Keiko Mizukoshi -- Sanjuu-ni Kai no Bar（32階のBar）

 

Probably the closest that I ever got to a hotel-top bar was right here in Toronto decades ago when some of my university buddies and I managed somehow to get a drink at a bar among the higher floors of the Four Seasons Hotel. The Toronto International Film Festival wasn't happening at that time so, no, unfortunately no celebrity sightings but the atmosphere and décor were there: lots of wood, brown leather chairs and a couple of fireplaces. Can't even remember what I had in terms of a cocktail.

In Japan, I've been to premium hotels and I've been to bars, but I've never been to a hotel-top bar but I can imagine that it is primo classy and in all likelihood primo pricey. Probably even the peanuts there require an installment plan for payment. However, I've mentioned...usually through a City Pop song...about how sitting in one of those plush watering holes must feel like.

Well, for some vicarious listening on this topic, I grant you Keiko Mizukoshi's（水越恵子）"Sanjuu-ni Kai no Bar" (The 32nd Floor Bar). A track from the singer-songwriter's October 1997 album "In my life", this aural libation contains some mellow Latin spice although I wouldn't consider the song a City Pop tune. It's just a nocturnal number to sip your cocktail to while musing about life at the top of West Shinjuku accommodations.

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Wine Night（ワインナイト）

 

Yes, I'm bringing out KKP AI representative Kayo Grace in her "live-action" form since I think the photo fits the song here. I've only just noticed that there are a lot of filled glasses beside her at the bar along with the innumerable bottles of alcohol. Bing really wanted to let me know that this is a bar.

Anyways, the reason that I brought this particular song onto KKP was because of my previous article on Bonnie Tyler's "Sayonara Tokyo"（サヨナラ Tokyo）. Seeing that composer Yusuke Nakamura（中村裕介）was not only the fellow behind the AOR magic of that song but also the melody weaver of Mai Yamane's（山根麻衣）"Tasogare"（たそがれ）in 1980, I was curious about what else he's done in terms of the City Pop or AOR realms. Well, there is a list of songs on his J-Wiki page that he's provided other singers.

One of them is "Wine Night" as recorded by Keiko Mizukoshi（水越恵子）. A track on her December 1984 album "Actress" (which scored a peak ranking of No. 79 on Oricon), veteran lyricist Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）provided the lyrics of an affair taking place. It's a pretty fleet-footed song that rather straddles the line between pop and City Pop, and for a song that's titled "Wine Night", the bright keyboards kinda pull things back to the afternoon. Mizukoshi's vocals are fairly smoky with a certain seen-it-all/done-it-all attitude. 

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Mado Geshiki（窓景色）

 

Not actually sure if that is indeed a sunset shot of Mt. Fuji from my friend's place but hey, it still looks great. 

The photo is a nice intro to singer-songwriter Keiko Mizukoshi's（水越けいこ）"Mado Geshiki" which translates directly as "Window Scenery", but I am wondering whether it could also mean "Picture Window" although that term has been accepted as a katakana phrase. Whatever the true meaning of the title is, it makes for a nice City Pop song of dusky persuasions; Mizukoshi herself provided words and music, and the arrangement is such that it is a comfortably laidback tune demanding a tumbler of scotch. Love the rolling piano and bluesy sax, too.

I read one Japanese comment on YouTube years ago which criticized Mizukoshi's dips into City Pop in the 1980s, stating that her voice doesn't really fit the style. I'd disagree with that opinion since she acquits herself well here. "Mado Geshiki" was a track on her May 1981 album "Jiggle" which peaked at No. 15 on Oricon.

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Too far away

 

Years ago, when I was with what is now known as the Japan-Canada Students' Association at the University of Toronto, we had a Monday night activity called English TV (ETV) where we showed various movies with subtitling to the Japanese segment who were interested in picking up some vocabulary and expressions, and then enjoy the movie. I got involved with the organizers so I helped out in choosing the movies and then selecting certain vocabulary which could be useful to the students. It was just one of the many activities that the JCSA had over the week so those early 1990s were quite the busy ones between my stint on the JET Programme and then my far longer odyssey in Japan.

Anyways one movie that most likely I chose since I was one for the Golden Age of Hollywood was "An Affair to Remember". Starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, it was a frothy 50s romantic comedy which Grant could handle with ease. It did have its pathos which may have had viewers reaching for their hankies by the end, especially accompanied by the gloriously dramatic orchestral score.

