Nami Shimada -- Uchiki na Cupid（内気なキューピッド）

 

Going back to almost a decade ago, former KKP contributor Jari Lehtinen provided a detailed article on former aidoru Nami Shimada（島田奈美）from the 1980s via one of her later tunes, "Onegai Kiss Me Again", when she had already gone for a more dance beat-friendly sound. By that point, I believe that she was going by her real name of Naoko Shimada（島田奈央子）.

Jari also did mention an earlier 5th single, "Uchiki na Cupid" (Shy Little Cupid), which was released in May 1987. This was more of the typical aidoru sound but I did go "Ah, naruhodo" when I realized that the melody and lyrics were created by City Pop chanteuse EPO. In fact, that background chorus is her voice. Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）was responsible for the arrangement. In typical aidoru fashion, EPO's lyrics relate a young lady's wishes for that titular cupid to drop some magic powder on her so that she can find the man of her dreams who's gone off to college somewhere (perhaps private detectives were rather expensive on her budget).

"Uchiki na Cupid" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon which was the highest ranking that she earned on the Top 10 list. Jari has already mentioned that Shimada did go onto a plethora of other activities including being a DJ and a music journalist as well as hosting a jazz programme on radio. The video below has her guesting on another jazz show.

Noriko Sakai – Honki wo dashite (ホンキをだして)

Kayokyoku champion composer meets the most popular teen idol of 1980’s

(Click the image or click here)

 

Kyohei Tsutsumi (筒美京平, real name Eikichi Watanabe) is in a class of his own. Born in 1940, he has achieved high chart positions with his compositions during 5 decades. Tsutsumi songs have been performed by enka singers and rock bands (KinKi Kids) alike. Alone Judy Ongg’s Miserarete sold over 2 million copies in 1979. The total sales of his songs is astronomical 76 million, including 39 number 1 hits. If there ever has been a king of kayokyoku, it’s him. 

A teenage idol fits very well in this company. 15-year-old Noriko Sakai (酒井 法子) auditioned in April 1986 for Momoco Club and was chosen as the host of the show. “When producer Masahisa Aizawa of Sun Music turned the unknown Noriko Sakai into a household name in the 1980s, he did so not with her singing voice, but by molding her into Japan’s little sister, making her famous for using a soon-to-be-widely-imitated childlike handwriting and an infantile speech style known as noripiigo, Nori-P language that changed Japanese popular culture.” (Mark D. West: Secrets, Sex and Spectacle, The Rules of Scandal in Japan and United States, University of Chicago Press, 2006.)

Yappii. It’s not very surprising that an idol is a product. The greatness of teenage Noriko Sakai was that she made us forget it. Her role allowed her to be silly, and she truly loved every second of it. Only very rarely, like in Yoruhit performance of No-re-na-i Teenage with her former classmates, the emotions of the moment were almost cracking the smiling and happy facade. As a 100% pro, in the end she didn’t allow her performance to become disturbed.

It was very profitable enterprise. Noriko Sakai won the rookie of the year award over her Momoco Club friend Rie Hatada and enka queen Fuyumi Sakamoto (but to be honest, Fuyumi was not so impressive during her first years.) In the end of 1980’s she had a chain of Nori-P stores that sold only Nori-P merchandise. One of the shops was located in a hut on Fujiyama, in the height of 3000 metres. It was the highest fan shop in the world. The performance of Honki wo dashite above is from the tv premiere on Kayo Bin Bin House, 25th December 1988.

Like many idols before, Noriko Sakai distanced herself from her idol image to become a popular actress. “Aoi usagi”, a signature tune for 1995 tv drama Hoshi no kinka became Sakai’s first million seller. Faithful to her role in drama she performed the song in Kouhaku Utagassen also in sign language.

In 2009 Noriko Sakai’s husband was arrested for possession of amphetamine. When she finally arrived in a police station, a drug test was in order. It was positive. In the chaotic athmosphere of those days every tv channel sent out their own investigative reporters. Hotel rooms where she was located were screened from floor to ceiling. Every detail was in headlines. Sakai accused that her husband had forced her to participate in drug use, and she promptly divorced. Sun Music directors were demoted. Trolls of Nicovideo had a field day and rewrote “Aoi usagi” as “Shiroi kusuri” (White Medicine), starring Miku Hatsune. In the animation she was put behind bars by Kagamine sisters.

But Honki wo dashite is a great song. A sort of old photograph forgotten in the upper shelf of a closet, bringing us back to time when idols were still fun. Kyohei Tsutsumi’s composition flows so naturally that one can only wonder why there are no more songs like this. Arrangement by Motoki Funayama (船山基紀 ) simply works. Hiromi Mori’s (森浩美) lyrics are optimistic, perhaps even cruelly optimistic. As W.C.Fields used to put it: “This piece of advice is so precious that I have never afforded to follow it.”

