Kiyotaka Sugiyama -- This Song's for You

 

Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）is a singer that I usually associate with his old band Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ） through such City Pop classics as "Summer Suspicion". In fact, I could only see a few entries on KKP where his name was the only one on the byline...one example is his contribution to Christmas, "Saigo no Holy Night"（最後のHoly Night) from 1986.

Maybe it's not fair for me to say so, but I have assumed that Sugiyama and his contemporaries at the time have been doing more in the realm of nostalgia tours or popping up on the odd kayo kyoku TV show to perform their old classics. However, I think now at least a few of them including Sugiyama are still putting out the fresh stuff, and that is indeed the case with the former Omega Tribe leader. Back in May 2018, he released his 26th solo album "My Song My Soul" with one of the tracks being "This Song's For You".

If this song is indeed for me, then I'm honoured. In comparison to his summery and silky songs from those 1980s, "This Song's For You" has him going sophisticated jazz/pop as if he were not traveling alongside the Pacific Coast of Japan but booming through the skyscrapers within West Shinjuku one night. Sugiyama's no longer walking on the beach in an Aloha shirt and flip-flops but is tripping the light fantastic in a bespoke suit as a middle-aged gentleman.

Fujimal Yoshino -- 50/50 Fifty-Fifty

 

Decided to dust off the very 80s-ish self-made logo that I usually hide away. 

But one guy who hasn't needed to be dusted off or hidden away is singer-songwriter-musician Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）. Rocket Brown let me know yesterday that Yoshino had celebrated his half-century of music last year with a commemorative album called "50/50" which I believe was released in September 2022.

Within the album is the title track "50/50 Fifty-Fifty" which is this quietly celebratory song created by Yoshino and lyricist Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）. It's an eight-minute bluesy pop ballad with a barrel full of guest vocalists: Hiro Tsunoda（つのだひろ）, Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）, Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）and Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）. Just some good friends paying tribute who all probably headed for the local pub after recording following the comfortable vibes generated during recording.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Midnight Downtown

 

Despite the romantic tang that midnight downtown in Tokyo might produce in folks, I usually noted the time differently. Mostly, like a lot of other commuters, I was panicking and racing for the last train home to Chiba Prefecture and other areas beyond the 23 wards. If I didn't catch the last train, then it would be a far more pricey taxi ride to the suburbs.

However in the wonderful world of Japanese City Pop, midnight downtown must be a wondrous intersection of time and space whether it be in a sports car rumbling down the Bayside Highway at 12 am or strolling with that significant other on an empty and yet very safe sidewalk. But in Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe's（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）"Midnight Downtown" from their debut album "Aqua City" (September 1983), it's more wistful as a fellow in that existential intersection on his walk alone reminisces about a past paramour.

But "Midnight Downtown" is far from a love-done-me-wrong song. On the contrary, the music and arrangement by Omega Tribe regular, Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, is as lively as anything heard in the prime time hours. In addition, Yasushi Akimoto's（秋元康）lyrics in the second half of the song describe getting back on that saddle again and enjoying life in the late night and early morning hours once more. The overall effect is as similar as understanding and embracing the expression "There are other fish in the sea".🐟

Another track from the album is "Transit in Summer" created by Hayashi and Akimoto once more. "Aqua City" got up to No. 4 on the Oricon weeklies. One query about "Midnight Downtown" is the mention of a place called Cha Cha House. Was that ever a real place in Tokyo and if it was, where was it located?

Junichi Kawauchi -- Kimi no Hitomi Ippai no Natsu（君の瞳いっぱいの夏）

 

We are just about finished with the first month of 2023 and it's been an unusually warm January thus far although today has actually frozen over with something seasonal. Heck of a time to put up a summery song, but perhaps some people might appreciate some vicarious sun worshipping.

I was doing some more backlog sweeping and found that a Junichi Kawauchi（河内淳一）video for which I'd already written about the song a few years ago was still lingering there, so I got rid of that one. Then I decided to see if I could track down another Kawauchi song since I did enjoy his "Koi ni Ochita Hi ~ Anyday You Love Me"（恋に落ちた日）from 1988.

