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.
All these years, whenever I've heard the title "Summertime Blues", I would always fondly remember Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里）classic song from 1990. Well, now, it's got company.
Indeed, a decade before Misato's "Summertime Blues" came onto the scene, singer-songwriter Hirosuke（ヒロスケ）wrote and composed his own "Summertime Blues" as his 2nd single in 1980. As an aside, perhaps his "A-re-ka-ra"（あ・れ・か・ら）was his debut single from the same year.
Compared to the sunny and upbeat "Summertime Blues" by Misato, Hirosuke's"Summertime Blues" is a prowling nocturnal animal hitting the main streets and side streets of the city. Still plenty hot at night in Tokyo. "A-re-ka-ra" was a theme song for a cop show. Why not this one as well? Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）took care of the City Pop arrangement.
It was less than a week ago when I posted up "Tokyo Songs" which of course would have to include Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）"Tokyo"（東京）, a not-so-positive but probably more realistic account of what life in the big city could be like at the time. Maybe it was released as a counterpoint to Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）hit "TOKIO" which was also out there in the same year.
Well, I was curious then to hear what the B-side of Hamada's "Tokyo" was like, so I came across "Kayaku no You ni"(Like Gunpowder). With that title, I had been expecting something quite hard rock and explosive, but it's actually quite the cordial rock n' roll story about a couple of high school buddies who choose to skip class and hop onto the motorcycle and hit the beach to play music and scope out the ladies. Ahhh...life in 1980 Japan...or maybe even 2026 Japan, I don't know.🤷 Hamada was behind words and music with Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranging everything.
Time for a crazy coda for this article. As I was looking over the information on "Kayaku no You ni" on J-Wiki, I found out that the song was actually Hamada's own self-cover of a track that he'd provided aidoru Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）all the way back in August 1977 when her 12th studio album"Golden Flight" was released. It was titled "Ai no Twilight Time" (Twilight Time for Love) at the time, had different lyrics about lost love by Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）, and though Hiroshi Kato's（加藤ヒロシ）arrangement kept things in rock, it had more of a honky-tonk style with a bit more in the production. "Golden Flight" hit No. 3 on Oricon. Always fascinating to hear a new Momoe tune and this one is no different.
I think it may have been commenter Brian who recently reminded me of anime's favourite boarding house "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）by stating that it had celebrated a recent anniversary. And sure enough, we're all here again admiring Kyoko the boarding house manager. But I come here through a rather coincidental route. Yesterday, I was delighted to find out that one of the new anime for Spring 2026, "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）, has adopted the policy of using some of the Showa and Heisei Era hits to end each episode, and the ending theme for Episode 1 was Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵）wonderful "Hatsukoi"（初恋）. Let it make a resurgence, I say!
Well, I've only just discovered that another Murashita single had become the final opening theme for "Maison Ikkoku". I've heard of his September 1987 12th single"Hidamari" (Sunny Spot) but only as something that I probably listened to for the first time on "Sounds of Japan" decades ago. I didn't know of the anime's connection with the song but now I recognize it as being part of the "Maison Ikkoku" family along with Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）upbeat "Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa"（悲しみよこんにちは）and Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）mysterious "Suki sa"（好きさ）.
I figure that if anime fans can enjoy the fruits of "Hatsukoi", then why not lead them to "Hidamari", the opening theme for this classic show of the 1980s? Murashita had been known as a singer-songwriter who flitted between folk and pop with ease, but the really skippy "Hidamari" is definitely in the latter genre as his lyrics talk about one fellow mightily pining for that young lady. Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）was behind its arrangement as it hit No. 61 on Oricon.
Aichi Prefecture-born Shinobu Horie（堀江しのぶ）had a brief career as an aidoru in the 1980s and unfortunately, a short life which went only as far as her early twenties.
She was also a TV personality and actress but focusing on her singing career, Horie released four singles between 1983 and 1987 with one album in 1985. Her debut single from April 1983 was "Bikini Vacation" which had that upbeat rock-n'-roll rhythm of yesteryear, perhaps along the lines of another bikini-themed song, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini". This was written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Ryo Matsuda（松田良）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）.
Horie had been pretty obsessed about losing weight and as she did so, she developed anorexia which led to other complications. Tragically, in September 1988, she would succumb to a form of stomach cancer at the age of 23.
One personal observation I have is that another TV personality born in the same year as Horie who I'd known about when I was living in Japan, Natsuki Okamoto（岡本夏生）, has a startling resemblance to her.
