Sakura Fujiwara -- Soup

 

I've learned to make my fair share of soups over the years because of my solitary lifestyle in Japan. My repertoire has ranged from tonjiru (Japanese pork soup) to good ol' minestrone and I quickly picked up the point that soups gain better flavour and depth when the ingredients are left alone to get to know each other over a day or so. 

There's a better than even chance that my night tonight will be filled with Kohaku Utagassen on the PVR so I'm getting this final KKP song for 2023 posted on the afternoon of December 31st. Maybe one or two of the other writers will write up something but my contribution ends here until I'm on the side of 2024.

Listening to the good folks at "Weathernews Live", I've managed to find out about another nice song from their "Weather Music" segment, and it's by a singer that has already gotten some acknowledgement on the blog. Last year, I noted about singer-songwriter and actress Sakura Fujiwara's（藤原さくら）"Watashi no Life"（わたしのLife）, her digital download single from March 2022. Well, this song was her debut single from June 2016, "Soup". Like any good soup, it's got a fair mix of interesting ingredients in the form of pop, country and folk, all genres that Fujiwara has dabbled in although in this case, actor-singer Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）provided words and music. Fukuyama and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）worked together to arrange it. Lyrically, it's also about what a couple can add to their increasingly flavourful soup of a relationship over the years and decades. 

The collaboration between Fujiwara and Fukuyama didn't end there. "Soup" was also the theme song for the 2016 Fuji-TV drama "Love Song"（ラヴソング）which starred the two as a spring-fall couple. I don't know how the drama did, but "Soup" itself not only went to No. 4 on Oricon but it also went Gold and Platinum. It would end the year as the 71st-ranked single and become a track on Fujiwara's 2nd album as a major artist, "Play", which peaked at No. 5.

Anyways, thank you "Weathernews Live" for another lovely tip. And I must thank all of you out there, fellow KKP writers, commenters and viewers for checking in and supporting us throughout this year. There have been a lot of things that have happened in Japanese music, sad and good, in 2023, but once again, we've got a fresh new year coming in and hopefully we can continue the kayo kyoku journey together! Happy to say that we got to 1103 articles!

KOH+ -- Koi no Maryoku（恋の魔力）

 

Being a "Doctor Who" fan since Jon Pertwee's time in the role as the Third Doctor, I was surprised to find out through the social networking platform Mixi that there actually was a Japanese community of "Doctor Who" fans. One day, one question that I put out in the community was if there were a Japanese version of everyone's favourite Time Lord, which Japanese actors/actresses could play the different regenerations.

     

     

Well, I was rather excited to suggest the above three fellows. From left to right to down, we have Koji Yakusho（役所広司）(yes, it is Walmart and unfortunately the source has been taken down) from the original "Shall We Dance?", the manic Yo Oizumi（大泉洋）, and the leader of Arashi（嵐）, Satoshi Ohno（大野智）. The links for the names are just to acknowledge their sources.

Now, it's not as if I went through their entire filmographies to research this down; I just went on looks and hunch alone. The interesting thing was that although I didn't obtain much in the way of nibbles from those Japanese fans, one person did counter with actor/singer Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）. This was because of his role as the brilliant but eccentric physics professor Manabu Yukawa in the Fuji-TV drama "Galileo"（ガリレオ）based on the original novel series by Keigo Higashino（東野圭吾）. He has to bicker and work together with his partner in crime-solving, rookie detective Kaoru Utsumi, played by fellow actor/singer Ko Shibasaki（柴咲コウ）. Well, with that combination of weird genius and long-suffering partner, I gather that the comparisons with the good Doctor and companion would come to mind.

Anyways, the video at the very top of the article is the trailer for the next "Galileo" movie, due out this September titled "Chinmoku no Parade"（沈黙のパレード...Parade of Silence）. However, the very first season of the franchise debuted all the way back in 2007.

