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.
It's approaching the third anniversary since Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）passing and listening to this particular ballad brings about some more of that poignancy.
"Shiroi Gogo"(White Afternoon) from Ohashi's 1976"Paper Moon" album starts with some ominous drops onto piano keys, and though I haven't been able to access any of Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics, I get the impression that the titular white afternoon may refer to a very lonely afternoon that used to be filled with someone. The melody and arrangement by Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）, is wonderfully slow and soulful with some added rock/fusion by guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto（杉本喜代志）and an ending breeze-like backup chorus that hints at something hopeful around the corner.
A lot of us have half-jokingly remarked that whenever we hear soundtrack maestro John Williams'"Special Report" theme for NBC that it's not only the most epic music for a potential crisis but it makes us all go into Pavlovian-induced ("Oh, my word. It's John Williams! Activate the Panic Room, honey!) states of fear.
Well, Emiko Nakayama's（中山恵美子）"News Sokuhou" (Newsflash), which is the B-side to her 6th single from December 1975, "Yuu Gohan wa Curry ni Shimashou"（夕ごはんはカレーにしましょう）, is about as far away from Williams' bulletin song as Coruscant is from Tatooine. It's also quite different from the happily perky A-side which basically acted as a commercial jingle for Bon Curry Gold.
Lyricist Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）, who had taken care of "Yuu Gohan wa Curry ni Shimashou", also created "News Sokuhou". I don't know where the newsflash aspect of this kayo kyoku comes in, but it is still a curious ballad in that it begins with what sounds like a 1970s breaking news alert before it suddenly transitions into a languid Motown soul love song (with electric sitar) containing some sappy love talk about comparing the songwriting boyfriend to Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）himself. It's got plenty of atmosphere, too, with some stormy sounds busting in. Hopefully, the newsflash is that the pair is getting married instead of breaking up which a lot of lyrics and sound effects of storms tend to hint at.
I believe I mentioned that I finally caught Zack Snyder's very long take on "Justice League" recently, and I was a lot more satisfied with that than with the version that I had caught some years previously at the theatre. Most notably, I was really happy with the scene involving Wonder Woman as played by Gal Gadot taking on those psychos in London early in the movie. Once I heard that warrior theme by Rupert Gregson-Williams, I knew I was going to witness some massive ass-kicking by Diana of Themyscira.
One day, the Snyderverse take showed up on the local sci-fi channel and that same scene popped up when I turned on the channel. My mother who has never understood or liked any form of superhero media surprised me when she verbally identified Wonder Woman. But then again, she had seen Diana many moons ago.
That's right. There was a time in the mid-1970s when my brother and I saw the weekly TV series "Wonder Woman" with Lynda Carter. So, we got to see the indestructible bracelets, the Lasso of Truth and the spinning around each episode.
Yes, I still remember when a pre-"An Officer and a Gentleman"Debra Winger guested as Diana's little sister, aka Wonder Girl. In fact, I think I prefer the first season when the show had been set during World War II instead of the more contemporary setting for the last couple of seasons.
At the time, I was also confused when I was watching the opening credits which paid homage to the original comic book from decades ago, and yet, the theme song was decidedly cheesy disco boogie. I mean, nowadays it all comes to me as very nostalgic but at the time, I thought it was pretty progressive to hear a superhero theme song that sounded like something one would dance to in the clubs.
I never knew who was behind the theme song for "Wonder Woman" the 1975 series. As it turns out, it was John Bahler of the Ron Hicklin Singers on the main vocals, Marti McCall, Carolyn Willisof the R&B group Honey Cone, and Julia Waters of the R&B group The Waters according to Wikipedia. Charles Fox and Normal Gimbel made up the songwriting team.
November 7th 1975 was the date when "Wonder Woman" premiered. Well, what was hitting the Oricon charts a few days earlier on the 3rd? We have Nos. 3 and 6.
But as the informercial announcer says...Wait! There's more!
