Train Station Melodies （発車メロディ）

 

Seeing back on Tuesday that I put up the congratulatory posting on a couple of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）songs getting used as train station melodies at Kiyose Station, I've decided to put some more melodies into KKP. I've known for a long time that pop songs have been used among the vast network of stations across Japan but this is the first time that I'm putting up such an article here on the blog. As such, the following are only a few of such melodies.

Puffy -- Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera （渚にまつわるエトセトラ）

This is only played at Kinosaki Onsen Station on the San'in Main Line in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture during the winter because the area is known for its haul of tasty crab, and the Puffy trademark tune has the lyric of "Let's go and have some crab!".

Iruka/Kaguyahime -- Nagori Yuki (なごり雪）

The evergreen folk song by both Iruka（イルカ）and the band Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）can be heard at Tsukumi Station on the Nippou Main Line in Tsukumi City, Oita Prefecture. According to an archived article, songwriter Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）had based the song on this particular station itself.

Kyu Sakamoto -- Ue wo Muite Arukou (上を向いて歩こう)

C'mon...there was no way that this song was NOT going to be included as a train station melody somewhere in Japan. In fact, it's used at a number of stations...one being Keikyu Kawasaki Station on the Keikyu Main Line in Kawasaki City west of Tokyo. Kawasaki City is special, though, because Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）was born in the city.

Masafumi Akikawa -- Sen no Kaze ni Natte （千の風になって）

Up at Onuma Koen Station on the Hakodate Main Line in the town of Nanae, Hokkaido, this tear-worthy ballad plays for about ten minutes a shot in various arrangements while folks wait for the train. Apparently, the setting in the song was the town itself.

Isao Sasaki -- The Theme from Space Cruiser Yamato (宇宙戦艦ヤマト）

One of anime's greatest theme songs also resides at Kure Station on the Kure Line in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. The real-life battleship Yamato was built at the former Kure Naval Arsenal which is one reason for the theme being used at the station. The other reason is that the late creator of "Uchuu Senkan Yamato", Leiji Matsumoto（松本零士）, was the Director Emeritus of the Yamato Museum located near the station.

Kami Takada Shonen Gasshodan/Zone -- Theme from Tetsuwan Atomu （鉄腕アトムのテーマ）

Of course, I have to finish off with the one train station melody that I used to hear all the time while I was living in the Tokyo area. I used to hear the "Astro Boy" theme when I was making the transfer from the JR Yamanote Line loop to the Tozai Line at Takadanobaba Station to head on back to Chiba Prefecture. 

So, for any of you who have lived in Japan, are there any train station melodies that were part of your lives?

Jamiroquai -- Virtual Insanity

 

Ahhh...1996! By this point, I think things had settled down for me in my home life in Ichikawa, Chiba and work life in Asakusa, Tokyo. Music-wise, there was that Komuro Steamroller with folks like Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）, trf and Tomomi Kahala（華原朋美）. But I have to specify one little thing. At the time, I was still employed by that English-teaching behemoth NOVA and one night, I had my regular duty in the Voice Room which was the chamber in just about every branch where a form of free conversation can take place between teacher and students. Interestingly enough, we got onto the topic of music and I asked one student about which singers she liked. Well, one of them is the topic of this week's Reminiscings of Youth article.

Maybe I should correct myself and say Reminiscings of Young-ish Person since I was already into my thirties by that point, so this would make this ROY the latest one, temporally speaking. In any case, as you can see from the cool dude in the woolly black top hat, I am talking about Jamiroquai. When my Voice Room student answered with his name, I couldn't quite hear it correctly which gave her the opportunity to expound on this British singer and his "Virtual Insanity".

"Virtual Insanity" was released in August 1996 and I have to say that the first thing that caught my eye was that amazing video (it came out a month later) which seemed to be part magic and part IKEA. I not only had that urge to buy a bookshelf but I also got that enjoyment of listening to that old-style groove and soul. There was one comment which described the song as being timeless in its arrangements. I can certainly agree and the opinion also had me thinking again why so many people have gone ga-ga over City Pop in the last few years, and again perhaps the groove theory has that physiological effect on a lot of humans, no matter the gap between age and the time of release of a certain song.

Now I've just realized that "Virtual Insanity" is 25 years old! The single did OK in Canada as it hit No. 64 on the RPM chart and No. 39 on US Billboard. Iceland really loved the song as it reached No. 1 there and then finished the year as the No. 5 single. Meanwhile in Japan, its cellphone ringtone version went Gold according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan. 

