Michiru Kojima -- Tokyo Pessimist（Tokyoペシミスト）

 

I've known a few pathological pessimists during my life and I've tended not to listen to them too long or much. In fact, phasing them out of my sphere has been my policy. During my years in the Tokyo area, I don't think I'd ever gone pessimistic (mind you, I'm not an optimist either). Certainly, I did have my blue periods but generally it was a nice life in one of the biggest cities on the planet.

Well, those ominous winds at the beginning of the song give an indication of what "Tokyo Pessimist" must be all about. A track from Michiru Kojima's（児島未散）March 1992 "floraison" album, despite the title, it's still a pretty cool-sounding and soulful 1990s City Pop tune although the protagonist within the song may be going through a bad spot. The melody is by Takashi Yamazaki（山崎孝）while the lyrics are by Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）, the pseudonym of former 80s aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）. Another Kojima and Fuudo collaboration can be found here.

Mie Takahashi -- Angel Fish/Double Date（エンゼル・フィッシュ・ダブル・デート）

 

As I mentioned before, lyricist Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）was once 80s aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）from Yokohama. So, I'm still getting a sense of what her aidoru career was like around 40 years ago.

I've already taken care of her debut single "Hitoribocchi wa Kirai"（ひとりぼっちは嫌い）from late 1983, but this time, here is her second single from April 1984, "Angel Fish". Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composed by Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, it's a pleasant summery aidoru tune that evokes the environment where angelfish would swim about in tropical paradise. Although Takahashi doesn't sound anything like her, "Angel Fish" does sounds like an early Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）song, something that lyricist Matsumoto would know because he did write several songs for the lass.

The B-side is "Double Date" which was also written by Matsumoto, but this time Omura takes care of both music and arrangement. It stands out for a thrumming bass, an electric guitar solo, and some whirlwind strings but there's something about the song that's missing for some reason. And despite the big-time songwriting team, the single only managed to get up to No. 135 on Oricon.

Mie Takahashi -- Hitoribocchi wa Kirai（ひとりぼっちは嫌い）

 

Noting in my most recent Michiru Kojima（児島未散）article that former 80s aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）under her pseudonym of Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）was responsible for the lyrics, I was curious about Takahashi's time as a teenybopper singer.

Well, I tracked down her debut single "Hitoribocchi wa Kirai" (I Hate Being Alone) which was released in November 1983. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）, the song starts off sounding like a summery tune created by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and throughout its three minutes and nearly forty seconds, it's a pleasant enough aidoru tune but nothing earth-shatteringly remarkable. And I have to admit that Takahashi's voice at the age of 15 perhaps wasn't the greatest fit for an aidoru as one that was a fair bit lower in timbre. Maybe something more in a harder brand of pop or even rock would have been better but I'm just wildly speculating. As such, the highest it got was No. 120 on Oricon.

To be honest, I think she sounds better on the stage with "Hitoribocchi wa Kirai". I'm going to have to look at the rest of her discography to get some wider insights about Takahashi. She only released 5 singles up to late 1985 and never had an album. After retiring from singing, she took on her Miki Fuudo alias to write lyrics.

Michiru Kojima -- Aikagi（合鍵）

 

That early 1990s City Pop arrangement for "Aikagi" made me wonder whether this could have also been an ideal song for someone like Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）back around the same time.

Martin also enjoyed having the synths around him as much as he did his horn section. However, "Aikagi" (Spare Key) belongs to singer Michiru Kojima（児島未散）. This was the opening track for her 6th album "Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni"（喜びの朝のために...For A Joyful Morning） which was released in October 1992. I think the title itself springs off all sorts of ideas of intrigue and mystery and that melody by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）with arrangement by Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）more than keeps up the pretense. Accuse me of having an overactive imagination but when I hear "Aikagi", I think that this could have been the perfect theme song for a Japanese legal drama in those early 1990s.

Lyrics are by former aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）under her pseudonym of Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）, and she does weave a story of suspense and possible betrayal by a beau as a woman decides to drop the affair like a bad penny. Both Takahashi and Kojima collaborated on another track on the album "Bayside Blue ~ Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni"（ベイサイド・ブルー〜喜びの朝のために〜）.

Michiru Kojima -- Bayside Blue ~ Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni（ベイサイド・ブルー〜喜びの朝のために〜）

I think I did mention earlier tonight about a cooling song for these blisteringly hot times on both sides of the Pacific.

Well, it looks like I've found another one in the form of this bossa-influenced tune by Michiru Kojima（児島未散）. This would be "Bayside Blue ~ Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni" (For A Joyful Morning). A track from her October 1992 6th album which has the second half of this song title as its own title, it actually does feel like it would be perfect for morning listening while munching down on that slice of toast and sipping that cup of coffee. Composed by Toshiaki Matsumoto（松本俊明）, it is that mix with the amenable sophisticated pop music from the late 80s and early 90s and some mellow Brazilian; I could almost be describing a nice brand of java here in itself.

The lyrics were provided by Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）which is a pseudonym for former 80s aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）. And since some of her aidoru tunes are up on YouTube, I will have to take a look at them as well. "Bayside Blue" was also the coupling song for Kojima's 10th single "Ren'ai Eiga wa Owari"（恋愛映画は終わり...The Love Movie Is Over）which came out in February 1993.