SHISHAMO -- Haru ni Mayoikonde（春に迷い込んで）

 

Looks like "Weathernews Live" has taken on a new segment in its broadcasts. I'm not sure whether it's on the hour or the half-hour, but since the new fiscal year has come on, the folks there have been introducing full J-Pop songs. Maybe the casters are getting a little extra breather time since they've gotta do their 3-hour shifts.

One song that caught my ears yesterday for the first time on "Weathernews Live" was by the female rock band SHISHAMO. I haven't written about them for a few years so it was nice hearing them again with a seasonal if bittersweet tune called "Haru ni Mayoikonde" (Lost in Spring). Released as their 8th digital single in March 2022, vocalist Asako Miyazaki（宮崎朝子）wrote and composed "Haru ni Mayoikonde" as a story of loss on two fronts. A young lady has lost her love and most likely her direction in life (hopefully, only temporarily). The music video above pretty much says it.

Happily for Miyazaki, truth didn't follow fiction. She got married last June. I'm assuming that her husband is well aware of her favourite foods which include tender shrimp, egg yolks and macarons (not all together, I hope).

SHISHAMO -- Kimi no Tonari ni Itai kara（君の隣にいたいから）

I saw the band SHISHAMO play "Kimi no Tonari ni Itai kara" (Because I Want To Be By Your Side) last week on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）and thought it as sunny as those yellow tulips that I provide in the thumbnail photo above for sunny tunes, so here I am with it.

Actually, I think the trio's latest single which was released last week on October 16th would make for a happy-go-lucky theme song for an anime, but actually it was used earlier in the year for the 2019 NHK All-Japan School Choir Competition. It also had its time as the monthly song in the network's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）series.

Written and composed by vocalist/guitarist Asako Miyazaki（宮崎朝子）, the music video gives the heartwarming focus on a few content couples in various stages of life. We should all be so lucky.

SHISHAMO -- OH!

The first time I wrote about the rock trio SHISHAMO was just after my 2017 trip to Japan. My first look at them was on "Music Station" on the night that I arrived at my hotel in Otsuka, Tokyo, as I was tucking into my beloved karaage bento (nope, shishamo wasn't on the menu).

Well, cue ahead a little over a year. I was watching NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）a few nights ago and the hosts billed that episode as the final show of the Heisei Era (which I'm sure that a lot of regular TV variety shows and the like have been doing this week). Of course, a majority of the show was devoted to the big hits over the past 30 years of Heisei, but SHISHAMO was there to participate in the theme of the week, but also to debut their latest single, "OH!".

Released as their 9th single a couple of days ago, I wish something like "OH!" would have been put out there during my high school days. I think its message of plowing ahead the way you are in life without having to worry about how anyone else feels or thinks about you could have made things in my life somewhat easier. It's a genki song written and composed by vocalist Asako Miyazaki（宮崎朝子）, and makes for a nice melodic version of orange juice in 2019. I especially like how her voice glides at points.

As it has only been released in the last two days, there is no report on how it has done in the rankings but I'm pretty confident that it will make its hold higher up. I was thinking that "OH!" would make for a nice theme song for a J-drama somewhere on the schedule, but it's actually being used for a Lotte commercial according to the uploader for the above video.

Now that we're in the final few days before the transition from the Heisei to Reiwa Eras, I'm confident that SHISHAMO will be among the many bands to hold the torch crossing the ages.

SHISHAMO -- Ashita mo（明日も）

I was watching TV some weeks ago when I saw this young female band called SHISHAMO on "Music Station" in the middle of a performance. My first thought was suddenly thrust to food and izakaya since I have eaten the shishamo fish on a number of occasions.

Later on, I heard that SHISHAMO, who are currently made up of vocalist/guitarist Asako Miyazaki（宮崎朝子）, bassist Aya Matsuoka（松岡彩）and leader/drummer Misaki Yoshikawa（吉川美冴貴）, got their invitation to the 2017 Kohaku Utagassen. So I finally got to view them perform a full song called "Ashita mo" (Tomorrow As Well) with the backing of a high school horn section behind the band.

Their performance was one of the reasons that I enjoyed the Kohaku a bit more than usual (despite the 3rd-worst ratings ranking in the history of the show as has been reported in Nikkan Sports). "Ashita mo" struck me as being an encouraging song written and composed by Miyazaki about young folks doing their best and overcoming the usual obstacles to keep on going. No, it's not exactly the most original idea for a song but the sound and message are fine.

(karaoke version)

One reason that I enjoyed the song was because the overall arrangement of "Ashita mo" and the presence of high school kids reminded me of a fairly acclaimed anime that popped up twice in the last couple of years, "Hibike! Euphonium"（響け! ユーフォニアム）and its opening theme songs. I guess it's not just 80s British horns or American R&B horns from any decade that entice me but also cheerful horns from Japanese high school bands.

"Ashita mo" didn't come out as a single but as a track on their "SHISHAMO 4" which was released almost a year ago in February 2017 and peaked at No. 8 on Oricon. Apparently, the number got traction in the public when it was used as a commercial song for the mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo.