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.
Nothing like a cool City Pop ballad to add that sensation of drama and urban contemporary refinement to any commercial about tires...in this case, Yokohama Rubber (try 1:50 of the above video of TV ads). Well, after all, tires are integral parts of cars and cars are literally the vehicles for some good City Pop.
I'm talking about Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）"Blue Jean Pierrot" (A Clown in Blue Jeans). His 8th single from March 1985, this is a downright bitter ballad about being tossed aside from a relationship with the paramour feeling like the title. It's too bad since the song has a cool and measured tone before the flowing chorus...something good for the highway. Written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, "Blue Jean Pierrot" reached No. 30 on Oricon. The song also found itself on Inagaki's May 1985 release "No Strings" which peaked at No. 3 on the album charts.
For some reason, I'd been under the impression that actress-singer Teresa Noda（テレサ野田）had already been on KKP but apparently not; this is her first appearance on the blog, so I bid her welcome. Maybe it was something about the name or a similarity in album/single covers.
Anyways, Noda hails from Okinawa as the daughter of a second-generation Japanese-American man and a Japanese woman (according to her J-Wiki profile, she had been far better in English than Japanese). She made her debut as an actress in the early 1970s and it would be another several years before she began recording those singles she released with the first one coming out in 1977. Incidentally, she's had a number of different stage names during her career including her real name of Tamaki Saionji（西園寺環）.
Her third and final single under the name of Teresa Noda to date is "Tropical Love" from May 1979 which was created by the golden duo of lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）with Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）behind the arrangement. I'm not sure if it would be considered City Pop, but it does have those disco strings and a strong reggae beat. Noda does have a resonant and attractively creamy voice here.
Another one of those songs that I couldn't classify at first, "Margarita Girl" by Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）is still a pretty refreshing cocktail of a tune. I gather that along with 1976, 1982 was a darn fine year for music since it's currently the year in Labels with the second-largest number of articles.
"Margarita Girl" was Iwasaki's 10th single from July 1982. One of three musical creations that year that had been made for the 80s aidoru by the husband-and-wife team of lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）, it starts off sounding a bit City Pop but then it transitions into a more old-fashioned pop standard direction with strings (maybe even a bit Fashion Music?). Moreover, some Latin feeling also infuses itself by the chorus. I guess it wasn't just the girl that was getting margarita-ized. You can ask arranger Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）.
The single managed to peak at No. 41 on Oricon. One of those other Yasui/Kato collaborations for Yoshimi was "Aishite Mon Amour"（愛してモナムール）.
For the final song for this edition of Urban Contemporary Fridays on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I decided to leaf through the pages of the original "Japanese City Pop" if I could find something that I hadn't discovered in my many browsings of YouTube.
Well, it wasn't too too difficult. At the bottom of Page 103, there was singer-songwriter Kazuhiko Kato's（加藤和彦）September 1983 album"Ano Koro, Marie Laurencin"（あの頃、マリー・ローランサン...At That Time, Marie Laurencin）. Marie Laurencin (1883-1956) was a French painter known as a member of the Parisian avant-garde back in the day.
But according to Kato himself, his aim with this particular album was to provide some elegant music for all of the business workers in Tokyo who had forgotten about the worth of music once they got home to their tiny cubicles of apartments. Very sporting of the fellow to give some metropolitan BGM, but of course, with Kato this wouldn't be merely Muzak. Incidentally, all of the tracks on "Marie Laurencin" were composed by Kato, written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and arranged by Kato and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）.
Track 3 is one fine example. "New York Confidential" is a pretty lush creation that actually sounds more like the night life of the Big Apple rather than the urban scene in Tokyo, although perhaps that was what those Japanese junior executives were searching for...New York music for the Tokyo metropolitan moderns with that City Pop, jazz and Fashion Music. It sounds like having that peaceful and romantic candlelight dinner in any of the penthouses of Manhattan, above the madding crowds and bustling trains.
