Stanley Clarke and George Duke -- Sweet Baby

It is a national holiday today so as per KKP custom, we have a special holiday version of Reminiscings of Youth. I'd say this story goes back almost thirty years but when I was teaching a class in Tokyo, I recall asking the students regarding their favourite ice cream flavour (my classes were often quite whimsical). One of the students was a half-French/half-Japanese lass named Francoise who was quite popular in the group and had quite the outgoing personality. As usual, she went beyond the parameters of the question and gave us her own choice of an invented ice cream flavour. When I then asked her what she would name this new taste, she enthusiastically chirped "SWEET BABY".

Not too long after, I was at Yamano Music in Ginza doing my usual browsing of anything interesting in the CD department. I ended up purchasing the two discs making up the BRIO AOR collection, one of which had a song by a couple of musicians that I had never heard before: the late American keyboardist George Duke and American bassist Stanley Clarke, and the two of them had apparently collaborated back in 1981 through an album titled "The Clarke/Duke Project". The song from that album was the song chosen for the BRIO collection and it was called surprisingly enough, "Sweet Baby".

Yes, I will always remember Francoise and her ice cream flavour through Clarke and Duke's "Sweet Baby". For one thing, the song is probably one of the smoothest and most enjoyable AOR songs that my ears have had the honour to absorb and digest, and for another, it came out in the year that I was finally awakened to the wonders of not only Japan but also music in general. My only regret is that I hadn't discovered it back then and that I would have to wait until the end of the century to finally know about it. And who would have thought that an AOR tune would invite an electric sitar into the mix? To finally reach full circle, I would love to encounter an ice cream at a parlor somewhere that was actually called Sweet Baby.

"The Clarke/Duke Project" came out in April 1981, so let's find out what else came out that month in Japan. 

Toshiyuki Nishida -- Moshimo Piano ga Hiketanara（もしもピアノが弾けたなら）

Hitomi Ishikawa -- Machibuse（まちぶせ）

Saki Kubota -- Orange Airmail Special

Christopher Cross feat. Michael McDonald -- Ride Like The Wind

 

Christopher Cross is already represented on the weekly Reminiscings of Youth series via his theme song for "Arthur", "Best That You Can Do", and yeah, indeed it was a hit and one of the songs that was a regular on the radio airwaves throughout 1981. 

But the singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas, had been around for a decade and then in January 1980, he released his first single "Ride Like The Wind". As with "Arthur's Theme", it was a regular on radio. When I first heard it though, I'd thought that it was all about some guy enjoying riding on his steed in the countryside. Actually, it's all about fleeing the authorities on the way to the haven in Mexico. For some reason, I get images from "The Shawshank Redemption". Compared with "Arthur's Theme", "Ride Like The Wind" is much more dramatic, thrilling and urgent rather than the sophisticated and romantic cadence of the former. Thriller versus romance. But of course, Michael McDonald's singular contribution adds some further wondrous spice...like kosher salt in all those YouTube cooking videos.

As one YouTube commenter put it, he'll never listen to "Ride Like The Wind" without remembering this sketch from Canadian comedy series "SCTV". As a segment on the in-house radio show "The Gerry Todd Show", it features Rick Moranis as McDonald himself racing to the studio to give his multiple takes of "a long way to go". I'm happy to say that I actually saw the sketch in its first run!

I only discovered this Rick Beato video several months ago. During this interview with McDonald, we find out that he actually caught the "SCTV" skit and figured that he was having a nervous breakdown. The power of pot!😵 Glad that he has such a good sense of humour.

In Canada, "Ride Like The Wind" made it all the way up to No. 3 on RPM while in America, it peaked at No. 2. Let's see what was also at the top of the Oricon charts on January 28th 1980, a couple of days before the Cross classic was released.

1. Crystal King -- Dai Tokai (大都会）

2. Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

3. Hiroshi Itsuki -- Omae to Futari （おまえとふたり）

Saki Kubota -- Guitar Hiki wo Mimasen ka（ギター弾きを見ませんか）

 

Returning to solid food once again after 30 hours of fasting is a nice thing. I'm still recovering totally from the fatigue from yesterday's medical procedure, so listening to something like this will always be welcome. 

