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.
Although I have visited Wakayama Prefecture which is the home of my ancestors, I have yet to visit its World Heritage Sites including roads and shrines associated with the Kumano Kodo（熊野古道）series of pilgrimage routes that are located in Wakayama, Mie and Nara Prefectures.
Enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）is another star from Wakayama Prefecture, and as her September 2018 single, she released "Kumanoji e"(To the Kumano Road). Written and composed by fellow enka singer Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）as the arranger, "Kumanoji e" launches with an epic intro that doesn't really sound like one for a conventional enka song. It sounds more like something for a pop/rock tune although it quickly settles down into an introspective set of verses before the dramatic chorus chimes in. Still, the instrumental bridge is just as epic as the intro and there's even some added oomph at the end of that bridge with what sounds like a thrumming synthesizer. Yoshi and Wakakusa really wanted to fortify this one. "Kumanoji e" reached No. 54 on Oricon.
Yoshi provided his own slightly quieter cover of the song in the same year.
Enka veteran Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）appeared on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）last weekend and stated that she has long been an admirer of fellow enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, and like her great sempai, Sakamoto has dabbled into other genres during her long career.
On the same episode, Sakamoto performed her latest single from March of this year, "Tooi Mukashi no Koi no Uta" (A Love Song From Long Long Ago). Written and composed by Yuka Kawamura（川村結花）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）handling the arrangements, it's a relaxing jazz ballad that has me thinking of Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）own jazz songs from long long ago. In a way, it seems to bring together the strings of the beautiful music that had been seen as the "good" music of yesteryear and the trombone of jazz that had been considered to be the "evil" music way back when.
I also recall Ishikawa tackling the century-plus-old genre a few decades back with "Whiskey ga O-Suki deshou?"(ウィスキーが、お好きでしょ）.
Frankly speaking, I can count the number of Akira Kurosawa（黒澤明）movies that I've seen on one hand. I've heard about a lot of them but I've only watched "The Seven Samurai" and his final work "Madadayo" in 1993. I've also seen clips from "Ran" and "Ikiru", but that's about it. I have yet to see "Rashomon" but its storytelling device has become so influential that I've seen it being used in TV shows ranging from "Happy Days" to "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
You can imagine my surprise then when on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, enka veteran Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）appeared on the stage to sing a song titled "Rashomon". I wondered whether Sakamoto had been intending to pay tribute to the Kurosawa classic.
Written by Souko Niimoto（新本創子）, composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, this was actually released as Sakamoto's 33rd single from June 2006. "Rashomon" launches with an intro that I thought was going to make this a classical/enkafusion thereby having this land into the genre of New Adult Music but then as the song goes on, the compass takes things into full enka. However one listens to it though, it is dramatic right down to Sakamoto's kobushi. As for the music video, I thought that this was more "Kill Bill" than "Rashomon" the movie. The song peaked at No. 29 on Oricon.
Welcome to another KKP weekend! As I was telling a friend of mine this morning, it doesn't really feel like spring here in Toronto quite yet, but at least, the snow is largely gone and I can actually walk the sidewalks like a normal human being again. I'll be happy to take the little steps toward the green season.
Anyways, out of the Mikako Hashimoto（橋本美加子）songs I've covered thus far on KKP, this single has struck me as being the grooviest thus far. This is her 5th single from June 1986, "Heart Byoyomi", which seems to translate directly as "Heart Countdown", although I'm wondering if it's more accurate to say "Reading Your Heartbeat" in terms of the usual trials and tribulations of love encountered in these aidoru tunes. In any case, Mai Arai（あらい舞）was responsible for both words and music and as for the latter, I love the wailing electric guitar and the horns. Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）took care of the snazzy arrangement.
One of the highlights of my time working as the receptionist at the old International Student Centre at the University of Toronto was when the building was chosen to be one of the filming sites for the 1993 movie "M. Butterfly" starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone regarding forbidden love between the two main characters. Many of our rooms were used as certain areas within the French Embassy located in China. Of course, there was a lot of excitement of an actual Hollywood movie being filmed in my workplace.
