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.
As I've mentioned before, "Ue wo Muite Arukou"(上を向いて歩こう) will always be Kyu Sakamoto's（坂本九）most famous kayo kyoku but close by in second place is his "Miagetegoran Yoru no Hoshi wo"（見上げてごらん夜の星を）which can rival the Sukiyaki song in terms of how many tears it can wring out from listeners.
"Miagetegoran Yoru no Hoshi wo" was quite the emotional ballad for Sakamoto, so I gather that the producers for the May 1963 single figured that the B-side had to be somewhat lighter in tone to compensate. Well, the same creators of the A-side, lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Taku Izumi（いずみたく）, came up with this cheery slice of Latin-infused kayo called "Benkyo no Cha Cha Cha" (The Study Cha Cha Cha). Short and sweet with an arrangement that Perez Prado would be proud of, it's good enough for those cramming students to get off their duffs for a couple of minutes to do a cha cha throughout the major high school subjects. Hopefully, it was enough for them to pass those dreaded entrance exams. Incidentally, Danny Iida and the Paradise Kings（ダニー飯田とパラダイス・キング） provided background chorus.
I gotta admit that as a YouTube uploader has put it, this Japanese band has one of the most interesting names that I've ever heard. Would like to know how this quintet of guys came up with the name Bob's Fish Market...and whether Bob gave his blessing to them to use the name of his fish market, wherever that may be.
There isn't a whole lot of knowledge about them but their 1979 debut album"Bob's Fish Market" has been described as folk rock with a touch of reggae depending on the song. I did discover from one Japanese blog that Bob's Fish Market has been seen as the Japanese version of The Band with Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. The blog has also given the lineup as vocalist and guitarist Takashi Tsuruga（敦賀隆）, guitarist Toshiro Higurashi（日倉士歳朗）, pianist Toshihiro Kunimi/Kokumi（国見敏博）, bassist Tatsuji Yoshida（吉田達二）, and drummer Masaaki Maeda（前田政明）. According to Higurashi's own website (unfortunately, he passed away in 2021), the band has been around since at least 1976.
The above video from Hee Hyeong Moon has the first two tracks from the self-titled album. It begins with "Itsu datte Fuitekuru"（いつだって吹いてくる...The Wind Always Blows） and when I first heard it, I did get some of those Happy End vibes. As well, this song written and composed by Tsuruga rolls along with a sunny and bouncy beat that seems a bit anachronistic for 1979 when thinking about the grooving City Pop and the sparkly technopop that were rising at the time. It really does sound like something from the early part of that decade.
At 3:55 above is "Mata Hoe Hajimeta yo"（また吠え始めたよ...I Started Barking Again） is a bit more growly and laidback roots rock. Just think of Grizzly Adams on his porch sipping his whiskey on the porch and you'll get the idea. I couldn't find the official songwriters for this one, but I'm assuming that it is Tsuruga again for this track and probably for all of the other tracks except one at least.
One more track that I'll show here should be familiar to all kayo kyoku fans since it is a light reggae cover of Kyu Sakamoto's（坂本九）classic "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) , i.e. the "Sukiyaki" song from 1961. It's also very sunny and airy which ought to draw out any folks out from the blues.
I'm not sure whether Bob's Fish Market released any more albums soon after their first album, but in 2011, the band did put out a CD called "Three Decades".
Not sure where I first heard this one by the late great Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）. Well to be more specific, I heard a cover of his "Sayonara Tokyo" on one of the kayo shows that we get on TV Japan. I didn't see the title at the "Uta Con"（うたコン）website so I'm assuming that it was probably on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit）.
"Sayonara Tokyo" was released in July 1964 although it wasn't officially a Tokyo Olympics song. In fact, it was released some three months before the start of the Games, which were set for October since the host nation had wanted to avoid participating athletes potentially swooning in the notorious heat and humidity during a typical July in the nation's capital. And according to the J-Wiki article for the song, the record company had also wanted to avoid their star's record losing sales because of enormous interest toward the Olympics, so it was July.
It certainly doesn't sound like an Olympics song by any means with the verve and energy of Haruo Minami's（三波春夫）"Tokyo Gorin Ondo"（東京五輪音頭）. "Sayonara Tokyo" is simply a bittersweet farewell to the city and perhaps a now-former paramour that was created by the same dynamic duo behind Kyu's most famous hit "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) a few years earlier, lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）. I do like the Latin guitar and the background chorus.
Still, despite the somewhat lonely lyrical theme and the title, Sakamoto ended up performing the song and its B-side"Kimi ga Suki"（君が好き...I Love You）, also created by Ei and Nakamura at the official welcome party for the Olympics. Not only that, he made another appearance on the 1964 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen to perform "Sayonara Tokyo". By the middle of the following year, the single sold around 600,000 records.
Good golly! I remember this oh-so-1970s commercial as if it had been playing yesterday on the old telly. Lowney's Cherry Blossoms were a treat that I had to eat from time to time as they were readily available in supermarkets and convenience stores in Canada. They not only raised my caloric input but most likely decreased my life expectancy without me realizing it. Mind you, we have a box of the Laura Secord version on the coffee table but those blossoms are thankfully far less potent.
