The First Songs to Start It All For Me

 

Well, that was quite the coincidence. I just posted up "The Firsts (Mariya, Tatsuro, Akina, EW&F, EPO)" earlier this afternoon and it contained a few of my 80s favourites that helped start my path of kayo kyoku glory. Then, I find out that this week's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was having an 80s theme night. It was quite the manna from heaven for me.

I recall that I wrote up years ago a somewhat rambling account of my history of liking kayo kyoku so in a way, this article will emulate the overall theme. However, this time around, I'm just going to be a little more judicious with my thoughts here. But let it be said that these songs made a foundation to start things off for me thanks to an old classmate's "The Top 10" and "The Best 10" videotapes and my graduation trip to Japan in 1981....before I got to listen to "The Sounds of Japan" and watch my first ever Kohaku Utagassen in January 1982.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Sumire Iro no Namida （すみれ色の涙）

The long black hair, the wide smile and the voice that could part clouds and let sunshine through. It was this ballad that started my own fan feelings for Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and pretty much pegged her in my mind as the Queen of Pop Balladry for a number of years.

Masahiko Kondo -- Blue Jeans Memory （ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）

Matchy the tough but tenderhearted teenager will always be represented by "Blue Jeans Memory" whose titular movie posters were all over the place when I was traveling through Tokyo and Osaka in the torrid summer of 1981. 

Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

One reason that I haven't included Yellow Magic Orchestra in the list is that listening to their "Firecracker" on the local Japanese-Canadian community TV show here in Toronto had me intrigued but not quite head-over-heels for Japanese pop music. It took that graduation trip several months later to finally cement things. Anyways, Jun Horie's（堀江淳）"Memory Glass" was more kayo than "Firecracker" but that certain synthesizer in play here further fired up my interest in technopop.

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse　（まちぶせ）

I got to hear this in Japan, I also did the same on those videotapes and then finally, Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）showed up on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen. It was pretty much wall-to-wall "Machibuse" for several months so there was no way that I would leaving this one off the list.

Imo Kin Trio -- High School Lullaby

This was another wall-to-wall song because of the Japan trip and videotapes although I wouldn't hear about the background behind the making of this song and even how the name of this group came about for several years. On tonight's "Uta Con", I even learned some more information which answered one question that had been rattling about in my head just as long: Why didn't these guys show up on the Kohaku despite the crazy popularity of this song in 1981? Well, Imo Kin Trio（イモ欽トリオ）, the trio of young comics-turned-sudden singers who did show up to perform "High School Lullaby" tonight, explained that they actually had been given that golden offer by NHK. However their mentor, legendary comedian Kin'ichi Hagimoto（萩本欽一）who starred with them on their Fuji-TV variety show shot the question across their bow, "Do you really consider yourself singers?" and explained that if you accept the invitation, you're taking away a spot from a real singer who's dedicated to their craft. So, long story short, the answer was NO. I find this a bit ironic on Hagimoto's part since I believe he was the one who got the trio to get themselves into the music business; I guess he hadn't realized how successful they were going to get. Sorry, I did say I was going to be more judicious but couldn't help myself here.

Toshiyuki Nishida -- Moshimo Piano ga Hiketanara（もしもピアノが弾けたなら）

This was another wall-to-wall song that I heard in Japan and on those videotapes. And not surprisingly, it was the one to start things off on "Uta Con" tonight with Yo Oizumi's（大泉洋）rendition of the song. Still miss Nishida（西田敏行）who passed away almost two years ago.

Stanley Clarke and George Duke -- Sweet Baby

It is a national holiday today so as per KKP custom, we have a special holiday version of Reminiscings of Youth. I'd say this story goes back almost thirty years but when I was teaching a class in Tokyo, I recall asking the students regarding their favourite ice cream flavour (my classes were often quite whimsical). One of the students was a half-French/half-Japanese lass named Francoise who was quite popular in the group and had quite the outgoing personality. As usual, she went beyond the parameters of the question and gave us her own choice of an invented ice cream flavour. When I then asked her what she would name this new taste, she enthusiastically chirped "SWEET BABY".

Not too long after, I was at Yamano Music in Ginza doing my usual browsing of anything interesting in the CD department. I ended up purchasing the two discs making up the BRIO AOR collection, one of which had a song by a couple of musicians that I had never heard before: the late American keyboardist George Duke and American bassist Stanley Clarke, and the two of them had apparently collaborated back in 1981 through an album titled "The Clarke/Duke Project". The song from that album was the song chosen for the BRIO collection and it was called surprisingly enough, "Sweet Baby".

