Mikiko Noda -- Awai Kisetsu no Sunglass（淡い季節のサングラス）

 

During that trip to the hospital yesterday, I was warned by my mother that the wait until my father completed the examination could be a long one. I didn't think it would be that bad (and it wasn't), but I still brought over my copy of "Obscure City Pop CDs 1986-2006" to peruse.

Singer Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）popped up a fair bit among the pages of "Obscure City Pop CDs", so technically, she wasn't really all that obscure. But all that aside, I decided to check out some more of her discography since it was from the book that I discovered a few of her delights. One was her "Awai Kisetsu no Sunglass" (Sunglasses of the Fleeting Season) from her 7th album of November 1991, "Rose C'est La Vie".

That song title sounds quite French New Wave which would make it an appropriate track to include into an album titled "Rose C'est La Vie". However, it isn't brooding jazz at all here. Keyboardist Masao or Hatao Kusuba（崩場将夫）was the composer while Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）was the lyricist for this song (and probably all of the other tracks on "Rose C'est La Vie") that has been described as residing in the area between City Pop and Girl Pop. There is a certain amount of panache and innocence combining within "Awai Kisetsu no Sunglass" and with those synthesizers of the time crashing in, I get reminders of what Miki Imai（今井美樹）was like in the same year. Just a young lady having her time out on the town.

Mikiko Noda -- Kono Eki kara（この駅から）

 

I remember reading about this 1992 Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）album "Cute" while I was reading through my "Obscure City Pop CDs" book in a freezing Castle Frank subway station in downtown Toronto one February night in 2024 before meeting up with Larry Chan for dinner. It's not easy leafing through a fairly thick tome with gloves on, let me tell you that. But it was from reading on that particular album that I posted up the snazzy first track "Kakete Miyou"（駆けてみよう）, a really nice sophisticated pop tune.

Then, recently, I encountered this lovely mid-tempo track from the same album. "Kono Eki kara" (From This Station) was written by Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）and composed by Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, and like a lot of songs that I do like, it's got a number of genres mixed into it: soul (quiet storm), jazz and pop. Of course, I'm a sucker for some of that keyboard work...maybe done by Sato himself...and the bluesy guitar solo. I don't think I'm exaggerating too much if I can say that "Kono Eki kara" could be the musical equivalent of a a really smooth Godiva chocolate bar.

Blue Eyes of Fortune -- Vivienne

 

KKP contributor and friend JTM was very kind in sending over this book called "Obscure City Pop CD's 1986-2006" the other day, and I've been poring over it. Sure enough, I've been able to find a number of albums that I haven't seen even in my bible on the uber-genre, "Japanese City Pop".

One such album was the 1994 product of a collaboration between singer-songwriter Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）and guitarist-songwriter Tomofumi Suzuki（鈴木智文）who was once with the 1980s New Wave band Portable Rock. That band had a young Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）as the vocalist and we Shibuya-kei fans know where she progressed some years later, don't we? Anyways, Noda and Suzuki's collaboration turned into the mini-album "Blue Eyes of Fortune" and the unit itself took on the same name. 

Listening to one of the four tracks on "Blue Eyes of Fortune", "Vivienne", had me thinking Shibuya-kei immediately, but what also helped was just seeing that face on the album and the typeface for the title. It all screamed "Shibuya-kei" and fashion plating all over the Champs-Élysées. Written by Noda and composed/arranged by Suzuki, there is something uncanny about how similar Noda here sounds to the Divine Ms. Nomiya. And this isn't Noda's first dive into Shibuya-kei; a few years earlier, she had also tackled the genre with "Travelin' Heart".

Mikiko Noda -- Kakete Miyou（駆けてみよう）

 

Kayo Grace Kyoku and Mr. Calico are enjoying their Orange Mimosas on the balcony in the big city, which probably means its Urban Contemporary Friday at KKP. Hopefully, now that we are officially in summer, people will also be having good times with friends on patios while nursing their own cocktails or beer.

