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.
To any and all American readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Happy Fourth of July and also a Happy Sestercentennial (250th birthday). I recall that three years ago, I also provided a special list of America-related songs on July the 4th and mentioned that we would have to do something about 2026. Well, the day is here.
And so, this is my "America" Tunes 2. Unlike the first one which mostly dealt with songs that had "America" in their titles, I'm being a bit more geographically precise so I'll be listing those numbers referring specifically to states and cities. Without further ado then:
From the same edition of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）from which I discovered Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Daikon no Hana"（だいこんの花）and wrote about it earlier today, I also heard for the first time Goro Noguchi's（野口五郎）"Good Luck".
It's been called one of Noguchi's earliest forays into J-AOR/City Pop that was released as his 28th single in September 1978. I'd probably go with the former genre myself, with it having that breezy 70s West Coast feeling thanks to that shimmering electric guitar which is reminiscent of the one accompanying Julio Iglesias' cover of "Begin the Beguine". Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, Noguchi sings the step-by-step process of having that one last overnight tryst with a lover before he leaves her apartment forever. I gather that the good luck here is more about the farewell wishes to his paramour more than any fine fortune he may have had.
"Good Luck" won a Gold prize at that year's Japan Record Awards and earned Noguchi an invitation to the 1978 Kohaku Utagassen. The song was also the singer's final entry into the Oricon Top 10 as it peaked at No. 4 and eventually became the 70th-ranked single of the year.
For the longest time, I was rather confused about whether one of the most famous cities in Western Japan was formally known as Fukuoka or Hakata. Well, as it turns out, Hakata is actually the most famous area in the city of Fukuoka...filled with a literal and huge community of yatai food stands and it's beloved for the tonkotsu ramen. I would love to have some of that now though if I have too much of it, my blood will end up resembling the broth. I did stay there one night although I regret not exploring too much of the area outside of Hakata Station which you can see above.
At the site "TV Tropes", there is the Early Installment Weirdness section which talks about how long-running TV series started out a bit strangely or differently compared to the peak years which most fans are acquainted with. For example, the original "Star Trek" had a differently arranged theme song, Mr. Spock was a little more emotional and Lt. Uhura wore a gold command uniform for one episode rather than the familiar red one.
Well, we've come to one of those on KKP. Allow me to introduce Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）, enka singer. Fans of the late Showa Era brand of music might pop their eyes at that introduction since we all know that the Gifu Prefecture-born Noguchi gained his fame from not only being a hit aidoru singer of the 1970s but also one of the three teen heartthrobs that made up the Shin-Gosanke（新御三家）, or The New Big Three, alongside Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）and the late Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）.
But it is true. When I first wrote about Noguchi's 2nd single, the intrepid hit "Aoi Ringo"（青いリンゴ）from August 1971, this was a reset of sorts. His very first single from May of that year was "Hakata Miren" which I first translated as "Hakata Regrets" but I'm now thinking it could be a little less melancholy and will re-translate it as "Remembering Hakata". Regardless, "Hakata Miren" is indeed an enka song and teen Goro sang it in a way that made me wonder whether the management group around had been trying to mold him into the next Shinichi Mori（森進一）. His catchphrase was even "The Adorable Hope of Enka". It was a very different sound from him and ultimately one that didn't impress listeners. There isn't even an Oricon ranking listed for it.
I couldn't find any videos of Noguchi singing "Hakata Miren" live aside from this one. Other kayo singers have covered it, though. Incidentally, the song was written by Tetsuo Houshi（鳳司哲夫）and composed by Eiichi Arai（荒井英一）.
The photographer of the above, Andy Li, put the above shot of creamy scrambled eggs on toast at Loro's Café totally into the public domain according to Wikimedia Commons. Still, I wanted to acknowledge his work as something utterly scrumptious. In fact, my final meal before I had to undergo 30 hours of fasting before Monday's colonoscopy had been a low-fibre round of scrambled eggs with white bread. I savored every puff of egg there, I tell you.
Apparently, there are two types of scrambled eggs that I know. One is the dry popcorn variety that I was weaned upon for years. The other is the really creamy variety...just about a lumpy sauce, actually. I've enjoyed both, especially with that aforementioned toast. If I'm going to have the latter, then I want a goodly amount of butter in there.