Yes, I will always remember Francoise and her ice cream flavour through Clarke and Duke's "Sweet Baby". For one thing, the song is probably one of the smoothest and most enjoyable AOR songs that my ears have had the honour to absorb and digest, and for another, it came out in the year that I was finally awakened to the wonders of not only Japan but also music in general. My only regret is that I hadn't discovered it back then and that I would have to wait until the end of the century to finally know about it. And who would have thought that an AOR tune would invite an electric sitar into the mix? To finally reach full circle, I would love to encounter an ice cream at a parlor somewhere that was actually called Sweet Baby.

"The Clarke/Duke Project" came out in April 1981, so let's find out what else came out that month in Japan. 

Toshiyuki Nishida -- Moshimo Piano ga Hiketanara（もしもピアノが弾けたなら）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse（まちぶせ）

Saki Kubota -- Orange Airmail Special

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Amore（アモーレ）

 

Kinda feeling sleepy this final Saturday of February 2025 after being kindly treated to an enormous Salvadoran lunch earlier today. Plenty of protein and carbs for this ever-growing boy.😁

Anyways, although I couldn't track down the commenter, I remember having a recent conversation with them about singer Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）and her 20th single titled "Amore" that she released back in July 1984. When it comes to her, I will always remember her hit "Machibuse"（まちぶせ）from 1981 and her impression as that quintessentially early 80s aidoru (although she'd been around since 1978).

Well, with "Amore", I think that aidoru tag was most definitely left behind in her room as she sings about a torrid affair between two lovers. Even her voice deepens here, compared to her high twinkly vocals from "Machibuse". There's more Latin and rock woven into her pop and the overall arrangement reminds me somewhat of the one for a big hit from that same year of 1984, Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Momo Iro Toiki"（桃色吐息）. Strangely enough, the composer, Takashi Sato（佐藤隆）, created both "Amore" and Takahashi's classic. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）was responsible for the lyrics.

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Natsukashiki Refrain（懐かしきリフレイン）

 

As I mentioned in my very first article featuring Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）, she was one of the first Japanese pop singers or aidoru that led me into the wonderful world of kayo kyoku during and following my trip to Japan in 1981. The reason for this was her huge hit "Machibuse"（まちぶせ）which was reaching all of the radios, record stores and music programs that year.

Well, as I always say, let's not forget those B-sides. Yes, incredibly enough, "Machibuse" still had a B-side and though it probably didn't have much reach beyond the big Ishikawa fans, it's still a pretty nice number. "Natsukashiki Refrain" (Nostalgic Refrain) isn't the pure pop of "Machibuse" as created by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）years previously. It's more along the lines of the 50s or 60s style of girl pop that was also pretty popular at that time. Written by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and composed by Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）, the story is of a young lady reminiscing of a past romance after she sees the decrepit remains of a poster from a concert that she and her now ex-beau had attended a long time ago. 

The lyrics by Yamagami are definitely nostalgic but now that we're looking more than forty years back, Hamada's music has also added to the sepia-toned nostalgia. Kinda wonder how Ishikawa herself is thinking about her time as one of the most popular singers back in 1981.

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Hachiro, Miyuki & Hitomi

 

Hachiro Kasuga -- Akai Lamp no Shuressha (赤いランプの終列車)

Miyuki Kawanaka -- Futari Zake （ふたり酒）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse（まちぶせ）

"Uta Con"（うたコン）October 24th 2023

 

It's darn rare for me to put up a quartet of articles on a Tuesday and it's pretty darn unusual for me to post an article on a particular episode of any show, let alone NHK's "Uta Con". However, after having last week's broadcast of the kayo kyoku program cancelled on Japan TV because of all of the copyright concerns regarding Western musical tunes being covered in that one, we (and notably I) were given a memorable episode this week since a lot of the songs featured were ones that got me into this crazy musical world (and blog) in the first place. I just had to mention this episode and well, this is a blog after all. I can use it as a diary.