Being a Sunday, I should be my usual more relaxed self but right now, it's the final day of the Winter Olympics and of course, that means that the Gold Medal game for Men's Ice Hockey is happening as I type this. Canada and the USA are battling it out and currently they are tied at 1-1. Canadians have confidence in their team but a few of them have also admitted to some jitters. What I wouldn't advise though while standing among a horde of hockey-crazed Canucks watching the game is whispering doubt along the lines of "But, what if we lose?". It won't look pleasant.
That's quite the segue into this song titled "Tamerai no Whisper"(Hesitant Whispers) which was sung by Shoko Minami（南翔子）, a name that I haven't talked about for a few years...at least, not since I posted her 1985 "Nagisa No Separation"（渚のセパレーション）. That had a rock vibe along the AOR side of things but "Tamerai no Whisper" which appeared on Minami's 3rd album from November 1986, "Sophisticated", is, as the album title would suggest, a more refined slice of sophisticated pop on the City Pop side of things.
One commenter for the above video mentioned that as soon as they heard the intro, they figured that it was the Kisugi siblings, lyricist Etsuko and composer Takao（来生えつこ・来生たかお）, behind the creation of the song. I actually saw the songwriting list first but I still went "ah, naruhodo" on seeing those two. Those guys were indeed the masters of the smooth and refined melody that hint at champagne and caviar in Tokyo. Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）also has to get his accolades as the arranger. Considering the year of release, "Tamerai no Whisper" sounds like the typical City Pop song of that time of the Bubble Era.
Welcome to another weekend! It wasn't too long ago when we were all wondering when the seemingly oppressive heat would end. Well, in my area, it's great today but tomorrow we're expecting four inches of snow on the ground when all is said and done. Be careful what one wishes for. Anyways, I did a bit more grocery shopping than usual in preparation for the first big snowstorm.
Geez , actress-singer Ayako Sawada（沢田亜矢子）looks like how I felt when I first heard the news of the big storm. Mind you, she's looking like that within the comforts of a vintage car. Car sick?😓
By the way, the above thumbnail for the video shows the cover of Sawada's third and final album to date "Silky Night" which was released in 1981. One of the tracks was also her 7th single from October of that year,"Dance ni Muchuu"（In Love with Dancing）. Now, several years ago, its B-side, the pleasant City Pop"Air Pocket"（エア・ポケット）was something that I had covered since it was available on one of the "Light Mellow" compilation discs.
However, "Dance ni Muchuu" is a different animal. Written by Tetsuya Chiaki（ちあき哲也）, composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）, it's a very mild-mannered pop song with a swinging contemporary 1950s beat. Ah, that Suzuki wailing electric guitar is in there, I hear. Delivered in a sultry way by Sawada, I can gather that the end result of the song in-universe is how she looks in the car above...a little too muchuu in the dancing.
Nope, I know that the postcard has the place name of Santa Monica and not Santa Maria, but it was the only thumbnail of California I could find, unless I make something nice and California-esque from Bing.
My experience with California is rather limited, sad to say. I've been to the Golden State only twice in my lifetime. I was in Los Angeles for one night in 1989 and then the following year, I visited San Francisco and Sacramento. But I have yet to go anywhere in the state with the word "Santa" and so my image of such an area is probably rather rosy and romantic with sunny seas, wide avenues, lovely houses and great restaurants. Maybe my friend and fellow writer Larry can give me some insights on Santa Maria especially since he has lived in California for many years.
And indeed, Santa Maria is the focus here because the song is "Santa Maria Yuki no Fune" (The Ship Bound for Santa Maria) by Tomoko Kuwae（桑江知子）. It is a track on her debut album from June 1979, "Born Free", but for some reason, the uploader has had the video labeled "Manhattan Yuki no Fune"（The Ship Bound for Manhattan） since it first got onto YouTube in 2020. Mind you, I think it is possible for a cruise liner to dock in New York City.
In any case, "Santa Maria Yuki no Fune" is a summery and dreamy number with those disco strings and percussion detailing the story of a Tokyoite who has decided that Santa Maria is the place to be with the mixed emotions that such a huge move would carry. And back in 1979, perhaps it was indeed a huge move, but at least it's still closer to Japan than Manhattan. The song was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）.
