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.
Singer-songwriter Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）has made herself at home on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for some years now, but still when compared to some of the other singers and bands, she's still relatively new and unknown to me. But my impression of her is that she approaches some of the art pop that Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）created from the 1980s. There's nothing cookie-cutter about Mrs. Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）.
Case in point, the track "Suishou no Kabe"(Crystal Walls) from her October 1982 album"MÖBIUS". Her light and floaty voice helps in that image of her as an art pop chanteuse (as it did Ohnuki and Koshi) and with "Suishou no Kabe", there are some other elements such as the rich rolling piano intro, the outro featuring the sitar-like instrument and a wistful melody and arrangement by Makoto Yano（矢野誠）that flirts at New Wave and reggae. If David Bowie or Kim Carnes had decided to go really pop in Japan, then perhaps this could have been the result. By the way, the lyrics were provided by Ishikawa herself under her married name of Seri Inoue（井上セリ）.
I heard this song on an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）, I believe, several weeks ago. When I did, I figured that this must have come from the 1960s or early 1970s since it involved pretty much every guest to sing in a Sunshine Pop style.
Indeed, the song was "Namida wo Koete"(Rising Above the Tears) and it was originally sung by the choral band Sing Out（シング・アウト）. Almost a couple of years ago, I wrote about a similar group called Young 101 which basically acted as the in-house singers for the NHK music show "Stage 101"（ステージ101）. Well, apparently, Sing Out was the 12-person predecessor for Young 101 which had their time between 1969 and 1971. As was the case with Young 101, certain members of Sing Out would go their own very successful solo ways such as singer Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, songwriter and producer Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）and composer Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）.
"Namida wo Koete" was the first of three singles released by Sing Out in November 1969. Written by Koji Kaze（かぜ耕士）and composed by Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）, it's a very lively, upbeat and inspiring song that had me thinking The New Christy Minstrels, an American group that used to get onto AM radio a whole lot back when I was a moppet.
As for the song, it peaked at No. 53 on Oricon. Not surprisingly, Young 101 would provide their own cover of "Namida wo Koete" on their April 1971 album"Stage 101".
An old friend of mine was once the liaison via the JET Programme between Kariya City in Aichi Prefecture and the city of Mississauga next to my hometown of Toronto which had me thinking about any sister-city relationships involving Toronto itself, notably with any Japanese cities. Well, strangely enough, Toronto does have such a relationship with Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture, not too far away from Tokyo.
One of my most notable students during my seventeen years living and working in the capital city area actually hails from Sagamihara, although I didn't know about the sister-city relationship at that time. She was definitely an Arashi-loving character who I met every Wednesday night at school; a lab technician in a hospital, she analyzed urine and fecal samples and we had a ball putting pet names such as "apple juice" and "fudge" on her targets, and joked about the fact that some patients were a little overzealous in their donations.
For the purposes of this blog though, I wanted to find out if there were any singers who came from Sagamihara, and I discovered that Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）was one such person. It was just a little over a week ago that I had included her in The Works of Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）Author's Picks article in which the Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）vocalist composed "Ai no Bunryo"（愛の分量）as a track on her 1985 album"Rakuen"（楽園...Paradise）.
Well, Tamaki came up with the music for another track on "Rakuen" which was "Mukashi Italia de"(Once Upon a Time in Italy). With lyrics by Masato Tomobe（友部正人）, this is a light technopop number arranged in a style of a 50/60s girl pop tune or even as a song from Italy at about the same time. Realizing that this is a Tamaki creation, it still makes me feel as if it were a Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子） number just from the whimsical nature and the synths involved.
Once again, we've reached Hump Day or the doldrums of a weekly Wednesday, so as such, I wanted to something a little different. I haven't done a Creator article since "The Works of Ayumi Date"（伊達歩）back last November, so I decided to go with that today. And today's Creator contribution will be on the works of singer-songwriter Koji Tamaki.
