I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Nothing like a cool City Pop ballad to add that sensation of drama and urban contemporary refinement to any commercial about tires...in this case, Yokohama Rubber (try 1:50 of the above video of TV ads). Well, after all, tires are integral parts of cars and cars are literally the vehicles for some good City Pop.
I'm talking about Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）"Blue Jean Pierrot" (A Clown in Blue Jeans). His 8th single from March 1985, this is a downright bitter ballad about being tossed aside from a relationship with the paramour feeling like the title. It's too bad since the song has a cool and measured tone before the flowing chorus...something good for the highway. Written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, "Blue Jean Pierrot" reached No. 30 on Oricon. The song also found itself on Inagaki's May 1985 release "No Strings" which peaked at No. 3 on the album charts.
Just to echo my friend, fellow KKP administrator/contributor and occasional lunch/dinner buddy, Larry Chan,Happy 61st Birthday to Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）. As I mentioned in my comments to him following his article on "Gomen to, Suki to"「ごめんと、好きと」, it used to be the tradition on the blog whenever we celebrated July 13th that we gave our greetings in the form of nervously hoping that Nakamori was doing OK wherever she was. Well, in the last couple of years, it looks like she is feeling fine and so I'm ready to retire the tradition and know that she's in pretty good spirits.✌
Reading the previous article, I was more than happy to have our annual July 13th Akina article written by Larry with my blessing since it's been another tradition to alternate our contributions, year by year. But then I thought why not have the two of us providing articles on this hot summery day? Mind you, both of us gave our Favourites lists a dozen years ago: "Larry's Akina Top 6 Picks (post-1991 era)" and "J-Canuck's Favourite Six Akina Songs"...man, time flies quickly!
Since a lot of us on the blog put up a lot of Akina tunes from early on in KKP's history, it's been a little difficult as of late to find something "new", but I was able to once again scour the early B-sides of the lass' singles. As a result, I was able to find this one titled "Ame no Requiem"(Rainy Requiem) which was the flip side to her September 1983 single"Kinku"（禁区）. That song, coincidentally enough, was the very first Akina song I heard and it was the song that she sang during her first appearance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of that year.
"Kinku" was that rather dramatic technopop hit composed by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, and so I figured that knowing that, "Ame no Requiem" would most likely be a much softer ballad vocalized by Akina in that high and feathery love song style that she used to do in her earliest years to contrast with the deeper voice that powered songs like "Kinku",
Well...yeah..."Ame no Requiem" was definitely a different kettle of fish. It came off as being so French that while I was listening to it, the taste of garlic and butter escargots popped into my mouth along with a glass of Bourgogne Aligoté. The surprising thing was that the composer was none other than Koji Tamaki（玉木浩二）, lead singer of Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）; never realized that he had that much of the City of Lights in him. He definitely brought in the Fashion Music for Akina! Rui Serizawa（芹沢類）was the lyricist while Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）took care of the arrangement (he probably helped out with the French flavourings, too).
If you have any B-sides of Akina that you've enjoyed, please let us know!
Whenever the name of the actress Isako Washio（鷲尾いさ子）comes to mind, I always think of those vitamin drink commercials she did, complete with her own jingle. They were quite popular during my time in Japan on the JET Programme in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
What I hadn't been aware of though is that Washio had already been releasing music since before that big Tekkotsu Inryo（鉄骨飲料）commercial. Although "Tekkotsu Musume"（鉄骨娘）was her debut single in 1990, Washio had released her debut album all the way back in October 1987. Titled "Kanojo no Kaze ~ son vent a elle"（彼女の風...Her Own Wind）, there was definitely an effort on the producers' part to bring some Gallic flavour into the proceedings since a number of the tracks were covers of French songs by France Gall and Francoise Hardy.
One such cover was "Mes amis, mes copains", translated into Japanese as "Onna Dooshi"(Among Women). The original had been sung by pop singer Annie Philippein 1966, with Jean Hebert Leccia and Andre Raymond Pascal as the songwriters. Translated by Youta Shichino or Nanano（七野洋太）or Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）depending on whether you go with the JASRAC database or J-Wiki respectively, Washio's cover is a bit more synthy and haunting. It feels like dancing a slow waltz in one huge and foreboding castle in France. Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）was responsible for arranging all of the tracks on the album.