Sure enough, it didn't take long at all to find "Kimi no Hitomi Ippai no Natsu" (Summer Filled with Your Eyes), a Kawauchi single that came out in June 1992. It certainly sounds like a 1990s summertime song with the wailing electric guitar in there. I swore that the singer had become part of the Being label, but actually, it was Fun House behind its production. Another notable point is that Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）provided lyrics (with Kawauchi handling the melody) for another singer's song for the first time here. No idea whether "Kimi no Hitomi Ippai no Natsu" was used for a commercial, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had been used to hawk something like Pocari Sweat or any other drink to slake one's thirst.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Garasu no Palm Tree（ガラスのPALM TREE）

 

The above is a computer simulation but it does set the mood for this article. Is there anything more Vaporwave than neon palm trees? Thanks to Coasterfreak 53.

"Garasu no Palm Tree" (Glass Palm Trees) was Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe's（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）7th single from November 1985, and even without the usual Vaporwave or Future Funk adaptations, this song does bring out the images of day-glo palm trees. As written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, it also feels like the quintessential Omega Tribe tune with Sugiyama's plaintive vocals and the keyboard work. Those verses sound somewhat ominous although the breeziness soon returns in the chorus as the protagonist tries to figure out how to undo a certain knot in their relationship.

The song hit No. 5 on Oricon and ended up as the 85th-ranked single for 1986. "Garasu no Palm Tree" is also a track on the band's 5th original album "First Finale" which was released in December 1985. It hit No. 1 and cracked the Top 10 albums list of 1986 by placing in at No. 9.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama -- Mugon no Dialogue（無言のDIALOGUE）

 

It wouldn't be Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" without an 80s City Pop tune, so I finally have one for today.

There was an article for velvet-voiced Kiyotaka Sugiyama's（杉山清貴）"Kaze no LONELY WAY"（風のLONELY WAY）, the former Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）frontman's 5th single from January 1988 which was one of the many ending themes for NTV's "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...The Tuesday Suspense Drama）. I gather that the song composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and sung by the smooth Sugiyama worked well as a poignant urbane tune for the hero and the villain headed for jail each episode.

But the B-side "Mugon no Dialogue" (Dialogue Without Words) is another bittersweet Hayashi composition although there is no crime involved...at least, not one punishable by a jail term. Nope, the malfeasance involved here is the criminal loss of opportunity as a fellow runs into an old flame by chance in the megalopolis. He then realizes that he still has feelings for the lady although it's evident that she has moved on quite happily. His reassuring spoken words are covering up the words that are lingering in his broken heart. Those lyrics by Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）are adorned by the typical Omega Tribe-friendly arrangement of bluesy saxophone, bass and keyboards.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Transit in Summer

 

KKP co-administrator and good friend Larry should have left Toronto yesterday and arrived back in California, but I still worry about the chaos at Pearson Airport. Have the lineups that have probably been longer than the ones for "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back" combined been alleviated a little bit? I will have to send him an email to make sure.

A transit in summer should never be that difficult. Oh, what a segue! I have here "Transit in Summer",  which belongs to Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe's（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）very first album from September 1983 "Aqua City", just like its lead track "Summer Suspicion", which was the very first article for the band on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that I ever wrote back in June 2012.

Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed/arranged by City Pop maestro Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, it's the typically smooth and genteel Omega Tribe tune under Sugiyama's charge. The bass is there, all of those wonderful keyboards are there, and Sugiyama's velvet voice is of course there. In fact, the only things missing are the suitcase and passport to take all of us to a tropical paradise. And through Akimoto's lyrics are a young couple waiting in an overly air-conditioned airport as they wait for their flight down to their vacation destination. Obviously, the man and woman there are having far less consternation than their real-life counterparts at Pearson.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Do It Again

 

Haven't done an Omega Tribe with Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）at the helm in quite a while and since it is J-Urban Contemporary Friday, here is my opportunity.

