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.
Yes, I vaguely remember reading up on Nicolaus Copernicus and heliocentrism back in my elementary school days.
I didn't realize though that many years later, an award-winning manga and then anime adaptation based on the whole thing would be created. In 2020, Uoto（魚豊）wrote and illustrated "Chi: Chikyū no Undō ni Tsuite"（チ。-地球の運動について-...Orb: On the Movements of the Earth） as this decades-spanning suspense-adventure taking place within 15th century Europe with plenty of sacrifices being made along the way.
The anime had a 25-episode run between October 2024 and March 2025, and greeting every viewer every week was Sakanaction's（サカナクション）contribution to the series, the opening theme "Kaijū"(Monster). Good to have the band back up here on KKP after a few years.
"Kaijū" is a tight and urgently-paced pop single that was released earlier in February. Written and composed by vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）, it sounds like how key scenes from both manga and anime must have been presented...trying to escape ruthless authorities to keep a revolutionary idea alive at the risk of everything. On the same day of the single's release, a limited-time music video showing the full song and scenes from the anime was also released, and then a month later, a concept music video with Yamaguchi as the doomed hero came out.
Video director Yusuke Tanaka（田中裕介）seems to be the go-to director for Sakanaction, and perhaps like his videos for the band's songs such as "Boku to Hana"（僕と花）and "Rookie"（ルーキー）, he has Yamaguchi as the hapless guy in Kafkaesque situations. This time with "Kaijū", the singer has to deal with all sorts of threats, including the big man Kyusaku Shimada（嶋田久作）, within subterranean corridors to protect an orb until its time to pass the baton, so to speak, to someone else. The song has managed to reach No. 1 on the Oricon digital single chart.
Still, I have to confess that my favourite Tanaka-Sakanaction video collaboration is the one for "Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）which is a lot more fun-loving. Shimada is there, too.
There was that one scene in Episode 3 in the second season of the "Kaguya-sama"anime franchise in which overachieving Miyuki Shirogane professes his knowledge and interest in astronomy, especially when it comes to the Moon. As the scene continued, it looked pretty evident that he was a lunatic in the purest sense of the word.
That was one thing that came to mind as I watched the video for rock and electronica band Sakanaction's（サカナクション）"Tsuki no Wan"(Bowl of the Moon). As created by the band, the lyrics seem to reflect the dreamy and woozy love that Miyuki has for Earth's lone natural satellite, although there is no mention of any rabbit there. I've read one comment that criticized "Tsuki no Wan" for being a little too staid and conventional as a Sakanaction song and I can understand where that person was coming from, but personally, despite the familiarity of the Sakanaction style involved, I was still OK with the synths, the guitars and the vocals. It may be no "Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）but it's still comforting Sakanaction.
"Tsuki no Wan" is a track on the band's March 2022 album"Adapt"（アダプト）which has been described as a concept project putting together songs from their combination live performances in front of audiences and empty stadia, the latter being due to COVID-19 restrictions. The title itself is a description of how Sakanaction had to adapt to the evolving or devolving environment during the pandemic. "Adapt" hit No. 4 on the Oricon weeklies.
"Tsuki no Wan" was evidently in existence as far back as 2020 when it was used as the commercial song for the Toyota Yaris Cross. In all honesty, my assessment of the song has improved even more after watching the ad.
Throughout the Sakanaction（サカナクション）file on KKP thus far, I've been kinda jumping back and forth through their discography, and up to this point, my impression of Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）and his band has been one of a brand of technopop and rock that is slightly less caterwauling than the music of POLYSICS but no less hook-laden. In addition, I've also enjoyed their music videos which show off a deadpan sense of humour, and that includes the amazing "Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）, a shoutout to the Japanese music ranking shows of the 1980s and perhaps Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）.
Much of the Sakanaction music on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been from the more recent part of their discography, but I've written about "Ame (B)" which saw the first light of day in 2009 and even back then, there was that techno-rock sense about them. However, the entry this time is their 4th single"Rookie" from March 2011.