"Wonder Woman" did make its way to Japan sometime down the line and though the Bahler theme song was played for that first season, the subsequent seasons had actress/singer Kaoru Yumi（由美かおる）provide a Japanese theme tune in the form of "Ai no Boukensha"(Adventurer of Love) which was specifically for the series; Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics give a blatant shoutout to Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, the melody by Ken Sato（佐藤健）and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）also follow a disco line but more on the AOR side of things.
This is Yumi's first time on the blog. From what I remember of her, she had a recurring role in the legendary jidaigeki series "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）as quite a warrior herself. She was also famous in that show for her bathing scenes which you can see being parodied in the commercial below.
Just for fun, I punched into the Bing Image Creator, "A dangerous premonition in the style of Picasso". The above is what I got and well, ugh! Maybe it's a good thing that this not be seen past midnight in a dark room. But feel free to psychoanalyze it all you want.
Fortunately, the song that has that very title "Hiromi: Kiken na Yokan"(Hiromi: A Dangerous Premonition) sounds a lot more benign...almost to an aidoru level. This was recorded by actress-singer Nobuko Sendou（仙道敦子）as her 2nd single in October 1984, and though I haven't bothered to dig deep into Yuko Murakami's（村上悠子）lyrics, the melody composed and arranged by Ken Sato（佐藤健）is brisk and pleasant if somewhat urgent. I don't know who this Hiromi is, but she might need some help from the Equalizer.
The first time I posted a Nobuko Sendou article, it was back in late 2024 for her 1987 "Umi no Mieru Mado"（海の見える窓） and I compared her singing style to Miki Imai's（今井美樹）vocals. Imai herself was also coming up the ranks as an actress and singer, so to speak, at around the same time. Even with this early sophomore single, I can still make the comparison between Sendou and Imai since I think "Kiken na Yokan" could have also been sung by the latter lady early in her own career.
The weather here has been improving although the temperature is set to plummet again for Sunday, but the feeling is that spring is just around the corner. And it couldn't come fast enough.
Several years ago, I posted an article on actress/aidoru Nana Okada's（岡田奈々）biggest hit, her 4th single"Seishun no Sakamichi"（青春の坂道）from March 1976. The wistful song of youth created from lyrics by contest winner Aiko Nakaji（中司愛子）and then whipped into shape by lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）before getting laid onto a melody by Koichi Morita（森田公一）under Ichizo Seo's（瀬尾一三）arrangement must have touched a lot of people's memories and current feelings. It did pretty well by hitting No. 23 on Oricon.
Well, the follow-up single, released in June of that year, "Wakai Kisetsu"(Young Season), was created by almost everyone involved with "Seishun no Sakamichi", except that the composer this time was Ken Sato（佐藤健）. If anything, "Wakai Kisetsu" is even jauntier with a boss saxophone and jangly guitar giving a hint of Motown pop. Matsumoto's lyrics here were based on Okada's recurring role in the popular NTV drama at the time, "Ore-tachi no Tabi"（俺たちの旅...Our Journey）, where her character introduces a guy living in the boarding house next door. The producers for the program knew what they were doing by also having "Seishun no Sakamichi" show up as an insert song.
"Wakai Kisetsu" didn't do as well as "Seishun no Sakamichi" but it was a moderate success by scoring a No. 36 ranking. Both songs ended up on her 3rd album"Akushu Shiyouyo"（握手しようよ...Let's Shake Hands） which was released in August 1976.
I haven't been to this place in quite a while but Fuwa Fuwa is our local establishment for Japanese-style pancakes. To be honest, during my time in Japan, I hadn't been aware that my old stomping grounds were famous for fluffy souffle pancakes. Sure, I used some of that pancake mix from Morinaga in Ichikawa, but I never got anything nearly as airy as the pancakes they make at Fuwa Fuwa.
But I digress. Another object that has been given the name is one of aidoru Mia Masuda's（増田未亜）songs. "Fuwa Fuwa" (Fluffy) is a track on her August 1989 debut album"Pure", and Masuda certainly sounds quite fluffy here; heck, the first word in Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics is marshmallow. One can't get fluffier than that.