This is quite the revelation to hear that between Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）early aidoru tunes in the 1970s and the City Pop from the mid-1980s, he also had a dalliance with the trendy 50s/60s doo-wop sound at the turn of the decade. Indeed, that is what we have with his 37th single, "Little Girl", which was released in March 1981.
All about Hideki driving up to his girlfriend's house for a day of just enjoying each other's company, the song practically screams Richie and Lori Beth from "Happy Days" right down to the jangling guitar, although among the Japanese doo-wop songs I've heard, this one is probably the mildest one. You can thank Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics and the melody by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）. "Little Girl" also broke the Oricon Top 10 by placing in at No. 9, eventually becoming the 71st-ranked single for 1981 with about 195,000 records sold. The song was also a track on Saijo's 13th original album"Pop'n Girl Hideki"（ポップンガール・ヒデキ）from July of that year.
I guess that title "Suna no Onna"(Woman in the Dunes) must have unlocked something within the Japanese to make it reusable over and over again. I know that I just wrote about Nako Mizumura's（水村なこ） "Suna no Onna" a few minutes ago, and perhaps there was at least one other song with that same title lurking somewhere in the annals of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Of course, there is the 1962 novel "Suna no Onna" along with its cinematic adaptation.
Well, after finishing with Mizumura's song, I noticed that there was a song titled "Suna no Onna" by the late singer-songwriter Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）. I've taken this as an opportunity since I've always enjoyed his material and I haven't actually written up anything about his music in a few years...at least not since his 1991 "Kono Kuni ni Umarete Yokatta"（この国に生まれてよかった）. And hey, let's make this a thing with the "Suna no Onna" bandwagon.
Murashita's "Suna no Onna" was written and composed by the singer and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）. It was the first track on Murashita's 7th original album"Hidamari"（陽だまり...Sunny Spot） from October 1987. The singer first started out as the amiable folk balladeer but going further into the 1980s, he apparently did like his work on the synthesizers including his big 1983 hit, "Hatsukoi"（初恋）. "Suna no Onna" has got the technology in spades so that I couldn't help but place it as a technopop tune although it doesn't go too hard into YMO territory. "Hidamari" managed to peak at No. 33 on Oricon.
Yes, indeed, I realize that we're still eleven days away or so from entering November but I wanted to throw up the above thumbnail because usually for us here, that's when we get one last burst of warm weather here in our province of Ontario before the inevitable months-long run of cold weather. In other words, I'm talking about Indian Summer.
Mind you, though, our summer seemed to have extended a fair bit into the first week of October so perhaps we've already celebrated our Indian Summer. It's always hard to tell with our home where the weather is predictably unpredictable.
Regardless, I'd like to present singer-songwriter Shogo Hamada's （浜田省吾）"Indian Summer" from his 4th studio album "Mind Screen" which was released in May 1979. Composed by Hamada, written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）with strings arrangement by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, "Indian Summer" doesn't strike me as being the typical Shogo rocker. Instead, it's a contemplative pop ballad with a melancholy piano, synthesizer, shimmering strings and a horn accompaniment that has had me thinking of the movie "Love Story", Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）music, 1960s pop and French pianist Richard Clayderman. Quite the musical potpourri there which is always interesting.
Ryu's lyrics are also a little clever as she calls Indian Summer a mean little trick by the four seasons to have people remember of romantically happier times in the middle of a more desolate reality. As is often the case with the autumn as it pertains to kayo kyoku, the season is the time for love and romance to wither away and die like the brown leaves. In a way, "Indian Summer" reminds me of Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Aishuu no Casablanca"（哀愁のカサブランカ）.
The article that I just posted several minutes ago for TOSHITARO's "Am9 ni J - Eikaku Boy de Ite kure yo"（Am9にジェイ - 鋭角ボーイでいてくれよ -）made the point that if anyone knew about this song then they would considered to be truly music maniacs in Japanese; personally, I would prefer the term lovers or hobbyists. Regardless, this song might also be in the same category.
And man, this intro is so AOR, it hurts! Commenters have been pointing out how shocked and delighted to see and hear RAIN's"Hari no Nai Tokei" (Clock with No Hands) up on YouTube. There is next to no information on this group aside from the fact that singer-songwriter Shuuji Kuniyasu（国安修二）had belonged to the band according to his J-Wiki profile. In 1978, it had been known as the folk duo TAKE ONE until they took one more member at least to become RAIN in 1981 (it would break up in 1983).