I can actually say this for the first time since I returned to Canada from Japan for good back in late 2011. Today is feeling like torrid Tokyo summer weather. It is majorly like swimming in atmosphere outside. All I can say is that I'll be glugging down a lot of water and other refreshments today and probably tomorrow, too.
Back in the day, popular music had hit songs which inspired other singers to come up with so-called answer songs to essentially rebut the original songs' message. For example, Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）1980"Tokyo"（東京）can be seen to be the bleaker response to Kenji Sawadas's（沢田研二）all-is-wonderful "TOKIO" from the same year (you can listen to both songs on "Tokyo Songs").
One of the earliest Japanese pop songs that I ever heard since I realized that I was actually loving to hear them was Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）July 1982"Aishuu no Casablanca"（哀愁のカサブランカ）which was the cover of Bertie Higgins'"Casablanca". I only found out recently that aidoru Yu Hayami（早見優）had released an answer song to that Go song as her 3rd single from October that year. Titled "Answer Song wa Aishuu" (The Answer Song is Filled with Sorrow), it was created by a different set of songwriters: famed lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）, composer Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. And yet, there is a similarity with this and "Aishuu no Casablanca" in terms of the overall melody and there isn't really any rebuttal at all within Hayami's song. It's actually more like commiseration on the loss of love. The two tunes can get together at a bar and drink down their sorrows like buddies. In any case, Hayami's third single reached No. 38 on Oricon and was a track on her sophomore album "Image" from November 1982 which hit No. 15 on the album charts.
It's close to the end of May so in Toronto that means that it's time for the annual Doors Open festival. This is where various establishments ranging from companies to private buildings with some style and history open up for a couple of days for the public to explore. The last time I was at Doors Open was a few years ago and since then, various things happened so that I couldn't attend, and so I was rather determined to go to the 2026 edition despite the warning of heavy rain and high winds.
Well, my friend and I made it to one Heritage building which had also been converted into a food hall filled with various restaurants so I was able to take photos and have a nice hamburger lunch. However, after waiting over an hour to get into The Toronto Star newspaper company while the elements whipped the surprisingly long line silly, we gave up (it was still another hour to go before people could take the elevator to go up) and grabbed a coffee before heading back home. Ugh!
Anyways, the inclement weather is continuing tonight so we may be unlucky enough to get hit with a power outage in the middle of me writing so I apologize in advance. We've actually got quite a lot of outages happening throughout Toronto tonight so I shouldn't be surprised if my neighbourhood does get hit with one.
All the more to bring out enka singer Kokoro Umetani's（梅谷心愛）latest single from March 2026, "Hoshizora no Ruby"(Night Sky of Rubies). It has quite the pedigree of songwriters helping out here with lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, and there is something about this song which feels rather nostalgic in a 70s or 80s kayo way. Perhaps there is a mixture of enka and kayo in here so the New Adult Music tag may apply. And in fact, it almost feels like an Aming（あみん）or Takako Okamura（岡村孝子）tune. "Hoshizora no Ruby" reached No. 21 on Oricon.
It's been several years since I posted a Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）song onto KKP and he's done some evolving over the years at least from what I've included in his file on the blog. I started with his 2nd single from March 2019, "Otoko no Junjou"（おとこの純情）which was a straight-up enka and then followed up with his 3rd single, the more Mood Kayo"Sentimental Heart"（センチメンタル・ハート）, a March 2020 release.
Well, six years have whizzed by and the young lad has become a man with a change in hair colour, to boot. Tatsumi appeared recently on NHK's "Hayauta" with his latest from March 2026, his 10th single"Lonely Generation", and to be honest, I'm having the Dickens of a time trying to categorize this one. Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）, who usually composes Junretsu's（純烈）songs, took care of this one.
As a brief aside, when I was looking through the KKP Miyuki file, I noticed that I had completely forgotten to add the music genre to Junretsu's "Futari dake no Himitsu"（二人だけの秘密）, probably because I couldn't really nail down an ultimate genre; in the end, I put it down to pop (of the kayo kyoku style).
