Kazuhiko Kato -- Boku no Omochabako（僕のおもちゃ箱）

 

As kids, my brother and I had a huge toy box but unlike the one above (BleuPaon Bakeshop, Japan) shown by Yoshihito Miki via Wikimedia Commons, our box was merely a very large cardboard box which had everything stuffed into it. Indeed, it was a very humble container that gradually crumbled over time but it did hold what was very dear to us.

Coincidentally enough, it was around this time that singer-songwriter Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）came out with his debut single as a solo artist after years with the famed folk group The Folk Crusaders（ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ）. "Boku no Omochabako" (My Toy Box) was released in April 1969 and it came out when Kato was a little uncertain about where his career was going after the breakup of his old band, according to the article for the song itself.

Written by his now-former bandmate Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by Kato, the singer had wanted to try something other than folk when making his first solo song. As it is, "Boku no Omochabako" sounds just like the type of languid pop ballad that had been made in America back in those days. There is the gently strumming acoustic guitar, a harmonica and those warm honey-toned horns while Kato delivers his song in a somewhat quivery way which actually works well for it. Lyrically, he is inviting a beloved one to join him on a journey to a happier place while gifting his toy box to her, something filled with tears but hopefully some happy memories, too. The feeling is that the protagonist and his loved one could be of any age.

Kato cited Jimmy Webb and Glen Campbell (another name from my past) as influences for "Boku no Omochabako". The song didn't hit too high...only No. 70 on Oricon but it was the beginning of a successful songwriting career.

The Glee Men -- Koi Shitara（恋したら）

 

Welcome to Family Day in Ontario. I guess that this could be called a semi-statutory holiday since although a lot of the stores are closed, the post office is still running. 

Anyways, we're going to start the last full week of February 2023 with a little something from over 50 years ago. Last year in September, I discovered this singer by the name of Kyo Nishimura（西村協）who's run the gamut from folk to rock to pop to jazz in his career. Well, I'm heading back to the beginning when he was a part of a trio called The Glee Men（グリーメン）along with Keiji Asano（浅野啓児）and Akio Ichikawa（市川章夫）. The group came out of a folk chorus club at Meiji University in 1969 and according to one site, it has been compared to the New Christy Minstrels from the United States, a folk music band that I often heard on radio as a kid.

In November 1970, The Glee Men released a single "Koi Shitara" (When I Fall in Love) that was written by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）, two members of The Folk Crusaders in the 1960s. The song about a man's plans when he meets the love of his life has got that orchestral kayo arrangement which probably had them appearing on various music-variety shows but it's underlaid by that undulating folk rhythm and I wonder whether there is a straight guitar-only folk version of the song. The harmonies among Nishimura, Asano and Ichikawa are also very pleasing to the ear.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find much else on The Glee Men, so if there is any other information about them that you have found, please let me know.

Jiro Sugita -- Umi（海）

 

I think I'll have that chocolate fondue now, please...😋

Sorry, but whenever I hear this song "Umi" (Ocean) by Jiro Sugita（杉田二郎）, I simply feel as if I'm at a bayside resort restaurant in Japan enjoying the night view. This is one heck of a B-side for the Kyoto-born singer-songwriter; to explain, "Umi" was the flip side of the vinyl "Magdalena"（マグダレーナ）which was his 22nd single released in May 1985. 

Written by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by either Sugita himself or Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博） depending on whether you will go with J-Wiki or Kashi-Get, this is a cool evening breeze of a Resort Pop song made even richer (yep, I'm still thinking chocolate fondue here) with that trumpet behind the singer (still marveling from Guy Barker's solo on Masami Tsuchiya's（土屋昌巳）song last night). Bossa nova will always get me right here💓 and Sugita's crooning vocals here almost make me forget about his 70s folk roots.

Although I'm being the foodie here, Kitayama's lyrics have Sugita feeling a lot more lovelorn as the sea seems to beckon to him like a lost lover. I can just imagine the number of sighs that must have emanated from him.

The Natashar Seven -- Kodoku no Marathon Runner（孤独のマラソン・ランナー）

For anyone who knows me on sight, to realize that I actually ran a half-marathon would probably have that person performing the biggest and wettest of spit takes to make the late entertainer Danny Thomas take notice. Mind you, that was back in 1981 a few months before the trip to Japan when a classmate and I ran the annual Toronto Zoo marathon...when I actually was thin. Even with months of training, the half-marathon of 21 kilometres almost knocked me out although I did finish it much to my own pride and health. Soaked in the tub for a good long time.