From the same album as Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）iconic "Ihojin"（異邦人）is the singer-songwriter's "Guitar Hiki wo Mimasen ka" (Would You Like to See Me Play the Guitar?). A track from Kubota's December 1979 debut album "Yume Gatari"（夢がたり...Dream Story）, this is the bossa nova stop that the traveler from "Ihojin" arrives at for some well-deserved R&R. Aside from the singer's lovely tones, it's just Kazuo Ohtani（大谷和夫）on the plinky keyboards and Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）on the guitar for that Brazilian bar atmosphere. Kubota was responsible for both words and music with Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）also helping out on the lyrics and Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）as the arranger.

Saki Kubota -- Orange Airmail Special

 

It's still nice and summery out there but the heat and humidity have climbed down a tad so there's even a bit more pleasantness with the walking out there. 

Yesterday on Urban Contemporary Friday, I featured a recent song by Natsu Summer titled "Orange Airmail". Interestingly enough, decades earlier, singer-songwriter Saki Kubota（久保田早紀）came up with a song that was almost identically titled except that it had an extra word. The song du jour is "Orange Airmail Special".

A track on Kubota's 4th album from May 1981, "Airmail Special", it was composed by Kubota with Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）as the lyricist and Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）as the arranger. Usually with Kubota, who now goes by the name of Sayuri Kume（久米小百合）, she was often associated with exotic kayo or City Pop. With "Orange Airmail Special" though, it strikes me as being more straight pop, although a case can be made with that electric guitar in there that it's achieved the rockier side of AOR. But hearing this one by Kubota, it did feel rather refreshing.

Saki Kubota -- Alfama no Musume（アルファマの娘）

Wikimedia Commons
by Ingo Mehling

 

Recently, some of my family were able to visit Lisbon, Portugal for the first time and they had a really good time there. They kept things to the city and though the rest of us gave them the third degree about what they did, what they ate, etc., I wasn't quite sure if they had mentioned touring around the Alfama district which is the oldest neighbourhood of the city.

Interestingly enough, I begin Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP with more of an exotic kayo tune here that's titled "Alfama no Musume" (The Girl From Alfama) by Saki Kubota（久保田早紀）. Kubota, of course, is well known for "Ihojin"（異邦人）, one of the exotic kayo classics from the late 70s/early 80s although it had ironically had its genesis solidly set in central Tokyo. 

Well, on the other hand, "Alfama no Musume" is one of the tracks from the exotic kayo A-side of her third album "Saudade"（サウダーデ）from November 1980, and all of that A-side had been recorded right in Lisbon itself with the more New Music B-side being recorded in Tokyo. That bi-city nature of creating an album reminded me of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）City Pop-friendly "Miss M" from the same year in which her Side A was recorded in Los Angeles. Kubota would have her own City Pop moment with her following album "Air Mail Special"（エアメール・スペシャル）from 1981 (and my previous article on one of her songs is from that album).

But getting back to "Saudade", the A-side starts off with an acoustic version of "Ihojin" with the second track being "Alfama no Musume", a short-but-sweet-and-oh-so-flavourful kayo of the region. Kubota sings as if she's toe-dancing on the cobblestones of some of those Alfama streets. The original "Ihojin" may have been a rousing adventure along the Silk Road but "Alfama no Musume" is definitely more of a romantic stroll in Portugal. Kubota was responsible for words and music with Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）taking care of arrangement for all of the tracks on the album.

Saki Kubota -- Campus Gai '81（キャンパス街'81）

 

At first, when I encountered this lively ditty, I assumed that the title was "Campus Gal '81" as if the title had referred to the belle of the ball in some tony Tokyo university such as Waseda. But I focused my eyes a little better and realized that it was actually "Campus Gai '81" (Campus Street '81).

No matter though. It's still a really wicked City Pop song about someone having the time of their life as a university student in the big city, and indeed Waseda University is not far away from hubs such as Takadanobaba, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. And the singer is Saki Kubota（久保田早紀）who I last wrote about back in 2022 for her "Ennui"（アンニュイ）on her May 1981 4th album "Air Mail Special"（エアメール・スペシャル）. "Campus Gai '81" is also a track on the LP with Kubota taking care of music while Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）is the lyricist and the arranger is Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. 

The song starts off with a feeling of great anticipation as if the protagonist were about to tackle a big adventure overseas (or on campus). Following that, the usual City Pop mellowness comes in via the keyboards and rhythm before some Latin beat invites itself into the chorus. As well, the strings and electric guitar provide a nice layer of sophistication and coolness respectively.

