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.
Well, indeed, it is April 1st and though it is April's Fools Day here, in Japan, it takes on a bigger meaning since it is also the first day of a new fiscal year with all sorts of staff transfers and new recruits beginning their adult corporate lives. That also goes for the television industry including NHK and the weekly music program "Uta Con"（うたコン）.
Let's see...tonight's episode had a new co-host although her face hasn't been placed onto the website as of yet, frequent guest group Junretsu（純烈）is now down to a trio and a new nostalgic segment has been added to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the network. But the main theme of the show was a mixture of the veterans and a fresh spring, so we heard "Seishun Jidai"（青春時代）, "Sakura"（さくら）, "Mizuiro no Ame" (みずいろの雨）,"Nagasaki wa Kyou mo Ame Datta"（長崎は今日も雨だった）and "La-La-Sunshine".
At the same time, I got to hear the band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）perform one of their very early hits, their 3rd single"Koi suru Otome" (A Girl in Love) from October 2006. A pure and innocent love ballad created by band guitarist Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）, "Uta Con" couldn't have asked for a more appropriate song on their episode of new beginnings and spring love.
However, according to the J-Wiki article for the song, when it was first created, Mizuno had so effectively written the lyrics in such a feminine way that it was hard to believe that it had even been written by a man, and even vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka（吉岡聖恵）admitted that she herself couldn't fathom ever singing it. Furthermore, despite it earning a No. 15 ranking on the Oricon weeklies and Platinum status, "Koi Suru Otome" ended up as Ikimonogakari's lowest-selling single (so imagine how much more successful their really big hits have been). The single is also included on the band's first major album "Sakura Saku Machi Monogatari" (桜咲く街物語...The Story of Town Where Cherry Blossoms Bloom) and it was used as the ending theme for the NTV variety series "Love Katsu"（恋愛部活）.
Last night, I wrote up an article on "Massugu"（まっすぐ）, the opening theme song for Season 3 of the warmhearted anime "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san）, and I figured that I could also take care of a couple of songs from that franchise tonight. As has been the tradition ever since Season 1, seiyuu Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）as the titular Takagi-san has been providing the ending themes every couple of episodes which are covers of kayo kyoku and J-Pop tunes of the past.
Season 3's Episode 6 had the climax of the annual school culture festival in which Takagi-san and Nishikata-kun ended up in a performance of a variant on "Romeo and Juliet". One of the peak moments in the entire franchise occurred there, so of course, everyone involved was more than happy to be over and done with the festivities, which led to the celebratory karaoke session at the end.
Well, Takagi-san chose her song wisely since "Gakuen Tengoku" is a karaoke favourite for everyone to join in. It's also quite the chestnut from 1974 as originally done by the family singing group Finger Five（フィンガーファイブ）and then even more popularized through Kyoko Koizumi's（小泉今日子）1989 cover. Several of the cast also joined in the fun with Takahashi.
Couldn't find the ending credits for Episodes 7 and 8, but for those, Takahashi sang a cover of Ikimonogakari's（いきものがかり）"Joyful" from 2009. I've always had a nice feeling about that one since it was used as the commercial jingle for those Pocky commercials featuring a joyfully dancing Yui Aragaki（新垣結衣）.
Welcome, April 2019 and another Monday! There were the usual April Fool's jokes thrown out on TV today with some folks wondering if the announcement of the new Japanese reign period name "Reiwa"「令和」was part of it. It hasn't exactly been embraced by everybody, you might say. I'm not exactly overwhelmed myself but y'know, I can work with it.
A lot of folks have been going ga-ga over the opening theme for the anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）, "Love Dramatic"（ラブ・ドラマティック）by Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）with Rikka Ihara（伊原六花）, and I know that the show is in its endgame. It's been fun but things have taken a fairly dramatic turn in the last couple of episodes.
The coupling song with "Love Dramatic" is "Kaeritakunatta yo" (I Want to Go Home), a sweet ballad by Martin which I hope can be sneaked into the last episode since the lyrics (and music) by Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）speak of someone going through some hard times wishing to head back home where loved ones are waiting. In a way, that's how I think of Kaguya herself especially after watching Episode 11. The lass has been through a lot, no thanks to her father.