Interestingly enough, there is much more written about "Rookie" on Wikipedia than on J-Wiki so if you're intrigued, you ought to give that article a gander. The article states that the song is stylistically different from what had come before for Sakanaction although I think that Yamaguchi, who wrote and composed the song, has maintained my usual image of the band's techno-rock, although, yes, the BPM has jumped up considerably and "Rookie" heads somewhat more toward the Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）arena.
The music video by Daisuke Shimada is also striking in that the premise seems to be something out of "The Twilight Zone" with Yamaguchi himself portraying a fellow caught in a mysterious time-and-dimension loop. It all ends with a female version of Yamaguchi lying dead at his feet. The only person missing is Rod Serling himself popping out and warning about the dangers of stray interdimensional portals. According to that same Wiki article, "Rookie" was inspired by Yamaguchi's worries at the time of where his band was heading versus where it ought to be heading, and also about the physical suffering that he was experiencing due to his sensorineural hearing loss. Perhaps some of that ended up getting into the general idea of the video. My question is whether the title of the song referred to whether Yamaguchi had felt like starting from Ground Zero again with him once more as a rookie in the music industry. "Rookie" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon.
Well, this is my first album purchase of Sakanaction（サカナクション）which was prompted by my great attraction to a couple of songs that have ended up on the interestingly titled "834.194": the quirky "Shin-Takarajima"（新宝島）and the City Pop/Vaporwave-y"Wasurarenaino"（忘れられないの）. As for the derivation of that title, according to the J-Wiki article on the album, the number represents the exact distance in kilometres between Studio Bepop（スタジオ・ビーポップ）where the band used to practice during their days in their native Sapporo and Aobadai Studio（青葉台スタジオ）in Tokyo where they do their recording now. Officially, the title is read "Hachi-San-Yon-Ichi-Kyuu-Yon" but apparently the members like to read it as "Yamiyo Iku yo"（闇夜行くよ...Goes The Dark Night）.
For this article, I just want to go into the first of the two discs supplied on "834.194" since there are quite a few gems there. By the way, Disc 1 has the official title of "35 38 52 9000 / 139 41 39 3000" but because I don't want you folks to keep reading this like a lottery ticket number, I'll just stick with Disc 1 if I have to use a title.
"Wasurarenaino" starts Disc 1 off and then Track 2 is "Match to Peanuts"（マッチとピーナッツ...Match and Peanuts） which has vocalist and songwriter Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）singing about eating some goobers late at night. My envy goes to him since I'm a big roasted peanut fan myself but I really can no longer have them during the midnight hour. My GI tract isn't what it used to be. All kidding aside, after what sounds like a pretty hard techno beginning, "Match to Peanuts" has a fairly soaring and haunting guitar wailing away in an old-fashioned way as if it were hearkening back to those City Pop guitars of the early 1980s.
Ah, before I do forget, all of the songs were written and composed by Yamaguchi. The next track is "Kagero"（陽炎...Heat Haze）, a bouncy synthpop tune with the atmosphere of an Asian festival in the year 2050, and for some reason, I feel like this could have been a great tune to open up a TV anime series. Apparently a different arrangement of "Kagero" was supplied on Sakanaction's March 2018 greatest hits album"Sakanazukan"（魚図鑑...Book of Fishes）.
"Tabun, Kaze."（多分、風。...It's The Wind, Probably） was Sakanaction's 12th single released in October 2016 and though it has that synthpop beat in there, it also contains a slightly more rock edge. Looking at the seemingly psychoanalysis-friendly music video above, it does emulate what Yamaguchi put down in his lyrics. Plus, being a Marvel "X-Men" fan, I can't help but be reminded of Paige Guthrie, aka Husk while watching it. Incidentally, the mystery woman there is portrayed by fashion model Ruka（る鹿）. The single went Gold and was also used in a cosmetics commercial.
Not sure if this should have been called "Cocoon" instead of the official "Moss"（モス）considering the music video here, but it's another high-speed tune that strays a bit more away from the synthesizers. Lyrics-wise, it paints a fairly negative view of someone who feels the need to push away someone that he may still care about since he doesn't even know himself anymore. It was used as the theme song for the 2019 Fuji-TV adaptation of "Lupin no Musume"（ルパンの娘...Daughter of Lupin） which strangely enough is supposed to be premiering on TV Japan later this week. I kinda wonder whether the song reflects the personality of the main character.
