Another one of those singers whose information is sparse at best, but Seiichi Neda（根田成一）is a folk singer-songwriter who had entered the Yamaha Popular Song Contest in 1976 along with many other acts and artists including Tatsushi Umegaki（梅垣達志）, Off-Course（オフコース）and Junko Yagami（八神純子）.
The song that he contributed at PopCon was "Kanashimi no Ballad" (Sad Ballad) which became a single for him (I even couldn't find out how many of those he released). Written and composed by Neda, it's indeed a sad and poignant ballad with perhaps even some bitterness as a couple of friends part, perhaps forever. According to the lyrics, one of the buddies may be heading back home north while the other remains in the city.
The melody by Neda in the beginning reminds me slightly of Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely", and that harmonica also there along with the emerging strings makes "Kanashimi no Ballad" the quintessential Japanese folk ballad. Hopefully, the song wasn't autobiographical.