Apparently, the grand staircase was the final factor that got us selected by director David Cronenberg. I actually got to meet the famous director when he came in one day to take a look at the ISC. He was very friendly and a fair bit shorter than I'd thought (basically the same height as me at about 173 cm). I have a few stories about the "M. Butterfly" era but for brevity here, I'll just relay the part where a lot of Chinese students came to the front desk like happy puppies and asked whether Lone would be filming his scenes at the centre. Alas, I had to tell them that he was filming his scenes half way around the world while Irons would be filming within the centre. Didn't quite get the enthusiastic reception there.
I have to say that although I never saw the entire movie, I did marvel at how well Lone was able to play a woman, fooling and bewitching Irons' character. Apparently, something like that happened in real life in Japan in the 1980s. Hokkaido-born former thespian and TV personality Rumiko Matsubara（松原留美子）was a "New Half"（ニューハーフ）...a Japanese term that could describe either a transgender woman or a drag queen (the impression I got from the J-Wiki article on her was that she may have even been the originator of the term). While she was working in Roppongi, Tokyo, she was actually able to convince clients at a hostess club that she was a real woman. She was even selected to be the image girl for the "Roppongi Beauty" campaign without anyone finding out that she was a man. A couple of people involved with a movie saw one of her posters and recruited Matsubara to be the star and were absolutely flabbergasted when Matsubara told them that he was actually a guy.
Fame soon followed and when fame follows anyone in Japan, that means it's time to cut records. And Matsubara did release a couple of singles in 1981 and 1982 with one album coming out in 1981. Plainly titled "New Half", one of the tracks is "Wakare"（Parting） although the actual kanji is read as "Fujitsu" (Insincerity). Written by Yoko Katsura（桂葉子）and composed by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it's quite the languid City Pop number which is performed with a very light touch by the singer. Melodically, it could describe the night life in the buildings filled with hostess clubs in the livelier areas of Tokyo.
Matsubara was gainfully employed in front of the camera for at least half of the 1980s but eventually the phone calls to her dried up and she returned to her work as a hostess. But she faded from view completely by the 1990s.
Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five（内山田洋とクール・ファイブ）with stoic main vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）were once Kohaku stalwarts, so it's quite nostalgic to remember a time when Mood Kayo was once a genre that was recognized on the NHK special (well, to be fair, Junretsu is there). However, I'd noticed that for the 32nd edition, The Cool Five sang a tune that I had never encountered before.
August 1981 saw The Cool Five release their 42nd single, "Onna - Konuka Ame" (A Light Rain to Make Her Cry) and it's right from their Mood Kayo playbook. I can see Mae-Kiyo standing ramrod straight as he exhorts Eiji Takino's（たきのえいじ）lyrics of a lady breaking down over a lost romance while the Five give a lighter touch to their backup vocals. Takino was also behind the music which, under Kei Wakakusa's（若草恵）arrangement, includes a bit of blues piano, a sharp horn and a wailing electric guitar.
Just to be sure, "Onna - Konuka Ame" isn't to be mistaken for Ginji Ito's（伊藤銀次）New Music"Konuka Ame". By the way, my translation of the title comes from what I could interpret from Takino's lyrics.
Yes, indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Hiroko Mita（三田寛子）. And she is an 80s aidoruthat I haven't covered in a few years now, so I have to rectify that situation.
Actually, this is the B-side to her August 1984 8th single"Koi suru Metro" (恋するメトロ...Metro in Love). "Hatachi no Mae de" (Just Before I Turn 20) was written by Yu Kayano（茅野遊）, composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）. Seeing Ogura's name in the songwriting list perked up my senses so giving this a listen, I did get that feeling of something lusher and more poignant in the melody as Mita sings about the usual trials and tribulations of love before turning into an age that was once known in Japan as the official one to become an adult.
In another example of Japanese songwriters borrowing riffs from Western artists, I was going to mention that the intro had reminded me of the opening for Phil Collins and Philip Bailey's hit "Easy Lover" which was indeed released also in 1984. However, that song actually didn't come out until later in November. Things that make you go hmmmmm....😐
As for lyricist Kayano, she's really known as singer-songwriter Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）and she's up here on the blog with one of her own songs, "Milky Cat", from 1981.
It was a little over a year ago that I finally began the 80s aidoru Miyuki Sugiura（杉浦幸）file with her debut single from 1986, "Kanashii na"（悲しいな）. I noted for that song that the lass from Tokyo possessed some very aidoru-ish vocals surrounded by some pretty lush notes and arrangement by composer Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）and arranger Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）.
