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.
Recently going over "Light Mellow ~ Beams", I've come across a few tracks on the compilation that I never thought to cover on the blog, so shame on me for that oversight.
One of those former neglected songs from "Beams" is Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉）& Flying Mimi Band's "My Beach Samba", originally from her March 1978 debut album"ORANGE SKY－Endless Summer". Written, composed and arranged by Kobayashi herself, it's a fun and perky and Latin jazzyCity Pop number of the 1970s with inclusion of that decade's aural symbol of the genre...the keyboard haze effect. Speaking of keyboards, I think that is indeed Kobayashi just going crazy on her instrument near the end. Not to be outdone, I have to mention the saxophone and guitar solos, too.
PS. Well, it looks like my memory is failing me. I did write up something on the album proper back in 2019 and that also included my comments on "My Beach Samba". But hey, any song is worth another look.
Welcome to the final day of July...pretty much halfway through summer. And hopefully, your entry into August and the latter half of the hot season will be a good fun one.
Despite the title of this sparkling Chiyono Yoshino（吉野千代乃）song, "1985-nen no Koibito"(Lovers in 1985) was actually something from 1987 when it and the rest of its track mates were released in the singer's June 1987 3rd album "Say Goodbye". Not sure about why the focus on lovers in that specific year but...and I say this tongue in cheek...with the signing of the Plaza Accords in 1985, perhaps lovers realized that they pretty much had carte blanche when it came to dating and having fun in Bubble Era Japan.😊
But I digress. "1985-nen no Koibito", which was written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Kyoko Matsumiya（松宮恭子）, is a very upbeat slice of sophisticated pop with a wedge of happy-happy samba on top which launches with some pounding bass and keyboard. It practically demands listeners to get into a conga line on the Lido Deck of some cruise liner. Strangely enough, the footage in the video above comes from the 1990 trendy drama "Sekai de Ichiban Kimi ga Suki"（世界で一番君が好き....I Love You The Most in the World), one of the first such dramas that I watched on Fuji-TV when I arrived on the JET Programme some months before. Its theme song is of a much different genre, though.
Well, out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there were any singers out there whose birthdays were on July 29th today, and sure enough, I could find one chanteuse. Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer Lisa Ono（小野リサ）celebrates her 64th birthday so many happy wishes upon her.
To commemorate this day, and on a Hump Day which might have been rather stressful thus far being the day farthest away from weekends, I should find something that is quite soothing. Ono has often provided the musical balm in that respect. And so I provide her cover of the classic "Moon River" which was originally made in the early 1960s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
With a fan wafting some needed cooling air into my otherwise stuffy room and the sun beginning to set into the horizon, Ono's "Moon River" is just the tonic for a Wednesday. The only thing missing is a Brown Cow on my desk. Anyways, her version is included in the March 2002"Ono Lisa Best 1997-2001".
I caught my first "Uta Con"（うたコン）in a couple of weeks, and not surprisingly, the theme of the episode this week was the summer song. So, of course, one of the ultimate J-Pop summery bands TUBE showed up, and I have to say that leader and vocalist Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）did a great job with Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Ride on Time".
Veteran aidoru group Juice=Juice was also there and if I'm not mistaken, they took care of the finale. They sang their 20th single as a major act, "More! Mi Amore" (Look Hot! Mi Amore) which is actually one-half of a double A-side single accompanying "Shi no Go no Iwazu Satto Wakarete Ageta"（四の五の言わず颯(さっ)と別れてあげた...I Made a Clean Break of It Without Any Fuss）. I'd assumed that the single was their latest from this year but it actually got released in October 2025.
Another crazy assumption that I'd had was that looking at the title, I thought this was some sort of tribute to Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Meu Amore" but that's further from the truth. Instead, the song was written and composed by singer-songwriter Aoi Yamazaki（山崎あおい）although both songs have got that frenetic Latin spice infused into their DNA. There's nothing like a Latin-arranged aidoru tune to get the group going all crazy with the choreography which will get the fans all into a lather at the concerts. The single managed to hit No. 2 on Oricon.
