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.
I caught my first "Uta Con"（うたコン）in a couple of weeks, and not surprisingly, the theme of the episode this week was the summer song. So, of course, one of the ultimate J-Pop summery bands TUBE showed up, and I have to say that leader and vocalist Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）did a great job with Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Ride on Time".
Veteran aidoru group Juice=Juice was also there and if I'm not mistaken, they took care of the finale. They sang their 20th single as a major act, "More! Mi Amore" (Look Hot! Mi Amore) which is actually one-half of a double A-side single accompanying "Shi no Go no Iwazu Satto Wakarete Ageta"（四の五の言わず颯(さっ)と別れてあげた...I Made a Clean Break of It Without Any Fuss）. I'd assumed that the single was their latest from this year but it actually got released in October 2025.
Another crazy assumption that I'd had was that looking at the title, I thought this was some sort of tribute to Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Meu Amore" but that's further from the truth. Instead, the song was written and composed by singer-songwriter Aoi Yamazaki（山崎あおい）although both songs have got that frenetic Latin spice infused into their DNA. There's nothing like a Latin-arranged aidoru tune to get the group going all crazy with the choreography which will get the fans all into a lather at the concerts. The single managed to hit No. 2 on Oricon.
Y'know, the other day, I saw this adorable little teaser from Sony Music Japan's YouTube channel.
Cartoon cutouts of the members of the legendary New Music band Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）appear and do some minimalistic moving around while their "Downtown" track is playing. Then the announcement comes out that their one and only "SONGS" album from April 25th 1975 is getting its special 50th anniversary release today.
Well, there was no way that I could let this one slide by KKP, especially on Urban Contemporary Friday. I did get my own special version of "SONGS" years ago at the old Shibuya RecoFan...I think it was the 30th anniversary edition and I wrote about the album way back in 2013, so that's all said and done. Plus, I had even written about the arguably most famous track "Downtown" more than a year previously in the first few weeks of the blog's existence.
However, as I said above, I'm not about to ignore the significance of this opportunity. Therefore, I've opted to provide as many of the cover versions of "Downtown" as created by composer Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and lyricist Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）that I've known and written about here including one that I discovered only last night.
As for why "Downtown" has been popular among listeners and musicians alike, I mentioned in the original article for the song that my favourite version among the covers has been EPO's 1980 City Pop take since it was not only the first version that I had ever heard, but also because it was just a bright and happy and welcoming song about enjoying a Saturday night in the big city, aka Tokyo. And I think despite all of the different arrangements that "Downtown" has undergone depending on the band or singer, that feeling of optimism and fun hasn't been diminished. Starting with Sugar Babe, the song dares listeners to come to the metropolis. Imagine what it must have been like back in 1975 or 1980 with the Sugar Babe original and then the EPO cover respectively when Tokyo and Japan were further going up in the world and the economy.
Sugar Babe (1975)
I have to admit that the original by this band took a while to grow on me since I was so attached to the EPO cover version. However, I can say that Tatsuro's take is also some rollicking rock n' roll fun which sounds like the gang busking about in Shibuya or Shinjuku.
EPO (1980)
EPO's EPO-tastic version is something that I will always put up alongside Mariya's "Plastic Love" and Miki's "Mayonaka no Door" as a City Pop anthem. Whenever I listen to it, I get those images of West Shinjuku and its skyscrapers at sunset and how they eventually got me to come over to Japan finally.
Another City Pop Queen, Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）cover of "Downtown" is available on her 1982 album"Moonlight Island". Compared to Sugar Babe's rollicking original and EPO's groovy cover, Kuwana's take goes into a funkier and just-as-fun direction but it is no less City Pop.
YMCK and DE DE MOUSE (2008)
Apologies to DE DE MOUSE that I couldn't include him in Labels but I got the warning from Blogger that I reached my 20-label limit; I'll compensate on the original article since until today, I hadn't known that the chip tune band YMCK had collaborated with DE DE MOUSE on this cute-as-all-heck techno cover.
Maaya Sakamoto's（坂本真綾）"Downtown" was a pretty cool take because it incorporated a couple of genres into one cover: ska and jazz. Plus, the fact that it was being used as the opening song of an anime brought me lots of joy since it would mean a new generation of folks were getting their share of this song.
