Maki Ohguro -- Shiroi Gradation（白いGradation）

 

A few days ago, commenter and contributor Fireminer was asking about a particular Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）song, and to be honest, it's been a few years since she's been up on the blog, so why not give this one a whirl?

It's nice to hear the ol' Ohguro arrangements of the 1990s (crashing synths and booming sax) again and her 7th single from January 1994, "Shiroi Gradation" was released between a couple of other singles that have been posted here: "Anata dake Mitsumeteru"（あなただけ見つめてる）and "Natsu ga Kuru"（夏が来る）. Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）was responsible for arranging all three songs.

Indeed, it's a very upbeat song written and composed by Ohguro, providing a surprisingly dark scenario (to me, anyways) of an erstwhile couple who've apparently drifted apart to the point of no return, although one of the duo still maintains a love for the other. As for the meaning of the title which I prefer to translate into "Shades of White" rather than "Gradations of White" (the latter sounds a little technical), the J-Wiki article simply says that the title really refers to the gradations of the heart...which doesn't really solidify things for me...and that gradations of white don't exist. What? What about pure white, creamy white, off-white for example?

But in the end, the title probably came into being because perhaps Ohguro had been asked to come up with a song for a Victoria Sporting Goods commercial, and with the January 1994 release, I can only think of skiing being the thing. The colour white in the title helped a lot, too. 

Does she look like a bear to you?

Anyways, "Shiroi Gradation" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon and went Double Platinum. It ended the year as the 48th-ranked single. It is also a part of Ohguro's 4th album from November 1994, "Eien no Yume ni Mukatte"（永遠の夢に向かって...Towards the Eternal Dream） which hit No. 1 and became a million-seller.

One last piece of bitterly sweet humour regarding the single was given in the J-Wiki article. Apparently, the photographer and the director were biting their nails about the photos taken of Ohguro for the single jacket. She was referred to as looking like a bear or an old hag. On the surface, she laughed it off but she used a marker to draw some very vivid anime anger hash marks on her manager's palm. I'm surprised that she didn't use something sharper to carve something similar into the director's head.

WANDS -- Sekai ga Owaru made wa...（世界が終るまでは…）

From Wikipedia

"Slam Dunk" was never a manga or anime that I got into because I'm not a basketball fan, but I've had a lot of students sing the praises of the franchise in either form. I've seen excerpts from the anime in which the individual players have their own crazy ways of offense and defense including one fellow who can apparently throw up a wall of arms.

Another thing that I didn't know about "Slam Dunk" the anime was that the song "Sekai ga Owaru made wa..." (Until the World Ends...) by the rock band WANDS had been used as its second ending theme. I've heard the song before elsewhere, perhaps on a commercial or on some celebrity karaoke show but didn't know about its connection with "Slam Dunk".

When it comes to WANDS, I'm always reminded of "Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto"（世界中の誰よりきっと）, their 1992 hit collaboration with singer-actress Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）. Perhaps I ought to include "Sekai ga Owaru made wa..." in my memories since it's also been one of their most famous entries in their discography. It was released as their 8th single in June 1994 after which it hit No. 1 for two straight weeks, ending up as the 10th-ranked single of the year. Other accolades that it earned was becoming a million-seller and the Artist Song Award (1989-1999) at the Heisei Anison Awards. As well, "Sekai ga Owaru made wa..." was also a part of that Sunakku Songs（スナックソング）list that I wrote about just a few minutes ago.

The music video for the song was filmed at a hangar at Haneda Airport. The lyrics were by WANDS vocalist Show Wesugi（上杉昇） while the melody was provided by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）with arrangement by Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）. "Sekai ga Owaru made wa..." can also be found on the band's 4th album "Piece of My Soul" from April 1995 which also hit No. 1 for two weeks in a row and eventually became the 16th-ranked album of the year.

FIELD OF VIEW -- DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku（DAN DAN 心魅かれてく）

Hello there. J-Canuck here and welcome to Easter Monday and April Fool's Day at the same time. No fooling around here, though, as frequent commenter and occasional contributor Fireminer will be providing the first two articles on KKP for April 2024! Take it away, Fireminer!

 

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” as it is often said. It is doubly true when applied to the late great Akira Toriyama. There is an industry in Japan for artists who can imitate Toriyama’s style. Fans of franchises like Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest can be assured that the Toriyama-ness of their favorite series are now safe in the hands of artists like Toyotarou who cut their teeth drawing Dragon Ball doujinshi.

