Yumi Yano -- Natsu e no Tegami（夏への手紙）

As much as I talk about the 10/90 ratio of the City Pop iceberg, I think there is also a similar thing with the 1980s aidoru iceberg. For every Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）and any A-lister aidoru, there is probably a dozen unknown teenyboppers that never float to the cream of the crop. In some cases, there is a good reason for that, but sometimes I believe that for some of them, things simply didn't luck out despite having a decent voice.

One of the latter variety is Yumi Yano（矢野有美）. Born in Kagawa Prefecture but raised in Tokyo, she was once discovered by a talent scout when she was in Grade 6, but her parents understandably refused to let their daughter go into show business. However in 1981 when she was in her final year of junior high school, the same scout made another approach and this time, Mom and Dad relented. It looks like young Yano began with some modeling gigs for magazines.

Later that year, she and six other teenage girls were selected to become the aidoru group Shower（シャワー）as part of an ad campaign for an after-shower perfume by Shiseido which generated two singles in the first half of 1982. But then a few years later in 1985, Yano went solo and ended up releasing three singles plus a 12" single and one album.

That one album was called "Glass no Border"（ガラスの国境...Glass Border） released in September 1985. I've been enjoying the opening track and Yano's final single (released in July), "Natsu e no Tegami" (A Letter for Summer) which was written by Osamu Takahashi（高橋修）and composed by PSY-S member Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）. Knowing Matsuura's work with PSY-S from that year, I'm not surprised with the light and bubbly synthpop in "Natsu e no Tegami", and the synths used here bring in a lot of nostalgic feelings. Yano herself doesn't have an incredible voice but it's definitely a steady-on aidoru delivery (at least in the recording booth), and I have to say that looking at the cover for "Glass no Border", that hairdo of hers back then makes her look like Akina Nakamori.

According to her J-Wiki profile, in 1986 Yano went over to California to study while still in the middle of her aidoru career. However, a shotgun wedding situation occurred which necessitated early retirement from the geinokai...at least from the aidoru part of it. Returning back to Japan with her son, Yano joined up with a modeling agency and was working as a model into the early 1990s at least.

Pingu & Friends -- Pingu Rap（ピングー ラップ）/ M-Rie -- Seeds of Happiness

I think that I may have seen a total of 2 episodes in their entirety of "Pingu" the famous adorable claymation penguin. In all likelihood, my television here in Canada and then back in Japan just came across the show for certain scenes during channel surfing. But it says something when I can still remember the name and distinct way of communicating Pingu and his family have, and interestingly enough, all of the characters are voiced by Italian voice actor Carlo Bonomi.

Pingu is popular in Japan, too, and I remember him popping up in a commercial here and there, including this one for life insurance (because when I see penguins, I always think of mortality...as you do).

Now, as is often the case whenever foreign programming (especially potential hits) is brought into Japan for broadcast, singers and bands are asked to come up with Japanese-language theme songs, and "Pingu" was no exception. And in fact, in July 1993, a CD single was released containing the opening and ending themes for the initial Japan broadcast for the show and on VHS tapes.

The first song is "Pingu Rap" with Bonomi having all of his characters provide their two cents into all of the rapping and scatting under the name Pingu & Friends over a simple quirky rhythm. "Pingu Rap" was the creation of Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）, one-half of the 80s technopop duo PSY-S. One would expect the star of the show to strut about with a backwards cap on his head.

Its partner song is "Seeds of Happiness" by singer-songwriter M-Rie, or as she's probably known on official documents, Rie Miyajima（宮島理恵）. M-Rie is already represented here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since she composed Rie Tomosaka's（ともさかりえ）hit "Escalation" in 1996.

Whereas "Pingu Rap" is quirky and fun, "Seeds of Happiness" is simply sweet and adorable. It has that really feel-good vibe in its slightly bossa nova arrangement, and so I wasn't surprised at all to hear that it was Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）who arranged and composed the song for M-Rie, with Mami Takubo（田久保真見）providing the lyrics. I've learned over the years that Yamakawa just has had this ability to create these lovely pop melodies. This song is an aural version of a Hallmark greeting card.

Dred Foxx and Ryu Watabe -- Romantic Love

Come, gather around kids and let me tell you the story of that old-time game platform, the Playstation 1!

Yup, those were the days back in the 1990s when Sony was still actually a force to be reckoned with. Not sure what they are up to now. But I do remember my old friend from Owase, Mie Prefecture (the rainiest city in Japan, doncha know?) coming up to my neck of the woods a few times a year carrying up a number of his game platforms including the PS1. He would stay over for about a week and introduce some of these games that were starting to come in big, and sure enough, some of our other old friends who had been on working-holiday visas back in Toronto in the early 1990s would drop by and play for hours. One time, one of those friends arrived and played "Biohazard" with my Owase buddy. They had already been playing for some hours when I decided to turn in for bed. Eight hours later when I woke up, they were still at it. They even told me that they had to turn off the PS1 for an hour or so since it was overheating.

Now on one of my Owase buddy's pilgrimages to the big city, he introduced me to "PaRappa The Rapper" which was created by artist Rodney Greenblat and PSY-S composer/arranger/musician Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）. I think Matsuura is probably now more well known as a video game designer and composer for game music but man, did he come up with cool music for PSY-S!

Anyways, he and I played the original "PaRappa The Rapper" when it came out in 1996, and I still remember the main character, PaRappa, crying out "I gotta believe!". Now in all honesty, I think my Owase buddy was far more proficient in his "rapping" since I have all the rhythmic ability of a limp strand of pasta. Basically, it ended up me watching him going crazy on the controls.

However, due to an interesting re-acquaintance a few days ago, I came across one of the first songs that was used in the game called "Romantic Love". Matsuura came up with this danceable Latin beat as PaRappa entered his training under Chop Chop Master Onion (no doubt, the sensei made his students cry under his tutelage). Well, the slow result was what I remember from the song as seen above.

The two guys that I've put up in the title line above are the voice actors Dred Foxx and Ryu Watabe as PaRappa and Master Onion respectively. Listening to "Romantic Love" at the right tempo was actually quite fun and I don't think even my Owase buddy got quite that good at the speed the song is playing above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSQ4IXHca3o&t=5s

As for that interesting re-acquaintance a few days ago, I encountered this YouTube video with most of the PreCure warriors dancing the night away to "Romantic Love". Somehow, the song rang a few memory bells and after a bit of digging, I realized it was the song that I had tried to "rap" through but ended up being another word that rhymes with "rap". Amazing how reunions occur on this blog.

Ah, by the way, you can also read my other article about another beloved game on the PS1 with some grand music.