Shikao Suga -- Gogo no Parade（午後のパレード）

 

Well, it was quite a time in Toronto over the past few weeks. This World Cup that had been talked about for years and years finally showed up and ended with one of the mighty showstopping games of the tournament between Portugal and Croatia last night. I'm not a big soccer fan but even I had known that Portugal and Croatia would be a huge spectacle and it was. And up until then, Toronto got to see some massive fan parades downtown in the afternoons including the one represented by Germany above. But now that my hometown has finished its contribution to World Cup 2026, Toronto Stadium is now losing its extra seats and being reconverted back to ol' BMO Field. 

Coincidentally, speaking of afternoon parades, I have here singer-songwriter Shikao Suga's（スガシカオ）"Gogo no Parade" (Afternoon Parade). Suga was actually on yesterday's "Premium Talk" segment of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information show and he got to perform what I had thought was some new material. As it turned out, it was more of his old hits including "Gogo no Parade".

When it comes to Suga's discography, I've known him primarily for "Progress", the theme song for NHK's long-running documentary series "Professional ~ Shigoto no Ryuugi"（プロフェッショナル 仕事の流儀...The Professionals ~ The Style of Work）, and the big hit that he provided SMAP with, "Yozora no Mukou"（夜空ノムコウ）. I'd had no idea that he did have a taste for disco (as do I) but he got that itch that he needed to scratch, so he whipped up the fun "Gogo no Parade".

Released as Suga's 21st single in September 2006, he wanted to go for the disco gusto, so he contacted former Simply Red drummer Gota Yashiki（屋敷豪太）. Of course, disco needs strings so Yashiki himself got in touch with the production team behind Jamiroquai with the result being that the London Session Orchestra lent a hand. Put up that disco ball! Not only was Yashiki on the drums but the late singer-songwriter Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）was on the bass.

"Gogo no Parade" hit No. 23 on Oricon. It was also used as a theme song for a number of projects including a real estate firm commercial, a movie and a music variety show. As for the music video, it was filmed at a wedding reception hall in Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture. Just the place for some group summer fun.

Shikao Suga -- Ai ni Tsuite（愛について）

 

At this point, I'm hoping that the Valentine's Day dinners are underway or have been completed. Maybe it's time for those chocolates.

Once again, "Weathernews Live" in Japan scored again by introducing another winner on its Weather Music segment. This time, I got to hear singer-songwriter Shikao Suga's（スガシカオ）4th single from November 1997 titled "Ai ni Tsuite" (Regarding Love). I was a little surprised at how long ago this song had been first released because it does sound rather timeless. There is some nice groovy but mellow funk underlying Suga's invitation of an intimate evening (and probably morning) for that special someone. Heck, soup is involved! Soup is always good.

Written and composed by Suga, "Ai ni Tsuite" had actually been recorded as a coupling song for his earlier single "0101" when he was still in the indies field a couple of years prior. As a major single, the song hit No. 42 on Oricon and was used as the ending theme for the J-Pop program on NHK, "Pop Jam". It's also been included on Suga's 2nd album "Family" from June 1998 which ranked in at No. 8.

Fukumimi -- Hoshi no Kakera wo Sagashi ni Ikou Again（星のかけらを探しに行こう Again）/Kyoko -- Hoshi no Kakera wo Sagashi ni Ikou（星のかけらを探しに行こう）

 

I remember the special music group Fukumimi（福耳）when they came out with the single "Hoshi no Kakera wo Sagashi ni Ikou Again" (Let's Look for Pieces of a Star Again) back in July 1999.

I also remember the black-and-white music video for the song. Basically what stood out to me was the main vocalist for this special group, Kyoko（杏子）, since she was one of the lead singers for the 80s rock band Barbee Boys. So, I was a tad surprised to see her after so many years handling a pop love song. But she got together with singer-songwriters Masayoshi Yamazaki（山崎まさよし）and Shikao Suga（スガシカオ）to form the initial trio for Fukumimi in 1998, and "Hoshi no Kakera wo Sagashi ni Ikou Again" was the debut single for a string of singles that have been released years apart. In addition, the members for the group have kept on rotating and rising like The Avengers. Acts including Sukima Switch（スキマスイッチ）and Chitose Hajime（元ちとせ）have also joined over the years.

