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.
One of the earliest television theme songs that I remember hearing when I was but a toddler was the theme song for the long-running series "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr. That killer tune with the pounding piano keys has long embedded itself into my music memories, and in fact, I will probably cover it on this Thursday's edition of Reminiscings of Youth (or more accurately, Reminiscings of Babyhood).
I heard a bit of that piano pounding in Hachiro Izawa's（井沢八郎）"Otokogasa" last night when it was performed on the latest episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. When it comes to Izawa, I and probably most people will always think of his signature tune "Ahh, Ueno Eki"（あゝ上野駅）from May 1964 as one of the representative songs for the mass migration of young people from the countryside areas of Japan to the big cities like Tokyo to man the engines needed to power the economic recovery of the nation.
Well, "Otokogasa" was his 5th single which came out later that year in October. There isn't a set translation of the title that I could find on Jisho.org so considering the lyrics, I'm just going to translate it as "Man Under an Umbrella". And those lyrics by Yurio Matsui（松井由利夫）seem to be describing a rather melancholy scene of one last tender embrace under an umbrella in a rain storm by a couple who will soon not be a couple. Izawa's wailing style seals the deal and the music has that jazzy if somewhat mournful Mood Kayo including the key pounding that I referred to in the above paragraphs. Jouji Osawa（大沢浄二）was responsible for the melody.
Yesterday, I met an old friend for coffee and then dinner downtown at Union Station. It had been a few years since the last time I met him so I figured that we would be catching up on a lot of stuff. Part of the reason that we went for Union Station as the meeting place was that I'd heard about the renovation of the station, especially where the food was concerned. Being a foodie, I was interested about a new flood of restaurants and cafes creating a mega food court underground. You can take a gander at the above video by Toronto Our City whose husband-and-wife team has been exploring the various eateries of our city.
By the way, I know that there is a certain group of otaku in Tokyo who love to explore the underground malls, passageways and crevices of one of the world's biggest cities. Considering next year's World Cup which will have a few games played in Toronto and that our metropolis may have the biggest underground commercial complex on Earth (the PATH system), I cordially invite those folks to do a bit of exploration here, too).
After enjoying an hour of coffee, conversation and one of the best almond croissants that I've ever had, we were getting lost in the maze that was the Union Station underground before opting for dinner. When we got to Union Chicken, the place was packed with Toronto Maple Leafs fans for about half an hour before it got all cleared out like a drainpipe getting the Drano treatment (there was a home game just down the street). Then it was easy to get a table where I got the three-piece Chicken Tenders with Fries. I'm glad that I didn't get the five-piece version since that would have killed me. The above video is from the official Union Chicken YouTube channel.
Anyways, getting reacquainted with the main train station of Toronto and being back in my room in front of my computer again, I've decided to put up an Author's Picks based on kayo kyoku or J-Pop songs with the word "station" or "eki" in their titles. Enjoy!
This week's Reminiscings of Youth article is on another song that actually came before my time, but not by much, and it was with me all throughout my childhood and adolescence.
I am talking about "The Girl From Ipanema" which was originally released in May 1964, so it's been 57 years this month that we've gotten to know about this bossa nova classic that has gone into many a music collection, an elevator, a supermarket and even a telephone on hold. I've actually written on "The Girl From Ipanema" before through Lisa Ono's（小野リサ）cover of the song, and I'll just repeat the last paragraph from that article here to give you my personal connection with it:
I guess I have a soft spot for that girl from Ipanema since the bossa ballad by Antonio Carlos Jobim was one of the first songs that I remember hearing as a toddler. As far as I know, I don't think my father had the record as part of his collection but it was a tune that I heard quite frequently on radio and TV. Years later, it was required playing during my lone year of band class back in high school although I didn't quite have the appreciation for it that I do now (playing off-tune renditions of it on an old clarinet can take the buzz off). Realizing that the song has become possibly so ubiquitous to the point of kitsch, I think if "The Girl From Ipanema" is given its due respect, it can still be that wonderfully cooling song from 1964.
One wrong assumption that I'd had about "The Girl From Ipanema" is that this was Astrud Gilberto's song alone. Of course, it wasn't. Antonio Carlos Jobim, was the composer with Vinicius de Moraes being responsible for the Portuguese lyrics while Normal Gimbel provided the English lyrics. And then, João Gilberto, the man who has been considered the father of bossa nova, sang the Portuguese part of the song with his then-wife Astrud singing the English portion and legendary saxophonist Stan Getz adding his mellow tones.
Another wrong assumption was that The Girl was merely fictional but actually "The Girl From Ipanema" was inspired by a real teenager, then known as Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, who had been living in the tony district of Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro. I can't help but make comparisons with Helen of Troy who launched a thousand ships. I guess in this case, Heloisa of Ipanema launched a million LPs.
The accolades are all there in the Wikipedia writeup on the song, but "The Girl From Ipanema" was a global hit, reaching No. 5 on both the American and Canadian charts, and it was Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards that year. According to an article in the "Wall Street Journal", it's also apparently "...the second most recorded pop song in history, after "Yesterday" by The Beatles."