In late June, I gave this story about watching the weekend NHK sports broadcast and seeing how one athlete listened to The Blue Hearts' "Hito ni Yasashiku"（人にやさしく）to encourage him. Well, on an even earlier broadcast of that same show, there was a marathon runner who also had his own special song to rely upon.

That song was "Kodoku no Marathon Runner" (Lonely Marathon Runner) from 1977 which is a spritely folk tune by The Natashar Seven（ザ・ナターシャー・セブン）. According to their J-Wiki profile, the band was first formed in 1971 with the meeting between singer Tomoya Takaishi（高石ともや）and Junji Shirota（城田じゅんじ）, the latter having already taken up some Bluegrass banjo. With later additions including Shogo Sakaniwa（坂庭しょうご）and Takasuke Kida（木田たかすけ）, The Natashar Seven polished their brand on a mix of Bluegrass country, American traditional folk and Japanese minyo. As for the derivation of the band name, it was based on a slight alteration of the name of the village where Takaishi had lived, Natashou（名田庄）in Fukui Prefecture (although the village merged with the town of Oi in March 2006). The seven part was added merely because it sounded nice although quite a few people joined the band's ranks between 1971 and 2002.

Written and composed by fellow folk artist Osamu Kitayama（北山修）under his pen name of Haijin Jisetsu（自切排人）, this happy number reminds me a lot of what I used to hear as a kid in my own country of Canada and also on some of those country-western music shows such as "Hee Haw" produced in the United States. It's just so jaunty that I could almost be persuaded to put on the shorts and sneakers and run a few kilos again (as if).

I thought Kitayama's lyrics were literally on that lonely marathon runner, but looking at them, I think they are actually more of a metaphor for all of those young people getting on the treadmill of work and adult life. Perhaps The Natashar Seven and Kitayama were doing their part to give the lads and lassies that encouraging push through society. If that is indeed the case, then that athlete who was featured on NHK probably chose his song wisely.

Masa Takagi -- Omoide ga Ohsugite（想い出が多すぎて）

About four years earlier, I had written about singer-songwriter Masa Takagi's（高木麻早）debut single "Hitoribocchi no Heya" (ひとりぼっちの部屋) from 1973, a folk song that sounded so country-western that I wondered whether she had actually gone to visit the relevant part of the United States for inspiration. Well, that was a big hit for her, but she had other singles to release as well.

For instance, her 2nd single was "Omoide ga Ohsugite" (So Many Memories) released in January 1974, and this one sounds more conventionally folk. Written by fellow folk singers Jiro Sugita（杉田二郎）and Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by Takagi, the singer goes into the aftermath of a relationship and admits that there are too many cherished memories for her to ever completely forget the time with her former boyfriend. Most of the song has her voice, a guitar and some percussion, but then to add some depth, the strings then come on in to finish off.

I don't know how "Omoide ga Ohsugite" did on Oricon; I hope it did quite well since I enjoy the relaxation that comes with the song. Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）handled the arrangement.

Toi et Moi -- Hatsukoi no Hito ni Niteiru（初恋の人に似ている）

"You look like my first love!"😲

Argh! How the heck do you respond to that?!😖 Uh...thank you? My condolences? Did he get to run around the bases?

But that is indeed the translation of the title for Toi et Moi's（トワ・エ・モワ）5th single from July 1970, "Hatsukoi no Hito ni Niteiru". There's no major existential consternation here though, folks. It's just some very simple innocent love as a young lady realizes that a man that she's met looks just like the fellow that she'd fallen for years earlier.

Well, maybe I was being a little too optimistic about my earlier reassurance in the previous paragraph. There is some existential consternation to grapple with according to the lyrics as the lady wonders whether she should even admit this observation to him, and of course, whether she's falling in love again although this is a completely different lad. Ahhh...the trials and tribulations of l'amour.💝

Written by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）of The Folk Crusaders, "Hatsukoi no Hito ni Niteiru" is a comfortable ballad that has a bit of country-western infused into its folk, and I do love that sharp trumpet that starts the ball rolling. On Oricon, it made it all the way up to No. 30, but a few months later, Emiko Shiratori（白鳥英美子）and Sumio Akutagawa（芥川澄夫）would do even better with their next single, "Dare mo Inai Umi"（誰もいない海）, the very first song by them that I put onto the blog all the way back in 2012.