From J-Wiki

As for the meaning behind the naming of the group, Fukumimi actually refers to the old Japanese saying of having big ears to be able to gather a lot of wealth (a number of the Japanese gods have big ears). According to a radio program interview, the members said that the president of the Office Augusta record label, Yoshinobu Morikawa（森川欣信）, had wanted to place the word fukumimi onto Yamazaki's and then Suga's albums, but both artists gave a hard NO to that, so it ended up becoming the name of this special music unit.

Getting back to the song, "Hoshi no Kakera wo Sagashi ni Ikou Again" peaked at No. 8 on Oricon and later became the 82nd-ranked single for 1999. It would get its appearance on an album for the first time on Fukumimi's "Fukumimi The Best Works" which came out in September 2006 and peaked at No. 3.

What I hadn't known until today was that there was an original version of the song simply titled "Hoshi no Kakera wo Sagashi ni Ikou" which came out in stores in February 1995 as Kyoko's 4th single. The tempo is quicker and there's even a bit of a reggae beat in there, compared to its more elegant cousin. Kyoko was responsible for the lyrics while Kazuyoshi Baba（馬場一嘉）was the composer. The original song ranked in at No. 90.

Shikao Suga -- Sayonara Sunset（さよならサンセット）

 

Last night on "Uta Con"（うたコン）, there was the annual tribute to lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）so we got to see and hear the performances of Pink Lady's "UFO" and Linda Yamamoto's（山本リンダ）"Dounimo Tomaranai"（どうにもとまらない）which was sung by the lady herself. Good heavens...so vivacious!

However, after all that, we had some other folks come on board including singer-songwriter Shikao Suga（スガシカオ）. I haven't written about him in several years so it was fortuitous that he appeared on "Uta Con" last night to sing one of his latest tunes. 

To commemorate his 25th anniversary in the music business, he released his 12th album on February 1st 2023, "Innocent"（イノセント）. From that album, I present "Sayonara Sunset", a short and bittersweet song about dealing with the aftermath of a now past romance. The song, written and composed by Suga, is set in a Tokyo apartment, and it has that groove and soul although I'm not sure whether it would be considered a Neo-City Pop tune. The arrangement also a bit of spaciness in there which makes things further appealing. 

kokua/Shikao Suga -- Progress

Back on Halloween 2013, I wrote about Miyuki Nakajima's（中島みゆき）"Chijo no Hoshi"（地上の星）, the epic theme for the NHK documentary program "Project X". I mentioned that this was a proud tune that could have the most doleful worker bee in a company rise up, face the sun and demand more of himself/herself.

Whereas "Project X", which was broadcast between 2000 and 2005, seemed to focused on the challengers and visionaries whose works had a hand in changing society, there has been another NHK series called "Professional ~ Shigoto no Ryuugi"（プロフェッショナル 仕事の流儀...The Professionals ~ The Style of Work） which started in 2006 that is focused on notable people in various fields, from ramen chef to professional baseball player, and how they reached their fame and even more importantly how they've kept it.

Unlike Nakajima's high-flying and inspirational "Chijo no Hoshi", the theme song for "Professional" takes on a more down-to-earth and cooler rock beat. "Progress" by the band kokua rather reflects the everyday rituals that make these professionals professional. It seems to say that these are unsung heroes who just look at their craft as doing what they have to do without needing to hear their praises sung.

At first, I had thought that it was just singer-songwriter Shikao Suga（スガシカオ）who was responsible for "Progress", but actually it was kokua that was brought together specifically to craft the theme and perform it. With Suga on vocals. music and lyrics, he was joined by Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）, who wore the three hats of keyboardist, arranger and producer, guitarist Hirokazu Ogura（小倉博和）, bassist Takamune Negishi（根岸孝旨）, and drummer Gota Yashiki（屋敷豪太）. Supposedly, according to the J-Wiki article on the song, the song had been created so that it followed a certain Mr. Children sensibility.

