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.
Some call it the best Western ever made with one of the best theme songs ever made. Elmer Bernstein's contribution for "The Magnificent Seven" would probably have folks standing up in their seats in tribute to the epic orchestral majesty of this piece.
There have been quite a few remixes done of "The Magnificent Seven". I think there was a KLF version done many years ago. What I hadn't realized that even the Japanese hip-hop duo HALCALI sampled Bernstein's magnum opus for one of their singles.
A month ago, I posted their 2003 "Otsukare Summer"（おつかれSUMMER）since it became one of the Tik Tok hits for Summer 2025. But I also had this HALCALI 2006 tune in the backlog for a while, so why not also remark on this one which came out as their 8th single in February that year. Instead of the Shibuya-kei nature of "Otsukare Summer", "Twinkle Star" is back to their hip-pop stylings (with the "Magnificent Seven" woven in) thanks to two members of the band RIP SLYME helping out in the music making: RYO-Z and DJ Fumiya. Plus, Bernstein himself is in the credits as well. From the video, it looks like Halca and Yucali are giving their own tributes to Shibuya gyaru culture. Unfortunately, "Twinkle Star" didn't get too high up on the charts...just up to No. 104.
Although I don't think that I first saw this bizarre but adorable CG anime, "Garakuta Douri no Stain"（ガラクタ通りのステイン...Ga-Ra-Ku-Ta: Mr. Stain on Junk Alley） during its first run between 2002 and 2003, it did come to mind several years ago while I was writing "Kayo Kyoku Plus" since I had written about the special ending theme for the final 14th episode by the Tokyo song-and-dance duo HALCALI.
Well, I have to say that the one part that has always stayed in my head from "Mr. Stain" was the ending credits for the first thirteen episodes where all of the main and guest characters get introduced in happy CG dancing mode along with the regular ending theme, again by HALCALI, "Tandem". Actually, "Tandem" was the duo's debut single from January 2003 and as with "Giri Giri Surf Rider"（ギリギリ・サーフライダー）, that special ender for the finale, hip-hop group RIP SLYME's RYO-Z and DJ FUMIYA concocted this earworm.
"Tandem" did catch some attention since it peaked at No. 19 on Oricon and why not? HALCALI gave quite the distinct impression with their sing-songy vocals (kinda like a funky kids' song) and an arrangement that had me thinking a loungy cha-cha tune from the 1960s. Plus, the music video for HALCALI gave us a good eyeful of their just-as-distinct dancing style for the first time.
For all those fhana fans, remember when I put up the article for "Aozora no Rhapsody"（青空のラプソディ）years ago, noting that that had been the first time that I ever fell for and wrote about an anison before even catching the first episode of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid）?
Well, holy s**t and f**kin' yay! It's ha**ened again (oops, I guess I went a little overboard with the asterisks there). I had heard about this group called s**t kingz before but couldn't quite place them which is rather amazing considering that name. However, when I went to their Wiki bio, I found out that they had backed up singer-performer Daichi Miura（三浦大知）, formerly of the 90s song-and-dance group Folder, and they were the guys with him when he showed up on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.
Now to set the record straight, s**t kingz isn't a singing group but a choreography quartet consisting of shoji, kazuki, NOPPO and Oguri, and I read on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）schedule that they were up tonight to perform "Egao!" (Smile!) featuring hip-hop unit RIP SLYME member PES. And seeing the short-and-sweet music video above, just like with "Aozora no Rhapsody", I've rather fallen for the song, whistle and all, before catching "Uta Con" tonight.
"Egao!" has been up for digital download under PES' discography since last month with Masaki Tomiyama, PES and s**t kingz handling the music and the last two providing the lyrics. I'm glad that the four fellows don't take themselves too seriously but are seriously having fun with the dancing, especially while wearing clothes that seem to have come from the Sears Fall Catalog, circa 1982.
My compliments on whoever chose the setting of that house and an open-air art class. The former appears to be a mansion that YouTuber Erik Conover would explore...and yup, I've subscribed to him. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing s**t kingz later tonight.
Heck of a time for me to put in an Xmas-themed song but to be honest, I hadn't even known that it was a Christmas song of sorts.
Moreover it's been so long since I had written about a tune by the Okinawan song-and-dance duo HALCALI that I just had to squeeze this one in before retiring this Sunday night. And Halca and Yucali always used to come up with the catchy tunes alongside their just-as-eye-catching dancing, too.
"Strawberry Chips" was HALCALI's 4th single from November 2003, and I distinctly remember the music video with the girls bopping about in their Christmas tree costumes and then smacking each other with strawberry shortcake, a common cake during the Yuletide in Japan thanks to stores like Fujiya. Plus, the melody by DJ Fumiya from hip-hop group RIP SLYME just grabs my ears right away with the beefy drum and the disco strings. The song also seems to be imbued with not only early 1970s soul but even some of that Motown sound; in fact, I almost felt like categorizing it as a Shibuya-kei tune as well.
