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.
Continuing on the Valentine's Day theme from the previous article and also sifting through those old B-sides, I did find something from Sayuri Kokusho's（国生さゆり）classic February 1986 single "Valentine Kiss"(バレンタイン・キッス) via JTM's write-up on the song all the way back in 2013.
As cute as "Valentine Kiss" is, the B-side "Koi wa Ring Ring Ring"(Love is Ring Ring Ring) is more of a frantic sugar-high as a young lass is trying her darndest to contact her beau on the phone but he's too busy talking to someone else. Who could that someone be? Stress levels and conspiracy theories abound like bunnies! As with "Valentine Kiss", "Koi wa Ring Ring Ring" was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, but this time, the melody was provided by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）who gave a fine illustration of how the lass was going out of her mind with the rock guitar, the sparkly synths and the rapid-fire percussion.
The song is also available on Kokusho's 1st album"Pep Talk" which was released in July 1986. It hit No. 2 on Oricon.
As I was mentioning at the top of today's broadcasting day within the Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）article, I had been planning to put in another Holiday issue of Reminiscings of Youth right at the beginning, but "American Highway" was simply too irresistible to leave alone.
Well, here it is: "On My Own" by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald which had a February 1986 release. Created by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, the song's lyrics aren't exactly the cheeriest but I can't deny the melody which begins splendidly. I remember "On My Own" getting some major heavy rotation on the radio but I only got to see the music video featuring LaBelle and McDonald occasionally. For a song about breakups, the two of them are great singing together. When I wrote up that "If I Had an All-Night Radio Show..." article last month, I mentioned that I would love to have included other tunes on the list; this song was one of them as a great example of Quiet Storm.
"On My Own" hit No. 1 in Canada, America, Ireland and the Netherlands. I was a little surprised that it hadn't been nominated for any Grammys. Anyways, what was on top of the Oricon charts a day after this song's release?
Consider this a sequel to my prior "Love" songs on behalf of Valentine's Day 2024. Couldn't find nearly as many "Valentine" songs at this juncture but these three will do just fine.
Outside of an inclusion within my "Valentine's Choices"Author's Pick in 2019, I have to confess that the last time I wrote an article on the Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）aidoru Sayuri Kokusho（国生さゆり）was all the way back in the summer of 2015. And that was for a song, "Summer Blue", from her 1988 4th album, "Summer Snow".
"Summer Blue" was an aidoru tune that I thought was a cut above the usual Japanese teenybopper fare. I also think the same is true for this track which launches "Summer Snow", "Hidari Te ga Kirai" (I Hate the Left Hand). It's a really odd title for this song of romantic jealousy and impatience as a young lady is probably rapidly clacking her expensive heel while waiting for the target of her ardor to dump another lass and come to her. I tried to look for some different metaphorical meaning to hidari te outside of the literal meaning but I came up with bupkis.
Megumi Ogura（小倉めぐみ）, who has also written a lot for aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）, came up with the lyrics for "Hidari Te ga Kirai". But it's the basic melody by Keiichi Oku（奥慶一）of Spectrum（スペクトラム）fame as arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）that caught my ears. As the lone commenter thus far for the video has stated, I've never heard a song come off like this before. Beginning with some sparkly and jangly synths, despite the very green-eyed envy taking place in that stylish restaurant, it's undeniably Kokusho's cute-as-heck vocals but the surrounding music absorbs that champagne-and-caviar age of late 80s City Pop partially anchored by some very bluesy guitar and lightly seasoned with bossa. Plus, although I couldn't differentiate a G7 Major chord from a licorice cord, I can imagine that there are some insane levels of chord shifts and other manipulations happening that only a musician and a musicologist can pick out, and I am unfortunately neither.