Well, her 6th single from June 1987, "Hana no You ni"(Like a Flower) is another catchy number but it's a techno-perky tune thanks to the work of singer-songwriter Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）with Wakakusa helping out on arrangement once more. I'm not surprised that Yano whipped this one up because of her technopop past but I'm impressed by the fact that she was able to create this melody that would fit Sugiura's style to a T.
"Hana no You ni" was used for a Glico coffee jelly commercial, but the version used here sounds quite different from the original version. The song hit No. 14 on Oricon and was included on Sugiura's first BEST compilation "Miyuki STORY"（幸STORY）from December 1987.
When I read that Yano herself had made a cover version of "Hana no You ni", I just had to hear it. As it turns out, she included it on her November 1987 album"Granola", and though it's still quite a breezy tune, it feels a bit more grounded with some of that musical reminder of those early 1980s technopop days.
Being an original Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）song and all, it's no surprise that there are no videos currently showing the singer-songwriter herself performing "Omoidegawa"(River of Memories), her 6th single from August 1978. There are the many cover versions on YouTube and I was able to find a LINE excerpt of the song right at this link. Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）took care of the arrangement of the Nakajima-penned song that deals with drinking one's sorrows after another failed romance. I did love the metaphor from the lyrics of the ship of sand sailing on the titular river of memories.
Otherwise, we're going to go with the cover versions by other singers. According to J-Wiki, there were two done in the following years with the first one being 70s aidoru Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）as a track on her 1978 album"Hatachi ni Nareba"（20才になれば...When I Turn 20）. The pacing is a little jauntier than the folksy Nakajima original and I think Sakurada was tilting toward a more mature take vocally, perhaps to follow the Nakajima style. the album managed to reach No. 28 on Oricon.
Then in December 1982, Naoko Ken（研ナオコ）, who has sung other Nakajima-penned tunes such as "Hitoribocchi Odorasete"（ひとりぽっちで踊らせて）in the past, recorded her cover of "Omoidegawa" as aB-side to her 30th single, "Furareta Kibun"（ふられた気分...The Feeling of Rejection）. Wakakusa also arranged Ken's cover as he did the original by Nakajima in 1978, but this time, the feeling is a melancholy City Pop take thanks to a darker piano. Ken seems to be ideally suited to take on those sad girl-done-wrong songs because of her voice which often takes on a heartbreaking quality. Ken's "Omoidegawa" also made it onto her 1984 album"Again".
I have to admit that I had never heard of this Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）single before. However, it actually won the singer a Gold Prize at the Japan Record Awards in 1981. Hmm...I'll have to look into this one.
The simply-titled "Sentimental Girl" was released in September of that year as Saijo's 39th single. Written by Ryuuji Amagai（あまがいりゅうじ）, composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it automatically got my head bobbing due to that bouncy old-fashioned rhythm which reminded me of "Save the Last Dance for Me". The acoustic guitar intro sets things off right from the get-go as a good ol' rock-and-roller as Hideki sings about getting that much-desired young lass. The setting is a fall day so I figure that the guy is seeing if he can finally have his chance at wooing this lady who looks to be recovering from a fallen romance.
"Sentimental Girl" peaked at No. 17 on Oricon and sold about 98,000 records. So, maybe not one of Saijo's absolute greatest or most remembered hits, but still I made a nice discovery today.
It's been a few years since I've featured a Kye Eunsook（桂銀淑）song on the blog, and my impressions of her music involve the high-class side of New Adult Music, that Japanese music area ranging between straight enka and (sophisticated) pop music. Just taking a look into her J-Wiki article, I found out that in her native South Korea, she's known for her country's genre of trot（トロット）which is similar to enka.
Her second single as an artist in Japan was "Suzume no Namida"(A Sparrow's Tears) from April 1987. Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it starts off slow and elegant before going into a jaunty rhythm reminiscent of Mary Hopkin's"Those Were The Days". Araki's lyrics talk of a strong-willed woman who's reluctantly letting go of the man she loves but covering her true feelings with shallow words that would come across as "Hey, later, eh?" in English. The title refers to the fact that she's not shedding too much lachrymal fluid for the guy...at least not in public. Hama's and Wakakusa's melodic creation certainly doesn't paint a picture of the breakup happening at a McDonalds...probably an expensive restaurant many floors above a McDonalds.😁
Along with a few awards, "Suzume no Namida" reached No. 32 on Oricon. Kye Eunsook also received her first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1988 to sing the song.