I could only find out on the YouTube description that RAIN had released this single "Hari no Nai Tokei" in 1982 with Kuniyasu as the composer, Shun Taguchi（田口俊）as the lyricist and Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）as the arranger. At first, I had assumed that Taguchi was part of the band but he was actually busy with his own group Lorelei at the time. Anyways, getting back to "Hari no Nai Tokei", this song about time standing still due to a romantic breakup (by death or argument) is so smooth and refined that milk tea would curdle in its presence. In fact, with those lovely strings in there, I couldn't help but throw in the Fashion Music label, too.
Happy cooler Monday! I'm also a little less cranky because I have discovered another intriguing singer-songwriter from way back with a pretty cool song.
There's not a lot of information on Kimiko "Kiiko" Shiba（芝紀美子）but from what I could gather on Amazonand OK Music, she was representative of the underground music scene in the 1970s alongside other singers including Yoshiko Sai（佐井好子）, Hako Yamasaki（山崎ハコ）and Douji Morita（森田童子）. She made her debut in October 1975 with the album "Shikomegari"（醜女狩り...Ugly Woman Hunting） which has a blend of kayo kyoku, blues, folk and soul.
Starting the album is "Nagarete Ikitai" (I Want to Go With the Flow) which was written by Toshimitsu Saishu（さいしゅとしみつ）, composed by Masamitsu Tayama（田山雅充）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）. I was immediately entranced by Shiba's rich chocolate-y vocals (kinda reminiscent of Akiko Wada) and that arrangement of piano and strings. That combination has often transported me to other lands such as Europe, and perhaps that was the same for the listeners in Japan when they picked up "Shikomegari". As such, I am just as willing to classify it as Fashion Music as I am willing to give it the New Music label.
Apparently, Shiba released one more album after which she disappeared from view.
It was quite the banner episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）tonight. At NHK's Shibuya Hall, enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）turned her jazz on once more to sing the torch song "Whiskey ga O-Suki deshou?" (ウィスキーが、お好きでしょ）in front of a mighty fine Big Band orchestra with leather-lunged veteran Akira Fuse（布施明）singing his rendition of Paul Anka's "My Way". Hiroya Ozaki（尾崎裕哉）also gave tribute to his father, Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）, with a performance of "I Love You" which was quite reminiscent of his father's original recording.
As well, the show gave a shoutout to the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall in Hibiya Park, Tokyo which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. It has hosted plenty of acts ranging from rock-n'-roll band Carol to high-kicking aidoru duo Pink Lady to chanteuse Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）. Tonight, I got to hear from Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）her classic "My Revolution" there.
But what I'm most chuffed about regards the other performance of the night at the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall. Kosetsu Minami（南こうせつ）is someone that I've known for years as the proverbial folk artist in Japan, but tonight he sang something that had once been one of those lost songs in my mind for literally decades. I've mentioned them occasionally in articles, but for whatever reason, there have been examples of kayo kyoku that I've heard on "Sounds of Japan" or borrowed audiotapes which ended up disappearing with only wisps of memory to keep them alive in my mind since I never got to find out who sang them or what the titles of the songs were.
Well, I can now cross one of those songs (and there are still quite a few from both sides of the Pacific) off the list. I heard this one on a "Sounds of Japan" episode without getting the singer or the title, and it turns out that I can give thanks to Minami's performance on "Uta Con" tonight. He sang the cheerful "Natsu no Shojo" (Summer Girl), his 3rd single from June 1977.
Refreshing as a splash of cold water on a hot day, "Natsu no Shojo" which was written and composed by Minami and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）, has been categorized as a folk tune on J-Wiki but I think that there is also a good dollop of that Margaritaville feeling and maybe even some country twang in Mizutani's arrangement. So, I can also throw in the New Music and Country labels, too. However the genres go, it's a wonderful song to be reacquainted with.
"Natsu no Shojo" topped out at No. 32 on Oricon and it's available on Minami's 3rd original album"Ima Kokoro no Mama ni"（今こころのままに...Now In My Heart） which also came out in June 1977. It hit the top spot on the album charts and eventually became the 20th-ranked album of the year. One interesting piece of trivia that I got from J-Wiki is that Kosetsu modeled the summer girl of the song on 70s aidoru Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）who had debuted a year previously. She herself would come out with a summery tune of her own in 1978.
Last Tuesday, I wrote up an article about Side A of Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）February 1987 6th album"Hello Again", and so I'd like to follow up with my feelings on Side B.