With both main actors able to perform behind the mike, the producer for the first season of "Galileo", Yoshihiro Suzuki（鈴木吉弘）, thought that having both of them record the theme song would be good so the duo KOH+ was born, and their first single "Kiss Shite"（KISSして...Kiss Me） was released in November 2007. This was followed by "Saiai"（最愛...Beloved） which was used as the theme song for a 2008 cinematic entry in the franchise.

Then, there was the second season of the series on television, and so KOH+ released a digital download single in May 2013 titled "Koi no Maryoku" (Magic of Love). Ironically, Shibasaki only guested on the first episode of this new season before passing the baton to another actress who would portray the good professor's new partner. Producer Suzuki had originally wanted that first theme song "Kiss Shite" to be as cheerful as possible to counter the fact that there was always going to be a death in each episode, and my impression is that "Koi no Maryoku" is following the tradition. Fukuyama wrote and composed the song; his role in KOH+ is guitarist and backing vocals (the "+" as it were), while Shibasaki is the main vocalist. It can also be found on the latter's BEST compilation "KO SHIBASAKI ALL TIME BEST" released in December 2017 which peaked at No. 33 on Oricon.

The above commercial was the first time for me to see Shibasaki back in the late 1990s, and I got a whole lot of twinkling eyes and beaming smile.

Masaharu Fukuyama -- Ikiteru Ikiteku（生きてる生きてく）

 

When I was about to hear this song by singer-songwriter and actor Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）, I had been expecting another wholesome pop/rock ballad. Instead, I got the lad acting mildly goofy for the camera and singing a Beatles-like melody in a slightly affected nasal voice. In fact, I was wondering whether Fukuyama was trying to emulate Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）of the Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）.

"Ikiteru Ikiteku" (Alive and Living) was Fukuyama's 28th single from March 2012, and as it turns out, there was a method to his madness in that the song was his contribution as a theme song to the "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）animated feature "Eiga Doraemon Nobita to Kiseki no Shima 〜Animal Adventure〜"（映画ドラえもん のび太と奇跡の島 〜アニマル アドベンチャー〜...Doraemon the Movie: Nobita and the Island of Miracles ~Animal Adventure~）which came out in the same month. According to the J-Wiki article for the song, Fukuyama had wanted to provide something upbeat that the kids could sing with a bit of ska. Sure enough, the singer was trying to go for Beatles music, and I'm thinking specifically of "Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da". As for the nasal quality, he recorded "Ikiteru Ikiteku" as if Bob Dylan was trying to sing it. Fukuyama wrote and composed it while he and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）arranged everything.

The song was another No. 1 hit for Fukuyama and it finished 2012 as the 38th-ranked single. It also ended up as a track on his 11th studio album "Human" from April 2014 which also hit No. 1 and became the 7th-ranked album of the year. 

Masaharu Fukuyama -- Kazoku ni Narou yo（家族になろうよ）

For the very first Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）article I provided on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", "Gang★", I actually described the comely singer-songwriter and actor as a Japanese incarnation of the Doctor from "Doctor Who". At the time I was a pretty big fan of the sci-fi franchise and Fukuyama himself was starring in the drama "Galileo" as that eccentric crime-solving physicist.

Nowadays, though, I've been seeing the fellow as one of the nicest invitees to a party that one could ever have (David Tennant seems to be that, too). He just strikes me as the guy you want to have to take care of the conversation on the sofa or even provide some music while the host of the party is busy with other things such as cooking and greeting more guests at the door. I haven't really seen too many of his interviews but from what I have watched, perhaps I can say that he's one of the more down-to-earth celebrities that I've seen on TV.

If guest Fukuyama were to entertain his fellow partygoers, then this is the song that I would envisage him performing. His 27th single from August 2011, "Kazoku ni Narou yo" (Hey, Let's Become a Family) is so homey and comfortable that a fireplace and a pot of soup would miraculously appear right by the stereo. Written and composed and arranged by Fukuyama with help by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, the lyrics were created during the downtime faced by the singer when his nationwide tour had been interrupted because of the 2011 earthquake in the Tohoku region. The song then became the campaign tune for a Recruit magazine specializing in weddings called "Zexy".