The above photo is one that I've posted only once and that was back in the late summer of 2021 when I wrote up the article for aidoru Masumi Hoshi's（星ますみ）"Nagisa Douri no Disco House"（渚通りのディスコハウス）, her debut single from July 1976. As the title hints, it is indeed a boppy slab of disco kayo.
I also mentioned in that article that Masumi-san would undergo a few name changes including the next name of Masumi Okada（岡田ますみ）in the following decade. In fact, under the Okada name, she would release her April 1983 2nd single,"Tomadoi"(Wonderment) which was written by Okada herself and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, who would become her husband almost ten years later, and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）. I can say that it's quite the gryphon of a song since it has an intro and verse of a City Pop tune, a pre-chorus of a 50s pop tune and then the main chorus containing something jazzier. It does keep my ears on their toes (as weird as that may read).
Veteran singer Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）, who passed away in the summer of 2020 at the age of 73, was someone who tried out her fair share of genres including kayo kyoku, jazz and City Pop. It was only in the last couple of weeks that I discovered that she had also hooked onto the revival of 1950s and 1960s pop arrangements in Japanese popular culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and that was through one of her last singles "Mr. Shadow" from September 1980.
According to her discography on J-Wiki,"Mr. Shadow" was her 61st of 66 singles and it was her first new single in over three years and after that, she wouldn't release another single until 1983, "Ai no Nokori ga"（愛のNOKORIGA）. "Mr. Shadow" was written by Ikuko Okado（おかどいくこ）and composed by Erika Takagi（高木エリカ）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）as the arranger who came up with the old-style 50s pop twist albeit with a touch of synthesizer added. It may have been a homecoming of sorts for Hirota since her career had begun at the dawn of the 1960s when that particular music style was popular.
The B-side, "Body Talk", also by Okado and Takagi, takes things more into the also-popular City Pop territory under the arrangement of Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. It's some good ol' jazz and disco, and Hirota has that Cleo Laine vibe in her vocals (including some scatting) as she sounds quite slinky and kittenish. Seeing an image of the original 45", I noticed that Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）had taken care of the chorus arrangement. I know that the list of musicians doesn't usually show up on a 45" liner sheet but I would love to know who was twiddling professionally on the guitar there. Maybe it's Matsushita but I don't know if that's usually his style.
I made mention about last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）on the Shizuko Kasagi（笠置シズ子）article with the tribute to the NHK asadora "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）. Well, enka legend Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）was also appearing on the show as well and what I didn't know was that March 14th (tomorrow) will be his 76th birthday. So, Happy Birthday, Dear Hiroshi!🎂 I have to say that the man really doesn't look his age.
Perhaps in commemoration of that anniversary, his latest single came out today which he did perform last night on stage. "Koshi no Miyako", which might translate as "The Capital of My Strength", was created by composer Itsuki and lyricist Michito Gouda（合田道人）under Kei Wakakusa's（若草恵） arrangement as the singer's own proud tribute to his home prefecture of Fukui. I'm sorry to say that I never had the opportunity to visit Fukui Prefecture but over the years, I've come to know it as as a treasure trove of dinosaur fossils and even during Itsuki's performance last night, we got to see a montage of the prefecture's other delights including the delicacy of Echizen crabs.
If anyone out there has been to Fukui Prefecture, let me know of any other highlights in the province!
On my Twitter feed this morning, I came across an Oricon Top 10 list of Japanese pop songs for March 3rd 1986 as relayed via -3°C from MS-DATABASE. I noted that the Top 9 songs were tunes that I not only knew but were subjects of articles that had been posted up onto KKP over the past dozen years including No. 1 Onyanko Club's（おニャン子クラブ）"Jaa Ne" （じゃあね）and No. 9"Kuchibiru Network" (くちびる Network) by the late Yukiko Okada（岡田有希子）.