There were a number of bigwig musicians helping out in the recording of the album, including Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）who was playing the piano on "New York Confidential". Apparently, Yano was so moved during the recording of the song that she wept and so was afraid that she had ruined the take. But it was kept in. In fact, many years later in 1995, she covered the song herself in a much quieter and more introspective style for her album "Piano Nightly".
One day, I was reading through the J-Wiki article on enka and there was a list of all of the enka songs that actually made it to No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies. Among them, one song was Rumiko Koyanagi's（小柳ルミ子）"Fuyu no Eki"(Winter Station) which was her 13th single.
Released in October 1974, just from that jaunty arrangement, I don't really consider it to be an enka song per se; it strikes me more as a straight-up kayo kyoku, and even the article for "Fuyu no Eki" itself has it categorized as such and not as an enka. Written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）, it's characterized by a jangly guitar and Koyanagi's light and airy vocals. With the season and the setting in the title, I figured that it would be about a romance that has hit its reluctant end.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, "Fuyu no Eki" hit No. 1 on Oricon through three non-consecutive weeks and it ended up not only as the 63rd-ranked single for that year, it became the 27th-ranked single for 1975. Koyanagi would also get her 4th invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1974 to perform "Fuyu no Eki" during her 18 straight years of appearing on the annual New Year's Eve special.
Welcome to the final week in October 2025. Folks are probably getting ready for Halloween at the end of this week; they should be happy that October 31st falls right on Friday this year. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo should be plenty packed with cosplayers and other Halloween celebrants if I check those live cameras on YouTube.
The above video has a few promos including the last one at about 45 seconds for the TV Asahi show "Sports Frontier" that had its run in the early 1990s. If I'm not mistaken, late-night sports wrap-ups are still one of the mainstays around the midnight hour in Japan.
"Sports Frontier" had a plethora of songs act as the ending theme for the Sunday night 55-minute broadcast including one that I hadn't realized was part of the list. Well, right after that one came this July 1991 third single by Mayo Nagata（永田真代）titled "Namida no Splash" (Splash of Tears). Written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）as they did for the coupling song, "Uwasa"（う・わ・さ）, which turned out to be the previous Nagata song that I wrote about, this one is a bit different in that it isn't a City Pop tune. It's a straight pop song but it also seems to incorporate an underlying rhythm in its chorus that reminds me of the disco classic "Love's Theme" by The Love Unlimited Orchestra all the way back in 1973 along with a bit of reggae.
Man, this is a pretty fine song but it's been difficult for me to classify in terms of genre...although that's no reason to not enjoy it, of course.
Mayo Nagata's（永田真代）"Uwasa"(Rumours) is the coupling song to her July 1991 third single"Namida no Splash"（涙のスプラッシュ...Splash of Tears） and what I can say definitively is that it's a nocturnal urban contemporary tune. Composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）, it starts off with some kakkoii percussion before we get some grumbly French phrases and the launch into a dark yet cool melody that feels exotic and James Bond-like; maybe there's even a touch of House in there, too. I wouldn't classify it as late-era Fashion Music because it's just so propulsive but it's not straight soul either. But my compliments to the singer and songwriters. A song like this will always have a place on my shelf.
As kids, my brother and I had a huge toy box but unlike the one above (BleuPaon Bakeshop, Japan) shown by Yoshihito Miki via Wikimedia Commons, our box was merely a very large cardboard box which had everything stuffed into it. Indeed, it was a very humble container that gradually crumbled over time but it did hold what was very dear to us.
Coincidentally enough, it was around this time that singer-songwriter Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）came out with his debut single as a solo artist after years with the famed folk group The Folk Crusaders（ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ）. "Boku no Omochabako" (My Toy Box) was released in April 1969 and it came out when Kato was a little uncertain about where his career was going after the breakup of his old band, according to the article for the song itself.