"Kazoku ni Narou yo" hit No. 1 on Oricon and became the No. 20 single for 2011. On CD, the song went Platinum with it selling 155,000 copies in its first week of release alone. Even bigger news was that, according to "Oricon Music", with the success of this single, Fukuyama became the solo male artist in Japanese pop music history to sell the largest number of singles and albums combined (approx. 13 million singles and 8 million albums), taking over from Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）who had held the record for 22 years.

The song also garnered an invitation from NHK to the Kokahu Utagassen for 2011 in which Fukuyama performed it at the Pacifico Yokohama Convention Centre. "Kazoku ni Narou yo" is also a track on his 11th original album "Human" which was released in April 2014. This album was in the No. 1 spot for 2 weeks running and was the No. 7 album of the year, going Platinum.

Tulip/Masaharu Fukuyama -- Seishun no Kage（青春の影）

I have been somewhat neglectful about not covering this tune by folk group Tulip（チューリップ）since I had written about their 1975 hit and 8th single "Saboten no Hana"（サボテンの花）back in 2013. "Saboten no Hana" got its second wind when it was used as the theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "Hitotsu Yane no Shita"（ひとつ屋根の下）in the early 1990s.

Well, there was another Tulip tune used in the show in one of the last episodes, and it was such that it probably had viewers weeping an ocean's worth of tears. That would be "Seishun no Kage" (Shadows of Youth), which was actually the band's 6th single from June 1974. Lyricist and composer and singer Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）delivered this song in such a mournful way that if anyone remembers the relevant scenes from "Hitotsu Yane no Shita", it would probably cause a Pavlovian reaction in their lachrymal glands.

Apparently, according to a Chunichi Shimbun article in 2014 via J-Wiki, Zaitsu had created "Seishun no Kage" with The Beatles' "Long and Winding Road" in mind. The song actually talks of a time after a man and a woman had split up from a relationship but supposedly, the number has often been used at wedding receptions. Go figure on that. In any case, "Seishun no Kage" got as high as No. 46 on Oricon. It's also a track on Tulip's 3rd album "Take Off" from April 1974.

Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）, who starred as one of the brothers in the original "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" and its sequel, provided a cover of "Seishun no Kage" in his 2002 album "Fukuyama Engineering Soundtrack ~ The Golden Oldies"（「福山エンヂニヤリング」サウンドトラック The Golden Oldies）. Released in June of that year, it peaked at No. 2 and ended up as the 25th-ranked album of the year.

Kazuo Funaki/Masaharu Fukuyama -- Zenigata Heiji（銭形平次）

Welcome to October! It's a brisk one out there and there's quite a cooling breeze flowing through home right now. Hopefully folks in Tokyo and the rest of Japan have been recovering from the latest typhoon to whoosh across the archipelago.

The samurai dramas of my childhood were "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）and "Kozure Ohkami"（子連れ狼）, so my brother and I were often enthralled when the good guys flashed their swords and made mincemeat out of the enemy, although gore and blood were thankfully absent in the shows.

I never caught "Zenigata Heiji" in any of its incarnations over the decades, though. Apparently, the title character was an Edo Era policeman in Edo itself whose claim to fame was nabbing criminals by flinging coins with incredible accuracy. Perhaps he was the equivalent of Batman and his batarangs.

Last Tuesday on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）one of the guest singers provided the theme song from the 1966 show on Fuji-TV. The original singer was Kazuo Funaki（舟木一夫）, who I've always known as the earnest fellow behind the kayo classic "Koukou Sannen-sei"（高校三年生）and some other young student-based tunes from the 1960s. But he also started tackling the more shibui musical material of the historical dramas.