It was a few weeks ago when I was quietly thrilling over the fact that both Canada and Japan had made it out of the group stage of the World Cup and heading into the knockout rounds. Well, as it stands now, both nations did eventually get knocked out and in a few days, we get to watch Argentina and Spain duke it out in the final match.
I noted this when I was writing about the fusion band Early Byrds for the first time in late June. Had never heard of these guys before and there's not a lot of information on them aside from their relative time of duty and the number of albums released. But "Galaxy Special" with Kyoko Kimura's（木村恭子）vocal assistance was indeed something quite special and vacation-friendly which got my attention.
Speaking of their albums, there is their July 1982 work "Morning Reflexion" which comes across as quite clever in the naming. On it is the track "Step Emotion" (not sure what that title even means) which was created by Early Byrds member Hiroshi Nakanishi. No Kimura on this tropical fusion cocktail of a tune, but there's still plenty of scatting from male and female voices and it's still worthy of a margarita or two while listening to it.
For me, the entertainment district of Roppongi in Tokyo consists of the still-somewhat grimy and original Roppongi Avenue and the two modern complexes of Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. It's quite the neighbourhood but I never saw it as an island unto itself.
Well, Pearl Kyodai（パール兄弟...The Pearl Brothers） apparently did...at least enough to create a song that was the title track to the band's June 1990 5th album, "Roppongi Tou" (Roppongi Island). I first wrote about Pearl Kyodai back in 2017 when Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and his group came up with the New Wave-y"Sugar Sugar Tengoku"（シュガシュガ天国 ）for their 4th album"TOYVOX" in 1989.
Music genre-wise, Roppongi has in the past evoked Mood Kayo and jazz. With "Roppongi Tou", a breezy description of life on the island, it's actually showing some refreshing tropical jazz. I don't really see Roppongi at night here (as I would usually do); instead, it's bright daylight in Roppongi (despite the repeated mentions of "midnight") with some different attractions, thanks to the fervent Latin jazz rhythms and the crystalline synths. Saeki provided the lyrics while fellow Pearl BrotherHaruo Kubota（窪田晴男）took care of the music.
Over six years ago, I slightly lamented that I couldn't find guitarist-singer Yoshiyuki Sahashi's（佐橋佳幸） "Diary" on YouTube. I first discovered it on "Breeze", the very first disc of Toshikazu Kanazawa's（金澤寿和）series "Light Mellow" which had quite the run during the 2010s.
Mind you, I was able to find his "Frida's Freedom" on YouTube which made for a nice consolation prize, so to speak. I was listening to "Breeze" once more a few nights ago and afterwards, I decided to check if anything had changed in the status of certain tracks on the CD that hadn't made it onto the video site all those years ago. Well, I was happy to find out that Sahashi's "Diary" finally made it on there, although strangely, the "Yoshiyuki Sahashi -- Topic" page stated that it's been up there since 2017! I have to politely contest that.
But regardless, "Diary" is that guitar-driven tune that reminds me of those sunny 1970s and happier, more innocent times. There's something about the song that hits me as being rather Billy Joel of that decade. Just like "Frida's Freedom", it was originally a track on Sahashi's 1994 album"Trust Me". The guitarist came up with the breezy melody while Hiroshi Fukushima（福島浩）wrote the lyrics. Sahashi's file on KKP mostly has him in the "back office" as a songwriter, so "Diary" is just the second article with him on the byline while his "Frida's Freedom" is the first.
This album is a bit of a mystery to me. I would put it up as an APB with the apple pie photograph, to boot. However, this 1981 production has all the names and all the titles so they are identified. The problem is that I don't know any of the artists involved and I could only recognize one musician, Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）, on the credits.
I'm talking about "Good Season ~ New Original Songs"which has been described by YouTuber Ren as a compilation album of New Music and City Pop. Ren was kind enough to put up the album in the summer of 2023. As I mentioned above, I have never heard of any of the singers or bands involved so I'm wondering if they may have been university students recording as part of their music clubs or amateur acts that didn't last too long.