The lyrics were provided by RYO-Z, another member of RIP SLYME and they seem to be about having that great Xmas party with all of the fixings including champagne. However in the end, the young lady involved heads home alone. It's indeed that Xmas song that doesn't sound like an Xmas song, aside from a few jingle bells here and there. "Strawberry Chips" peaked at No. 22 on Oricon and was placed on the album "Ongaku no Susume"（音樂ノススメ...Recommended Music）, HALCALI's second effort which was released in November 2004 and got as high as No. 24.
Tomoyuki Tanaka earned the first name of his nom du guerre, Fantastic Plastic Machine, by being able to loop a whole variety of disparate sounds into pure crazy catchiness, and for this particular song, that includes frenzied guitar striking, beeps and beats along with the inclusion of key words including the word "dance" by MC Su, a member of the hip hop group RIP SLYME.
Yup, "Dance Dance Dance Dance" is from FPM's 5th studio album"Imaginations" from February 2006. I mean, there shouldn't be anything by stringing those sounds together that would make me funk it up. And yet, each time I listen to "Dance Dance Dance Dance", I end up becoming that joyous fellow from the "Dancing Man at the Wedding" meme photo. Mind you, in all likelihood, he probably dances far better than I ever did at the Copa.
It's plainly evident in the music video above by houng ju mun that the lyrics state "How we doing?" but when I hear Su rap that out, I can't help but hear Joey from "Friends" saying his immortal line.
Although the hip-hop group RIP SLYME has gotten its first appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through the article for the BEST compilation for Master of Groove Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, tonight will have RIP SLYME in their first article all on their own. However, the question that had been bugging me for years was how these guys got their name.
Well, according to J-Wiki, when RIP SLYME started up in 1994, the collective of 3 DJs and 2 MCs brought their heads together and it was decided that the first name would consist of the first initials of the three DJs: RYO-Z, ILMARI, and PES while SLYME was a stylized spelling for the word slime which happened to be a popular toy in Japan at the time (I thought Slime was a 70s thing in North America).
Now that the mystery has been solved, we come to RIP SLYME's 13th single which was released in July 2007, "Nettaiya"(Sultry Night). Created by the group, Luis Gonzaga and David Nasser Zedantes, I'm not a big hip-hop fan but I have to admit that this is darn catchy. What helps is that Latin beat running underneath that sounds like it was inspired by Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 which might also explain that feeling of lounge-y 60s I can hear.
I gotta admit that the music video is quite the thing, isn't it? Not sure where it was filmed but it looks like the boys enjoyed that filming experience thoroughly while wearing their cheesy John Travolta disco suits and almost wearing the ladies in their excessively endangered bathing suits. Incidentally, I also found out from J-Wiki that those women were actually Japanese porn actresses (I wonder whether RIP SLYME asked for their autographs). Anyways, good times!
"Nettaiya" went Gold as it peaked at No. 3 on Oricon. It was also a track on RIP SLYME's 6th album,"Funfair" from November 2007 which all the way up to No. 2 and also went Gold.
One of my recent acquisitions that I managed to get my hands despite the rotating strikes at Canada Post. I was definitely looking forward to hearing this BEST work by songsmith Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, aka Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）. A number of songs that have been crafted by him on this March 2011 compilation have already been given their own individual due, but there are still plenty of tracks that have yet to be covered.
1. Tomita Lab feat. Maaya Sakamoto -- April Fool 2. Yumi Matsutoya -- Kaede（楓） 3. Ken Hirai -- Ring 4. Mika Nakashima -- WILL 5. Tomita Lab -- here it comes 6. m-flo loves Crystal Kay -- REEWIND! (Tomita Lab. Remix) 7. Tomita Lab feat. Hanaregumi -- Nemuri no Mori （眠りの森） 8. Tomita Lab feat. CHEMISTRY -- Zutto Yomikake no Natsu （ずっと読みかけの夏） 9. Tomita Lab -- high noon 10. Fantastic Plastic Machine -- Why Not? (Tomita Lab. Remix) 11. AI -- ONE 12. Youmou & Ohana -- falling 13. Tomita Lab -- color them green 14. RIP SLYME -- Mata Au Hi made 2010 ~ Tomita Ryu（マタ逢ウ日マデ2010～冨田流～） 15. Kirinji -- Aliens （エイリアンズ） 16. Tomita Lab feat. Motohiro Hata -- Parallel（パラレル）
Unfortunately, I couldn't find Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由美）contribution to the album so we're gonna start off with Ken Hirai's（平井堅）"Ring". His 17th single from November 2002, it was written and composed by the singer with Tomita handling the arrangement, and yep, the Tomita touch of groovy and soulful strings is in there along with some gospel. As you can see from above, "Ring" was the theme song for the NTV drama "Psycho Doctor"（サイコドクター）about a dedicated psychiatrist played by Yutaka Takenouchi（竹野内豊）and looking at that perpetually hangdog expression on his face, I kinda wonder if he needed help.