Chocolate in their bars and other forms were just as popular in Japan, too. I believe that I actually did buy a few boxes of Look Chocolate at the local 7-11 or am/pm during my time there. Certainly, the shapes look very familiar. I'm also happy that someone on YouTube was enterprising enough to put up an ancient commercial for Look which does have that mild psychedelic appeal. The jingle seems to have come out of some 1960s Italian movie.
Look is still putting forth chocolates and commercials today as you can see from the fellows of Snow Man making their mark.
I was actually doing a bit of research on the legendary kayo writing team of lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura（永六輔・中村八大）. Of course, the two have been immortalized for the "Sukiyaki" song, aka "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）, but I also saw on their list that they were also responsible for one jingle for Look which was created in 1963, a couple of years following "Sukiyaki".
Titled simply "Look Chocolate no Uta"(The Look Chocolate Song), it was recorded by the late Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）. Short and sweet as any chocolate jingle ought to be, it has that catchy twist-friendly arrangement, and maybe the kids were doing their little jig while whining at their parents to take a look at Look.
Going further down the rabbit hole to find out about "Look Chocolate no Uta", I discovered via Discogs that it had been a B-side for a 1965 45" single of chocolate jingles. The A-side had "Topsy no Uta" (The Topsy Song) for a chocolate of that name which no longer exists. Composer Nakamura was also responsible for this jingle but the lyricist for this one was Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）. And the singer here was none other than Bob McGrath of "Sesame Street" fame who just passed away late last year. It's got quite the dramatic and romantic heft for chocolate, doesn't it? Bob did a pretty bang-up job on the Japanese, too.
Last night's NHK "Uta Con"（うたコン）episode was something that I knew would be the final one for 2021 since the host mentioned that it would be the bonenkai（忘年会）show, and whenever that word is cited, then I know that we won't be seeing any more "Uta Con" until early January. Therefore it was the usual end-of-year party silliness among the hosts and guests which included veteran enka singer Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）and vivacious pop singer Kumi Koda（倖田來未）.
Some of that atmosphere was further relayed via a segment in which a number of folks on stage got together in what I had thought would be a conga line, but instead of a tropical dance number, the song was more of a circus-like polka with a lot of hopping and stepping. Although there isn't any footage of that part of "Uta Con" on YouTube, I did find a fine example of this dance above through The Function's YouTube channel.
The title flashed up on the screen in katakana but I was able to find the original spelling which is "Jenkka", and it actually refers to a Finnish folk dance that apparently has two different forms, the line version as shown above and then the more whirling type for couples that you can see here. As for that former form, it is performed alongside a folk song from Finland known as a letkiss, if I'm not mistaken (and if I am, I hope the KKP fans from that nation will correct me).
That line version sounds like just the thing for the participants in a year-end party who are filled to the brim with alcohol and food. And so, the kayo powers-that-be back in the 1960s saw a good thing in Finland and had their own versions recorded. According to the J-Wiki article on the jenkka, singers Nana Kinomi（木の実ナナ）and Michi Aoyama（青山ミチ）released jenkka-based tunes around 1965. However, I believe that it was Kyu Sakamoto's（坂本九）September 1966 take on the dance that was used on "Uta Con" last night, so I will go with that.
The single has been labeled in Sakamoto's discography on J-Wiki as I have put it above in the title line, but as you can see in the thumbnail above, it looks like the word "Jenkka" won the day on the single's cover. Whichever Finnish term you prefer, Sakamoto puts his usual cheerfully encouraging spin through the Japanese lyrics provided by Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）, the same fellow who wrote the words for Kyu's most famous song "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう). In a bit of lyrical cheekiness by Ei, the fellow made the opportunity of the similar pronunciation between letkiss and "Let's kiss!".
To finish off, even anime icon Crayon Shin-chan（クレヨンしんちゃん）and his buddies defused a crisis by utilizing the eternal power of jenkka.
I gather that we are continuing on the Valentine's Day weekend kick from the previous article with Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）.
When it comes to the singer Naomi Sagara（佐良直美）, her trademark tune will probably always be "Sekai wa Futari no Tame ni"（世界は二人のために）, the grand heart-on-your-sleeve ballad that the Tokyo native started her career with back in May 1967 when it was released as a single. However, her 2nd single from later in December, "Watashi no Suki na Mono" (The One That I Love) is also another song about l'amour.💕
What "Watashi no Suki na Mono" might lack in the grandeur of "Sekai wa Futari no Tame ni", it makes up for in its bossa nova-inflected sweetness (so I'm not quite why Sagara is being put under siege by some rogue lemons). True to the bossa nova, the underlying rhythm and the flute keep up the melody as Sagara kindly coos some woo. I'm thinking a romantic picnic under a tree in some park somewhere. Taku Izumi（いずみたく）was responsible for the music while Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）, the man behind the words for "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) , took care of the lyrics here.
