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 heard this one several weeks ago on an episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）and it was my first time with it. Not only that, I hadn't heard a Masako Mori（森昌子）song in quite a while, so I just had to add it to the KKP collection.
"Tachimachi Misaki"(Cape Tachimachi) is Mori's 39th single from August 1982 and it's a go-touchi song of the titular geological formation found just southeast of Mount Hakodate in Hokkaido (officially, it represents the city of Hakodate). As soon as I also read in its J-Wikipedia article that it juts out into the Tsugaru Strait, I realized right there and then that this would be an enka/kayo kyoku regarding lost love. After all, the Tsugaru Strait seems to be the go-to spot for sighing over heartbreak as in perhaps what is the most famous example, Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）"Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）.
Written by Ou Yoshida（吉田旺）, composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）and arranged by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）, "Tachimachi Misaki" has certainly got the dramatic brio as Mori pines for that one that got away (the wailing chorus helps). But then again, something as dramatic as this cape should get something equivalent. And it was lauded for it as the song reached No. 36 on Oricon and won the Grand Prize at the Masao Koga Memorial Music Awards for that year. Plus, it would serve as Mori's invitation for her 10th consecutive appearance at NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.
Outside of the video and ending theme song that will be heard by you below and the poster above, that's all I could find of the early 1990s TV Tokyo historical drama "Edo Nakamachi Bugyoujo"（江戸中町奉行所...The Nakamachi Magistrate's Office of Edo）. I can only assume that it deals with samurai dealing out their own brand of double-edged justice to evildoers in Edo Era Japan.
Up to now, I've featured singer-actress Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）singing her early 1980s fare of City Pop (which has currently been excised due to copyright strikes) and Fashion Music. So it was with some surprise that I discovered that Kanzaki had also been one of the cast for "Edo Nakamachi Bugyoujo" (I'm assuming that's her in the video thumbnail...usually I would imagine her holding a flute instead of a katana). Another surprise is that she sings the theme song for the first season of the show titled "Ai no Refrain".
Considering the name of the singer, I can translate the title as "Ai's Refrain" or "Love's Refrain". But let's assume that Ms. Kanzaki was never self-serving and go with the latter translation. Without knowing the release year of 1990 initially, I had thought that the song was heading into Fashion Music territory but the arrangement just had that urbane sophistication (but with no City Pop groove), and then when I did read up on its 1990 release, I concluded that this was more along the lines of New Adult Music of that decade which mixed some of the traditional enka/Mood Kayo with more pop stylings, usually of that sophisticated brand. Lyricist Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composer Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）were responsible for its creation.
In any case, it's quite the song for a samurai drama. I would usually think that something like "Ai no Refrain" would be used as the ending theme for a contemporary mystery/suspense drama or a cop show.
For Japanese music listeners, especially those who like their Mood Kayo, enka and general kayo kyoku, you probably are well aware that airports have been the go-to settings for romantic endings and reminiscings, a place where songwriters have loved to establish their songs. I guess some broken hearts just need to go to their local terminals as much as they need to head out to the countryside resorts to drown their sorrows. Mind you, some of those airports have top-notch restaurants.
Strangely enough, in the past several weeks, I've been able to find a couple of songs with similar titles that are forms of airport kayowith the only difference being the airport in question. And the two airports are right in the Tokyo area.
One is "Narita Hatsu"(Departing from Narita) which describes one woman's wistful need to visit the international airport out in Chiba Prefecture (and it used to be the airport of choice whenever I returned to Canada on vacation) to remember the last time she saw her now ex-paramour. Sung by South Korean singer Cheuni（チェウニ）, this was her 13th single from January 2008 and it was written by Ichizo Fukuda（福田一三）and composed by Kazuya Amikura（網倉一也）. It's quite the classy and dignified example of New Adult Music or Mood Kayo; with those strings in there, I was almost convinced to even throw in the Fashion Music label. There was even something quite Teresa Teng（テレサテン）about the song.
