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.
Showing posts with label Motoki Funayama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Motoki Funayama. Show all posts
I have to admit that I've not come across the combination of apple tea and peanuts before although I've enjoyed both of them separately. Maybe they make a good remedy toward improved blood circulation. Hard to say.
But that combination is indeed the title of singer-songwriter Atsuko Nina's（二名敦子）track from her 1987 album"Teibou"（堤防）. I wrote on the title track back in 2018 and compared to the late 80s sophisticated pop of that one, "Apple Tea to Peanuts"(Apple Tea and Peanuts) is a samba-driven tune written and composed by Nina that goes at a pretty fast clip...and during a bright sunny and breezy day. The singer definitely sings the praises of apple tea and peanuts (her personal favourite, perhaps?). Motoki Funayama（船山基紀 ）took care of the arrangement which also involved guitarist Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and percussionist Pecker（ ペッカー）.
Geez...looking at the Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）file, the lad's been showing up on a lot of ROY articles over the past year or so but his last bona fide article was back in February 2025 for his "Shower na Kibun"（シャワーな気分）.
Well, Toshi-chan's back on board today. Here he is with his January 1982 8th single "Kimi ni Barabara...to Iu Kanji" which is another one of those punny titles which can mean "It's Like...a Ton of Roses for You" or "I'm Falling to Pieces Over You". Yep, it's pretty far-reaching.
As soon as I heard this one, I felt like this was kinda special in the arrangement, and sure enough, it was arranged by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）with Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）responsible for the original melody. In fact, this was Tsutsumi's first Toshi-chan assignment, and the master composer came up with this strut-worthy and snazzy tune for walking on the concrete as Toshi thinks about what to do with this girl he's gone gaga over. "Kimi ni Barabara...to Iu Kanji" reached No. 3 on Oricon and finished the year as the 27th-ranked single. Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）was the lyricist here.
Welcome to another KKP weekend. It's a little chillier if also a little humid, so I'm more than happy to be typing this while the windows are open.
1980s aidoru Nami Shimada（島田奈美）hit her peak in terms of Oricon when she released her May 1987 single "Uchiki na Cupid"（内気なキューピッド）. It hit No. 7 and so did the follow-up single "Pastel Blue no Tameiki" (Pastel Blue Sighes) which came out a few months later in August. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, it's a soaring aidoru tune with Shimada's high-toned vocals and it feels like it's describing a fantastical scene involving the lass herself. Couldn't ask anymore from songwriters when it comes to an aidoru song, and heck, she even looks like a chiffon cake in the video below.😁
On last week's extended "Uta Con"（うたコン）episode, enka singer and TV personality Kenichi Mikawa（美川憲一）appeared for the first time in a while. I'd wondered where he was all these months and I only found out right on the show that he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's and made an announcement back last November. Up to this point, he'd been going through some grueling rehabilitation.
Aside from what he said on the program and that he accepted his friend Sachiko Kobayashi's（小林幸子） assistance in being led to the stage and off, Mikawa didn't show his affliction too much at all which may be a good sign. He sang his classic "Sasori-za no Onna"（さそり座の女）and his vocals were just as fine as before. Then, he sang a song that I hadn't heard before called "Ikiru" which was his 101st single from May 2013.
And I ended up not hearing it. Jme and NHK made one of their not-so-smooth quick cuts which excised his performance of "Ikiru"(To Live). Why? Well, I quickly figured out that "Ikiru" was probably not a Japanese original. And as it turns out, it wasn't. But more on that later. Listening to it finally through the YouTube video above, it sounds like a chanson that has been given a pop arrangement thanks to Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）with new lyrics by Michikazu Yatabe（矢田部道一）.
"Ikiru" actually came from French singer-songwriter Alice Dona's 1981 song"Ma dernière volonté"(My Last Wish) which was written by Sylvain Lebel and composed by Dona.
Maybe Mikawa's appearances on TV or on stage will no longer be as frequent. But I hope that he will be able to get a good handle on his illness and that he will continue to have more years of peace and relative good health.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If my first encounter of 1980s aidoru Minako Honda（本田美奈子）hadn't been that horribly off-tune rendition of one of her hits on one of the 80s music shows, I would have been far more entranced by the late singer.
For example, listening to her third single from August 1985, "Aoi Shuumatsu"(Blue Weekend), I just thought that Honda had a wonderfully clear and upbeat delivery surrounded by Kyohei Tsutsumi's（筒美京平） melody and arranged in a happy-go-lucky synth-heavy style by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）. On the other hand, Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics relate a tale of a couple who didn't have the happiest trip to the beach that day. But hey, it's a Japanese pop song so happy music paired with sad words isn't any surprise. For me, this is pure aidoru Honda without the dance club or rock trappings that I would often hear from her music during that decade. The song reached No. 23 on Oricon.