This time, let's go with who picked up the hardware at the 1996 Japan Record Awards.

Grand Prize: Namie Amuro -- Don't Wanna Cry

Best Album: globe -- globe

Best New Artist: PUFFY -- Asia no Junshin (アジアの純真）

PUFFY -- Tomodachi no Wow!（トモダチのわお!）

 

Having grown up as one of the final batches of baby boomers going into the 1970s and onwards, cartoons usually meant Saturday mornings although there were "The Flintstones" and some of the Warner Bros. stuff in the late afternoon. But that was about as late as it got in terms of time. Mind you, early Saturday evening at 5 o'clock meant "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour" for my brother and me, and along with getting our fill of Wile E. Coyote going on his quixotic quest to nab that road runner, the hour was also the first time that I got to see Bugs and Elmer Fudd's classic tribute to "The Barber of Seville".

I couldn't even imagine as a kid in Canada any cartoon being shown when the night was already upon us (I hadn't known at the time that "The Flintstones" was the first prime-time cartoon ever shown on American TV), but in Japan, I gather that the daytime/nighttime barrier was no barrier to anime. "Sailor Moon" is usually the example that I come up with when it comes to near-prime time animation although I'm pretty sure that there had been many such examples in the past. And of course, on Sunday nights on Fuji-TV, there was the dinner hour of "Chibi Maruko-chan" and "Sazae-san". Had many a karaage bento in front of the TV.

Recently, I found out about this Monday-night anime and kids' variety show which started in the late 2000s titled "Shimajiro no Wow!"（しまじろうのわお!...Shimajiro's Wow!）broadcast on TV Tokyo with the original source being TV Setouchi covering Okayama and Kagawa Prefectures. The character of Shimajiro the tiger is one that I've seen from time to time on the telly (through commercials for children's stationery), but not really all that knowledgeable about.

The duo of PUFFY has been no stranger to anison since Ami and Yumi have provided an opener for the underrated "Usagi Drop"（うさぎドロップ...Bunny Drop） and recently an ending theme to the aforementioned "Chibi Maruko-chan". Well, they also contributed an ending theme as well for "Shimajiro no Wow!" called "Tomodachi no Wow!" (Friends' Wow!). Serving also as PUFFY's 32nd single, the song had me at "Wow!" in terms of grabbing my ears and mind, and having listened to it again, the chorus is now probably going to be burrowing into my brain for the weekend.

Not surprisingly, the earworminess of "Tomodachi no Wow!" can be credited to PUFFY's delivery and also to the songwriter, Takkyu Ishino（石野卓球）of the techno unit Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）. And what kids wouldn't want to do the Wow! dance with PUFFY against that catchy beat? Released in May 2012, "Tomodachi no Wow!" peaked at No. 85 on Oricon.

PUFFY -- Susume Nonsense（すすめナンセンス）

 

Up until last week, the ending theme for "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）that we've been seeing in the end credits has been Keisuke Kuwata's（桑田佳祐）summery "Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!!" （100万年の幸せ!!）. I wondered then how far back we were in the episodes for the long-running anime as they were run on TV Japan. Well, I found out that "Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!!" was played between April 2012 and October 2017. 

(Sorry but the video has been taken down)

I guess we here in Toronto are three years behind since tonight a few hours ago, we got a look-see at the next ending credit sequence following Kuwata, and this time around it's good ol' PUFFY. It's been two years since I've had Ami and Yumi back aboard "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so welcome them back.

Instead of the O-hanami picnic setting with the Southern all Stars leader, the ending credits have gone for the happily wacky adventure involving Maruko and her best buddy Tamae with PUFFY popping up here and there. The ending theme is "Susume Nonsense" which could mean either "Recommended Nonsense" or "Go Ahead, Nonsense". In any case, it seems like the perfect combination of happy PUFFY pop-rock and Chibi Maruko-chan music with words by the late Momoko Sakura（さくらももこ）, the creator of the original "Chibi Maruko-chan" manga, and music by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）.

"Susume Nonsense" started its run on "Chibi Maruko-chan" from October 2017 but it didn't get its digital download single release until December 2018, and as of this date, it's their most recent single. To further show how far behind we viewers in Canada are, another ending theme, and I assume, ending credits sequence have already popped up from last October. Still, it's refreshing to get a new song and sequence after five years with Kuwata.