As I mentioned only some minutes ago in the previous article, there was the somber announcement that Yoshinori Monta（もんたよしのり）of Monta and Brothers had passed away on October 18th. However before and after that, I was able to catch a lot of the Japanese songs of my youth that got me interested in kayo kyoku, enka and all that jazz. A lot of it was powered by a tribute to singer-songwriter Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）with the appearance of the man himself along with guests EPO, Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）, Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）and Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）. In a way, it was like getting a sneak preview of that Hayashi tribute concert that will be happening in Tokyo on November 5th.

Well, anyways, here was most of the lineup:

Sayuri Ishikawa -- Amagi Goe （天城越え）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse（まちぶせ）

EPO -- DOWNTOWN

Miki Matsubara -- Mayonaka no Door （真夜中のドアー）

Masaki Ueda -- Osaka Bay Blues

Momoko Kikuchi -- Mou Aenai Kamoshirenai（もう逢えないかもしれない）

Frankie Valli -- Grease

 

Scott of podcast "Holly Jolly X'masu" (and by the way, he has his latest on summer Xmas songs) and I were having a talk the other day, and he mentioned that his family was able to catch Frankie Valli in concert recently. At 89, the man still has it although I'm not sure whether he can still hit those stratospheric heights with his voice. I remember getting to first know Valli and The Four Seasons via those K-Tel record commercials. There was "Sherry" and "Walk Like a Man" from the early 1960s. Just getting back to Valli himself, I remember remarking "Can a guy's voice sound that high?!".

But just when I was thinking that The Four Seasons were going to remain eternally on K-Tel, I ended up watching "Grease" on the big screen. I've already mentioned through a ROY article last year about the late Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted to You", the showstopper ballad that she sang midway through the movie. Well, I found out earlier that the 1950s-set motion picture had also been injected with a disco theme song in the opening credits which were pretty funky itself, to say the least. 

And indeed it was Valli behind "Grease", the theme song for greasers everywhere. I was kinda figuring that the song sounded rather contemporary for an old rock-and-roll flick but hey as the years have passed, even Valli's "Grease" has picked up some of that lovely sepia and nostalgia (especially with those strings). The Barry Gibb-penned single was released in May 1978, and it hit No. 1 in America, Canada, and the Netherlands. In fact, it would end up as the No. 6 single of the year in my country.

So, what else was being released in May 1978 over in Japan?

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Playback Part 2 （プレイバック・パート２）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Migi Muke Migi （右向け右）

Southern All Stars -- Katte ni Sinbad （勝手にシンドバッド）

Gosanke Imagined: "The Best 10" Sannin Musume（ザ・ベストテン三人娘）

 

Up to this point, I've been doing the weekly Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three） series of singing threesome conglomerations for a little over four months now, and they've all been officially given life by the media/fans. However, I'm kinda thinking that it might be time to put up some Gosanke or Sannin Musume（三人娘...The Big Three Ladies） as imagined by me so you can say that this will be KKP-homegrown trios. Therefore, I have the byline that begins with "Gosanke Imagined".

Well, my first attempt at "Gosanke Imagined" is a trio that has been in mind ever since that fateful Japan trip in the summer of 1981. It was following the trip though that one of my Japanese Language School classmates and fellow trip-mates had us over to her place for a small afternoon party which also consisted of repeated viewings of her "The Best 10"（ザ・ベストテン）and "The Top 10"（ザ・トップ10）tapes. And it was there that I saw the big hits for 1981 and among the singers that kept on showing up on multiple episodes were Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）and Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）.

All of them began as aidoru but at the time that I saw these three ladies perform, I saw Matsuda and Ishikawa as the happy-go-lucky bouncy idol singers that impressed upon me the image of the 80s aidoru (although the latter was already in her early twenties). Iwasaki struck me as this pure female pop singer with the amazing vocal cords...it would take me a few years to learn that she had begun her career in the mid-1970s as an aidoru herself. However, these are the three that imprinted themselves into my pop culture-addled psyche as the first three female Japanese pop singers to launch my continuing odyssey into kayo kyoku and J-Pop.

Of course, with the imagined Sannin Musume here, there was also the very real Gosanke of the Tanokin Trio（たのきんトリオ）in that year. Anyways, let's see what else my imaginings can bring up in terms of trios.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Sumire Iro no Namida （すみれ色の涙）

Seiko Matsuda -- Natsu no Tobira （夏の扉）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse　（まちぶせ）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Kurumiwari Ningyo（くるみ割り人形）

 

Well, it's once again March 3rd which means it's time for Hina Matsuri（ひな祭り...Doll Festival） in Japan. A couple of years ago, I commemorated that observed holiday by writing about Mini-Moni's "Mini-Moni. Hina Matsuri!"（ミニモニ。ひなまつり!）, so you can take a look there to find out a little more about it. I got my reminder on Sunday while we were watching "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）and there was an episode on the holiday.

