Senri Oe -- Wallabee Nugi Sutete（ワラビーぬぎすてて）/Glory Days

 

You're getting the 2-for-1 deal today with singer-songwriter Senri Oe（大江千里）. Yup, two songs in one article...neither of which I have heard from him before.

First off, I was curious about how Oe when he was a pop star in the 1980s got his start since I've known him from the latter half of that decade and I've known him for his distinctive upbeat sound. Well, he made his debut in May 1983 with the single "Wallabee Nugi Sutete" (Kick Off Those Wallabees). 

From Amazon

I think right from the start Oe has had that happy "Aw, gosh!" pop/rock style with "Wallabee Nugi Sutete" which struck me as being quite fast, and then I discovered that it's barely over three minutes. Couldn't ask for a poppier song. Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）arranged everything by the way.

Personally, I've never worn a pair of Wallabees before but they certainly look comfortable. However, Oe's encouraging the guys to take them off, ostensibly to have that beachside barefoot walk with the girls they like. "Wallabee Nugi Sutete" didn't seem to make it onto the Oricon charts but for those Oe fans, this should be part of their collection. The song was also included on the singer's debut album which came out the same month as the single "WAKU WAKU" and according to the J-Wiki article, "Wallabee" had some big guns in the recording studio such as bassist-songwriter Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）and drummer Jun Aoyama（青山純）.

Seeing the music video for the song, I'm convinced that I had seen it before decades ago when the Canadian music show "The New Music" did a special on the music of Japan. They showed a part of this video, specifically the part where Oe was walking on the audiotape in the middle of it.

I'd already had Oe's debut single in the backlog for a few weeks when I discovered that one of his later singles has become part of the "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ! 中村くん!!）ending theme family. His 14th single "Glory Days" gloriously finished off a nerve-racking Episode 10 of ever-tense Nakamura-kun waiting to get an autograph from his favourite manga author. 

Oh, isn't that an adorable pair look for Nakamura and Hirose! Anyways, "Glory Days" was released in August 1988 and once again, Omura was there to arrange Oe's words and music. It was also a part of his 10th album "1234" which not only hit No. 6 on Oricon but was voted Best Album of the Year at the 3rd Annual Japan Gold Disk Awards. 

Seikima II -- Rouningyo no Yakata（蠟人形の館）

 

Looks like Episode 7 of "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）is now in the record books. This time, it used the well-worn anime plot device of having the main characters go through a scary place...and for this episode, it was the school after dark. From the few excerpts available, it appears that Nakamura-kun was able to turn the tables on good ol' Hirose for once. 

As has been the case with every episode, the ending theme for Episode 7 was again another throwback to the past. Furthermore, as was the case with Episode 4's ender, Barbee Boys' "Makeru mon ka"（負けるもんか）, this one is also a song that I had never heard before.

For one thing, it's a heavy metal tune and I don't really listen to the genre. Mind you, Seikima II（聖飢魔II）does have representation on KKP via its "EL-DO-RA-DO" and I'm going to add its second entry here with "Rouningyo no Yakata" (House of Wax) which supposedly ended Episode 7, and yeah, why not end this scare-themed entry with a song titled after a famous horror movie from the past? 

Released as Seikima II's debut single in April 1986, the former Demon Kogure（デーモン小暮） plays his role perfectly as one of Satan's best right down to the delivery of his terrifying warnings. I have to say that his singing voice is quite pure...almost angelic, but don't tell him that. The single managed to reach No. 17 on Oricon. Words and music were provided by Damian Hamada（ダミアン浜田）.

To continue to show that Demon Kogure now Demon Kakka（デーモン閣下）is really a fairly mellow guy, here is his interview with British talk show host Jonathan Ross. 

Wow! I can actually say that this is a trailer that reveals nothing of the movie itself. I actually caught "House of Wax" at the theatre when it was given a re-release during my university years.