Perhaps for those City Pop fans with a brunch fetish, I can recommend "Scrambled Eggs" with their scrambled eggs. This is by Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）who had his brush with the 70s and 80s urban contemporary and the track belonged to his October 1981 album"On the Corner". With lyrics by Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）, Noguchi himself composed the melody, and I guess that he must have liked Al Jarreau and Jay Graydon since a bit of that melody sounds like part of Jarreau's "Closer to Your Love" from his breakout album "Breakin' Away" from June the same year. Hey, if I were Noguchi and felt like whipping up a cool City Pop tune, I probably would have gone shopping at Chez Jarreau, too, for a hook or two. Plus, as I've said before, I will always be a sucker for a fine Fender Rhodes arrangement.
Continuing on from that "Seishun" songs article I wrote just some minutes ago, my further observation when it comes to the Japanese and their salad days is that after several years away from formal education, they start getting those urges to get back together through various school reunions whether it be elementary, junior high or high school...and probably university as well. Maybe they'll reserve a large room at an izakaya and then hit the nearest karaoke box to sing all those oldies-but-goodies with plenty of alcohol imbibed.
However, this particular song by Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）that I heard being covered on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit） doesn't involve any sepia-toned reminiscing although that word of "seishun" is in the title. "Meguriau Seishun" (Youthful Encounter) is more of the here and now with a young man getting stabbed full bore by several arrows as he lusts for a young lady. This was Noguchi's 6th single released in September 1972.
Written by Toshiko Ohinata（大日方俊子）and composed/arranged by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）, I gather that the deep feelings that the lad has for the lass is on full display through the oomph-laden arrangement. In fact, with the electric guitar and the smooth strings in there, I thought that "Meguriau Seishun" would have been fine as a theme song for a tokusatsu hero series or a cop show. Mind you, I'm sure that the guy would love it if he could become the hero for the target of his affections. Anyways, the song reached No. 12 on Oricon and became the 90th-ranked single of 1972. It also garnered Noguchi his first of twelve invitations to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen that year.
I caught this Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）single on an episode of "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）a few weeks ago. To be honest, I didn't pay too much attention to it when he sang it on stage, but listening to the original recorded version paid some more dividends to me.
"Musashino Shijin" (The Poet of Musashino) was Noguchi's 22nd single from January 1977. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composed by Noguchi's older brother Hiroshi Sato（佐藤寛...not to be confused with the late City Pop keyboardist and singer） and arranged by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it starts out for a few seconds sounding like a rock tune but then slides into something more wistful and perhaps approaching the feeling of a City Pop song. Actually, the story of the song was based on Inokashira Park which straddles the districts of Musashino and Mitaka in Tokyo, so I guess with that in mind and along with that funky beat, perhaps it can be a City Pop song. Noguchi was heading in that direction anyways.
Strangely enough though, according to the J-Wiki article on "Musashino Shijin", Matsumoto's lyrics actually refer to Musashino Park located in another area of Tokyo. I can only gather that the name of Musashino sounded better to Matsumoto than Inokashira. Regardless, his lyrics refer to the titular poet as a young man who began, experienced and ended a love affair around the park, and he's rather dramatically dressing it up as a song, poem or scene from a movie. Quite the drama king, isn't he?
"Musashino Shijin" made it all the way up to No. 2 on Oricon, eventually becoming the 33rd-ranked single of 1977. The video below shows Inokashira Park in all of its glory. I only went there once myself during my days in Tokyo. I'm sure that the park is always buzzing with people during cherry blossom season.
I heard about this big collaboration among these older singing veterans last year and then of course, they showed up on the Kohaku Utagassen to perform their song. At first, I thought this special group was called the "Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band" (An Old-Fashioned Rock 'n' Roll Band) but it was actually their one-and-only single that got the name. For all of us, the group is the quintet of Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）, Masanori Sera（世良公則）, Char and Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）.
According to J-Wiki, Southern All Stars'（サザンオールスターズ）Kuwata had been looking at the state of the world last year with COVID-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and natural disasters inflicting themselves in various countries. He decided to give his old buddy, rock singer Sera, a call and they decided to make a song that would be released as a digital single for charity. They then gathered three other singer-musicians around their age of 66: 70s aidoruNoguchi, singer-songwriter Sano and guitarist Char, and once Kuwata got everything written out, they recorded "Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band" for release in May 2022.