It was only recently that I discovered that singer-songwriter Tomiko Kobayashi（小林登美子）had unfortunately died in 2022 at the age of 52. My belated condolences to her family, friends and fans.
As with the other entries of Kobayashi on the blog, this song also belongs to her September 1994 album "Soul Wonderland". "Kono Hi no Ame wo Wasurenai" (Won't Forget Today's Rain) was written by Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）and composed by the singer herself with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）as the arranger. At first, I wasn't quite sure about the categorization: just straight funky R&B or do I play the City Pop card? Of nothing wrong with it at all...it starts off as a funk/pop combination powered by Kobayashi's vocals, but then I do get that feeling of swinging horn City Pop of the 1990s when the feeling was that the Bubble Era had never ended.
The whole family went out last night for dinner and we had it at a Swiss Chalet not too far away. As a bit of a change from my usual choice, I ordered a Hot Chicken Sandwich. It turned out to be somewhat less than the sum of its parts, however, since although there was plenty of bread and gravy slathered on, there wasn't a whole lot of chicken. I think the saltiness and the volume of gravy were meant to cover up for the deficiency. It just seemed like this restaurant's equivalent of the cheap Chinese takeout version of Deep Fried Shrimp...90% fried batter and 10% shrimp.
However, a club sandwich has never let me down no matter where I've eaten it. Most of the time, it's been at the diner franchise Eggsmart. I will always be a sucker for the bacon and chicken combo with generous smearings of mayonnaise. Found some good information on the famous dish at Wikipedia, too.
Last Wednesday, when I put up those two burger kayo, commenter AL replied that he actually found a club sandwich kayo and it was performed by none other than aidoru of the 1970s, Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）. "Club Sandwich wa Ikaga?" (How About a Club Sandwich?). It's truly an unusual tune since this whimsical ditty actually sounds like something from a century back with its playful jazz arrangement by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）. Even Momoe-chan herself gets in on the act by sounding like she was recorded via an old-fashioned gramophone.
"Club Sandwich wa Ikaga?" was also one track on Yamaguchi's successful August 1976 album"Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）with that famous trademark title tune, and indeed all of the tracks, including "Club Sandwich wa Ikaga?", were written and composed by husband-and-wife team Yoko Aki and Ryudo Uzaki（阿木耀子・宇崎竜童）. Usually when I hear those two names and Yamaguchi's in the same breath, my mind will usually go to one of the singer's more world-weary and rough-and-tumble hits such as "Imitation Gold"（イミテイション・ゴールド）, so it is pretty revelatory when I hear something as comical as this particular song by the three. Heck, Momoe even predicted my drink of choice with my beloved club sandwich: hot coffee!🥪☕
KKP contributor Jari Lehtinen was the first one to get the Nami Shimada（島田奈美）file rolling when he wrote about the late 1980saidoru's "Onegai Kiss Me Again"（お願いキス・ミー・アゲイン）all the way back in 2013. And feel free to read his writeup since he goes into much of her history in the geinokai.
It's always interesting to delve into the slightly less-than-famous aidoru of that decade since I've found that at least some of their material is quite pleasant to listen to. And with Shimada, who I didn't really find out about until the existence of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", there is her 2nd single from August 1986, "Makenaide...Kataomoi" (Don't Give Up...One-Sided Love). It's got one of the nicest intros before some intriguing synths come crashing in and then the arrangement maintains a nice and fairly groovy rhythm throughout. The title pretty much says it all...I'm assuming that Yukinojo Mori's（森雪之丞）lyrics are about holding that torch for that guy in high school. Not surprised that the melody and arrangement are by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）respectively. "Makenaide...Kataomoi" made it No. 15 on Oricon and it was used for a Clearasil commercial.
After so many years of focusing on City Pop in all its iterations spanning a few decades, I confess that I still have a soft spot for the late 1970s' brand of sophisticated pop in perhaps still smoggy Tokyo while savoring cocktails in the high-up hotel bars.
Mind you, "Tokimeki no Toki" (A Time of Excitement) by singer-songwriter Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子）begins with a phrase that literally sounds like the typical riff that sets off viewers' minds a reeling when a TV suspense program goes to commercial. But then, the quintessential strings, piano and horns all assemble like The Avengers to provide a scene of high class but also one of, yes, suspense. As written and composed by Watanabe with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）handling the arrangement, the romance involved here is appropriately ardent but though the woman is willing to give her whole heart now and forever, she feels that her partner only appreciates her current self and perhaps may change his mind with any evolution. Perhaps it's time for that suspense riff to come in here one more time.