With the single released in August 2006, "Progress" made it all the way up to No. 22 on Oricon. The song was also the title track on kokua's only album that had come out earlier in June. It peaked at No. 9 on the album charts. By the end of the year, the song was also performed at the Kohaku Utagassen, though under Suga's name and not the band's. Incidentally, the name of the band was derived from the Hawaiian word for "to help, to cooperate".

Shikao Suga -- Ogon no Tsuki （黄金の月）

Shikao Suga（スガシカオ）is a singer-songwriter whom I've often considered to be somewhat of a mysterious ghost-like figure. Part of the reason is that I haven't actively pursued his works, and by the same token, I don't think he has ever shown all that much need to be loved by Oricon although his singles have made their way up to various positions on the singles and albums charts. Plus, his music which I can describe as mellow guitar pop along with his slightly raspy vocals are fairly low key in an appealing way. But again, as being someone who is not particularly a fan of his, I've just seen him come and go over the years. Of course, he was also the fellow who came up with "Yozora no Mukou"（夜空ノムコウ）, one of SMAP's biggest hits.

A few weeks ago, Suga showed up on an episode of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）to perform this number, "Ogon no Tsuki" (Golden Moon). This was his 2nd single released in May 1997, and although it got no higher than No. 72 on Oricon, I enjoyed the performance on the NHK broadcast. And then I saw the video above and appreciated it even more. It reminded me why whenever I did see a Suga performance, I was always quite happy for the experience although the song didn't stay in my head like any earworm. However, I am wondering about investing in one of his BEST collections.

There have been a few concert performances of "Ogon no Tsuki" but I have to admit that I prefer the original recording. It's just straight-ahead pop with no unnecessary frills and no vocal/instrumental acrobatics. However, I can understand why fans would love to hear it from him live. Apparently, the song was also used in the 2005 Fuji-TV anime "Hachimitsu to Clover"（ハチミツとクローバー...Honey And Clover）, a show that Suga contributed a number of his tunes.

The single was also a track on his 2nd album from September 1997, "Clover" which peaked at No. 10.

Being someone who has a passing interest in the derivation of Japanese names, I was rather drawn to that name Shikao. It is his actual first name with the kanji appearing as「止戈男」. According to the J-Wiki article for him, it means "the man who stops wars". I also found out that the singer is quite the fan of UFOs...no idea whether he was ever a Pink Lady fan. However, that same article noted that his music has been influenced by the band Flying Kids (and yup, they're represented here, too) and is given a good injection of soul and funk.

SMAP -- Yozora no Mukou （夜空ノムコウ）

This was another SMAP song that seemed to fill the airwaves entirely when it was released. It just felt like I saw the scenes of the guys on that pedestrian bridge on a daily basis on the telly, and that was no surprise since it was such a big hit. In fact, "Yozora no Mukou" (Beyond The Night Sky) placed only 2nd to GLAY's "Yuuwaku"（誘惑）on the Oricon yearly charts for singles in 1998.

I wasn't ever a hugely dedicated SMAP fan in terms of their music but I'd felt that the Johnny's Entertainment group until that point was the group that took over from their sempai group, Hikaru Genji as the 80s went into the 90s. So I had usually thought of SMAP as the boisterous aidoru boy band. But then, "Yozora no Mukou" came along and Nakai-kun and the rest performed this down-to-earth mature contemporary ballad, and I got the impression that SMAP grew up a bit.

Released in January 1998, singer-songwriter Yuka Kawamura（川村結花） came up with the music while singer-songwriter Shikao Suga（スガシカオ） wrote the lyrics....or almost didn't. Allow me to explain that last part. According to the J-Wiki article for "Yozora no Mukou", Suga had been asked to come up with the words for the SMAP song but the request was totally forgotten by the singer until the very day that the lyrics were due. When his manager reminded him while at Tokyo's Haneda Airport en route to a job in Sapporo, Suga pulled off a small miracle by whipping up the words while on the plane and at the hotel in Hokkaido's capital city. Perhaps he must've heard he would have had to deal with an angry KimuTaku if he hadn't gotten it done.

In any case, the rest is history as they say. "Yozora no Mukou" became SMAP's first million-seller and has since been covered by a lot of other artists including the pair who created it. Of course, it hit the top spot on the Oricon weeklies and that invitation to the Kohaku that year came knocking.