While Shinichi Sekizawa's（関沢新一）lyrics gave a straight-ahead account of the heroism of Heiji (at first glance, I thought Zenigata Heiji was the full name of the hero, but actually it's a nickname of sorts with the first word referring to those weaponized coins), Sanechika Ando's（安藤実親）melody has got quite the jazzy swing to it although I still recognized it as an enka number. I wonder if Ando had been watching some of the detective shows in America from the same decade and had gotten some inspiration to infuse the usual historical drama theme song with some of that Henry Mancini stuff.

"Zenigata Heiji" was first sold in the record stores as part of Funaki's 38th single "Atsumori Aika"（敦盛哀歌...Atsumori Elegy）, released in May 1966.

Actor-singer Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）covered "Zenigata Heiji", and he gives his unplugged performance of the song above. The song was included in "Tama Riku"（魂リク）, his April 2015 album of cover songs. The album hit No. 1 on Oricon and became the 20th-ranked album of the year, going Platinum and winning Album of the Year honours at the Japan Gold Disc Awards.

I was wondering about what "Tama Riku" meant, but it's actually a shortened form of "Tama's Requests" which was a segment of Fukuyama's radio show "Masaharu Fukuyama's All-Night Nippon Saturday Special: Tama Radio"（福山雅治のオールナイトニッポンサタデースペシャル・魂のラジオ）with those last two words referring to "Soul Radio". The show had a long run of 15 years from 2000-2015 on Saturday nights from 11:30 to 1:00. I'm pretty sure that fans flocked to the speakers or headphones to listen to Fukuyama's dulcet tones.

Masaharu Fukuyama -- Kōshien（甲子園）

I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it over here. I mean, in the States, there are all of those college bowl games and Little League baseball championships alongside the professional team sports. However, then there is the Japanese High School Baseball Championship, affectionately known to all Japanese as Kōshien, which is actually the name of the stadium where the tournament is played in the Kōshien district of Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.

Here in Toronto, one sign of the latter half of summer is our Canadian National Exhibition, but over there in Japan, the big symbol is Kōshien where 49 high school baseball teams duke it out through 2 weeks in August every year under the blistering sun. As I've said, there isn't anything in Canada or even in America that has quite the scale of these games in terms of popularity on the high school level. Frankly, I think it even outstrips the professional baseball Japan Series in the number of viewers it attracts. And sometimes I wonder if the government had even thought of making the first or final day of Kōshien a national holiday.

While I was teaching in Gunma in 1990, I had an opportunity to teach some elementary school kids English for a week or so before the fall term began. It just so happened that one of the final days of Kōshien landed on the morning of an important match that probably included a Gunma high school team. The kids practically begged me to postpone the lesson so that they could watch the game on the community centre television set. Well, being a softie, it didn't take too long for me to relent like a hapless Starfleet officer getting assimilated by the Borg (yes, I think "Best of Both Worlds" was first televised in that year). That was one happy batch of younglings that day.

Singer-songwriter Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）managed to distill all of that love for Kōshien through the players, cheering high school students in the stands, and the viewers into a special song called "Kōshien" as the theme for the NHK broadcast of the competition this year. Surprisingly or not surprisingly, a full version of the original tune by Fukuyama cannot be found anywhere online, except for this excerpt which begins at around 1:49 in the above video. The full music video does exist on YouTube, but it's been muted.

It's too bad since the high school band backing Fukuyama up performs some pretty snazzy choreography in the video. And what finally got me to write about "Kōshien" was seeing him and the band show up on a recent edition of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）doing the full version after hearing a small bit of the theme song played daily whenever the NHK sports guy covered the competition on the news for those two weeks in August.

What I realized about "Kōshien" is that songwriter Fukuyama, with some inspiration from some fellow named J. S. Bach (according to the J-Wiki article on the song) via his "Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532", put together the song with elements of honour and glory for the institution and some of that fun jazzy showmanship of a brass band reflecting the joy of just participating in the competition. The high school band in the video here (uploaded by Kenji Sebastian) incidentally belongs to the Osaka Tōin Junior and Senior High School whose baseball team won it all at this year's Kōshien.