Regardless, "Tokimeki no Toki" is in the middle of Watanabe's fourth studio album"Memories" which was released in December 1979. According to the J-Wiki article for the album, there were some big names among the studio musicians including trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）, Eiji Arai（新井英治）on trombone and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）on electric guitar.
Midori Kinouchi's（木之内みどり）time in the aidoru limelight only consisted of a brief four years from 1974 to 1978. However, she does have a few songs up here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" including her 1976 "Tokyo Meruhen"（東京メルヘン）.
She's even provided a Christmas tune on her 2nd studio album"Juu-Hassai no Ima"（十八歳の今...Now at 18）from December 1975. Heck, considering the release date, I think a song for the Holidays by her was pretty much demanded. I couldn't find the Tetsuya Chiaki-penned（ちあき哲也）lyrics for "Hitotsuki Okure no Christmas"(Christmas a Month Late) but from the title, I could imagine that a couple, due to various circumstances, just couldn't swing a date for December 24th or 25th but things are better in late January for some belated Yuletide stuff. With arrangement by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, "Hitotsuki Okure no Christmas" doesn't really sound like a Christmas tune but more of the usual aidoru hijinks although there is an interesting and pensive disco beat including a flute underneath the surface of the original Toshiharu Jitsukawa（実川俊晴）melody.
Midnight in Japan for me was illustrated by a tired old English teacher finally reaching his apartment past 12 am after a long commute from the other side of Tokyo back to Chiba Prefecture. My neighbourhood in Ichikawa City was relatively dark although there were street lights, but it was quiet and completely safe. Plus, my two wonderful vending machines just a few metres away from the steps to my home always greeted and plied me with cold drinks.
I would also think that a song and a final album track titled "Midnight" would offer the same sort of deal in the form of a ballad. However, on singer-songwriter Machiko Watanabe's（渡辺真知子）album "Fog Lamp"（フォグ・ランプ）from November 1978, that wasn't the case at all. It is actually quite the spirited finish to Watanabe's 2nd original album with its disco and City Pop showing off some type of action-thriller aural piece. There's probably a car chase squeezed somewhere among the notes woven together by Watanabe herself.
Just a few minutes ago, I had finished off the latest Yuko Asano（浅野ゆう子）1970s disco tune "Potsuri Potsuri"（ぽつりぽつり）. Lyricist Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）and arranger Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）had their hands in that one, and so they did with this one, too. "Midnight" also shares track space with Watanabe's "Blue" on the album.
Back in August, I covered the B-side of Yuko Asano's（浅野ゆう子）October 1977 single. The song was called "Sunset Seaside"（サンセット・シーサイド）and it was a stately disco kayo.
Well, that A-side is titled "Potsuri Potsuri"(Little by Little). It can also be translated as "Drip, Drip" for those who like their onomatopoeia, and perhaps the story is about something taking its sweet time. Compared to "Sunset Seaside", "Potsuri Potsuri" maybe goes a bit harder into the Donna Summerdisco although Asano's vocals here remind me of those belonging to a young Junko Yagami（八神純子）. As with the B-side, this particular song was also created by lyricist Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）.
Admittedly, this is a bizarre reference to start things off for this song by Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）, but I remember watching the anime "Seton Academy" in which Neku the giraffe acts like the arrogant cad and suddenly drops his romantic mate like a overly heavy sack of potatoes; sorry, once is enough for him...time to move onto fresher adventures. Of course, his now erstwhile partner doesn't take it too well.
From what I've heard of Yu Aku's（阿久悠）lyrics on Julie's September 1977 21st single, "Nikumi Kirenai Rokudenashi"(A Bastard's That's Hard to Hate), that's what happening here as well. Sawada is singing about a cad who goes through his women like he probably goes through his cigarettes. But according to the title, he's got enough charm to keep them coming back. Motoki Funayama's（船山基紀）arrangement of Katsuo Ono's（大野克夫）melody, which includes a clever background chorus that sounds like train whistles off in the distance, is something that I swear that I've heard before on one of the music shows or retrospectives. Considering how proud it sounds, the rokudenashi is thoroughly enjoying his love 'em-and-leave' em lifestyle.