Of course, everyone has known him for decades as the vocalist of successful pop-rock group Anzen Chitai（安全地帯） and as a wonderful solo singer who has the ability to make granite weep. However, he has also provided many songs for other singers over the years as well. His band had developed a certain recognizable sound in their music in the early days but I've found that Tamaki the composer was more wide-ranging in the melodies that he has concocted for others.
The second track from Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Garland" album, "Gokai"(Misunderstandings) wasn't a song that was a hit with me initially. I was still in my early phases of appreciating music from all over, and this mix of playfully sultry pop strut and light reggae was perhaps a little much for me at the time, but fortunately, time and experience have proven fruitful. I could easily imagine Tamaki handling this solo but he can still be heard backing Takahashi.
To be honest, if you had told me in the old days that Tamaki had been responsible in creating the melody for one of Akina's（中森明菜）biggest early hits, I would have just scoffed. Perhaps it was due to the arrangement and of course the singer's then-high vocals, but it sounded like a typically dramatic aidoru tune and nothing related at all to Anzen Chitai. However, I've learned that being able to go beyond the sound that a singer has been recognized for and provide something that fits the other singer's style is an asset.
I would have said the same thing that I did for the above Akina tune for one of Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）most famous songs, "Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa", and it also happens to be one of the most famous anison for one of the more beloved anime "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）. Mind you, the first few measures of the song has reminded me a bit of the old Anzen Chitai sound but the rest of it is pure breezy melodic optimism.
The technopop aside, there is something rather Tamaki-esque in the melody for Seri Ishikawa's（石川セリ）"Ai no Bunryo" (Amount of Love). In some of those Anzen Chitai songs and Tamaki's own solo discography, there have been signs of secrecy or sneakiness, and in fact, Tamaki's own countenance has had those certain saturnine qualities. I think "Ai no Bunryo" has a dollop of that as well as some of that racing guitar which reminds me of him, too.
(1993) Kaori Kozai -- Mugonzaka（無言坂）
Now, the whole impetus behind me putting up a Creator article for Tamaki is this song right here. When I was watching "Uta Con"（うたコン）yesterday, the show devoted some of its minutes on the Japanese utahime who included enka singer Kaori Kozai（香西かおり）. Ironically, although the Kozai file on KKP is quite healthy, I realized that I had yet to include what is arguably one of her greatest hits, so here it is.
"Mugonzaka"(The Silent Hills) was indeed composed by Tamaki, so he can provide music for enka as well. And the melody is sweeping and earthy (perfect for a go-touchi song) as it envelops the lyrics of Mitsuhiko Kuze（久世光彦） (although he went by the pen name of Mutsuki Ichikawa「市川睦月」 for "Mugonzaka") who came up with them based on the hills within his hometown of Toyama City in Toyama Prefecture. Kuze's lyrics talk of a local romance that has gone so far off the rails that one can no longer go home again in all meanings of the phrase.
Released as Kozai's 6th single in March 1993, "Mugonzaka" won the Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards that year as it hit No. 10 on Oricon. It would end up being performed five times at the Kohaku Utagassen between 1993 and 2007, and as the biggest tribute, "Mugonzaka" has been covered by a number of artists including Tamaki himself in his 2012 "Offer Music Box".
Having only experienced it a few times, it's energy-sapping and very stressful when I've had a fight with a significant other. And once the water finally does go under the bridge, I'm still left a bit frustrated about why the fight ever occurred. But that's a part of life in a relationship.
Seri Ishikawa's（石川セリ）"Niji no Hitoheya"(One Room with a Rainbow) hails from her January 1976 album"Tokidoki Watashi wa..."（ときどき私は…Sometimes I...）, and it's basically a vignette of a spat between two people and the aftermath. It's a quiet and relaxing New Music tune with a bit of blues guitar in there as Ishikawa sings the still-hot accusations and resentments between the lovers in the first verse before the second verse has time passing and heads cooling when one of them notices the beautiful rainbow filtering into their home through the window, and all is right with the world once more.
Masahiro Takeda（武田全弘）provided the lyrics for "Niji no Hitoheya" while Ichizo Seo（ 瀬尾一三） composed and arranged the song. I think it makes for the ideal sunset song on a Monday.