Barbee Boys -- Makeru mon ka（負けるもんか）

 

Well, that was quite the happy ending sequence for Episode 4 of "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）as you can see above. Nakamura saves the love of his life, Hirose, from some photography-crazed punks and he's celebrating his win at home. Meanwhile, the ending theme cavalcade of oldies continues apace and cheerfully for fans. Episode 5 had quite the explosion of delight with an old City Pop fave, Yasuha's（泰葉）"Fly-Day Chinatown" (フライディ・チャイナタウン).

As was the case with Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）& Scha Dara Parr's "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back"（今夜はブギー・バック）which was the ender for Episode 3, Barbee Boys' "Makeru mon ka" (Like Hell I'm Giving In), which was Nakamura's celebratory tune at the end of Episode 4, is also a song that I hadn't covered on the blog or heard at all. I was never all that much of a Barbee Boys fan although we do have a couple of their songs on KKP and up to now, my impression has been that the band loved to create songs showing conflict of all sorts whether it be internal or external.

"Makeru mon ka" was released as Barbee Boys' 5th single in April 1986 and as soon as I heard it, I knew it was a signature Barbee Boys song with those sparkly guitars, soprano saxophone and Kyoko's（杏子）vocals. Written and composed by band guitarist Tomotaka Imamichi（いまみちともたか）, it's about a guy's battle with himself about how to handle the potential consequences of his very assertive girlfriend wanting to drop by his place late at night. Methinks that the angel and devil on his two shoulders are having an Avengers level of fighting.

That's quite the music video for "Makeru mon ka" as well. There's nothing like ancient Soviet-era propaganda showing the populace actually having fun to attract viewers. Anyways, the song peaked at No. .47 on Oricon, and it was a track on Barbee Boys' 2nd album "Freebee" from November 1985. It hit No. 18.

Kenji Ozawa & Scha Dara Parr -- Kon'ya wa Boogie Back（今夜はブギー・バック）

 

Looks like the good times are still rolling with "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）with not just the main show but also with the ending credit sequences which include the songs of yesteryear (specifically, those of the Showa and Heisei eras). We've already gotten Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵） "Hatsukoi" (初恋）and Da Bubblegum Brothers' "Won't Be Long" for Episodes 1 and 2 respectively.

The ending of Episode 3 has gone into the hip-hop field this time apparently, so the target song here is "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back"  (Tonight is Boogie Back) which was the March 1994 7th single for hip-hop group Scha Dara Parr with Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）, formerly of Flipper's Guitar. It was pretty interesting hearing Ozawa going rap but then again, I've learned that he's tried all sorts of genres including jazz and of course, Shibuya-kei when he was with Flipper's Guitar.

Incidentally, there are two versions of "Boogie Back": the "smooth rap" and the "nice vocal" takes of which the former has Scha Dara Parr taking the lead while the latter has Ozawa behind the mike most of the time.

The thing is that the first time I ever listened to "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back", it was not through the original artists. It was actually listening to some musical guests covering the song on the late-night Saturday music variety show "Love Love Aishiteiru" (Love Love 愛している....Love Love I Love You） hosted by the Kinki Kids. At the time, I hadn't heard a whole lot of Japanese rap although we were just on the cusp of a big J-R&B boom from the late 1990s, so I wanted to hear the original with Ozawa and Scha Dara Parr.

"Boogie Back" was written and composed by Ozawa and the three members of Scha Dara Parr: Bose, Ani and Shinco. It peaked at No. 15 on Oricon (selling over half a million copies), and it looks like it has had plenty of covers done over the last thirty years. The song also samples En Vogue's "Give It Up, Turn It Loose" from 1992.

Apparently, the end of Episode 4 features a song by The Barbee Boys that I hadn't experienced before. That'll get its due then.

Yasuha -- Fly-Day Chinatown (フライディ・チャイナタウン)

No, I didn't goof up on the title up there. It is indeed "Fly-Day Chinatown" and not "Friday Chinatown" according to the write-up on J-Wiki. I gather that singer-songwriter Yasuha（泰葉）wanted to further illustrate the excitement of a night in Chinatown through the title although I think Friday nights in Chinatown can be quite jaunty.