That movie along with similar flicks came to mind when I first listened to "Too far away" by Keiko Mizukoshi（水越けいこ）. Released initially as a May 1986 single, it's been released several times in the years since for some reason according to her J-Wiki discography. The lyricist/composer was Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫）and the arranger was Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, and the one reason that I got reminded of those old Hollywood romances was the intro which brought in some majorly tenderhearted strings that immediately had me pegging it as a Fashion Music tune. I also think that Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）could do a pretty good version of "Too far away" as well.

Contemporary arrangements do come into play though as we get into the song but it's all about the lyrics and Mizukoshi's delivery. Just like the final third of "An Affair to Remember", there is perhaps a need for the handkerchief as she sings about a man missing his significant other deeply because she's left this mortal coil due to illness. Mizukoshi herself sounds as if she's about to burst into tears herself. It would be a spark to hug that loved one somewhat harder and more closely.

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Hitomi no Sei（瞳のせい）

 

It seems as if I write up articles on singer-songwriter Keiko Mizukoshi（水越けいこ）once every few years or so which isn't intentional. For me, the most famous song by her is the light and bright "Hoho ni Kiss Shite"（ほほにキスをして）which has that snazzy 50s feel to it.

Perhaps it's for that reason that I've been reading a few YouTube comments here and there over the years regarding her later singles and albums that Mizukoshi shouldn't have tackled City Pop. The intimation was that her voice didn't quite match the genre. Well, I'm not quite on that particular bandwagon although at points on her song "Hitomi no Sei" (Blame the Eyes), I think that the music threatens to slightly overwhelm her near-whispery vocals even though the arrangement itself comes across as being somewhat subdued for a banger City Pop tune with all of the brass in there.

Mizukoshi herself was behind the words and music for "Hitomi no Sei", a song of regret about probably being loved and left behind by a cad. Jun Sato（佐藤準）took care of the arrangement for this first track of the singer's December 1984 album "Actress".

Miyuki Kosaka -- Tokyo ga Suki（東京が好き）

About four years ago, I put up an article regarding Keiko Mizukoshi's （水越けいこ）"Tokyo ga Suki" (I Love Tokyo) from 1979, one of those prime examples of Fashion Music. The song had that European resort feeling of lounging on that chaise longue while being fed a bunch of grapes.

Well, I didn't know it at the time but Miyuki Kosaka（小坂みゆき）had covered the song as her 15th single in May 1983. Following the general pattern of sad bitterness over possibly being dumped by a cad in Tokyo, Kosaka's cover still has enough of a different arrangement to make the song quite interesting.

In comparison to the original by Mizukoshi, this newer version takes things a bit more closer to home...or I should say, closer to my old stomping grounds of Japan's biggest city, so there is that slight feeling of City Pop. And yet, at the same time, there is also a sensation of a kayo-esque arrangement in there, too, although I wouldn't quite put it in the same class as Mood Kayo. The other thing is that when the chorus sang the title in the Mizukoshi original, there was a sense of "Ach, c'est la vie! Allons-y!" with the lass sloughing off the melancholy like an old coat, whereas in the Kosaka cover, the woman there hasn't quite reached the point of moving on just yet and she's still in the rainy café in Omotesando or some other tony establishment.

As with Mizukoshi and Kosaka, I love my Tokyo, too. And right now, things are looking pretty grim over there with the higher rates of infection from COVID-19. I've been checking with a few friends in the past couple of days; it looks like they're hanging in there and luckily, they're still safe and healthy.

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Ikigai（生きがい）

As the expression goes, "Ignorance is bliss". Some months ago, I discovered this Keiko Mizukoshi（水越けいこ）song called "Ikigai" (Raison D'etre) which was on her 8th album "I'm Fine" from February 1982. However, I'd read from a couple of sources including this "CD Journal" review (that I found on the Amazon page) which basically ranted about Mizukoshi's change in image and forced cheeriness for this particular album.

Well, the bricks thrown at "I'm Fine" rather reminded me of the criticism that Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"Mignonne" had gotten back in 1978, but in the last few years, even before the current love for all things Japanese and funky, people like myself have given the album a second look and found it fine after all. I was never aware of Mizukoshi being a rather moody and introspective singer as those reviews had intimated; really, the only song that I've known by her has been "Hoho ni Kiss Shite"（ほほにキスをして）which is a pretty uptempo number in itself.

So, being ignorant of much of Mizukoshi's discography, I was quite happy with "Ikigai". Not quite sure which genre the song truly belongs to...City Pop or J-AOR...but it's a very pleasant number that begins each verse with something similar to bossa nova. However, the rest of "Ikigai"is a nice and refreshing bit of pop to me.