But what happens when an artist imitates himself? Or rather, return to the root of the thing that gave him success? Dragon Ball GT is what happens. It will take far too long to explain what Dragon Ball GT is, its spirit, and its importance within the Dragon Ball mythos as well as to the fandom. What I will say that it is a lot more enjoyable than what Western fans give it credit. That and the opening song absolutely slaps.

J-Canuck has already made a good write-up (https://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2019/11/field-of-view-totsuzen.html) on the band FIELD OF VIEW, so I will only focus on their hit DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku (DAN DAN 心魅かれてく, Step by Step, You're Charming My Heart). Written by KKP’s regulars Izumi Sakai and Tetsuro Oda, who also wrote a few other hits for the band, Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku is a tour-de-force of a summer song. You simply can’t listen to it and then resist the urge of jumping right on a car and drive along the coast, feeling the sun and the wind rolling on your skin. That is the very vibe of Dragon Ball GT, an attempt to return to the innocence and whimsical adventures of the original Dragon Ball as opposed to Dragon Ball Z’s hot-blooded, roar-till-your-throat-raw spirit.

Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku was released by FIELD OF VIEW as their fourth single on March 11, 1996. It was an instant hit, no doubt buoyed by Oda’s breezy composition and Izumi’s lovely lyrics. It peaked at #4 on Oricon and charted for 11 weeks. The song was used as Dragon Ball GT’s opening song and then as the ending theme for Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, a movie that was actually a retelling of the original Dragon Ball storyline. Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku was the perfect song to both the show and the movie. I suppose it was also the perfect song for the Dragon Ball fans in the late 90s. Those who were brought up with Dragon Ball in the 90s now reached an age where they felt the first pang of nostalgia. Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku is the call to adventure for the restless soul who felt regret for not having made the best of his youth, but also having too much energy and time to just bottle it up. The song asks them to put aside their worries and fatigue for a moment, and just follow what their restlest spirit tells them to./.

ZARD -- Forever You

 

This morning, I saw an NHK weekly news summary series on TV Japan, and one of the features was rather interesting to an ol' pop culture wonk like myself. Apparently, along with the Showa Retro（昭和レトロ）boom, there's been an accompanying Heisei Retro（平成レトロ）boom to represent nostalgic interest in the various fads and fashion that got devoured by Japanese youth during the Heisei era, notably from the inaugural year of 1989 into the mid-1990s at least. So, some of the young folks right now have possibly been inheriting the bits and bites of Heisei culture from their parents including loose socks, platform boots, and midriff-bearing shirts.

And who can forget the ancient Tamagotchi?! I was already there in Tokyo when the digital game/nursery went absolutely bonkers with the Japanese public. As can be seen in the above video, there were hours-long lineups to get that tiny little trinket. I remember walking by Tokyu Hands in Shibuya and witnessing this snake of humanity curling around the corner so that they could get their hands on a Tamagotchi.

My word. It says something when nostalgia and active pursuit for an era which I had entered in my mid-twenties are rising like a wave once more. That spoon stirring my glass of Metamucil is tinkling ever more loudly. 😵

Speaking of NHK, a couple of days ago, I watched a new series called "Heroine Tanjou! Asadora no Dramatic no Onna-tachi"（ヒロイン誕生!朝ドラな女たち...Birth of a Heroine! Morning Drama Women）. If I got the premise right, it's supposed to focus on the lives of certain real people of the past via acting performances. The "asadora" part threw me for a loop initially until I read the J-Wiki article and discovered that the producers behind "Heroine Tanjou!" had gone for a "What If?" approach for their subject and assumed that if a morning serial drama (which is a virtual 15-minute institution on the national network between 8 am and 8:15) could be done for that person, this is what it could look like. But most of the 30-minute program is devoted to the actress asking friends and acquaintances of the subject about her and how she would prepare for the 5-minute vignette that appears at the end.

Usually, such a program wouldn't be my cup of tea, but Episode No. 1 was focused on singer-songwriter Izumi Sakai（坂井泉水）, aka ZARD, whose untimely death had occurred just over 15 years ago in 2007. Hana Kawamura（河村花）portrayed the late Sakai, who had been born Sachiko Kamachi（蒲池幸子）in Kanagawa Prefecture. Well, considering that ZARD had kept her media appearances to a bare minimum throughout her singing career, I was curious.