Dan Hartman -- Relight My Fire

 

Welcome once more to Reminiscings of Youth. This week's article will be taking a slightly more circuitous route, so please bear with me.

Recently, I encountered a music video I hadn't seen in some time and it was The Avalanches' "Frontier Psychiatrist" from 2000. The Australian electronic music band specializes in plunderphonics which has samples of other songs woven together to make a totally new and hopefully very listenable song. "Frontier Psychiatrist" is one of The Avalanches' hits which brings in among other things snippets of a comedy routine by Wayne & Shuster, one of Canada's premier duos from way back. The video is something that a particularly imaginative psychiatric patient would come up with, and I would advise keeping a strong libation on hand when watching this one.

Liking the cut of their jib, I began looking for some more Avalanches fare and so I came across something that had been created by them years later in 2013 which was a remix of Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors' 1982 debut single, "Talking to a Stranger", cheekily retitled "Stalking to a Stranger". The original song and music video were already intriguing enough as something rather art rock but then The Avalanches injected some old-fashioned disco into the earthy and growly rock to make something that sounded and looked just as comfortable in Manhattan's Studio 54 as it did on the Outback (the Australian interior region, not the restaurant).

That injection turned out to be Dan Hartman's "Relight My Fire" from 1979, near the end of the disco era. I know that by this time, the whole "Disco Sucks" movement was pretty much on fire as the title but the song still sounds like those strings, horns and dancers were enjoying the time of their lives on the dance floor. And it still managed to hit No. 1 on Billboard's Dance/Club Play chart in December that year. Hartman was joined by Loleatta Holloway on the vocals, and there are apparently a number of different remixes.

I barely remember hearing it as a kid, and part of the reason that I have opted to cover "Relight My Fire" was that it wasn't something that I recall hearing in its entirety aside from that dynamic intro, perhaps not even through K-Tel record compilation commercials on TV. The instrumental version was used in a number of other ways including on NBC's late-night show "Tomorrow Coast to Coast". Most likely, I heard it on sports broadcasts since I recall that they enjoyed injecting some disco as background music.

Considering that "Relight My Fire" was hitting high on that dance chart in mid-December, let's go with what was hitting the Oricon chart for that month in 1979 (specifically December 3rd). I give you Nos. 2, 3 and 4.

2. Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

3. Hirofumi Bamba -- Sachiko

4. Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue -- Yoseba ii noni (よせばいいのに)

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Hiromi, Saki and Mayo

 

Welcome once more to the AI art gallery where we take those Japanese song titles, throw them into the AI art generator and see what we get. In the past number of days, I've gotten together with some fellow foodie friends and had some delicious Greek and then Thai cuisine, and so I thought why not try some exotic kayo from the late 1970s. Without further ado, then:

Hiromi Ohta -- Saraba Siberia Tetsudo (さらばシベリア鉄道）

Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

Mayo Shouno -- Tonde Istanbul （飛んでイスタンブール）

Airplay/The Manhattan Transfer -- Nothin' You Can Do About It

 

All these years, I knew about Canada's David Foster since the 1980s when he was coming up with these pop instrumentals such as "The Love Theme from St. Elmo's Fire" and "Winter Games", and also songs for acts such as Earth Wind & Fire and Kenny Loggins. Then much later, I discovered that he helped out Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）for their own albums. Finally, I realized that he was part of a band called Airplay that was around for just 1980. 

A Canadian songwriting legend was paired up with one of the great American guitar icons, Jay "Peg" Graydon, and according to Wikipedia, their backing band consisted of the members of Toto and other session musicians who have had their own connections to Japanese singers such as Jerry Hey and Gary Grant. This is the ultimate AOR grouping!

In the aim for total transparency, this week's Reminiscings of Youth is actually a bit of a misnomer because I never found out about Airplay or its arguably most famous track "Nothin' You Can Do About It" on their lone self-titled album when it came out in 1980. It was only within the years that I've been working on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that I first discovered this really snazzy song via YouTube and it's been the eternal earworm ever since. For some reason, I don't ever recollect hearing "Nothin' You Can Do About It" on the radio when I was a kid, and yet it sounds like the type of song that would have gotten heavy rotational airplay (pun fully intended) considering what was being played on the stations back then. The horns and the keyboards are amazing, and who knew that Graydon could sound that good as a singer? I'm just glad that I was able to finally come across it in my older years (circa 2018) and that one song was enough for me to order the album from Amazon.