However, No. 10 was a song that I hadn't heard before although the aidoru behind it was a name that I have encountered over the years. I really didn't know too much about actress and former teenybopper singer Miyuki Sugiura（杉浦幸）except assuming that she had been part of the aforementioned Onyanko Club (she wasn't) and she popped up in a number of photobooks. I had long been wondering about getting her on the blog and so finally the opportunity presented itself.
"Kanashii na"(Ain't It Sad?) is, I have to admit, one of the most aidoru-est songs that I have ever heard, and what I mean is that especially in the first few measures, Sugiura really hits the ears with that off-tune delivery. The song is the Tokyo-born aidoru's debut single from January 1986. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, "Kanashii na" is a classic example itself of an 80s aidoru song whose vocals may not be spot-on but has that surrounding atmosphere of tasteful music, this time showing that titular melancholy.
The song hit No. 4 on Oricon, selling 150,000 records. According to the J-Wiki article on "Kanashii na", perhaps there was a bit of sales symbiosis involved here since Sugiura was also appearing in the popular Fuji-TV drama "Janus no Kagami"（ヤヌスの鏡...Janus' Mirror） at about the same time. "Kanashii na" was also on Sugiura's debut album"First" from March 1986. One piece of information that I got from the article regarding her in general was that she was part of a Gosanke（御三家）or Big Three known as the Momogumi Sannin Musume（桃組三人娘...The Three Girls of the Peach Tribe） alongside fellow aidoru Tomomi Nishimura（西村知美） and Nami Shimada（島田奈美） because of their association with the monthly aidoru magazine Momoco.
That period of time ranging from the late 1980s to the early 1990s was one where a number of female singer-songwriters were coming to the fore with some straight ahead pop. It always strikes me as refreshing knowing that there were pop songs that didn't always hew to a certain angle such as an urban contemporary groove or an exotic feeling or something techno. Don't get me wrong...I've liked those tunes as well, but it's also nice to hear something clear, for the lack of a better term.
Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）has been one of those singers. I've not known her to put on a backwards baseball cap and yell "Yo!" or suddenly arm herself with a double-necked electric guitar to shred some rock. She's always been a purveyor of the comfortable piano pop. I've found another example of this in "Yume wo Tsunaide"(Connecting Dreams) which was the coupling song to her September 1990 8th single"Egao wo Sagashite"（笑顔を探して）and one of the ending themes for the beloved judo-based anime "Yawara".
The singer was responsible for words and music while Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）took care of the arrangement. "Yume wo Tsunaide" is a bittersweet song in which a woman catches sight of an old flame for the first time in perhaps some years. Suddenly, there is a flood of emotions as she fights internally about remembering the good times and the reality that the past is the past. Most likely in the end, though, there will be no contact although there will be the residual musings about how the man has fared all these years. The song was part of Karashima's March 1995 BEST compilation "Hello Goodbye".
I'm not sure how often veteran singer Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）appears on television these days or even how active he is in entertainment outside of the Kohaku Utagassen, but in his younger days, he was really put through the wringer just in the recording part of his long career. He was regularly pumping out four singles a year in the 1970s and 1980s.
1982 was no different. He released that quartet of singles with the first one being "Junjou"(Innocence) in February 1982 (his third one for that year was his cover of Bertie Higgins'"Casablanca"), a fairly spirited if medium-tempo kayo kyoku. Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, composed by Jin Haneoka（羽岡仁）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it's got that sound that was familiarized around Go when he was no longer the cute boy aidoru of the early 1970s but the dandy young man around town in the latter part of that decade going into the 1980s.
During that period, there was a bit more tango in the arrangement with the strings and percussion, perhaps a soupcon of City Pop with the bass and guitar and an atmosphere of romantic drama. Those furiously cutting strings have almost become a 1980s Go musical trope and one song that I remember those from is his 1980 hit "How Many Ii Kao?"(How Many いい顔）. Generally, I think it's one of my beloved musical sounds from the 1980s.
"Junjou", his 41st single, reached No. 17 on Oricon and it later became the 95th-ranked single of 1982. It was first placed onto an album through his 15th collection of BEST songs "My Collection"（マイコレクション）released in June that year.
