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.
It's been a long while since the last Tomoko Koyano（古谷野とも子）article which was back in March 2020, just before COVID shut the world down for a couple of years. That was for "Yorisoi Nareta Ude no Naka de"（寄りそい慣れた腕の中で）and though the Koyano file on KKP is still not all that deep, I've gotten the impression that she's along the lines of fellow singer-songwriters Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）and Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）with their mellow New Music stylings.
I found this track which shares space with "Yorisoi Nareta Ude no Naka de" on her 3rd album"Neutral Tints" from 1978. And "Shiawase Modoki" (Fake Happiness) may not titularly hint at good times within Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, but man, right from the first several notes of the song, I do feel that Koyano's creation strikes me as something ahead of its time. The arrangement comes across as a lot more contemporary especially with the keyboard work (although that Fender Rhodes is a symbol of City Pop music, particularly in the 1970s). I could imagine "Shiawase Modoki" as having been created in the 1980s or 1990s even. Nice to have such a cool and good tune to finish off tonight's slate of postings, especially with that sax solo...gave me some Gerry Rafferty vibes.
Personally, I preferred to have my Royal Milk Tea when I was at some cafe in the Tokyo area but I was also fine with lemon tea, albeit it had to have some form of sweetness like honey in there.
Lemon tea is also the drink of choice in this lovely Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）song called "Tea For Memory" from her March 1981 4th album"Tenderness". Through Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, it's about a couple of old flames who find themselves together again for just one spot of the drink in a cool cafe somewhere as they go over the memories of their past life together. The story and the music are very genteel and there's no bitterness...not even within the tea.
Composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）comes up with a classy set of notes on the song sheet which brings to mind some elegant jazz which matches the setting perfectly. At first, I'd thought that it was Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）behind the composition, although I've known that the Kisugi siblings have often come up with the refined stuff. I especially like the very amiable guitar intro after which Mariko's beautifully lilting vocals perfume the ears just so. After writing such florid prose, I'm actually eager to have a cup of tea myself although I won't go as far as sticking my pinkie out when I lift the cup.
Being a Sunday, I should be my usual more relaxed self but right now, it's the final day of the Winter Olympics and of course, that means that the Gold Medal game for Men's Ice Hockey is happening as I type this. Canada and the USA are battling it out and currently they are tied at 1-1. Canadians have confidence in their team but a few of them have also admitted to some jitters. What I wouldn't advise though while standing among a horde of hockey-crazed Canucks watching the game is whispering doubt along the lines of "But, what if we lose?". It won't look pleasant.
That's quite the segue into this song titled "Tamerai no Whisper"(Hesitant Whispers) which was sung by Shoko Minami（南翔子）, a name that I haven't talked about for a few years...at least, not since I posted her 1985 "Nagisa No Separation"（渚のセパレーション）. That had a rock vibe along the AOR side of things but "Tamerai no Whisper" which appeared on Minami's 3rd album from November 1986, "Sophisticated", is, as the album title would suggest, a more refined slice of sophisticated pop on the City Pop side of things.
One commenter for the above video mentioned that as soon as they heard the intro, they figured that it was the Kisugi siblings, lyricist Etsuko and composer Takao（来生えつこ・来生たかお）, behind the creation of the song. I actually saw the songwriting list first but I still went "ah, naruhodo" on seeing those two. Those guys were indeed the masters of the smooth and refined melody that hint at champagne and caviar in Tokyo. Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）also has to get his accolades as the arranger. Considering the year of release, "Tamerai no Whisper" sounds like the typical City Pop song of that time of the Bubble Era.
As soon as I heard the first few notes and first few strains of this song, I figured that this had to have been created by lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and her brother, singer-composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. The tenderness in the opening piano was too much of a giveaway.
Quite appropriate, too, as this was Tazumi Toyoshima's（豊島たづみ）final single to date, released in 1982. "Moetsukite, Desire"(Burn, Desire) actually appears as a slowly fading ember in a campfire or maybe the night lights of the city gradually turning off after midnight once all of the usual hijinks take place. It seems like the perfect bedtime City Pop ballad to tuck folks into sleep. Perhaps it could have been the ideal campaign song for Japan Railways as tired commuters are heading back home after a long day of work and a long night of play.