I was having the same slight dilemma with "Lonely Generation" which was arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）and written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）. With those veteran guys behind it, there is something old-fashioned if very jazzy about this one. It's definitely not enka anymore although it may be a mix of some Neo-Mood Kayo and jazz/rock fusion. So, why not give it the New Adult Music tag although I've also thrown in the pop tag here, too, because it can perhaps fulfill the Neo-kayo kyoku feeling.
As the title states, the song is about isolated young folks struggling to make connections while not admitting to the loneliness. I would usually think Shibuya would be the setting for this sort of song, but the music makes me think more Akasaka and Roppongi. Maybe young Yuuto is making like an employee of the month at a host club there.
Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）trademark song will forever be "Momen no Handkerchief"(木綿のハンカチーフ）. It has that fresh countryside feeling of innocence and hope emanating from a young lady. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, one couldn't have asked for a steadier trio of song creators to weave this hit.
But guess what? I guess that young lady simply couldn't resist that pull from Tokyo or whatever huge metropolis was close to her small town. She finally relented and took the train and ran into the disco to dance out her passions. And that's where we are with "Unlimited" which is represented by the "∞" on Ohta's source album"Umi ga Naiteiru"（海が泣いている...The Sea is Crying） from December 1978. It also happens to be the final track on the album, so I guess Ohta wanted us to continue all of the nocturnal dancing.
The crazy and wonderful thing is that Matsumoto, Tsutsumi and Hagita were also all in on this number as well which had me thinking mirror ball, Bee Gees and flashing floor panels. But then again, back in those 1970s, when it came to disco stuff, Tsutsumi was the go-to guy for the melodies. That piano instrumental break followed by the electric guitar is absolutely sublime to me. Enjoy boogeying the night away!
I'm hoping that Yokohama has been able to enjoy sights like the above in the Minato Mirai 21 area. I always liked this part of the famed international port. Plus, hey, there's a lot of foodie opportunities there, too. I still remember that all-garlic restaurant in one of the towers. My friend and I were absolutely guaranteed of seats on the train back home.🧄
Well, it's time for another Yokohama-based song and this time, I have singer-songwriter Yuko Tomita's（とみたゆう子）February 1986 single"Yokohama Kaze no Station" (Yokohama Windy Station). Just judging from the cover of the fetching Ms. Tomita in her black party dress and the overall design, I figured that this particular song was also a track on her album from the same month "Moulin Rouge".
Last year, I covered Tomita's final track from "Moulin Rouge", "Silk-Hat-Club" which was this light and happy techno jazz tune, and it seems as if the synthesizers were out to party as well for this album. "Yokohama Kaze no Station" appears as the second track on the A-side and indeed the keyboards are in play here as well, but the style is more 1950s or 1960s pop love song (like the crystalline instrumental bridge, by the way) as sung by Connie Francis, thanks to Mitsuo Hagita's（萩田光雄）arrangement.
Japanese television loves to use its fair share of musical cues within programs such as variety shows. For example, if there is an instance where a couple of celebrities are about to come to a screaming match or physical blows (mostly joking...mostly), Tomoyasu Hotei's（布袋寅泰）famous "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" roars in like an oncoming storm.
Well, I think another song intro which is much older than Hotei's classic could have been another perfect shredding guitar cue, and I have to admit that I have to give myself another Gibbs slap upside the back of my head since I had unintentionally omitted it from the pages of KKP for years and years. When it comes to Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）"Zettai Zetsumei", her 23rd single from August 1978, I put it up there with her "Imitation Gold"（イミテイション・ゴールド）and "Playback Part 2"（プレイバック・パート２）as the 70s aidoru'ssongs of fury...as in "Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned".
"Zettai Zetsumei" can be interpreted as "desperate situation" or "stalemate", and both definitions can set the scene described by Yoko Aki's（阿木燿子）lyrics of irate showdown and her husband Ryudo Uzaki's（宇崎竜童）hard rocking confrontation music. You see, we have a love/hate triangle at a cafe somewhere in which at least one of the women has finally had enough of the status quo, and she and the other woman are giving the ultimatum to the guy they share. Who will win? Who will lose? And are there any sharp utensils nearby? You'd be surprised at how much damage a butter knife can do.