Now, the whole reason that I decided to do this double take on airport kayowith two different South Korean singers was that I saw Park Junyoung（パク・ジュニョン）on an episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）several weeks ago as he sang his 6th single from August 2016, "Haneda Hatsu" (Departing from Haneda). Haneda Airport, right in the middle of Tokyo, has been my airport during my visits to Japan in the 2010s, and yep, they've got some pretty fancy and delicious fare in those restaurants.
But getting back on track, Park's song, which hit No. 21 on Oricon, has the protagonist taking a somewhat more disdainful and embittered view as she is the one who's getting on the plane and taking off forever. Her old boyfriend hasn't even shown up to say goodbye so she's giving him the kiss off in absentia. The music by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）is pretty folksy and whimsical considering Shinichi Ishihara's（石原信一）lyrics, and listening to that mandolin-esque instrument playing throughout the song, I was rather wondering about it being a modern-day Exotic Kayo.
The above image was something that I whipped up back in the summer when I was doing the AI gallery for Kentaro Shimizu's（清水健太郎）"Shitsuren Resutoran" (失恋レストラン...Heartbreak Restaurant）, but I think the image will also come in handy for this particular song, too.
Enka is a genre that has managed to survive pretty comfortably into the 2020s with some of its songs hitting the Oricon Top 10, but I think it's safe to say that its heyday was a few decades ago, between the 1950s and 1980s. So, when I hear of an enka tune that hit the really big time going into the final decade of the 20th century, my attention is caught.
That's where Gen Takayama's（高山厳）song "Kokoro Koorasete" (Freeze My Heart) comes in. Takayama had started his music career partnered up withHirofumi Bamba（ばんばひろふみ）and Hiroshi Imai（今井ひろし）in the folk group Banban（バンバン）in 1971 before going solo in 1975. There had been some lean years before his 14th single from August 1992 was released, but when it did, "Kokoro Koorasete", an elegant enka/New Adult Musicballad about a man possibly on the verge of losing his significant other if not already, became a huge long-running hit for the next couple of years, selling over 750,000 copies.
The song was composed by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）with lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, who had also written Teresa Teng's（テレサテン）"Tsugunai"（つぐない）, a song that I compare with "Kokoro Koorasete" in terms of similar tone and rhythm. "Kokoro Koorasete" went Platinum as it hit No. 10 on the Oricon weeklies. In the yearly rankings, the ballad managed to become the 85th-ranked single for 1993 and even clawed further up the chart the following year to finish in the No. 58 spot. It also won a number of awards and earned Takayama his one and only appearance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1993 to give his quiet and tenderhearted performance.
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.
It was just back on Tuesday that I wrote about another song titled "Ame" (Rain) which was a 2009 ballad by singer-songwriter Jun Shibata（柴田淳）. Well, I noticed that there was one other "Ame" right close to it in the backlog, so I've given that one a go, too.
Actor-enka singer Eiji Miyoshi（三善英史）has been mentioned once before on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for a 1979 cover of "Shinjuku Jouwa"（新宿情話）. But right from the start of his career, he was suddenly given tons of accolades and popularity. First, if I can add a little more to his profile, Miyoshi was born Teruhiko Tamura（田村照彦）in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo as the son of a geisha and as a teen, he was scouted for his good looks and size.
However, much to everyone's further delight, Miyoshi also had a voice to match, and in May 1972, his debut single "Ame" was released. Given the tags of both enka singer and aidoru, the 17-year-old's light and dancing voice tripped the light fantastic over Kazuya Senke's（千家和也）melancholy lyrics of a woman waiting in the rain on Saturday afternoon, perpetually waiting for the man who will never arrive to court her for some reason. Keisuke Hama's（浜圭介）oboe or clarinet-led melody adds to the bittersweet situation with some lower strings taking the baton as well.
"Ame" did hit a nerve with listeners. The song managed to earn the Best New Artist prize at the Japan Record Awards that year, along with a Silver award at the Shinjuku Music Festival, and another Best New Artist prize at the Japan Kayo Awards. On the Oricon weeklies, "Ame" went as high as No. 2 and it could have hit the top spot but the eventual song of the year, Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio's（宮史郎＆ぴんからトリオ）"Onna no Michi" (女のみち）didn't relent. As it was, though, the song sold over half a million records and eventually became the 18th-ranked single for 1972. Ironically, although Miyoshi performed in the Kohaku Utagassen three consecutive times from 1973 to 1975, none of his songs were "Ame".