"Kaeritakunatta yo" is actually the 9th single by Mizuno's band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）, released in April 2008. To be honest, as much as I love Martin, I have to go with the original version as sung by Kiyoe Yoshioka（吉岡聖恵）. I'm sure that quite a few tears were shed whenever this one has been performed at the concerts. It broke into the Top 10 at No. 7 and ended up at No. 122 in the yearly rankings, going Gold and Double Platinum. The ballad was also placed in Ikimonogakari's 3rd album"My song Your song", released on Christmas Eve 2008 which hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 14th-ranked album for 2009.
Earlier today, I got together with fellow "Kayo Kyoku Plus" collaborator Larry Chan for lunch with a translator friend, and no, the above food item wasn't the main dish (although I do like Pocky very much...try the choco-banana). Actually, the three of us went for our favourite Japanese food item, ramen, at Santouka downtown. With the temperatures having chilled down somewhat, it was good weather to have the noodles. I ended up having gyoza, shio ramen, zangi don and then just down the street for dessert, I finished up my afternoon repast with carrot cake and coffee. Indeed, I was quite joyful.
I was going to make a smooth segue here from the last word in the first paragraph, but I do have to mention that the three of us also spoke on the Kohaku Utagassen back on Monday. We all agreed that it was one of the better shows, and I remarked that the band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）was unusually chipper; actually, I should say that they were super-cheerful in their performance of the song "Joyful" which was their 15th single.
Not being a dedicated fan of Ikimonogakari, my impression was that the band specialized in heartfelt dramatic ballads such as one of my favourites by them, "Yell", that Larry had covered with his own anecdote back on December 30th. My friend happily assured me that the band is very capable of doing very uptempo stuff, and that was certainly the case with "Joyful" which was strangely enough the coupling song for "Yell".
Whereas "Yell" is an introspective ballad on life through past, present and future written and composed by band guitarist Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）, "Joyful" is all about partying it up as if it were 2009, which is when the single was released in September that year, and this is also a Mizuno creation. Heck, even the exhortation for the audience to jump up and boogie all about is written into the lyrics themselves. I guess in that way, "Joyful" is more of a Western approach to enjoying New Year's Eve compared to December 31st in Japan, although I think things are gradually changing. According to the J-Wiki article for the single, Mizuno had apparently whipped up "Joyful" rather excitedly and according to vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka（吉岡聖恵）, the lad was jumping off the ground when he brought the finished product over.
"Yell/Joyful" managed to hit No. 2 on Oricon and became the 66th-ranked single for 2009. It even hung about to end up as the 149th-ranked single for 2010. "Joyful" was used in a Pocky commercial (hence the photo at the top), and when I read that in J-Wiki, I went naruhodo since I remembered all of those Pocky ads with then-teenage actress Yui Aragaki（新垣結衣）dancing spritely all over the screen, but it was actually the band itself which was bopping about when "Joyful" was used. As well, the song has been used in a number of music games such as "pop'n music" and "GUITARFREAKS".
Recently, I've written 3 consecutive pieces about Akina, and most of them were love songs (and sad too). Let's change the scenery a little bit.
Do you remember what song you sang with your classmates at graduation? Or maybe you didn't sing anything at all?
I never went to high-school in North America, so may be this feels a bit cheesy for Americans and/or Canadians. But I surely remember it was a fixture when I was attending secondary school in Hong Kong. Our school designated one day as Teachers' Day, and the graduating classes would organize a 3-hour performance for our teachers' enjoyment (since all teachers are at the performance, there'll be no class; rest of students can watch the show or play soccer, basketball etc.). Some people would do short skits, or a monomane of some of our teachers (think Alec Baldwin's impression of Trump). Some people would do a group speech. Some people may choose to do group singing. When they sang, the song was usually about farewell and friendship.
I remember that there's this wildly popular song that I heard every year, and even multiple times on the same Teachers' Day. It was a cover song from Randy Sparks' Today. The Cantonese version, named "Sitting Across Each Other, Silent" (相對無言), was covered by Michael Kwan (關正傑), who was extremely popular in the late 70s and early 80s. The Cantonese lyrics was actually quite touching. It is about 2 people who vowed to pursue their dreams at graduation. But many years later, when they met again, they realized that they've all changed. Both of them had to abandon their dreams in order to adapt to the society they lived in. They drank, they cried, they held each other in their arms. At the end, they cheered each other, wished each other well, and hoped their fate would change some day. Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days.
