Maiko Kawakami -- Watashi to Iu Tanin（私という他人）

 

For my last article tonight and for that matter, the final article for September 2025, I'd like to refer you to an article I did a couple of years ago featuring actress Maiko Kawakami（川上麻衣子）. In her J-Wiki article, she is identified as an actress only, but she did put out her albums and singles between 1981 and 1984, and in fact, I highlighted her sophomore album "ÄLSKLING"（エルスクリン）from June 1983.

Well, another track from that album is here tonight and this is "Watashi to Iu Tanin" (That Other Person Known as Me). Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Akira Mitake（見岳章）, the song follows that certain arrangement I've often heard from tunes by aidoru and other female pop singers of the 1980s; there is that footloose-and-fancy-free vibe with the plunky piano/keyboard rhythm as if the arranger...in this case, Hiromoto Tobizawa（飛沢宏元）...is following the daintily-dressed singer as she is skipping down the street while sporting a parasol. Ah, those were innocent times.

Maiko Kawakami -- ÄLSKLING（エルスクリン）

 

Maiko Kawakami（川上麻衣子）is an actress who I've heard about over the years but didn't know that she had been born in Stockholm, Sweden to a couple of interior designers (no IKEA jokes, please). However, her family moved back to Japan when she was around a year old.

Another thing that I hadn't known was that she did have her time behind the recording mike. Kawakami released four singles between 1981 and 1983 along with three albums between 1982 and 1984. Her second album from June 1983 was titled "ÄLSKLING"; the title is Swedish for "darling". The video uploaded by mingumangu has the second and ninth tracks.

Track 2 is "Zanshou" (残照...Afterglow) which is some dreamy City Pop concocted by lyricist Kaoru Asaki（麻木かおる）and composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）with some smoky if not all that strong vocals by Kawakami. Track 9 at 4:27 is "Tsumetai Bed"（冷たいベッド...A Cold Bed） which picks up the pace a bit into a more mid-tempo tune with a hint of New Wave. Asaki also provides the lyrics here but this time, the composer is Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）.

One more song from "ÄLSKLING" is the first track "Kanshou"（感傷...Sentimentality） which also was Kawakami's 3rd single from July 1983. It was written and composed by Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）.