Ken Sato（佐藤健）, Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）husband and composer of many of her City Pop songs, was responsible for the melody. It was truly made for an aidoru but with an extra level of class thanks to those strings and a general arrangement of pop music that sounds as if it had been meant for someone like Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）or Miki Imai（今井美樹）. So, perhaps the vocals and the overall atmosphere were the fluffier parts of "Fuwa Fuwa".
Well, it is Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP and I'm starting this week's batch in the evening after a late morning of walking around in the midst of the currently-running Toronto International Film Festival, so let's start with something especially light and mellow.
One example is Yukari Ito's（伊東ゆかり）"Mariko" which is a track on her 1982 "Misty Hour" album, her musical embracement of all things City Pop. Written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, I don't know who this Mariko that Yukari is referring to, but from the footloose and fancy-free arrangement, I take it that the lass is simply and happily drinking in life as it comes to her. The Fender Rhodes sounds especially sumptuous here. I will always be grateful to the singer for taking that brief side road into the groovy territory.
I'm currently watching actress, singer and seiyuu Keiko Toda（戸田恵子）on the NHK morning serial "Anpan"（あんぱん）which is the dramatization of the lives of manga and anime "Anpanman"（アンパンマン）creator Takashi Yanase and his wife Nobu. Toda is playing a member of Parliament in postwar Japan who also has a Florence Nightingale streak saving war orphans and widows in Tokyo. What's ironic is that Toda has also served as the voice for the hero Anpanman for years.
But before all that, Toda was also cutting records, one of which from 1983 seemed like a City Pop project titled "Naturally". My first Toda article on KKP, in fact, dealt with one of the tracks, "FADE IN ~ Youmei"（溶明）. Well, another track is "Ame no You ni Naite"(Let the Tears Fall Like Rain) and it also sounds like some elegant and classy urbane nighttime tune to be heard while looking wistfully out of a hotel window. Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, who had also come up with the melody of "FADE IN", the piano, guitar and strings set up that environment of loneliness in the big bad city.
Well, it was just on Tuesday that Mami Koyama（小山茉美）had another posting on KKP under her guise as the precocious android Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）from "Dr. Slump"（Dr.スランプ ）. She was providing another cute and adorable march for her island neighbour Suppaman.
But now that it's Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Koyama is back in her City Pop form, thanks to her debut album"Yurete Mami"（ゆ・れ・てMami...Sway Mami） from 1982. One of the tracks is "Twilight Train", and it's about as urbane as one can get in a Japanese pop song. Resonant keyboards, beefy bass and Koyama's light vocals help this smooth-as-butter track go down nice and slowly. Lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）were behind this one.
Maintenance of a blog can sometimes bring up some unfortunate truths. For one thing, the elimination of videos for the first couple of articles of a pretty obscure singer. And indeed, that has happened to singer, flutist and actress Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）. So, at this point, I've had to put her two City Pop offerings back into mothballs until those videos come back.
Right now then, I just have the one active article depicting her 1980 single"Sentakusen"（洗濯船）which lays more on the border between Fashion Music and New Music. As I stated there, it's rather chaise lounge-friendly and has more of that classy exotic kayo feeling. The B-side though is the topic of this article for Kanzaki. "Koibito-tachi no Rondo" (Lovers' Rondo) has a bit more oomph but it's also whimsical to a nearly comical degree as Kanzaki vocally takes on a higher and squeakier tone, although some of those chord changes are pretty cool. It's almost as if she's singing this half-drunk in some French bar. Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）was the lyricist here with Ken Sato（佐藤健）and Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）taking care of the melody and arrangement respectively.
That dusk photo is of the Sony Insurance building just across from my final school in my Japan career in Nakano-Sakaue. Never been up there but the basement often had ladies selling some fine bento for lunch. I don't recall ever paying more than one coin of 500 yen for one of those. Not sure how much they would go for now, though.
The Kumi Miyasato（宮里久美）file on KKP isn't too large. In fact, this article will just be her third but it's the first non-anime-related song that I'll be writing about today when compared to "Lonely Sunset"（ロンリー・サンセット）which was associated with the "Megazone 23" franchise in the 1980s.