On my Teachers' Day during graduation, we decided to sing this one:
For Japanese high-schoolers, Ikimonogakari's YELL has become a very popular farewell song. According to wiki, Oricon's "Graduation Song Ranking 2012" ranked YELL as the 2nd most popular farewell/graduation song on its chart.
Yoshiki Mizuno (水野良樹), the primary song writer and lyricist for Ikimonogakari, was invited by NHK to write a theme song for the 2009 NHK All-Japan School Choir Competition. The requirement from NHK was to write something "as up-tempo (cheering) as possible". However, Yoshiki looked back on his days at high-school when he was deeply confused and frustrated, and wrote YELL, along with one more "up-tempo" song. At the end, NHK chose YELL to be the theme song.
YELL was the first song I heard from Ikimonogakari. I watched their live performance at 2009 Kouhaku (紅白). I have to admit that the vocalist, Kiyoe Yoshioka (吉岡聖恵), looks like my ex-girlfriend and so they got my immediate attention :) I was very impressed by their performance. Probably, I was watching Kouhaku for the first time after many years of absence, and was pleasantly surprised by the new music scene. I was still living in Akina era back then :)
I couldn't find that Kouhaku performance anymore, but I found this live performance in their 2015 concert (maybe not). I've heard a much better live performance from Kiyoe.
YELL, as I mentioned previously, is a reflection on Yoshiki's young self. It was about exploring your inner self. Often, we're living the "image" or "impression" of people around us, and as a result we're lost and confused. Saying goodbye to our friends, and choosing our own path, is nothing sad at all. It's a chance for us to reborn, and search for our own ultimate self.
Chris Hart, an American who made his singing career in Japan, covered for this song as well. Enjoy!
With some of the more insane anime that have come out this summer, it's hard to believe that earlier this year, my anime buddy and I had been watching something as gently humourous as "Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san）. Frankly I wouldn't mind if something similar came out in the soon-to-arrive fall season.
It's been almost 6 months since I put up the last of the multiple ending themes for the show, the gimmick being that they were covers of hit J-Pop songs performed by the seiyuu portraying the titular Takagi-san, Rie Takahashi（高橋李依）. Back in March, just when "Takagi-san" finished its run, I wrote about the adorable final theme, a cover of Every Little Thing's"Deatta Koro no you ni"（出逢った頃のように）.
Well, today I'm going back to the beginning. For the first couple of episodes and the OVA, the ending theme was the cover of Ikimonogatari's（いきものがかり）"Kimagure Romantic" (Capricious Romantic), a cheerful rendition by Takahashi whose lyrics seem to fit perfectly with the overall story arc of "Takagi-san": for Takagi to get young and crabby Nishikata to like her. If I had been the school counselor, I probably would have advised the girl to stop teasing the poor lad, but then there would have been no purpose for the story to air.
In any case, it was definitely one ultra-happy way to end the show.
The original Ikimonogatari version was the band's 12th single from December 2008, and it's no less cheerful and upbeat. Written and composed by Ikimonogatari guitarist Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）, "Kimagure Romantic" is certainly a crowd pleaser as well, judging by the audience response. I haven't been a huge follower of the band but this particular song has struck me as being the most upbeat tune that I've heard so far as voiced by Kiyoe Yoshioka（吉岡聖恵）.
"Kimagure Romantic" went Double Platinum and peaked at No. 4 on Oricon. The song was also a track on Ikimonogatari's 3rd major studio album"My song, Your song" which came out on Xmas Eve in the same year. It hit No. 1 for 2 weeks and was the 14th-ranked album for 2009.
I heard this song on today's edition of NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）and I finally decided to profile it. Not being a fan of pop band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）per se, I still enjoy the inspiring feeling of "Arigato" (Thank You) as this cheer-up song. I've heard the band's 18th single a number of times over the past few years including a recent Kohaku Utagassen.