I have to admit that of all the tracks on Disc 1, "Kikitakatta Dance Music, Liquid Room ni"（聴きたかったダンスミュージック、リキッドルームに...The Dance Music I Wanted to Hear at Liquid Room） is the one that has stuck to my brain like flypaper since it's got that groove. I mean, I've never been to the actual Liquid Room in Shibuya but I hear that it's more of a concert venue than a dance hall. However, when I listen to this track, I can't help but wonder if they do have their disco nights, and Yamaguchi describes in the song one heck of an overnight experience dancing with the girl of his dreams. Intriguingly enough, some of that rhythm reminds me of Steely Dan's"Peg"...another plus right there. This was also the coupling song in the "Shin-Takarajima" single.
There are a couple of more tracks on Disc 1 but I'll leave it here for now and cover those later. In addition, I also have to listen to Disc 2, but so far, Disc 1 has got its good share of Sakanaction goodness. The band on both the J-Wiki and Wikipedia articles have been categorized into a number of genres including alternative rock and electronica, and Wikipedia has stated that Yamaguchi and company are hard to pin down in terms of what they can perform. Of course, I think that's not a bad thing at all, although generally I tend to think of them with their synthesizer sound. Along with Kirinji, Sakanaction is another band that has been impressing me from the last decade. As for "834.194", it was released in June 2019 and hit No. 2 on the album charts, going Gold.
A few days ago, I received a tip in the comments section under my article for Sakanaction's（サカナクション）"Boku to Hana"（僕と花）about a track from the eclectic group's new album, "834.194" called "Wasurerarenaino" (Can't Forget). And yeah...I cannot forget it!
I remember when in 2015 another commenter cottoned me onto Sakanaction and their video for "Shin-Takarajima"（新宝島）since it was a parody of the opening/ending of an old variety show featuring the comedy group The Drifters from way back when. Delightful hoot, it was...and with the earwormy song, it soon became a beloved tune in the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" collection.
Now, songwriter and vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）and the band have done it again with their video for "Wasurerarenaino" which takes a riff...a damn good one...on those Japanese music ranking shows from the 1980s. Video director Yusuke Tanaka（田中裕介）should be getting an award for his creation which brings back the performance segment from "The Best 10" or "The Top 10", and memories of Omega Tribe's（オメガトライブ）appearances on the shows right down to the "Miami Vice" suits, sunglasses and dancers.
"Wasurerarenaino" seems to meld together the City Pop of two different decades. It has a sound that had me thinking of some of the more contemporary stuff from the 2010s such as the songs of Especia, and then the 1980s music by the aforementioned Omega Tribe made by composers such as Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）.
If you're wondering about the old guy in the big powder-blue suit at 2:40 in the music video who looks like he was the biggest fan of Talking Heads' David "Big Suit" Byrne, that is actor Kyusaku Shimada（嶋田久作）as Sokudo Seigen Man（速度制限マン...Speed Limit Man）. He's the so-called "villain" in the latest round of Softbank TV ads which even includes Yamaguchi very briefly as the hero...along with the famous white dog matriarch.
Shimada is well-known as the sorcerer protagonist Yasunori Kato（加藤保憲）from the "Teito Monogatari"（帝都物語...The Tale of the Imperial Capital） series. Never seeing the movie, I'd always thought that with his hulking presence and intimidating visage, he played the bad guy.
In any case, my thanks to the mysterious tipster for "Wasurerarenaino" since the album "834.194" also has "Shin-Takarajima" which therefore means that I'm really gonna have to get that release soon. It actually came out just five days ago. Perhaps the tipster was even Yamaguchi himself.😁
I had been thinking about what sort of song I was going to write about today when I started getting this craving for Sakanaction (サカナクション). Well, perhaps it wasn't a craving but more of a wondering about what sort of quirky and appealing stuff the band was up to in the earlier days. I still have a lot of catching up to do since I only found out about Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）and his crew through their lone appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen a couple of years ago.