It's amazing how I can run into some fine songs. The other day, commenter Souza noted how similar the musical concept and how identical the titles were for two certain albums by Arisa Mizuki（観月ありさ）and Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）. The two of them both cut albums titled "Cute" in 1995 and 1992 respectively, and apparently the music has somewhat of an urban contemporary vibe. Our conversation took place at the article for Mizuki's "Pitter Patter" from her "Cute".

Curious about Noda's "Cute", I took a listen to that first track. And dang, "Kakete Miyou" is one jazzy night out on the town. I was struggling a bit with the definition, though. Literally, it means "Let's Run" but I think its nuance from Noda's own lyrics has more of a "Let's Run With It" vibe as in inviting a friend to paint the town red. And those same lyrics don't necessarily talk about an evening thing but just a day in May to ride the bicycles. 

JULIA is the composer for this lovely sophisticated pop confection with some wonderful horns and harmonica and Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）behind the arrangement. The album was released in October 1992, and if a lot of the tracks are on par with "Kakete Miyou", "Cute" could be one of those beautiful 1990s City Pop moments.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Mikiko Noda -- Travelin' Heart

 

Number: 055

Lyricist: Mikiko Noda

Composer: Tomofumi Suzuki

From Noda's 1990 album: "Vacances est Vacances"

Listening to "Travelin' Heart", I thought of this as a resort tune reminiscent of the Fifth Dimension's "Up Up and Away" when right in the middle of the song, the chorus of "Up Up and Away" popped up! Through Tomofumi Suzuki's（鈴木智文）meticulous production and Noda's（野田幹子）classy vocals, this is a refreshing song to the ears and it's reminiscent of the resort pop at the time of her debut which had a fresh impression even in the 1990s.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Mikiko Noda -- Travelin' Heart

 

One observation that I've had about the Japanese is that they are heads-over-heels for their wine. I know that they love their beer, sake and shochu, but they have kept their eyes, ears and palates finely tuned for any of that Beaujolais Nouveau and other such libations. Japan was also the place where I first learned of the term sommelier, the trained and knowledgeable wine professional. There was even a J-Drama in the 1990s titled "Sommelier" starring Goro Inagaki（稲垣吾郎）of SMAP and there is a sommelier who pops up quite a lot on TV over there named Shinya Tazaki（田崎真也）.

Mikiko Noda（野田幹子）is a name that I've come across now and then over the years but as surprising as it may sound, I hadn't put her onto KKP until today. She's not only a singer-songwriter but also a sommelier who got her credentials sometime in the 1990s. Hailing from Osaka, she appeared on the TV audition show "Star Tanjo!"（スター誕生！...A Star is Born!）during high school in the early 1980s and in 1986, she participated in the 3rd annual Yamaha Vocal Auditions after which she debuted as a singer in 1987. She was noted for her velvety voice and was compared with another singer-songwriter Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）who had the same vocal qualities and debut time.

Now, what triggered me to finally bring Noda aboard was a bit of "scouting" into the City Pop Masterpieces 100 list from Yutaka Kimura's（木村ユタカ）"Japanese City Pop" book whose translations I post at the end of my Fridays on the blog. You won't be seeing this song up in Yutaka Kimura Speaks for several weeks but it's No. 55 (today will be No. 49) and it happens to be called "Travelin' Heart".

Noda's 7th out of 12 singles up to 2017, "Travelin' Heart" isn't something that I would call a City Pop tune per se. It's actually more in the snazzy Shibuya-kei vein but that's obviously no denigration against it at all. Written by Noda and composed by guitarist Tomofumi Suzuki（鈴木智文）, it's a smooth take-that against an ex-boyfriend while the female protagonist takes that exotic vacation to finally get that man out of her hair. Lyrically, it might be a slap in the face but melodically, it's a slap-banger. "Travelin' Heart" was released in November 1990 but it did get an earlier exposure since it was included in her 5th out of 18 albums, "Vacances est Vacances"（ヴァカンス、ヴァカンス）which had been released in August of that year. 

I also read in her J-Wiki file that Noda has quite the gift of the gab so she's been a regular on the TV and radio circuit for years. At the same time, I would also think that along with her sommelier skills, she would be an excellent dinner companion.