This was another discovery on YouTube and I was automatically drawn in by the booming disco melody by Yasuha Ebina（海老名泰葉）and the interesting horns which start things off. Plus, I also like Yasuha's vocals which are in the same vein as Junko Yagami（八神純子）and Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. With the setting being Chinatown, my brain couldn't help but pull out some of my times in good ol' Yokohama. Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）provided the lyrics.

"Fly-Day Chinatown" was Yasuha's debut single from September 1981 which managed to peak at No. 69 on Oricon and was also a track on her debut album, "Transit" which was released a couple of months later. The singer is a Tokyo native and the daughter of a rakugo storyteller and an essayist. Apparently, she has also been a tarento although my memory is a bit fuzzy on whether I actually saw her on TV or whether it was another television personality by the name of Otoha（乙葉）.

Including "Transit", she has released 10 singles up to 2009 and 7 studio albums.

This was actually a Friday and the photo seems
good for City Pop!

September 27th 2020: Ms.OOJA has provided a nice cover of "Fly-Day Chinatown".

April 29th 2026: Well in the last ten years since I first posted "Fly-Day Chinatown", the catchy-as-all-heck City Pop tune has become quite the source of meme legend.

We've had the whole Rounds 1 and 2 thing.

Then, there was the Eggdog Dance Battle.

And just last week, "Fly-Day Chinatown" was used as the ending theme for Episode 5 of  the anime "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）which may have gotten the biggest reaction out of all of the Showa and Heisei Era songs utilized so far. If the powers-that-be actually go to Miki Matsubara（松原みき）, that corner of the show on YouTube will positively explode. The viewership for this article has soared as well...to over 6,500 views thus far.

Yasuyuki Okamura -- Daisuki （だいすき）

Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）really made an impression on me with "Viva Namida", the funkalicious theme song of the "anything goes" 2014 anime "Space Dandy". In the article for that song, I realized that this fellow has had a career spanning back to the mid-80s.

I've seen the contemporary version of Okamura via YouTube and through his anime avatar appearance on the official music video for "Viva Namida", and he kinda struck me as this rather dissipated section chief who would usually be berated by the boss during the day, only to become this super middle-aged funkster by night.

Well, I wanted to check out Okamura back in his early days. And as you can see from the video above, he looked more like the fresh-faced university hipster. And will you get a load of the 80s fashion that everyone's wearing?

And so I found "Daisuki" (I Really Love You), his 8th single that he wrote and composed from November 1988. And y'know, I kinda daisuki it as well. The voice was as trippy back then as it is on "Viva Namida" although I would grade the song more in the pop vein. In a way, Okamura sounded more like a deeper-sounding but just-as-boppy Senri Oe（大江千里）with that cheerfully contagious beat and the cute kids in the background. Both he and Oe had also created songs for that big-eyed and big-voiced ball of energy, Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）at around the same time, so I can see how she got that inspiration.

"Daisuki" didn't get that far up the charts, peaking at No. 42. However, it was adopted as a campaign song for a Honda commercial that featured a young Miki Imai（今井美樹）. And the song was also a track on his 3rd album, "Yasuyuki"（靖幸）which came out in July 1989.

http://music.163.com/#/song?id=26158326

Da Bubblegum Brothers/EXILE & Kumi Koda -- Won't Be Long

This was such a fun song to hear back in my Gunma days. I didn't know who these Bubblegum Brothers were, and I have a feeling most of Japan didn't either, although Bro. Tom and Bro. Korn (now Kone) had released their very first single back in 1985. But the Brothers' 10th single, "Won't Be Long", released in August 1990, hit paydirt. Considering the title, though, it took its sweet time making the big time.

I came to Japan at the right time. Falling in love with Japanese popular music in 1981 during that summer graduation trip, I had my eyes further opened when kayo kyoku switched over to J-Pop and everything just exploded. The aidoru/enka age seemed to give way, and the ground opened up for singers who wanted to give breath to other genres such as R&B, ska, glam rock, etc. Toshinobu Kubota, Minako Yoshida and Masayuki Suzuki among others were pushing the wave for that first example. But then, acts like Bubblegum Brothers and Zoo started to bring over something even more danceable.