Yoshiko Goshima -- Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro （白い色は恋人の色）

Wherever you are, I hope you are hanging in there.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm897541

Last month, I first mentioned about singer-songwriter Yoshiko Goshima（五島良子）and her collaboration with techno unit Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）on "Niji"（虹）back in 1995. Apparently, according to her J-Wiki article, that was the song which put her on the map, so to speak, but she did put out a good amount of singles in the 1990s starting from 1990 itself. Not a whole lot more information about her except that she was born in Nagoya, and from another webpage, she has a 5-octave range.

It's more of the high notes from her July 1993 single. For kayo fans, this particular song may sound rather familiar since it is a cover of "Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro" (White is the Colour of Lovers) which was originally recorded by Betsy & Chris all the way back in 1969 with Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）and Osamu Kitayama（北山修）of The Folk Crusaders creating it. Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）was behind the arrangement of the song, and Goshima's heartwarming and child-like delivery (with the harmonies that also distinguished the Betsy & Chris original) help in selling the ever-calming song. The fantasy element is further enhanced by Kanno's arrangement that sounds as if it had been made for "Lord of the Rings".

Norihiko Hashida and Climax -- Futari dake no Tabi（ふたりだけの旅）

Another kayo singer-songwriter left this mortal coil earlier today. Norihiko Hashida（はしだのりひこ）who participated in a number of bands, notably The Folk Crusaders（ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ）and Norihiko Hashida and Climax（はしだのりひことクライマックス）, passed away at the age of 72 due to Parkinson's Disease.

I wanted to do a small tribute to him so I did a search on his J-Wiki page. His band Norihiko Hashida and Climax had that huge hit from their debut single "Hanayome"（花嫁）when it was first released in January 1971. But then I found their second single which came out later in June of that year, "Futari dake no Tabi" (A Trip Just For Two).

Written by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）, Hashida's old bandmate from The Folk Crusaders and composed by Hashida, "Futari dake no Tabi" keeps the cheeriness of "Hanayome" but also brings in a bit more of a seeming urgency that rather makes the song sound less like a folk song and more like something from the Old West. The theme of marriage continues with this song from their debut hit, though, as a young couple puts up roots and then heads off on a trip somewhere...perhaps the honeymoon.

There's no mention about how it did on the Oricon weeklies but according to the folks at entamedata, the song was the 71st-ranked single for 1971.

Betsy & Chris/W -- Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro （白い色は恋人の色）

Into November we are. A good chunk of those maple leaves have fallen as well as the temperatures although we are quite a bit above seasonal with a high of 17 degrees C today. Considering that things are feeling nicely autumnal, perhaps something mellow would be nice to start the November 2016 edition of "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Some late 60s/70s folk sounds about right. So, here are Betsy & Chris (ベッツィ&クリス) with their debut single "Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro" (White is the Colour of Lovers). As much as the fact that American-born singers like Hikaru Utada（宇多田ひかる）and Jero (ジェロ) have made their mark in Japan applies, they aren't the first folks from the USA to do so. I don't know who the first American was to have a hit original song in Japan but in 1969, a couple of members from the Sounds of Young Hawaii were scouted out when they came to the country on tour and were given the opportunity to release a song as a duo.

Betsy & Chris are Elizabeth Virginia Wagner from Hawaii and Christine Anne Rolseth from Idaho who were born within a few months of each other in 1952. Their "Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro" was written and composed by two members of The Folk Crusaders, Kazuhiko Kato and Osamu Kitayama（加藤和彦・北山修）as this calming folk song with a lovely harmony between the two singers.

Released in October 1969, the song hit No. 2 on Oricon and became the 11th-ranked single for 1970. Although Betsy & Chris broke up in 1973 after 13 singles and several albums, their first single was their biggest hit which has been covered by a number of singers over the decades.

One such unit was W with Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji（加護亜依・辻希美）from Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）. Their version came out in 2004 as a part of their album "Duo U&U"（デュオU&U）.

While Chris later became a music teacher in Hawaii, Betsy returned to her singing career after many years also in the Aloha State. In fact, about a decade ago, she and her daughter Emma joined up to sing the song again on the 2006 edition of NHK's summer "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー）.

Masaaki Sakai/ASKA -- Saraba Koibito (さらば恋人)

From this week's "Uta Con" is another article. Besides "Hoshikage no Komichi" (星影の小径) that had been covered by J-Canuck earlier in the week - that one shocked me with the fact that it was a Minoru Obata (小畑実) song - there was also "Saraba Koibito". Come to think of it, I'm not very sure why it's in an episode featuring love songs when it's about a bloke leaving his lover with just a written note while she's asleep (ouch!), but I can't complain as I ended up liking it a lot.