PUFFY -- Wedding Bell（ウエディング・ベル）

Back in 2012, I wrote about the 80s vocal group Sugar and their big hit "Wedding Bell" which I had known for its sweet melody but only found out many years later that the song hid a majorly jagged shiv within its lyrics. It was such that I now wonder how some of the audience at NHK Hall had felt when the young ladies of that trio sang those words at the Kohaku Utagassen. Mind you, I do remember from the 1982 broadcast that they did get a nice round of applause.

Well, about a decade ago, down-home duo Puffy did a cover of "Wedding Bell" as the theme song for the Fuji-TV comedy-drama "Kon Katsu!"（婚カツ!...Marriage Hunt!）which was about a guy who had no interest in getting married or even having a relationship getting pushed into the marrying game.

A track from Puffy's 11th album "Bring it!" from June 2009, Ami and Yumi's take on "Wedding Bell" has more of a slightly swinging 1960s feel, and the ladies try not to tax their vocal cords as the Sugar members did.

Plus, the intro sounds like it got a bit of that Disney treatment...all the better to hide the lyrical shiv. All in all, it's a nice update on the 1981 original song. "Wedding Bell" wasn't released as a single but "Bring it!" got as high as No. 17 on the Oricon weeklies. Speaking of Puffy updates on 80s tunes, Ami and Yumi did their take on another vocal group's classic.

Techno group 80kidz even did a remix of Puffy's cover.

PUFFY/Spitz -- Ai no Shirushi（愛のしるし）

Wow! An oldie but a goodie that I just remembered from the oeuvre of PUFFY!

"Ai no Shirushi" (Sign of Love) was the 6th single by Ami and Yumi from March 1998. Like many of their other hits, it had a long rotation on the charts and I remember seeing it all the time on shows like "Countdown TV". I mean, it's not everyday that I hear a pop song ushered in with urgent timpani accompanied by a video featuring choreography that was seemingly inspired by a couple of canoe paddlers. It's still a typically fun PUFFY song that peaked at No. 3.

Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）was the arranger for "Ai no Shirushi" but this time, he didn't take care of the words and music directly. That honour belonged to Masamune Kusano（草野正宗）of the band Spitz which was also enjoying its heyday in the 1990s. What I hadn't known was that Spitz did its own cover of "Ai no Shirushi" on their March 1999 album "Kachou Fuugetsu"（花鳥風月...Beauties of Nature）. Usually I associate the band with these wholesome guitar pop ballads and mid-tempo numbers, but the song and the video show a happily goofier side. The album also went as high as No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies.

PUFFY -- Boogie-Woogie No. 5 (ブギウギ No.5)

Last night, I saw on my Twitter account that dandy duo Puffy with Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura（大貫亜美・吉村由美）is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new album. Good heavens! It's been 2 decades since the ELO-like "Asia no Junshin"（アジアの純真）.

Well, never let it be said that I'm going to miss out on an anniversary regarding Japanese pop music if I can help it. So, here is "Boogie-Woogie No. 5", Puffy's 12th single from September 2000. I think by the turn of the century, the Puffy phenomenon was kinda waning after their first big heyday in the mid-90s with all of those hits and their late-night variety show on TV Asahi, "PA PA PA PA PUFFY"（パパパパパフィー）. However, I do remember this particular song because of this mix of Big Band and rockabilly by creator Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）and for the music video showcasing the ladies in Bowling Night gear and a bunch of guys who looked like they were recruited just off Koen Dori in Shibuya. Of course, there are also lots of goofy choreography to enjoy.

Seeing the video, I hadn't realized that the entire horn section for Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra came on board to join in on the hilarity, and anytime those guys come for an assist, it's gonna be a fun time in a concert. "Boogie-Woogie No. 5" went as high as No. 22...perhaps not quite like the old days but it did have another interesting payoff. According to J-Wiki and Wikipedia, an executive on America's Cartoon Network saw the video for the song and then heard it on radio after which he just had to track Puffy down. Ami and Yumi ended up doing the theme song for superhero cartoon "Teen Titans" and even got their own animated adventures on the network. Although I don't think the one door was closed shut for the ladies, another door definitely opened up. The single was also a track on their 5th album, "SPIKE" from October 2000 which peaked at No. 10 on the Oricon album charts.

And to finish off, here is an episode from "PA PA PA PA PUFFY" .

