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 was scrolling through the J-Wiki article showing the music of 1965, the year of my birth, and I encountered a familiar name: Katsuko Kanai（金井克子）. I've known her mostly for her 31st single and a 1973 hit titled "Tanin no Kankei"（他人の関係）, a snazzy Mood Kayo with some distinct choreography.
However, getting back to 1965, Kanai released her 10th single back in May of that year. "Noche de Tokyo"(A Night in Tokyo) is also plenty classy as this Latin kayowhich brings old-fashioned images of Ginza or Akasaka nightclubs and bartenders shaking cocktails. And right in the middle of one particular club is Kanai herself lovingly delivering this old-time song. Yasuteru Miura（三浦康照）was the lyricist here while Kanae Wada（和田香苗）took care of the melody. The song won the Best Arrangement prize at the Japan Record Awards at the end of 1965 when they were handed out on Christmas Day.
Just like Teppei Shibuya's（渋谷哲平）"Deep", Katsuko Kanai's（金井克子）"Tanin no Kankei"(Relationship with the Other Woman) was a kayo kyoku that I'd found out about through the comic duo, Tunnels, on their Thursday night show. The guys always loved to take a poke at some of the old songs especially if the singer had a rather distinctive set of choreographic moves, and Kanai was definitely one beloved target.
"Tanin no Kankei" is a kayo classic partially because of the opening "pa pa paya pa" scat and Kanai's right-hand signaling. I think when it comes to the 70s stuff, that performance puts it on a par with any of the Pink Lady hits in terms of instant recognition. And considering that it was from the early 70s, the conspiratorial jazzy music by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）makes "Tanin no Kankei" sound like something from a decade before. Mieko Arima's （有馬三恵子）lyrics about a woman stating her relationship with a guy who makes two-timing a regular hobby evokes a lot of images of seedy lounges and bars.
Kanai's 31st single was her lone big hit out of the 42 records she released between 1962 and 1982. Debuting with "Hapsburg Serenade", the Tianjin-born, Osaka-raised singer started out in ballet before entering show business as a model. As with the above video from the early 60s, she both sang and danced in her appearances, and watching her here, she reminded me a bit of the young Shirley MacLaine.
She appeared in the 1966 and 1967 Kohaku Utagassen, and apparently earned the perhaps undesired label of being the first performer in the history of the NHK New Year's Eve special to show a bit too much underwear. I don't have that video unfortunately.
There was one more appearance by her on the Kohaku and that was in 1973 for "Tanin no Kankei" which was released in March. It was her only Top 10 hit, reaching No. 7 and becoming the 31st-ranked single of the year. It also won a prize at The Japan Record Awards.
Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）gave a pretty smoky cover version of "Tanin no Kankei" when she released "Mood Kayo -- Utahime Showa Meikyokushu"（ムード歌謡 〜歌姫昭和名曲集...Showa Divas' Famous Song Collection）(peaked at No. 30) in 2009. Maybe it's my imagination, but she sounded a fair bit like Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）.
And then singer Yo Hitoto（一青窈）will release her most recent 19th single (August 27th...tomorrow at the time of this writing) in the form of this song. This version seems to have more of the funk in there. Of course, Yo Hitoto has some famous past hits from the past decade so I will be covering those soon enough.