"Nikumi Kirenai Rokudenashi" made it to No. 3 on Oricon and not only became the 24th-ranked single for 1977, but it also hung around for another year to become the 63rd-ranked single for 1978 as well. It can also be found on Sawada's November 1977 10th album"Omoikiri Kiza na Jinsei"（思いきり気障な人生...A Completely Disturbing Life） which hit No. 1 and ended up as the No. 5 album of the year.
One reason that I put up the song is that this had been the No. 3 single on the September 19th 1977 Oricon chart which was referenced in the previous ROY article, but didn't include because I hadn't written about it yet. Just didn't want the opportunity to pass. As well, the song was released several months after Sawada's big hit "Katte ni Shiyagare" （勝手にしやがれ）which had been created by the same trio of songwriters.
Happy Friday! I've mentioned this before whenever we get into the City Pop frame of mind on this day of the week, but it seems as if a lot of folk singers of the 1970s eventually found their inner city groove and jumped over to the J-urban contemporary going into the 1980s.
I found another singer making that jump. Yutaka Ishio（石尾豊）was once known as Danny Ishio of the late 60s-early 70s folk group Four Saints（フォー・セインツ）but sometime after it broke up in 1973, he got into a solo career. One single that he released well into the 1980s was the 1986 "Nonstop Freeway". For today's article, I have the B-side known as "Onna ni Juku shite Kaettekina"(Come Back When You're Mature Enough to be a Woman).
Aggressive title and judging from the Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）melody (Hamada is another folk-turned-City Pop convert) and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）arrangement, the setting must be in the champagne-and-caviar region of swinging Bubble Era Tokyo. I can even imagine the tinkling (or smashing) of champagne glasses as the keyboard is tripping the light fantastic. Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）was responsible for the lyrics which are given clearly though not particularly expressively.
As for Ishio, he later became the stadium DJ for the home games of the soccer J-League Kashima Antlers for twenty years between 1993 and 2013. He unfortunately passed away in April 2014 from liver cancer.
Marie-Sophie Mejan via Wikimedia Commons Harajuku in the old days
Late last night, I received an email from my friend of some 30 years' standing that he and his wife were able to make it to Japan for their vacation. Having to go through an elongated immigration process at Haneda due to some malfunctioning fingerprint scanners wasn't great but at least, they got through it and they're now enjoying themselves in Tokyo. His wife decided to torture me by sending a photo of a sumptuous tonkatsu dinner they had up in the restaurant floors of electronics emporium Yodobashi Akiba.😱
Not sure whether my friends will be visiting Harajuku during their time there. As late as my last few years living in Japan in the late 2000s, I still saw a few remnants of folks twisting the day away by Yoyogi Park. However, I think the heyday for the Takenozoku（竹の子族）dancers was back in the 1980s when they would take over the space lining the park on Sunday afternoons.
Music wasn't one to let go of any opportunities in other aspects of the pop culture zeitgeist. In fact, Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）released his 9th single"Harajuku Kiss" back in May 1982 to capture the feeling of the Takenozoku back then. The melody and arrangement by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）respectively are familiar to me since I used to hear those horns over and over on repeats of "The Best 10" and other music shows or retrospectives. Tomo Miyashita（宮下智）was responsible for the lyrics.
"Harajuku Kiss" was a huge hit for Toshi-chan as it stayed at No. 1 for three weeks straight, and it would become the 23rd-ranked single for 1982. Its first placement onto an album was later in September when it became a track on "Best of Tahara Toshihiko"（ベストオブ田原俊彦）. It was also a No. 1 hit.
Y'know...I'm just a few weeks shy of twelve years since I first posted singer-songwriter Hiroshi Madoka's（円広志）"Musoubana"（夢想花）, the song whose chorus encourages everyone to fly nine times. Once you hear it, you never quite forget it.
Well, a couple of years after that hit debut single, Madoka released his 4th single "Musician" in April 1980. In a way, I guess it's kinda like his tribute to the hard-working musician out there in the same way that Billy Joel gave his kudos to the piano man working for his fee and tips. With words and music by the singer and then arrangement by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, it has that nostalgic feeling of a typical Japanese pop ballad in those late 70s and early 80s with the wailing electric guitar and silky strings. Plus, it starts off with a fairly frenetic Spanish guitar before Madoka sets the languid tone.
It's a warm and sunny Sunday out there so perhaps something folksy and relaxing would be nice. I found this folk song by singer-songwriter Masamitsu Tayama（田山雅充）. His third single from October 1976, "Ai Suru Koto kara Hajimetemimasen ka" (Why Not Start by Being in Love?) is quite the warm-hearted tune with the strings and a psychedelic rock guitar that was used as the theme for the TBS drama "Shiroi Himitsu"（白い秘密...White Secret）, broadcast that same year. Tayama was the composer while Tsuzuru Nakasato（中里綴）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）were the lyricist and arranger respectively.