The Force...groove is indeed strong with Sugiyama and the Tribe with their "Do It Again", the third track from their 2nd album "River's Island" from March 1984. Written by the duo that was helping out Omega Tribe during the 1980s, lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composer/arranger Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, "Do It Again" starts out somewhat mysteriously. But then the groove and the horns lock in while Sugiyama sings about exhorting a person to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get on that horse...or roadster...again and hit the romance road in the big city. I can just see the folks in the discos right now.

According to the J-Wiki article for "River's Island", this particular song was absorbing elements of 70s soul into the mix. With those horns, I think that Hayashi may have also been inspired by Earth Wind & Fire. "River's Island" made it up to No. 3 on Oricon and it became the 23rd-ranked album of the year.

RAMU -- One and Only

 

Indeed, it is another Friday night. I'm hoping that at least some of you are enjoying some careful group outing on a patio somewhere with some tasty libations.

To complete my usual Friday night quartet of the urban contemporary in Japanese music, I have another track from the band RAMU's one and only "Thanksgiving" album from September 1988, "One and Only". As I mentioned back in the March 2017 article regarding a fellow track, "Rainy Night Lady", I, as a callow youth not so experienced in the language of music, hadn't been quite so sure how RAMU with 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）as the lead vocalist was going to be categorized.

Although I don't own "Thanksgiving", I can guess with a fair amount of confidence that the album would fall under the City Pop category, and having come out during the Bubble Era of Japan's crazed economic fireworks, there would be that feeling of champagne and caviar in the music itself. Sure enough, the composer for this track was none other than Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）, the first main vocalist for Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）with Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）as lyricist and Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）as arranger. "One and Only" is as cool and smooth as a ride in that convertible running through West Shinjuku. Will always appreciate a good sax solo.

Back when I was relying mainly on those rental videos of "The Best 10" and "The Top 10", I only saw Kikuchi as the mid-80s aidoru who sang the twinkly stuff like "Sotsugyo" （卒業）, and so when I first saw her come out fronting RAMU, I was rather shocked at the turn of events in terms of genre. However, if I had been a fan of hers living in Japan, I probably wouldn't have been surprised at all since there were these parallel tracks occurring in her young career with the aidoru music on one hand and then the more City Pop material on the other, through songs such as "Mystical Composer" (ミスティカルコンポーザー).

Kiyotaka Sugiyama -- Kaze no LONELY WAY（風のLONELY WAY）

It's a Tuesday night and you've just seen intrigue, murder, that final scene of resolution at the edge of a cliff (I gather that the front of a McDonalds wasn't going to cut it), and the killer go off that cliff or go sullenly into the back of a police car escorted by a beret-wearing seen-it-all done-it-all detective. Stress levels are probably too way up for the beginning of a work week, so what does a Japanese TV network such as NTV do? Simple...ensure that the theme song is dramatic but also as gentle and reassuring as a Febreeze spray.

So, between 1981 and 2005, NTV's "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...The Tuesday Suspense Drama） supplied just that for its array of theme songs. Of course, we've had a few Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）ballads helping out such as one of my favourites, "Ieji"（家路）in 1983, and then there was Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Kokuhaku"（告白）from 1990.

In between those two, there was J-AOR crooner Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）who contributed to "Kayo Suspense Gekijo" with his 5th single (and the 6th ending theme for the suspense program) as a solo artist away from Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）. "Kaze no LONELY WAY" (Lonely Way of the Wind) was released in January 1988, and it's everything that a Sugiyama fan loves in one of his songs: mellow keyboards, a summery arrangement (despite the season of release) by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）that would have David Foster green with envy, and those caressing vocals by the singer who came up with the music. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）was the lyricist here.

"Kaze no LONELY WAY" was another No. 1 hit for Sugiyama, and in fact, it was his third consecutive No. 1. Moreover, it has turned out to be his final No. 1 on Oricon as of 2020. The song was placed onto one of his BEST compilations, "The BALLADS with Love" which was released in September 1990 with a No. 9 ranking on the weekly charts.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Dear Breeze

Looks like there's been a fair share of 1985 tunes in this first full week of 2020. Strangely enough, though, that isn't the reason for yet another song at the mid-point of the 1980s.