Received some sad news via commenter Sentimental Vika earlier this morning that singer Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）had passed away on July 21st at the age of 73 due to heart failure, although the announcement wasn't made until the 27th. I hadn't known until I read the comment and I haven't seen any news announcement footage via YouTube which is somewhat unusual when it comes to the death of a Japanese celebrity. I had only written up the most recent article with Hirota a little over a month ago regarding her 1967 song"Nagisa no Uwasa"（渚のうわさ）.
I'm not very knowledgeable about the discography of Hirota but usually when her name comes to mind, her 1969 hit"Ningyo no Ie"（人形の家）is the song that pops up. As well, my image of her has always been the one that appeared when that song first made its presence known...the long-tressed 22-year-old woman with that smoky air of mystery.
However, Hirota made her official debut as a fresh-faced teenybopper singer the better part of a decade prior back in 1961 with the Japanese-language cover of Helen Shapiro's"Don't Treat Me Like A Child" (by John Schroeder and Mike Hawker) when Hirota was only 14 years old. For that matter, according to its Wikipedia article, Shapiro herself was the same age when she recorded the original. The Japanese lyrics were provided by Kenji Sazanami（漣健児）and the title was "Kodomo janai no" (I'm Not A Child).
Like a lot of teenage singers in those days such as Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）, Hirota had that twin-branched discography in her early years: covers of overseas pop songs and homegrown fare created by Japanese songwriters. One of the former was her own cover of Connie Francis'"VACATION". For both Hirota and Shapiro, I've marveled at how incredible they sounded at 14 years of age. Perhaps the one Japanese pop singer that I can compare with them in terms of her boomer vocal stylings and debut is Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）.
Hirota's first kayo single was released in June 1962, "Nebusoku nano" (I'm Sleepy), a giddy pop tune about not getting those 40 winks due to getting all hot and bothered over that boy she's fallen hard for. It's got quite the fun and jazzy beat, and Hirota gives some great brass in her vocals, although I'm not sure how local PTAs reacted on hearing those yawns on the record.😪 And it was the same duo behind the famous "Sukiyaki" song that was responsible for "Nebusoku nano", lyricist Hachidai Nakamura and composer Rokusuke Ei（中村八大・永六輔）.
I'll finish off here with Shapiro's"Don't Treat Me Like A Child". My condolences to Hirota's family on their loss. I am sure that there is a lot of her discography that I have to cover in the months and years to come.
I'm surprised that in all these years that I hadn't put this one up by enka legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）especially since "Kaero ka na"(Maybe I Should Head Home) has been sung on NHK'sKohaku Utagassen seven times.
"Kaero ka na", Kitajima's 12th single was released in April 1965 and it was created by the legendary kayo-writing duo of lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）who had made "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）for the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）some years earlier. Paraphrasing from the J-Wiki article for "Kaero ka na", it was originally made as a not-too-serious paean to the old hometown as Sabu-chan's protagonist toiled away in Tokyo and wondered lightly whether to go see Mom and maybe even introduce a girlfriend. The song was a huge hit, becoming a million-seller and inviting the singer to the Kohaku later that year for what would be the first of several performances of the song over his decades-long career. Specifically, Kitajima sang it as well in 1973, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2011.
Of course, Kitajima would sing "Kaero ka na" on other kayo shows besides the Kohaku Utagassen, so indeed it's one of his trademark tunes. Over the years, it would gradually take on a very epic gravitas when it has been performed usually with a chorus of probably dozens backing him up. In fact, even though this hasn't always been the case whenever he sang it, sometimes the arrangement would also include an excerpt from the Japanese children's song "Nanatsu no Ko"（七つの子...Seven Children）just to add to the nostalgia and homesickness.
It's not a standing order in this blog to always include a cover of the classic "Ue wo Muite Arukou", aka the Sukiyaki song, as sung by the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）, but whenever there is a really nice cover of this oft-covered kayo, I like to get in on the action.
And so it goes with Stardust Revue's wonderful take on it. Their "Ue wo Muite Arukou" was the coupling song for their January 1992 single"Tsuioku"（追憶）, and it's performed as this elegiac and hopeful gospel acapella tribute. There's nothing like vocalist Kaname Nemoto（根本要）singing to the heavens with this one.
Hopefully, any talk involving me and a funeral is still a long way off but when the inevitable ceremony does occur, I wouldn't mind this version and the original being played at the church.
Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）sang it at the 12th Kohaku Utagassen and Hey!Say!JUMP sang it just a couple of days ago on the 70th Kohaku, and that would be "Ue wo Muite Arukou", aka "Sukiyaki". Always an evergreen favourite kayo, it's probably been covered a number of times even on the Kohaku editions in between those two shows over the decades.
Found this laidback version some time ago. Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）covered "Ue wo Muite Arukou" in his July 1977 album"Morning"（モーニング）, and thanks to that familiar 1970s atmospheric keyboard, it feels like the version that is indeed perfect for waking up to in the morning. It's a nice slow strut take on the classic, and it might be worth taking that cheerful morning walk outside after listening to it. Plus the marimba adds a certain jazziness.