Originally by Masaaki Sakai (堺正章), whom I see as comedic TV personality, "Saraba Koibito" was sung by Kiyoshi Hikawa (氷川きよし) that night, and what drew me to it was its music that began dramatically with the banging of the drums which was then joined by the blare of the trumpets. It very vaguely reminded me of some tune I enjoyed somewhere along the way, but for the life of me I can't put my finger on it... Hmm... My gut is pointing to Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour", but I'm not entirely sure whether to trust it or not.

Well, gut feelings aside, when I heard and watched Sakai's take on "Saraba Koibito" later on, while he still sounded pretty good then, similar to what J-Canuck had said in his article on this very song, I had a hard time associating his reedy, slightly husky voice and rather derpy exterior with the character in the song. And then again, with the fellow bothering to leave a letter and Kyohei Tsutsumi's (筒美京平) rather forlorn melody, our character could possibly be more of the nerdy sort rather your typical irresponsible and somewhat shady guy, and for his own personal reasons he has to abandon his lady (with a heavy heart) but is too afraid to tell it to her thinking that she might convince him to stay, and so he did what he did.

Seeing "Saraba Koibito" on "Uta Kon" I thought the title looked familiar, and lo and behold it was in ASKA's cover album "Boku ni Dekiru Koto" (僕にできること) from 2013 and I had been scrolling past it countless times when in the mood to listen to his other renditions of popular kayo from back in the day. With the addition of the acoustic guitar in his version, "Saraba Koibito" got sort of a folk edge to it which I'm not a fan of that and prefer the original, but that's not to say that it doesn't sound good. I couldn't find ASKA's version online, but I managed to find its cover by Tomi-san, who actually did a good job; kinda sounds like the man himself too. Haha, it's a cover of a cover.

0__o

amazon.co.jp

The Folk Crusaders -- Kaettekita Yopparai （帰って来たヨッパライ）

I've heard this song before (how can I ever forget a song that sounds like it was done by Alvin & The Chipmunks in perfect Japanese?) through TV and such, but I had no idea that this was performed by The Folk Crusaders.

Noelle and nikala provided the two other entries for the folk group on "Kayo Kyoku Plus": "Kanashikute Yarikirenai"（悲しくてやりきれない） and "Imjin River" （イムジン河）respectively, and so my impression of the group was Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）, Osamu Kitayama（北山修）and Norihiko Hashida（はしだのりひこ）performing these classic heartfelt ballads. So I get to do the goofy tune. And strangely enough, "Kaettekita Yopparai" (The Drunkard Returns) was the band's debut single on Christmas Day 1967. Considering the Alvin sound, perhaps it was quite appropriate it came out on December 25th...it certainly sounds like a song for the kids.

It may have been a comical tune but the subject matter was quite dark in that it was about a rascal who ends up dying in a drink-and-drive crash and heading up to heaven but ends up getting kicked back down when he starts carousing with the booze and women up there. Kitayama and Takeshi Matsuyama（松山猛）wrote the lyrics while Kato provided the sped-up melody; supposedly there was no helium involved during the recording.

"Kaettekita Yopparai", whose official English title was "I Only Live Twice" as a riff on a recent James Bond movie, must have hit the nation's funny bone since it managed to reach No. 1 and stay there for a good month early in 1968. In fact, it was the first Oricon song to break the million-record barrier selling a little over 2.8 million copies. It also became the 2nd-ranked song for 1968.

Back in those days, when a record became a hit, it was often the case that a motion picture would be made around it. And so, a comedy was made out of "Kaettekita Yopparai" which also featured The Folk Crusaders as themselves. The surprising thing was who the director was. It was none other than Nagisa Oshima（大島渚）who would later take care of "In The Realm of the Senses" and "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence".

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

It was a bit of an obvious point, but the original song could not be performed verbatim at The Folk Crusaders' concerts despite its mega-hit status. Apparently, the concert version had a more rock arrangement but the above video has a soothing bossa nova lilt.

Norihiko Hashida and Climax -- Hanayome （花嫁）

Yesterday, commenter Ranawaka Aruna referred me to a couple of his favourite kayo kyoku covered by Alfee's Konosuke Sakazaki（坂崎幸之助）at a live performance via YouTube. I recognized the latter song, "Saraba, Koibito"（さらば、恋人）by entertainer Masaaki Sakai（堺正章）right off the bat, but I initially informed Ranawaka that I hadn't ever heard of the first song.