The thing is that the song created by Airplay and Steve Kipner was originally recorded by The Manhattan Transfer as a track from their 1979 "Extensions". And "Nothin' You Can Do About It" fit hand-in-glove with the Transfer's move into smooth classy pop that time. Still, when I think of the arrangement, I have to go with Airplay's cover.

I'm just lifting this brief excerpt from a 2014 interview with Graydon via Wikipedia:

Interviewer: Did you guys ever envision Airplay becoming a full-time, touring type of band? 

Graydon: David wanted to tour and I didn't. A dumb move on my part.

Well, no worries Jay! It looks like you made up for that oversight with the above performance in 1994!

I gave my compliments to Neo-AOR Norwegian singer-songwriter Ole Børud about a month ago for "Find a Way". Well, he and his band gave his own tribute to the song a year ago.

Going with the Manhattan Transfer's October 1979 release of "Extensions", what other songs were coming out in Japan at that time?

Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Technopolis

As a PS, I also read that Foster played for the band Skylark in the early 1970s. Me, I ate at Skylark! And the crazy thing was that the manager looked like a Japanese Jay Graydon!

Saki Kubota -- Ennui（アンニュイ）

 

The last time I wrote about a Saki Kubota（久保田早紀）song was back in early 2020 for "Orange Air Mail Special"（オレンジ・エアメール・スペシャル）, her 4th single from 1981 and a track from her 4th album "Air Mail Special"（エアメール・スペシャル）from May of the same year. So, I guess that I'm coming back to that same release for another scintillating song.

The title "Ennui" automatically struck me as being something along those laconic Fashion Music lines represented by singers such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and early Chika Ueda（上田知華）. However, this "Ennui" isn't referring to a particular genre of music but to the feeling of a seen-it-all, done-it-all worldly woman who's once again on her own in the big city after the end of another romance, whirlwind or otherwise. The theme sounds just like the one for Hatsumi Shibata's（しばたはつみ）"Party is Over" which I wrote about earlier tonight.

Kubota wrote and composed "Ennui", and I do like Mitsuo Hagita's（萩田光雄）arrangement of the song which mixes in City Pop with a hint of Steely Dan horns. But at the same time, I think that there is some of that Henry Mancini-esque feeling, probably filtered through Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）famous song "Douzo Kono Mama" (どうぞこのまま）. It is the melodic equivalent of that frequent nighttime journey that the woman in question can probably do while sleepwalking by this point in her life. She may be bored of the life but we're having fun with the music.

The Works of Masatoshi Sakai（酒井政利）

 

When I first started "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in 2012, it was all about the singers and the bands as they steadily got included in the Labels that you always see at the right of your screen. However, as the years passed toward the end of the decade, I also realized how important the lyricists and the composers were, and then relatively recently, I got that same impression about the arrangers. And so, they were also gradually included in the Labels. 

Up to today, I'd not considered producers but earlier this morning on the NHK 9 o'clock evening broadcast and then later on Mixi, I found out about the passing of one of the prolific producers for kayo. Masatoshi Sakai at the age of 85 a few days ago on the 16th. Born and raised in my ancestors' home of Wakayama Prefecture, after graduating from university, he had initially started working for the film company Shochiku in the early 1960s before jumping ship to the music industry, beginning with Nippon Columbia. For the next 60 years, he would gain a reputation for his uncanny way of discovering new talent and then refining them and their music. From what I've read and heard so far, it looks like he focused a lot on the aidoru of the 1970s and perhaps some of those singers exploring the exotic kayo which enjoyed their fifteen minutes of fame in the later part of the decade.

Allow me to show a very tiny sliver of some of his contributions.

Saori Minami -- Juu-nana Sai （17才）1971

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Ii Hi Tabidachi (いい日旅立ち) 1978

Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）1979

I'd added a January 2021 PS to the original May 2012 article regarding "Ihojin" in which through one of the NHK variety programs, it was discovered that this exotic kayo bringing up adventurous images of traveling on the Silk Road had originally revolved the more mundane situation of riding on the Chuo Line in Tokyo. Well, if I'm not mistaken, I think that it was Sakai himself who came up with the idea to change the setting.