To give the proceedings that ol' nostalgic reunion effect, the music video was filmed at a Kanto region high school. Furthermore, joining the five in the video were SAS keyboardist Yuko Hara（原由子）, HOUND DOG's Kohei Otomo（大友康平）on drums, and bassist Hama Okamoto（ハマ・オカモト）. In the actual recording, Makoto Saito（斎藤誠）was helping out on electric guitar and Junichi Soga（曽我淳一）was on electric organ. As for the song itself, it's a gallant and summery rock-and-pop tune which is as comfortable as that once-retired leather jacket being taken out of the deepest corner of the closet as the five sing about getting off one's duff and doing something about the world.
"Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band" managed to hit No. 1 on the digital charts with 21,000 downloads in its first week. The single is also available on Kuwata's 4th BEST compilation "Itsumo Dokoka de"（いつも何処かで...Always Somewhere） which was released later in November, also hitting the top of the charts and going Gold. Even before listening to the full version and hearing the hoopla about the song, I definitely got that Traveling Wilburys vibe.
Hard to believe but 70s aidoruand actor Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）will be celebrating his 67th birthday late next month so would like to wish him an early Happy Birthday just in case I forget.
The purge of videos from my backlog that I realized no longer needed to be there continues, but I did find one that needed a home. That would be Noguchi's "Love Flight", the first track from his May 1979 album"The Southern Cross"（南十字星）. Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Noguchi's brother Hiroshi Sato（佐藤寛...not the famous keyboardist）, it has quite an underlying 1970s City Pop rhythm supporting a tour de force of horns and rock guitar. I'd be interested if the band Spectrum（スペクトラム）was helping out here.
Noguchi cuts quite a dashing figure on the cover of "The Southern Cross". One wonders whether "Love Flight" could have made for the appropriate theme song for a thriller starring the singer himself.
Last week, I began the Gosanke（御三家）series because Japanese music among other entities had its generous share of trios consisting of singers put together by media or management companies or others in the hopes that the synergy would provide lasting popularity and attention onto the singers themselves.
With the formation of the Ganso Gosanke（元祖御三家...the Original Big 3） consisting of Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）, Kazuo Funaki（舟木一夫）& Teruhiko Saigo（西郷輝彦）in the 1960s, the powers-that-be a decade later thought about putting together a new trio of heartthrob aidoru to gather all the love from ardent fans. And so, the Shin Gosanke (the New Big 3) was born with Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）& Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）. From J-Wiki via a YouTube video (that has since been taken down) involving an interview with Noguchi, the singer said that he had made his debut in 1971 with Saijo and Go following a year later. However, at Saijo's management company, it was then proposed there that Saijo and two others from the same company would form this new trio but somehow Saijo's manager ended up putting his client and Noguchi and Go together despite being from different companies. Apparently, the three of them often found themselves meeting each other on various programs and perhaps there was a certain camaraderie and synergy that was observed which gathered more fans.
The J-Wiki article regarding the Shin Gosanke had some interesting tidbits in there including the observation of this merger of a song-and-dance boy who could act (Go), a dynamic performer in rock and pop (Saijo) and an enka hopeful (Noguchi) with the attraction of fans from different bases. As for me, I always saw Go as the cute and cuddly little brother back in those days while Noguchi came across as the quiet and studious middle sibling and Saijo was the rough-edged big brother who would always protect the other two.
NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）returned to the NHK Shibuya studio for the first time in over a year, and last Tuesday's episode devoted some of its time to the guitar-wielding singing stars such as veteran Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）. In fact, along with one other singer-musician, we even got a bit of a City Pop segment for about 5 minutes or so.
Noguchi performed a number that I hadn't heard before. "Onna ni Natte Denaose yo" (Become a Woman and Start Fresh) was his 31st single which got released in July 1979. Despite it being labeled an aidoru tune on J-Wiki, it's still quite the disco bop showing off the good times in Tokyo, pre-Bubble Era. Created by the dream tandem of lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, the song's narrative is told from the perspective of a young man who has witnessed a childhood friend (for whom he may still harbour feelings) grow up into a fine beautiful woman ready to take on the world. Maybe they will never become an item, but he's happy enough seeing her do well in life. So gracious!😂
I almost forgot to mention that Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）took care of the arrangement. "Onna ni Natte Denaose yo" reached No. 17 on Oricon. By the way, that's quite the intriguing cover on the single showing young Goro being chauffeured to a new house in California (at least, I'm thinking it's somewhere in the Golden State). City Pop was also about the exciting lifestyle overseas.
As I mentioned in the article for Yoko Minamino's（南野陽子）"Hanashi Kaketakatta"（話しかけたかった）the other day, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）had some of those aidoru from yesteryear to perform their old hits. In addition to Nanno, there were Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）, one of the Shin-Gosanke（新御三家）, and the beautifully-voiced Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, both of whom got their starts in the 1970s.
Near the end of the show, Noguchi and Iwasaki performed a duet which became singles for the both of them released in November 2021: Iwasaki's 69th and Noguchi's 64th. "Suki da Nante Ienakatta" (I Couldn't Say Something Like I Love You) sounds as if: 1) it was magically transferred from David Foster's recording studio in the 1980s and 2) it had been meant for a Disney film. It's got that power ballad feeling through composer Masaaki Mori's（森正明）melody and arranger Kotaro Nakagawa's（中川幸太郎）arrangement.
Another Goro, Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, was responsible for the bittersweet lyrics of two friends having a reunion after some years and lamenting the fact that if only either of them had uttered those three special words to the other, perhaps the future would have been markedly different. But the end of the song hints that maybe, just maybe, they could make up for lost time. Power to them!💗
Happy Sunday out there! Last night, I had the honour of meeting Saira Chambers, Derrick Fields and Van Paugam on their livestreaming podcast of "Tokyo House Party" to talk about music in the Bubble Era through their "BUBBLES, BIJUTSU, AND BEATS: THE MUSIC, FASHION, AND ART OF JAPAN'S "BUBBLE" ERA" episode. It was a lot of fun although I think that at points with City Pop geeks like Van and myself at the party at the same time, Saira and Derrick may have been trying to calm down a couple of bucking broncos, so I will do the Canadian thing and thank my hosts and apologize at the same time.😅
With all the talk going on last night, I think one answer that may have gotten lost in the conversational shuffle was the one for Derrick's question about who I would recommend for the person interested in further exploring the wonderful world of kayo kyoku. As such, I've decided to provide a KKP PS from the podcast last night and for the next few days, I will provide some singers and bands that I think can start fitting the bill. And that will begin with such people who launched their careers in the 1970s (followed by artists from the 60s, 80s, the genres of enka/Mood Kayo and so on).
My recommendation list for the 1970s is not only a big one but it also consists of just my personal choices (and an incomplete one at that), and it should just be a starting point for the kayo newbies. I will leave a photo of the singer and then a couple of his/her hits which have already been profiled on the blog. From there, you can launch your exploration by going through YouTube and perhaps even buying an original album or a BEST compilation. At the same time, via the platform's all-magical algorithm, you may also find other singers and bands that you can take a look at as well.
First, let me provide some of the aidoru from the 1970s. Part 2 is now up as well.
Perhaps one of the things that I will talk about with Saira and Derrick on Saturday night will be how the 1970s Shin-Gosanke（新御三家）heartthrobs of Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹） and Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）were more than happy to jump into the City Pop pool as of the latter part of that decade and well into the 1980s.
Case in point is this light and mellow number from Noguchi's February 1980 album"Jukai ~ Ballade"（樹海 Ballade...Sea of Trees） titled "Sekai ga Tomaru" (The World Stops). This bossa-flavoured dinnertime cocktail-friendly ballad doesn't hint at any sci-fi disaster but simply a very much in love couple enjoying time together so that what happens on the Earth doesn't really matter. If this were played at any City Pop party, it would be a slow dance to be certain. And you gotta have the sax in there, too!
Composed by Hiroshi Sato（佐藤寛）, but not the musician/composer behind the 1982 "Awakening" album but actually Noguchi's older brother, and written by the late Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）, Noguchi croons through "Sekai ga Tomaru" with aplomb and even makes a shoutout to an American AOR singer, Michael Franks. Come to think of it, I ought to dedicate my part on "Tokyo House Party" to Nakanishi and prolific kayo composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）who both passed away late last year.
Now realizing that each of the 1970s Shin-Gosanke（新御三家...The New Big Three）, cute Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）, super-cool Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and urbane Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）gave their contributions to the genres of City Pop and J-AOR, I have to look back when I wrote about Noguchi's 1983 hit"19:00 no Machi"（19:00の街）. I did call it a City Pop tune back then since I thought it was similar to some of the shibui urban contemporary material that Akira Terao（寺尾聰）produced at around the same time. "19:00 no Machi" didn't really adapt any of the Steely Dan or Doobie Brothers riffs (although there is something in chorus that shouts Bee Gees) but to me, it was unmistakably a tune that felt right at home in the megalopolis of Tokyo.
Little did I know that Noguchi had already gotten his taste of the genre (along with that water as you can see above) several years previously. Specifically, I cite the year 1978 in August since he would release his 12th album"L.A. Express". Disc jockey Takayuki Fujisawa（藤沢隆行）in his review of the album via my City Pop bible of "Japanese City Pop" openly wondered how Noguchi's fans reacted to this release which didn't fall back on his tried-and-true kayo melodies and actually fell forward to this shiny new City Pop.
I couldn't tell you myself but it was quite the image of him on the cover of "L.A. Express" with him out in the desert somewhere with a fully open shirt as he chugged down some of that H2O. Moreover, right from Track 1, "Catalog L.A.", it was pretty obvious that he embraced his inner American soft rock or AOR. Written by Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）and composed by Jun Fukamachi（深町純）, that piano and bass among some of the other instruments were all screaming "Welcome to the City of Angels! Jump in the limo and come for a tour." Plus, having David Sanborn on alto sax will always be an invitation for me to any song. It makes for an interesting comparison with the more "down-home" feeling of "19:00 no Machi" some years later. Still, there is something about that arrangement in there that made me feel that there was a bit of the kayo continuing to tug at Noguchi.
Commenter Jim Laker recently informed me about this one by 70s aidoru Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）. Speaking about Goro, I just saw him on the latest episode of NHK's"Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）as guest performer, and he got all embarrassed when one of his biggest fans sang one of his old hits while holding and showing off an album of his idol to everyone in the audience. What was impressive was that as he was singing, the fellow opened up the album to show a pretty gorgeous picture of young Goro with some massive field in the background. There was absolutely no need for the singer to get all red in the face there.
Anyways, what Jim was asking about was Noguchi's 20th single from June 1976, "Kirameki"(Sparkle). It is very appropriately sparkly in tone and message as he sings about a couple having their dream date in town...things are looking really good for them. All sunshine all the time and all that. I gather that it's a nice kayo to have around you as you and your significant other are traipsing through the shopping streets.
Lyricist Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）were behind the very relaxing and optimistic "Kirameki". It hit No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 33rd-ranked single of 1976.
December 25 2020: This Creator article was written by me back in June 2019 and unfortunately, this morning, I saw on NHK News that Rei Nakanishi passed away on December 23rd from a heart attack. He was 82 years old. Despite the sadness in the music world for not only him but a number of famed Japanese songwriters leaving this mortal coil this year, they have left a wonderful legacy of music for us to peruse over and over again.
A few weeks ago, I caught the tail-end of an NHK documentary on veteran lyricist and novelist Rei Nakanishi. That small part that I did catch related the fact that Nakanishi had recently beat back cancer and was happily active once more. Considering that fact and the other point that he's had a good presence on this blog as well has inspired me to devote a Creator article for him.
Nakanishi has provided songs in just about every genre in Japanese popular music with some of them becoming landmark hits for his singing clientele. The very first Nakanishi-written song that I put up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", for instance, was "Kita Sakaba"（北酒場）, the rousing and friendly kayo performed to success by Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）, and the appropriately speedy and uptempo "AMBITIOUS JAPAN" by Johnny's band TOKIO.
But going back to the beginning, Nakanishi was born Reizo Nakanishi（中西禮三）in 1938 in the city of Mudanjiang in what was once the puppet state of Manchukuo under Japanese rule and what is now Heilongjiang Province in the People's Republic of China. He later grew up for part of his life in Otaru, Hokkaido.
