barely remember that there was a movie with that title during the Age of Disco. I had no idea that it had starred Jeff Goldblum, Debra Winger (her first appearance in a motion picture) and Terri Nunn who would become the lead singer of the 80s New Wave band Berlin. Last but not least, it also had Summer with a pretty meaty role.
Ah, someone turned on the lights a bit more. Thank you! And on a great song, too, as Summer let loose a disco classic in the movie "Last Dance". I heard "Last Dance" here and there over the years through the radio and TV and more recently via YouTube. Nope, never danced to it which for sighted people was just as well. I think the Torch Lady (the Columbia Pictures logo) in the movie cut up the rug a whole lot better than I ever could.
Created by Paul Jabara, "Last Dance" was released in July 1978, some weeks following the release of the movie. It starts off with a ballad-like opening before the gates open and the joy of disco floods the floor. For those of a certain age, the song has probably evoked some good-time memories. It hit No. 10 on Canada's RPM and then No. 3 on America's Billboard. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best R&B Song for Jabara and then a Grammy for Summer for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.
Just a day after the release of "Last Dance", Oricon put up its weekly single rankings. Here are Nos. 1-3.
So I now take it that Judy Ongg no longer has complete control of the Aegean Sea because of her "Miserarete"（魅せられて）? She's gotta share now.
My jocularity stems from the fact that up to now, Ongg was the only kayo kyoku singer that I knew who referred to the Aegean in her famous 1979 hit. But that's over now. Why? Well, rocker Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）has a song that has the sea as its very title in his July 1986 album"Tokyo Night"（東京ナイト）.
But Yazawa's "Aegean Sea" doesn't have the exotic feeling of romance and adventure that "Miserarete" has. It's a contemplative musical musing on a romance that ended perhaps abruptly at the titular site, and hopefully nothing truly tragic occurred there. Despite the setting, there's something about the song that kinda straddles the line between pop and City Pop in terms of the arrangement and instrumentation, thanks to Yazawa himself. Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭蔵）came up with the rain-soaked lyrics; I only wrote about him last Friday though his "Animal Night". The one thing that I like to know is who does that haunting female backing voice belong to.
"Tokyo Night" has been categorized as a rock album and considering who's behind it, I wouldn't blame the person who made that decision, but I think that "Aegean Sea" has more of the urban contemporary vibe to it. On the track list, "Aegean Sea" is followed by the rambunctious and more famous "Tomaranai HA~HA" (止まらないHA～HA), so I gather that after some commiseration by the rail of the cruise ship, Yazawa returned to the Lido Deck for some partying. I didn't mention it on that article but "Tokyo Night" was a Top 10 hit by peaking at No. 5. It was also co-produced by Yazawa and Andrew Gold.
I've got a feeling that much of singer-songwriter and rocker Eikichi Yazawa's（矢沢永吉）uptempo output is so kickass that he could probably consider renting out his songs to action shows as character theme tunes. The numbers themselves would be able to beat down a rival gang into submission.
Case in point: "The Trouble Man" was a coupling song to his May 1995 38th single"Aozora"（青空...Blue Sky）. This would be an ideal theme song for any sort of vigilante hero cleaning up his once-pristine neighbourhood, along the lines of Marvel's The Punisher. And who wouldn't like a moniker like The Trouble Man as a title signifying someone that can terrify evildoers to slink back into their dark holes? I've also got the perfect introductory B-movie line for him as well: "Baby, I don't look for trouble...I am trouble! I am the Trouble Man!"
The thing is, though, "The Trouble Man" was used as a theme song for the fighting video game "Vampire", otherwise known as "Darkstalkers" outside of Asia. Good choice, too, since I think that it was around this time that vampires were looking less like nobility with fangs and more like dissolute rockers with fangs. More David Bowie than Bela Lugosi.
Another fun fact is that while Yazawa composed and arranged "The Trouble Man", singer-songwriter Andrew Gold came up with the boastful lyrics. Yeah, the same Andrew Gold who came up with "Thank You for Being a Friend" all the way back in 1978.
I generally don't do follow-ups of other contributors' works on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" only because that contributor totally writes it all in his or her articles so there is no need for me to follow up. Noelle Tham provided her article on Eikichi Yazawa's（矢沢永吉）"Tomaranai HA~HA" (Non-Stop HA HA) back in early 2018, and she wrote about it being a real banger (for a night out probably in the more dangerous areas of town) as well as it being a crowd-pleaser at the singer-songwriter's concerts.
Not to say that Noelle didn't put her all into "Tomaranai HA~HA". She certainly did but I was so tickled pink by this very quintessential of Yazawa hits that I also had to put in my two pennies. Yazawa doesn't drink BOSS Coffee here...he IS the BOSS! He struts about as if he owns Kabukicho or Roppongi and has no idea or care about fellow strutters Mick Jagger or James Brown.