One track at 30:39 is "Saikai Yawa"(Meeting Again for an Evening Conversation) by singer-songwriter Mayumi Ohnishi（大西まゆみ）. I couldn't find anything on her at all although she has two tracks on "Good Season" including this one. It's too bad since her kittenish vocals enhance the feeling of the good life in her own creation here. Although 1981 was still a few years away from the flying-high Bubble Era, from personal experience, I already knew that Japan was already in a golden age and I can hear it in Ohnishi's light and playful bossa-influenced "Saikai Yawa". Images of fancy restaurants, champagne flutes and shameless flirting (or re-flirting) abound among the City Pop here.
If anyone, including Ren, can provide any further insight into "Good Season" aside from the one lonely page at "Rate Your Music", that would be much appreciated.
Feeling a bit dozy right now since I'm still digesting a hearty ramen lunch along with a gelato dessert. My gastrointestinal fortitude has been faltering of late, I'm afraid.
Anyways, commenter YMOfan04 has been giving me some names of rather obscure kayo kyoku singers from long ago, so I've been perusing them. One such person is Hitomi Kaga（加賀ひとみ）. There is a J-Wiki article on a Hitomi Kaga (same kanji) but it turns out that the name belongs to a mezzo-soprano opera singer whose high school years were in the 1980s, and looking at the thumbnail featuring the single cover above, this is definitely not the same Hitomi Kaga.
Nope, this Hitomi Kaga, whose real name is Masako Nishikawa（西川雅子）from Ishikawa Prefecture, released seven singles in the latter half of the 1960s before taking a long sabbatical until 1984. She then put out another three singles up to 1989 also throwing in her first album. Koga's third single was "Tokyo Flamenco" and not surprisingly it's got quite the Latin beat within the Mood Kayo setting although its intro sounds like a rather dramatic beginning to an ancient European war movie. "Tokyo Flamenco", which came out in November 1966, was written by Sakae Kouda（幸田栄）and composed by the legendary Minoru Endo（遠藤実）.
Commenter YMOfan04 and I were conversing a bit on the melding of different genres for positive effect, and our observation was that Japanese composers and arrangers seemed to be especially enthusiastic. Anyone who has been a longtime reader of KKP has probably learned that I sometimes have trouble categorizing some songs here because the blend has been just that smooth.
Latin jazz, which wasn't invented by the Japanese by the way, has been one nice and tasty cocktail for decades upon decades. I found another fine example as recorded by jazz singer Yasuko Agawa（阿川泰子）on her 1981 5th album"Sunglow". The songwriters for "She ~ Senior Dreams" were Claudio Amaral and Jay Anthony Wagner and the result was this lovely classy tune which comes straight from Brazil but they couldn't decide on whether to have it come out as a slow bossa nova ballad or as something on the level of a fairly fast samba. So, they just opted to have it arranged into both modes. I kinda had to hold onto my desk when I heard the transition for the first time.
Approaching the summer solstice, we only have a few days left of increasing sunlight time so let's make some good use of that by going out with buddies onto the patio for some drinks in the evening, although I'm well aware that the decrease of daylight time will be quite slow into the summer months.
Regardless, let's finish Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with a nice and refreshing tune by singer-songwriter Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）. She's been known for some eclectic material in the City Pop and pop veins, but this one has got that traveling-to-unknown-climes vibe. "Omocha no Machi ni Samayotte" (Wandering Through Toy Town) is a rather unusual title for this one. One would think that this would have more to do with Christmas, but actually, it's the name for a pretty stylish bossa jazz tune with accordion and saxophone in the mix. Again, cocktail time!🍹
"Omocha no Machi ni Samayotte" is a track on Miyahara's September 1987 third album"Mariposa". It was written by the singer with Kazutaka or Ichitaka Nishida（西田一隆）and Masaaki Kondo（近藤正明） behind the Latin melody.
It appears that we may be having one of those KKP situations in which one singer or band's file is basically based on one album.