Kosaka's cover even came out as a single in the same year. Just as a reminder, Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）were behind the creation of the song.
Just caught the annual summer "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー）on NHK and it was a tight show presenting some of those old chestnuts from decades past. I thought co-host Noriyuki Higashiyama（東山紀之）, actor and one-third of 80s Johnny's group Shonentai（少年隊）was a pretty good emcee for the proceedings, and at the end of the show, he showed that he still had moves in him when he performed a couple of the old tunes from his aidoru days.
Speaking of the Johnny's bands, Higashiyama did a small tribute to the various groups that were born and nurtured under the Johnny's banner since the 1960s in consideration of the recent passing of founder Johnny Kitagawa（ジャニー喜多川）. So, of course, the time machine went all the way back to the very first Johnny's group, Johnnys（ジャニーズ）, with Teruhiko Aoi（あおい輝彦）, Osami Iino（飯野おさみ）, Ryo Nakatani（中谷良）and Hiromi Maie（真家ひろみ）.
My very first article on Johnnys entailed their cover of "Mack the Knife", but this time I was able to find the quartet's debut singlefrom December 1964, "Wakai Namida"(Young Tears) and its B-side "Boku no Tebukuro Yabureteru"(My Gloves are Ripped); both songs are in the video above. Starting off with a rat-a-tat drums and what sounds like a cheerful American battle march, the guys sing a happy tune of encouragement for the youth who may be going through some blues. Johnnys is your best buddy! I actually had to look it up in JASRAC, but the veteran kayo tandem of lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）took care of the creation of the first single for a Johnny's outfit.
I actually had to tweak how I typed in "Boku no Tebukuro Yabureteru" into the JASRAC database to find out that although it was Nakamura again who took care of the music, this time the lyrics were provided by Tetsuya Ohkura（大倉徹也）. There's some more doo-wop and harmonizing with this B-side, and though I couldn't quite catch onto the entire meaning of Ohkura's lyrics, I think it's possibly about some target of a boy's ardor maybe accidentally putting a hole into his gloves...much to his quiet surprise and joy. Ahh...the innocence of youth.
Wow! To think that this 45" single from the end of 1964 is the record that started it all for the Johnny's brand and its songs by folks like Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）, SMAP and Arashi（嵐）.
In terms of soothing myself down after some unanticipated glitches in my day (you can take a look at my last article, "Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi"（だまって俺について来い）that I whipped up a few hours earlier), there was another song from "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night that I had cottoned onto for the first time.
Guest Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）sang this lovely ballad called "Hajimete no Machi de" (First Time in Town) which the hosts pointed out was a successful commercial song for Kiku-Masamune sake（菊正宗酒造）. Of course, I did not know this and even my parents had been unaware of this famous ad.
Ahhh...such a mellow song to go with some mellow sake and I did see some nice dishes to go with the famous Japanese libation in the ad above.
The original singer was Sachiko Nishida（西田佐知子）whom I've usually associated with the 1960s, but "Hajimete no Machi de" was a single that she released in November 1979. In fact, her 104th single was her 2nd-last single to date. However, "Hajimete no Machi de" had been used as the reliable Kiku-Masamune jingle since 1975, and if I read the J-Wiki article correctly, Nishida was always the singer although she apparently wasn't the first choice for the gig.
For one of her final singles, Nishida couldn't have asked for a more prestigious songwriting pair than lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）since among many of their many kayo for other singers, including presumably Nishida, they were the ones behind the legendary "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) back in 1961 for the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）. The above video features the commercial version of "Hajimete no Machi de", so I'm assuming this is the original take from 1975. Listening to it, it has that old-fashioned Mood Kayo statement with a proud trumpet among the brass starting things off but the rest of the tune seems to take on a milder pop kayo flavour from the previous decade. Of course, the commercial song had to include the Kiku-Masamune name in the lyrics.
The fascinating thing about the 1979 single of "Hajimete no Machi de" is that it takes on even more musical influences. It starts off with some bluesy jazz but then it progresses into a small potpourri of genres including folk, New Music and even country. And immediately, I thought about another singer perhaps tackling this version and that would be chanteuse Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. But this is no slight on Nishida who does a great job on both versions. However, if I had to choose one over the other, I would have to go with the 1979 take. The Nakamura melody arranged by City Pop/AOR keyboardist Akira Inoue（井上鑑）is very comforting but so are the Ei lyrics as Nishida sings that no matter how many times a person might find himself in a first-time situation (town, love, heartbreak, etc.), he/she will never be alone and there will always be sake to help smooth some rough edges (drink responsibly, though!).
Getting back to Ishikawa's performance last night, though, she did great which is why I looked up "Hajimete no Machi de" in the first place. Incidentally, she also took on a commercial song for a certain kind of liquor many years ago herself, and I've also taken a long shine to it.