My impression of Sakai was that compared to some of the over-the-top celebrities that constantly showed up on programs such as "Music Station", the singer was very much down-to-earth and somewhat shy. The footage of her that was aired on "Heroine Tanjou!" along with Kawamura's portrayal rather confirmed that. 

Not surprisingly, because it was ZARD as the subject of the program, the producers focused on a particular song of hers which was the title track of her March 1995 album, "Forever You". KKP friend and co-administrator Larry Chan has already devoted an article to the song in which he stated "Forever You" had been meant as a paean to Sakai's former phase of her celebrity career when, under her real name of Sachiko Kamachi, she paid her dues as a pinup model and race queen. 

In the dramatized scene at the end of "Heroine Tanjou!", there was a newspaper article which pronounced loud and clear about Sakai's "sordid" past for which producer Daito Nagato（長戸大幸）assured the singer that he would try to suppress any more rumours about her. But Sakai countered by stating that there was no need to do that since she was neither afraid nor ashamed of that part of her life because it was due to her work then and the struggles to get through with it that brought her to the successful stage in life that she was now enjoying as a recording artist. Supposedly from that meeting came "Forever You" through her lyrics and Tetsuro Oda's（織田哲郎）melody. It's not a happy rah-rah song by any means, but a musical moment of quiet pride which seems to match Sakai's own personality.

The album "Forever You" itself would hit No. 1 for two straight weeks and end up as the 4th-ranked album of the year. It also broke the 2-million mark in sales.

B.B. Queens -- Yume no End wa Itsumo Mezamashi!（夢のENDはいつも目覚まし!）

 

When it comes to regular anime starring naughty-but-ultimately-decent children (I hope), it's been "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）due to TV Japan's weekly broadcasts, although I used to watch "Sazae-san"（サザエさん）when I was living in Ichikawa. However, I did see glimpses of the infamous "Crayon Shin-chan"（クレヨンしんちゃん）featuring bratty Shinnosuke Nohara who not only can act up like any demanding five-year-old but is more than ready to show off his butt and other body parts. I remember one episode where he had a major crush on real-life 90s sexy girl group C.C. Girls.

I gather then that it's not too much of a surprise that the pop group B.B. Queens（B.B.クィーンズ）, which had come up with the enduring theme song for the aforementioned "Chibi Maruko-chan", "Odoru Ponpokorin"（おどるポンポコリン）in 1990, was also responsible for the second opening theme for "Crayon Shin-chan", "Yume no End wa Itsumo Mezamashi!" (I Always Wake Up At the End of a Dream!). Nifty opening credits, by the way.

Having known B.B. Queens for basically "Odoru Ponpokorin" and "Gingira Paradise"（ギンギラパラダイス）which was used for a ski equipment commercial, it's nice to encounter a new song by the guys. Written by Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸）, composed by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）and arranged by Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）, "Yume no End wa Itsumo Mezamashi!" retains that B.B. Queens zaniness but also has some 1960s pop flavour. Another observation is that the basic melody has a slight resemblance to the one for "Yume Ippai"（ゆめいっぱい）, the very first opening theme for "Chibi Maruko-chan", and that song was also composed by Oda.

The song was released as B.B. Queens' 6th single in November 1992, and it peaked at No. 64 on Oricon.

Maki Ohguro -- Soshite（そして）

 

Well, this does take the proverbial cake. Almost ten years to the day after I'd put up my first Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）song onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus", "Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）, I'm finally writing up its coupling song. I hadn't even been aware of the significance of the date (July 22nd 2012) until merely a few minutes ago.

"Atsukunare" was the hit single for rock and pop singer Ohguro that was used for NHK's coverage of the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. For me, it still stands as the most blood-pumping J-Olympics tune that I ever heard and it could almost have me running a few laps around the block whenever I hear it. Almost.

What I had completely forgotten was that the coupling song "Soshite" (And Then), written/composed by Ohguro and arranged by Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）who had both contributed to "Atsukunare", was also utilized by the national television network in the 1996 Olympic broadcasts. As I remember, it was usually used as the song to end the program since the lyrics rather showed the coda of folks having joined together for a mighty effort and were now celebrating that effort through trying and triumph. "Soshite" has quite the happy and upbeat melody including one epic trumpet solo, and I can imagine young folks racing toward the shoreline to cavort about in joy and satisfaction.

Litz Co. -- Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase（青い夏に身をまかせ）

 

Well, let's see...the unofficial start to summer is here represented by our Victoria Day weekend. It's pretty hot and humid which is perfect weather for storms to form. Guess what? We just got walloped by a major line of boomers that earned us a one-hour power outage. But everything is hunky-dory for now.