Well, I should slap myself on the back of my head. I actually did know this song, "Hanayome" (The Bride) but just didn't recognize it in Sakazaki's version because of the different arrangement. After reading the title and the songwriters on the screen, I tracked the original version down to YouTube and as soon as I heard the honeyed tones of the female vocalist, a certain number of my memory engrams went PING!

"Hanayome", one of the representative songs of the folk period in the 1970s, was familiar but I hadn't ever found out about who actually sang it and when it did come out. Well, let me rectify that right now. The band was Norihiko Hashida and Climax（はしだのりひことクライマックス）, and for the guitarist and vocalist, Hashida, it was his 5th group of musicians that got together after serving with bands Doody Rumblers (1964), The Folk Crusaders (1965), Norihiko Hashida and Shoe Belts (1969) and Norihiko Hashida and Margarets (never released a record). "Hanayome" was the debut single for Hashida and Climax, released in January 1971.

For the Climax group, Hashida（端田宣彦）was joined by Yoji Nakajima（中嶋陽二）, Shogo Sakaniwa（坂庭省悟）and the lady with the golden vocals, Mie Fujisawa（藤沢ミエ）. The music was provided by Hashida and Sakaniwa; I really liked the brass and rolling drums at the intro, but it was Fujisawa's lovely delivery that sold the song to me. The lyrics were written by Osamu Kitagawa（北山修）who also worked with Hashida in The Folk Crusaders and also came up with his own hit with the late Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）in that same year of 1971. The folk song dealt with a couple eloping to a faraway town, and although (according to J-Wiki) elopement had a pretty dark image in the past (and perhaps still does), the words in "Hanayome" made it clear that this wasn't so much an escape from a bad situation as it was a gleeful leap into something far more positive as the newlywed couple boarded that train for an amazing adventure. I'm not sure if the runaway bride and groom felt the same way after discovering the arduousness of taxes, child rearing and mortgage payments, but hey, let the kids celebrate for today!

And the listening public celebrated as well. The song hit the top spot on Oricon for 2 weeks in a row, and ended up as the 7th-ranked song for 1971 as well as a million-seller. Hashida and Climax also got that invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen when it was still being televised at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre near Ginza.

"Hanayome" also had me recollecting about another old kayo dealing with brides, Rumiko Koyanagi's（小柳ルミ子）classic "Seto no Hanayome"（瀬戸の花嫁）which came out in 1972. Incidentally, Hashida still had one more band up his sleeve, Norihiko Hashida and Endless before he went on a solo career.

Jiros -- Senso wo Shiranai Kodomo Tachi （戦争を知らない子供たち）

I remember hearing this one over the years and regarded this as a very pleasant oldie-but-goodie, not knowing much about the story behind it. Jiros （ジローズ）started life as an amateur band headed by Jiro Sugita（杉田二郎）, while he was a student at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto in 1967. The name was chosen since Sugita and the two other members had similar first names. However, this version of the band broke up a year later.

Then in 1970, Sugita started the 2nd version of Jiros, this time with Jiro Morishita（森下次郎） partnering up with him, with their 2nd of 6 singles, "Senso wo Shiranai Kodomo Tachi"(Children Who Don't Know War) becoming their biggest hit. Released in February 1971, it was composed by Sugita and written by musician Osamu Kitayama（北山修） who also had his own big hit during that year. According to the Wikipedia entry on the song, with the Vietnam War raging and US troops stationed in Japan at the time as citizens were still dealing with the aftermath of World War II, the song was seen as a mild and happy-go-lucky anti-war song, although Jiros never reflected any direct association with the peace movement.

And going through the lyrics, I don't see any particular anti-war sentiment, although Jiros sing about the then-young generation being as happy as sheep in their long hair, growing up in a time of no war and humming peace songs. If anything, I think the two were pushing (ever so slightly) more for hedonism. And in the same Wiki article, lyricist Kitayama later considered the song "....a puerile effort to satirize, and rebel against, the contempt felt by older generations who experienced WWII for younger people born in the postwar period--who were denounced for weak-mindedness and lack of self-discipline...". Uh, ouch!

Yeah, I think the song is so pleasantly sung that those same older generations that Kitayama referred to probably happily clapped along to it. I didn't especially get any feeling of lyrically sharp slashes slicing through the fabric of society any more than a plastic knife would carve through a frozen block of butter. But that's me. In any case, the song was a pretty decent hit with it peaking at No. 11 on Oricon, and winning two Japan Music Awards for Best Newcomer and Best Lyrics.

