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.
Well, it was just on Tuesday that Mami Koyama（小山茉美）had another posting on KKP under her guise as the precocious android Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）from "Dr. Slump"（Dr.スランプ ）. She was providing another cute and adorable march for her island neighbour Suppaman.
But now that it's Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Koyama is back in her City Pop form, thanks to her debut album"Yurete Mami"（ゆ・れ・てMami...Sway Mami） from 1982. One of the tracks is "Twilight Train", and it's about as urbane as one can get in a Japanese pop song. Resonant keyboards, beefy bass and Koyama's light vocals help this smooth-as-butter track go down nice and slowly. Lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）were behind this one.
Just the one article tonight since I was out all day today with friends for brunch and then we caught the latest incarnation of "Superman" on the big screen at the theatre.
I'll be honest. I had my doubts about 2025's"Superman" with David Corenswet playing the Man of Steel because of what had come recently before. I mean, I liked Henry Cavill as Superman but I don't think his movies were executed particularly well. So I did have my suspicions about this new one. However, it actually worked out nicely for the most part although there seemed to be a few points of convenient plotting which had me smirking. It struck as being a mix of "Superman II"(1981) and the Marvel stuff, and I thought that the cast got their characters off to a good start for any potential sequels. Basically, compared to George Reeves' smiling Superman, Christopher Reeve's classic and stalwart Superman, and then Cavill's grim Superman, I see Corenswet's depiction as the somewhat Sad Sack or Hey, Dude Superman.
I was actually hoping to find some kayo kyoku that had something to do with Superman. There was nothing connected with the movie, bur I remember that there was a Superman in the manga-turned-anime series "Dr. Slump"（Dr.スランプ）in the early 1980s. Known as Suppaman, this guy was no hero but a jerk who may have looked like Kal-El but had the temperament and vindictiveness of the Lex Luthor I saw on screen today as played by Nicholas Hoult, as you can see above.
Not sure when the pickled plum-sucking Suppaman made his first appearance on Penguin Island but apparently, an insert song in tribute to him did come out in Episode 121 of the long-running "Dr. Slump" (so maybe sometime in 1983 considering the show's debut in 1981). Titled "Akogare no Suppaman" (Our Beloved Superman), this was recorded by Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）herself, Mami Koyama（小山茉美）, with support from the chorus group Koorogi '73（こおろぎ'73）. Written by Kayoko Fuyumori（冬社花代子）and composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi（菊池俊輔）as a cute little kiddie march, this particular Superman doesn't really deserve the cheerfully heroic song but Arale-chan had had more than a few ways to bring him down to Earth.
Never thought I would see the day that a song about an old handbag would get such the funky City Pop treatment, but as commenter Brian Mitchell has told me, the Japanese will write a song on virtually anything. I can certainly believe it.
Case in point is indeed "Furui Handbag" (Old Handbag) which was a track on singer and seiyuu Mami Koyama's（小山茉美）1985 album"Vivid". Sharing space with "Distance no Manatsu"（ディスタンスの真夏）, the two songs also share the same composer Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, and my personal SOP has been that whenever I notice a new song that has Yamakawa's fingerprints on it, I investigate it! Sure enough, "Furui Handbag" has the urban funk and stylings of what would become the Bubble Era City Pop a year or so early. Goro Matsui（松井五郎）took care of the lyrics here and I can imagine that a young woman has had plenty of adventures with that handbag all throughout the town.
It was late last night when I got the first tweets that mangaka extraordinaire Akira Toriyama had died on March 1st at the age of 68 due to an acute subdural hematoma. Those first tweets then turned into a flood of shock, grief and gratitude from anime and manga fans for his works over the past number of decades. His stature in pop culture was such that he received at least ten minutes of tribute on the main NHK newscast, only preceded by a report on the State of the Nation address by President Biden. News broadcasts around the world including our own news channel here in Toronto noted Toriyama's passing.
