Mayo Nagata -- Namida no Splash（涙のスプラッシュ）

Welcome to the final week in October 2025. Folks are probably getting ready for Halloween at the end of this week; they should be happy that October 31st falls right on Friday this year. Plus, I'm pretty sure that Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo should be plenty packed with cosplayers and other Halloween celebrants if I check those live cameras on YouTube.

The above video has a few promos including the last one at about 45 seconds for the TV Asahi show "Sports Frontier" that had its run in the early 1990s. If I'm not mistaken, late-night sports wrap-ups are still one of the mainstays around the midnight hour in Japan.

"Sports Frontier" had a plethora of songs act as the ending theme for the Sunday night 55-minute broadcast including one that I hadn't realized was part of the list. Well, right after that one came this July 1991 third single by Mayo Nagata（永田真代）titled "Namida no Splash" (Splash of Tears). Written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）as they did for the coupling song, "Uwasa"（う・わ・さ）, which turned out to be the previous Nagata song that I wrote about, this one is a bit different in that it isn't a City Pop tune. It's a straight pop song but it also seems to incorporate an underlying rhythm in its chorus that reminds me of the disco classic "Love's Theme" by The Love Unlimited Orchestra all the way back in 1973 along with a bit of reggae.

Mayo Nagata -- Uwasa（う・わ・さ）

 

Man, this is a pretty fine song but it's been difficult for me to classify in terms of genre...although that's no reason to not enjoy it, of course.

Mayo Nagata's（永田真代）"Uwasa" (Rumours) is the coupling song to her July 1991 third single "Namida no Splash"（涙のスプラッシュ...Splash of Tears） and what I can say definitively is that it's a nocturnal urban contemporary tune. Composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）, it starts off with some kakkoii percussion before we get some grumbly French phrases and the launch into a dark yet cool melody that feels exotic and James Bond-like; maybe there's even a touch of House in there, too. I wouldn't classify it as late-era Fashion Music because it's just so propulsive but it's not straight soul either. But my compliments to the singer and songwriters. A song like this will always have a place on my shelf.

Mayo Nagata -- Gambler（ギャンブラー）

 

Just a humble observation from me, but perhaps one of the Western songs that Japanese songwriters may have been looking up to for a few decades is Elbow Bones and the Racketeers' "A Night in New York" from 1984. It's one of my happy memories from 1980s music and I recall comparing microstar's "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）from 2011 to it.

The thing is that one singer probably beat microstar to the punch by twenty years. Mayo Nagata（永田真代）, a singer that I discovered relatively recently as a City Pop chanteuse for songs such as "Twilight in the Memories" from 1990, actually tried her hand at some swing jazz and pop with the first track from her October 1991 album "Sexism". "Gambler" is arguably even more similar to "A Night in New York", mainly through the underlying rhythm, so I gather that folks in the music industry in Japan must like swing while painting the town red. Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）came up with the lyrics while Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）provided the melody to throw that couple of dice in a Las Vegas casino.

"Gambler" was also the coupling song to Nagata's 4th single "Seikimatsu no Rap Zoku"（世紀末RAP族...The Rap Tribe at Century's End） which was released on the same day as "Sexism". 

Mayo Nagata -- Twilight in the Memories

 

Last March, I saw that saucy poster of Mayo Nagata（永田真代）in the pages of "Myojo"（明星）and then went to investigate whether any of her discography was up on YouTube. Indeed, I was fortunate to find some songs up there including "Through the Night", fully imbued with the R&B of the time as a track on her March 1990 debut album "Pathos".

The good times continue here with another track from "Pathos", "Twilight in the Memories" which was also written by Eiko Kyo（許瑛子）but this time, the melody was provided by Akihiko Kawakami（川上明彦）. All of the tracks on "Pathos", by the way, were produced and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）.

"Twilight in the Memories" also has plenty of cool soul and a good measure of sultriness once more due to Nagata's vocals. Japan may have been on the verge of having its bubble burst in 1990, but this particular song still has me thinking of the bright lights, big city and boffo nightlife. It's got the smooth groove, and heck, I'll always welcome a bluesy sax solo.

Mayo Nagata -- Through the Night

 

Whenever I have leafed through my old "Myojo"（明星）magazines, I usually notice this one-page poster heralding a single or an album by a singer named Mayo Nagata（永田真代）called "Sexism" with the singer looking quite devilish.

It turns out that "Sexism" was Nagata's third and final album to date released in October 1991. However, her debut album in March 1990 was "Pathos" and from it, I have "Through the Night", a slightly smoky R&B strut delivered in a similarly sultry and smoky manner by the singer herself. The background chorus is echoed out by someone that sounds really familiar, and it turns out that it is singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）who along with Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）also created the music while Eiko Kyo（許瑛子）provided the lyrics. This was about a year before Nakanishi himself would debut behind the microphone himself and then in 1992, he would have his first big hit with "Woman".

As for Nagata, she released a total of 5 singles and those 3 albums up to 1993. Since then, the Kagoshima Prefecture-born singer has also done some radio and is apparently active mostly in the Fukuoka area under her stage name of MAYO.