On that note then, maybe something appropriately summery can begin today's broadcasting day on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Ritsuko Tanaka（田中律子）already has a previous article on KKP through her 8th single "Fried Frustration"（フライドフラストレーション）from November 1990. Today, we have her 11th and final single to date from August 1993 under the name Litz Co., "Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase" (Surrender to the Blue Summer). 

With lyrics by Tanaka herself, the melody was woven by UNI, who is really Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）, one of the members from that really summery band TUBE. Indeed, there is something quite TUBE-like with this samba song which was arranged by Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）, a fellow who has had plenty of experience with another summery singer Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）along with a plethora of Being artists including ZARD, WANDS and REV. Come to think of it, "Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase" also sounds somewhat like an Ohguro tune, too. Actually, a number of those artists helped out in the recording with Hayama on guitar, synthesizer and whistle, and Seiichiro Kuribayashi（栗林誠一郎）and Fusanosuke Kondo（近藤房之助）on chorus.

The song was also the ending theme for a TV Asahi drama "Shonan Joshi Ryou Monogatari"（湘南女子寮物語...The Story of Shonan Girls' Dormitory） which had Tanaka in the cast along with the star Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）, years from his most recognized role as the wise and urbane detective on the long-running "Aibou"（相棒...Partners）. Ironically, Tanaka's final single was her first single to chart within the Top 100 at No. 93.

I also have the opening theme: "Shonan Memory"（湘南メモリー）by LEON.

Oricon Top 5 Most Commercially Successful Arrangers (as of October 2020)

 

Earlier in the late summer, I put up a couple of Oricon Rankings articles: Top 5 Most Commercially Successful Composers and Top 5 Most Commercially Successful Lyricists. I figure that I have to put up one more related list before the year is out, that of the Top 5 most successful arrangers. I have to admit that this is the one area that I know the least about. Obviously, the composer takes care of putting together all of the notes into the basic song and the lyricist weaves the words into a story for the singer to sing about.

Just from the title itself, I had gathered that arranging is all about doing all sorts of things to the main melody by the composer so that it's happy for everyone involved including the singer and it's ready to be put onto vinyl or CD or website. I did find this definition at this place which goes into all the wonderful things that an arranger performs. So he or she satisfies questions such as: What should be the time signature? Are all of the instruments in synch with each other? If it's a cover of a song, what is the style?

Perhaps it's not the best analogy but I can envision that coming up with the basic melody is baking the chocolate sponge while the arrangement involves all of the shaping and then icing and other decorations to create the Christmas Log Cake rather than a Black Forest Cake (I adore both, by the way).

My source by the way is right from Oricon, and J-Wiki was able to place the chart of the top 5 arrangers into the article for the late great composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）who had also worn that second hat as arranger. The list, given in million of units representing the totality of each arranger's works' sales, will also be accompanied by the arrangers' most successful songs.

1. Tetsuya Komuro -- 61.2 million units: Can You Celebrate? (1997) by Namie Amuro

Not much more to say here since he's already up on the composers' list and the fans know all about the Komuro（小室哲哉）sound. However, I have to say that he really did make "Can You Celebrate?" sound worthy of a wedding celebration...pretty much anthemic, and not his usual technopop-dance wizardry. Makes me wonder whether the song is still played at receptions in Japan.

2. Motoki Funayama -- 42.3 million units: Dai Tokai (1979) by Crystal King

One reason that I was nudged and reminded to get that Arrangers' list up here was because of this man. I'd seen Funayama（船山基紀）involved in all sorts of songs but I never put him into the Labels section since up to very recently because I hadn't taken the arranger all that seriously. Not anymore and I'm making amends by tracking down those songs that he did arrange and including his name into KKP. I will be providing a Creator article for him before the year is up. BTW, speaking of anthemic, Funayama helped make "Dai Tokai" into a proud paean for the metropolis with those horns and guitar.

3. Mitsuo Hagita -- 39.9 million units: Ihojin  (1979) by Saki Kubota

Another reason for finally putting up this list is that Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）has been a presence throughout the kayo era on a number of songs and I haven't really given him his tribute. I think that he will get his own Creator article sometime soon as well. I think that basic exotic kayo melody was provided by Kubota but I would also like to Hagita accolades for putting in that oomph into the proceedings including those strings coming down like daggers.