Almost six years ago, I posted an article regarding aidoru Chiaki Watanabe（渡辺千秋）and her debut single"Natsu ni Refresh"（夏にリフレッシュ）from April 1984. It was notable in that the composer was the tough-as-nails folk-rock singer Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）although the song was the typical teenybopper tune with some AOR feeling.
Well, this is her sophomore outing, "Purple Memory" which came out in September that year. I'd probably say that this is a more conventional aidoru tune with an enjoyably jangly melody by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arrangement by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）with some of those early 1980s shimmering strings. The lyrics were provided by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）.
The song was used for a candy commercial by House Foods. I mentioned in the previous Watanabe post that once she had finished her showbiz career, she got married and returned to her native Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1993. Well, since then, she took over the management of the family restaurant in her hometown of Nagato, finally earned her high school diploma through correspondence, and then in April 2021, she was elected as a city council executive.
In recent years, it's been getting increasingly more difficult to post up Miki Imai（今井美樹）articles simply because I burned through pretty much all of the songs and albums by her that I've cherished in the first years of KKP. It's just the life of a blog. However, once in a while, I do come across a gem or two.
And if it weren't for YouTube, this song may have remained all but a mystery except to those Imai fans who were able to get her very first single from May 1986, "Tasogare no Monologue"（黄昏のモノローグ）. "Tameiki Moyou" (A Pattern of Sighs) is the B-side to the single that has apparently not ever shown up on an album...not her debut album"Femme" or any BEST compilation. Perhaps she has felt that it wasn't really worthy of any time or effort to do so.
But I think for any Imai fan such as myself, "Tameiki Moyou" is still worthy of many listenings. A wistful and introspective pop song, this was created by the same duo behind "Tasogare no Monologue", lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）but this time, the arranger was Eiji Kawamura（川村栄二）. I noted in the article for the A-side that with Imai's young vocals back then and the overall arrangement, there was something there that made the song tend towards aidoru-dom but not quite. The uploader for the video noted how young those vocals sounded, and yep, I would agree; in fact, "Tameiki Moyou" pushes the needle even further toward aidoru-dom.
I should also note that Kawamura passed away earlier in May at the age of 78. My belated condolences to his family and friends.
Just staring at the cover for Takao Kisugi's（来生たかお）December 1979 album"Natural Menu", I felt like he should have gotten a gig for a cooking show on NHK. That is one lovely kitchen, and as it turns out according to the J-Wiki article on "Natural Menu", that was no set but his real kitchen after he had just gotten married. The photo itself inspired Kisugi to name the album "Natural Menu"!
Today is a Sunday and in keeping with that relaxed Sunday morning theme along with Takao himself enjoying that Western breakfast of toast, sunny-side egg, orange juice and coffee, I give you one of the tracks "Yuruyaka ni Ai ga..." (Love Slowly...). Composed by the singer, written by his sister Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, it comes across as the ultimate Sunday brunch song with that relaxing rhythm, the old-style pop feeling (something Gilbert O'Sullivan-ish) and Takao's crooning vocals. Heck, I've even read that Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）was helping out in the background chorus although I couldn't quite pick him out.
Well, I have to confess over here on a mistake that was left hanging over one article for a little over three years. You see, back in November 2020, I wrote an article on the 1976 "Suteki na News"(Wonderful News) by the late Mari Yoshida（吉田真梨）. I had been having trouble tracking down who the songwriters were and unusually, JASRAC wasn't all that helpful either but seeing the familiar names of songwriting siblings Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお）there with no singer listed, I naturally credited the mellow melody from what I heard to the Kisugis, especially since Takao had already been quite active in his singing career back in those 1970s.
Now, I was doing some maintenance on the blog earlier this morning when I was checking through the articles for any dropped videos and saw that the video for Yoshida's "Suteki na News" had been taken down. Of course, I start searching for any other videos featuring this particular song but I kept getting a song with the same title but different singer...to be specific, a model and tarento, really, by the name of Risako Shitara（設楽りさ子）who had recorded it in 1990. Plus, I saw Etsuko and Takao Kisugi attached to this one and so I naturally assumed that this young Shitara had done a cover version of the Yoshida original. However, Shitara's "Suteki na News" sounded nothing like the 1976 version, so I began sweating a bit and went down to town to find out the truth.