Commenter Justin C. cottoned me onto this song by veteran songwriter Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）a few nights ago called "Akogarete" (Longing). This is a special one here in that the Hama file on KKP has had him in the back office, so to speak...just as the composer of enka and Mood Kayo hits such as The Cool Five's"Soshite, Kobe"（そして、神戸）and Aki Yashiro's（八代亜紀）"Ame no Bojou"（雨の慕情）. He also composed Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）final single that I only wrote up yesterday "Lonely Night, Lonely Way"（ロンリーナイト･ロンリーウェイ）.
Now, Hama did sing and release singles and albums, mostly in the 1960s (and I'll have to seek a few of those out eventually), but it's the first time for me to include him as a singer in "Kayo Kyoku Plus". And to celebrate his 55th anniversary in music last year, he put out the January 2021"Akogarete" which was by him and longtime lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）. Justin was also kind enough to give me links to a couple of Japanese-language articles at "Sponichi Annex" and "Pride Japan" talking about this particular single since "Akogarete" may be the first enka to directly relate the story of a man's unrequited love for another man, his senpai, although the target of his affections is involved in a relationship with a woman.
Reading through the "Pride Japan" article, I found out that Yukawa had been looking for a young male enka singer to tackle "Akogarete" but couldn't find anyone. When the lyricist reported this back to Hama, he said that he would sing it and perhaps someday, another singer would cover it.
The list for Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）songs on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has become a long one. But here is one special single.
"Lonely Night, Lonely Way" is some of that older smoky-voiced Ishihara in the venerable beloved pub, but the single stands out because this was not only The Tough Guy's 2nd posthumous release in February 1988, several months after his passing in July 1987 but also the final single that was released under his name, according to J-Wiki. Written by Reiji Matsumoto（松本礼児）, who has nothing to do with the creation of a famous space battle cruiser since that author's romaji name is actually Leiji Matsumoto（松本零士）, and composed by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, "Lonely Night, Lonely Way" is especially poignant considering the departure of Ishihara from this mortal coil. It's not about the loss of romance but the middle-aged realization of the loss of friends and a happier age of young life as a presumably beaten-down corporate cog schlumps his way home while the current youth are now living life large in his stead.
I'm not certain who arranged Hama's melody but there is that contemporary mixture of Mood Kayo and ennui-laden Fashion Music or New Adult Music. I'm also uncertain when Ishihara recorded "Lonely Night, Lonely Way" but he did sound rather hale at that point with that resonant baritone of his. Recently, I also wrote about another "Lonely Night".
Kamiya Bar（神谷バー）is an Asakusa institution that was literally around the corner from my NOVA branch although I only went there once since I was never much of a drinker. Supposedly, it is the oldest bar of its type in Japan and it is also the place where the Japanese cocktail Denki Bran（電気ブラン...Electric Brandy） was invented in the late 19th century.
The website "Cool Material" has a description of what Denki Bran is all about but what goes into the drink and in what quantities are apparently still secret. As for the above video by Sanpo suru Android（散歩するアンドロイド...The Walking Android）, we get to see the young lady enjoy a meal and the famed libation at the source itself. That one time that I visited Kamiya Bar, I did try a Denki Bran and had some of those dishes that go well with the drink, but perhaps unsurprisingly, I don't remember very much. However, I can say that I did visit this famous place.
During my years in Japan, I did visit the various izakaya chains with friends and students to celebrate certain events and/or to just hang out after catching a movie in Shinjuku or Ginza. But I don't recall ever going to a bar just because I wanted to drown my sorrows in drink following a bad day or relationship. Doing such a thing though is definitely one reason to hit the watering holes in any nation.