"Kōshien" hit No. 1 on the Daily rankings on Oricon for digital singles. I've got a feeling that this is going to show up on the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of the year.

Fubuki Koshiji -- Last Dance wa Watashi ni（ラストダンスは私に）

I've mentioned before that my years graduating from embryo-hood were spent listening to a mix of enka/Mood Kayo and American standards. The latter was mostly supplied by a group of 5 LPs by RCA Victor that probably came with the huge massive stereo that my Dad had bought decades ago. One of the tracks from that collection is the above "September Song" by the Ames Brothers. I've heard that the usual delivery of the song is one of wistful sadness but I've always preferred this swinging energized take.

But then some years later, George Lucas introduced us to his 1973 "American Graffiti" and with it, an amazing soundtrack of some of the rock n' roll from yesteryear. Along with Bill Haley & His Comets' iconic "Rock Around The Clock", my other favourite song from the album was Del Shannon's cool-as-heck "Runaway". I really enjoyed that boss sax and the Musitron solo. It was only two minutes-and-change long but what a ride.

Of course, probably because of the success of "American Graffiti", a lot of those K-Tel LP's that were hawked about on commercials were based on the music of the 1950s and 1960s. So in the years before disco briefly took hold, I got to know some more of the hits from those days. One song was the classic "Save The Last Dance For Me" by The Drifters, originally created by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman back in 1960. It was a No. 1 hit on Billboard and I will always remember it for that thrilling string solo near the end. This was another short tune but has continued to pack so much fun for me.

"Save The Last Dance For Me" was not lost on Japanese ears either, and in an age when covers of those American and British classics were plentiful, The Drifters' hit was also converted into Japanese to become "Last Dance wa Watashi ni" in November 1961. Given Japanese lyrics by Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）and performed by chanson singer Fubuki Koshiji（越路吹雪）, I'm not sure what the original recorded version was like, but on the 1963 Kohaku Utagassen, the vivacious Koshiji gave it more of an old-fashioned Latin jazz edge. She had also performed it a couple of years earlier on that Kohaku Utagassen.

Of course, being a standard, other singers have had their chance to try "Last Dance wa Watashi ni" on for size as well. For example, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）gave her version along with Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）who provided a snazzy blues flavour. His cover was recorded on a June 2002 release, "Fukuyama Engineering Soundtrack ~ The Golden Oldies"（「福山エンヂニヤリング」サウンドトラック The Golden Oldies）which peaked at No. 2 and ended up as the 25th-ranked album for the year.

Buzz -- Ken to Mary ~ Ai to Kaze no yo ni (ケンとメリー〜愛と風のように〜)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/goldtops/3867100317/?ytcheck=1
from A. Shino

Happy Friday, folks! When I made my way to Hokkaido on a short vacation several years ago, I noticed during our landing at Shin-Chitose Airport all of those huge trees speeding past us, and it felt like I was back in Canada again. Perhaps the residents living in Japan's northernmost prefecture are the one section of the demographic that doesn't get all starry-eyed about The Great White North.

I've mentioned about my Hokkaido vacation a few times over the years throughout the blog and to reiterate, I only spent 3 days in the Sapporo area. However since then, coming back to Toronto, some of my translation work has involved articles on Hokkaido tourism. And it seems like one of the highlights out in the countryside is this one lone tree out in the district of Biei, northeast of Sapporo.

And this poplar is called the Ken & Mary tree. The poplar got popular (I really needed to write that!) in the early 1970s since it was used in one of a series of commercials hawking the Nissan Skyline which starred a couple, presumably from America, named Ken & Mary who were traveling through the Japanese archipelago. I'm not sure whether the tree was the only natural feature that had viewers gaining a sudden wanderlust but then it not only stood out literally but also in a pop cultural sense. Mind you, I cannot answer whether there was an entire fleet of Skylines racing toward the Ken & Mary tree after the airing of the ad.