Kazuhiko Kato & Osamu Kitayama -- Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido （あの素晴らしい愛をもう一度）

A J-Folk song I've been hearing for years and years although it wasn't until recently that I finally learned what the title was and who had actually sung it. "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido"(That Wonderful Love, One More Time) is a gentle mid-tempo kayo kyoku classic that still pops up from time to time on those retrospective specials on Japanese TV. Unfortunately, Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦） passed away a few years ago, but such is the song's evergreen popularity that a lot of other artists ranging from Naomi Sagara to members of Morning Musume have continued to keep the legacy going.

Kato first started out in the 1960s, and started up an amateur folk group, The Folk Crusaders, along with four other people, including the lyricist for this song, Osamu Kitayama（北山修）, while in university. Some years later, after the group broke up, Kato decided to go on a solo career in 1968, and it was his 6th single that was "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido", released in April 1971.

According to J-Wiki, there were a couple of different stories as to the song's origins. The first, more romantic story had Kitayama coming up with the lyrics with Kato composing the music and then giving the whole song to his first wife, Mika, as a Christmas present. The second origin story, which turned out to be the true one according to Kitayama back on a talk show in July 2010, had the two men being asked to create the debut song for another Japanese folk duo, Simons. However, Kato and Kitayama decided to sing the song themselves leaving the other duo to go with another tune to launch their career.

The song managed to peak at No. 10 on Oricon and it became the 46th-ranked song of 1971. For those who might think that Japanese music is all about the enka and aidoru stuff, have a listen to this one.

Kato had some fame in the anime world as well. He, along with his second wife, lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, created the theme tune for the movie version of the 80s anime "Macross", "Ai wo Oboeteimasuka"（愛をおぼえていますか....Do You Remember Love?).

Masaaki Sakai -- Saraba, Koibito （さらば、恋人）

Masaaki Sakai（堺正章） has been a TV fixture for more than 40 years. He's been an actor, a singer, an emcee and an all-round entertainer. And in fact, I used to watch one of his shows late Saturday night on TBS, "Chuubo desu yo"（チューボーですよ....It's A Kitchen!), in which he and a guest try cooking a recipe in the studio kitchen while three professional chefs do the same at their own restaurants in Tokyo (yep, a cooking show at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday...only in Japan). Sakai is basically the equivalent of a Regis Philbin or an Uncle Miltie (if you're that old to remember Milton Berle) on Japanese TV.

But back in the Group Sounds era of the 60s, he was a member of the Spiders until the band broke up in 1970. He quickly went into a solo singing career and his first single in 1971 turned out to be the one that he's probably the most well known for, "Saraba, Koibito" (Farewell, Lover). The lyrics by Osamu Kitayama（北山修）pretty much reflect the title: a feckless guy leaving the Dear Jane letter on the table while she's sleeping before taking off on his own. However, it's kinda hard to believe a guy with Sakai's nerdy voice being a love 'em-and-leave 'em type.

Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平） provided the music. And it's especially interesting to point this out since in the same year as this tune was released, he also helped launch Saori Minami's （南沙織） debut song, "Juu-nana Sai"（17才....17 Years Old). In that blog entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I mentioned that Tsutsumi created the melody with inspiration from Lynn Anderson's country hit "Rose Garden". Tsutsumi did the same thing here, too, with Sakai's debut. There's definitely that stately string intro in "Saraba, Koibito"that was in Glen Campbell's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". The other connection is that both Tsutsumi songs won Japan Music Awards: Minami got the Best Newcomer Award while Sakai got the Popularity Award. As I did with Minami and Anderson on the former's blog entry, I have done with Sakai and Campbell. Take a listen and compare.

Released in May 1971, it peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up being the 10th-ranked song of the year. 

This last video has nothing to do with music, but to show how versatile Sakai has been over the decades. One of his nicknames is "Mister Kakushi Gei"(ミスターかくし芸....Mr. Hidden Talent). On New Year's Day, Fuji-TV broadcasts a 3 or 4-hour program called "Kakushi Gei Taikai"(かくし芸大会....The Hidden Talent Competition) in which just about every actor/singer/entertainer in Japanese show business has to show some sort of special ability that isn't his/her own. There is a reality show aspect to it as the poor entertainer is worn down to a nub as he/she has to learn something like tap dancing or tightrope walking within a few short weeks.

Sakai seems to be the overlord of this show and has usually been the final guy. This is the 2003 edition in which he showed his prowess as a trick billiard player.