4. Kyohei Tsutsumi -- 37.8 million units: Miserarete (1979) by Judy Ongg

Also responsible for the melody of arguably Judy Ongg's most famous hit, Tsutsumi arranged "Miserarete" into this grand musical odyssey of yet another exotic kayo with those strings and other instruments of the region (bouzouki perhaps?). I wonder if travel agencies suddenly found themselves flooded for inquiries on vacations to Greece thanks to the wonder created by this song.

5. Takeshi Hayama -- 35.9 million units: Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto by Miho Nakayama & WANDS (1992)

I'll be honest. Until tonight, I had never heard of guitarist Hayama（葉山たけし）but he's arranged songs for pretty much everyone under the BEING studio banner including the bands WANDS, Field of View and T-Bolan along with Maki Ohguro and Mai Kuraki, so over the holidays I gather that I will be doing some back editing there as well. Plus, with the Komuro Sound, there was also the BEING Sound in the 1990s, so of course, Hayama was integral.

Miho Nakayama & WANDS/Noriko Sakai -- Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto （世界中の誰よりきっと）

(cover version)

I had actually been waiting for a friend of mine to give his insights on this song for a few years, but I don't think I really can wait any longer, so with all due respect to him, here is my own take on "Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto" (Undoubtedly More Than Anyone Else in The World).

Miho Nakayama's（中山美穂）duet with rock band WANDS was released in October 1992 as her 25th single which meant that I first heard about it between my two jaunts in Japan. So, I believe I must have first come across it when my university club was operating its weekly Wednesday night offerings of J-Dramas. "Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto" was the theme song for the Fuji-TV drama, "Dareka ga Kanojo wo Aishiteiru"（誰かが彼女を愛してる...Someone Loves Her） which also starred Miporin as the target of love.

According to the J-Wiki article, the song had been intended to be a ballad but then Nakayama's producer requested that it be something with a Christmas party feeling which led "Sekaijuu" to become the upbeat song it is. I'm not quite sure even after learning about this piece of trivia that it feels anything like a Xmas song, but it is a happy, happy, joy, joy song. And with the synths and wailing electric guitar arrangement from the early 90s, it's also a memorable nostalgic song.

In fact for me, I think this particular song is probably the one that I identify most with Miho Nakayama with the possible exception of "You're My Only Shinin' Star". The reason for this is basically media exposure. With the latter ballad, I just saw the song performed tons of times on those rentals of "The Best 10" episodes. But with "Sekaijuu", it just became a rather big piece of discussion on that ancient Internet format known as the BBS. My friends and I were half-jokingly talking about it becoming an unofficial song for the aforementioned club, but no doubt it was the popular tune not just within our own rarefied circle but also in Japan itself.

It became Miporin's first No. 1 hit in almost 3 years since "Midnight Taxi" back in 1990 (all of the hits in between the two songs peaked at No. 3), and broke through the 2-million barrier in sales. The lyrics were written by Nakayama and WANDS vocalist Show Wesugi（上杉昇）with Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）taking care of the music. Even with the relatively late release date, "Sekaijuu" managed to become the 37th-ranked song for 1992 but then a year later, it would also become the 10th-ranked song for 1993. The popularity of the song also earned both halves of the duet a ticket to the 1992 Kohaku Utagassen although WANDS wasn't officially listed on the performer slate (their name appeared just like with this phrase in brackets). And for a while at least, "Sekaijuu" was the most successful single by a solo female vocalist.

Another arbiter of a song's success is how often it's been covered. Composer Tetsuro Oda has done his own take on "Sekaijuu" along with other singers like Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）and Hitomi Shimatani（島谷ひとみ）. And even Noriko Sakai（酒井法子）did a cover of the song as an official single in 2007. It would also be her final single to date before those personal problems started to set in.

To leave off, the coupling song for the original single by Nakayama and WANDS was "Sekaijuu no Dare yori Kitto Part II" done in a ballad style with the two halves switching roles. Nice, but I still favour the original.

Maki Ohguro -- Ichiban Chikaku ni Ite ne/El amor es ciego （いちばん近くにいてね）

After one of the most bitter and longest winters in recorded memory here in my hometown of Toronto, Canada, Mother Nature deemed that we had suffered enough. Therefore, today we had a sudden burst of summer. And not only did it feel like the beginning of summer, but it felt like mid-summer. I will not complain....at least not yet.