Even the cover of the single has Momoe looking terrifying. She looks like she's saying "Oh, really? THAT'S what you're going with?". Ay, carumba! "Zettai Zetsumei" peaked at No. 3 and ended up as the 34th-ranked single of the year. It's also a track on the singer's September 1978 15th studio album"Dramatic"（ドラマチック）which went as high as No. 6 on Oricon.
Of course, it all depends on where you live, but earlier this morning, Torontonians had another opportunity to catch the latest blood moon up in the sky. Sleep was more of a priority for me so I was happy enough to witness the phenomenon via television.
In keeping with the lunar theme, I would like to introduce "Tsuki no Muse" (Moon Muse) by 80s aidoruand actress Narumi Yasuda（安田成美）. Some days ago, I received a comment from someone underneath the article I provided for her April 1984 sophomore single"Tropical Mystery"（トロピカル・ミステリー）and they told me about the Ryuichi Sakamoto-esque（坂本龍一） feeling imbued in the B-side which is "Tsuki no Muse".
Well, whenever anyone tells me about a song that I had never heard that has a Sakamoto-esque feeling, I do listen. And indeed, "Tsuki no Muse" is different from the Fashion Music-ish"Tropical Mystery" in that there is a whimsical technopop arrangement that reminds me of what the late great Professor did back in those days with synthesizers, but the crazy thing is that it was the same three fellows behind the A-side that were responsible for the B-side: lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Many thanks to that commenter.
Isn't this something? A couple of lovers in their best finery as they look longingly into each other's eyes under a huge shining supermoon in some exotic city such as Casablanca. Cocktails and dinner are awaiting them on a table a few metres away.
I'm pretty sure that the setting established in Yoko Minamino's（南野陽子）"Moon Rendezvous" is far less glamorous and luxurious but no less exciting for the people involved. From what I've understood of Shun Taguchi's（田口俊）lyrics, the lass is happily expecting to meet her beloved Dad or beau at the airport...or maybe both; that would be quite the interesting thing. As for Mitsuo Hagita's（萩田光雄）melody (and he also arranged the song), considering the lyrics and the title, I would've been anticipating a City Pop tune, but instead, it hews to an innocent and smooth bossa nova style. For an aidoru song, it sounds quite mature and refined, and at the time, Nanno was still under twenty. The song wasn't released as a single but was included as a track on her November 1986 2nd album"Virginal" which peaked at No.2 on Oricon.
When I first saw this title, I immediately thought that this should be the title for the next Benoit Blanc movie. Yep, my impression of any Colonial Hotel is that it must be located somewhere near the bayous of Louisiana. And yet, there is a Colonial Hotel located right in my currently icy province of Ontario in the community of Grand Bend.
Anyways, moving onto that song, "Colonial Hotel no Dekigoto"(Incident at the Colonial Hotel) is another example on KKP where I start with the B-side of a single before going to the A-side. And indeed, this was the A-side for Seiko Tomizawa's（富沢聖子）1984 single that I'm getting to today more than a year after having tackled the B-side of "Anata to Southern Island"（あなたとSouthern Island）.
For something titled "Colonial Hotel no Dekigoto", one would imagine something rather zydeco in the arrangement, but instead, we get something on the order of jazzy sophisticated pop and Brazilian...namely, bossa nova. This is a nice contrast to the tropical breeziness of "Anata to Southern Island". It's almost the same cast of characters for both songs: lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）but for the A-side, it's composer Takuya Takahashi（高橋拓也）. A Benoit Blanc movie is something that I don't hear here...it's more Henry Mancini-esque with dashing romance in this one, and it fits the type of music that Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）tackled with aplomb in those 1980s.
Because we've been writing "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for fourteen years now, I've been getting interested in seeing some of those B-sides for those famous singles by various kayo performers. To think that it's taken this long just to start plumbing the depths of "the other side" is somewhat astonishing although we have managed to take a look at some of them even before last week's anniversary.