Obviously since I have "Mini-Moni. Hina Matsuri!" up there already, I had to search for another doll-themed kayo, and although it doesn't have any direct connection with Hina Matsuri, I did find something that's in my spirit of celebration. This would be Hitomi Ishikawa's（石川ひとみ）"Kurumiwari Ningyo" (Nutcracker Doll).

Her second single following "Migi Muke Migi"（右向け右）, "Kurumiwari Ningyo" was released in September 1978, and thanks to Koji Makaino's（馬飼野康二）melody and Masaaki Omura's（大村雅朗）arrangement, the song has that late 1970s jaunty disco feeling that I've often associated with the aidoru music of that time. Not sure if I read them correctly, but Yoshiko Miura's（三浦徳子）lyrics seem to talk about a doll coming to life and exploring love and the world. Along with the beat, I was also won over by Ishikawa's spirited and clear-as-a-bell delivery here.

The song did somewhat OK on Oricon by peaking at No. 42. "Kurumiwari Ningyo" was also the title for Ishikawa's first album which came out in December 1978.

Barry Manilow -- Copacabana

 

One definite musical presence in my childhood and youth was singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. After first hearing his "I Write the Songs" on some K-Tel record commercial, it seemed as if he had become a permanent resident on the airwaves with chart-toppers such as "Mandy" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again". And then even going into the 1980s when music videos were all the rage, Manilow had another hit with his 1981 "Read 'Em and Weep"; I was surprised by that release year since I didn't hear about the song until the video came out in 1983, so I gather that it was truly one of the longest slow cookers in pop.

However with all of those songs that he created, the one hit that has always stood out in my mind (and is this year's final ROY article for KKP) is "Copacabana". Released in June 1978, I'm guessing that it was one of the last great disco hits of the era and it was one song that got plenty of airplay on the radio whether I was at home or in the car. At the time, I had no idea where Copacabana was; at first, I'd assumed that it was somewhere in Africa before I learned that it was in Brazil.

Even there, I was wrong. "Copacabana" wasn't referring to anywhere in Brazil but the real-life Copacabana nightclub in New York City..."the hottest spot north of Havana" and the setting of a tragic love suspense thanks to Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman's lyrics paired with Manilow's tropical disco. In a way, this pairing of a sad story with one heck of a happy disco-dancing melody should have earned it honourary kayo status in Japan. At the very least, it did get its own J-Wiki page where I discovered that "Copacabana" has even been used as the cheer song for the Chiben Wakayama High School（智辯和歌山高校）baseball team...and interestingly enough, the team won this summer's Koshien tournament. Thank you, Barry!

"Copacabana" hit the Top 10 in a number of countries including the United States (No. 8) and Canada (No. 7). From what I've read of the Wikipedia article for the song, although it was all about the intrigue at the nightclub in New York, the seed for it was germinated between Manilow and Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro. Speaking of the legendary club, it was closed down in May 2020 due to the pandemic and although there were plans to open it up again in a new location this year, nothing has happened. Still, 80 years of history are nothing to sneeze at.

So, what was coming out in June 1978 or thereabouts according to Showa Pops?

Yasuhiro Kido -- Mr. Music

Hi-Fi Set -- Sukoshi dake Mawari Michi（すこしだけまわり道）(although J-Wiki states an April release)

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Migi Muke Migi （右向け右）(although J-Wiki states a May release)

Ah, before I forget, Barry Manilow did get his share of parody and satire.

Reminiscings of Youth: July 5th 1981

 

If I'm not mistaken about my date, July 5th will be an auspicious one for me. Tomorrow will be 40 years to the day since I boarded that Air Canada (or was it Canadian Pacific?) flight with the rest of my graduating class from the Toronto Japanese Language School for that one month in Japan. Over the years of writing for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've mentioned about that fateful summer 1981 trip in various entries, probably mostly for 1981 songs, in which being in Tokyo, Nagoya, Nara, etc for that one month changed my life so much that it became all about learning of Japanese culture for me. Of course, that Japanese culture also included pop music.