Actually, the kikkake was that in the last several minutes, I was watching NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning program where the onus was on the benefits of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in one's daily diet. Of course, a lot of these Japanese variety shows love to pull off musical puns alongside the theme of the episode, and so with Omega-level acids, the producers thought it would be cute to put on this particular song by 80s band Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）as the background music.

However, since I've already written about "Kimi wa 1000%"（君は1000%）, I needed to go into the Omega Tribe vault for another song, and I managed to find this very pleasant entry by Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）and the gang. This would be "Dear Breeze", the second track from the band's 4th album, "Another Summer", released in July 1985. "Dear Breeze" is another quintessential Omega Tribe creation by the good hands and ears of lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, and of course, the fine voice of Sugiyama himself.

Furthermore, I also love that squeaky synth that seems to be a nice little shoutout to Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio's "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)". Nice little tonic for the year's first Hump Day while getting over the post-Holiday blues. As for "Another Summer", it was the No. 1 album for about 2 weeks in that same month of first release.

Most importantly, folks. Have you gotten your daily dosage of Omega-3 and Omega-6?

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Ai wo Makimodoshite（愛を巻き戻して）

Let's get another City Pop tune noticed since it is Friday night.

"Ai wo Makimodoshite" (Rewind the Love) is the B-side to Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe's（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）3rd single "Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue"（君のハートはマリンブルー）from January 1984. It has a bit more pep than the smoothly languid A-side but still with an Omega Tribe tune, bombing down the highway at 300 kph with the cops after you isn't going to be the overriding image here. "Ai wo Makimodoshite" is definitely more of the leisurely drive on a beachside road maybe around sunset but perhaps more preferably around midnight when the chances of other cars competing for space are negligible. Just the thing for late summer or early fall.

Sugiyama was behind the music while Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）took care of the lyrics. The number was also part of an Omega Tribe BEST compilation, "Single's History", released in October 1985 which peaked at No. 3 on Oricon.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Riverside Hotel/Joanna

It's not quite a riverside hotel in the photo above. Actually, it's the Hotel Intercontinental which is actually more of a bayside hotel, right by Tokyo Bay in the Odaiba district. I've never stayed there but I'm sure that it's more than accommodating.

For my last article tonight, I've decided to kill two birds with one stone. With summer finally on its merry way, I should put up something that is definitely indicative of the changing seasons, and I haven't written on an Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）song in a while.

This would be "Riverside Hotel", Omega Tribe's 4th single from October 1984 (yes, I am indeed cognizant of the release date...but hey, this group is always gonna be about summer) with Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）at the helm. It starts off typically for an Omega Tribe song: crash of synths and a dramatic intro before Sugiyama's cool vocals croon away.

Oh, the fashion back then. 😊 "Riverside Hotel" was another collaboration between lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）about a romantic adventure that seems to be on the same wavelength as "We'll always have Paris"....or this hotel, at least. It's swift and bittersweet but the story and song will always proffer good memories.

On the B-side is "Joanna" with Hayashi once again composing but this time, there is more of a sultry City Pop groove accompanying Yasushi Akimoto's（秋元康）lyrics of a romance about to end in the autumn, the season for heartbreak in Japan...at least when it comes to pop music. It's all very wistful, nighttime and urbane. I've always liked the keyboard work with an Omega Tribe song.

"Riverside Hotel/Joanna" peaked at No. 21 on Oricon. The A-side is a track on the band's 3rd album released in December 1984, "Never Ending Summer", which hit No. 8.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe + Rajie -- You're A Lady, I'm A Man

As the summer comes to a close for another year, I figure that the sunset ballads will be coming out around now.

So, what better example than a romantic number by Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）joined by Rajie（ラジ）? This is a shortened version of "You're A Lady, I'm A Man" from Omega Tribe's 4th album "Another Summer" from July 1985, and it's a power ballad with that familiar sound of not only Sugiyama's band but also the mellow music of Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）provided the lyrics of l'amour.