I'd like to know what went down during the planning of this photo shoot, because what in the world was Haruo Minami (三波春夫), the guy who always struck elegant poses in kimonos or proper suits, doing holding a saxophone? And of all instruments, why one that he was least associated with?? It's such a weird attempt at dragging sex appeal out of him, but the funny thing is, IT WORKED. That cute smile with those arms...👀 As you can clearly see, I took the bait and immediately jumped at the chance to get this photo when I discovered that it was possible for me to purchase Marubell's bromides online. I do not regret this purchase one bit. Sax aside, this is one hot photo of Haru-san, but exactly how hot I don't know - *cough-mostlikelymorethanthesun*. It can't be measured with a thermometer that's for sure. However, the things in this ondo of his sure can.
By this point, I'm well aware that Minami had ondos of pretty much anything you can think of. Traffic safety, sports day, dinosaurs, donburi fare - you name it, he's probably got it. So, it didn't really come as a surprise when I found this one regarding temperature. Upon seeing the title, which is most probably read as "Ondo Ondo" (Temperature Ondo), I found it most amusing. As you guys would probably know by now, I find alliterations like that funny.
Anyway, "Ondo Ondo" is a lighthearted little number that has Minami rattling off the temperatures of everyday stuff like warm sake and tempura-frying to the festive beat of the taiko. Even a sort of anti-littering message got included: Don't fling your cigarette butts willy-nilly lest they start a 2000 degree Celsius fire that'd probably burn down half the town. Okay, I added the last part myself, but you get the idea. With such a simple theme, "Ondo Ondo" seems like a perfect candidate to NHK's "Minna no Uta", and I can imagine that the MV would have dancing tempura and a grinning sun.
In the way of information for "Ondo Ondo", I could find none except this: it originally came out as the B-side to Minami's single "Ninkyo Toratsuku Bushi" (任俠虎造ぶし) from 1980. It also made another appearance much later in 2005 in his ondo collection "Minami Haruo ~ Ondo . Ondo de Zenkyoku Shu ~" (三波春夫~音頭・オンドで全曲集~). Although the creators of this weren't stated, I kind of wonder if Haru-san wrote this himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he did.
If I'm not mistaken, the first Hiroshi Mizuhara（水原弘）article was for his big hit "Tasogare no Beguine"（黄昏のビギン）from 1959.
Well, this time, I'm taking care of the flip side which was actually the A-side of the 45", "Kuroi Ochiba"(Black Fallen Leaves). Written and composed by same duo behind "Tasogare no Beguine", lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）, this song is more of the conventional bluesy Mood Kayo about some poor guy walking the streets of Ginza without anyone hanging onto his arm anymore while the leaves are coming down (I guess the area was a lot a leafier in those days). The title says it right there...falling leaves or anything autumnal in the kayo and it'll usually be about lost love.
It's just a karaoke cover at the very top and an empty karaoke version (happily, found the original now for the latter) here but I still wanted to have this represented on the blog, if only to provide a Mood Kayo that doesn't involve life in a bar or sung flirtation.
I've spoken a number of times about some of the so-called long-lost songs in the mists of my memories...those old kayo that I used to hear but never knew their singers or titles. However, certain excerpts of it have stuck in my brain since forever. Well, last night, another mystery was solved after decades, and all I had to do was flip the side of a 45" which has one of the most internationally famous songs from Japan.
I found my father's old single record of the "Sukiyaki" song from 1961 by the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）and played it on the TEAC. Of course, all the nostalgia and wistfulness flowed through me like The Force in Luke Skywalker. Then, I flipped it to the B-side and saw this really long title "Ano Ko no Namae wa Nanten kana" (What is the Name of That Woman?) before giving this one a chance.
Well, as soon as the needle hit the vinyl, and those first bars came through, my long-term memory engrams exploded in recognition. It was one of my lost boys coming back to roost in my brain. I remembered those frenetic violins and the rest of that old-style brassy orchestra flying away as this high-pitched voice collaborated to create what sounded like a really upbeat song that could have been a showstopping Broadway piece midway through the musical.
Instead "Ano Ko no Namae wa Nanten kana" was a short comical number partnered with one of the most famous if bittersweet kayo in Japanese music history. It was definitely a tough act to follow which might explain why it hasn't gotten much attention all these years. But it was still Sakamoto, it was still created by the same songwriters behind "Sukiyaki", Hachidai Nakamura and Rokusuke Ei（中村八大・永六輔）, and it's still fun to listen to.
Basically, Kyu is singing about a fellow who falls for some lady while seeing the back of her from a distance, presumably in some department store for reasons that will become evident within a few sentences. As those hearts flutter around the suddenly heads-over-heels lad, he starts wondering what she would way at any courtship attempts and, more importantly, he also takes a shot at figuring out what her name is. Is it Hanako? Midori? Misasa? The sky's the limit. And by the end of the song, he finally gets the gumption to approach the lass...only to find out it's a mannequin! Hey, I'm not judging here.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any actual stage performances of "Ano Ko no Namae wa Nanten kana" on YouTube but I would think that it would have had to have been performed on TV since I could easily envision a comical rendition with matching choreography. When I still just had that excerpt of the song in memory all those years, I had assumed it was actually Kiyoko Suizenji（水前寺清子）because of the sharp high voice and just the really happy nature of the song.