One of the earliest posts that I put up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was for Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）classic "Momen no Handkerchief"(木綿のハンカチーフ）which was released back in December 1975 as the Tokyo-born singer's 4th single. The cheery kayo kyoku has stuck with Ohta all these decades so that basically whenever she shows up nowadays on some TV show, it's to sing either "Momen no Handkerchief" or "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo"(さらばシベリア鉄道）.
The plot of the A-side involved the relationship between a couple of smalltown lovers in which the guy is now working in the big city while the gal is still in the hometown. Well, the somewhat more melancholy "Yureru Aijou" (Wavering Love), the B-side, seems to be a sequel of sorts for "Momen no Handkerchief". I've only listened to it a few times but the impression I'm getting is that the couple have met up again during the boyfriend's semi-regular visits back home, and maybe, just maybe, things are a little unsteady on the romance front, at least according to what I've gleaned from the title. Perhaps the guy is worried that his girlfriend is losing interest due to the distance and passage of time but she keeps reassuring him that she doesn't need to see a ring or that small house built for her and him...just that occasional but regular "I love you" is fine enough for now.
The same team behind "Momen no Handkerchief" was also taking care of 'Yureru Aijou": lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Methinks that if a 2026 single based on the fate of the couple were produced, I would think that the couple are celebrating their 45th anniversary, still in that small house in their hometown, with grandchildren.
One of the tropes for kayo kyoku that I've often repeated is that especially for the late 80s aidoru, the arrangements surrounding them were very lush and top-notch.
Case in point: I've been listening to aidoru Miyoko Yoshimoto's（芳本美代子）first track from her December 1987 5th album "Yesterday's", "Sky Escape". Not quite sure how to describe Kazuo Zaitsu's（財津和夫）melody and its arrangement by veteran Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, but it all just sounds so refined and it has some key changes that hit me right here: 💓. And I know that Zaitsu can twirl around a melody line wonderfully, in particular after hearing his marvelous "Fuyu no Main Street"（冬のメイン・ストリート）. Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）was the lyricist here. As for the album, it hit No. 53 on Oricon.
Well, the Winter Solstice arrived at around 10 am here yesterday morning, so we had the shortest day of the year. The good news of course is that now the days are going to get progressively longer until June. Even better is that Christmas is now in the homestretch. I've basically completed this year's Xmas shopping. Just a couple of more items and I'll be done.
80s aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）was pretty ambitious when she put out an album which was not only her first one with a Christmas theme but also one that was a concept creation. Titled "Snowflakes", it was released in December 1988 and each track covered the following things: dreams, hope, tears, sadness, joy, loneliness and love. Mind you, there are eight tracks so a couple of them shared one of those concepts.
I'm pretty confident in my guess that the penultimate track on "Snowflakes" takes care of the "joy" theme. "Lift no Shita de Aimashou"(Let's Meet Under the Lift) was written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, composed by Minoru Komorita（小森田実）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光男）and neatly covers the two things that occupy a lot of young Japanese minds during this special time of year: Christmas and skiing. There's probably nothing better than enjoying the Holidays while shushing down the slopes at resorts such as Naeba. And yup, this song is just perfect for Nanno's effervescently skippy vocal stylings. The album itself reached No. 2 on Oricon.
As expected, "Uta Con"（うたコン）had its final episode of the year on Tuesday night with a retrospective on 2025's highlights. They did have some guests performing in front of the camera, though.
One of the acts was the oft-appearing group Junretsu（純烈）which has now been whittled down to a trio. They will be showing up on the Kohaku Utagassen in a few weeks as one of the relatively fewer performers providing something akin to the old kayo.
Maybe they will be performing their June 2025 single"Futari dake no Himitsu" (A Secret Between You and Me) which is what they sang on "Uta Con". I quickly caught onto their combination of old-fashioned doo-wop and kayo kyoku, and my mind went back to the sentimental music of the 1960s and 1970s because of it. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, composed by Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, it's no wonder how old-school it sounds considering the three music creators behind it.
The official music video above has Junretsu taking on double roles: of course, as themselves performing "Futari dake no Himitsu" in what appears to be an Okinawan bar and as a trio of lunkhead barflies smitten over a demure lady. Double of course, hearts will be broken.