"Hitorizake" (Drinking Alone) is a lovingly arranged enka sung by veteran Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）as her August 2021 single. Composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, it's not one of those electric guitar-powered gutsy songs but an enka with a gentle guitar and strings that are as reassuring as the sympathetic hostess of one's favourite nomiya who will always act as the salve. But the lyrics by Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠）and singer-songwriter kinuyo don't play up the fact that the typical bar is on the same level as a medical clinic. It is simply the place to drown those sorrows, no better or worse.
Ishikawa showed up on last week's "Uta Con"（うたコン）to sing "Hitorizake" and to talk of the late Kitajo. She mentioned that her single may have indeed been the final song that he wrote before he left this mortal coil in November.
Stay classy, Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）and Cool Five. Yes, I know that the official name is Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five（内山田洋とクール・ファイブ）, but Maekawa is the lead vocalist here. Anyways, they do look spiffy in their formal wear as they should be a premier Mood Kayo group.
Over there in the thumbnail for the top image, they look more like intrepid police officers from Japanese television. They still look plenty shibui. The setting of the harbour is fine, though, since the song for this article is their 33rd December 1977 single"Minato no Wasuregusa". Now, a little more information on that last word of the title since it does describe two different examples of flora. Wasuregusa can mean daylilies or tobacco, according to Jisho.org.
Y'know, I'd probably go with the latter since when it comes to Mood Kayo, the singers and the characters do tend to pop out the cigarettes for that pensive smoke which would mean that "Minato no Wasuregusa" can be Cigarettes of the Harbour. I was also thinking about daylilies as well since lilies have been used to signify death, but according to Wikipedia, daylilies aren't really lilies.
Even for vocalist Maekawa who can wear plenty of heart on his sleeve, "Minato no Wasuregusa" is particularly drenched in the lacrymal fluid as he sings about a fellow who is absolutely devastated over the pending death of a romance. In fact, he uses the analogy of that harbour not as safe shelter but as a dark corner to curl up in a fetal position for the foreseeable future.
Written by Takao Yamada（山田孝雄）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）with arrangement by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, I'm not sure whether the lyricist meant to do so but when Mae-Kiyo wrenches out those desperate words of "kurai, kurai no minato no you ni..."（暗い、暗いの港のように...like the dark, dark harbour）, I also think that perhaps there is some clever interlingual homonymic play between those first two words and "cry, cry". I would like to raise my Roget's Thesaurus in tribute. Anyways, "Minato no Wasuregusa" got as high as No. 76 on Oricon.
All these years, I'd known Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）as a composer of enka and Mood Kayo songs but according to his J-Wiki biography, he had been a singer under a number of stage names between 1964 and 1970.
Well, he came out of retirement, so to speak, to perform anenka/Mood Kayo duet that he himself composed with Kye Eunsook（桂銀淑）. In November 1987, the two of them released "Kita Kuukou" (Northern Airport), and it's an interesting one since as someone who has been accustomed to the kayo idea that airports were the setting for the end of romances and the beginning of a new chapter in life, "Kita Kuukou" is actually the reunion of a couple in Sapporo.
Yep, Sapporo is up there with Tokyo and Yokohama as the ideal city for old-style kayo affairs and with the setting of Shin-Chitose Airport, the happy duo is now free to have a romantic night out on the town, maybe in the area of Susukino. The J-Wiki article for "Kita Kuukou" even mentions that a 2-metre tall stainless steel monument with the lyrics by Yo Yashiro（やしろよう）was put up on the 2nd floor at Shin-Chitose back in 2004 but with restoration work being done between 2010 and 2012, it was moved over to a food court on the 3rd floor.
The article also mentions that during recording, the duo wanted to capture that feeling of a Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）ballad, and when I first heard this one, I thought of that very person. Hama's delivery and that haunting background chorus nailed the feeling of a Tough Guy song, just like his classic "Brandy Glass"（ブランデーグラス）. "Kita Kuukou" managed to reach as high as No. 87 on the Oricon weeklies.
I heard this song "Onna Misaki Bushi" (Song of the Woman on the Cape) on an episode of NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）weeks ago when the show was showing past scenes of folks singing on the stage, and I was rather captivated by it. There was a lot of spunky brio to it.