"Won't Be Long" just had this funky, strutworthy beat accompanied by these unforgettable horns, and so I thought Tom and Korn had gotten their inspiration straight and solely from Jamaica. However, according to J-Wiki, the Bros. actually based their biggest hit on the traditional Awa Odori（阿波踊り） from Tokushima Prefecture....feel free to take a look at the official video for the song above, although the Awa Odori there took place in Koenji, Tokyo.

Brother Korn was responsible for the lyrics and melody....and for the entire singing. Apparently, according to him, Brother Tom had excused himself from the recording and "....went to play pachinko". Nice.

As I said in the first paragraph, "Won't Be Long" wasn't an instant megasuccess. After its release in the summer of 1990, it slowly simmered over the months gaining temperature, and then it finally caught full flame by a stroke of scheduling luck....involving the 1991 Kohaku Utagassen of all things. One of the bands that had been chosen for the NHK New Year's Eve extravaganza, Hound Dog, dropped out suddenly, and the powers-that-be asked for Da Bubblegum Brothers to come in to get the show out of the pinch. Well, there was nothing like a party song to spice things up, and as the clock ticked over into 1992, "Won't Be Long" broke the million-seller barrier, ultimately selling 1.2 million copies. The song peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and eventually became the 16th-ranked song for 1992.

Over 16 years later, Kumi Koda（倖田來未）and EXILE got together to make their own cover of "Won't Be Long"for release in November 2006. The arrangement wasn't too different from that of the original, but Koda and EXILE added their own vocal flourishes. Their version actually peaked even higher on the Oricon weeklies at No. 2 but ultimately finished as the 56th-ranked song of that year.

As for Da Bubblegum Brothers themselves? Well, after a decade off from singing, they came out with some new singles and an album starting from late 2008. And the two have kept their profile nice and high due to their other roles as TV personalities.

Da Bubblegum Bros.

Bakufu Slump -- Runner

Along with a few other songs, such as Princess Princess' "Diamonds", Bakufu Slump's（爆風スランプ） "Runner" is one of my musical memories of my time in Gunma between 1989-1991 as a teacher on the JET Programme. And like "Diamonds", the memory was further engraved into my brain because "Runner"was a favourite tune to be played over (and over) the speakers at the annual junior high school Play Days. Just having the title "Runner"probably would have relegated it to the list for the Broadcasting Club to play it, but the instrumental version just had that jumpy melody to give the kids that extra spring in their step during their dashes.

The crew that eventually became Bakufu Slump came from an amalgam of two bands that had performed and won some big prizes at a 1981 band contest sponsored by the Yamaha Music Foundation: Bop Gun（爆風銃） and Super Slump（スパー・スランプ）. Making the union official from 1982, the new band led by the gravelly-voiced Sun Plaza Nakano（サンプラザ中野） made a name for itself as somewhat of a comic band and all-round hellraising group at their concerts by liberal usage of fire extinguishers on the audience and smashing watermelons (good golly, they were the Gallagher of J-Pop!....feel free to look up the performance artist on YouTube). And the usually very staid atmosphere on the Japanese music ranking shows such as "Yoru no Hit Studio Deluxe"（夜のヒットスタジオDELUXE) during the 80s was turned upside down when they showed up and brought their outsized theatrics onstage.

I guess when I arrived in Japan at the end of the decade, the band must have mellowed somewhat. Had no idea of their playful anarchy when I first came across them on TV, although I quickly realized what a character Sun Plaza Nakano was with his sunglasses and shiny cue ball head. Now, for the record, the rest of the band are: Pappara Kawai（パッパラー河合） on guitar, Funky Suekichi（ファンキー末吉）on drums, and Barbe-Q Wasada（バーべQ和佐田） on bass since 1989 replacing HaHiHuHeHo-Jin（はひふへほーじん）.