PUFFY -- MOTHER

Well, the above is quite a treat...not sure how long it will stay up, though. The show is "Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy", Ami and Yumi's own late-night variety show on TV Asahi that lasted for about 2.5 years. I distinctly remember where the stuttery title came from. It just happened to be when Puffy appeared on the old Fuji-TV music program "Hey Hey Hey Music Champ", and co-host Hitoshi Matsumoto（松本人志）of comedic duo Downtown was doing his usual riff at the guests' (cordial) expense. At one point, in a stream-of-consciousness moment, he just blurted out "Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy!" Not too long after, buoyed by Puffy's growing popularity, the quip became a title.

Oops...and I have digressed from the point of the first sentence, haven't I? Well, the guests on the show are none other than the current top guys on the Johnny's Entertainment mountaintop, Arashi（嵐）, just when they were starting out. Apparently, some hypnotist was playing around with them.

At around the same time, Puffy came out with their 5th single from December 1997, "MOTHER". Written and composed by their good friend, Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）, the song is a down-home relaxing guitar pop song about some buddies getting bored with life only to happily re-discover what it should be all about. I think the former lead singer of Unicorn probably cornered the market on making these happy-go-lucky guitar-driven tunes. Still not quite sure where the mother part comes in, though.

"MOTHER" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon. Although I heard it often on the music shows and commercials, there was also the fact that it was a theme song for a drama that I had tried to watch for a few episodes before giving up on it. It was titled "Eve -- Santa Claus Dreaming" starring then It Girl Riona Hazuki（葉月里緒奈）as a spoiled brat who starts growing up under an eccentric psychiatrist played by comely Toshiaki Karasawa（唐沢寿明）. Ironically, I think Hazuki made a bigger impression playing a wife/victim/host of life form in the sci-fi flick "Parasite Eve" which came out the same year.

The song was also part of Puffy's 2nd album, "Jet CD" which was released in April 1998 and hit No. 1 as a million-seller.

PUFFY -- SWEET DROPS/Kasarinchu -- High, High, High

Back a couple of years ago, my anime buddy introduced me to this rather sweet slice-of-life anime that had run from July 2011 for 11 weeks called "Usagi Drop"（うさぎドロップ...Bunny Drop）. It had no reality-warping cute witches or city-breaking giant mecha robots....it merely told of a story of a somewhat taciturn young bachelor businessman Daikichi who through some very unusual circumstances suddenly became the caretaker of a precocious girl by the name of Rin. Each week, the series depicted some minor crisis that "sudden" father Daikichi had to tackle vis-a-vis Rin as he gradually grew into his new life role. The show also included a small arc involving the search for the girl's biological mother. Along with the soft pastel-like animation, I enjoyed "Usagi Drop" since it had that element that every movie that I've enjoyed from "Star Wars" to "Ghostbusters" had...a good heart.

The other reason behind my profile today has to do with the music, so I've decided to kill two birds with one stone and cover both the opening and ending themes. First off, there is the opening by PUFFY titled "SWEET DROPS". When I saw the cute opening credits to "Usagi Drop" and heard Ami and Yumi for the first time in a very long while, I just went "Wow! They're still together". And I think the child-like and sing-song nature of "SWEET DROPS" was just perfect for PUFFY and for the series. The song was the pair's 31st single from August 2011 which just happened to be their second single in their 15th anniversary year.

Singer-songwriter Shoko Suzuki（鈴木祥子）was the one behind the creation of the song, and I think getting PUFFY to come on board was fairly easy since the manga artist responsible for the original comic of "Usagi Drop", Yumi Unita（宇仁田ゆみ）, was a huge fan of the duo. "SWEET DROPS" got as high as No. 34 on Oricon.

However, if I had to make a choice, I would have to say that my favourite of the two themes would be the ending song by the other duo, Kasarinchu（カサリンチュ）. I think "High High High" was the song that finally made me realize that a wailing & twangy guitar is just the thing for a happy-go-lucky tune. Reminiscent of some of the works by Spitz, "High High High" is like taking a fun walk in the park or that Sunday drive with your own kids.

Kasarinchu is Tatsuhiro （タツヒロ）and Kousuke （コウスケ）from Kagoshima Prefecture. Being classmates in both junior and senior high school, they were in a band together, and then after graduating, they headed up to Tokyo for some more education although the J-Wiki article hints that the two had spent their lives separately up there. They returned to Kagoshima, and on attending a mutual friend's wedding, Tatsuhiro and Kousuke sang together which sparked the idea of them starting up a double act. So in 2005, Kasarinchu was born. As for the name, it was derived from the name of their hometown, Kasari Town （笠利町）on Amami-Oshima Island and it actually means "people of Kasari". The town was recently merged with two other municipalities on the island to become the city of Amami.