So I did a look around online and found out that the original singer was a lady by the name of Sakurako Biseimaru（美盛丸桜子）, and according to Tower Records, it had been released back in 1988. Aside from that, there is next to nothing on information about this mysterious enka singer, although I could glean from the same site that her active years may have been between 1988 and 1992. I had to find out how to read the kanji from Oricon itself. She has recorded a number of songs according to the JASRAC database.
Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, it's got a thumping beat throughout as Biseimaru sings softly but actually carries a big stick (to partially quote US President Theodore Roosevelt). To wit, her protagonist in the lyrics is exhorting everyone to watch out since she doesn't want to be the quiet woman who prays for the safety of those brave fishermen on the trawlers on the rough seas. She wants to be one of those fishermen out there!
Another enka trope that I've noticed is how a number of songs of the genre have used misaki or "cape" in their titles. Being an island nation, Japan does have a lot of capes all over, and I guess standing at the edge of one of them with the water crashing all around must cut quite the heroic pose.
(karaoke version)
Not sure whatever became of Biseimaru but the fact that there are karaoke videos of her and the fact that people do perform "Onna Misaki Bushi" on "Nodo Jiman" mean that she still has a presence and memory in her fans' minds.
My ancestors once lived in a small village along the southern coast of Wakayama Prefecture. During my very first visit to Japan, I stayed for several days in my grandfather's village and remembered how each night, the locals went out to the shore to haul in the nets with any catches of fish. One fish that I remember eating was something called kamasu. It was quite good after being grilled.
I found this kayo some time ago on YouTube and put it into the list of to-be-mentioned. It's "Shiokaze no Fuku Machi" (Town Where the Sea Breeze Blows) and was sung by Yumie Morita（森田由美恵）. Released in 1971 as Morita's debut, the words and music by Rei Nakanishi and Keisuke Hama（なかにし礼・浜圭介）respectively are very natsukashii since it wasn't too long after its release that I made that first visit to Japan to meet my grandparents for the first time.
Despite the nostalgia factor, the setting for "Shiokaze no Fuku Machi" is actually somewhere in the northern parts of Japan along the sea instead of the western parts of the nation where Wakayama is. Morita sings that well-worn theme of longing for the old hometown where the fishing nets, the old train and Mom are located.
There is no J-Wiki article for Morita but I was able to find a brief profile at WebKoo for the singer. She began singing at the age of 3 and then in 1969, she was a champion at the National Kayo Contest. After the release of "Shiokaze no Fuku Machi", which was deemed a hit since it sold around 300,000 records, there were four more singles released under the Polydor label. However, after that, it seems as if Morita retired, but she's currently and probably has been working as a vocal trainer for a very long time.
I then discovered that "Shiokaze no Fuku Machi" was covered by hearty-voiced Mirei Kitahara（北原ミレイ）, and not surprisingly, her take on the song is a bit more in the Mood Kayo sphere of things. It took a bit of doing, but I was able to find out through a Goo Q&A that Kitahara's cover version had been included in a March 1985 BEST compilation.
Just like with strapping young lad Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）a month ago, I found another enka singer through the venues of NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）and "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ）.
(short version)
Although Yuuki Matsuzaka（松阪ゆうき）isn't quite as young as Tatsumi (Matsuzaka debuted all the way back in 2004), the fellow born in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture as Yuuki Ninomiya（二宮優樹）looks very fresh-faced indeed. I found out on "Gogo Uta" today that he had actually started his geinokai life as a monomane artist or impressionist, and apparently he's quite good in impersonating his fellow enka singers (according to the Nippon Columbia website, he can imitate more than 30 celebrities). Matsuzaka had been interested in enka since his childhood days but during the early part of his career, he was a musical actor, narrator and voice trainer in addition to his time as an impressionist. But in 2012, he started training in minyo and then made his major debut as an enka singer in 2015 with "Furusato Gaeri"（ふるさと帰り...Going Back To My Hometown）.