Written by his now-former bandmate Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by Kato, the singer had wanted to try something other than folk when making his first solo song. As it is, "Boku no Omochabako" sounds just like the type of languid pop ballad that had been made in America back in those days. There is the gently strumming acoustic guitar, a harmonica and those warm honey-toned horns while Kato delivers his song in a somewhat quivery way which actually works well for it. Lyrically, he is inviting a beloved one to join him on a journey to a happier place while gifting his toy box to her, something filled with tears but hopefully some happy memories, too. The feeling is that the protagonist and his loved one could be of any age.
Kato cited Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell (another name from my past) as influences for "Boku no Omochabako". The song didn't hit too high...only No. 70 on Oricon but it was the beginning of a successful songwriting career.
My impression is that I haven't done quite enough to cover Kazuhiko Kato's（加藤和彦）"Gardenia" album from February 1978. I did post about two of the tracks "Today" and "Kibun wo Dashite Mou Ichido"（気分を出してもう一度） several years ago, but there have been some quiverings in the Force (and I'm well aware that in a couple of days that it'll be May the 4th) that "Gardenia" has become quite the City Pop (and New Music) legend. At the very least, the cover of him resting nonchalantly on a checkerboard floor is worth the price of admission.
Well, baby steps and all that. Over here for today, I'm writing about the sweepingly romantic title track from "Gardenia". Written by Kato's wife Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composed by the man himself, the soft voices of Kato and jazz chanteuse Kimiko Kasai（笠井紀美子）are swaddled by the boppy bass, percolating percussion and those disco strings. Kato seems to be somnambulantly hoping for a return of an old flame to his environment of wondrous scenery. In any case, three tracks down, another six to go on the album "Gardenia".
Happy Monday! A bit gray and cool out there so perhaps something a bit more contemplative might be nice to begin the usual work week.
Before the amazing band Off-Course（オフコース）sold out arenas and stadia later in the late 1970s and early 1980s with their blend of pop and soft rock, Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）, Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）and the rest of the Kanagawa Prefecture-based group were all about the folk. And considering the background behind their second single, one would think that "Yoake wo Tsuge ni", which is directly translated as "Calling the Dawn" but has been given the official English moniker of "Leaving All Behind", was The Off-Course's（ジ・オフ・コース）debut release (we also have to remember that there had once been a definite article leading the name of the band).
"Yoake wo Tsuge ni" was indeed the sophomore single from October 1971, and it was produced by singer-songwriter Tatsushi Umegaki（梅垣達志）who, according to the liner notes of the band's first studio album"Boku no Okurimono"（僕の贈りもの...My Gift to You） from June 1973, had managed to come across a demo tape from The Off-Course and liked the cut of their jib, so to speak. He believed that there was something more to this folk group. Also at the time, Oda and company were still cutting their teeth as performers in the music industry, so they were more than happy to give the songwriting reins to others if doing so could help them in the end. As a result, not only was Umegaki in their corner, but lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）along with arranger Nozomu Aoki（青木望）applied their sets of skills. I'm not sure whether "Yoake wo Tsuge ni" made the Oricon chart but not only does it feel like a proto Off-Course tune thanks to the familiar and reassuring vocals of Oda and the calm rhythms, it also reminds me of Woodstock, hippie pop and the folk/pop from California from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yamakawa's lyrics talk of striding out into the future proudly amid Kato's sleepy melody.
The B-side is "Utsukushii Sekai" which literally translates as "A Beautiful World" but was released under the English title of "If You Really Love Me". This was Oda's first creation (words and music) to be put onto vinyl, so that in itself makes it a significant song for the fans, and like the A-side, there is that hopeful optimism going into the future but Oda also sings about taking those happy past memories and packaging those for another look later. The orchestra was definitely out in force and by the end, I got vibes of Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" from 1967.
According to J-Wiki, neither song from the single was put onto an original album, although perhaps they might be on some of their BEST compilations.
It was a couple of years ago when YouTuber Marty McFlies v2 posted the soundtrack to a 1987 movie called "Koibito-tachi no Jikoku"(Lovers' Time). He quickly made it clear that he wasn't a fan of the album whose music was mostly created by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）, and for me as well, I found it a little too languid for my tastes. Generally, I don't really listen to soundtracks all that frequently now and that even includes the ones by John Williams.