And yep, I'm talking about Kenichi Fujimoto's（藤本健一）"Aperitif" album from 1986. But it does say lots about the album especially if one's a City Pop or sophisticated pop fan. This time, the track is "Alone", and for a track titled "Alone", it sure doesn't feel alone. As written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composed by the singer himself, it's the equivalent of a fancy dinner out in Aoyama...crisp white linen, sparkling champagne flutes and bone-white china, and all that. Fujimoto may have been channeling some of his inner Henry Mancini when he came up with this one. Those strings approach a near-boogie level of emanation and of course, the sax is cooking up some richness.
As KKP readers know, I do the weekly Reminiscings of Youth on Thursday and I did provide the one for Nik Kershaw earlier this afternoon. However, considering what I've heard in the last 24 hours or so, I feel that I have to write one more ROY tonight especially in the light of the passings of a few Japanese representatives in the music industry within the last month: songwriters Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）and Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）along with singer Yoichi Sugawara（菅原洋一）.
Singer Peabo Bryson passed away on June 2nd a couple of days ago at the age of 75 due to what may have been a stroke. The obituaries on television often mentioned his 90s duets for "Aladdin" and "Beauty of the Beast", but I had known him for a decade prior because of his songs coming onto radio frequently. And he's already got representation on KKP through two of those wonderful melodies from his work with Roberta Flack via the 1983 album"Born to Love".
The following year, another wonderful ballad was released by Bryson titled "If Ever You're in My Arms Again", which came out in April 1984. It's a lush Quiet Storm ballad of second chances that was created by Cynthia Weil, Michael Masser and Tom Snow, and listening to it once more reminded me that they don't come up with this sort of love song anymore. Some of those notes he hits! From the list of musicians involved, I notice that at least a few of them have worked with Japanese singers such as guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. and bassist Neil Steubenhaus. On the Adult Contemporary charts in both Canada and the United States, the song hit No. 1 with it staying at the top of the US chart for four weeks. I'm glad that a new generation is discovering his wonderful abilities.
My condolences go out to Bryson's family, friends and many fans.
What else was coming out as singles in April 1984 in Japan?
This isn't true with everybody but sometimes I associated certain bands and singers with famous areas. Southern All Stars（サザン・オール・スターズ）will always be connected to seaside Chigasaki because they are from that area, so that is easy. However on the other hand, I've felt that the late kayo chanteuse Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）and Shinjuku made a good pairing (although she's originally from Hokkaido) not only because she sang "Shinjuku no Onna"（新宿の女）but she just fit that urban angst in the back streets of that Tokyo neighbourhood.
This is straight from their website. Please don't kill me, Momo and Koharu.
Well, as for the eclectic accordion-driven sibling duo Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）, I picture them setting up shop in the shitamachi districts of Tokyo such as Ueno or Kanda. They actually do hail from the nation's capital (though the sisters Momo and Koharu were born in Chiba) but I don't know exactly where they were raised. Now as to why I think they feel just at home in the traditional quarter of town, and this is even before they released their album of kayo covers "Showa Hyaku Nen"(The 100th Year of the Showa Era) on Christmas Eve last year, their music always hit me as being something just as comfy, old-fashioned and woodsy as the architecture of the Taisho and early Showa eras. I'm not sure whether 2025 or 2026 would be considered Showa 100 according to the Japanese reign year system if Emperor Showa had survived up to now but let's give the sisters the benefit of a doubt.
So, let's take a look at three of the tracks from "Showa Hyaku Nen". One is a cover of Takao Hirata & Sellsters'（平田隆夫とセルスターズ）"Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa"（ハチのムサシは死んだのさ）, the novelty pop hit from 1972. Some great sisterly harmonizing here with the song taking on an arrangement that seems to be part ska and part old-fashioned street band chindon'ya style. And it comes with a music video that's swift and reminiscent of the old anime style from that decade. I'm especially happy that Charan-Po-Rantan picked this one since I don't think "Hachi no Musashi wa Shinda no sa" usually gets selected in any kayo kyoku retrospective either on TV or compilation album.
Hey, and we all get a lovely video of vocalist Momo not only singing but showing off a bit of summery 80s aidoru cheesecake in the music video for the duo's rendition of Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）1984 hit "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。）The Charan-Po-Rantan style is fully in play here as well.