"Hidari Te ga Kirai" is a fascinating song to be sure and the reason that my Vulcan ears pricked up here was that a friend of mine had sent me a link a few days ago to this amazing interview of former Megadeth guitarist and longtime Tokyo resident Marty Friedman by Rick Beato. When I read the opinion that Friedman feels that J-Pop is much more complex than current North American pop, I kinda went "What?!". Maybe this particular song by Kokusho isn't the finest example of what Friedman is claiming but I have to admit on reading the blurb and then listening to "Hidari Te ga Kirai", a light bulb did pop up over my head.
I was watching the news this morning when the newscaster read out that two-thirds of Canadians had little interest in Valentine's Day. Perhaps I would have tut-tutted the information and gone onto a reinforced soapbox and exhorted "What is wrong about LOVE?!", but then again, when I'm frankly as romantic as a Vulcan after a successful Kolinahr ritual, I don't think that I really can earn that soapbox.
Anyways, I was still surprised to realize that I had never put out a Valentine's Day list of my own in the 7 years of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", although JTM did release his "Romantic 80s Playlist" back in 2014. Well, it is indeed Valentine's Day today, so allow me to give some of my choices for the Day of Love. There are of course tons of kayo/J-Pop...way too many, in fact, to even sate a comprehensive list of which this is certainly not. In point of truth, there are songs that are knocking me upside the head like a Gibbs' slap at this moment for not being included. So, all I can ask humbly is that if any of you folks have your own choice for an ideal J-Valentine's song, please inform me.
Incidentally, all of these already have their own articles so this is more of a summary.
Let's start with something nice and 70s and kayo-like by the adorable Megumi Asaoka（麻丘めぐみ）. "Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki"（わたしの彼は左きき）is a spritely and proud tune about the fact that one lady's Mr. Right is always on her left with the premise being that they are blissfully together and in love. Somehow, I've gotten the impression that is not so much a boyfriend-girlfriend situation but more of a just-married couple starting out on their life together.
Those opening notes from Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）"Koi no Yokan"（恋の予感）are enough to get me all nostalgically moody. I don't think the song was ever meant to be recorded with Valentine's Day in mind but there's something about Koji Tamaki's（玉置浩二）delivery and the songwriting by him and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）that makes this ballad ideal for an intimate dinner or a romantic walk in a park on February 14th (we are talking about Tokyo...not Toronto).
If I'm doing a Valentine's Day list of Japanese pop songs, then Sayuri Kokusho's（国生さゆり）"Valentine Kiss"（バレンタイン・キッス）has just got to be included. No exceptions! When compared with the mature themes of the above "Koi no Yokan", "Valentine Kiss" possesses the spirit of a 1950s novelty pop confection and the image of a junior high school girl nervously leaving homemade chocolates secretly in the school shoe box of a boy she likes. From personal experience, I hope that the lucky lad gets to the box early enough, lest those sugary creations end up smelling like feet! By the way, "Valentine Kiss" peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and ended up as the 14th-ranked single of the year.
"Anniversary ~ Mugen ni Calling You"（無限にCALLING YOU...Eternally Calling You） is probably one of Yuming's（ユーミン）most heartfelt ballads about a bride ready to take the walk down the aisle, and she's absolutely sure of her life choice. I think that people in that situation would need to grab for a Kleenex when they hear this special single. Although I don't think that this particular song has made it up to my own Top Ten list of Yuming songs, "Anniversary" has most likely made it onto BEST lists by other fans.
"Zutto" was forever and always a love song that wafted through the air and inside the karaoke boxes and bars around that time. And it's the reason that Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）has stayed with me as one of the notable singers during my years in Gunma Prefecture on the JET Programme. Her plaintive "ZU-TTO, ZU-TTO, ne" strikes a nearly automatic Pavlovian response in listeners to start swaying from side to side.
Reimy（麗美）may not have become a huge superstar on the level of Yuming or Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）, but she still has gained a loyal cadre of fans including me for the lyrics and music that she created. "Marry Me" is one of my favourites as an intimate love letter of a ballad with a down-to-earth arrangement and a great guitar solo. Plus, of course, the title itself is an invitation for my list.