Now I can happily cross another long-lost song off my list and proudly consider it found.😃
I was born in the 1960s so my television viewing from what I can remember of that decade involved the tail-end of the big age of American and Canadian variety shows with comedy and music.
For instance, one of my earliest memories was watching The Red Skelton Show. There were others as well such as The Jackie Gleason Show, the Bob Hope specials, and of course, Ed Sullivan.
During last week's "Uta Con" (うたコン), Hiroshi Itsuki and Yukino Ichikawa（五木ひろし・市川由紀乃）sang "Yume de Aimashou" (See You In My Dreams) which was the theme song for a long-running musical variety show that had its run between 1961 and 1966. I had always heard about this program since there were often excerpts popping now and then on NHK retrospectives, and there was something very sepia-toned and nostalgic about that theme song as sung by singer-actress Sumiko Sakamoto（坂本スミ子）. As I recollect, a couple of other American variety shows from my childhood had similar ending themes: The Lawrence Welk Show and The Carol Burnett Show. There was just the way that those strings trailed off at the end of "Yume de Aimashou" that has had me imagining that old movie ending scene of slowly lifting off from the roof of a brownstone apartment and into the night sky.
The song was created by the famous songwriting duo of Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura（永六輔・中村八大）. Not surprisingly, then, a number of songs created by the pair which were featured on the show's segment "Kongetsu no Uta"（今月のうた...Song of the Month）became huge hits. They would include "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）, "Konnichiwa Aka-chan"（こんにちは赤ちゃん）and "Tooku e Ikitai"（遠くへ行きたい）.
"Yume de Aimashou" was televised weekly on NHK on Saturday nights during the 10 pm hour. Watching some of those old scenes gave me the impression that although the show may not have been the very first variety show to be aired on Japanese TV, it probably did influence the beginning of a number of future long-running shows such as Fuji-TV's"Music Fair", TV Tokyo's"Enka no Hanamichi"（演歌の花道）and even "Uta Kon". The show also had a number of still-familiar faces in entertainment history such as actor Kiyoshi Atsumi（渥美清）, singer Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）and Tetsuko Kuroyanagi（黒柳徹子）who would later host another famous music program, "The Best 10"along with her own long-running afternoon interview program "Tetsuko no Heya"（徹子の部屋...Tetsuko's Room）.
As for Sumiko Sakamoto, although the Osaka-born singer had a slow start to her career, her stint in 1959 as a 23-year-old opening act alongside singer Joji Ai (アイ・ジョージ) for the Latin group Los Panchos brought her overnight fame and soon she was known as one of the Queens of Latin Music. Then came her time with "Yume de Aimashou". During that time, she also appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen every year singing Latin tunes. In addition along with her music career, she also appeared regularly on other TV shows including her own "Sumiko to Utao"（スミ子と 歌おう...Let's Sing with Sumiko）.
Many years ago, I heard about this award-winning Japanese movie called "Narayama Bushikou"（楢山節考...The Ballad of Narayama） which had been released in 1983. The story involved a small 19th-century village whose population practiced the custom of ubasute in which when a person reached the age of 70, he or she had to go to a mountain to die. According to the J-Wiki account of the movie and from what I was told by my mother, one of the cast had actually decided to grind down four of her front teeth to make her appearance as the elderly mother even more convincing. That actress happened to be Sakamoto and afterwards she had implants for those four missing teeth.
January 23 2021: I read earlier this morning on Mixi and J-Wiki that Ms. Sakamoto had passed away today at the age of 84.
According to the information for this YouTube video, this is the lone concert recording of Hollywood's famous Rat Pack with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. along with Johnny Carson as the host. I was born a few months after this performance in St. Louis so my first now-fuzzy memories of pop culture back then consisted of the last spurt of those big guns from the Golden Age of Hollywood as they often appeared on television in either finely tailored suits or tuxes singing those swingy jazz standards. Folks nowadays usually can't catch such a thing anymore unless they are Michael Buble fans or watch certain episodes of "Family Guy" since star and creator Seth MacFarlane is an ardent fan of the old tunes.
I've always equated Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）Ishihara Gundan（石原軍団...the Ishihara Army） with Ol' Blue Eyes' Rat Pack. The Big Man was the Chairman of the Board for that Gundan with members including Masaki Kanda, (ex-husband No. 1 of Seiko Matsuda, father of Sayaka), Hiroshi Tachi and Tetsuya Watari as the cool tough guys in their own fine threads. They even starred in their own cop shows from the 1970s onwards.
However, singer-actor Jerry Fujio（ジェリー藤尾）actually looked like he could have joined Dean, Frank and Sammy on stage in Las Vegas. I haven't seen him too much in the last several years but when we could get access to a VCR (either through showings at the Buddhist Church or when we finally purchased our own), I was able to see footage of the dapper fellow in his tux singing old chestnuts such as "Danny Boy". And that's how I've always seen Fujio.