"High High High" was the coupling song to Kasarinchu's 2nd single, "Yamerarenai Tomarenai" （やめられない、とまれない...Can't Quit, Can't Stop） which came out in July 2011. The single was written and composed by Tatsuhiro, and managed to get as high as No. 82 on Oricon.

Puffy -- Circuit no Musume （サーキットの娘）

Puffy product placement and 'dorably dorky dancing! I give you my alliteration for the day. Along with the rolling fun of the song itself, the video for Puffy's "Circuit no Musume" (Wild Girls on Circuit) provides oodles of amusement, although having the heads of Ami and Yumi on race queen bodies was kinda borderline creepy.

"Circuit no Musume" is Puffy's 3rd single from March 1997. Written and composed by Tamio Okuda（奥田民男） of Unicorn fame, the song goes into the life of being a race queen, a figure that was (and may still be) part and parcel of the racing experience. Especially in the 90s, tall and long-legged and long-haired beauties in revealing fashion and heels while sporting parasols strode by the circuits and on variety shows. Methinks if Chisato Moritaka had been thinking of a different line of work...

The song was used as the commercial tune for Yamaha's Vino scooter line, and I think they were indeed used in the official music video....certainly Ami and Yumi were wearing the corporate T-shirts. I gather having "Circuit no Musume" sponsoring a line of putt-putty scooters must have further added to the daily recommended dose of irony. And according to the J-Wiki writeup, somewhere in the video, Yumi is rubbing her left leg as a bit of tribute to the fact that she had broken that leg some months before the release of the single when she fell off her bicycle; the appropriate lyrics are in there as well.

"Circuit no Musume" hit the top spot on Oricon, and later became the 32nd-ranked song of the year, making over a million sales. Like a number of other Puffy singles, I recall that this was also a popular tune at the karaoke boxes. The single is also a track on the duo's 2nd album, "Jet CD" which came out in April 1998 and also hit the million barrier.

Puffy -- Nichiyoubi no Musume （日曜日の娘）

I think by this time around the turn of the century, Puffy's singing career was starting to become superseded by their one as television personalities, although they have continued to release singles as recently as last year. Still, I took notice of their April 1999 9th single, "Nichiyoubi no Musume"(Sunday Girls) because Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）, who wrote and composed the song, crafted something that sounded like a mix between a Shibuya-kei tune and the theme from the old 70s US sitcom "Three's Company". And of course, it's always fun seeing Ami and Yumi pull off their dance moves anywhere and anytime. The song had already been slated for a Yamaha moped (the Vino) commercial, so Okuda incorporated the name into the lyrics and I believe the ladies were riding them in the video.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dyw5c_%E6%97%A5%E6%9B%9C%E6%97%A5%E3%81%AE%E5%A8%98-%E3%83%91%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC_music

"Nichiyoubi no Musume"peaked at No. 15 on the Oricon charts and was included in Puffy's 4th album, "Fever * Fever" which was released in June 1999.

And for a bit of comparison, here's "Three's Company".

Puffy -- Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera （渚にまつわるエトセトラ）

Starting this profile with a mundane linguistic question: How do I translate the title...."Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera"? The Et Cetera Related to The Beach? Just glad that the Wikipedia entry for the song got me out of the jam; apparently the 2002 US release has the alternative title of "Electric Beach Fever". Whew!

"Electric Beach Fever" sounds a bit disco, doesn't it? Well, not surprising....the song itself has that late 70s dance fever vibe to it. Written by Yosui Inoue（井上陽水） and composed by Tamio Okuda（奥田民生） (the same singer-songwriter pair who launched Puffy's career with the ELO-like "Asia no Junshin"[already profiled]), Ami and Yumi's 4th single of April 1997 was created with Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹） cover of The Village People's "YMCA" in 1979 (also already profiled). In fact, according to J-Wiki, Puffy and Saijo actually did a duet with the song on one of the Fuji-TV summer marathons.

When it comes to remembering Puffy, this video will always be the first one that comes to mind. The ladies have always given off that "Summer Girls Always Want To Have Fun"aura, and so my biggest image of them is the video of them enjoying a day in Phuket, Thailand, doing oyaji dance moves and eating BBQ crab, and the lyrics consist of those images of having a grand day by the beach....as well as mentioning the BBC, BOAC and Harrison Ford. What's not to love?