Mizukoshi took care of words and music, but her backing band here is none other than members from the band TOTO. I think that it was the sound of TOTO and other bands/artists from around that time that helped me get into the Japanese urban contemporary and J-AOR genres, so there's something of a full circle feeling on finding out that folks like Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather may were helping out in Japan. I think that it's quite the feather in Mizukoshi's cap that the band was behind her in the recording of "Ikigai" since at the time, TOTO was getting their huge album "Toto IV" ready for release in April 1982.

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Tokyo ga Suki （東京が好き）

The only song that I've known by Keiko Mizukoshi（水越けいこ）was the peppy "Hoho ni Kiss Shite"（ほほにキスをして）which kinda fell into my impression of what French pop sounded like. I've been meaning to find out a bit more about this particular singer-songwriter, and I think I have found a hook with this other song that I've discovered by her.

"Tokyo ga Suki" (I Love Tokyo) also seems to have a bit of that Gallic feeling as well but in a more mature and "sadder but wiser" sense. This was a track on her 3rd album "Aquarius" from 1979, and as that fellow blogger for the Japanese-language "Music Avenue" has put it, it's quite the chic tune about an embittered woman following the end of a romance, although she insists that she still loves her Tokyo (methinks that the cad brought her and then dumped her in the Big Sushi). The author, kaz-shin, feels that "Tokyo ga Suki" is perhaps the best track on "Aquarius"; I would love to find that out for myself if I can purchase the album.

Mizukoshi wrote and composed the wistful song, and perhaps I can place it in that rarefied genre known as Fashion Music which was coined by the media during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Plus I gather that I can indeed place Mizukoshi then with some of these other ennui-laden songstresses such as Asami Kado（門あさ美）and Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. With "Tokyo ga Suki", she can just lie herself down onto that chaise longue and guzzle down those multiple martinis while cursing her ex-lover.

August 6th 2020: Have a listen to the cover by Miyuki Kosaka （小坂みゆき）.

Yup, I love Tokyo!

Keiko Mizukoshi/Sunmyu/Noriko Sakai -- Hoho ni Kiss Shite （ほほにキスをして）

Singer-songwriter Keiko Mizukoshi's（水越けいこ） "Hoho ni Kiss Shite" (Kiss Me on the Cheek) was a song I found on one of the discs for the "Good Time Divas" series of female singers in the latter half of the 20th century (in fact, the 2nd picture in the article for that series is the CD that has the song). From what I've heard of some of her other songs on YouTube, the Yamanashi Prefecture native sounds like another one of those singers that I would like to get to know better and perhaps grab a BEST compilation.

Initially performing as one-half of duo Hime Daruma（姫だるま）, she decided to go solo and debuted with "Shiawase wo Arigato"（しあわせをありがとう...Thanks, Happiness）in June 1978. But it was with her 3rd single in July 1979, "Hoho ni Kiss Shite", that she hit some measure of success on the Oricon charts. Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫）, who later provided Anri（杏里） with the cute "Cotton Kibun"（コットン気分） in 1981, wrote and composed this just-as-cute ditty whose lyrics and arrangement reminded me of an updated 50s novelty song. On listening to this, I immediately whipped up an image of a newlywed couple in their new manshon in which happy wife is waiting for that peck on the cheek from slightly embarrassed hubby before he takes off for his 12 hours at the company. Yup, cute as Hello Kitty.

The song managed to get as high as No. 33 on the singles charts and is also included as a track on "Heart", her 2nd album from August 1979.

In 2012, entertainment company Sun Music Productions introduced their first aidoru, individual or group, in 21 years since Michiyo Nakajima（中嶋美智代）. Named Sunmyu（さんみゅ～）, the group consists of 8 girls in their late teens and up to this point, they've released 5 singles of which their first three were covers of songs by Mizukoshi, Yukiko Okada（岡田有希子） and Jitterin' Jinn. Sunmyu's version of "Hoho ni Kiss Shite" is bright and skippy and the intro beat reminds me of the one that starts off Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里） "My Revolution". Released in April 2013, it got as high as No. 91.

(Sorry but the music 163 link is dead.)

I didn't think I would find a copy of it on the Net, but the above is Noriko Sakai's （酒井法子）cover of "Hoho ni Kiss Shite" from February 1990 in all its synth glory. And Sakai sounds as cute and twinkly as ever. It was the coupling song to her 13th single, "Kofuku Nante Hoshikunai wa"（幸福なんてほしくないわ...I Don't Need Anything Like Happiness）.