Heck, even the contemporary aidoru group Juice=Juice was having their fun with "Downtown". Sounding like a spacy version of EPO's "Downtown", I wouldn't mind visiting Odaiba in Tokyo Bay while listening to this one as accompaniment. Nice oomphy percussion!
the band apart (2024)
And we come full circle with the latest version that I've gotten to know. the band apart has actually been around since 1998 and in July 2024, they came up with their "Downtown ep". Their take is more along the lines of Sugar Babe's original, and the bright and glossy music video above signifies what I've always imagined about the song vis a vis Tokyo. I'll see if I can find another song to cover by the band soon.
Strangely enough, April 25th is also an anniversary for another City Popclassic.
Well, as Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico are showing up above, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is celebrating its 13th birthday today, so I gather that the blog might be showing signs of teenage rebelliousness in the years to come. As was the case last year, I've opted to show off any other Japanese singers who are celebrating their birthday on January 30th, too.
(1948) Sumio Akutagawa of Toi et Moi -- Dare mo Inai Umi (誰もいない海）
Back in February, I put up the first article for the Hello Projectaidoru group Juice=Juice and their KAN-penned "Pop Music"（ポップミュージック）and at the end, I stated that I was looking forward to their cover of Sugar Babe's"DOWNTOWN".
Well, that cover arrived on April 28th as the group's 14th single on CD and I got reminded of the fact from Juice=Juice's appearance tonight on "Uta Con"（うたコン）.
Now, let's see...there is the 1975 original by Sugar Babe, the 1980 City Pop cover by EPO (which still remains my favourite version), an English-language cover by Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）on her 1982 album"Moonlight Island", a chip tune take by YMCK in 2008, the jazzy version by Maaya Sakamoto（坂本真綾）in 2010, and finally we have a contemporary aidoru group tackling "DOWNTOWN" this year. This version starts off pretty spacey and there seems to be a bit of a guitar riff giving a fond shoutout to the EPO cover before we get a "DOWNTOWN" that goes for the dance beats as each of the members hand off the mike to each other.
This new "DOWNTOWN" has done pretty well on the charts by coming in at No. 3. Again, all compliments to lyricist Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）and composer Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）. 46 years later, it's still fun to go "DOWNTOWN".
Well, who'da thunk it? Some 30 years after wholesome singer-songwriter KAN came out with his arguably most famous tune, "Ai wa Katsu"（愛は勝つ）, he came out with his 35th single last year in February.
Not only that, but he actually does some choreography in the music video (shortened version) for "Pop Music" as if he were a boomer getting down with the millennials. The song obviously has the disco influences but there is also something in there which had me thinking old-fashioned kayo. Moreover, I can even hear a certain keyboard at points that reminds me of the 1990s urban contemporary sound in Japan.
But then, some weeks later in April 2020, Hello Project aidoru group Juice=Juice went full disco cavalcade with their cover of "Pop Music" under the full title of "Pop Music/Sukitte Itte yo"（ポップミュージック/好きって言ってよ...Tell Me You Love Me）. Kudos to arranger Tomohiro Sumikama（炭竃智弘）for throwing in so many aural shoutouts to the music of the past through M's "Pop Muzik", the Village People's"YMCA", Van McCoy's"The Hustle" and even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit of Frankie Valli's"Can't Take My Eyes Off You". It's like Sumikama stuffed all of Studio 54 into the song.
The lyrics by KAN are also interesting and all-knowing since he basically explains the whole thing about not only pop music in general but the old kayo from the Showa Era as well. Maybe he didn't intend to, but I think he literally poses the question about how some of those City Pop songs have managed to instill that feeling of nostalgia in fans although they are hearing them for the first time.
Juice=Juice's cover of "Pop Music" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon, and the single is their 13th (excepting all of their digital download singles). As for this Hello Project group, I'd heard the name before but "Pop Music" is the first song that I've covered by them, and apparently HP founder Tsunku（つんく♂）gave them this unique name to signify various concepts such as "fresh", "all-natural" and "100%" like that orange juice I have every morning, according to the J-Wiki introduction.
They've been around since 2013 and with all of the lineup changes, Juice=Juice currently has seven members: leader Tomoko Kanazawa（金澤朋子）, Akari Uemura（植村あかり）, Ruru Danbara（段原瑠々）, Manaka Inaba（稲場愛香）, Yume Kudo（工藤由愛）, Riai Matsunaga（松永里愛）, and Rei Inoue（井上玲音）. I've actually quite interested in their next single, scheduled to be released in April this year...a cover of Sugar Babe's"Downtown".
Did manage to find the full version of KAN's original.