Finally, here is the Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）classic "Makkana Taiyo"（真赤な太陽）from 1967. There's perhaps even more of a funky element in this cover and Momo adds some Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）growl and Ego-Wrappin' attitude into her delivery. That chindon'ya saxophone really chews into the arrangement like me on a tenderloin steak. Frankly, "Makkana Taiyo" is a song that just begs to be covered in any kayo cover album because the singers can really have at it.
Feel free to take a look at the rest of the tracklist via the link to the album above and there are some more of the songs up on YouTube.
I started off today's batch of urban contemporary tunes with a sultry nocturnal song by Naomi Akimoto（秋本奈緒美）, so why not wrap up things with something conversely lighter and bouncier?
Here's something to go with your margarita. "Palm St." is a track on guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）6th original album"T-Wave" from June 1980, an album that hit No. 7 on Oricon and ended the year as the 34th-ranked LP. It's quite the spritzer of a song that was composed by Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）as a tune to get folks into a conga line out at some Caribbean resort after dinner to shave off the calories. When Takanaka gets on a bender with his guitar, enjoy the ride!
Speaking of composer Mimi, the musician did a self-cover of "Palm St." the following year when she released her first solo album"Coconuts High" in December 1981. This slightly longer version has Kobayashi showing off some layered scatting, more steel pan and her own virtuoso performance on the keyboards in an arrangement that invites some good old jamming. Incidentally, I covered the final track on "Coconuts High" a few years ago, "Mr. Cool".
Yes, along with the fact that May the 4th is Greenery Day in Japan, it's May the 4th as Star Wars Day everywhere on the planet. I figure that if I'm going to commemorate Greenery Day, then why not this pop cultural holiday as well. The opening scene from "A New Hope" will always be one to awe the heck out of me. I'm sure that the first audiences to see the movie back on May 25th 1977 had eyes and mouths fully agape at the sight of the Imperial Star Destroyer chasing and capturing the Rebel Blockade Runner over Tatooine.
But let's focus on this day, May the 4th. I figure that it might be time to look at a few birthdays of Japanese singers. Cue "Entertainment Tonight" theme!👉
Haven't posted anything by the 80s female trio Sugar（シュガー）recently but I did come across this April 1982 follow-up to their razor-tongued debut single"Wedding Bell" from the previous year.
As was the case with "Wedding Bell", a lovingly-delivered curse of death to a former beau getting married, "Aventure wa Looks Shidai" (The Adventure Depends on the Looks) was also written and composed by Yoshiaki Furuta（古田喜昭）as this light and frothy Brazilian-tinged song. Furuta's lyrics also have some sting in them although the potency isn't as great as in "Wedding Bell". There are just some irritating internal barbs from a lady who's seeing the man in her sightlines going out with another woman. Considering how breezy it is, one wonders whether this could have been an ideal tune for some commercial or insert song in a rom-com of those days.
I do have a love for pasta, especially spaghetti. I grew up on Bolognese made by my mother but then in Japan, I realized that the Japanese absolutely adore pasta of all kinds and so that's how I discovered other types such as Pepperoncino, Carbonara and Napolitan (which actually doesn't come from Naples but is a purely Japanese type).
Of course, it's not as wonderful as actually eating the stuff itself, but I also indulge in watching the many pasta-making videos on YouTube such as this one by Preppy Kitchen for his take on Carbonara. His way of cooking actually makes the sauce look less intimidating to create...since I have some PTSD from making something that involved raw eggs from long ago.
Once again, my preamble ramble leads us to a group called spaghetti vabune! which I discovered by happenstance a few weeks earlier. When I posted an article on the technopop unit Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, I found out that their "Kitchen Shock" hadn't come from their own discography but it actually belonged to a December 2004 compilation album titled "Contemode V.A. 2".