And the truth of the matter is that though it took a bit of time, I realized that I had been wrong about the songwriters for Yoshida's "Suteki na News" all along. By searching for the record itself in Yahoo Images and blowing up the liner notes by 50%, it turns out that a couple of French songwriters had created the original French pop song with lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）actually providing the Japanese lyrics. Of course, I made any corrections on the original article and noted the error at the very bottom of the article.
As it is, Shitara's "Suteki na News" was never released for sale and it was simply used as a promotion song for a Sanwa Bank (which was my old bank in Japan) commercial back in 1990. But indeed, this "Suteki na News" was taken care of by the Kisugis with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）handling the summery and relaxing arrangement paired with Shitara's whispery vocals.
The above video here has who I presume to be Shitara in a series of Sanwa Bank ads although "Suteki na News" isn't included. She was born in New York City and raised in both Dusseldorf, Germany and Fujisawa City in Kanagawa Prefecture. Along with doing her fair share of commercials, she has a short filmography, almost all in TV, and released two singles and five albums between 1988 and 1993. Shitara has been married all these years to Japanese soccer legend Kazuyoshi Miura（三浦知良）.
That dusk photo is of the Sony Insurance building just across from my final school in my Japan career in Nakano-Sakaue. Never been up there but the basement often had ladies selling some fine bento for lunch. I don't recall ever paying more than one coin of 500 yen for one of those. Not sure how much they would go for now, though.
The Kumi Miyasato（宮里久美）file on KKP isn't too large. In fact, this article will just be her third but it's the first non-anime-related song that I'll be writing about today when compared to "Lonely Sunset"（ロンリー・サンセット）which was associated with the "Megazone 23" franchise in the 1980s.
"Summer Lovers" is the first track on Miyasato's 3rd album "Unfinished" from July 1987. It begins life rather smoky and enigmatically before the singer's just-as-smoky vocals fill the space and time. Then the chorus rises into this late 1980s City Pop with those certain synthesizers which continue into the bridge along with a bluesy guitar. It all rather describes a smoldering romance in the big city. Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）took care of the lyrics while Ken Sato（佐藤健）was the composer.
Over five years ago, I posted an article which involved the theme song for a strange Japanese sci-fi film from 1983 that even included actor Peter Fonda titled "Daijoubu My Friend"（だいじょうぶマイ・フレンド）. The star of the movie, actress/director Reona Hirota（広田玲央名）recorded that theme song with the same title and let's say her live version of the song wasn't exactly thrilling ears.
The B-side of the single is "Ki ga Ikisou na Sora" (The Exciting Sky) whose original recorded version was something that I discovered recently, and at least here, Hirota sounds pretty decent. It's a refined and sweeping pop tune (especially with those strings) so I am not surprised that it was once again the Kisugi siblings behind its creation, Etsuko（来生えつこ）on lyrics and Takao（来生たかお）on melody with Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）handling the arrangement.
Singer-songwriter Reimy Horikawa（堀川麗美）has recorded her fair range of pop music from smooth and contemplative tunes to West Coast dance-pop songs. However, whenever I hear her name, I'll usually go first to her love ballads that seem to bring up images of Valentine's Day or Christmas Day
Case in point: her 6th single from July 1986, "Just Only You". Written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Reimy, the keyboard rhythm almost had me thinking of a typical 80s love song by the band Chicago. Overall, it's indeed a 70s/80s ballad that would make Bobby Caldwell and Boz Scaggs proud, even more adorably delivered thanks to the singer's high and assured vocals.
Ach...I just noticed that I had already written about "Just Only You" during the pandemic. But that's OK since I've given some slightly different insights there. It's not the first time I've done this and probably won't be the last.
Ahhh...I remember when I had finally gotten my copy of the 1982 "Love Trip" by the mysterious Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）years ago before the City Pop boom exploded beyond Japan's borders in the late 2010s. Whatever the singer's motivations were for pulling the quick disappearing act following the album's release, it ended up being quite the coup. She pulled off what any entertainer loves to do...left the stage with the audience wanting more. "Love Trip" was and remains one of the pillars of City Pop albums and folks have been left fantasizing about what she could have done with a second album.