"Summer Lovers" is the first track on Miyasato's 3rd album "Unfinished" from July 1987. It begins life rather smoky and enigmatically before the singer's just-as-smoky vocals fill the space and time. Then the chorus rises into this late 1980s City Pop with those certain synthesizers which continue into the bridge along with a bluesy guitar. It all rather describes a smoldering romance in the big city. Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）took care of the lyrics while Ken Sato（佐藤健）was the composer.
No, no...don't let the title fool you. This has nothing to do with the Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）disco hit from 1999. Even the title is displayed a little differently here.
Mind you, there is disco in Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Love Machine" as well although it's woven into Ken Sato's（佐藤健）melody and arrangement somewhat more subtly. The song was placed as the B-side to her August 1978 hit number "Tasogare My Love"（たそがれマイ・ラブ）. Now, unlike that A-side which has more of that wistful kayo pop feeling thanks to Kyohei Tsutsumi's（筒美京平）work (and it's just Ohashi's name attached to that one), "Love Machine" has the official singing act as Junko Ohashi & Minoya Central Station so it's definitely on her familiar side of City Pop including the fluttering disco flute. Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）was the lyricist here.
Not sure if the sentiment still exists in 2024, but I remember when the whole Japanese City Pop boom was on a few years back, listeners were swooning about wanting to see what the time and place were like in Tokyo of the late 1970s and early 1980s. I was actually there in the early 1980s so perhaps any swooning on my part has been more blunted, but listening to "Love Machine", I can sympathize with my fellow City Pop fans. This would be an ideal accompanying tune while walking among the skyscrapers of Shinjuku at night.
Last week, I provided an article covering Side A of the late Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）1988 album"DEF" and so today, I'm following up with my thoughts on Side B. So far, it's got a good mixture of the various urban contemporary genres in there. Also, just to let you know, I've realized that my copy of the album, which I had purchased literally decades ago, is different from the track arrangement in future releases, so my copy is going with the track list showing for "DEF" on Amazon Japan while probably your copies have the arrangement shown on Discogs. In addition, as noted last week, the trio of lyricist, composer and arranger handling the album mostly involves Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, Ken Sato（佐藤健）and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）for the most part. Any other songwriters will be noted for each track below.
Side B of my own copy begins with "Madoi no Wicked Woman"（惑いのWicked Woman...The Wicked Woman of My Illusions） which has been described as a nice slice of urban funk but I can also hear some of that sophisticated pop as well. This time, the lyricist is a fellow by the name of Tsurezuregusa（徒然草）which is obviously a pen name but it's also the title of an ancient collection of essays by the monk Kenko. Nothing about nature or humourous incidents in this song though which is all about that fateful encounter with a mystery lady on the dance floor. Basically, I gather that this is the urban Japanese version of two ships passing each other in the night.
Track B2 is the soulful ballad"Tooi Hohoemi"（遠いほゝえみ...Distant Smile） which has the main three songwriters listed above but with Junko's husband, Sato, handling chorus duties this time, while singer-songwriter Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）is taking care of the melody. Meanwhile, the overall arrangement was by Keiichi Oku（奥恵一）for a tune of wistful reminiscing over a past romance. Another lovely performance by Ohashi and the piano in there has had me remembering many an 80s love song from America.
If somehow, the anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）had been willing to include insert songs not sung by the God of Love Songs, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, himself, this particular track by Ohashi, "Burlesque ga Oniai"（バーレスクがお似合い...Fit for a Burlesque）, could have been a candidate since it involves a lot of the love and games that was going on in the first season of the series. As it is though, it's a cool blend of City Pop and funk, thanks to composer Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）with Hiroshi Yamada（山田ひろし）behind the lyrics.
"Mayonaka no Distance"（真夜中の距離...Midnight Distance） is a smoky and haunting funk tune with some thumping percussion (which then gets passed onto the keyboards) about a mysterious and dangerous tryst at the bewitching hour. As noted in Yukinojo Mori's（森雪之丞）lyrics, there is a Don Juan making his rounds which most likely means that there will be some major heartbreak at the end. Again, Nakazaki took care of the melody.