The side begins with a pretty frenetic pop and rock-n'-roll"Sayonara wa Go-gatsu no Fubuki"（サヨナラは5月の吹雪...May Blizzard Goodbye）. Written by Norie Kanzawa（神沢礼江）, composed by Yoichi Shimada（嶋田陽一）and arranged by Seiichi Kyoda（京田誠一）, there's even a slightly toy store march like feeling to this song which seems to be about getting along just fine following a breakup. May blizzards aren't totally unknown in my neck of the woods although they are happily quite rare.
There's initially more of the 80s version of the 50s with "Daddy Long Legs" with Hiroko Hosoda（細田博子）on lyrics and Satoshi Kimura（木村聡）on melody with Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranging everything. But the melody then subtly evolves into something more relaxing and languid with Sudo's vocals to match. I'm pretty sure that there are no spiders involved with the titular figure probably being a very tall man that a woman is hugging like all get out.
Mizutani is once again the arranger for "Mugon no Message"（無言のメッセージ...Wordless Message） which is a straddling between Sudo's pop stylings and City Pop as she sings about a woman who's falling apart while trying to call someone she has feelings for. Remember that there were no smartphones in the 1980s so she's probably trying to make contact from an old-fashioned glassed-in phone booth somewhere near a park. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）was the lyricist while Nobuyuki Yamazawa（山澤宣幸）was on composing duty.
The same guys behind the above "Sayonara wa Go-gatsu no Fubuki" are also behind "Sweet Little Heartache", a fleeting contemporary pop number although there is some of that 50s and 60s flavour in Kyoda's arrangement. Kanzawa's lyrics seem to be about a couple at some fairly swanky place but the lady is a bit out of sorts for some reason. There's something about the song that reminds me of some of EPO's tunes, too.
The final track on the original album is "Utsukushii Koyomi"（美しい暦...Beautiful Calendar） which was actually composed by Sudo, written by the aforementioned Hosoda and arranged by Kyoda. With the strings in there, it feels like a classy 70s pop ballad by someone like Boz Scaggs. Sudo's soft and purring voice supplemented with the echo effect does give "Utsukushii Koyomi" that heft as a gallant final track. It feels like the sun is setting with this song which makes it appropriate as the last number.
The 2008 re-release of "Hello Again" on CD has three bonus tracks which happen to be live versions of the title track, "Sakamichi wa Pearl Iro"（坂道はパール色...The Pearly Slope） and "Onai Doshi no Koi"（同い年の恋...Love at the Same Age） all of which were covered in Side A. This particular album was Sudo's highest-scoring release, peaking at No. 41 on Oricon.
When I bought Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）"Hello Again" album years ago, I had thought for some reason that it was a BEST compilation. For a lack of a better word, the cover looked like a BEST: Sudo looking all wistful and content in black-and-white. But nope. It is actually an original album (her 6th) that was first released in February 1987. Several weeks ago, I gave my two-part writeup on her previous album "DROPS" from November 1983 and so I've decided to provide some insight into "Hello Again" which basically continues Sudo's tradition of smooth and sleek pop and AOR.
Track 1 is the brief intro and title track "Hello Again". Sounding like a torch song off the soundtrack of a frothy 1950s Hollywood romance flick, this was written and composed by Sudo's good friend Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）with arrangement by Seiichi Kyoda（京田誠一）.
The first full-fledged song is "Saikai no Airline"（再会のエアライン...Meeting Again on the Airline）, a breezy AOR number about a budding romance in the air thanks to a fortuitous re-encounter although knowing that it is a Japanese pop song, I doubt that the couple will be joining the Mile High Club. With lyrics by Norie Kanzawa（神沢礼江）and composed by Yoichi Shimada（嶋田陽一）, I opted for a video featuring Sudo in performance since I wanted to see her in the flesh so to speak and she demonstrates some great vocals.
"Sakamichi wa Pearl Iro"（坂道はパール色...The Pearly Slope） would be notable simply for the fact that its lyrics were provided by none other than Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）. Yes, that Seizo Watase, the creator of the manga "Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）and all of those City Pop-friendly illustrations including those on the calendar that I possess on my wall. However, the song itself is a lovely if bittersweet ballad about a woman bumping into an old flame in a seaside resort; her hair and makeup may have changed but that pearl earring that she got from him is still solidly in her earlobe. Keizo Hamada（浜田啓造）came up with the wistful melody with Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生） arranging everything.