So I came upon their 6th single from May 2012, "Boku to Hana" (The Flower and I) and watched its music video. It was quite the theatrical experience with a renowned choreographer playing the flower while vocalist Yamaguchi (who wrote and composed the song) himself was the protagonist starting to lose himself in the cruel world. And although I'm still getting a handle on the Sakanaction sound, I think with "Boku to Hana", I can pick up on that strangely soothing combination of rock and technopop. Definitely a unique unit.
"Boku to Hana" was Sakanaction's first theme song offering for a TV drama, specifically Fuji-TV's"Sanjuu-nana Sai de Isha ni Natta Boku"（37歳で医者になった僕...Becoming a Doctor at 37）starring SMAP's Tsuyoshi Kusanagi（草彅剛）. The single went Gold and went as high as No. 6 on Oricon. It was also a track on the band's 6th album"sakanaction" from March 2013. To be honest, the Wikipedia write-up on the song is even more comprehensive than the J-Wiki article so to get that detailed report on "Boku to Hana", take a look here.
Giving credit where credit is due, I have to thank commenter Matthew Cole for introducing me to the latest single by band Sakanaction（サカナクション）, "Shin-Takarajima" (New Treasure Island). I first heard about the band when I saw them appear on the 2013 Kohaku Utagassen with their catchy "Music", and I got the impression over the past few years that vocalist/songwriter Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）has more hooks than my father's tackle box in his musical arsenal. As I mentioned in the article for "Music", Sakanaction got some very appreciative applause for that Kohaku performance.
First off, "Shin-Takarajima" also has a great hook by using synthesizers that sound like they came from the 80s. According to the J-Wiki article on the song, although Yamaguchi hadn't intended to do so, it was felt that the song approached something similar to some of the old tunes by 70s band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）, but for me, due to those retro synths, I immediately thought of live Yellow Magic Orchestra. The genres of uptempo pop, alternative rock and dance music were mentioned for "Shin-Takarajima", and I think it's because of all of these different sources that the song has quickly grown on me. Sometimes fusion efforts such as this can create a quirky appealing sensation in my brain.
"Shin-Takarajima" was created by Yamaguchi as the theme song (Sakanaction also composed the soundtrack) for the real-life movie version (October 2015) of "Bakuman"（バクマン）, the successful manga about a couple of young men aspiring to become manga artists which also became an NHK anime. And Yamaguchi got his title from the original work "Shin-Takarajima" created by The God of Manga himself, Osamu Tezuka（手塚治虫）. In interviews, Yamaguchi mentioned that when he was asked to make the theme song, he wanted to refer directly to the story of the two teens aspiring to become manga artists. He also stated that he had needed to learn about the industry and asked himself about the roots of manga. Well, his question led him to Tezuka and then "Shin-Takarajima" which turned out to be the breakthrough work for the legend. Even the lyrics refer to the story of "Bakuman" itself about encouraging each other to keep on going with the efforts to reach that treasure island or promised land.
However I have to finish off the article here with the music video for "Shin-Takarajima". I mentioned to Matthew that I found it a hoot since it was a direct riff off an old variety show that I used to see on video way back when. In fact, I don't think I've openly laughed at a music video the way I did last night when I saw this one a few nights ago.
The video is based on the opening for "Dorifu Dai Bakusho"（ドリフ大爆笑...The Drifters' Big Laughs）, the Fuji-TV music-variety show starring comedy team The Drifters that aired on Fuji-TV for something like 20 years starting from 1977. I was quite surprised by that fact since I knew about The Drifters' most famous show on TBS "Hachi-ji da yo! Zen'in Shuugo"（8時だョ!全員集合...It's 8 O'Clock! Everybody Assemble） which also had a very long run on that network; I'd assumed that "Dorifu Dai Bakusho" was just a TBS compilation of the best of the team's sketches but apparently it was entirely its own independent production with its own skits.