But Marty and I also agree that the Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）-created theme song for the movie which shares the same title is a lovely one. "Koibito-tachi no Jikoku" indeed plays into the early 1980s atmosphere of the singer-songwriter when she was lovingly embracing some of that wonderful French sound as she collaborated with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. As arranged by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu（清水靖晃）, "Koibito-tachi no Jikoku" waltzes grandly from sadness to hope while Ohnuki has that characteristic soft lilt to her vocals. Of course, for the coolness factor, Shimizu comes in with that solo saxophone which sounds like he was busking on the busy streets of Paris. The song was also a track on Ohnuki's 12th studio album"A Slice of Life" from October 1987. In fact, I gave my own paragraph on the song when I looked at the album back in 2020.
"Today" is a number which pairs Kato（加藤和彦）with Kimiko Kasai（笠井紀美子）that goes well with a morning café au lait. As a tribute to João Gilberto, this is a song that can be heard with a certain panache as Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）provide the backing Tokyo sound. Kato himself wasn't particularly satisfied with the album, but this track's pleasantness as well as its sophistication which was well ahead of its time are exceptional.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Just a humble observation from me, but perhaps one of the Western songs that Japanese songwriters may have been looking up to for a few decades is Elbow Bones and the Racketeers'"A Night in New York" from 1984. It's one of my happy memories from 1980s music and I recall comparing microstar's "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）from 2011 to it.
The thing is that one singer probably beat microstar to the punch by twenty years. Mayo Nagata（永田真代）, a singer that I discovered relatively recently as a City Pop chanteuse for songs such as "Twilight in the Memories" from 1990, actually tried her hand at some swing jazz and pop with the first track from her October 1991 album"Sexism". "Gambler" is arguably even more similar to "A Night in New York", mainly through the underlying rhythm, so I gather that folks in the music industry in Japan must like swing while painting the town red. Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）came up with the lyrics while Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）provided the melody to throw that couple of dice in a Las Vegas casino.
"Gambler" was also the coupling song to Nagata's 4th single"Seikimatsu no Rap Zoku"（世紀末RAP族...The Rap Tribe at Century's End） which was released on the same day as "Sexism".
If I were to put all 100 masterpieces into a CD, I'd prefer to have "Just a Symphony" as the final track. Why I say this is "the ending is the beginning". As I listen to the melody which is like a full-bodied wine that has had the essence of all music melted into it, I feel like taking another new musical journey. It would be an absolutely splendid journey together with this song. I would also like to applaud the master chef, Nick DeCaro.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
I'm not a whiskey drinker by any means; never really got into the taste of the fermented grain mash liquor. But obviously, the Japanese got into it considering all of those Suntory commercials that I got to see over the years on television. The setting is very similar. Get one or two of those movie/TV stars and place them into some classy setting whether it be a restaurant or a distillery before overemphasizing the glub, glub, glub of the drink going into the tumblers. Viewers will be dashing to the liquor store or cabinet and checking for ice in the freezer.
If I'd known about this song beforehand, I would have automatically included it in my "Alcohol Kayo" list from November 29th. But still, I'm glad that it could get its own article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". This is "San-ji ni Whiskey" (Whiskey at 3) by late singer-songwriter Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）from his February 1991 album"Bolero California"（ボレロ・カリフォルニア）.
About a month ago, I first mentioned this concept album via the first track "Just a Symphony"（ジャスト・ア・シンフォニー）, and to reiterate, Kato and his wife, lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, had wanted to show off whatever happened to the denizens of the iconic "Hotel California" by The Eagles. Apparently, they are all living the life of Riley, and according to the second track "San-ji ni Whiskey", they are all sipping away at their Suntory or Laphroaig Triple Wood while waxing nostalgic. I'm assuming that the 3 o'clock in the title is the afternoon, but hey, I'm not judging on one's drinking time.