What musically adorned the commercial also helped it out immeasurably apparently. "Ken & Mary ~ Ai to Kaze no yo ni" (Just Like Love & The Wind) was this comfortable folky tune by the duo Buzz (バズ), and it just happened to be their debut single from November 1972. Now the other reason that I bring this song up now, aside from my personal Hokkaido connection is that the night before, is that I had written about Musukko Club's（息っ子クラブ）"Boku-tachi no Season"（僕達のSEASON）. And the composer for that particular aidoru tune was Masakazu Togo（東郷昌和）who happens to be one-half of Buzz along with his partner Hiroshi Koide（小出博志）.

Listening to Togo and Koide sing "Ken & Mary", I got some Simon & Garfunkel vibes. And usually with a Simon & Garfunkel song, it's time to relax in my armchair with a calming cup of tea. "Ken & Mary" has a nice comfy effect on me.

If you can excuse another groaner aside from the poplar gag above, Buzz generated some buzz because of their debut single. It became a hit although it didn't get into the Top 10, peaking at No. 19. But it did sell 330,000 records. Hiromitsu Yamanaka（山中弘光）and Nobuyuki Takahashi（高橋信之）provided the lyrics with the latter also composing the song.

Both Koide and Togo have had prior experience with bands before Buzz came along. Koide started up the band Indian Apple during his time at Tokai University before he and the aforementioned Takahashi launched another band, Stage Fright. As for Togo, he created a band with his junior high school classmate called Buddha's Narcissy. That classmate's name was Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）. Yep, it's the same Yukihiro Takahashi who would go on to be part of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and he just happens to be Nobuyuki's younger brother.

It was probably through the Takahashis' fraternal connection that Koide and Togo met. The elder Takahashi produced Buzz and since he also had a hand in the commercial world, he became in charge of coming up with the song for the Nissan Skyline. The rest was history.

Buzz would continue on throughout the 1970s and even provided backup singing for folks such as Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）into the 1980s. However, the band initially called it a day in 1982 before getting back together from 2007.

Many years later, actor-singer Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）would perform a cover of "Ken & Mary" for his 2002 album "The Golden Oldies". His rendition would bring even more depth thanks to his richer voice.

To finish, here are some more of the commercials for The Ballad of Ken & Mary. I don't think I would ever make a trip up to Biei specifically to see that tree but if I ever decided to make a tour of Hokkaido, I wouldn't mind a look-see.

Masaharu Fukuyama -- HELLO

Yep, it was fine to see Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）on the Kohaku Utagassen almost a week ago. However, I just had to put up the above video of an excerpt from a Japanese weekday wide show when the news came in earlier this year that the singer-songwriter-actor had finally tied the knot with actress Kazue Fukiishi. Apparently, it came in as Breaking News to the folks on the broadcast and I believe jaws figuratively dropped like anvils. It was amusing to witness the host even interrupting an interview with a US-Japan expert to announce this. But the running gag about Fukuyama was that he had been the most eligible (and desirable) celebrity bachelor for the longest time this side of George Clooney. So, when he got married, he got MARRIED (at the age of 46)!

Well, hello! No, really, "HELLO"....as in Fukuyama's 10th single from February 1995. It's one of the few Fukuyama songs that I know as a non-fan, and I first got to hear it when it was used as the theme song for a Fuji-TV Wednesday night drama titled "Saiko no Kataomoi"（最高の片思い...The Best Unrequited Love） starring a couple of 80s aidorus-turned-thespians Masahiro "Mokkun" Motoki（本木雅弘）and Eri Fukatsu（深津絵里）. I heard all of the hoopla surrounding this show as being compared to "Tokyo Love Story", one of my favourites. But I think I heard wrong since really the only comparison was between titles; the English title for this particular drama was "White Love Story". I simply managed to watch a part of the first episode before I decided to drop it. From the opening credits, it just seemed to be about Mokkun skiing all over the place, and I guess skiing was still all the trendy rage back in the 1990s.