Of course, "Dragonball"（ドラゴンボール）will be stated alongside his name. That was his magnum opus for fans in Japan and elsewhere. However, as I have noted in previous postings of songs associated with his works, his earlier masterpiece, "Dr. Slump"（ドクタースランプ）will always be my favourite manga and anime by him. As with "Dragonball", there were a ton of characters surrounding the main ones of robot or android Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）and her creator Senbe Norimaki （則巻千兵衛）as they got into their hilarious scrapes in basically peaceful Penguin Village. The humour was cute and crude at the same time and I will never ever forget Arale's unique way of making her own soft-serve ice cream. Plus, there was also the long-running question of whether the essentially decent but pervy Norimaki would ever earn the love of young and beautiful teacher Midori Yamabuki（山吹みどり）...happily for all concerned, the answer was yes.
When my family got its first VCR in 1983, one of the first video tapes that we rented from Nippon Video was a couple of episodes of the anime "Dr. Slump". However, I wasn't as attached to the anime as I was to the original manga that Toriyama had published between 1980 and 1984. It remains the only manga in my home where I've gotten the complete collection and I actually enjoy the drawings there better than in the anime version. I not only have to thank Toriyama for introducing me to another fascinating wing of pop culture in Japan but I also have to give my gratitude to my host sister in Nara for recommending "Dr. Slump" when we were being shown around in the city in the summer of 1981 with her buying me Volumes 5 and 6 in the 18-volume collection.
I've already posted articles on the first opening theme of the original anime series and one of the ending themes (did not know that the first version of the anime lasted so long between 1981 and 1986). Well, I'm now providing the second opening theme by Arale-chanseiyuu Mami Koyama（小山茉美）with help from the children's chorus group Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）, "Wai Wai Koushinkyoku" (The Wai Wai March). Released in 1985 as a single, it was written by Asuna Kawagishi（河岸亜砂）and composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi（菊池俊介）. On the Oricon Children's Song chart, "Wai Wai Koushinkyoku" scored No. 38 in the 1985 yearly rankings.
My condolences to Toriyama's family, friends and his millions of fans around the world. バイチャ!
Man, when Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）wants to funk it up, she really funks it up!
Well, actually I am talking more about Arale-chan's seiyuu Mami Koyama（小山茉美）. Strangely, her J-Wiki profile only lists her anime character songs in her discography and nothing of her records and singles as a pop singer. One album she did put out in 1985 is her "Vivid".
The opening track is "Distance no Manatsu" (Midsummer Distance) which has been described by one commenter as being similar to a Phil Collins song although they didn't identify it. However, I think I know which one it is..."Sussudio", thanks to the keyboard riffs. However, JASRAC lists it as being written by Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）and composed by Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, and it's a pretty decent boogying City Pop song of its time. Not sure whether I could ever see Arale-chan, Senbei or the rest of the Penguin Village characters bop to it, but I would be interested in hearing more of this "Vivid".
Now, remembering all the way back to that restaurant dinner on the first night of our stay in Tokyo back in 1981, we were catching the tail end of a "Dr. Slump"（Dr．スランプ）episode which included the ending credits. They happened to consist of the characters including Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）in summer festival mode while dancing to "Arale-chan Ondo"（アラレちゃん音頭）. So I know that the producers had covered the minyo side of the music for the show.
What I hadn't been aware of is that somehow the seiyuu behind Arale-chan and her inventor-cum-father Senbe Norimaki（則巻千兵衛）, Mami Koyama（小山茉美）and the late Kenji Utsumi（内海賢二）respectively, joined up with some sort of group called Digital Concept to provide a single called "Arale-chan Disco"（アラレちゃんDISCO）in 1981. With a bit of synthpop here and disco there, the first song is "Dancing Doll" where Koyama in Arale mode does some rapping while Utsumi's Senbe gabs away. From what I've gleaned from the J-Wiki article on the TV series, the single probably wasn't used in any of the episodes but it was another example of merch for the very popular show.
It was written by Yoshiaki Sagara（さがらよしあき）and composed by Katsunori Ishida（石田かつのり）. There's something about that keyboard and rhythm section that reminds me of "Forget-Me-Nots" by Patrice Rushen, but that wouldn't come out until the following year.
OK, I understand the appeal of having a loved one bringing breakfast to you without you having to get up and making it in the kitchen. However, some delicacy, I think, is required in not letting those crumbs get on the sheets. Bedbugs will bite.😈
Coincidentally enough, this is not only my 2nd City Pop/AOR-themed song in a row, but it's also the second consecutive tune that has some connection with breakfast since I just wrote about Circus'（サーカス）"Petit Dejeuner" a few minutes ago.