"Runner" was the band's 12th single released in October 1988, and the song that Nakano and Co. are best known for. I think it was more than the kids that the song inspired. Probably a lot of adults regained a second wind on hearing the refrain, "Hashiru, hashiru..."(running, running...) , and even now, the Nakano-and-Suekichi-penned hit still gets played at the high school baseball competitions....and probably the Play Days as well.

It got as high as No. 6 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 18th-ranked song of 1989. Not surprisingly, Bakufu Slump got its invitation to the 1988 Kohaku Utagassen although its pretty remarkable getting to play the song there on New Year's Eve less than 3 months after its release. It also became a track on the band's 5th album, "High Lander" released in November 1988. It peaked at No. 3 on the album charts.

Rebecca -- Friends （フレンズ）

I'd always wondered where the band got its name. The first leader of the band, guitarist Takehiko Kogure（小暮武彦）, revealed that "Rebecca" came from Kate Douglas Wiggin's "Rebecca of Sunnybook Farm"(according to J-Wiki)....not sure if he had been a fan of hers. Another interesting piece of trivia I got was that he and lead vocalist NOKKO had actually gone to America before the band got started in 1984 to try their luck there, but didn't quite succeed so they returned.

My first sighting of the band was on one of the music ranking shows, and they did a live remote appearance of one of their hits, "Monotone Boy"(so probably around 1987). I'll be honest with you...NOKKO's vocals were off, and the song was meant to be fairly screamed out, so I wasn't too impressed. I just thought "NEXT!"

Then, I came across one of their earlier singles, and thought it a lot more appealing. "Friends" was Rebecca's 4th single, released in October 1985, and whenever I hear it now, it just takes me back to those days when there were bands and singers which were going a different way from the aidoru and enka routes. NOKKO just reminded me of a softer and perhaps shorter version of Pat Benatar, and this single sounded, in a glancing way, of Benatar's big hit, "Love is a Battlefield". The sound also made me think of some of the pop/rock that had been going on in the early 80s back in the US; stuff by Quarterflash, for instance.

Written by NOKKO and composed by Rebecca keyboardist Akio Dobashi（土橋安騎夫）, "Friends" also happened  to be the theme songs for two different TV dramas, "Half-Potato na Oretachi"（ハーフポテトな俺たち....Us Half-Potatoes) in 1985 and "Lipstick" in 1999, both programs about growing up as teens. I saw a few episodes of the latter show, and the reappearance of the Rebecca classic got people remembering and probably singing it in the karaoke boxes. In its original release, the song got as high as No. 3. It was also a track on Rebecca's 4th album, "REBECCA IV -- Maybe Tomorrow"(November 1985) which hit the top spot on Oricon and became the 3rd-ranking album for 1986.

Still not sure about "Monotone Boy", but "Friends"...and "Lonely Butterfly" are some of my late 80s touchstones.

Princess Princess -- Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu （世界でいちばん熱い夏）

One of my favourite musical memories of that time in Gunma Prefecture, "Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu"(The Hottest Summer in the World) always fits the Japanese summer, even though the "atsui" in the title refers more to "passion" rather than "heat". One thing that I will never miss about my adoptive country is the season of summer. It is so humid there that I can sprout gills; the air is just so saturated with water that it literally forces the sweat to stay on my skin.

Back to the song, though. "Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu" has that distinctive characteristic of being PuriPuri's 2nd AND 8th single. Written by drummer Kyoko Tomita（富田京子） and composed by lead vocal Kaori Okui（奥居香）, it was originally released in July 1987. But since at that time, Princess Princess hadn't made its breakthrough yet, the song, which was released as a 45 single, didn't chart.

Go forward a couple of years. Princess Princess has made its breakthrough with "Diamonds". And it was decided that "Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu" would get a new lease on life by being released one more time in CD format in July 1989. This time, the song would hit the top spot on Oricon as many listeners discovered it for the first time, and end up being the 2nd-ranked song of the year....just behind "Diamonds". It very nearly broke the million-seller barrier. There are probably a lot of young parents right now in Japan who would swoon on hearing this chestnut again.