Well, as they say, que sera, sera. However, 42 years later, the good folks at Tokimeki Records have once again tackled a classic City Pop song, in this case, the title track from Mamiya's one-and-only album and given it a new sheen. For the first few articles on this music unit, it was vocalist Hikari（ひかり）at the helm, but for the cover of "Love Trip", we give you Hannah Warm.
Making its presence known in August of this year, Warm gives us a close resemblance to the relaxing tones of Mamiya while the arrangement here has a bit more synth and Caribbean cruise tropical. Of course, the creators of "Love Trip" remain lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composer Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）.
Welcome once again to Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". The above photo is of the Tokyo business district of Kasumigaseki to get us in the mood.
Last year, I introduced singer Hatsue Kato（かとうはつえ）, someone who doesn't have a whole lot of information regarding her life and career, via her B-side"Kurayami ni Sayonara"（暗闇にさよなら）. The A-side is her 1979 single"Youki na Houmonsha" (A Cheerful Visitor), a song that also leads off her lone album from the same year, "Cascade".
I mentioned that the languid "Kurayami ni Sayonara" was interesting but ultimately not the most fulfilling tune. However, "Youki na Houmonsha" is a more stable number with more pep as a City Pop entry. There is also some nice rumba rolling in and out of the arrangement and any bass addicts should like this one, too. For some strange reason, though, Kato's vocal style somehow keeps reminding me of the delivery from Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）, vocalist of the band Spectrum（スペクトラム）. Akira Inoue（井上鑑）was responsible for the melody while Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）took care of the lyrics.
The Toronto International Film Festival is wrapping up today after about ten days of movies and glitz downtown. It's run its course like any other festival lasting some days here; a lot of giddy excitement in the beginning with all of the stars coming out to do their meet-and-greets with fans but the ending has gotten a lot quieter and slowly fading into the rest of the news in the city. Mind you, this year's TIFF is a bit more special since for all intents and purposes, this has been the first year since before the pandemic that the festival has returned to its old semblance of movies, fans and thespians happily getting together since before that, we all had to deal with COVID lockdowns and then the Hollywood strikes last year.
TIFF has gotten me to write about this ballad by crooner-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. His August 1984 10th album"Romantic Cinematic" was created with the air of the old movies in mind, and so I bring you this track "Itsuka Tsukiyo de" (Sometime on a Moonlit Night). Written by his sister Etsuko（来生えつこ）with Takao handling the melody, Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）arranged "Itsuka Tsukiyo de" as this straight pop love song about an ideal time to fall head-over-heels, with the singer describing over how he first saw his beloved one moony evening.
I can certainly imagine a scene out of old Hollywood whether it involved Spencer and Kate, Humphrey and Lauren or Fred and Ginger. As for the album, it managed to hit No. 18 on Oricon. And I really like that stylized image of what could look like a typical Beverly Hills mansion as the cover for "Romantic Cinematic".
It's been a few years since I lasted posted up a Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）song (the last one was his 1983 "His Woman" back in late 2021), so allow me to rectify.
I'm not sure whether I have included anything on the blog from his May 1984 album"Music", but "Lonely Journey" was also released as a single the month before. Written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）, composed by Yamamoto and arranged by Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）, it's a pretty muscular AOR tune with that steady beat and of course, the bluesy saxophone is always welcome. From what I can understand of Kisugi's lyrics, it appears that Yamamoto is singing about that eternal struggle to understand women and love. Yup, I can relate to a certain degree.
The song peaked at No. 46 on Oricon. Interestingly enough, "Lonely Journey" was not used as a theme song for a drama; instead it was a commercial tune for the Le Mans 2 tire by Dunlop Tires. Hey, it can be lonely in a race car at times. In any case, this tune by Yamamoto isn't to be confused by the other "Lonely Journey" by one Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）that would come out the following year.
Over the years, I've put out APBs on some mystery songs and a few of them have actually been resolved to our great relief and satisfaction. Personally, I've also been searching for songs but not quite in the same way. They've actually been part of my collection with all of the relevant information but I just hadn't seen them on the Internet. A couple of them belong to one of my favourite underrated songbirds, Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）.
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One song got its due many years ago, I'm happy to say. "Gas Tou"（ガス燈）, which is a track on Kurahashi's March 1986 album"Main Course", finally appeared on YouTube so I was more than happy to get it onto the article for the album. And just today, I found another one that took quite a while to find its way on the Net.