The theme song for the NHK morning serial "GeGeGe no Nyobo"（ゲゲゲの女房...GeGeGe's Wife）which was televised for most of 2010, the show starred actress Nao Matsushita（松下奈緒）as the wife of manga artist Shigeru Mizuki（水木しげる）as the story related how they had to endure the tough times before Mizuki finally found success with works such as "GeGeGe no Kitaro"（ゲゲゲの鬼太郎...Kitaro of the Graveyard）. As is the case with all of the asadora, there were episodes which ended with a cliffhanger or some sort of tragedy, but I've got a feeling that Ikimonogakari's theme song reassured viewers that things would inevitably turn out all right.
"Arigato" was written and composed by Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）, one of the guitarists for Ikimonogakari, and released in May 2010. It has become one of the band's biggest hits, hitting No. 2 on Oricon and finishing the year as the 33rd-ranked single. It even hung on the following year as the 175th-ranked single. "Arigato" also went Platinum and won the band a Best Song Prize at the Japan Record Awards that year. Ikimonogakari has had a long run on the Kohaku Utagassen (if they are included in this year's edition in a few months' time, it will be their 9th consecutive appearance), and "Arigato" marked their 3rd appearance.
Last year's appearance by the band was to perform "Arigato" again in tribute to artist Mizuki since he had passed away in November at the age of 93.
In that 2010 appearance by Ikimonogakari, their performance was prefaced by Matsushita's own version of "Arigato" as an accomplished pianist. A recorded version is available on a BEST compilation from that same year, "Scene 25 ~ Best of Nao Matsushita".
A few weeks ago, one of the "Anonymous" commenters chimed in about this song by the band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）for another article. I had heard "Kaze ga Fuiteiru"(A Wind is Blowing) via TV Japan because of its use as the official NHK song for the 2012 London Olympics but was actually hoping that this particular Anonymous would have been willing to write his/her own take on it since it was obvious from his/her comments that there was a strong love for it. There was no animus from me against the Kanagawa-based group, but it was just that I wasn't very knowledgeable about them and thought that Anonymous would be better with the story. I actually responded to Anonymous with a few questions so that I could glean some insight from the answers after which I would have offered the opportunity. However, the commenter didn't bite so I gather that the need for anonymity was a higher priority.
In any case, allow me to continue. The band did have my attention because of its name. I had never heard of the word ikimono-gakari before, and initially, I mistakenly thought the name meant "disappointed in living things" since I assumed the name was pronounced ikimono-gakkari. Considering that definition, I'd assumed that this was an emo band. However, standing corrected with a bit of crow in my mouth, the term actually refers to elementary school students tasked with taking care of the school flora and fauna...far more optimistic and adorable.
And so it is with Ikimonogakari's 24th single from July 2012. "Kaze ga Fuiteiru", true to its title, is a breezy and inspiring affair....and darn long at around 8 minutes. According to the article for the song on J-Wiki, guitarist and songwriter Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）apparently tuckered himself out completely in giving birth to this one (coming up with a hit Olympic song will do that to one). It's interesting comparing this song as the theme song for the 2012 Games to another Olympic theme song for the NHK coverage back in 1996, Maki Ohguro's"Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）. That barnstormer for the Atlanta Games was a musical equivalent of high-octane adrenaline to the system to get all those viewers' blood boiling whereas "Kaze ga Fuiteiru" was able to effectively give gentle encouragement to athletes and non-athletes alike to do their best. Commuters might have felt like plowing through the crowds at Shinjuku Station when "Atsukunare" was all over the airwaves, but "Kaze ga Fuiteiru" was probably able to induce a calmer and happier skip in the step and a desire to stop and smell the bara. Kiyoe Yoshioka's（吉岡聖恵）light and cheerful vocals did a lot to keep those happy feelings up.
One other reason that I hadn't covered "Kaze ga Fuiteiru" was proximity. Since I was no longer living in Japan, I was no longer surrounded by heavy rotation play by Olympic tie-in songs. Due to the usual copyright blather, NHK's coverage of the London Games via TV Japan was restricted to one half-hour of highlight material a day, so it was pretty much just excerpts of the song, the saccharine NHK instrumental arrangement or Ikimono-gakari's performance at the Kohaku Utagassen.
"Kaze ga Fuiteiru" peaked at No. 3 and became the 110th-ranked song of 2012. As for a further description of Ikimonogakari, have a look at the Wikipedia article on the band.