In the music video (sorry but it's been taken down), he not only laughs off three younger gang toughs like annoying mosquitoes but putts golf on a tabletop like a BOSS! Meanwhile, he sings Tetsuya Chiaki's (ちあき哲也) lyrics as if he's clearly enjoying a Wagyu steak. Eikichi, who also composed the boss melody, is simply loving hedonism in the big city and has no time for sappy love songs. It's Friday night...let's paint the town red, even if there's a bit of blood mixed in!
As mentioned in Noelle's article, "Tomaranai HA~HA" was included as a track on Yazawa's July 1986 album"Tokyo Night" (東京ナイト) and a number of succeeding albums.
Apparently, television also knew a good thing when it saw one. Fuji-TV used it as the theme song for a recurring show called "IPPON Grand Prix"（IPPONグランプリ）centering on comedians. I don't think I've ever seen funny guys look so cool in a credit sequence. In addition, "Tomaranai HA~HA" has also been used as the entry tune for many a professional athlete including retired baseball legend Ichiro（イチロー）and boxer Daiki Kaneko（金子大樹）. Can you imagine walking into a stadium with this anthem behind you?
Some days ago, I received a query on Japanese songs that had that 1950s flavour from the 1970s and 1980s, so names such as Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）, Checkers（チェッカーズ）and Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）popped up.
Coincidentally enough, just a little bit after that, I discovered the debut single for rock veteran Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）. His name and visage appeared on a retrospective of the Kohaku Utagassen that was televised last week on NHK, and then looking around on YouTube, I saw this number "I Love You, OK".
The fellow who gave me that initial question would be happy with this one as well. "I Love You, OK" has that love song atmosphere of "American Graffiti" and "Happy Days", and this was Yazawa's first solo single after the breakup of his band Carol（キャロル）. Released in September 1975, the song was actually composed by Yazawa and written by vocalist Yukio Aizawa（相沢行夫）of the band NOBODY. Originally, this had been created by a teenage Yazawa with him writing English lyrics, some of which were used in his live album "Super Live Nippon Budokan"（スーパーライブ 日本武道館）from July 1977.
According to the J-Wiki article for "I Love You, OK", even before the creation of Carol, Yazawa had brought the song on a demo tape to the folks at Toshiba EMI (now EMI Music Japan), only for it to be rejected since at the time, folk music was all the rage. Even Yazawa's fans at the time were not too interested in hearing "I Love You, OK" over many of his other songs.
However, any antipathy against the song has perhaps disappeared over the decades. Another version of "I Love You, OK" was put onto his 1990 27th single"Pure Gold" which hit No. 1 on Oricon and became the 64th-ranked single of the year. And I think the song was still quite precious to Yazawa; at one concert to commemorate his 50th birthday at the current Nissan Stadium in Yokohama in 1999, he was performing his old single when he was overcome with emotion halfway through.
The song became the title track for Yazawa's debut album which was also released in September 1975.
I hope everyone had a good start to the new year. I kind of did with Okinawan food for dinner with the family on New Year's day - I've finally acquired the taste of bitter gourd (goya)! - but the persistent cold I caught from the bug flying around the extended family Christmas party was quite a dampener.
That aside, here's my first article for 2018. Looking back at my previous write-ups, I had always been beginning the year with enka, so I thought it'd mix things up a little this time around with what I consider as one of my guilty pleasures - no, not "Kiyoshi no Zundoko Bushi" (きよしのズンドコ節) - Eikichi Yazawa's (矢沢永吉) "Tomaranai HA~HA".
I don't know all that much about Yazawa, save for his shibui persona and beer adverts, but it seems like "Tomaranai" is one of his most iconic hits and is a real crowd pleaser when it comes to his concerts. Not surprising considering it got me hooked the moment I heard it via those best-selling hit medleys. The strong 80's vibe from the synths, the excessive amount of electric guitar, and the screaming sax (my favourite bit) all make for an indulgence for the ears; Yazawa's husky howls and that defiant way in which he yells out "____ HA HA!" is awesome. I'm not one to listen to music at high volumes, but whenever I do get reminded of "Tomaranai" that's hiding somewhere in my "Liked Videos" playlist on YouTube, I make an exception. It's so LOUD, but it sounds so GOOD. Oddly enough, I find that it serves as sort of a stress-relief song - the almost anarchic vibe of the singer and the rockin' score makes one feel like they can let loose and go ballistic. Not like I actually do, though. It's just the feeling of it.
Definitely not my usual cup of oolong tea that is enka, that's for sure. I suppose it's more like a lemonade soda slushie that can give you brain freeze. "Tomaranai" is wild and so is the man behind the mike, but does it make for one heck of a palate cleanser!
Yazawa himself composed the music, and Tetsuya Chiaki (ちあき哲也) was in charge of penning the lyrics. "Tomaranai" was never released as a single, but it first came packaged in the album "Tokyo Night" (東京ナイト) on 25th July 1986. And then it was also included in "FLASH IN JAPAN", his album aimed at the American market, but in an English version titled "HURRICANE" - that'd be interesting to hear.
2017 was quite a rough year, but it had its merits. I hope 2018 will be more smooth-sailing. I wish you readers and writers alike a Happy New Year!