The final track, "Yume no Tobira"（夢の扉...The Doors to a Dream）, is unsurprisingly a quieter song (at least initially) to finish off "DEF" with. This time, Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）is on board to provide the gently undulating music surrounding the aftermath of a couple's eventful night in bed. The aforementioned Oku took care of the string arrangements for some added dramatic bossa nova oomph to the climax (no pun intended). If there had been a longer coda, it would have been for the afterglow cigarettes.
Gotta say that I largely underestimated "DEF" all these years. One Gibbs slap to the back of my head. I gather that I wasn't quite ready yet but I am now. Hopefully, Ohashi's fans have been celebrating her life and career and music at the one-year anniversary of her departure.
It's now been one year since Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）died at the age of 73 on November 9th 2023. So, as I did with a couple of covers of her hits including Shiori Sasaki's（佐々木詩織）"Simple Love"（シンプルラブ）yesterday during Urban Contemporary Fridays, I would like to continue the tribute to the soul singer with the boomer voice by taking a look at her January 1988 album, "DEF", over two articles, beginning with Side A.
First off, allow me to apologize, since it might look like a couple of ghost hands are trying to strangle the lovely woman above, but thanks to my very unprofessional photography skills, the flash function also included my attempts to take the picture. In any case, "DEF" was Ohashi's first album after moving from Philips, which had been her label ever since she first began her career in the early 1970s, to Epic/Sony Records, and though the release isn't solely a City Pop album as we will hear, she and her fashion team really went down to town to get that "Vogue" look which makes her appear that she's ready to hit the streets of 80s Bubble Era Tokyo for some champagne and caviar...or maybe she's heading to the Kentucky Derby.
According to the liner notes, "DEF" stands for "Dream, Emotion, Fragrance", so I'm already getting that sophisticated night vibe. The first four tracks on Side A actually represent the Hokkaido singer's 22nd and 23rd singles from January and February 1988 which include the bright and Big City feeling of the first track "Nemurenai Diamond" (眠れないダイアモンド）, one of my very favourites by Ohashi. It was because of hearing this Camellia Diamonds commercial song on the "Sounds of Japan" broadcast that had me searching for the source album for a few years. I was able to track down "DEF" probably during my time on the JET Programme.
Strange thing, though. Although I loved "Nemurenai Diamond", the other tracks on "DEF" didn't spark the same emotion initially and so it stayed on the shelf for many years without me taking it out. I gather that I wasn't quite ready. However, I am ready now and have been smacking myself up the back of my head for not being ready early enough. By the way, unless noted, the main lyricist, composer and arranger on "DEF" are Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, Ken Sato（佐藤健）and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）respectively.
Above is Track 2 and Side B to the "Nemurenai Diamond" single, "Aru Yoru no Wonder"（ある夜のWonder...A Wonder One Night）. Beginning with a sumptuous lone trumpet that would make the folks at Swing Out Sister swoon, the uptempo song keeps the good times of Side A rolling in Tokyo as a young lady contemplates the new love and life in the megalopolis. It's too bad that the album never came out with a list of the musicians but I wouldn't be surprised if the trumpet player was Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）.
Track 3 and Ohashi's 23rd single is "Futatoori no Kokuhaku"（ふたとおりの告白）is pure soul balladry...absolutely her wheelhouse. Not sure whether the translation would be either "Two Confessions" or "Two-Way Confession", but perhaps it really doesn't matter in the end, since both participants in a couple are slowly getting the gumption to make their feelings known to each other. I like how the pre-chorus melody shifts into minor-key doubt mode to reflect the kids' uncertainty about their love before the ship is back on an even keel. Nice solo with the urban guitar and the keyboards, too.
The next track and Side B to "Futatoori no Kokuhaku" is "Sayonara to Onaji Rain"（さよならと同じRain...Rain Like Goodbye）, a rhythmically propulsive song of lost love as Matsui's lyric of "an August rain" hints at the change of the seasons meaning the potential end of romance. There is a bit of Latin and disco strings, and we get to hear that amazing Ohashi boomer voice that I was surprised by when I finally got to hear her 1970s material.
The final track for Side A of "DEF" stands out since it's more of a pop/rock piece titled "Sasayaki ni Utaretai"（ささやきに撃たれたい...I Want to be Shot by a Whisper） with Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也） handling the melody this time while Sato takes care of the chorus arrangement. Although I couldn't quite understand the lyrics here in their entirety, I did get an impression of another complicated time with love.