As such, on this personally special ROY article, I thought that I would end this blogging day by listing all those songs that I remember hearing during my time there and then watching on the TV music ranking shows over and over again. Initially, I'd thought about just listing the Oricon Top 10 for July 1981 but seeing that I've already done that, well, this particular list is more heartfelt.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Sumire Iro no Namida （すみれ色の涙）

Seiko Matsuda -- Natsu no Tobira （夏の扉）

Masahiko Kondo -- Blue Jeans Memory （ブルー・ジーンズ・メモリー）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse　（まちぶせ）

Jun Horie -- Memory Glass（メモリーグラス）

Akira Terao -- Ruby no Yubiwa (ルビーの指輪)

Perhaps it's a tad over-the-top, but without that July 5th departure for Japan, there would be no fascination for the nation of my heritage, there would be no decision to major in Japanese Studies, no life and music in Japan for close to 20 years, and no "Kayo Kyoku Plus". It's been quite the ride and I hope to not get off the bus quite yet.

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Purple Mystery（パープル ミステリー）

Generally speaking, my basic knowledge of Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）is restricted to that big hit of hers from 1981, "Machibuse"（まちぶせ）as written and composed by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）. So it's always nice when I discover some other good tunes by her.

I've just written about the NHK series "Anata no Melody"（あなたのメロディー）, a show that had a long run of 25 years which showcased the works of amateur songwriters being performed by some of the professionals. It was because of this song for this article that I found out about "Anata no Melody". Released as her 16th single in February 1983, "Purple Mystery" is this Latin-tinged pop tune that actually became one of the top songs from the show for that year. Reminiscent of some similar City Pop tunes from the 1970s, it's also remarkable for the fact that the songwriter behind this one, Susumu Kawagoshi/Kawagoe（川越進）, was just a high school student when he submitted this contribution.

One wonders if Susumu had been hanging around neighbourhoods such as Roppongi or Akasaka when he wrote and composed "Purple Mystery". Well, perhaps he shouldn't have but it's still a very nicely created slice of J-urban contemporary. Incidentally, a part of the lyrics were changed and the arrangement was handled by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, according to the liner notes in a BEST compilation CD-BOX by Ishikawa.

France Gall/Mieko Hirota/Eiko Matsumoto -- Yume Miru Chanson Ningyo（夢見るシャンソン人形）

After writing the article for one of the more inspired choices for an anime ending theme, a cover of the late France Gall's "Le temps de la rentrée" for "Hisone to Masotan"（ひそねとまそたん）, a commenter remarked that there was another song by Gall that had also made some traction in Japanese pop culture back in the day.

On hearing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax Doll, Rag Doll), originally released in 1965, I realized that I had heard this back in Japan a number of times through TV commercials. The Japanese really love their yé-yé tunes. Writer and composer Serge Gainsbourg created the song and there is a detailed analysis of it on Wikipedia. In fact, music journalist Sylvie Simmons through her book "Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes" gave an interesting quotation here from Wiki:

(She) wrote that the song is about "the ironies and incongruities inherent in baby pop"—that "the songs young people turn to for help in their first attempts at discovering what life and love are about are sung by people too young and inexperienced themselves to be of much assistance, and condemned by their celebrity to be unlikely to soon find out."

I kinda wonder what Simmons would think of Japanese aidoru then. Moving on...

Perhaps within a smattering of months following the release of Gall's original, a Japanese cover was recorded in August of that year by Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）. The title in Japanese is "Yume Miru Chanson Ningyo" (Dreaming Chanson Doll) with lyrics by Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）. There is quite a brassier edge to the arrangement.

An extensive list on the Japanese article for the song exists with all of the singers who have covered "Yume Miru Chanson Ningyo". This includes Eiko Matsumoto（松本英子）who did her version as a coupling song for her January 2003 single "Kotoshi no Fuyu"（今年の冬...This Winter）. Nice boogie-woogie arrangement.

Although her name is not on that list, I found Hitomi Ishikawa's（石川ひとみ）gentler and folkier cover particularly nice as well. Not sure when she recorded her version.