The Tokyo-born Tayama had his first taste of show business when he had a role in the cast for the monster movie "Mothra" back in 1961 as a child. During high school, Tayama got into music as a vocalist and a drummer in a rock band. Some years later, he started writing songs, even a few enka ones, as an employee of lyricist Kazuya Senke's（千家和也）company.
As a singer, he joined up with the vocal group Akai Hana（赤い花）in 1974 as its main vocalist and then formed a duo known as Tayama to Yuuko（たやまと夕子）from which a single and an album were released. His solo debut began in 1976 with three singles coming out including this article's song. He would release a total of eight singles up to 1982 with three albums hitting the record store shelves in 1976 and 1977. Almost all of his singles were created from that triumvirate of Tayama, Nakasato and Funayama.
In 2015, Tayama moved out to a small area in Tokushima Prefecture, and recruiting some local amateur musicians, he began a series of live street performances on Sundays at the local historical site.
Ahhh...those fresh-faced 1970s aidoru tunes with the engine of an upbeat studio orchestra propelling the teenyboppers into stardom! One of them, I believe, was Junko Sakurada's（桜田淳子）"Kimagure Venus" (Capricious Venus), her 19th single from May 1977.
Created by lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）, composer Koichi Morita（森田公一）and arranger Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, it's certainly got plenty of bounce as Sakurada sings about the fact that compared to last year when she was an unripe green tomato, she's now ready for the picking by any suitable young lad, and apparently all of the innuendos that go with that. In the J-Wiki article for "Kimagure Venus", Aku mentioned that he'd had Marilyn Monroe in his mind when writing the words, even including a variation of the breathy "Boop-boop-a-doop" that Monroe sang out in "I Wanna Be Loved by You" for Junko to sing as well.
Maybe the choreography was inspired a bit by Monroe, too...? Well, in any case, "Kimagure Venus" was another Top 10 hit for Sakurada as it peaked at No. 7 and finished 1977 as the 65th-ranked single. She was even able to become the top batter for the Red team on the 1977 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen with "Kimagure Venus", although the first lyric had to be tweaked since apparently her going from green and hard to red and ripe was a little overly suggestive.
As well, another piece of trivia from J-Wiki is that in 1978, young and ambitious Seiko Matsuda (when she was still Noriko Kamachi) had taped her cover of "Kimagure Venus" for an audition and one of the top guys at CBS-Sony heard it, much to his liking. A couple of years later, Matsuda would bound onto the stage of the NTV show "Uta Mane Furi Mane Star ni Chousen!!"（歌まね振りまねスターに挑戦!!...Take the Challenge to Sing and Act Like a Star!!）to actually perform the same song right in front of Sakurada herself.
I guess the lyric "hold me tight" has been used in so many kayo kyoku probably going back to the 1960s that it was only a matter of time that it would actually be used as a title of a song.
Sure enough, Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子）recorded her 8th single for release in May 1980 and it's actually titled "Hold Me Tight". I'd already mentioned the song in passing last month when I covered the B-side, "Summer Night". Written and composed by Watanabe with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）arranging everything, I would say that most of it is in the jaunty City Pop mode with a touch of disco but when the chorus comes in, I couldn't help but also hear some country and even a bit of gospel in the delivery. Lyrics-wise, it's all about enjoying that summer beach walk and in all likelihood, some of that summer romancing as the title would suggest.
Singer-songwriter Jun Horie（堀江淳）has always kept a special place in the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" heart all these years. His April 1981 hit tune, the zippy "Memory Glass"（メモリーグラス）, not only remains as one of the songs that finally got me to appreciate Japanese popular music but the article for the song is the very first one on KKP.
Well, as I've always said, never forget those B-sides, and so I bring you "Yume Fubuki" (Dream Blizzard). As expected, Horie was responsible for the melody but this time, lyricist Kaoru Asaki（麻木かおる） came up with the bittersweet words. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, as was the case for "Memory Glass", took care of arrangement. Listening to "Yume Fubuki", I've gradually gotten the impression that Horie is at heart more of a folk singer along the lines of the late and great Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）, and that is also true for "Yume Fubuki" which retains the same level of jauntiness as the A-side. The story behind this one involves a fellow who's putting up a brave front after a romantic breakup but is still hurting inside and the wintry evening outside isn't helping his mood any. An extra sweater, perhaps?
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