Aw, Jiminy Cricket! Why not break the record? I've still got 35 minutes before we reach October 1st. Welcome to Article No. 101!
I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing way to end September on KKP and a more appropriate way in terms of the title since we are approaching 12:00 am. "Midnight Love Call" is a nice laidback tune made for singer Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）by lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and composer Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）who also worked on the lyrics. It is a track on Ishikawa's June 1977 album"Kimagure"（気まぐれ...Whimsy） and as the song title says, it's all about a lady calling the love of her life on the old-fashioned dial phone near the witching hour...or under the circumstances, I ought to say bewitching hour. Very nice percussion and guitar for that bossa nova.
A few years later in 1980, Minami released his album "Montage" in May which included his cover of "Midnight Love Call". The underlying rhythm isn't bossa nova this time, but more of a sunnier reggae beat. Masaaki Omura（大村憲司）took care of the arrangement, and the guys from Yellow Magic Orchestra were helping out although I would hardly say that Minami's cover is a technopop piece. But indeed, it's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）on keyboards, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）on bass and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）on drums. Considering the song's feel here, the setting doesn't involve two bedrooms in different apartments but one end of the call coming from a late-night Tiki bar.
Lucky 13 today and tonight. And I'm finally calling it a night.
My most recent article for Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）was a little less than a year ago when I wrote up on her 6th single from April 1976, "Fuwa Fuwa WOW WOW"（フワフワ・WOW・WOW）. That was one happy-go-lucky downtown tune, and at the time of writing up that one, I hadn't realized that it was a single because I mentioned in the article that the song was part of her January 1976 sophomore album, "Tokidoki Watashi wa..."（ときどき私は…Sometimes I...）.
Well, thanks to a comment in the past 24 hours by one fellow, I was led to the B-side for "Fuwa Fuwa WOW WOW", "SEXY". And this song, which was written and composed by singer-songwriter Itsuro Shimoda（下田逸郎）, is a bit more contemplative and, yes, sexy, since his lyrics talk of a couple heading off on that plane to extend their trysting. I'm not sure whether the destination seems to matter since Ishikawa sings about the pair simply enjoying themselves on the mattress.
Shimoda's melody is a gently rocking and folksy one, seemingly designed to either lull one into slumberland or get everyone to do a singalong in a German bar, as disparate as the two settings are. However, as the coda nears, the arrangement almost takes things into a stratosphere-aiming progressive rock mode. Considering the lyrics, I'm wondering whether that might signify a certain climax of sorts. In any case, "SEXY" was also a track on "Tokidoki Watashi wa...".
I figured that for a song with this title, Pikachu would fit the thumbnail bill.
Well, for a blistering Hump Day today, I think something like a relaxing 1970s New Music song would be appropriate to help in some cooling down. Therefore, why not go with "Fuwa Fuwa WOW WOW"(Fluffy Fluffy WOW WOW), a footloose and fancy-free tune from Seri Ishikawa（石川せり）via her January 1976 sophomore album, "Tokidoki Watashi wa..."（ときどき私は…Sometimes I...）?
With lyrics by Ranbo Minami（みなみらんぼう）, music by Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）and jazzy arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, "Fuwa Fuwa WOW WOW" is a truly short song at a little over 2 1/2 minutes, but considering how the protagonist simply desires a light and happy life, I gather that extending it any longer could have risked adding a little too much gravitas. There's some of that skippy piano, fleet-footed Latin guitar and a bluesy saxophone contributing to the fun. Still, the song, and the album for that matter, has quite the pedigree behind it in terms of musicians. Sugar Babe（シュガーベイブ）and Singers Three（ シンガーズ・スリー）are helping out on backing vocals, Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）is on bass, and then there are Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）and Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）on the keyboards. The album, which peaked at No. 34 on the Oricon chart, also has Ishikawa's "Hitori Shibai"（ひとり芝居）which I wrote about back in 2018.
A single version of "Fuwa Fuwa WOW WOW" was released a few months later in April and in place of the jazz, a bit of progressive rock seems to have seeped into the arrangement. It's still the same short length and has that lightness, but I prefer the original album track.