Happy Monday! It's been about a month since I put up a Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）song and that was the rare rocker by her, "Out on a Limb", the title track from her 1991 album. It was quite the revelation when I bought it. The above, by the way, is the back of the CD for her debut album in 1981, "Without Sugar", and it's noteworthy for the fact that she is actually smiling like a lottery winner. Kurahashi doesn't usually put up a happy face for the camera, so it's always nice when she does.
Anyways, we're going back to Ruiko's earlier days when her fans (including myself) knew and loved her for the languid light pop tunes. From her December 1983 album"Thanks", I offer "Melancholy Harbour". It has a little of everything for a light and mellow pop piece: some underlying bossa nova over here, a bit of AOR over there and some of that refined Fashion Music that first brought her to my attention. It was no surprise to realize that it was Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお） behind lyrics and music respectively since they were the experts back then to concoct the rich and sophisticated chocolate of kayo kyoku. But then we also have to thank arranger Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）.
In any case, this is a very typically Kurahashi song and if anyone asked about what her type of music is, I would definitely show this one. "Thanks" is also one of the very few albums of hers that I don't possess. Wouldn't it be nice to get this one at this late stage in the game?
The veteran sibling songwriter duo of Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお）as lyricist and composer respectively has given me the image of lush and introspective balladry for a lot of their songs. One prime example is Hiroko Yakushimaru's（薬師丸ひろ子）"Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu"（セーラー服と機関銃）from 1981.
Of course, I'm sure that the Kisugis have brought somewhat more upbeat fare to other singers but it was still a bit surprising to hear something like "Straw Touch no Koi"(Straw Touch Love). This was aidoru Naoko Kawai's（河合奈保子）12th single from March 1983 and it is a song that is perfect for the ever-beaming teenybopper singer from Osaka. It is also a very light and airy tune about going on that promising beach date which has struck me as being a bit atypical for a Kisugi-penned tune.
According to J-Wiki, this was the Kisugis' first time with Kawai in terms of writing a song for her. One question that I would ask the songwriters though would be about the title itself. Does the "straw touch" have anything to do with the straw hat that Naoko-chan is wearing in the performance above? Etsuko's lyrics did mention a hat blowing off toward their beach destination. There's nothing else indicating straw anything so I can only assume it was the hat. There is also that Japanese obsession about two people sharing one drink with two straws which would have their contemporaries hooting with glee at a possible new relationship in the school or at work, but there was no mention of taking it easy at a café in the song. Regardless, "Straw Touch no Koi" was another Top 10 hit for the singer by reaching No. 9 and ending up as the 90th-ranked single for 1983, selling around 142,000 copies. Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）took care of the arrangement.
Although "Uta Con"（うたコン）did come back from summer hiatus last week, that episode was just a clip show. Last night's episode was the full deal with a lot of singers coming back including enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）. Kobayashi had been persona non grata for a few years following arguments between her husband and NHK, so that tradition of her appearing on the annual Kohaku Utagassen in ever epic and increasingly large costumes which threatened to consume the Shibuya stage came to an abrupt stop.
Mind you, she's been showing up again in the last little while and her appearance last night included a history of her appearances on the Kohaku in those costumes, and sure enough, even though it was just a regular episode, Kobayashi and production team worked on a giant mockup of an Asian tiger with her in it while she performed her hit "Omoide Zake"（おもいで酒）. It may not have been as huge as some of her past costumes, but it was enough so that I am starting to wonder whether her appearance was a prelude to an invitation to return to this year's edition of the New Year's Eve special. Stay tuned!
"Uta Con" also showed some of her earliest appearances on the Kohaku before all of the huge costume stuff came to be including the very first edition that I had seen: the 31st edition back in 1981. Kobayashi came out looking out very stylish to perform her 33rd single from June that year, "Mayoidori" (Stray Bird). Migratory birds tend to show up in kayo kyoku as symbols of people having to go from place to place and therefore their ability to settle down with the love of their lives is severely curtailed. I guess that it's kinda like the analogy of two ships passing in the night.
Written by Kotaro Aso（麻生香太郎）, composed by former rockabilly singer Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃） and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, "Mayoidori" is a very cheerful and elegant enka talking about having that brief affair before parting for good but leaving residues of regret and longing. Dang, with that supremely beaming smile from Kobayashi, one would have thought that "Mayoidori" was all about a pleasant walk among the sunflowers.
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