"San-ji ni Whiskey" is a fairly interesting blend with the overseas Latin flavour from the orchestra while Kato throws out "whiskey" in that slightly affected pronunciation so often that I wouldn't be surprised if the song had been used in a whiskey commercial. There's something even rather familiar and nostalgic in the melody itself right from the first several seconds.
The beginning of another work week although down in the United States, it'll be a shortened one due to American Thanksgiving. From what I've been reading though, it could be another tough travel time because of some threatening weather. Incidentally up here in Toronto, we're supposed to be having the annual Santa Claus Parade downtown over this coming weekend, and once that is done, then I'll know that the Yuletide season is here again.
Well, for another dreary Monday, maybe some early libations are in store. Regrettably, I can't offer any Tiki bar cocktails but on the musical plane of existence, perhaps KKP can provide this song by the Sadistic Mika Band（サディスティック・ミカ・バンド）. From their short single discography, here is their 5th single"Mada Mada Sanba" from November 1975. Yes, this song is 48 years old today.
Created by lyricist Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）who were part of the band, "Mada Mada Sanba" (The Midwife is Yet to Arrive) is a happy-go-lucky mixture of Latin and pop. Sadistic Mika Band has been categorized as hard rock, glam rock, jazz fusion and progressive rock on Wikipedia, but I think with this one, perhaps the only word that can apply here is fusion. It's a tongue-in-cheek tune which not only takes cross-linguistic liberties (i.e. a pun) between samba and sanba（産婆）in the title, but the lyrics happily make light of a midwife's tardiness as a baby is on the way most urgently. At this rate, the kid's gonna hit the finish line before their deliverer.
One funny quip in the comments for the above video is that a small snippet of the song sounds like the theme from "Coronation Street". I would heartily agree.
I know that I've got this song coming up either at the end of this year or early in the next one for a Yutaka Kimura Speakssegment, so why not take care of it now before I hand it off to Mr. Kimura?
The late singer-songwriter Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）has often been represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as someone in the back office, aka the creator of songs, rather than up front behind the microphone. In fact, the last time he was in the front office, it was for my posting of his "Today" from his 1978 4th album"Gardenia"（ガーディニア）back in 2017.
Well, it's been over six years now, so let's have him sing once more and it's from something later and more conceptual. To explain, Kato released his 11th album in February 1991, "Bolero California"（ボレロ・カリフォルニア）, and as I hinted just now, it is a concept album which revolves on Kato's impressions of how those guests at the Eagles' "Hotel California" back in the late 1970s must have changed in the fourteen-year interval. Judging from the opening track, "Just a Symphony", the folks haven't been doing too badly. That's considering that the whole thing about the iconic "Hotel California" is about a tired visitor in a "Twilight Zone" type of situation where the people there are strange and every door he opens exposes a new reality. Motel Multiverse, anyone?
All of the tracks were written by Kato's wife, lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, and composed by Kato himself, with the backing of an orchestra providing a mixture of Latin and AOR. I gather that from "Just a Symphony", the visitor has found a reality that he likes and has settled for a heavenly retirement of Margaritas and yuppie-ness. Maybe the strange people have even mellowed out. Certainly the official music video has kinda kept the weirdness with the mixture of early computer graphics and old-style portrait people.
Ahh...before I finish off Wednesday on KKP tonight, I do have to inform you that the past couple of days have been rather unprecedented in my humble city of Toronto. One of its nicknames for the city has been The Big Smoke because a lot of other cities have been given than name as well due to the usual smog that would envelop a growing metropolis. However, we really do have a ton of smoke around us now and maybe into the weekend. That is the case thanks to some major forest fires in Northern Ontario and Quebec pumping a lot of that stuff our way and also into the United States. Our sunsets have been rather mimosa-coloured.
Well, just by coincidence, I've got a song with the title of "Mimosa Iro no Koi" (Mimosa-Coloured Love). Hopefully, it's more intoxicating than suffocating as it is in Toronto. But regardless, it's quite the dramatic tune and maybe with that mandolin-sounding instrument in there, maybe it can also be considered an exotic kayo, that late 1970s subgenre of kayo kyoku which sounds like a trip through a faraway nation. Judy Ongg's（ジュディ・オング）"Miserarete"（魅せられて）is one example.