Kanchi! Ahhh...life and love in one of the biggest and most vivacious cities on Earth, and with a theme song that brings to mind a certain time and place. Poor wishy-washy Kanji Nagao in "Tokyo Love Story" had to make that difficult choice between the ever-lovable yet unpredictable force-of-nature Rika and the more down-to-earth Satomi, his old crush from high school in Ehime Prefecture. Not exactly an ideal Valentine situation but I still had to include "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni"（ラブ・ストーリーは突然にー）as a song of the season with oomph. The above video is a short clip of the song but at least, it actually has Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）singing one of his best songs.
I not only think that "I Love You" by the late Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）is the song to be performed at a wedding reception but I could easily see it as the ideal proposal ballad. Plus, wouldn't it be something if the proposer sang it with a guitar bandied over his shoulder? An old friend of mine actually did just that when he popped on a Shinkansen from Tokyo to his girlfriend's home hundreds of kilometres away, although I don't know whether he sang this particular Ozaki ballad. But obviously since they did get happily married with kids, it was all good.
Anyways, this was just a sampling of some of my choices for a February 14th custom. Nothing happening here at home today but perhaps I will pick up a chocolate bar tomorrow.
Back on Thursday night, I wrote an article about Bread & Butter's relaxing song "Summer Blue" as I was commenting on the fine summer weather for getting together with a few buds for some brewskis at the outdoor section of the bar. Well, I didn't exactly do that today but I did enjoy catching the latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's franchise "Ant-Man" today with a good friend, sipped some Iced Chocolates at the nearby café before his wife arrived from work so that all of us could have a delicious Italian dinner.
Strangely enough, I came across another "Summer Blue". This was sung by late 80saidoru Sayuri Kokusho（国生さゆり）for her 1988 4th album, "Summer Snow", and instead of the laid-back vibe enjoyed by a couple of older folk for B&B's"Summer Blue", Kokusho's namesake song has that young spirited feeling of running along the beach. After listening to it a couple of times, I think it's a notch up on the usual aidoru song with the Latin-tinged synths sounding like something that I would have associated with an early Miki Imai（今井美樹）contribution. Kokusho's high-pitched vocals kept it in the aidoru arena for me. Kudos to writer Yuriko Mori（森由里子）and composer Minoru Komorita（小森田実）.
A few months ago, I observed through an article for another late 80saidoru tune that quite a number of Japan's cute bubblegum pop singers mixed in some international influences through their composers. When I was coursing through YouTube today, I just came across this song by Sayuri Kokusho（国生さゆり）.
"Ohkii Neko"(Big Cat) has that ever-comforting polished Bossa Nova beat provided by composer Jun Sato（佐藤準）with Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）writing the words about how much Kokusho wants to cuddle that cute feline. Knowing Kokusho's musical output only through the two other songs that are listed here on the blog, it was a nice switch hearing this pleasantly light ballad. The song was a track on her 2nd album, "Balance of Heart", which was released in February 1987 and peaked at No. 2 on Oricon.
Usually when the name Sayuri Kokusho（国生さゆり） is mentioned, the old music fans like me will instantly come up with "Valentine Kiss". But I also managed to dig up one other song that has been on one of my ancient audio tapes for over a quarter of a century. Titled "Hoshikuzu no Sniper"(Stardust Sniper), this was the Onyanko Club member's 5th single released in March 1987, and it has a pretty relentless beat...kinda like something from Eurobeat. It's been years since I heard this one, and one of the cute things about it is how Kokusho sings the word "sniper". Just try to imagine her carrying an M40!
Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康） and composed by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）,"Hoshikuzu no Sniper" made it all the way up to No. 2 on the Oricon chart. As for the Kokusho oeuvre, this song and "Valentine Kiss" are the only ones I've known up to now, but according to the lyrics for "Hoshikuzu", it seems like Kokusho was going for a more adult presence (as much as a career as an aidoru would allow, anyways) as she personifies herself as the sniper of love perching herself in position so that she can take that fateful shot. Lyricist Akimoto dramatizes things a bit by using quite a bit of metaphor for the big city such as "galaxy-class skyscrapers", "the desert of a deserted city" and "an asphalt Silk Road". Ahh....life in Tokyo.