Graduating from Rikkyo University with a degree in French literature, Nakanishi first became a translator of chanson music after he had gotten a request from chanson singer and former Takarazuka Revue member Natsuyo Fukamidori（深緑夏代）. However in or around 1963, when he was at a hotel bar in Shizuoka Prefecture, he ran into singer/actor Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）who was in the middle of filming a movie. Ishihara suggested to Nakanishi about trying his hand at writing kayo songs.
Apparently taking the Tough Guy's advice to heart, according to Nakanishi's website's index of songs, he may have started as early as 1965. However, one song that I've keyed in upon immediately is his early lyrical contribution to kayo, "Dare mo Dare mo Shiranai"（誰も誰も知らない...I Know Nobody, Nobody）from 1966 which was composed by Yasutoshi Nakajima（中島安敏）. It's a sad and elegant Mood Kayo sung by Tokiko Kato（加藤登紀子）about someone who is utterly alone in the big bad city.
Although the first version of this song had been recorded by a combination of Naoki Matsudaira（松平直樹）, Miyoko Tashiro（田代美代子）and Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）also in 1966, I was able to find this cover version of "Namida to Ame ni Nurete"（涙と雨にぬれて...Wet From Tears and Rain）by Eiji Miyoshi（三善英史）. Nakanishi also provided the music along with his lyrics to this lovely ballad.
Just from what I've heard so far from his early material, Nakanishi seemed to enjoy going for the pathos in people's lot. Yu Kimura's（木村勇）music for "Otoko no Arashi"（男の嵐...A Man's Storm）from 1967 is more of a bluesier and deeper-in-Kabukicho Mood Kayo as Nakanishi's lyrics relate the tough life of a yakuza as performed by Ishihara himself, the same fellow who recommended Nakanishi to follow the kayo lyricist's path.
As I hinted up above, it wasn't all about Mood Kayo for Nakanishi. He also handled the lyrics for a lot of aidoru and aidoru groups including 70s darlings, Candies（キャンデーズ）. In fact, he wrote their 12th single"Aishuu no Symphony"（哀愁のシンフォニー...Symphony of Sorrow）which was released in November 1976 with Takashi Miki's（三木たかし）fleet-footed music. Once again, Nakanishi provides the story of love being so painful that it hurts like the Dickens. In a bit of symmetry, that 12th single peaked at No. 12 on Oricon, although it finished the year as the 61st-ranked single.
In 1985, he provided the words to the sweeping opening theme for the anime "Shoukoujo Sara"（小公女セーラ...Princess Sara） with Koichi Morita（森田公一）as the composer and Satoko Shimonari（下成佐登子）as the performer. "Hana no Sasayaki"（花のささやき...Whisper of a Flower） is sung from Sara's point of view as she goes through a bundle of tragedies and hardships and often refers to the little flower in her heart to reassure her.
(karaoke version)
Nakanishi provided another Johnny's Entertainment group, NEWS, with lyrics for their 6th single "Hoshi wo Mezashite"（星をめざして...Aim for the Stars）, released in March 2007. Composed by Peter Bjorklund, Johan Sahlen, and Claes Andreasson, there is more of a hopeful feeling as the guys from NEWS exhort listeners to not let any of the problems of life continue to weigh them down. "Hoshi wo Mezashite" was a No. 1 hit for the group and ended up as the No. 13 single of the year.
The last song for this article is Goro Noguchi's（野口五郎）"Ai no Shoumei"（愛の証明...Proof of Love）, his 33rd single from February 1980. Noguchi played a bit with City Pop at the time, and I think that was the case with Nakanishi as well. This particular song straddles a bit back and forth between the dynamic aidoru kayo that he and his other "brothers", Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）and the late Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）, espoused and some of the more downtown Tokyo style of City Pop (kinda like Akira Terao). Hiroshi Sato（佐藤寛）came up with the music although this isn't the same musician behind "Awakening" since the kanji for his first name is different.
As for what Nakanishi is doing currently, according to his J-Wiki file, it looks like he has been providing his own columns and commentary to media. I can only hope that I am as active as he looks to be when I reach his age.