I think that my favourite track on Side A of "Hello Again" will be a flip between "Sakamichi wa Pearl Iro" and this one, "Machikado no Antoinette"（街角のアントワネット...Street Corner Antoinette）. Perhaps it's because that I may actually have a very soft spot for French pop...would explain my love for Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）early 1980s material. Anyways, Sudo keeps her voice in the higher and flightier register as she and it trip the light fantastic over Hiroko Hosoda's（細田博子）lyrics (and Paris maybe) regarding the titular Antoinette, who has quite the reputation in her neighbourhood. Shimada, who came up with the AOR "Saikai no Airline" above, did the Gallic melodic weaving for "Machikado no Antoinette" with both he and Kyoda handling the arrangement.
There's some tropical and some doo-wop in the unusual but upbeat "Drop Handle"（ドロップ・ハンドル）with lyricist Shun Taguchi（田口俊）handling the story of a woman out for a jog. Although the title does pop up in the song, I don't know how it fits into the morning run; maybe she's left a note on the drop handle for the door. Hamada and Mizutani once again take care of melody and arrangement.
Side A finishes up with "Onai Doshi no Koi"（同い年の恋...Love at the Same Age）. If this sounds familiar, the song is another version of "Hello Again" which begins the side. The composition is by Sugi but this time, different lyrics are provided by Taguchi although the general theme is still the same: a couple staying together through the thick and thin of marriage. It's a wonder that this hadn't been adopted as a commercial jingle for an anniversary ring ad. "Onai Doshi no Koi" has more of a conventional pop sound compared to its twin at the beginning.
Hopefully, the emerging (maybe?) romance between Tomo and Jun in "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）will turn out more successfully than the bittersweet conclusion in the song below.
Still Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）melody for his 13th single"Last Show" from August 1981 really is sweet and perfect for the car radio. And there's plenty of mention for that car radio and the surrounding environment as a guy reminisces about an old romance that is truly over. There are memories of her, the beach, her former flame's father's car, their favourite hamburger stand and even a shoutout to Bob Dylan's"Like a Rolling Stone" which could hearken back to those early 80s or even the mid 60s. I swear that Hamada's lyrics could be painting a Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）illustration.
But alas, all good things come to an end and the guy is off in his car to greener and happier pastures with the past falling away quickly in the back mirror. Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranged "Last Show" to be a wistful rock n' roll tune that surprisingly only got as high as No. 94 on Oricon. The song was also a track on his 7th studio album"Ai no Sedai no Mae ni"（愛の世代の前に...Before the Love Generation） which was released the month after the single and got to No. 12 on the Oricon weeklies. However, a re-release of the album in June 1990 had new ears listening and liking it to the extent that it hit No. 2 on the charts and ended up as the No. 19 album for 1992.
Well, as they say, you always remember your first. Shoko Minami（南翔子）is a singer that I first got to know through the old Toronto multicultural radio station CHIN-FM's"Sounds of Japan" show with her 80s love ballad"Nakimane"（泣きまね）from 1986. So, it was imprinted into my mind that Minami would always be associated with those slower pop tunes.
However, another expression states to the effect that one should keep their eyes and ears open for new possibilities. And as such, I come across this earlier 2nd single by Minami titled "Nagisa no Separation". Coming out in April 1985, it's about as different as a song can get from the romantic "Nakimane". It's got a jangly rock vibe on the side of AOR and there's something in Kimio Mizutani's（水谷公生）arrangement that speaks something Foreigner. And yet, Minami very coolly and nonchalantly delivers the song.
Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）was behind the lyrics for "Nagisa no Separation" while Ryo Matsuda（松田良）was the composer here.
A little over a month ago, I introduced 80s aidoru Sanae Yokota（横田早苗）via a B-side titled "Digital Lullaby"（デジタル ・ ララバイ）, but despite the name, it didn't sound like a techno aidoru kayo.
However, that A-side was "Fuantasy Night" which was Yokota's debut single from January 1983, and this one actually can be considered to be a sugary-sweet synthpop start to the Tokyo native's teenybopper career. As mentioned in the "Digital Lullaby" article, the oddly spelled fuantasy is a pun on "fantasy" and the Japanese term for "doubt", "fuan"（不安）.