It's always nice to hear how some of the veterans sounded way back when since Kokusho has been a fixture on the telly for years and years as an actress and tarento. It's gotten to the point where I've almost forgotten that she was an aidoru.
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, that invariably means that you'll probably be hearing this song at least once or twice at some point in Japan if not more so. 「バレンタイン・キッス」 was Kokusho Sayuri's (国生さゆり) debut single in 1986 and was an instant hit. According to J-Wiki, the single reached #2 on the オリコン/Oricon charts, #1 on the ミュージック・ラボ/Music Lab and ミュージック・リサーチ/Music Research Charts and #4 on TBS' ザ・ベストテン/Best Ten music program. It also won the 日本ゴールドディスク大賞/Japan Gold Disc Award for Best Single of the Year. Over the years it has quickly become the song of choice for many Japanese girls celebrating Valentine's Day. Now that's some debut.
さゆちゃん was born on 12/22/66 in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture. Her father named her after his favorite actress 吉永小百合/Yoshinaga Sayuri who starred in such films as キューポラのある街/Foundry Town (1962) and 男はつらいよ 柴又慕情/Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo: Shibamata Bojo AKA Tora-san's New Romance (1972).
Sayuri attended Elementary and Junior High Schools in Kanoya but moved to Kure, Hiroshima for High School. While in High School, she entered the ミス・セブンティーンコンテスト/Miss Seventeen Contest in 1984. While she didn't win the contest, she was scouted by a CBS Sony agent and offered her a modeling/talent contract. Interestingly her fellow contestants were Watanabe Misato/渡辺美里, Kudo Shizuka/工藤静香, Watanabe Marina/渡辺満里奈, Matsumoto Noriko/松本典子, Amihama Naoko/網浜直子 and Asakura Akira/麻倉あきら all of whom would go on to become either singers themselves or actresses.
After moving to Tokyo she became a model with the Shiseido/資生堂 cosmetics company, however at the urging of her agent she entered Fuji TV's popular "All Night Fuji"/オールナイトフジ program's on-air "Female High School Student Special - Beauty Contest"/女子高生スペシャル 美少女コンテスト in which she ultimately won. She then went on to make her idol debut on Fuji's new teen variety program 『夕やけニャンニャン』 as one of the first members of the Onyanko Club/おニャン子クラブ, an idol unit specifically created to host and perform on the show (Kudo Shizuka and Watanabe Marina were also recruited for the group as well). Sayuri's "Member Number" was No. 8 (会員番号8番). Since Sayuri was the oldest member in the group, she became the de facto leader of Onyanko Club.
If おニャン子クラブ seems awfully familiar to current idol group sensation AKB48 that shouldn't come as a big surprise as they are both the brainchild of record producer Akimoto Yasushi/秋元康 who also happened to write the lyrics for a lot of the Onyanko Club songs and wrote the lyrics for Sayuri's "Valentine Kiss".
Sayuri was my favorite of the Onyanko Club girls. Not only was she athletic (she was Captain of her High School's Track and Field team) but she was also one tough chick. I remember watching on Onyanko Club, her solo cross-country motorcycle bike trek from New York to California which spanned one month. Amazing considering she did this on her own (with a camera crew in tow), in a foreign country and without any help from others (this was in 1986). From what I can remember she didn't speak much English as well. Her adventure was chronicled in a special DVD release in 2004 called 「HELLO!アメリカ」.
Sayuri went on the become both a successful actress and starred in a number of TV dramas and program specials. At age 46 さゆちゃん still looks as hot as ever.
Here's a recent appearance she made on タモリ/Tamori's 笑っていいとも!/Warate Itomo variety show.
And here's one of the many covers of the song, this one by AKB48 sub group 渡り廊下走り隊７/Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 (the original is still better IMHO).