Judy Ongg -- Miserarete （魅せられて）1979

Hiromi Go -- Oyome Samba （お嫁サンバ）1981

According to the J-Wiki article for Sakai, Go initially liked the sound of "Oyome Samba" but felt that he wouldn't be able to do it justice. However, the producer took him aside and told him "You're the only one who can sing this as brightly. This song will undoubtedly be continued to be sung at wedding receptions by later generations." Go was convinced.

In addition to the accolades that he received through his songs, Sakai also earned the honour of Person of Cultural Merit both from Wakayama Prefecture and Japan in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Pages/Kenny Loggins -- Who's Right, Who's Wrong

For this Reminiscings of Youth article, I decided to go back a few years and into the AOR genre. But first, for those of my generation, do you remember this band?

Yep, this is Mr. Mister with their huge 1985 hit "Broken Wings". It made it to No. 1 on the American and Canadian charts, and although I personally didn't become a fan of this song or the band itself during my university years, I certainly recognize it and the music video since it got plenty of airplay and heavy rotation on the video shows.

The big surprise for me here was that years before Mr. Mister, two of the members, Richard Page and Steve George had created this AOR band in 1978 called Pages. And it turns out one of their songs luckily ended up on one of my BRIO AOR CDs.

Pages never got all that successful aside from a single called "I Do Believe In You" from 1979 that peaked at No. 84, their only song that got into the Billboard Hot 100. The single was also a part of their 2nd album that year, "Future Street", and from that same release came "Who's Right, Who's Wrong".

Now, perhaps I ought to be guilty of a little fraud here since in actual fact, I had never known about "Who's Right, Who's Wrong" or Pages when I was a teenager. It was only through my purchase of that BRIO CD that I found out about this marvelous ballad. But still, the sound that emanated through my headphones when I first heard this in Ichikawa was so very reminiscent of what I was hearing during my childhood on the radio, and boy, was I happy to have finally made my acquaintance with this one.

Created by Page and Kenny Loggins (no stranger to AOR himself), that Michael Brecker sax opening is just perfect, and I would go so far to say that it's one of the greatest openings of any pop song that I've heard. It was instant relaxation at first listen. The remainder of "Who's Right, Who's Wrong" with the keyboards, synthesizer, the vocals and the Jerry Hey strings arrangement struck me as what I have loved about AOR.

Loggins himself would also record his own mellow version of the song for his 1979 album "Keep The Fire" with Page and the Michael Jackson on backing vocals. However, I have to say that the Pages version will always be my favourite by far.

Try as I might, I couldn't find out in which month "Future Street" was released in 1979 and so for the kayo comparison, I've opted to find out which Japanese singers made their debuts in or around September 1979...since after all, we are in September.

1. Asami Kado -- Fascination (ファッシネイション）

2. Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

3. Chage & Aska -- Hitorizaki（ひとり咲き）

Saki Kubota -- Orange Air Mail Special（オレンジ・エアメール・スペシャル）

It's been a good long while since I've written about singer-songwriter Saki Kubota（久保田早紀）who is now known under her real name of Sayuri Kume（久米小百合）.

Actually, I saw a recent segment from some morning wide show presented on YouTube which featured Kubota, and so that reminder along with the fact that it's another Hump Day today (got a snowstorm coming in later this afternoon which is "perfect" for a Hump Day) had me make the choice to put this one up.

"Orange Air Mail Special" is Kubota's 4th single from April 1981, and though it isn't quite on the same level as her iconic "Ihojin"（異邦人）, it's a thriving injection of musical Vitamin C. Plus, there's plenty to get nostalgic about here with those shimmering strings and wailing guitar which characterized many a dynamic Japanese pop song back then. Just the overall feel of "Orange Air Mail Special", which describes someone's encouragement of a friend to get out of the blues, had me thinking of some of the tunes by Queen and Electric Light Orchestra.

With Kubota composing the music, Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）wrote the lyrics. You can take a look below at the segment that I just mentioned.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Saki Kubota -- Shanghai no Nostalgie（上海ノスタルジー）

Well, it's been a few years, so welcome back, Saki Kubota（久保田早紀）!