Nami Shimada -- Onegai Kiss Me Again

This track is the end of an era.

Youthful innocence and purity were the requirements of 1980’s female idols. The era idolized the image of the girl from next door and preferred humour and silliness to professionalism. All this was embodied in the freshness and strict rules by Onyanko Club, founded by young Yasushi Akimoto (秋元 康). Even today seitouha (正統派,), orthodox, is the adjective that defines the idols who obey the rules and maintain an image of pure virginity, never mind how imaginary that image might be.

The most important rival to Onyanko Club, both on TV and charts, was Momoco Club. Originally a photo magazine of Gakken publishing, they followed Akimoto’s first success and created a tv show that lasted from October 1986 to September 1987. It was clear that the target of both shows were primarily boys and young men. However, Momoco Club wanted to appear as a show from girls to girls, hosted by 15-year-old Noriko Sakai (酒井 法子), who charmed female and male viewers alike with her bright personality and silly Nori-P language. To add credibility, the icon of Japanese TV entertainment, Ken Shimura (志村 けん), was involved too. His consent was required in the case member wished to appear on TV.

Nami Shimada (島田 奈美) was one of the aspiring idol singers of Momoco Club. She had a very pure and  girlish appearance and a charming smile that guaranteed that her face was seen as well in TV commercials of Clearasil and Sapporo Ichiban ramen (with famous actor Takuya Fujioka 藤岡琢也). Nami Shimada never had a real hit song, but she was always present in chart shows like Top Ten and Best Ten, usually in a place 9 or 10. A fact that might give some ideas to those, who have for a long time suspected that the lowest places on chart shows were open to the highest bidder.

In Oricon single rankings Nami Shimada’s best achievements were two consecutive number 7’s. First in May 1987 with Uchiki na Cupid, a lively piece written by EPO, who penned some very successful songs to herself too. In August 1987 Pastel Blue no tameiki achieved the same position in single charts. Nami Shimada was never such a commercial success as Noriko Sakai, but she had a fan club and devoted followers, who claim even today that she is the cutest girl in the world. (Just take a look at Verne Innhel’s idollica.com – after a quick brainwash it’s difficult to disagree.) She was a perfect example of everything 1980’s wanted.

Here is Nami Shimada performing Uchiki na Cupid in Momoco Club in spring 1987 wearing those difficult and slippery high heels. The song played during talk is her first top10 song Free Balloon.

In her final recordings Nami Shimada was no more an idol singer. She had become a club beat vocalist, whose voice was distinctive and clear. Sunshower (1990) became a much played house hit thanks to remixes by Larry Levin and others. It made Nami Shimada’s name known in brand new musical circles. However, Nami was no longer around. In the last releases she didn’t even appear as Nami Shimada. She used her real name Naoko to point out that the idol career was over. This was the case with her probably last recorded song, Onegai Kiss Me Again, that was included in City Hunter ’91 anime soundtrack a year after the release of box set Farewell - Nami Memorial Best 30. Her farewell concert took place July 30, 1990.

Onegai Kiss Me Again is a beautiful tune, composed and impeccably produced by Soichi Terada (寺田 創一) with lyrics by NAOKO (yes, it’s her). The track is full of atmosphere. The synth patterns create excitement, weeping saxophone solo creates a romantic mood, and Nami’s voice is flowing over the tapestry like a cool whisper in the night of humid and hot summer city, where heart is burning even more than the air. The steamy sigh of streets is even mixed into the track after the first chorus.

This post-career release is really an epilogue to an era. 1980’s end right here with this song. The sunny and happy-go-lucky time of old fashioned idol singers was over and the storm clouds were slowly gathering over Japan. The next decade would be very different and economically much more problematic. In the course of one year all the dozens idols created by Onyanko Club or Momoco Club disappeared. (Noriko Sakai was the only exception, but that’s another story.) New idols like Super Monkeys with Namie Amuro introduced American R&B sound with rap parts and acrobatic choreography that used to be the privilege of boy groups only. Old chart shows like Best Ten closed down because it was useless and expensive to arrange modern hit music to big acoustic orchestra. Onegai Kiss Me Again was the last breath of the era of simple innocence. Keep on smiling, keep on holding. I don’t wanna say goodbye. Who else had been more suitable to nail it so brilliantly, if not Namirin.

Naoko Shimada is still around in the music business. She is a music journalist and hosted some years ago a jazz programme on Nikkei radio. Oh, and in the case you wonder: yes, she is still a very beautiful woman.