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.
This has been called the oldest underground mall in Tokyo. Japan's capital is one of many cities in the country that has a plethora of underground malls so it's something to hear that the network of restaurants, bars and other shops below the traditional quarter of Asakusa is the oldest. And it's one place that I walked through many times during my two years working at the NOVA branch there in the 1990s.
Over the weekend, NHK showed one of its documentaries focusing on the Asakusa Underground, and I was surprised/not surprised that it hadn't changed one iota in the past thirty years. The subterranean community still looks very earthy, grungy and grimy. I still remember the combined smell of oil, soy sauce and most likely sweat whenever I walked through the place to get to the other side of the street without having to wait at the intersection for the signal to change to green.
Apparently, there have been two different kayo kyoku titled "Asakusa no Uta"(Asakusa Song): one from the prewar era and one after the war. The one I'm posting about here today is the 1947 version recorded by veteran Ichiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）. Written by Hachiro Sato（ｻﾄｳ ﾊﾁﾛｰ）and composed by Tadashi Manjome（万城目正）, Fujiyama sings "Asakusa no Uta" in his characteristic jaunty style as he describes the hustle and bustle and the million stories that have been told in the venerable neighbourhood. I'm sure the Underground has a good chunk of those stories, and to be honest, I wouldn't mind a silver dish of that yakisoba made down there.
By the way, I did post on another Asakusa-themedkayo kyoku back in 2016 titled "Asakusa Shimai"（浅草姉妹）by the Komadori Shimai（こまどり姉妹）.
Now I didn't forget that March 3rd is Dolls' Day or Girls' Day in Japan but I hadn't been too sure that I could find a song that would befit the Shinto religious holiday. For reference, you can take a look at the above video by GTV Japan to get a primer on Hina Matsuri.
Well, I'm typing this in the last hour before March 3rd becomes March 4th so I'm rushing a bit here. But I was able to find a song that was released all the way back in February 1936. "Ureshii Hina Matsuri" (Happy Dolls' Day) was written by lyricist Hachiro Sato（サトウハチロー）sometime around the time he had given his own daughter a hina matsuri set as a gift and its translation at "Lyrics Translate" pretty much establishes the joy of celebrating the observed holiday. Koyo Kawamura（河村光陽）contributed the melody.
Of course, being a children's song, "Ureshii Hina Matsuri" has been covered by many singers over the decades. For example, the above video has the Hibari Children Chorus（ひばり児童合唱団）performing the song. Their version can be found on the October 2015 compilation album "Uta de Oboeru Nihon no Shiki to Wa no Gyoji ~ Doyou, Shouka, Warabe Uta"（歌でおぼえる日本の四季と和の行事 童謡・唱歌・わらべうた...Children's Songs and Nursery Songs ~ Japanese Seasons and Events Remembered Through Music）. Below we have seiyuu and singer Megumi Hayashibara（林原めぐみ）performing her take on her 2007 album"Hayashibara Megumi: Tanoshii Doyou"（林原めぐみ たのしいどうよう...Fun Children's Songs）.
From the moment I unwittingly uttered an "Ah, Ko-san!" when the scrawny, pale fellow stepped up onto the Noh stage at the Asakusa shrine, I knew that the Takashima Brothers from Toyama prefecture have officially become my muse for this Autumn. In hindsight, I should've seen it coming: Smart-looking, Kotaro's (孝太郎) mellow vocals, high definition versions of ryukoka tunes, and having them constantly in my ears as I hack away at my readings. It was only a matter of time. Don't know how I feel about associating the Liberal Democratic Party with the likes of "Midori no Chiheisen" (緑の地平線), though, but here I am.
Anyway, a while ago I wrote about the pre-war piece that was "China Tango" which Tokyo Taishu Kayo Gakudan(東京大衆歌謡楽団... lit: Tokyo public music group) had covered. And today I bring you another one of their remakes, this time "Itoshi Ano Hoshi".
Similar to "China Tango", what first caught my interest in this song was its rhythmic beat albeit at a much quicker tempo. In fact, the frenetic pace at which the bass and banjo are plucked and the blaring notes of the accordion are almost reminiscent of a steam train chugging away, oreven the rumbling of a horse carriage headed off to some far off town. Either way, I wonder if this rousing melody was what made "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" somewhat of a mainstay in many of the quartet's performances.
Since I was able to fish out the title from the comments, I didn't have to dig deep to find the original take of "Itoshi Ano Hoshi". Hamako Watanabe (渡辺はま子) had first recorded this in January 1940. Hearing her falsetto lightly dance over the words written by Hachiro Sato (サトウハチロー), the image of a girl infatuated by her special one and yearning for him can be envisioned a lot easier in comparison to Kotaro's hearty warbling. Watanabe was known as the purveyor of hits with connections to the Chinese continent and this song is no exception, made obvious by the Chinese sound in its melody, courtesy of Ryoichi Hattori (服部良一).
In fact, "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" was actually the theme of the movie "Byakuran no Uta" (白蘭の歌) from 1939. It starred Chinese-Japanese actress-singer Yoshiko Yamaguchi (山口淑子) a.k.a Li Xianglan (李香蘭), who also had her rendition of this tune. Incidentally, Watanabe was supposed to be something like the Japanese mainland counterpart to Yamaguchi, who was active in China in the time before all hell broke loose... again.
I believe the video here is Yamaguchi's version and it shows snippets from that film. The plot, set in the 1930s in Imperial Japan's annexed Manchuria, revolves around a love story between a Chinese girl of elite Manchurian descent, played by Yamaguchi, and a Japanese fellow who's working as an engineer at the South Manchurian Railway Company, played by Kazuo Hasegawa (長谷川一夫). But, really, in true propaganda film fashion, our main character here is really the railway being built. Why? Well, while our main characters do end up together, they end up sacrificing themselves to protect the railway's construction progress during the Marco Polo Bridge incident... Sarcasm aside, "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" does illustrate how our leading lady feels as she awaits letters from her engineer beau.
On an end note, even though I hoped to hear "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" during my first viewing of the Gakudan's regular Asakusa Shrine performances on 31st October, it wasn't on their setlist for the day or, at least, during the 2nd of their 2 showings. Ah, well. I have many more opportunities to hear it and other favourites of mine in time to come... In fact, I intend to be doing so very soon on November 10th.
Welcome to the wall, fellas.
Y'know, the Gakudan members do look like 4 copies of a product with some variations that make them relatively discernable. They're all great and I like them all. But. Admittedly. I do have a very, very marginal preference for Yujiro (although it does regularly shift to Kotaro). If you haven't read the "China Tango" article, I'll have you figure out which of the 3 instrumentalists Yujiro is.
P.S. A few friends had accompanied me to see the quartet in action that afternoon, and it did amuse me that they seemed fascinated by the band's get-up and instruments. It then made me realise that in not usually seeing such an image and hearing such a sound regularly or ever, it would indeed be fascinating. I did greatly appreciate their willingness to take it all in. Rain and ryukoka.