Famous for her big hit, "Ihojin"（異邦人）from 1979, the singer-songwriter represented that brief and interesting part of kayo kyoku in the late 1970s and early 1980s in which listeners were taken on a musical journey of exotic lands without needing Gravol or travel insurance. Kubota apparently kept that exotic theme in mind for the first few albums in her career, at least as far as her 4th album, "Air Mail Special" from May 1981.

One of the tracks from "Air Mail Special" is "Shanghai no Nostalgie" (Shanghai Nostalgia) which keeps that feeling of travel but combines it with some of that snazzy City Pop bombast. The song is armed with a battery of horns, some bouncy bass, and even a sparkling guitar. Kubota composed it while Tamaki Kawata（川田多摩喜）provided the lyrics about two lovers divided by geographical distance but still united by emotion. Shanghai or Tokyo...it's still the bright lights and big city of the 1980s!

Saki Kubota -- Mayonaka no Sanpo （真夜中の散歩）

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A6%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%83%87/669924762

(excerpt only)

Up until a couple of days ago, I had thought the only song I would ever have by Saki Kubota （久保田早紀）on the blog would be her famous "Ihoujin" （異邦人）from 1979. As I mentioned for the article on her most well-known song, it was just one of a number of exotic and jaunty kayo kyoku that became hits in the late 1970s.

However, just over the weekend, I came across a few of Kubota's albums from that period online and checked some of the tracks out. One album that stood out was her 3rd album, "Saudade" （サウダーデ）from November 1980 which itself stood out since the five tracks that make up the first half of the album had been recorded in Portugal, hence the title (which means "longing"). 

The song for this article, though, comes from the Side B of the original LP, "Mayonaka no Sanpo" (Midnight Walk). Along with the brief musical trend of exotic kayo at the end of the 70s going into the 80s, there also seemed to be another trend in mid-tempo ballads that had some disco strings...Yuming's （ユーミン）title track from "Toki no nai Hotel"（時のないホテル）(1980) was one other example and perhaps some of Ruiko Kurahashi's （倉橋ルイ子）output as well. "Mayonaka no Sanpo" has a similar vibe. Composed by Kubota, the lyrics by Keisuke Yamakawa （山川啓介）described a woman's less-than-happy walk in the wee hours while going over a lost romance. Safety was apparently not a concern for her.

Even more than the exotic kayo, I have had an affinity for this sort of disco kayo ballad (about as niche a genre as one can get in this blog) for years, so finding about "Saudade" is another fine discovery for me. Perhaps this song could also be classified as an example of the media-dubbed Fashion Music that songstress Asami Kado （門あさ美）represented. The title track is also quite nice as well, so hopefully I might be able to get an article on that song pretty soon.

Saki Kubota -- Ihojin （異邦人）

When I first heard this song on the radio, it just smacked me in the chops since it didn't sound anything like the typical kayo kyoku tune. It had this rather exotic and mysterious Middle Eastern feel to it which launched right from the first note. Saki Kubota(久保田早紀）, who had written and composed "Ihojin"(The Stranger), made an impact with her debut single which also had the subtitle of "Theme of The Silk Road". Originally, the title was to have been "Shiroi Asa"(白い朝....White Morning), but that was thankfully thrown out for being too weak.

Apparently, listeners also agreed with Kubota's exoticism. It was released in October 1979 and reached the No. 1 spot in December where it stayed for 6 weeks. It eventually became the 2nd-best selling song of 1980.　The song was also included on her first album, "Yumegatari"（夢がたり....Dream Story), which reached No. 1 and became the 4th-ranked album of that year.

"Ihojin" has become a kayo kyoku classic in that it has been covered by several singers such as Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）and the lead singer of Kome Kome Club, Tatsuya Ishii（石井竜也）.

Kubota's career was short. Once she got married, she retired from music in 1984, and is currently a Doctor in Sacred Music at Kernel University in the United States under her real name of Sayuri Kume（久米小百合）.

January 22, 2021: I saw and heard this last night on the NHK educational variety show "Naming Variety - Nihonjin no O-namae!"（ネーミングバラエティー 日本人のおなまえっ!...Japanese Names!） when the episode was focusing on three particular kayo of which "Ihojin" was one. Apparently, not only did the song once have that rather light title of "Shiroi Asa", but Kubota had originally meant the song to be about a bunch of kids playing around at a school by the Chuo Line in Tokyo!