But of course, as much as "The Girl From Ipanema" has become this beloved mainstay of bossa nova, it's also been the go-to example for the dreaded Muzak of elevators and shopping malls. Personally, I don't recall ever hearing the song in an elevator, store or even as a song to be played while I've been put on hold, but it's gotten plenty of exposure in such places in movies and TV shows such as "The Blues Brothers" above. Maybe the whole thing about this song and Muzak is just how soothing and harmless it is. That's cool with me, though, as the original will always remain a staple in my musical memories.
Now, as for what was happening in Japan in music during that year, Oricon didn't exist in 1964 and the site "Showa Pops" doesn't go back beyond 1965 so my usual sources won't be of any help here. However, I did find out that Hachiro Izawa's（井沢八郎）classic kayo "Ahh, Ueno Eki"（あゝ上野駅）was released in the same month as "The Girl From Ipanema".
Otherwise, there are some of the prize winners from the 6th annual Japan Record Awards from 1964.
Best Singing Performance: Yoko Kishi -- Yoake no Uta （夜明けのうた）
This is pure Thursday whimsy on my part. For the past few days, I'd been thinking about doing an article involving one of the main subway lines in Tokyo, the Ginza Line which according to Wikipedia is the oldest subway line in Asia, having started on December 30th 1927. Obviously, I have no intention on giving a history lesson on the line but I do want to feature some of the kayo kyoku that have some attachment to the five areas whose subway stations are on the Ginza Line. However, I won't be giving any major information on the songs since the links will take you to the original articles. All I just want to do is relate the walk and a few impressions along the way.
Ah yes, the walk. I also received some inspiration to do this because I still remember my just-as-whimsical but totally insane-and-exhausting decision one day during the Golden Week holidays to actually walk down the streets that have the Ginza Line underneath all the way from Asakusa Station to Shibuya Station. My feet are still muttering to me years later "I'm still not letting you live this down!".😠
From www.tsunagujapan.com
Just to let you know in advance, most of the tunes listed here are in the older kayo genres of enka and Mood Kayo, probably because when they were first recorded, there was an interest in putting the various neighbourhoods of Tokyo into music when the metropolis was getting back on its feet in the postwar period and pulling in lots of young people from all around Japan for work.
I got off at Asakusa Station to start the trek on that day in May. Asakusa still garners a lot of affection as a place where I was working for a couple of years (1995-1997) early in my Tokyo career as an English conversation teacher. Got to see the Samba Festival and the Sumida River Fireworks Festival, and frankly speaking, every day was pretty much a festival with Kaminarimon and Nakamise Dori just around the corner from the school. The shopping streets were great for getting everything from some of the cheesiest Japan-themed souvenirs to some really soft and crunchy yaki manjuu.
Before I made the decision to go ahead with this project article, I had hesitated a bit specifically because I had covered Asakusa and Komadori Shimai during my series of articles while I was on my 2017 trip to Tokyo. Then again, I figured at my age, I was already repeating old stories to my buddies in person so why not do the same in print?
Places frequented often (PFO): Kaminarimon, Asakusa Matsuya, Nakamise and Shin-Nakamise Dori
A 20-minute walk from Asakusa got me to Ueno...not bad at all. I must have performed this major walk on May 3rd, aka Constitution Day, since I did see the ultra-right extremists getting their gear ready near Ueno Station (including the ear-splitting megaphones) while the riot police were setting up their vans.
Ueno also holds a dear spot in my heart since it was the area where I had received my training at NOVA for a couple of months before I was assigned to Asakusa. There was a lot of shopping and noshing to be had in this area since there was the Ameyoko shopping street and I got to learn a lot about the places with bento boxes for lunch. Speaking of Ueno Station, that place has undergone a lot of renovation in the years that I was living in Japan. It was a fair bit grottier back then but it's been gussied up with stylish cafés, restaurants and the like.
PFO: Ueno Station, Ueno Park, Ameyoko, Takeya Department Store (for the bento)
The walk took me from the older traditional districts to the more modern and skyscraper-filled parts of the city, and that includes Ginza. I may have gotten lunch here during the epic walk, but if so, I can assure readers that it wasn't at any of the swanky joints that Ishihara probably frequented. Most likely, it was at the very first McDonalds in the nation, just south of the main intersection (I believe that it closed down years ago). The fact that the counterperson recognized me with a huge smile meant that I had frequented it way too much.
I really enjoyed walking up and down the main drag of Chuo Dori especially when the street was closed on the weekends (weather permitting). Also wonderful were the various stores that I could afford especially Yamano Music which was one source for my CD buying.
PFO: Yamano Music, Ito-Ya (stationery shop), Mitsukoshi Department Store, Yamaha Music Shop
After having moved from Ginza and then through Shimbashi, Toranomon and Tameike-Sanno, I finally reached Akasaka-Mitsuke Station which is at one edge of another swanky neighbourhood, Akasaka. Things were getting rather sweaty for me by that point and I walked over another 500 metres before I stopped off at a parkette right next to the Canadian Embassy. To be honest, I didn't really hit Akasaka all that much aside from invitations from friends and students to certain restaurants and bars. Basically, I had to go there on my own to renew my passport at the embassy.