And so why all the fuan? Well, according to Mayumi Hara's（原真弓）lyrics, a young girl and her possibly newly minted boyfriend are taking a walk through the park at night with the hopes that maybe that first kiss will come into play...only for the damned cold feet to suddenly creep in. Will they or won't they? In a way, I guess, the whole story in "Fuantasy Night" is a split personality in terms of the usual aidoru stories of having that romantic moment or ending up disappointed that nothing came out of the date.
Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）was the one behind the basic melody and synthesizer arrangement which displayed the uncertainty of the situation. I gather that listeners weren't too sure either since "Fuantasy Night" only got as high as No. 110 on Oricon. One small piece of trivia is that the lyricist Hara isn't to be confused with fellow 80s aidoru Mayumi Hara（原真祐美）whose kanji is quite different.
I've just noticed that with my recent inclusion of the category of Fashion Music within Labels (finally!), there was one singer that I had yet to put in. She wasn't even in my list of Fashion Music that I concocted all the way back in 2018, and yet Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）was one of the first singers that I had heard when I got onto this fateful journey into kayo kyoku back in 1981. Her cover of Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets'"Sumire Iro no Namida"（すみれ色の涙） (the very first song that I'd ever heard from Hiromi) can be considered to be a form of that Japanese baroque pop.
Perhaps she was on a run of such music because right after the release of "Sumire Iro no Namida", there was her 26th single from October 1981, "Rengesou no Koi"(Milkvetch Love). You can look at the Wikipedia entry for the flower, and yep, the translation doesn't sound particularly romantic but the lyrics by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）talk of the poignant fragility of loving someone from afar...fragile like a milkvetch. The melody and arrangement by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）and Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）respectively seem right out of an especially melancholy melodrama involving a large wooden villa out in the countryside; the cello really helps.
The B-side to "Rengesou no Koi" is "Kanashimi no Hotori" (The Shores of Grief) and though the melancholy is still there, the beat is a bit more uptempo with the strings getting a little choppy in the intro. Hagita was once again the arranger but the lyricist and composer this time were Makoto Kitajo and Koichi Sakata（喜多条忠・坂田晃一）respectively. For whatever reason, a lady no longer has a beloved one next to her which has left her in deep despair, perhaps enough to throw herself in the nearby lake.
The single managed to reach No. 19 on Oricon. Apparently, "Rengesou no Koi" was the third and final single in Iwasaki's"Kusabana"（草花...Flowering Plants） series of songs following "Koimachigusa"（恋待草...Love Grass） and "Sumire Iro no Namida" throughout 1981.
If there's one thing that I've learned while some of us have tackled the discography of 1970s aidoru Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）, it's that there is a trove of amazing and perhaps hidden tunes underneath all of her huge hits which include "Ii Hi Tabidachi"(いい日旅立ち) and "Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）. For example, there is her July 1979 AOR-themed album"LA Blue" and even those two Yokohama-themed songs that I wrote about last month.
From what I've read about her last years in the industry before retiring from show business near the end of the 1970s, Yamaguchi was probably more than ready to get out. Furthermore, I think that she was quite insistent that she would do the music that she was interested in rather than simply churn out the usual orchestra-backed aidoru material in her numbered days as a teen singer.
"LA Blue" was one result with her trying out that American West Coast AOR but even some months before its release, Yamaguchi had recorded another album titled "A Face in a Vision" which came out in April 1979. I've not heard the entire album at all, but I did encounter a track from it called "Daydream". It's quite the different song for Momoe, certainly apart from those hits, especially the ones created by husband-and-wife songwriting team, Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki（宇崎竜童・阿木燿子）, in the latter half of her career (although they also contributed tracks to "A Face in a Vision") and very different from the songs on "LA Blue".
"Daydream" was written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）with arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. The song is more along the lines of some of the exotic kayothat was in vogue during the last years of the 1970s with Judy Ongg's（ジュディ・オング）"Miserarete"（魅せられて）and Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）"Ihojin"（異邦人）as prime examples. Yamaguchi sings of far-off adventures and fantasies involving Incan queens, barefoot gypsies and the Andes with the effect enhanced by Hagita manning a classic guitar and instruments such as the quena, a traditional flute from the Andes, and the percussion instrument known as the tabla being involved. It's quite refreshing, actually, with Momoe's familiar mellow voice paired with all of these non-familiar instruments; it was described on the video as artpop which isn't a bad way to express it. As for "A Face in a Vision", it scored a No. 3 ranking on Oricon.
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