I realize that Ohashi had always kept her hair pretty short although obviously she never looked like a Marine recruit, but when I noticed that she grew it out a little for the album's back shot, I think she looked pretty darn hot there. Anyways, Side A is done. I'll have Side Bup and running either next Friday or Saturday.
Continuing on from Akiko Matsumoto's（松本明子）cover version of "Tasogare My Love", I would like to also feature yet another loving tribute to the works of Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. "Tasogare My Love" in its original form may have been more of a straight pop or kayo kyoku, but this next one is most definitely in the good-time City Pop mode.
In early 2023, music journalist Toshikazu Kanazawa（金澤寿和）launched the direction of an album compilation of City Pop covers called "City Pop Avenue ~ Paper Moon Project" featuring female singers who have taken the baton for the urban contemporary in recent decades. I'm pretty confident that the name of "Paper Moon" was taken from Ohashi's 1976 album of the same title and it's one of her covers that starts the album off.
"Simple Love" was Ohashi's 5th single from 1977 that seemed to highlight all that was cool and good about the night life in Tokyo. The disco times are back again (including the wacka-wacka guitar) for the cover version by Shiori Sasaki（佐々木詩織）, who has been on KKP before as a featured performer with the urban contemporary duo of Blue Peppers, and she sounds as smooth as butter. The arrangement isn't quite as brassy as that for the original but it does reflect how the urban sounds sound these days. Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）, took care of the melody while Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）was behind the lyrics.
As well, back in 2022, I posted my own favourites by Ohashi so you can have a gander at those, too.
Another pleasant Sunday out there...the rays of the sun are literally and figuratively reflective of autumn but the something-close-to-summery temperatures continue so it's quite good out there.
I have another Seiko Tomizawa（富沢聖子）song for you, following up from her "Ku-gatsu no Melody"（9月のメロディ）last month. "Anata to Southern Island" (You and the Southern Island) was the B-side to her 1984 single"Colonial Hotel no Dekigoto"（コロニアルホテルの出来事...Incident at the Colonial Hotel） which is a pretty specific title, accommodations-wise. I was sorely tempted to place this into City Pop like some of her other songs, but if anything, the calm blue ocean arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）and Tomizawa's high and floaty vocals actually almost take things into the aidoru category. So, I'd say that this was contemporary but not urban contemporary. The melody was composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）while Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）took care of the lyrics of love down south.
I've known my fair share of ladies named Shiho including one of my students-turned-friends back in Tokyo. We also have a few of them here on KKP but this is the first time I'm bringing aboard an entertainer who goes just with that first name...SHIHO, although her full name is Shiho Sakamoto（坂本志穂） from Miyagi Prefecture.
Sexy aidoru SHIHO
And even then, she's not the only Japanese celebrity who has gone by a full-cap treatment of her first name. There is the fashion model SHIHO who's been around in the last twenty years or so. Ms. Sakamoto has actually been categorized on J-Wiki as sexy aidoru SHIHO (which was a phenomenon in the late 80s and early 90s with acts such as C.C. Girls), and her time on the scene was mostly in the 1990s.
In fact, between 1988 and 1994, SHIHO released 11 singles and 6 albums. The one song that I'll be introducing here is "Distance" which was the coupling song on her 2nd single"Plastic Moon" from March 1989. Written by Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, it's already hit me as being rather nostalgic and not just because it comes from the turn of the decade into the 1990s...it's also because I haven't covered an especially rousing Eurobeat tune for quite a while. SHIHO's vocals aren't too bad either and although I haven't seen any evidence of further singles and albums coming out since 1994, in recent years, she's also been involved in some gospel concerts. Her daughter, Lala Sakamoto（坂本らら）, was once a member of the now-defunct aidoru group Pimm's.
I know that there have been many types of aidoru out there over the decades such as baradoru（バラドル...variety show aidoru）, underground aidoru and mamadoru（ママドル...aidoru who have become mothers）. Of course, there have been sexy aidoru which I had observed to have been more of a 1990s phenomenon with voluptuous groups such as C.C. Girls.