However, "HELLO" didn't quite say goodbye. It had a lot more lasting power than the drama and I kept on hearing it well into the summer. And I'm fairly sure that it was quite the rousing favourite at karaoke as well. In fact, it went all the way up to No. 1 on the charts and sold in excess of 1.8 million copies, becoming the 3rd-most successful single of the year.

Masaharu Fukuyama -- Sakurazaka （桜坂）

Well, last week, I had to give out some sad news from the world of Japanese show business, so I'm quite happy and a tad surprised to give out some good news for a change. I heard yesterday that actor/singer-songwriter  Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）tied the knot at the age of 46 with 33-year-old actress Kazue Fukiishi（吹石 一恵）. From what I saw on NHK News, the reaction from women over in Tokyo was congratulatory with a bit of regret to see another eligible celeb bachelor go off-market. Hey, plenty of fish out there still.

So, what better way to commemorate the occasion than to put up one of his most successful hits, "Sakurazaka" (Cherry Blossom Hill) from April 2000? I was never a big fan of Fukuyama and the only other entry by me about him on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is "Gang" which was a later single that I enjoyed for its old-style jazziness. However while I was in Japan, I couldn't deny that "Sakurazaka", his 15th single, was all over the airwaves. It was almost everyday that I saw that video of him looking out the patio window on the telly as he crooned this ballad which stubbornly stayed up in the upper echelons of Oricon.

"Sakurazaka" remained at No. 1 for 3 weeks and later became the 2nd-ranked song for 2000. It broke the 2-million barrier and it won Song of the Year honours at the Japan Golden Disc Awards, but apparently it wasn't enough for him to get onto the Kohaku Utagassen...or perhaps he declined the offer. According to J-Wiki (although there is no reference so I can't be sure about the ultimate veracity), he got the title from a Sakurazaka which was located fairly close to where he had used to live in Ota Ward, Tokyo. Apparently he liked the name so he thought about making a song about it someday. Once the song became a hit, so did that slope. It became a popular date spot with the couples, although I wonder what the noise level may have been like for the residents.

Especially when I hear Fukuyama sing "Sakurazaka", I've occasionally theorized that he could be the 21st-century version of actor/singer Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三）who has also been a charismatic crooner and songwriter since his early days as the big man on campus in the 1960s. There is a certain similarity between the two of them although it may just be me.

In any case, I wish him and the blushing bride my congratulations.

Kiyoshi Maekawa -- Himawari (ひまわり)

I think he'd have looked better in a darker suit...

Most of what I consider to be "Summer songs" would ordinarily give me the image of soft sand beaches with the blue waters of the lagoon lazily lapping against the shore or, depending on the tune, eager surfers dudes, surf boards in hand... arm... dashing towards the large waves that would soon swallow them whole...Watch out for sharks! The latter would more often than not be derived from Yuzo Kayama's (加山雄三) discography. I can just imagine him in his Wakadaisho-movie days gliding across the surface of the sea on his board. But both of the aforementioned scenarios don't apply to Kiyoshi Maekawa's (前川清) "Himawari". Rather than the sand and the surf and tanned surfers, I think of the strong afternoon sun shining down on to rolling fields crowded with bright yellow sunflowers swaying away in the warm, gentle breeze. Actually, there is this old Oregon photo book that my parents have (they got it as a gift from friends there) that has got a picture similar to what I described above. I just love leafing through that book as it boasts the state's natural beauty.

The photo was taken by Ray Atkeson
from "Oregon III", "Cascade Range" section.