Speaking of the once....and perhaps future..."Star Wars"star, "Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera" is the second tune I've heard that has a reference to Ford (the first being Misato Watanabe's "Oh, Darling!"). And one of the strangest celeb interviews I have ever come across took place on Puffy's late-night variety show "Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy" when Ami and Yumi actually got the chance to interview....or try to chat with....Harrison Ford for "Air Force One" while dressed in kimonos. Ford who, deservedly or undeservedly, has the reputation of being especially taciturn in interviews actually looked rather bewildered or bemused as he gave his terse answers while having a "What the heck did I get myself into?" expression throughout. I didn't keep the TV on the whole interview due to intense awkwardness (I'm not even sure if Puffy really wanted to be there either), but found out that Ami and Yumi even performed the verse of "Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera"acapella containing the reference to their interviewee. I tried to look for a video of it on YouTube but no luck.

Being the big years for Puffy, "Nagisa ni Matsuwaru Et Cetera" hit the top spot on Oricon. According to J-Wiki, the song sold 1.1 million copies which probably would have put it at 12th place in the yearly rankings of 1997. However, according to the rankings at www.musictvprogram.com, it came out at 18th place with 880,000 copies sold. Whatever the ranking was, it was another big hit for the duo.

The Chanels/Puffy -- Hurricane （ハリケーン）

With hurricane season now here, I thought it was as good a time as any to bring up this old Chanels classic which was released in May 1981. "Hurricane"was another doo-wop, Sha-Na-Na hit for the vocal group, their fourth straight Top 3 hit since they debuted in early 1980 with "Runaway". It got as high as No. 2 and later became the 29th-ranked song of the year.

Then, in February 2002, Puffy came out with their own version of the song, and with a short-but-sweet video to boot (although I could've done without the gag wind tunnel-in-the-mouth effects). The Puffy cover went up as far as No. 36 on the Oricon weeklies. The song, by the way, was written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）.

I am hoping that everyone will be keeping safe here and down in the States.

Puffy -- Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi （これが私の生きる道）

The adorable Puffy girls got their first No. 1 with this song, some 5 months after their debut, "Asia no Junshin"（アジアの純真....Purity of Asia）. It stayed for 16 weeks on the Oricon charts after its release in October 1996, hitting the top spot on October 21. During its time on the charts, it managed to sell almost 1.6 million copies, and remains their most successful hit. Although the debut song was handled by Yosui Inoue and Tamio Okuda（井上陽水・奥田民生）, this time it was Okuda handling both the writing and composing.

The song has that Beatles-esque influence, notably from "Day Tripper" if you listen carefully, although there is a chorus part that seems to reflect "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" at one point. Lyrically, "Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi"(This is the Street Where We Live) talks about the fun and optimistic side of life as Ami and Yumi plainly show in the video while they cruise around California. As for the title, it refers to  a line uttered by one of "The Crazy Cats", a comic Japanese band from the 1950s in which he said "Kore ga Otoko no Ikiru Michi"(This is the Street Where Boys Live). However, for the Puffy Amiyumi fans in the States, the song's English title is "That's the Way It Is".

The song is also on the duo's 2nd album, "JET CD".

PUFFY -- Asia no Junshin (アジアの純真）

The first time I heard of PUFFY was when I saw the official music video. At a time when the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉） era of J-Pop was coming up with Shibuya-gal friendly artists, seeing these plain Janes dancing appealingly clumsily was a bit refreshing. Ami Ohnuki（大貫亜美） and Yumi Yoshimura（吉村由美） were lone singers lost in the giant SONY machine until Ohnuki asked former Unicorn frontman, Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）, to include her newfound friend as a duo.

Okuda composed and arranged "Asia no Junshin" (Purity of Asia) as a song that ELO would love, with Yosui Inoue（井上揚水） providing the zany lyrics (Berlin, Dublin, Liberia, balalaika, lasagna). Weird Al Yankovic would have swooned about this debut song.

This eclectic mix of singers, lyrics and melody had a Cinderella ending. Released in May 1996, it hit the No. 3 position on the Oricon weeklies and earned PUFFY the Newcomers' Prize at the Japan Record Awards. It also sold over 1 million copies and launched the duo onto a successful career which has extended beyond Japan.

(June 17 2015: I've got a follow-up here)