From what I've read of Fujio, he had a pretty tough upbringing. According to his J-Wiki bio, the singer was born Shigeki Fujio（藤尾薫紀）, the son of an NHK announcer, Shigehiro Fujio（藤尾薫宏）, and his English wife, Olivia Heath Gonzales in 1940 in Shanghai, China. When the family returned to Japan after World War II, Olivia and young Shigeki were discriminated for a number of reasons including the language barrier. The anxiety was too much for Olivia as she descended into alcoholism and died when Shigeki was in his first year of junior high school. After jobs as a bouncer and a roadie, in 1957, Fujio was scouted by someone working for Manase Productions when he spotted Fujio suddenly jumping onto to the stage to sing Elvis Presley's"Hound Dog" at a jazz lounge. Thus, his career in showbiz began.
In 1962, on the NHK music-variety program, "Yume de Aimasho"（夢であいましょう...Let's Meet In Our Dreams）, Fujio sang "Tooku e Ikitai" (I Want To Go Far Away), one of the most melancholy-sounding kayo that I have ever heard. The power duo of songwriting at the time, Hachidai Nakamura and Rokusuke Ei（中村八大・永六輔）, created this ballad of wanting to travel somewhere unknown and as far away as possible. There's no mention about the reason behind the urge to make that trek all alone but I can only wonder if it were some kind of romantic breakup. Perhaps the pair even made it specifically for Fujio. The song became his breakthrough hit and it has become his signature tune.
I've heard Fujio sing the number but when I re-acquainted myself with "Tooku e Ikitai", there was a voice inside me stating that I've heard this cry-in-your-beer sort of tune even beyond his contributions. And as it turned out, the song was adopted as the theme for an NTV travel show with the same title that has been continuing since 1970...a good 46 years!
And it was here that many singers over the decades have covered "Tooku e Ikitai". Everyone from Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）to Yo Hitoto（一青窈）have given their own version of the evergreen song.
Here are the Duke Aces with their own version.
And this is the late Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）with her haunting and more introspective cover of "Tooku e Ikitai".
Finally, this is the performance of a much older Fujio singing his signature song. As for the name of Jerry, there was no mention in the J-Wiki article about how he got it. Was he given an English name by his mother or was it placed onto him by the folks at Manase Productions because of his Eurasian appearance? However, for some reason, Wikipedia and even his own webpage have written his nom de guerre as "Jelly" and not "Jerry" although the covers on his records have it listed as the latter. I'm still not clear on this so I have placed the two names at the top. Frankly, if there is anyone who should have earned the name "Jelly", it would be me due to considerations of my own girth.
Now, that's an interesting title, "Hitoribotchi no Futari". I was wondering how to translate it, and episode 37 of Steven Universe popped into my head with the reason being: it's called "Alone Together".
In the video above - knowing the uploader's history, it may not be here for long - HiroshiItsuki was performing this during the "Tribute Time" part of his own music show, "Nihon no Meikyoku Jinsei, Uta ga aru" (日本の名曲 人生、歌がある). In this segment, the week's guests and Itsuki himself would have a go at the works of established singers or songwriters, alive or not. So who was the focus of the tribute in this episode in the clip? The whistling at the start was a huge give-away. From my knowledge of Showa era music, there's only one guy who'd whistle in his songs, and when the camera panned from Itsuki to the portrait, that guy was at his smiley best. It was none other than Kyu Sakamoto (坂本九). Also, I should've guessed that "Hitoribotchi no Futari" was by Sakamoto just by looking at the ones had put it together: Hachidai Nakamura and Rokusuke Ei (中村八大 . 永六輔), but I only realised the "6-8-9 combo" (Roku-Hachi-Kyu) much later.
Moving on, as I listened to the original and Itsuki's rendition of the ballad, I was again able to pick out one other trait that seems prevalent in Sakamoto's songs: a lighthearted melody. Done by Nakamura, what contributes to that is the nice rhythm, which feels like there's a slight Latin touch, combined with the whistling and (in the original) Sakamoto's lilting style. At the same time, to balance things out here, there are the soft strings that bring out a gentler and grounded side. It has me picturing a couple spending time with each other under the moonlight.
The original version.
For Ei's lyrics, I can't say I fully understand what it had Sakamoto singing about. However, I've come up with a couple of possibilities as to what "Hitoribotchi no Futari" may mean:
1) The happier option; the fellow enjoys being alone, but he prefers doing so with the one he loves.
2) The not so happy option; the relationship ain't fantastic and though together, the guy still feels lonely.
To better match Nakamura's music and Sakamoto's almost carefree delivery, I'm hoping it's the first option. But the more I read what Ei had written, I'm beginning to think that it may actually be the second option.
"Hitoribotchi no Futari" was released in November 1962. Out of the two renditions, I find myself preferring the cover to the original - this is purely objective. Itsuki's rendition feels smoother and more comfortable.
Most likely over the next several months, there will be box collections of the works of lyricist Rokusuke Ei coming out in the major music stores. I just found out this morning that Ei had passed away last week at the age of 83. So the Creator article this time will be as much a tribute to the man as it will be a look at his songs.