Last night's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）was entertaining enough. The topic du jour regarded the proper way to cleanse one's face but for me, it was all of the old kayo kyoku that was thrown out as segment BGM. That NHK staff seemed to have been on a bigger music bender than usual and even the on-air personalities were shimmying in their seats as the report discussed the debate on whether to use cleansing milk or oil to get the best results. And yep, one of the songs was the venerable chestnut, Tomoko Kuwae's（桑江知子）"Watashi no Heart wa Stop Motion"（私のハートはストップモーション）.
As mentioned in that article, "Watashi no Heart wa Stop Motion" was released in January 1979 as Kuwae's debut single. Well, a few months down the line, Kuwae released her sophomore effort, "Blue Blue Island" in May. Despite the title, it isn't really a tropical-sounding tune but something more akin to a jangly footloose and fancy-free 50s or 60s pop song while still retaining that breezy vacation atmosphere. The same songwriters that were behind that first single were also back for "Blue Blue Island": lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）.
Returning to solid food once again after 30 hours of fasting is a nice thing. I'm still recovering totally from the fatigue from yesterday's medical procedure, so listening to something like this will always be welcome.
From the same album as Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）iconic "Ihojin"（異邦人）is the singer-songwriter's "Guitar Hiki wo Mimasen ka" (Would You Like to See Me Play the Guitar?). A track from Kubota's December 1979 debut album "Yume Gatari"（夢がたり...Dream Story）, this is the bossa nova stop that the traveler from "Ihojin" arrives at for some well-deserved R&R. Aside from the singer's lovely tones, it's just Kazuo Ohtani（大谷和夫）on the plinky keyboards and Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）on the guitar for that Brazilian bar atmosphere. Kubota was responsible for both words and music with Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）also helping out on the lyrics and Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）as the arranger.
Yeah, it's been tropical here for the past several days but we might get a break within the next several hours in the form of a thunderstorm which might bring some much-needed rain. Meanwhile, the air conditioner is going full tilt and I'm hoping that we won't be suffering any more micro outages or even worse due to an overload of the electrical system.
Speaking of tropical, I have a Narumi Yasuda（安田成美）song here for the first time in a couple of years on the blog. "Tropical Mystery" was the actress-singer's 2nd single from April 1984 and it was also included on her debut album"Yasuda Narumi" which was released on the same day as the single.
The first time that I heard this one, I swore that the song had been created by singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）just because of that bouncy whimsical arrangement that weaves between Fashion Music and regular pop. Ironically, Ohnuki's first time as an album producer was for Yasuda's 2nd album"Ginger"（ジィンジャー）in 1988. Another reason for the assumption is that "Tropical Mystery" sounds rather similar to Ohnuki's "Natsu ni Koi Suru Onna Tachi"（夏に恋する女たち....The Women Who Love In Summer) which came out the previous year.
However, the melody was actually composed by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）supplying the lyrics. Yasuda isn't the steadiest of singers but it seems as if her vocals match the whimsy and fantastical romantic feeling emanating from "Tropical Mystery" perhaps even more here than was the case with her most famous song "Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa" (風の谷のナウシカ), which is also available on "Yasuda Narumi".
I heard this on a recent episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and I found it quite lovely and old-fashioned. Teenage enka singer Kokoro Umetani（梅谷心愛）is making her way up the ladder in the music world and she released "Himitsu no Hana"(Secret Flowers) as her 2nd single from April 2025 earlier this year.
Remembering her from her debut single"Ban'etsu Sai Sen Hitori"（磐越西線ひとり）a couple of years back, Umetani was rocking an appearance that was a hybrid of traditional enka singer and 1920s flapper girl. So it's pretty refreshing to see her in the video looking like a typical young lady who's just celebrated her Adulthood Day ceremony (although she's still 17 as of this writing) and as someone in regular garb taking a walk along the beach. Speaking of mixing, what got my ears with "Himitsu no Hana" is not just the enka part but also the arrangement which comes across as being quite kayo kyoku, as if it were Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）singing back in the late 1970s. Maybe it has something to do with the songwriters. Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）was the composer and he's done plenty of contemporary enka but the arrangement was handled by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）who I've frequently associated with pop songs going back decades. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）was behind the lyrics for this one which managed to reach No. 13 on Oricon.
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