Ken Shima -- Cool Lunch Time（クールランチタイム）

 

As I mentioned in my previous article, Toronto is at the beginning of its first heat wave since 2023. It was indeed hot out there when I went out for grocery shopping and the air conditioning in the supermarket was very welcome. However, I have to say that summers in Japan helped to heatproof me to a good extent; I faced weeks upon weeks of very hot and humid weather day and night until mid-September. Of course, there were times when I really didn't want to actually heat something up during a roasting-hot day so I often bought a package of hiyashi chuuka（冷やし中華）to nourish myself and keep cool to the best of my ability. You can take a look at the above video by Japanese Cooking 101 to see how it's prepared.

Of course, I wrote the above to provide a fairly smooth segue into this particular song which made up the soundtrack for this particular "Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）vignette called "Cool Lunch Time" some time in 1987. Now, the vignette is not referring to a cold meal such as hiyashi chuuka but the fact that some young fellow in the throes of the wonders of the Bubble Era of Japan is enjoying a spectacularly kakkoii noon hour.

Leaving your Ralph Lauren suit on a branch while you surf during your lunch hour?! Living life large, my friend! Would like to see your life insurance coverage as well. Anyways, the song that adorns "Cool Lunch Time" is another Ken Shima（島健）concoction with the same title that is powered by Nobuo Yagi's（八木のぶお）romantic and saucy harmonica. I always love a good bluesy-jazzy harmonica so you can imagine that I'm also getting some wonderful Toots Thielemans vibes as I listen to this. Now if the name Nobuo Yagi sparks a memory, then you may know about his group Curtis Creek Band.

Originally, "Cool Lunch Time" belonged to Shima's contributions to "Heart Cocktail", "Heart Cocktail Vol. 4" from August 1987, but I gather that from the thumbnail image to the video of the song below, it's also been included on the recent "Heart Cocktail ~ Original Soundtracks" from 2024. Also, have a listen to his "Yakko Ressha"（夜行列車）which is also a part of Vol. 4.

My own cool lunch time back in the day? Well, it wasn't surfing. It was more like hitting Mickey D's and then browsing through Tower Records in Shibuya.

Ken Shima -- Yakko Ressha（夜行列車）

 

What was one of the famous quotations from "Casablanca", my favourite old Hollywood movie? 

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." by Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart).

Perhaps replacing that "Louis" with "Minako" may sum up the guy's feelings in this vignette "Yakko Ressha" (Night Train) from the 1986-1988 anime adaptation of "Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）, the ultimate City Pop manga by Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）. I couldn't help but get those "Casablanca" vibes and for that matter, vibes from a lot of those old romances. Now I know how a bottle of Suntory, cheese, crackers and almonds can be made adorably lovey-dovey. Nice touch with the old-timey fashion, too.

Jazz pianist and arranger Ken Shima（島健）was responsible for the dreamy urban music for "Yakko Ressha" which could have earned a place on any live-action drama. According to from what I could figure out from the J-Wiki article for "Heart Cocktail", the vignette probably came out in 1987 and the track was a part of Shima's contributions to the show under "Heart Cocktail Vol. 4". Shima took several years to work in the United States with folks like drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Joe Henderson and returning to Japan in 1986, he's collaborated with Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）, Mika Nakashima（中島美嘉） and Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）among others.

So far, this is the third entry in the "Heart Cocktail" file on KKP to join Mio Honda（本田美緒）and Tony's Show.

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