The above photo is of the platform of my old subway station, Minami-Gyotoku Station, on the Tozai Line in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. I took the shot during my 2014 trip there and if you take a look at the clock, it was just a bit before 2 pm so barely anybody was there. Of course, the opposite was true during the morning and evening rush hours. I managed to avoid most of those due to the odd nature of my work but once in a while, I had to join the literal mass of humanity in one of the most uncomfortable commuting experiences known to Man.
Wanted to talk about something more old-fashioned today so I went searching for a 1970s kayo, and found this one by aidoru Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）titled "Shitetsu Ensen" (Along The Private Railway Line) that was released as his 15th single in January 1975. The timing of this release must have been quite good and calculated since there is something quite wistful and melancholy about waiting for a train in the cold weather, and Noguchi's heartfelt delivery of a man reminiscing about a past love who he would always wait for at the station hits the soul.
Found some trivia regarding "Shitetsu Ensen". Apparently, according to a February 4th 2017 Asahi Shimbun article via J-Wiki, there had been some resistance to the title since the naysayers were grumbling that it didn't sound particularly kayo-esque. I was initially surprised by that point since there have been plenty of train-themed songs in the old Japanese Songbook, but again I was reminded that it was the title at issue, and perhaps "Shitetsu Ensen" sounded a little too dry. Maybe something like "Shitsuren Shitetsu"（失恋私鉄...Heartbreak Private Line） was something that they were looking for.
As well, from the same Asahi Shimbun article, there were thoughts that the song had been referring to the Meitetsu Minomachi Line（名鉄美濃町線）that ran through Goro's hometown, but the lyricist Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）actually based the lyrics on his own impressions from traveling on the private train line for the suburbs when he was a young guy.
The composer for "Shitetsu Ensen" was Hiroshi Sato（佐藤寛）, Noguchi's older brother, not to be confused with the two Hiroshi Satos who actually have some standing in the Labels section of this blog. Sato had come up with an earlier hit for his younger brother in "Ai Futatabi"（愛ふたたび...Love Once More） back in 1974, and again according to the article, the pressure to come up with another successful song for Noguchi was so great that Sato ended up with peptic ulcers.
In the end, though, the song became another hit for Noguchi. It went to No. 1 for about 2 weeks and became the 14th-ranked single for 1975, selling around 1.2 million records. He also received his invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen for his 4th consecutive appearance on the show to perform "Shitetsu Ensen". The song also won 3 awards including a Grand Prize for Performance on the Japan Record Awards for that year. It makes me wonder what those title-hating folks were on about.
Almost a couple of weeks ago, I think, "Uta Kon"（うたコン）had Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）on for what I think NHK said was his very first appearance on the music-variety show in its current incarnation. And he made the most of his time by performing his most successful hit.
That would be "Amai Seikatsu", his 14th single from October 1974. Now, at first glance, I would have translated that title into "A Sweet Life" but reading Michio Yamagami's（山上路夫）lyrics, it is much more accurate to have it mean "A Naive Life". Noguchi sings about a guy trying to pick up the pieces after a relationship goes down the tubes. The impression is that there is a huge hole in his apartment where his mate used to be.
Now that I remember, I realize that Noguchi showed up during that tribute show to composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）who indeed came up with the melancholy melody. And man, looking up at that video above, the 70s aidorureally had his supporters. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had suddenly stopped singing to chastise the screamers.
Listening to "Amai Seikatsu", I'm starting to glean some insight about why there were so many sad songs in the kayo period. Fans just seemed to love getting all sympathetic for a heartthrob singer crooning about a lost romance. But then again, that was true in Western music wasn't it?
Anyways, the song hit No. 1 on Oricon and came close to hitting the million barrier in sales; according to J-Wiki, it was about 950,000 records sold. "Amai Seikatsu" also won composer Tsutsumi a prize at the Japan Record Awards that year, and earned Noguchi his 3rd appearance at the Kohaku Utagassen which apparently cemented his position as one of the Shin-Gosanke（新御三家...The New Big Three） along with fellow singers Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）and Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）. In fact, his appearance at the Kohaku marked the first time that all three aidoru made their presence known at the NHK special. By the end of the year, the song was the 70th-ranked single of 1974 and even grew higher a year later by ranking in at No. 34.