"Morning Coffee wa Bed de"(Morning Coffee in Bed) is sung by seiyuu/singer Mami Koyama（小山茉美）who is famously known as the character Arale-chan from "Dr. Slump". But there's no hint of the supremely cheerful "N'Cha!"-yelling android here; instead, it's the rich and mellow voice of Koyama taking care of a relaxing urban contemporary song. I'm not sure if it ever happened, but "Morning Coffee wa Bed de" would have been optimal for a commercial for Coffee-Mate here, Creap over in Japan.
The song was written and composed by Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. For those who may not know that name, she's the lady who sang the classic "Douzo Kono Mama"（どうぞこのまま）, and so perhaps it's not surprising that "Morning Coffee wa Bed de" has that bossa nova lilt. To finish up, the song was a track on Koyama's 1983 album"Monodrama"（モノドラマ）.
I've just done an article on actress, seiyuu and narrator Mami Koyama（小山茉美）tonight but I wanted to do a twofer since Koyama has had a singing career which didn't need the use of her adorable Arale-chan（アラレちゃん）voice.
In all honesty, I had been planning to put on another Koyama tune up here, a City Pop number called "Twilight Train". However, the powers-that-be put the kibosh on that one so I stubbornly looked for something else that the singer had performed, and managed to find this title track from her 3rd album"Polka-Dot Magic" from 1984.
Composer Kan Ogasawara（小笠原寛）and lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）were responsible for "Polka-Dot Train" which has more of a New Wave arrangement. Plus, Koyama has a light and un-Arale-chan voice to deliver it. I was able to find a photograph of the actual album cover right here and it was illustrated by Akira Toriyama（鳥山明）, the creator of "Dr. Slump"（Dr.スランプ）himself. Near the bottom of the page is another rather cheeky drawing of Koyama herself with some of her fellow collaborators in the album, illicitly admiring something else of hers.😉
Reminiscing over that summer trip to Japan in 1981 with my fellow Japanese Language School graduates, I remember shortly after checking into the Tokyo Prince Hotel near Zojoji Temple going out with the guys for some dinner. We ended up in some small home cooking place near the subway and all squeezed around a slightly rickety wooden table before munching down on some sort of don. On the telly on a corner shelf, there were the ending credits for some anime playing about which had some happy woman with big blonde hair (remember, those were the 80s) dancing ritualistically in a traditional yukata and geta.
Some days later, when we met up with the high school girls at Tezukayama High School in Nara for our 3-day homestay, our host sisters introduced us to the world of "Dr. Slump"（Dr．スランプ）by Akira Toriyama（鳥山明）, who's now much better known for the whole "Dragonball"（ドラゴンボール）phenomenon. After all of these years, I still prefer "Dr. Slump", and my entire collection of the original manga is occupying some dark corner of a cardboard box somewhere. I will make it my mandate to dig those out again.
Anyways, those ending credits belonged to the anime version of "Dr. Slump" as I would later learn, and the blonde woman was none other than Midori Yamabuki（山吹みどり）, Arale-chan's（アラレちゃん）teacher and later stepmother as she would finally...and somewhat inexplicably...get married to Arale-chan's creator and father, the well-meaning but bumbling and perverted Senbe Norimaki（則巻千兵衛）.
Considering that we graduates had gotten to Tokyo in the hot and steamy month of July, it was no wonder that the ending credits for the show switched over to something more festive, and the ending theme matched the typical summery environment for Japan which was the season of festivals. Therefore, each of the summer episodes ended with "Arale-chan Ondo"(Arale's Folk Song) with all of the characters gaily enjoying that festival atmosphere.
Heck, the seiyuu for Arale-chan herself, Mami Koyama（小山茉美）, led the song herself with assistance from the children's choir, Otowa Yurikago Kai（音羽ゆりかご会）. However, the choir was given the name Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）when it recorded theme songs for tokusatsu and anime since these were through the auspices of Nippon Columbia.
The video here was for the ending of the "Dr. Slump" movie. Minami Mitsu*（満都南）was the lyricist while Shunsuke Kikuchi（菊池俊輔）took care of the music. Kikuchi was also the fellow behind the first opening theme for the show, "Wai Wai World"（ワイワイワールド）.
*Not totally sure on the transcription of the name into English. Once again, if someone knows for sure, please let me know.