Hirai had another hit with "Ring" as it went to the top of the charts, going Platinum and becoming the 39th-ranked single of 2003.
m-flo teams up with Crystal Kay for its 14th single, "REEWIND!" and then puts it through the Tomita filter. So we've got the Tomita groove mixed in with the fast-paced tumble-dry style of m-flo. The original single came out in June 2003 and got as high as No. 9, and it's also a track on the group's 3rd album"Astromantic" from May 2004. That album went up to No. 2 and became the 42nd-ranked album of the year.
I had never heard of the acoustic duo Youmou & Ohana（羊毛とおはな）but I'm happy to make their acquaintance through their "falling" which was on their 2nd album"Konnichiwa"（こんにちは。...Hello.）from January 2008. Tomita arranged and produced both song and album, and it looks like he let Kazunori "Youmou" Ichikawa（市川和則）and Hana "Ohana" Chiba（千葉はな）fully show their own sound which I'm happy about. "falling" was originally written and composed by Corinne Bailey Rae, et al with Chiba providing the Japanese lyrics. Sadly, Chiba passed away in 2015 at the age of 36.
Welcome aboard, RIP SLYME! Tomita gave his own layer of glam to the hip-hop group's "Mata Au Hi Made 2010 ~ Tomita Ryu" (Until We Meet Again 2010 ~ Tomita Style) as its 17th single. The original version of "Mata Au Hi Made" was RIP SLYME's final single in November 2000 (lyrics by the band and music by Fantastic Plastic Machine/DJ Fumiya) as an indies unit before making their major debut the following year. The Tomita-arranged version of the song came out in June 2010, and though I'm not a hip-hop fan per se, this one is pretty fun. Plus, I do like the video for a few reasons which include the fact that it reminds me of the trailer for the 50th anniversary special for "Doctor Who". The 2010 version hit No. 10 on Oricon. I will have to take a look at the original version later on.
My final song is Tomita's 6th single"Parallel"(September 2009) featuring singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata（秦基博）, and it seems to make for a fine "good night" song to finish up the proceedings. Tomita composed the song with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）providing lyrics, and hearing Hata, he and the song remind me of some of the soulful contributions by Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）and Sing Like Talking. "Parallel" hit No. 11 which makes it Tomita's most successful single to date.
Along with Matsutoya's track, I couldn't find AI's"ONE", but otherwise, including the songs that I had already covered in past articles, I believe that I've provided everything from this BEST compilation by Tomita. Looking at his list of songs that he's had a hand in providing to other artists on J-Wiki, I think, though, there are still many gems to be unearthed, and certainly, I won't be stopping at this album when it comes to him. Incidentally, "〜beautiful songs to remember〜" peaked at No. 77.
Back when I first started "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in 2012, I did mention the hip-hop dynamic dance duo HALCALI performing the cover of Kome Kome Club's"Roman Hiko"（浪漫飛行）very briefly and up to tonight, that has been it for Tokyo's Halca and Yukali（ハルカ・ユカリ）. Actually, I had thought that the ladies hailed from Okinawa.
Well, allow me to rectify that. I used to see a number of HALCALI music videos on one of the Japanese music stations, and to be honest, I was drawn more to the duo's mesmerizing choreography than the actual songs. And the same holds true for their 3rd single, "Giri Giri Surf Rider"（ギリギリ・サーフライダー...Last-Minute Surf Rider）which came out in July 2003. Not to say that Halca and Yukali were bad singers; their hippity-hoppity-poppity and sing-songy delivery of the lyrics added to the charm, but it was seeing the whole package together with the girls singing and dancing that made things really fun.
What I liked about the video for "Giri Giri Surf Rider" was that despite the lyrics about that cool surfer dude on the beach, the visuals concentrated on a potential rumble between a couple of 80s tsuppari gangs before Halca and Yukali save the day and the entire cast ends up dancing the day away on that pier. It was kinda like "Nishi Side Story" for the 21st century. And certainly after a hearty Sunday pancake breakfast in my apartment, the video was an excellent supplement to my coffee.
"Giri Giri Surf Rider" was written by RYO-Z and composed by DJ FUMIYA from hip-hop groupRip Slyme, and it peaked at No. 10, one of their most successful entries. It was also used as the ending theme for the final episode of a CGI anime series "Garakuta Douri no Stain"（ガラクタ通りのステイン...Ga-Ra-Ku-Ta: Mr. Stain on Junk Alley） which came out in early 2003. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video that had the final episode's end credits, but here is HALCALI's "Tandem"which served as the ending theme song for the first 13 episodes.
Without me having to drone on about the history of HALCALI, you can read about them at the Wiki article here.