Kome Kome Club/HALCALI -- Roman Hiko (浪漫飛行）

I guess I should say 「ただいま！」 I'm back from my weeklong vacation, and I thought I should start things up on the blog by using this song. I would've done some stuff on the cruise ship but when Internet rates are 65 cents a minute, I thought I could wean myself off the Net for a week.

The first time I came across the eclectic band Kome Kome Club (米米クラブ）was through a TV commercial. They were singing "Funk Fujiyama", and the band struck me as a group of folks who looked as if they had been kidnapped and tortured by the Takarazuka acting troupe. But I gradually became a fan of theirs, and one of my few regrets about my time in Japan is that I never got a chance to see these guys in concert. Apparently, K2C was THE band to catch during the 90s with a showmanship that only Southern All Stars could rival.

Anyways, after "Funk Fujiyama" was Kome Kome Club's 10th single, "Roman Hiko"(Romantic Flight). Released in April 1990, it had that jaunty traveling beat and Tatsuya 'Carl Smokey' Ishii's(石井竜也） fun & mellow vocals. As someone had remarked for the video on YouTube, it sounds like an anticipated trip. The folks at Japan Air Lines at the time must've come to the same conclusion since the song was used as their campaign song for their Okinawa vacations. During my time in the karaoke rooms, "Roman Hiko" was also a favorite for folks behind the mike. The song is also included on the band's third album, "KOMEGUNY", which was actually released back in 1987. Talk about the slow way to become a hit.

"Roman Hiko" became the 2nd-most successful single of the year in 1990, just behind gimmick unit, B.B. Queen's "Odoru Ponpokorin".

Last year, Okinawan dance/singing duo, HALCALI, gave their own ska treatment of the song.. The two ladies are a fun pair to watch as well as hear (although the above video is of two other ladies performing the dance).

June 6th 2026: Yup, "Roman Hiko" has even become part of the rolling ending themes for the anime "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ! 中村くん!!）...episode 11, to be precise. I kinda had a feeling that the song would be included.

Kozo Murashita/Chikuzen Sato/Hiroko Mita -- Hatsukoi (初恋）

Kozo Murashita (村下孝蔵）was a singer with this wonderfully mellow tenor who was born in 1953 in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture. I heard a number of his lovely folk songs before and after "Hatsukoi"...all written and composed by Murashita. But it was this single, released in February 1983, that got him near the top of the charts...No. 3, to be exact. 

"Hatsukoi"(First Love) would be Murashita's most popular song, and it doesn't sound like a folk tune due to the synths and the arrangements by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）. It comes off as sounding quintessentially early 80s pop, although in concerts, Murashita has always maintained his folksy approach by appearing on stage sitting on a stool with just his guitar and a microphone. The song itself has become a standard with many singers afterwards covering it in their albums (Misato Watanabe, Noriyuki Makihara, etc.). And it's no surprise...great melody and lyrics that anyone who has ever pined for that boy/girl in school can relate to.

The lyrics themselves are written as such that they would make the perfect backdrop for Charlie Brown's eternal pursuit for the Little Red-Haired Girl. If Chuck could speak Japanese, he would be saying these words himself. And considering that the Peanuts gang are so popular in Japan that they've appeared in commercials, I'm surprised that no one has put 2 and 2 together and tied up this song with good ol' Charlie Brown.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm16013387

As I said, over the years, a number of J-Pop singers have covered "Hatsukoi". I've only heard one cover version and it's a smash. Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）, the lead singer for Sing Like Talking, gave a truly funky rendition in 2007....the electric guitar sounds like something Santana would play and the arrangement would give Steely Dan nosebleeds. It makes it really hard for me to decide which version is better.

As for Murashita, sadly, his life was cut short due to a stroke during a rehearsal in 1999.

December 23 2012: Thanks to jarteaga obregon, he informed me about 80s aidoru Hiroko Mita's（三田寛子）version of the song. This was released as Mita's 5th single in April 1983.