The song I heard today by Matsuzaka was released in May 2019, and "Reiwa Yume Oi Daiko" (The Taiko Drums Pursuing the Reiwa Dream) is a jaunty and zesty number with an air of festivity. That's pretty appropriate considering that Japan is entering its festival and fireworks season (hopefully, Typhoon No. 6 doesn't ruin things this weekend).
(empty karaoke version)
Natsumi Watanabe（渡辺なつみ）was the lyricist here while Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）provided the music. According to Matsuzaka's file on J-Wiki, "Reiwa Yume Oi Daiko" has been his first ticket to get onto the enka charts of Oricon although I couldn't find out which place the song reached. Good for the lad; maybe an invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen might be in order since the New Year's Eve special can always use a performance with plenty of tradition and spice.
It's Friday night....let's start off with a bit more shibui, shall we?
I'm sure that there must be at least some folks residing in the northern prefectures of Japan who sometimes wring their hands in frustration about why their homeland has perennially gotten chosen as the place where romance dies. I mean, as expressed through kayo, it's a beautiful death, but still, it just seems as whenever a poor fellow or lady has broken off a relationship (short or long), he/she may have that penchant to head for Aomori or Hokkaido or Iwate. Perhaps it's the snowy environment...autumn has usually been the season for relationships to go south; maybe winter is the time for the post-mortem.
Anyways, enough theorizing. As I said, let's go with something shibui and lovely at the same time. I've got Masako Mori's（森昌子）37th single from July 1981, "Kanashimi Honsen Nihon Kai" (Sorrowful Main Line Along The Sea of Japan). Listening to this atmospheric kayo, I think it's as shibui an enka as Akira Terao's（寺尾聡）hit "Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）was as shibui a City Pop tune, and both came out in the same year.
Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, it's designated as an enka but the arrangement by Koji Ryuzaki（竜崎孝路）, who also dabbles in R&B and general pop, suggests something beyond the Japanese shores, especially with the instrumental bridge. Mori sings about a final message to her paramour and wondering if he will cry for her once all is said and done. I think there is something about a lonely ride on a train heading north along the Sea of Japan that brings out the melancholy in listeners. My anime buddy is really wanting to take a trip along that long shore soon with his camera but in his case, it's not too sad at all.
"Kanashimi Honsen Nihon Kai" peaked at No. 36 on Oricon and won a Gold Prize at the Japan Record Awards. It also got Mori an invitation to the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen. That particular show has been a touchstone in terms of my love for Japanese music but I can't quite remember her performance then, but I can imagine a lot of dry ice fog being pumped onto the stage when she sang it.
Man, I do love my sushi. What I have to remember then is the fishermen who go out into often stormy waters to get the necessary fish and other sea life.
"Gyouka" (Fishing Song) is the 78th single by enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）, released in 1983. True to his reputation of singing gutsy brio-filled enka tunes of folks working hard, this song pummels through your ears to send the message of the fisherman who won't let something as little as high waves or punishing storms deter him from providing for his family back onshore. I remember this one especially since it has Sabu-chan giving those high-pitched wails near the end. It's about as Kitajima-esque a song that I have heard from him.
One small note about the above video is that this was Kitajima's contribution to the 1983 Kohaku Utagassenand at the end of the performance, you might see the late supermodel Sayoko Yamaguchi（山口小夜子）as one of the judges for the contest that year. For those Steely Dan fans, she was the lady on the cover of the classic "Aja" album.
(cover version)
"Gyouka" was written by Takao Yamada（山田孝雄）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）. In the same year of 1983, Mirei Kitahara（北原ミレイ）also released the same song as her 19th single. Not sure if the above performance has the same arrangement in the original recording but it seems like Kitahara's version has a slightly more folksy and romantic quality although it's no less gutsy.
I really ought to be giving myself a Gibbs-level slap to the back of my head right now since I've been quite amiss when it comes to enka singer Yoko Nagayama（長山洋子）. Up to now, the only Nagayama entry that I've had on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is her cover of "Venus" and that was back in her aidoru days. She's been an enka singer for almost a quarter of a century and I had nothing to represent that period.