Referring back to yesterday's article on the passing of composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, I also have to let you know of another loss but this time, it's in the form of a shop that I used to frequent often when I was living and working in the Kanto years ago. A good friend of mine informed me last night that RECOfan, a longtime seller of used albums and singles of all stripes (J-Pop, jazz, R&B, etc.) located in the BEAM Building in Shibuya closed its doors for the last time a couple of days ago due to the pandemic. He got his information from a "Japan Times" article so you can take a look at that, and then also you can take a gander at my own article for RECOfan in the Sites category. My biggest fear now is whether a number of other Tokyo music stores may follow suit and that may even include the big ones such as Tower Records.
Anyways, enough of the long faces. Let me start off Tuesday, and for those in Canada, the beginning of a shortened work week, with someone we haven't seen in a while, singer Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）. Not having known her as long as I have known her husband, Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）, I have been accustomed to her kayo and City Pop fare from the 1970s, but of course, she also sang well into the 1980s, too.
This time, though, Ishikawa provided the track "Ai no Bunryo" (Amount of Love) from her September 1985 release, "Rakuen"（楽園...Paradise）, and this is more of a light synthpop number thanks to Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）vocalist Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）. Masato Tomobe（友部正人）wrote the lyrics which somewhat depict a sad scene of a woman getting ready to meet her husband or a longtime boyfriend although the feeling is that the relationship has gotten rather stale of late (certainly the arrangement hints at some uncertainty). Still, she seems to be willing to go through the motions. Not totally sure if I got the gist of the words right so click on the link and correct me if I'm off-base here.
"Rakuen" peaked at No. 57 on Oricon. "Ai no Bunryo" is also available on Ishikawa's April 2008"Re:SEXY 〜Seri's Selection OLD & NEW〜", an album of self-covers.
Not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that Windows 7 will no longer be getting any support or protection as of Tuesday, but my old laptop (approaching 8 years) which uses Windows 7 has been acting in the last couple of days as if the end is near and getting really slow really quickly for some reason. Fortunately, I've been breaking in its Windows 10-laden replacement over the past few days, so the transition will be made soon enough.
In any case, I thought that this might be an appropriate tune considering the day of the week, and it's titled "Chiisana Nichiyoubi"(Little Sunday). This was actually Seri Ishikawa's（石川セリ）debut single, released in March 1972, and true to its mellow and lilting melody by Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）, the lyrics by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）talk of a couple of young lovers, probably high school kids judging by the one line that talks of them abandoning their bags, suddenly hopping on that last train to head to the sea for walk along the shore.
What I like about Ishikawa's first single is that mix of studio orchestra-friendly kayo provided by the horns and strings and then the rollicking piano and wah-wah guitar which kinda hints at something more rock or New Music. "Chiisana Nichiyoubi" seems to get bigger and grander as it plays to the end as if the kids are realizing that the whole world is becoming one great oyster to them.
I gotta say, though, that listening to Ishikawa's BEST collection, I prefer her oldest material in the 1970s.
Welcome back, Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）! It's been a while.
I took a listen to my CD of "Seri Ishikawa ~ Golden Best Singles and More" for the first time in a long while, and as hoped, some of those songs on her BEST compilation, which fairly flew by on the first listen, coalesced into something more substantial.
Case in point: Ishikawa's 5th single from January 1976, "Hitori Shibai" (Performing Solo). This was composed by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）who also came up with another Seri song in the same year that I had written about a few years ago titled "Asayake ga Kieru Mae ni"（朝焼けが消える前に）. Whereas "Asayake ga Kieru Mae ni" has this languid but fairly cheerful pace of life in the city, "Hitori Shibai" is a more bittersweet and reflective song about trying to get beyond the end of a relationship.
I can't really put my finger on it but when I re-acquainted myself with the song, I just knew that there was the Yuming（ユーミン）touch in the melody. Maybe a very dedicated Yuming fan or a musicologist can add more insight there. This time, the lyrics were provided by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）although I could imagine Arai having laid the words in since they give some tiny vignettes about a woman's memories of her former beau's habits and preferences.