Well, I looked through the rest of the tracks and saw some other dynamic-sounding acts there and tried looking up the titles. And spaghetti vabune! was one of them. According to their website, the group began life in 2001 and perhaps currently consists of vocalist/guitarist Keiji Tokuda, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chihiro Yoshii, guitarist Takayoshi Umeno, drummer Naoya Shimai and bassist Shuhei Kinukawa. Their J-Wiki article has them categorized as a unit into indies pop, jangle pop, Shibuya-kei and alternative rock.
spaghetti vabune!'s contribution to "Contemode V.A. 2" is "Favorite Song (contemode bossa mix)" which does have plenty of Brazilian swagger to the extent that I was wondering whether it should have been called "contemode samba mix" instead. But no complaints here. It makes for some fun and summery listening. I did wonder whether there was an original version of "Favorite Song" and the answer was Yes! The much shorter guitar pop original does appear on the band's April 2003 album"summer vacation, sunset vehicle". Incidentally, the bossa mix was created by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）.
As I mentioned earlier today, I had to help out Dad and it all went smoothly. However in the last few years, public transit here has been getting a reputation for being less safe than it used to be so accompanying him down meant that I had to be somewhat paranoid and keep a good eye peeled on the bus and subway. I didn't feel it at the time but after getting home, I suddenly got hit with some of the fatigue and stresses of the day's nervousness and alertness levels.
So it was nice to see that bossa nova artist Lisa Ono（小野リサ）had appeared on the NHK morning information show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）to sing a few of those soothing songs. Nothing like some bossa to take the edge off. She sang a Portuguese version of "Hana wa Saku"（花は咲く）which was of course created within Japan. Then, after the interview, she went on to perform "One-Note Samba" and then as soon as it started, my ears were hit with Muzak and the Japanese line appeared at the top of the screen stating that due to copyright concerns, viewers weren't allowed to hear it.
AAUGH! My face scrunched up so that parts of it ended up in the fifth dimension and I couldn't help but blurt out "REALLY?!". I knew about TV Japan's and then Jme's recent policy of being unable to have non-Japanese songs heard on any shows on the streaming network; heck, there's even a page on Jme's website stating this. But I still had to scream internally "Jme, I swear....". Ah, the frustration...🤬
Well, I guess I'll just have to get my relaxation from putting up one of my own Ono tunes and this time, that would be her take on the classic Cuban bolero"Bésame Mucho". Hailing from her August 2005 album "Romance Latino vol.3", "Bésame Mucho" has done much to bring down my blood pressure from earlier tonight. Mucho gracias, YouTube!
Takajin Yashiki（やしきたかじん）left quite the legend behind when he passed away about a dozen years ago, and evidently, anyone who has ever met him knew where he/she stood with him fairly quickly. Of course, there was the whole thing about him not liking Tokyo or Tokyoites, but as I mentioned in my first article on the late singer "Yappa Sukiyanen"（やっぱ好きやねん）, I think it was more that he disliked certain media corporations in Tokyo and their ways rather than a blanket hatred for the city.
Speaking of his signature "Yappa Sukiyanen" from 1986, which seems to be the one song of his that still gets performed by some of his friends such as Yoshimi Tendo（天童よしみ）, I was surprised to realize that his April 1993 20th single"Tokyo" was his biggest hit, according to the song's J-Wiki entry. I actually first heard it last night on the weekly episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and my eyebrows soared up on seeing the title and who the singer was considering what I noted in the first paragraph. However, I reminded himself that Yashiki didn't have any particular axe to grind when it came to Japan's capital itself.
Written by Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）and composed by Akihiko Kawakami（川上明彦）, Yashiki seemed to grab onto the words and music like a football and run to the end zone with it. It's quite the Latin-tinged pop song of greatly regretting that lost love in Tokyo, although going through the Kansai dialect-friendly lyrics, I sometimes wonder whether the protagonist was actually heartbreakingly lamenting no longer being in Tokyo anymore.
"Tokyo" got no higher than No. 52 on Oricon and initially, sales weren't all that brisk. However, over the next few weeks, the requests to radio stations started flooding in and pretty soon, Takajin got noticed once more not just in the Osaka area but all throughout the nation.