Apparently though there was a sexy aidoru from the late 1980s by the name of Shiho Sakamoto（坂本志穂）or as she was known in the geinokai, SHIHO (I'm just using her full name to distinguish her from some of the other Shihos in Labels). Born in Miyazaki Prefecture in 1968, she made her debut in front of the mike with "Gypsy Queen" in 1988 although this is a different song from the Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）hit from about a year earlier.
Her third single"Girigiri Yuuwaku"（ぎりぎり・誘惑...Last Minute Temptation） was released in April 1989 but the song that I'm focusing here is the coupling tune "Secret Dancer". Written by Yumi Morita（森田由美）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, it's quite the punchy dance-pop song (with those 80s orchestra hits) with some nice brass, and yep, I do get those disco dance-in-Roppongi vibes. "Girigiri Yuuwaku" may have been her highest-ranking single, reaching No. 92 on Oricon while selling four thousand copies.
According to her J-Wiki profile, SHIHO probably got the sexy aidoru label from appearing in discos all over the country while wearing a prominent thong during the 1990s. Up to 1994, she released 11 singles and 6 albums.
Yup, Kayo Grace is in the big city which means that we are at Friday, the day of the urban contemporary on KKP. And today launches with a rather distinct article because not only am I talking about an album, but it's an album that won't be released officially until March 6th this year.
But allow me to give some background information. For one thing, I can't quite believe that it's been almost ten years since I posted the first article on singer-songwriter Junk Fujiyama（ジャンクフジヤマ）because of his "Hoshikuzu Pipeline"（星屑のパイプライン）, that homage to the sound stylings of late 70s/early 80s Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）that first got known as the amazing musical accompaniment to the ending scene of Episode 6 of the bonkers anime "Space Dandy". Some years before the whole "Plastic Love" thing, "Hoshikuzu Pipeline" had some of us City Pop fans back then swooning that maybe the good ol' days of music grooviness can come back with new tunes. Well, it's kinda crazy what's happened over the last decade.
Fujiyama has continued to do his groove thing although his profile has struck me as being somewhat low-level over the years. Well, I found out a few days ago that he's coming out with an album of City Pop covers, "Shoukei Toshi"(City of Aspirations), which I said above will be released on March 6th. I guess that a lot of fantasies of City Pop fans have now come true with Junk Fujiyama handling other tunes of the uber-genre. For instance, an advance digital single came out on January 23rd, a mellower cover of the late Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Telephone Number", a special favourite for many of the fans.
Even earlier...on December 13th 2023, to be exact...Fujiyama released another digital single which is a cover of Anri's（杏里）"Windy Summer" and it'll also be included on the album. It's of course arranged in his style but it's no less summery than the original. I'm hoping that the other tracks which include covers of Junko Yagami（八神純子）and Miki Matsubara（松原みき）will also be fun. I've also noticed that Junk had covered a few Tats tunes in 2021 and 2022 but they're not on "Shoukei Toshi". Nice cover art, by the way.
This is the first Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）song that I've posted since making the announcement of the singer's passing on November 9th last year. Still can't quite believe that she's left this mortal coil.
Personally, I'd like to keep the good old times going when it comes to Ms. Ohashi, so allow me to bring aboard "Kisetsufuu Tayori" (Tidings of the Seasonal Winds) which is a track on her June 1978 album"Shalom"（沙浪夢）. Along with her backing band, Minowa Central Station（美乃家セントラル・ステイション）, it's another song that we'd love to remember her by: big-hearted vocals, quick tempo, Latin flavours and those horns. The lyrics were by the prolific Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）with Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）, providing that 70s City Pop melody line.
Although I was in Japan including Tokyo in the summer of 1981, I wonder what it must have been like in 1978 at the time when "Shalom" was released. Considering that three of the disco-inflected tunes on my latest Author's Pick came from that year as well, it must have been one heck of a time in the steamy capital especially in places like the discotheques in Roppongi or Shinjuku. I would have mentioned the Lexington Queen but that didn't open until 1980.
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