Sakanaction and the rest of the production staff pulled the parody off wonderfully right down to the somewhat non-committal Drake-level choreography and the energized work of the cheerleaders. The band even made fun of the quick-stop previews of the upcoming sketches. What also sold me was the completely deadpan expressions on the members' faces although they wore some fairly mod outfits contrasted with the sober corporate suits that The Drifters wore.
The announcements for this year's Kohaku will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. I hope that Sakanaction returns to the Shibuya stage with this one. "Shin-Takarajima" is the band's 11th single from September 2015 and peaked at No. 9 on Oricon.
P.S. Along with Yamaguchi, the rest of Sakanaction are:
A little over a year and a half ago, I wrote an article about the eclectic band Sakanaction which had its debut at the 2013 Kohaku Utagassen. With its entry of "Music", it definitely stood out among the other acts...something that's not too easy to do anymore in my eyes. Although I listed the band members, I didn't bother to write about the derivation of the name although for those who know at least some Japanese, it shouldn't have been too difficult to figure out. According to the band's official website via the Wikpedia entry on the band, the "...name Sakanaction is a portmanteau of "sakana" (魚?, "fish") and "action". In the band's own words, their name reflects a wish to act quickly and lightly, like fish in the water, without fearing changes in the music scene." Sounds like the musical equivalent of a rapid strike Special Forces team....pretty darn cool.
Tonight's Sakanaction entry was a song that I found out about from an interesting source. I've often gone to the website "TV Tropes" as a source for trivia on various old TV programs and anime. Last night, I decided to take a look at their trope "Mundane Made Awesome -- Music"; this particular section profiles various instances when amazing music was made around something that really wouldn't be all that exciting.
I was surprised to find Sakanaction in there (close to the bottom) with a song from their 2009 album, "Shinshiro"（シンシロ）, titled "Ame (B)". The lyrics were simply about some guy getting an umbrella from his girl but still getting his left shoulder drenched in the rain. In most cases, that would merely get a snarky comment from the boyfriend and an argument. However, the good folks of Sakanaction were able to weave a catchy melody around it with some good thumps and a guitar in there. Short and sweet and appropriately eclectic.
Ahh...Y's Mart. I did get some good bento there.
One of four supermarkets in my old neighbourhood.
Like a lot of J-Pop loving folks out there, I did catch the 64th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen a few days ago. To be honest, my years of having my breath taken away by the annual NHK spectacular are now long in the past, but my family and I still view it just to see what has been going on in the music industry over the past year. Arashi was there again as the current hosts, and I have to admit that I was waiting to see how much more actress Haruka Ayase was gonna screw up....adorably, mind you.
It was nice to see that the producers were trying their best to have the worlds of J-Pop and enka, of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Saburo Kitajima (who has now supposedly retired...or graduated....from the program) meet congenially throughout the 4 hours plus, and it was a treat to see some of the old popsters such as Seiko Matsuda, Kyoko Koizumi and Hiroko Yakushimaru (mind you, the last two were in character from the NHK morning serial drama, "Ama-chan") show up.
But a couple of new acts stood out to me. One was NMB 48 with their performance of "Kamonegix" (had to look that one up), and then there was the band Sakanaction. There is a Wikipedia article on the group, which debuted back in 2005. It's apparently a band that is hard to categorize in terms of genre, but that's fine with me. When I started hearing their 8th single, "Music", it separated itself from a lot of the other acts that night even with Perfume at the Kohaku, Sakanaction's entry struck me as something that I wouldn't have expected at the New Year's Eve special. The song had this cool laid-back vibe as main vocalist/songwriter Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎） sang in a strong but somewhat ethereal way which evoked an image of traveling through cyberspace. As I recall, Sakanaction received some pretty good applause afterwards....something that is no longer always guaranteed for performances at the Kohaku.
"Music" was actually released almost a year ago in January 2013. It peaked at No. 4 on Oricon and is also included on their self-titled album, "Sakanaction". As for the other band members, they are Motoharu Iwadera（岩寺基晴） on guitar, Ami Kusakari（草刈愛美） on bass, Emi Okazaki （岡崎英美）on keyboards and Keiichi Ejima（江島啓一） on drums.