As with a number of Omega Tribe's ballads, this would be a worthy musical accompaniment for a couple walking down the beach as the sun goes down the horizon. "Another Summer" scored a No. 1 ranking on Oricon, and includes Omega Tribe's most successful single of their career, "Futari no Natsu Monogatari"（ふたりの夏物語）.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Alone Again

I don't think I ever got a photo of an Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）album to store as an article thumbnail so I'm quite happy that I could get a shot of the actual Aqua City shopping mall in Odaiba, Tokyo.

As for Kiyotaka Sugiyama's（杉山清貴）old band, their "Aqua City" was their debut album from September 1983. Initially when I saw the title for one of the tracks, "Alone Again", I had assumed for a few seconds that the band was actually doing a cover of the 1970s hit by Gilbert O'Sullivan but then again, that song had the extra word "...Naturally" in the title.

Nope, "Alone Again" by Omega Tribe was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, now the most prolific lyricist in Japan, and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）who could probably be credited for giving the band its mellow sound. He was the one, after all, who came up with "Summer Suspicion", Omega Tribe's debut single which was also recorded onto "Aqua City".

Listening to "Alone Again", it has all of the tropes that got me interested in Omega Tribe in all of its incarnations in the first place: smooth vocals, mellow beat and that summery sheen. Couldn't have asked for a better song for a young couple strolling on the beach at dusk while holding hands. And I gotta say that the folks who set up the concert above for Sugiyama and the band planned the setting, including the lighting, just right for the song. As for "Aqua City", it peaked at No. 4 on Oricon.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Silent Romance

I guess this would be my annual contribution to Omega Tribe (オメガトライブ)....certainly I don't mean this as any slight to the mellow band, but it just happens that my last article about them was written a little over a year ago.

But hey, at least I've got this summery band here at the right time. It was pretty darn hot and steamy today in T.O. and it looks like we're gonna have another mini-heat wave for the bulk of this week. Let's see if I can cool things off a bit at least on this page with this Omega Tribe song during Kiyotaka Sugiyama's（杉山清隆）time with the band.

"Silent Romance" is the final track on the band's 2nd album, "River's Island" which was released back in March 1984...I do love that cover, by the way. As that fuzzy silhouette hints, the J-Wiki article on the album stated that the title was indeed referring to New York City, specifically Manhattan.

The article also mentioned that the album was focused on a more metropolitan setting as compared to Omega Tribe's first album which went more for the beach. And "Silent Romance" has that City Pop feeling with Chinfa Kan（康珍化）providing the lyrics and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）composing the song about love potentially being lost amid the whirlwind of a party in swanky urban surroundings. If I had a set of keys thrown at me on a table by my significant other, yeah, I would take that as a bad sign.

For a final track, "Silent Romance" is a bit of a surprise since it isn't a pure ballad despite the sad lyrics; it's quite an uptempo track to finish off the album. But with Sugiyama's vocals, the urban sax and Hayashi's mellow melody, it's certainly a good ol' Omega Tribe tune. "River's Island" by the way peaked at No. 3 on Oricon. Plus, the album also has the band's 3rd single "Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue"（君のハートはマリンブルー）.

Shibuya

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Silence ga Ippai （サイレンスがいっぱい）

I came across this song by the first incarnation of Omega Tribe （オメガトライブ）when it was led by smooth-singing Kiyotaka Sugiyama （杉山清貴）as the ending theme for some sort of romance-comedy called "Non-neechan, 200W"（のン姉ちゃん、２００Ｗ...Miss Non, 200 Watts）that my parents had been watching on VHS video. If I recall, the end credits had a romantic bird's-eye of Tokyo as Sugiyama crooned on....a very nice combination.

"Silence ga Ippai" (Filled With Silence) may not have been one of the biggest singles for the summery J-AOR band, but the mellow melody with the de rigueur flugelhorn stuck with me all those years. And one day, while I was living in my Ichikawa apartment, I came across an abandoned box of audiotapes which included the best stuff by Omega Tribe. I slammed the tape into my stereo and eventually re-discovered the song, thanks to my remembering that one word, "silence". Of course, it wasn't enough for me to merely adopt an orphaned tape....I eventually bought the BEST of Sugiyama's time with the band on CD.

Those experts in summer ballad songwriting, Tetsuji Hayashi and Chinfa Kan（林哲司・康珍化）, were behind Omega Tribe's 6th single when it was released in May 1985. It peaked at No. 7 on Oricon and has been included in that BEST album I just mentioned, "Single's History" which came out in October that year and went as high as No. 3.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Futari no Natsu Monogatari （ふたりの夏物語）

We had our first heat alert of the year in Toronto today....a Humidex of 37 degrees C and sunny. It brought back drippy memories of Tokyo in July and August, although having lived a lot of summers in Japan, I don't think it was all that humid in my hometown. But walking in the concrete jungle of the largest cities in my home country and adopted country is not what this song is all about. It's beach time, baby!

Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）and Omega Tribe brought this smooth and spirited number in March 1985. "Futari no Natsu Monogatari"(A Summer Tale for Two) is also known for its subtitle, "Never Ending Summer", and was the band's 5th single, written and composed by Chinfa Kan（康珍化） and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）who also helped out on some of their other hits as well. I've known Omega Tribe for a lot of their summery ballads, so it was always nice when they came out with some fun uptempo tunes.

"Futari no Natsu Monogatari"became the band's most successful single, peaking at No. 5 on Oricon and becoming the 15th-ranked song for 1985, selling 380,000 records. It is also included on their 4th studio album, "Another Summer", released in July of that year and hitting the top spot on the album charts. Japan Air Lines knew a good song when they heard one, and so they adopted this tune for their JALPAK '85 campaign.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue （君のハートはマリンブルー）

You might think that it's a tad early for a hammock-swaying song such as this one, but then again, "Kimi no Heart wa Marine Blue"(Your Heart is Marine Blue) [I think that's a compliment] was actually released in January 1984....nearly 30 years ago....pass the Geritol, dear. Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清隆） and Omega Tribe took care of this one, right up in their wheelhouse of gentle beach-and-rolling surf pop. It's the melodic equivalent of an Orange Mimosa.

Omega Tribe's 3rd single was written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, a lyricist for a number of the band's songs and for hits by other artists such as Anri, Akina Nakamori and Mariko Takahashi, and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. It was the theme song for a TBS drama, "Toshigoro Kazoku"(年ごろ家族...A Family of Age), for which the band also appeared on apparently. Peaking at No. 12 on Oricon, it became the 45th-ranked song of the year, and was a successful seller in the stores with over half a million records sold.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama -- Saigo no Holy Night （最後のHoly Night)

The first lead vocal of the smooth Omega Tribe, shades-sporting Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清隆）, went solo from the band in 1986. His first single was "Sayonara no Ocean"（さよならのオーシャン....Goodbye Ocean）, an appropriately summery song in May of that year. But his second release was a distinctly different animal based on a bittersweet reminiscence of a former couple's final Xmas Eve together.. "Saigo no Holy Night"(Last Holy Night), despite its last two words, has no religious significance but is an innocent City Pop Xmas song.

The video above (unfortunately taken down) gives a fine presentation of what a Tokyo Christmas looks like, something that I used to see often. In fact, my first Xmas Eve in Tokyo in 1994 was spent walking down Omotesando, the tony tribute to Champs-Elysees and one of the scenes shown in the video. It was about as romantic as a traffic jam. Thousands of people were herded down that avenue like cattle while cops were posted on the pedestrian overpasses yelling at us to keep moving. They don't have those mob scenes anymore since the city banned closing off the street though the Christmas lights are still there.

"Saigo no Holy Night", composed by Sugiyama and written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, was released in November 1986 and peaked at No. 2.