Ishikawa doesn't have the widest range when it comes to her voice, but it does have those creamy and dreamy qualities. I can say that it also has a certain hypnotic quality which could also provide that key to some nostalgic reveries.
I think one of the reasons that the Japanese have been so much in love with Hawaii is surfing. There is nothing more that hints at the pure hedonistic pleasure of leisure than hanging ten on that surfboard on a big wave. And for folks who have often been perceived to approach the act of work like a military mission, hitting the surf must feel like to some as absolute joy.
"Moonlight Surfer" is a song that I've got a couple of copies of. I've got the original by Seri Ishikawa （石川セリ）but over the past Christmas as I was listening to one of my latest acquisitions in the form of "Moonlight Island" by Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）, there was a cover of Ishikawa's 8th single from 1979. However, the Kuwana version cannot be found anywhere on the Net but hearing it on the CD was enough for me to talk about the original.
The single may have come out in 1979 but it was originally the first track on Ishikawa's 3rd album, "Kimagure"（気まぐれ...Whimsy）which was released in June 1977. Written and composed by rock singer Haruo Nakamura（中村治雄）, it's about that girl tagging along with her guy who just has this thing for trying to catch that wave at night. There is that hint of 50s in the arrangements, although the tinkling piano intro had me first thinking whether it was Yuming behind the melody as was the case with "Asayake ga Kieru Mae ni"（朝焼けが消える前に）, but it soon became apparent that it musically described that trip down to the beach in that old DeSoto with the surfboards tied up on top.
Marcos V. covered pin-up model-turned-singer/actress/tarento Reiko Kato（かとうれいこ）for her song "Love Motion", and he mentioned about her Eurobeat tunes. Kato's cover of "Moonlight Surfer" had none of that influence, instead going for a slightly reggae beat when it was released as her 3rd single in October 1991. I never knew Kato as a singer since I primarily saw her as a regular on various variety shows on the telly, but she's got a pretty good voice, and especially with her cover here, she does have quite a bit of enthusiasm for the material.
As I mentioned in one of the other articles on Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, I had bought her BEST album and although I found some of her 80s stuff something that may grow on me over time, there were a few of her earlier hits that I considered quite appealing immediately.
One such track is "Asayake ga Kieru Mae ni" (Before The Morning Sun Fades). I was surprised that it was never an official single. It was actually the 2nd track on her 2nd album, "Tokidoki Watashi wa"（ときどき私は...Sometimes, I...） (January 1976), but I think it would have made for a fine single release. Written and composed by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, it just has that New Music/City Pop feeling infused into it but it also sounds a bit French for some reason. Yuming back then was creating songs that incorporated American pop elements such as the West Coast sound, but I remember one other tune, "Good Luck and Goodbye" from "The 14th Moon" that also has that European nuance.
I think, just like that cool breeze which sometimes accompanies that morning sun, "Asayake ga Kieru Mae ni" had that refreshing sense. I would be rather interested if I could track down some other Yuming-penned works for other singers during that time period.
"Dance wa Umaku Odorenai"(I Can't Dance Well) is a cool song. Written and composed by Yosui Inoue（井上揚水）, it's been covered by a number of singers over the decades, including once by Yosui himself. Despite the title, the music does the amazing thing of portraying a bit of a challenging tango: mostly sweeping across the dance floor but then suddenly and briefly, a burst of quick stepping. Yosui had originally created this song for his then-girlfriend (and current wife), Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, as a present early in their relationship (you sly devil, Yosui, you). It was released in April 1977 as her 6th single and became a minor hit for the singer. It was also a track on her 3rd album, "Kimagure"（気まぐれ...A Whim), released in June of the same year.