(short version)
Up until now, that is. For those TV Japan viewers who are also fans of Nagayama, the past week must have been seen as a good one since she appeared not only on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）but also on that new NHK kayo-and-talk show "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ...Afternoon Songs）that's televised Friday afternoons.
Her most recent single is "Wakare Jouzu" (Good At Breaking Up) which to me is a great title for something that is a bit more on the Mood Kayo side rather than the enka side according to the Latin-ish arrangement. Maybe the title has been used before but it's the first time for me to hear it, and it rather embraces that classic Mood Kayo trope of the love 'em-and-leave 'em heel. However, the way Nagayama sings it, it doesn't sound like the latest victim of this Lothario is too broken up about it; perhaps she's pouty that the time flew by so fast but knows that he'll have her in his arms after a while again. The single, by the way, is dedicated to her 35th anniversary of being in show business, and yep, that includes her aidoru age.
Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）took care of the music while Noriyo Suzuki（鈴木紀代）provided the lyrics. "Wakare Jouzu" was released in July of this year according to her website. Not sure how it did on Oricon. But I'm glad that I finally got the singer's enka discography finally represented.
On that episode of "Itsuki Sensei no Utau! SHOW Gakko"（五木先生の 歌う！SHOW学校.）which featured Hokkaido kayo such as "Souran Wataridori"（ソーラン渡り鳥）, I also got re-acquainted with another tune that sparked my memory engrams due to the onomatopoeic lyric "Onbororo, onborobororo..."（オンボロロ、オンボロボロロー）. However, I couldn't just pay tribute to this song by simply calling it the "Onbororo" tune.
It is, in fact, titled "Ishikari Banka" (Ishikari Elegy). The song has been covered by a number of enka singers over the decades but ultimately, the most famous version is the first one as sung by Mirei Kitahara（北原ミレイ）when it was released in June 1975. J-Wiki mentions it became a huge hit for her and arguably the most famous tune by the singer but I couldn't find out how it did on Oricon. She is also famous for an even darker ballad.
I would probably have to listen to a number of interviews about why "Ishikari Banka" has been so popular with the kayo artists. However, I can speculate that it could be the power of the arrangement (pride mixed in with tragedy) including the trumpet intro and the personal story permeating the lyrics that have probably attracted so many to sing it.
Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）was the composer behind "Ishikari Banka" but the lyrics belong to longtime lyricist Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）. And Nakanishi based the words on his seemingly cursed ne'er-do-well older brother who just couldn't get his life together. One incident involved his brother managing to get a huge catch of herring one time but instead of getting his money in Hokkaido, he decided to roll the dice and move it down to the main island of Honshu where he could potentially get even more money. Instead, his bountiful haul ended up rotting on the way and he was left owing a ton of money. It's from here that Nakanishi came up with the song although his lyrics state that the poor fisherman here lost his catch due to a torn net.
As for the "Onbororo, onborobororo...", I'm not completely certain what it is referring to, although I think it is the audio equivalent of that crushing feeling of disappointment. In any case, the song generates that power from the synergy of two enka sources, the manly-man out-on-the-sea music and the overall woe-is-me theme.
Mentioning above all those singers who have covered "Ishikari Banka" since the Kitahara original, Aki Yashiro（八代亜紀）is one of them above. And then there is Kouhei Fukuda（福田こうへい）below. But looking at the list of videos on YouTube, there are quite a few covers available so you can choose which one you really like.
I definitely have to get back to Yokohama the next time I visit Japan. The place has got some panache by the bay in the Minato Mirai 21 neighbourhood and there are some intriguing areas in the city that I have yet to visit. But I gotta go to the Ramen Museum and Chinatown once more.
And I guess for the late great Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）, Yokohama is just one of the settings for a Mood Kayo song. He's starting to strike me as being quite the fellow for geographical kayo. Along with swinging Tokyo, the Tough Guy has given his love to Sapporo and also to the city of note here in this article.
Ishihara gave his heart to Yokohama at least once before through the 1972 ballad "Sayonara Yokohama"（サヨナラ横浜）that Noelle covered last year. Well, 9 years later, he decided to revisit the second-largest metropolis in Japan via "Yokohama Monogatari"(Yokohama Story).