Juri Hamada/Mari Amachi/Hitomi Ishikawa -- Omoide no Serenade （想い出のセレナーデ）

Enjoying your Sunday, I hope. There's nothing like weather in Toronto...a mere few weeks ago, the forecasters were giving us heat warnings but there has just been a frost advisory issued for tonight! It will be a properly chilly Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow. However, my family no longer does the turkey thing for Thanksgiving but since my darling niece's birthday is imminent, we will be having some Japanese fare outside tonight.

For this article, I have three aidorus from two eras performing one song. It was another happy happenstance that I was able to encounter "Omoide no Serenade" (Serenade of Reminiscences) on YouTube by aidoru Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）who had a relatively brief singing career at a little over 4 years in the early 80s before focusing more on acting for several more years.

I gotta say that I like the cover for Hamada's 7th single from February 1982. Nice lighting and that certain uncertain expression on her face which seemed to be one of a few default expressions used in photographing single covers. "Omoide no Serenade" was created by a couple of veterans, Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）for the lyrics and Koichi Morita（森田公一）for the melody.

The J-Wiki bio for the Tokyo-born Hamada, who made her debut in 1980, stated that she stood out for her unique and husky voice despite her cute aidoru looks although I don't think her vocals on "Omoide no Serenade" were particularly un-aidoru-like. Perhaps compared to teenyboppers like Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）or Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）but otherwise...

Melodically, the song has that arrangement by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）which stamped a lot of aidoru ballads from that time: a lot of wistful strings and an overall feeling of meruhen or fantasy as if the singer was meant to be waltzing around in that huge ballroom of a palace somewhere in Lichtenstein. In terms of the lyrics, Hamada sings about remembering a romance which is now very much in the past although the heroine most likely harbours that torch for her old flame.

"Omoide no Serenade" turned out to be Hamada's most successful single, peaking at No. 51 on Oricon with around 43,000 records sold. In all, she released 4 original albums and 11 singles. Her hit single was placed onto her final album as the title track in 1983.

When Hamada first entered the scene in 1980, it had been reported that she had an aura similar to that of imminently retiring Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）which had her staff grooming her to be the "Post-Momoe". Unfortunately, it didn't quite take although she came onto the scene alongside Naoko Kawai, Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）, Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）and Seiko Matsuda, the last one who became a close friend of Hamada. According to the J-Wiki article, Hamada herself even implied that she really didn't like singing all that much and preferred to head into the acting field. Still apparently, she has her own dedicated legion of fans. After getting married in 1995, she decided to retire from show business to start raising a family.

I found out a bit later that Hamada actually sang a cover of the original "Omoide no Serenade" by 1970s aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）. Her 11th single from September 1974, it was interesting to compare the arrangements between Hamada's cover and Amachi's "Serenade". There are indeed those strings and that light touch in there but the arrangement by Koji Ryuzaki（竜崎孝路）included some hints of rollicking drums which brought a bit of that city and go-go boots feeling that I've often associated with 1970s kayo kyoku. Of course, there is Amachi's breathy high-tone voice that automatically brings up memories of my first ever trip to Japan in 1972.

"Omoide no Serenade" was Amachi's 11th and final Top 10 hit, getting as high as No. 8, selling 340,000 records. It was also the 41st-ranked single for 1974. The song also punched her ticket into the Kohaku Utagassen for the 3rd and final time in her career.

Several days ago, I noted through an article that 70s/80s aidoru Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）had provided an audiotape in the year of her debut, 1978, which is most likely the rarest of the rare for kayo collectors. Titled "Kurumiwari Ningyo/Migimuke Migi=Watashi wa Hi-to-mi="（くるみ割り人形・右向け右 =わたしはひ・と・み=...The Nutcracker/Right-Turning Right=My Hi-to-mi=）, the B-side has covers of a number of other songs including that of "Omoide no Serenade" arranged by Akio Araki（荒木圭男）. Ishikawa's version sounds a bit more laid-back with her vocals also being high but perhaps a bit sharper for the lack of a better term.

Hiromi Ohta/Hitomi Ishikawa -- Ku-gatsu no Ame （九月の雨）

We haven't gotten too much rain this month but today was the day for a goodly amount of precipitation in the Toronto area. Not a bad thing at all considering how dry it was during the summer months, and it's always nice to see the lawn pop up in a brilliant green the day after.