It's rather amazing how male aidoru ballads sounded back in the 1970s when compared to now. I mean, it's almost hard to believe that something like Goro Noguchi's（野口五郎）"Soshunkyoku"(Song to See Off the Spring) would be considered aidoru. And it's not the only one. I have found a lot of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）oeuvre to sound quite different from my impressions of aidoru music, but then again, I was spoiled in a way because I was exposed to it from the Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）days.
Still, "Soshunkyoku" is pretty darn dramatic, almost to the point of it being called an especially melancholy Mood Kayo. One of the commenters directed me to this one since I was never too aware of the Noguchi songs. Released on Christmas Day 1978, the singer gives a sad rendition of the well-worn tale of two ships passing in the night although this "night" seems to have lasted a good number of weeks or months before the unfortunate parting in the spring. The separation happening during this season is quite unusual since a lot of songs have pegged autumn as being the time to break up. The release date is also interesting since Christmas has been seen to play up not only the time of romance but the time of loneliness during the Holidays.
I would be interesting in hearing the original recorded version if it ever came online. But as it is right now, we've got the live performance takes on YouTube. The first video at the top has that Folk flavour with the sad piano while the one immediately above actually has a saxophone introducing the proceedings which gives "Soshunkyoku" more of that Mood Kayo air, as if it were meant to be heard or sung within the confines of a karaoke bar (unfortunately those original 2 videos were taken down, but they have been replaced).
Yu Aku（阿久悠）provided the lyrics of the inevitable downhill road to the end of the romance while Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）composed the melancholy melody. It peaked at No. 14 on Oricon and became the 46th-ranked single of 1979.
I first heard...and saw....Goro Noguchi（野口五郎） on the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen performing this song, "19:00 no Machi"(7 p.m. City). At the time, I didn't know about his career as an aidoru in the 70s or his media-created loose association with Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹） and Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ） as the Shin-Gosanke（新御三家....The New Big Three), although I did see those two on the first few Kohaku I had caught on TV here. But I do remember the announcers on that 1983 show along with the audience creating a louder-than-usual hoopla when he made his appearance for some reason. Apparently, Noguchi had been a fixture on the NHK New Year's Eve program since he had appeared consecutively from 1972 to 1981, but not having any sort of hit in 1982, his invitation was summarily dropped which caused some ripples. So his return in 1983 was a bit of a comeback of sorts, although this appearance would be his very last one up to the present day.
I enjoyed "19:00 no Machi" as the dapper Noguchi performed it in front of that darkened huge staircase behind him all decked in lights. It helped give that image of nightlife that the song was providing. The lyrics by Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫） concocted a nighttime metropolitan scene during the winter as a light sleet hit the glass and the fog rolled into the city; I especially enjoyed that early metaphor of "The city is the ocean, the people are the desert, and love is the mirage". There are also references to the cars passing by and cigarette smoke floating up....makes me miss the ol' Tokyo scene. The bluesy, languid music by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平） evokes images of being in that hotel top lounge, and perhaps it's the high-pitched chorus behind Noguchi but that refrain reminds me a tad of a Bee Gees song. About a few years later, I was actually to pick up the song via a compilation tape sold in Chinatown.
"19:00 no Machi" was Noguchi's 43rd single since his debut in 1971. It was released in January of 1983, and was used as the theme song for a drama that starred him called "Dareka ga Watashi wo Aishiteiru"（誰かが私を愛してる....Somebody Loves Me）. The song also got its fair share of accolades as it was his 30th single to get into the Top 20 of Oricon, and it was his first single since his 1978 "Good Luck" that was able to get into the Top 100 for the year....71st place for 1983 with 177,000 records sold. On the weekly charts, it peaked at No. 16.
Interestingly, Noguchi also got one more accolade for his song. It won the Julio Iglesias Prize at the 12th Annual Tokyo Music Festival World Competition. I guess when it came to this Shin-Gosanke, where Hideki Saijo was the rocker and Hiromi Go was the Casanova heartbreaker, Noguchi would probably be seen as the urbane man-about-town....somewhat akin to Iglesias. That 1983 Kohaku would also be the final get-together of that trio.
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