The Akasaka stop was when my legs and feet started to cry "Uncle!" along with some very choice expletives to my face. My physical condition was beginning to mourn just like Los Indios' chorus which is why I was thankful for the many vending machines that provided opportunities to replenish my fluids. But the message was sent loud and clear: I was pushing things.
Approximately 6 hours of fairly constant walking later after having started from Asakusa Station, I finally arrived (ambled, limped, oozed) in the Teen Mecca of Shibuya. My legs were toast by that point and I was moving like a penguin and The Blob. My memory is a blur after that and I can only surmise that I found some sort of café to stylishly collapse in for an hour or so.
Shibuya was definitely one of my favourite areas and the sparkling Suzuki/Kikuchi duet reflected how I felt about it whether it be day or night. It may be seen as the area for the adolescents but with the various establishments covering the gamut between cutesy and glamourous, it appealed and attracted everyone of all ages. Of course, when I did land in Shibuya, I was sure to visit Tower Records and RecoFan. Not after the walk, though.
Somehow I dragged myself up the steps and took the Ginza Line back to Nihombashi Station and switched over to the Tozai Line to head home. I was indeed grateful for the remainder of Golden Week since it took that long for my feet to deflate back to their normal 27.5 cm size. Still, it was quite the odyssey passing through so many different neighbourhoods. I'm glad that I let my whimsy do the talking and the walking.
I do miss those kaiten sushi joints back in Tokyo. There is a place in downtown Toronto that has sushi come out on floating boats but I don't think that's quite the same.
Back on the most recent episode of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, enka veteran Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）sang this particular tune which had me searching for the original version on YouTube. It was easy enough to find and after listening to Hachiro Izawa's（井沢八郎）"Hokkai no Mangetsu"(Full Moon Over the Northern Seas), I felt like I had to bring out more respect for the fishermen who have provided the wonderful tuna and mackerel on many a plate at those kaiten sushi restaurants.
This was Izawa's 45" that came out in October 1965, and it blasts out of the gate with a yell by the singer that could be the biggest min'yo declaration or something epic from a Spanish opera. It certainly got my attention like accidentally ingesting a large hunk of wasabi. Izawa then goes into this huge story of the fishermen heading out into the weather-beaten seas to get their daily haul like soldiers going gamely into battle.
Written by Yurio Matsui（松井由利夫）and composed by Joji Osawa（大澤浄二）, "Hokkai no Mangetsu" was successful enough that Izawa got his first of two invitations to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen that same year. And it looks like the singer made every moment of his appearance count as he gave out that yell on the steps. There's not only sweat coming out of the crew's pores...it's also pride.
Ueno Station in Tokyo played a couple of roles for me. When I was living up in the mountains of Gunma Prefecture from 1989-1991, this was the welcoming station for me when I took the Joetsu Shinkansen from Jomo Kogen Station whenever I had that need to have some city under me. From Ueno, I could decide whether I took the Ginza Line down to Ginza Station or took the JR Yamanote Loop over to Shinjuku. And then when I started living in the Tokyo area from late 1994, Ueno Station was the closest station to my first school, the Ueno branch of NOVA. It was and still is a huge cavern of a stop (although not quite as massive as JR Shinjuku Station) with the masses flowing to and fro.
Ueno Station has also been a nostalgic post for generations before me, a point that has been encapsulated within the kayo kyoku, "Ahh, Ueno Eki"(Ahh, Ueno Station). Written by Yoshiaki Sekiguchi（関口義明）and composed by Eiichi Arai（荒井英一） in 1964, young enka singer Hachiro Izawa（井沢八郎） sang this tune as his 2nd single, and it became his biggest hit. In fact, the song has become somewhat of a musical touchstone for a lot of folks who had come to Tokyo straight from graduating from school in the outlying prefectures to find their fame and fortune in the big city. Izawa (real name Kinichi Kudo) himself came to Tokyo from Aomori Prefecture after graduating from junior high school, so the song probably had some deep meaning for him as well.
The lyrics of "Ahh, Ueno Eki" come from the point of view of someone who has already established himself and is now looking back with a content sense of nostalgia about those early days. Izawa sings that Ueno Station is the station of his heart, something that probably a lot of those older generations can agree with. Still, despite its role as a encouraging song to succeed in the metropolis, there is also a spoken-word interlude which acts as a fond postcard to his parents back home in which Izawa promises to come back and visit, and massage their backs until they're sick of him.
The song has become so famous as one of the great postwar kayo kyoku that a monument was erected in 2003 at the station in tribute to it, and just a week ago, in commemoration of the station's 130th anniversary, Platform 13 began using an excerpt from the song as the departure melody.
Izawa himself passed away in 2007 at the age of 69. At a press conference addressing his death, his daughter, actress Yuki Kudo (from "Snow Falling on Cedars" and "Memoirs of a Geisha") mentioned that her father had left a wonderful treasure in the form of this song, and declared that she would continue singing "Ahh, Ueno Eki".
In the last number of years, Ueno Station has gotten a facelift of sorts, thanks to an addition of an Atre shopping mall complex, built into the station itself. It's become the place for young people once again.