The version that I've known the longest though is the one that was released in July 1982 by singer/actress Mio Takagi（高木澪）. Takagi's version, her 3rd single, is a bit more ethereal than the folksier original by Ishikawa. I first heard it on "Sounds of Japan", and since then it's popped up on a number of compilation albums for Showa-era pop songs. Apparently, Ishikawa was none too pleased that her present had been given to someone else.... I guess to her it was the musical version of "re-gifting". Still, the song was able to eclipse Ishikawa's original by selling 800,000 records although the entamedata.web site only gives a more modest figure of 300,000 which means that it could've scored even higher than the 35th-place ranking it got in the annual Oricon charts.
As I mentioned above, Inoue also did his own cover of "Dance wa Umaku Odorenai" a couple of years later for his December 1984 album of covers, "9.5 Carat". His version is a bit more City Pop with some electronic bells and whistles, although the violin near the end gives it a somewhat more otherworldly quality, for a lack of a better expression.
I have to say, though, that Akina Nakamori's (中森明菜）take on the song is probably the most appealing version....to me, at least. Her cover was on her first album of covers, "Utahime"（歌姫...Diva) released in March 1994. Her light but resonant delivery, and frankly that aura that has surrounded her since she came back from her suicide attempt, just seems to fit this song to a T. Perhaps not only because of the arrangement.... it's also because of Inoue's lyrics which talk about someone who would love to have a dance with someone.... with all of the beauty and glamour involved...but just has to stumble along in the meantime by herself (probably only in her self-deprecating opinion.... I think the protagonist dances quite well). There is that sense of vulnerability and loneliness that rather runs through the whole song that may also describe Akina herself. But that's about as much pop psychology as I try for today. It is a lovely version of a decades-old pop song, though.
If I can wax anthropomorphically for a minute, just imagine on this day that Toronto's CN Tower and Tokyo Tower meet in a hotel top bar, get a drink and wistfully reminisce about their heydays in decades past. They're not bitter and wish their next generation, Tokyo Sky Tree, all the best as it launches today. If I'm not mistaken, the world's tallest tower has been open for about 40 minutes as I write this, and when it did, I'm sure ol' CN (the former world's tallest tower) and Tokyo Tower (the architectural symbol of Japan's capital city) must have sighed.
Anyways to get back on track, to commemorate this day, I've decided to introduce or remind page viewers about this song by Yuming（ユーミン）from her 1981 album, "Sakuban Oaimashou"(昨晩お会いましょう....Let's Meet Last Night) which hit No. 1 on the charts. "Te no Hira no Tokyo Tower"(The Tokyo Tower in the Palm of Your Hand) refers to those tower models that one can buy at the souvenir shop in the tower itself. The singer takes on her more sing-song voice, perhaps, to give a kid's view on the famous landmark, while the melody has this lovely mellow groove.
In the same year, Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ） did her own cover of the song on the album "Hoshikuzu no Machi de"(星くずの街で....On the Stardust Avenue). Same groovy arrangement except for an additional filtered sax in the mix.. It's all good....
Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, a native of Kanagawa Prefecture, first debuted in 1971. I'm still getting to know her since I have only listened to her Best album just once. From my initial impressions, she started out with the conventional kayo kyoku pop before stepping out a bit into City Pop ("Japanese City Pop" was how I decided to get that Best album) and a bit of technopop. Then, into the 80s, she went into a direction that will have to grow on me after listening to some of her stuff from that decade.
But I came across this appealingly quirky little pop tune on YouTube, "Hoshikuzu no Machi de Dakishimete" (Hold Me On the Stardust Avenue). From the year and the twee little synthesizer, it's a Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）composition that was on Ishikawa's 6th album, "Hoshikuzu no Machi de" (On the Stardust Avenue).
Ishikawa also happens to be the wife of even more famous singer, Yosui Inoue（井上揚水）.
Ohnuki herself performed the song at a 1982 festival in Aoyama, according to the YouTube writeup. This is not meant as any slight against Ohnuki since I am a huge fan of hers (as you all have figured out), but the recording sounds as if she'd been singing with a taped instrumental backup instead of a real band behind her. But I could be wrong.
Also, I would like to say thanks to everyone who's come and visited the blog over the past 3 months. We just passed 4,000 views!