Listening to the song before checking out the details of its origins, I figured that it was probably released sometime in the late 1970s since his tunes around that time had a couple of traits: 1) a bit of Latin guitar and 2) that haunting female background vocal, with "Brandy Glass"（ブランデーグラス）being the most famous example. I actually wasn't too far off. It took a bit of searching but the single was released in February 1981.
Written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, Ishihara does his crooning best in front of a set of strings which almost sound feline but I think were meant to signify sighing. Perhaps Tough Guy likes Yokohama as the Lounge of Lost Love since that is the lyrical theme here and also in "Sayonara Yokohama". Bright lights and big city surrounding a lonely palooka in a bar? Yokohama might be the place. As for me, I still see it as one of my wonderful foodie challenges.😎
Aw man, last night, or should I say this morning, was one heck of a ride for yours truly and I doubt I'd forget it. After what seemed like an eternity of missed opportunities and disappointments on the part of some of my classmates, I was finally, as they would say, "steady" to head to a nightclub - as in, I was all for it. This caused much surprise and ecstasy in them as I'm usually one of the somewhat straight-laced or serious students in my cohort, so to get the chance to see me come out from my shell was like some sort of rarity.
The night began with two handfuls of us having some drinks courtesy of a couple of those raring to go so as to loosen up before heading to Zouk (popular clubbing haunt for people my age), and by drinks I mean a cocktail of peach flavored Absolut Vodka and Sprite on the rocks. Thus far, it was the strongest alcoholic beverage that has entered my system, having an alcohol content of a burning 40%. It wasn't bad and was actually pretty good when not taken straight, but unfortunately that gave me the illusion that I could hold it up without much problem. By my second small plastic cup, I was giggling uncontrollably. By a few rounds of drinking games which I constantly lost, I was having trouble concentrating - took some sips from the third cup though. By the time we were to leave for Zouk, I was sloshed. It was my first time being so drunk and frankly it was quite frightening - jelly legs, blurry vision, and skyrocketing heart rate. Luckily the bunch of friends I was with were patient and understanding and waited for me to regain my composure; they even got me a bottle of water to get the alcohol out of my system. So eventually I was well enough to join them at the club, albeit being a little tipsy. Ah... After this experience I think I'll stay off the hard stuff for a while.
Continuing on the topic of drunkenness, the here's a song that involves being under the influence, "Yopparachatta", which basically means something like "I am/got drunk". Originally sung by Miyuki Utsumi (内海美幸), a singer who has dabbled in enka, folk and pop (kayokyoku?), I recall hearing it from time to time on "Kayo Concert" by a variety of enka guests. It's one jaunty and funky tune, and combined with Utsumi's delivery, it seems to represent someone in that alcohol high state either stumbling about the streets and chuckling at everything, or ready to indulge in more drinks. But as much as I would like to think that "Yopparachatta" mirrors part of my personal experience, I realise that it's not the case when the lyrics come in. From what I understand, the woman of interest here is trying to drink away her sorrow and forget about the fellow who was not meant to be. For me, I was just drinking for fun and to see how much I could take - still not very much though.
"Yopparachatta" was Utsumi's biggestand most well-known hit from 1982, selling around 300 000 copies. I suppose that's what happens when two renowned songwriters come together to put together a song - Kazuya Senke (千家和也) for the lyrics, Keisuke Hama (浜圭介) for the music. It's apparently a track that karaoke-goers love. I can see why though; picking up the karaoke mic after a few drinks, the fun-sounding "Yopparachatta" is the perfect choice.
As its one of those classic kayo (sounds like it), a number of singers have had their own renditions of "Yopparachatta", most notably Ryuko Mizuta (水田竜子) with her version being released in 2001. It's equally funky, but has a Latin flavour to it. I think I'm more a fan of the original.
(cover of the Mizuta version)
While recovering from my drunken stupor, I overheard a friend of mine sharing his first experience of being heavily intoxicated. The silliest thing was that he laughed at a bowl of noodles he was eating. What was your most memorable drinking experience?