So for my daily contribution to "Kayo Kyoku Plus", let's go with the appropriate "Ku-gatsu no Ame" (September Rain) by 70s aidoru Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）. According to J-Wiki, her 9th single from September 1977 (good golly, 39 years ago!) was her 3rd big hit following the very sunny "Momen no Handkerchief"（木綿のハンカチーフ）in 1975 and "Akai High Heel"（赤いハイヒール）a year later.

As with those previous two hits, "Ku-gatsu no Ame" was created for Ohta by the prolific Takashi Matsumoto and Kyohei Tsutsumi（松本隆・筒美京平）. With Tsutsumi's mix of kayo and a dash of disco in there along with the singer's vocals, the overall effect reminded me of the early sounds of another Hiromi....Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, and not surprisingly, Tsutsumi was also creating hits for Ms. Iwasaki at the time. As for Matsumoto, his lyrics relate the tale of a young woman in the back of one of Tokyo's reliable taxis driving through the rain as she wonders about her boyfriend probably canoodling with another woman. Not sure if the cabbie should inquire about this one.

Considering the urban milieu covered in "Ku-gatsu no Ame" and that nice fat bass thrumming away there, I could probably say that the song can belong in the City Pop genre. Although the video above is of a much older Ohta revisiting her 1977 hit, I read in the J-Wiki article that the song was her ticket to a 2nd appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen and during her performance, the Candies, Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）, Hatsumi Shibata (しばたはつみ) and Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）acted as her back dancers twirling the umbrellas. 

As I said, the song was Ohta's 3rd big hit and it would turn out to be her final Top 10 song, peaking at No. 7. It was also the 40th-ranked single for 1977 and was a track on her 6th album from July 1977, "Coquettish"（こけてぃっしゅ）.

Those big 3 hits for Ohta, especially her first one "Momen no Handkerchief", may be the songs that she will always be remembered for. However for me, that part of my heart reserved for the singer contains the really summery "Minami Kaze"（南風）, the first song that I had ever heard from her on "Sounds of Japan". It may only have gone as high as No. 22 on Oricon but it is my sentimental favourite.

In 1978, aidoru Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）made her debut and during that first year, she did a peppier cover of "Ku-gatsu no Ame" that until the 21st century had only been available on an audiotape titled "Kurumiwari Ningyo/Migimuke Migi=Watashi wa Hi-to-mi="（くるみ割り人形・右向け右 =わたしはひ・と・み=...The Nutcracker/Right-Turning Right=My Hi-to-mi=）released in that year in September. Then in 2002, it was included on a BEST compilation CD of her music, "78-86 Bokura no Best, Ishikawa Hitomi CD-BOX"（78-86ぼくらのベスト　石川ひとみCD-BOX...78-86 Our Best, Hitomi Ishikawa CD-BOX）.

Now for a very City Pop song that is called "September Rain", check out Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）.

Memories of My Standout Singers: 1981 (J-Canuck)

As I write this, Japan is currently celebrating the annual Tanabata festival (July 7th) with the prime focus on Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. One of the customs during this holiday is writing wishes on colourful strips of paper known as tanzaku and tying them to the branches of a tree. For Tokyo, that is probably the biggest symbol for Tanabata although Sendai goes full throttle as you can see in the video above.

Personally, I am also celebrating an anniversary of sorts today. It was 35 years ago today that my plane dropped down onto the tarmac at Narita Airport so that my classmates and I could launch the graduation trip from Japanese Language School. And as I have mentioned numerous times, this was the trip where my love for kayo kyoku finally blossomed.

So as such, I've decided to plunk down the singers who I discovered during that fateful trip and afterwards that have forever stayed in my mind as being symbolic of my half-summer in Japan in 1981. I'm not placing specific songs here, just the singers. A few of them have had long careers while a couple of them to me are one-hit wonders. These singers are not going down in any specific order. Plus, I won't go on some sort of long serenade for each of them since they already have their own entries...just a few lines each.

1. Seiko Matsuda （松田聖子）

"Fresh, fresh, fresh...". The lady, the legend, the aidoru. For me, she was the introduction to that huge mass of unique Japanese teenybopping girls with the happy tunes and the snaggletoothed smiles.

2. Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）

His movie "Blue Jeans Memory" was all over the media and any external structure that could afford a poster. The supposed young tough who sent teenage girls into a frenzy by simply squeaking "Matchy desu!"