Rokusuke Ei was born in 1933 in the district of Moto-Asakusa, Tokyo, and along with his title of lyricist, he was also a radio personality, an essayist and a tarento although according to the NHK report on his death, he far preferred being behind a radio mike over being in front of a TV camera. In fact, his J-Wiki article mentioned that he truly loved the medium of radio; one piece of information stated that after high school, he and a group of friends got together to buy various parts in Akihabara to create their own crystal radio set. The leader of that group just happened to be the late actor Kiyoshi Atsumi（渥美清）who would gain his own legend through his famous character of Tora-san.
But when the NHK report started, the song that played is arguably the one that he is the most famous for, "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）by Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）from 1961. Ei wrote this evergreen tune about smiling through the tears with his frequent songwriting partner, Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）, who had left this mortal coil more than 20 years previously in 1992.
However, he and Nakamura got their songwriting tandem started in 1959 when they created the Mood Kayo"Kuroi Hanabira"（黒い花びら...Black Petals） for kayo singer Hiroshi Mizuhara（水原弘）. It was also a first for Mizuhara in that it was the singer's debut single. The combination was sweet for all concerned..."Kuroi Hanabira" won the Grand Prize at the very first Japan Record Awards in that same year.
The Ei/Nakamura duo had more success into the 1960s with another kayo standard, "Konnichiwa Akachan"（こんにちは赤ちゃん）from 1963 sung by Michiyo Azusa（梓みちよ）. As I mentioned in the article for that song, Ei wrote the words for Nakamura as a present of sorts in celebration of the upcoming birth of Nakamura's child.
Another composer who often worked with Ei was Taku Izumi（いずみたく）. Together they created another kayo classic in the form of "Ii Yu da na"（いい湯だな）in 1966 for the vocal group Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）. Afterwards, the song was further immortalized as the ending theme for the very long-running variety series featuring comedy group The Drifters, "Hachi-ji da yo! Zen'in Shuugo!"（8時だよ！全員集合...It's 8 O'Clock! Everyone Assemble!）Considering how beloved onsen are in Japan, I would think that this song has triggered a Pavlovian craving for folks to head over to Hakone and other hot spring-laden resorts.
In the J-Wiki article on Ei, it said that although the songwriter liked some specific enka tunes, he wasn't a huge fan of the genre, generally speaking. And yet, he created one of Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）signature songs, "Kaero kana"（帰ろかな...Shall I Go Home?）for release in April 1965. An article for the song has yet to be written up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" so I will keep things brief here and just say that Ei and Nakamura managed to create an anthemic mountain-moving ballad for Sabu-chan that has been performed at no less than 7 of the Kohaku Utagassen specials, and most if not all of them probably ended the show in epic paper snow blizzards.
I'm uncertain whether Ei kept to a fixed theme when it came to writing lyrics for songs but just from looking back on some of these kayo here, I would guess that the lyricist liked to reflect specifically on the Japanese heart whether it dealt with the simple pleasures of soaking in a hot spring or keeping that smile up even during the most heartbreaking of times.
I may have heard it on that NHK report and I definitely did read it in the J-Wiki article but Ei stopped being a lyricist for the most part after 1969. According to that article, he had apparently been afraid that once anything got onto television, it would simply get trendy for that fact and perhaps not for the quality of the song itself. But the main reason was that Ei wanted to put his priorities on having Nakamura and Izumi more as friends than also as collaborating colleagues in the music industry. Perhaps he didn't like the stresses of songwriting wearing on their mutual friendships, and besides, it seems as if Ei had a lot of other interests to pursue to keep him happy. I'm not a religious man but I hope that Ei has now reunited with his old friends, Nakamura and Izumi (who also passed away in 1992) to talk about the old days. Meanwhile, I'm sure that there will be people here, famous or not, who will converse on and sing those nostalgic tunes at karaoke or the bars.
I'll leave you with a rendition of another Ei classic also from 1963, "Miagetegoran Yoru no Hoshi wo"（見上げてごらん夜の星を）, originally sung by Kyu Sakamoto.
Usually when I see the word furusato in a kayo title, I think of a sentimental ballad with the singer warbling emotionally about heading back to the old hometown after years toiling away in the big city. However, such is not the case here with Sachiko Nishida's（西田佐知子）"Furusato no You ni" (Just Like My Hometown).
Released in March 1963, Nishida goes through this like a boogie-woogie march on the same level as anything by the Andrews Sisters back in World War II. "Furusato no You ni" was created by the same duo, Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura（永六輔・ 中村八大）, who had come up with the classic "Ue wo Muite Arukou"（上を向いて歩こう）...aka "Sukiyaki"...for the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）a couple of years earlier in 1961. Nishida sings about how much she wants to hold onto her guy like her memories of home, and dang it, if that arrangement is any indication, she will probably end up asphyxiating him in the process.
If I understood the J-Wiki article on the song correctly, the song got its fame during its introduction on a segment of the old NHK program "Yume de Aimashou"（夢であいましょう...Let's Meet In A Dream）.
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