Anyway, written and composed by the popular singer-songwriter, Masaharu Fukuyama, who hails from Nagasaki as well, "Himawari" gives out this really relaxed and, in my opinion, lazy-weekend vibe with its slow yet cozy pace and Mae-Kiyo's deep, slightly husky delivery. Although it isn't one of my top favourite tunes from the veteran singer due to its length, clocking in at almost 6 minutes - I have gotten used to the briefness of most kayokyoku - and its lullaby-like music, I do appreciate it from time to time on bright, clear days with the scenery from the car or train carriage whipping by. The video below has Fukuyama's version, which is gentler and more deconstructed compared to the one he put together for Maekawa. He kinda sounds like a combination of ASKA and Keisuke Kuwata (桑田佳祐), if you ask me.

"Himawari" was released in June 2002 as Mae-Kiyo's 24th single, and by far, it his only solo single to break into the top 20 on the Oricon charts, peaking at 13th place, if I'm not wrong. He also sang "Himawari" once during his 12th appearance on the Kohaku on the same year.

(The "Kayo Concert" video was taken down but 

here is another performance by Maekawa.)

As for the video here, it was from a "Kayo Concert" episode last August, and it happened to be the first time I caught Mae-Kiyo performing on TV. Needless to say, I was... delighted. Ecstatic. On cloud nine.

Yup, that's the very expression that
sums up "Himawari" perfectly.

amazon.co.jp

Masaharu Fukuyama -- Gang★

I'm kinda crossing pop cultural interests here at the beginning of this write-up, but I've always wondered which Japanese actors would've made good incarnations of the British time-and-space hero Doctor Who. I've got a small list, but one person I probably could include is Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）, solely on his portrayal of the tall, handsome, brilliant and eccentric physicist who solves crimes in the drama, "Galileo". I never saw the series except for its commercials, but he has that certain intrepid if slightly befuddled look about him which would've made him an ideal Japanese Time Lord. For those who have never heard of "Doctor Who", allons-y!

However, my memories of him mainly reside from one of his early dramas....all the way back in 1993, to be exact, when he was part of that large ensemble cast which made up the heartwarming and occasionally tearjerking "Hitotsu Yane no Shita"（ひとつ屋根の下....Under One Roof）. He played the 2nd-oldest son brought back into the fold who was just starting his career as a doctor, and was, in terms of temperament, the Michael Corleone to Yosuke Eguchi's（江口洋介） nice-guy version of Sonny Corleone (yes, "The Godfather" trilogy is also another interest of mine).

But I also know a bit of his career as a singer. I'm not particularly a fan of his although I know about his huge hits like "Sakurazaka"（桜坂...Cherry Blossom Slope） and "Hello". However, being a jazz fan, I was struck by his 17th single, "Gang★"(I will leave out the star from now on due to reasons of laziness). Yes, I know it's not totally jazzy but there is a cool horn section in there, and I also liked the band Stray Cats with their rockabilly sensibilities which this song somewhat reminds me of. Fukuyama was responsible for coming up with this swing-a-linging tune and he even gives his bit of scat in there as well.

The official video is also interesting for that mix of sex and Halloween....and "Alien", and it has a couple of celebs in there as well: Haruhiko Kato（加藤晴彦）as the hapless victim and Miho Yoshioka（吉岡美穂）as the fanged femme fatale. Now, as I've said a number of times before, I'm not a big lyrics guy, so I was rather surprised when I came across the English translation of Fukuyama's lyrics, especially the meaning behind the title, "Gang"(star not included)....didn't have a clue about them. All I can say is that his onscreen sister in "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" or his onscreen partner in "Galileo" would probably be racing to feed the lad a soap diet. You can check out the translation here:

utau-inu.com/centj/translations/gang_fukuyamamasaharu.htm (by Brian Stewart and Takako Sakuma)

 According to J-Wiki, although the song took about 14 months to create from pencil to CD single, the basic melody was ready to go within about 30 minutes. While the singer was wracking his brains to get "Sakurazaka" (which had been released almost a year before "Gang" was), he started whipping up this sexy little ditty as a bit of a palate cleanser. "Gang" was released in March 2002, peaked at No. 3 and ended the year as the 90th-ranked song.

A very young Fukuyama in one of my ancient
Myojo magazines.