3. Jun Horie（堀江淳）

My one-hit wunderkind with the high-pitched voice who appeared on all those ancient VHS tapes of "The Best 10" and "The Top 10" that were played at my classmate's house during a post-trip party a couple of months after the event itself. I didn't hear anything more from him after his big hit of "Memory Glass"（メモリーグラス）but that particular technopop song has buried itself deep in my memories.

4. Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）

Along with Seiko-chan, another early 80s aidoru with memorable hair. Her "Machibuse"（まちぶせ）was another frequently heard song on the rankings shows. My first exposure to Yuming even before I knew about Yuming.

5. Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）

The supremely long hair and that wonderful voice for that gentle ballad. Since it was early days, I had no idea that she had once been an aidoru herself. She simply registered as a classy young lady who hit me right in the heart!

6. Yellow Magic Orchestra

Bought my first audiotape in Japan and it belonged to these guys. With their brand of "computer music", they absolutely stood out in my mind. As soon as I got my cherry-red SONY double-cassette recorder and their first album, I played it in my room at the Tokyo Prince. "Rydeen" may have come out a couple of years before my trip to Japan but it still finely represents the band.

I will be coming out with sequels to my memories in future entries to represent my history with "Sounds of Japan", my time in Gunma and then my long stint in Ichikawa.

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Migi Muke Migi （右向け右）

I distinctly remember the 2nd entry in this blog being Hitomi Ishikawa's（石川ひとみ）"Machibuse"（まちぶせ）. I chose that hit since it had been one of the big songs in my 1981 epiphany that steered me into my long relationship listening to kayo kyoku. However, up to now it had been the only Ishikawa song that I knew, and recently I was wondering how some of her other songs sounded.

So I decided to go all the way back to her beginnings. "Migi Muke Migi" (Turning Right) was her debut in May 1978, and it was written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, a frequent lyricist for Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, and composed by Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）, the man behind the grand theme song for "Uchuu Senkan Yamato"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト）. I've only heard it a few times now and it struck me as being a harmless and pleasant enough 70s aidoru tune about a boy and girl reluctantly turning away in opposite directions. There was nothing too elaborate or challenging about it (yes, I do realize that I am talking about aidoru tunes here), so it was good enough for a young 18-year-old Ishikawa to cut her teeth upon. Man, writing that age down just has me comparing her with what Namie Amuro （安室奈美恵）did when she was 19 years old several years later.

I didn't write anything about Ishikawa's history for "Machibuse", so allow me to rectify that situation. She was born in 1959 in Aichi Prefecture, and in contrast with that stereotypical aidoru look that she had, she grew up as a tomboy. In fact, according to her J-Wiki profile, she got into a huge donnybrook with one kid in kindergarten in a rice paddy which left her coming home completely covered in mud. When she was in her 2nd year of high school, she had actually auditioned for the Fuji-TV talent program "Kimi koso Star da!" （君こそスターだ...You Are The Star!）but kerfuffled the lyrics for Hiromi Iwasaki's （岩崎宏美）"Dream" which led to her screaming out "SORRY!!!" Still, she was able to become the champion on the program. Then some time later, Ishikawa visited the Nagoya branch of the Tokyo Music Academy on the day that she was supposed to take an entrance examination for another institute of higher learning. The staffer at the academy invited her to take the exam there, and since she passed, the rest was history.

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse （まちぶせ）

Along with "Memory Glass", this was another one of my introductions to Kayo Kyoku back in 1981. One of my classmates from Japanese Language school had brought back a ton of VHS tapes with "The Best 10"and "The Top 10", and this tune was played pretty much non-stop. It reached a peak of No. 9 on the Oricon in August.

Hitomi Ishikawa （石川ひとみ）had been an aidoru (pop idol) for 3 years before she got "Machibuse", her biggest hit. The song was written by New Music legend, Yumi Matsutoya (nee Arai), and it had actually been written originally for a singer by the name of Seiko Miki, who had a very brief career in the mid-70s.

The title "Machibuse" is translated as "ambush", a pretty aggressive name for an aidoru song, but going over the lyrics, it's much more of a wistful story of unrequited love.

My personal memory of Ishikawa and "Machibuse" was when I was watching my very first viewing of the Kohaku Utagassen when she was the 2nd woman singer to appear after Naoko Kawai. Halfway through the song, she crumpled into a bag of tears since she was so happy to appear on the programme. I guess her emotions "machibuse"ed her.