Like "Gas Tou", "By The River" is a jazz tune which made its first presence known on the singer's September 1982 album"Heartbreak Theater" (although for me, I found it on her 1999 BEST album"My Name is Ballad"). However, whereas "Gas Tou" sounded like a 1940s torch song from a film noir, "By The River" is simply a blissful 1950s jazzy number which may been inspired by a lazy weekday afternoon in some mansion on Long Island. Kurahashi herself sounds like she's lying right on that chaise lounge facing the window while her butler is peeling some grapes for her ingestion. It's a fine lying-down song which is also why I dubbed it a Fashion Music song. After all, the chaise lounge is the international piece of furniture representing the genre. In any case, Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）was responsible for the lyrics while Kiyonori Matsuo（松尾清憲）took care of the music. To be honest, I'd assumed that it was jazz-and-City Pop hound Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）who was the composer here.
The beginnings of the 1990s in Japan may have been the end of the high-flying Bubble era, but the City Pop music of that time was still very effective in giving that vibe of the good times, albeit in a more sophisticated pop sense.
Singer-songwriter Nami Hirai（平井菜水）is most likely not a household name in the Japanese music industry but she's just one of the unsung chanteuses who were keeping the luxury nights going in a melodic sense at least while the economy was finally coming down like a house of cards. One of the songs of hers that I have posted up in the past is her creamy but urbane "Kagayakitai kara"（輝きたいから）, her 2nd single from September 1991 and the final track on her debut album"Yume no Silhouette"（夢のシルエット）which was released a month later.
Another track from "Yume no Silhouette" is "Mada Yume dake no"(Still Just a Dream) which was written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. The Kisugi siblings were known a decade prior for providing singers with some lush romantic ballads, but in the 1990s apparently, they could also come up with the City Pop creations, and in 1990, Takao (and Etsuko) got a hit with his urban classy "Yume yori Tooku e"（夢より遠くへ）. "Mada Yume dake no" is also another cool and contemporary city tune by him under Motoki Funayama's（船山基紀）arrangement. Those particular keyboards bring in a lot of nostalgia of that time.
Singer-songwriter and musician Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）has been one of my favourite chanteuses in Japan for over 40 years, and as such, I have gone over a few of her albums such as her 1981 third album"Tenderness", although because of the usual powers-that-be issues, the best I've gotten for that one at least is the link to the Apple site. Maybe for this one, her March 1979 debut album as a solo artist, "Hitoaruki", I can bring in some of the videos for the music.
"Hitoaruki" means "Walking Alone" and it's a good title since Takahashi, who just turned 30 at the time, was making her foray alone in music without the support of her old band, the flamboyantly named Pedro & Capricious（ペドロ&カプリシャス）. Although I can't say that I'm an expert on the group, during Takahashi's time there as the vocalist, they probably focused more on the folk and rock of the 1970s, basically New Music. As a bit of an aside, I have to say that the soft-focus picture of her on the cover shows one of the best soft perms that I have ever seen for a singer. The lass looks rather uncertain when she really doesn't need to be.
I've already actually covered a couple of the songs from "Hitoaruki": the first track and one of her signature songs, the Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）-penned "Anata no Sora wo Tobitai"(あなたの空を翔びたい）, and the City Pop"Oide Summer Holiday"（おいでサマー・ホリディ）. There are eight more tracks so why don't we split the difference and try four of them in Part 1 tonight?
Starting off with Track 2, "Te no Hira"（掌...The Palm of Your Hand） is a song that was written and composed by folk singer Masashi Sada（さだまさし）. With Takahashi, it's always been the dramatic and heartfelt vocals and along with the preceding "Anata no Sora wo Tobitai", "Te no Hira" shows off the angst of love via her voice and the lyrics about love beginning with the contact of hands. Perhaps due to Sada's association and where the singer had come from, the song might be heard as a particularly rich folk song but I've opted to consider it another example of the baroque Fashion Music.
The next song is "Sayonara no Etude"（さよならのエチュード...The Goodbye Etude）, is a throwback to the 1950s or 1960s vocal group pop which was also part of the musical realm of another lady making her mark at the time and she also has the same initials as Mariko Takahashi...MT, as in Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）. Created by the sibling songwriting duo of lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ） and composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）, it's a tenderhearted plea for a quiet and grateful end to a relationship. Let's remember the good times but look forward to the future without each other.