Earlier today, I wrote my own article on the works of lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）who had passed away late last month and mentioned that there were a few songs of his that I wanted to devote full articles to instead of just inserting them into the tribute since they were so good.
This is one of them. Furthermore, it's the one other song that was mentioned in the news reports as one of Yamakawa's representative works alongside Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）hit "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ）. As I mentioned in the only article that I had ever devoted to Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）, "Somebody's Night", that was the only Yazawa song that I knew up to now and it rather defined my impression of him: cool and tough with a predilection for nighttime activities.
So it was a tad surprising and refreshing to find out that a little over a decade before that song came out, Yazawa had an even bigger hit with his 5th single from March 1978, "Jikan yo Tomare" ( Hey Time, Stop!). I may have heard it before briefly way back in the past....I'm not sure. However, the important thing is that hearing it (again) now, I really like this one.
Even back then, Yazawa had that cool and caressing voice. But for "Jikan yo Tomare", there is indeed that summery daytime atmosphere attached compared to the evening of "Somebody's Night". In fact, the setting for the song has got to be the beach under clear skies. Yazawa himself came up with the oh-so-relaxing melody with Yamakawa writing the lyrics of pleading for time to stop at this perfect moment of weather, place and the girl of one's dreams. Can't say it's a rock tune...it's more on some mellow Margaritaville pop trip.
According to the J-Wiki write-up, Yazawa was backed up by some heavy duty musicians: Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）on keyboards, Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）on drums (both from Yellow Magic Orchestra) and Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）on bass. "Jikan yo Tomare" hit some good vibes among the listeners since it would hit No. 1 and stay there for 3 straight weeks, eventually becoming a million-seller and ending up as the 9th-ranked single of the year.
The song was also a track on his 4th album"Gold Rush" from June 1978. It also hit No. 1 on Oricon and according to Daisuke Kawasaki's（川崎大助）2015 book "Nihon no Rock Meiban Best 100"（日本のロック名盤ベスト100...Japan's Famous Rock Recordings Best 100）, "Gold Rush" was selected as No. 5 on the list.
To wrap up, according to the J-Wiki article (originally from an NHK-FM program on May 5th 2014) for "Jikan yo Tomare", Yamakawa had received the demo tape of Yazawa singing the song in English for which Yamakawa and a few other lyricists changed the lyrics into Japanese. Yamakawa remarked on hearing the Japanese version that he would have loved to have sung it himself, and realizing that feeling, he also realized that coming up with the lyrics was hard but enjoyable. Perhaps that was how he had felt when it came to his whole career.
Years ago, as I was reading one of the many weekly magazines that showed up on the shelf in my neighbourhood tonkatsu restaurant under Minami-Gyotoku Station in Ichikawa City, I saw a yonkoma (4-panel) comic strip depicting rocker Eikichi Yazawa （矢沢永吉）. In the first panel, he was just standing perfectly still behind a microphone in that white suit which seemed to almost drown him. Then, in the second panel, he was starting to shiver a bit in some discomfort as he stayed frozen while some fellow walked behind him. In the third panel, the fellow immediately knew how to resolve the singer's dilemma by putting a scarf behind his neck and over his shoulders. Finally, in the last panel, Yazawa was back emoting and singing while the fellow walked away...satisfied at his good deed for the day.
The take-home here is that one of the coolest singers in Japan has that one legendary image. Elvis had the curled lip and pelvis while Mick Jagger has that distinctive strut and swagger. Yazawa throttles mike stands and has that scarf. And he's got that cool charisma whenever he shows up on the telly. I'm not sure whether the hosts and the other guests are charmed or terrified by him.
(empty karaoke version)
In any case, I wanted to feature the one song that I know him best for, and that would be "Somebody's Night". In fact, I associate Yazawa's 25th single so much with the man himself that whenever those two words pop out in any context...in mind or in conversation...they always echo as an excerpt from that song. The official music video has all those beautiful bodies in black surrounding Yazawa and strutting away with attitude. Smoldering is what I call it and I just get images of James Brown when I see the rocker sweating away.
As much as it's great to see the guy rock in performance, though, I like the original recording of "Somebody's Night". The music was by Yazawa and Masao Urino（売野雅勇）took care of the lyrics behind the likely dangerous entry into a steamy affair, one with perhaps the potential for a lot of guilt afterwards and maybe worse. I'm thinking of one scene with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin in "Sea of Love" here.
Released in April 1989, the song peaked at No. 2 and became the 65th-ranked song of the year. It also was on his 17th album, "Jouji"（情事...Affair） which came out in June of the same year. The one surprising thing about the Hiroshima-born singer-songwriter is how long he's been around. His career started in 1972 when he started up the rockabilly band Carol and his debut single as a solo artist was "I Love You, OK" in September 1975.
I completely forgot that Yazawa used to be the pitchman for Suntory's brand of BOSS canned coffee for years (I became so accustomed to craggy Tommy Lee Jones as the face of the product in recent times). Contrary to his cool self on stage and TV, he was portrayed as the bumbling salaryman in all sorts of unpleasant situations while muttering "Maitta na..." (Not my day...).
