Romi -- It's All Right

 

Invariably, there are times when I feel as if I'm about to be crushed under the weight of all of my responsibilities including the need to put in my daily two articles for "Kayo Kyoku Plus". But then, I've taught myself when that unwanted feeling threatens to invade my mind and soul to ask myself "Is it really that bad?". My tasks are then separated and analyzed, and I soon find out that most of them aren't absolutely necessary to be done by a certain time and I can always do them over the next few days. It's all right.

Well, we've got "It's All Right" right here. Recorded by Romi Narita（成田路実）, I mentioned her the first time back in late 2020 when I posted about her "Seaside Park" from 1991. By 1996, when "It's All Right" first made its presence known as a coupling song to her single, "Kitto Kitto Machigai janai"（きっと きっと間違いじゃない...I'm Sure It's Not a Mistake）, the former host of Fuji-TV's late-night program "All-Night Fuji" had decided to change her name from the original kanji to just Romi in romaji.

The song was written by Romi and Rie Matsumoto（松本理恵）with music by Nobuhide Saki（佐木伸誘）, and I got hints of perhaps 1990s City Pop or sophisticated pop or even some Shibuya-kei, but in the end, I opted to split the difference and just go with some pleasant summery groovy pop. In any case, it's a nice tune happily reminiscent of that certain segment of J-Pop of the final decade of the 20th century.

Romi Narita -- Seaside Park

 

When it comes to seaside parks back in my area in Japan, I usually think of two: Yamashita Park in Yokohama and then Odaiba in Tokyo Bay as seen above. Basically the entirety of Odaiba, or Rainbow Town, is built upon reclaimed land and garbage so apparently if there is a major earthquake, citizens and visitors have been warned that the ground will tend to liquefy. Enjoy your stay! Mind you, there is still a lot to enjoy in the area.

Additionally, there is something to enjoy with "Seaside Park", a track from Romi Narita's（成田路実）debut album "Illusion" released in May 1991. Tokyo native Narita was selected as a campaign girl for Toray Industries in the previous year, heralding her entry into show business and has gone into singing and a bit of acting along with a hosting stint on radio's "All-Night Fuji", although the J-Wiki article also mentions that she didn't particularly make a huge splash in the geinokai.

With "Seaside Park", it's a nice and summery tune with the synths and all that, and although I think Narita's vocals aren't the strongest, the singer does a pretty creditable job. Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）, the singer-songwriter behind the mid-1980s hit "Fall In Love" is the composer here while the late Kohei Kobayashi (小林公平...no relation), under his lyricist pen name of Ken Kumon（公文健）...at least, that's how I hope it's read, took care of the words. Kobayashi was not only the honourary principal of the Takarazuka Music School for the famous Takarazuka Revue but he was also the chairman for the private railway, the Hankyu Corporation.

Along with one single and one album under her full name, Narita then changed her professional name to the romaji Romi in 1996 after which she released five more singles and three more albums in the 1990s.