Track 4 is the slow samba-worthy "You're So Far Away" under the aegis of lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composer Henry Hirose（ヘンリー広瀬）who happens to be another former Pedro & Capricious member and Takahashi's husband. Despite the lyrics of a woman in the aftermath of a romance now over, Hirose's melody sounds perfect for a cocktail accompaniment at sunset. Not sure if it's City Pop or J-AOR so I've thrown both of them into the Labels.
The final track for Part 1 is the inspirational "My Dream"（マイ・ドリーム）which begins like a classic Carpenters tune with that piano and oboe combination in the intro. However it then transforms into a power ballad that Takahashi has become famous for belting out of the park. The lyrics (and music) by Kuni Kawauchi（クニ河内）seem to tell of a story of a woman and her unrequited wishes of romance. Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）was the arranger here.
John McGraw is someone that I've met a couple of times at lunch, thanks to an introduction via our mutual J-E translator friend. I guess that you can say that we're ramen buddies. But in any case, he began a YouTube channel called Hiyaku Coaching and a podcast titled "Intercultural Insiders" more than a year ago which in his oft-repeated words "...helps expats feel more confident in their new country in less time and pain than they would on their own". Whether it be in Canada or another nation, I'm sure that lot of us including myself have gone through the euphoria and despair of culture shock in the early years of residency in a new country. Well, McGraw and his coaching are the shock absorber.
Obviously I'm living in my home nation again, but I've been listening to John's podcasts for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm an introvert and I can use some of what he's spoken about and 2) he's got a very soothing voice.
But the reason that I'm starting off this edition of KKP on the first Saturday of March 2024 with some intercultural therapy is because of what this particular song is saying. It's been a while since I've posted anything by aidoru Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）but I was able to find this track "City Polka" which is a track on her 3rd original album"Weather Report" from July 1981.
I know that Iwasaki actually began her career as a singer with some City Pop under her belt, but I have to admit that I've never heard of "City Polka" before. As created by lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by her brother Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）with arrangement by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, "City Polka" isn't a polka at all even in its jauntiest moments. In fact, I'd say that it's a very congenial aidoru tune with a hint of 1950s girl pop and country. Lyrically though, the song is about a woman coming to grips with a new life in the big city, presumably Tokyo. Yes, she can feel very lonely in a megalopolis with a daytime population of 14-16 million souls. Overall, I can add that the song is a very pleasant underrated track that is very Kisugi indeed.
Well, I've brought out "live-action" Kayo Grace Kyoku in a drinking establishment whose bottles are perhaps a little too close for comfort. However, the photo seems to be the right one for this song.
First, just a little background though. I first mentioned singer Yuri Shimazaki（しまざき由理）almost four years ago when she sang one of the ending themes for the popular 70s cop show"G-MEN★75", "Omokage"（面影）. Shimazaki was still technically a teenager when she recorded this moody Mood Kayo in 1975 as if she were a hardened mistress of the mizu shobai. Mind you, she'd been a singer for some time before that.
The majority of her discography going into the 1980s and her early twenties was involved with "G-MEN★75", but in September 1981, Shimazaki released an album "After Hours"（アフター･アワー）which I hadn't heard of. The cover has her sleeping comfortably in some gold leaf or gold lame that makes it appear she's had the most expensive rest in her lifetime. Regardless, one track that I found on "After Hours" is "Shien" (Tobacco Smoke). It stands out for that particular keyboard being used in the intro and throughout the song. Feeling the mellowness of the arrangement by Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）, I wasn't surprised that "Shien" was created by lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）who are famous for their languid songs.
Nope, I wouldn't say that "Shien" is a City Pop or AOR tune or even Mood Kayo by any means. But it does have that metropolitan feel and I do imagine that above scene with Kayo when this is playing in my head. If anything, I would say that the song enters the Fashion Music realm with the way the melody kinda slowly bounces around as if it were in France but at the same time, feels like a stint on the chaise lounge...or a well-worn bar stool. The titular smoke would be rising up very calmly, making all sorts of curls before it dissipates.