The interesting part is that it's sung by Mariko Ashibe（芦部真梨子）or as she was known early in her career, Mari Ashibe（芦部真梨）. I say interesting because thus far her file here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has had her singing tunes in the City Pop style going further into the 1980s. But I did mention in my very first article for her, "Highway Dancer"（ハイウェイ・ダンサー）, that according to a certain blog that she may have begun her career as an aidoru. Her debut single was indeed "Mimosa Iro no Koi" which came out into the stores in 1982, and yep I can believe that it would be heard as an aidoru tune from those days as well. But it is quite a refined song because of its creation by lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）, plus there is some jazz in there too which possibly foretold Ashibe's switch to that genre under the new stage name of Reina Muramoto（村本玲奈）.
Anyways, I'm going to bed wondering how much of a campfire I'm going to end up smelling like when I return from grocery shopping tomorrow.
Although KKP readers probably know by this point that I had this summer 1981 trip to Japan that was a major turning point in my life, I have yet to relate that one of the last stops on our graduation trip was Mikimoto Pearl Island in Mie Prefecture. According to Wikipedia, the island is the birthplace of cultured pearl cultivation.
It's been over forty years since I've been on the island but I remember that we got to stay in a Japanese-style hotel which was very luxurious, and frankly we teens (being teens) underappreciated and over-deserved the accommodations. We also got to visit the Mikimoto Pearl Museum which actually owns the island and I distinctly have that listed price of one small black pearl seared into my head: $10,000 in 1981 US dollars. Try to imagine how much it would cost now.
Our first set of accommodations was the Tokyo Prince Hotel next to Tokyo Tower and that was also a mighty fine and distinguished place to rest our bones for the first leg of our tour, but the Mikimoto Pearl Island hotel was truly something of a resort vacation. Not sure if the place exists anymore; I see a number of hotels around the bay listed but nothing on the island itself.
In any event, perhaps I can interest you in a slice of Resort Pop? I mean, this particular tune by duo Bread & Butter（ブレッド&バター）, "Yume ga Tobu" (The Dream Flies), has that vibe reflective of this subset of City Pop where all those Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）and Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）citizens head out to the beachside hotels and inns outside of Tokyo for a weekend before heading back to the megalopolis. Written and composed by the husband-and-wife team of lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）, the 80s arrangement aside, there is something quite 1970s about that melody.
"Yume ga Tobu" was released as Bread & Butter's 22nd single in September 1985. It was also a part of the duo's BEST compilation, "Miracle Touch", whose title track I've already provided an article for.
For a guy who doesn't drink a lot, I think something like a sweet cocktail or a punch is more along my lines, although my outward appearance might trick people initially into thinking that I guzzle beer as if there were no tomorrow. Sangria, for example, is one of my go-tos if offered at a bar or a party during the summer. I had thought that sangria was simply tossing some cut fruit into a jar filled with red wine but it looks like there is slightly more involved according to the above video supplied by QVC Originals. Still, it is easy enough to make.
I've got "Watashi no Kibun wa Sangria" (I Feel Like a Sangria) which was actress/TV personality Yoshiko Miyazaki's（宮崎美子）2nd single from September 1982. This one struck me in a good place but I wondered for a bit whether this would actually go under the uber-genre umbrella of City Pop. The characteristic bass and that certain chord shift friendly to folks like Akira Terao（寺尾聰）and Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）are in there in parts, but ultimately I opted to go with New Music with the Latin. I even thought about categorizing it as a particularly upbeat Fashion Music piece before I changed my mind.
The husband-and-wife team of lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）were behind "Watashi no Kibun wa Sangria" with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）as the arranger. I also have to finish off by saying that Miyazaki is one of the relatively few entertainers who don't have a "Singer" label added to their resume that can actually sing pretty well. I even heard some Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）in her delivery.
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