So, let's bring out another summer tune. I'm thinking of 1995. I'm thinking of Maki Ohguro's（大黒摩季）"Ichiban Chikaku ni Ite ne" (Stay The Closest To Me, Will You?). Coming out in May of that year, I'd known the singer to go for the rock and the power pop but then with this song I got very interested in her Latin. And so did a lot of other fans. This was a tune that got a lot of airplay on TV and I heard it in a number of CD shops during that year. And why not? Ohguro wrote and composed "Ichiban Chikaku ni Ite ne" to get everyone up to samba the day and night away. It was great to get the folks out of spring lethargy and prepared for the beach. I also recollect that it got quite a lot of favour at the karaoke boxes as well.

The coupling song was "El amor es ciego" (Love Is Blind). The title may have been Spanish but the sound is relaxing bossa nova. This was another pure Ohguro concoction that could accompany that break beside the ocean in the lounge chair while the waiter brings that giant cocktail. 

Ohguro's 11th single peaked at No. 2 and became the 38th-ranked song for 1995. "Ichiban Chikaku ni Ite ne" was also a track on her 5th album, "LA LA LA" from July of that year, although it was re-arranged into the "Carnival Version". In terms of sales, the single sold 900,000 copies and for Ohguro, it happened to be the very first song she sang at her very first concert, according to the J-Wiki article on the song.

ZARD -- Makenaide (負けないで）

It's hard to believe that it's been over 20 years since this one came out. My first encounter with ZARD was through the late Izumi Sakai's（坂井泉水）debut single, "Goodbye My Loneliness", this low-key and down-to-earth pop/rock song. However, if you asked me what the quintessential ZARD song is, it would be "Makenaide"  (Don't Give Up), and for those ZARD fans tuning in, I'm pretty confident that most of them would agree.

Released in January 1993 as ZARD's 6th single, the same tandem behind "Goodbye My Loneliness" was behind "Makenaide", namely Sakai on the lyrics and Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎） on the music. It was used as the ending theme for a Fuji-TV comedy-drama titled "Shiratori Reiko de Gozaimasu" （白鳥麗子でございます....My Name Is Reiko Shiratori）based on the original manga by Yumiko Suzuki（鈴木由美子）.  It hit the top spot on Oricon and went over the million barrier in sales before finishing the year as the No. 6 single.

However, rankings and sales aside, "Makenaide" has taken on a nearly-legendary status, way beyond its start as a drama theme. Since its release all those years ago, it's been a musical tonic for all that ails. Friends use it in karaoke to cheer up a down-in-the-dumps buddy and they can also use it as a rallying cry to get over that hump....such as university entrance exams (a hump the size of Mt. Fuji for a lot of high schoolers).  Beyond that, it has been used in television for mammoth quiz shows and telethons and charities. It was used for the 1994 Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament held annually at Koshien Stadium, an event that is pretty darn equal to the Super Bowl in terms of popularity. And when the 2011 Earthquake happened in the Tohoku area, the "Makenaide Project" charity was started with the song itself as the theme. On TV Asahi's long-running "Music Station", it topped the list of the Top 120 Cheer-Up Songs.

(karaoke version)

I think for a lot of people, it's awfully easy to suddenly get amped up when that guitar intro just revs into gear. And considering how early Sakai left this mortal coil, the song can be pretty poignant when she goes into the famous refrain. Perhaps it's a bit corny to say this, but nowadays whenever the song is played anywhere, it feels like she still hasn't quite left us.

Maki Ohguro -- La, La, La/Koi wa Merry Go Round （ら・ら・ら/恋はメリーゴーラウンド）

Even during my time back in Toronto for those 3 years between Gunma and Tokyo in the early 90s, I had heard bits and pieces about this pop/rock singer named Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）. I borrowed a mix tape from one of my friends which contained a couple of her first hits: "DA-KA-RA" and "Harlem Night". She certainly had a distinctive voice.... nothing that I had ever heard before.

But it wasn't until I got to Japan again and resumed my career in Tokyo that I bought my first CD single by Ohguro. "La, La, La" was this warmhearted song that a lot of people got behind when it was released in February 1995 as her 10th single. Ohguro wrote and composed this song that ended up becoming her most successful creation in her career thus far. I recollect that I heard it a lot everywhere around the metropolis in the CD stores, on the TV and in the karaoke boxes. And it was also the theme song for a TV Asahi drama titled "Aji Ichimonme" （味いちもんめ）starring SMAP leader Nakai-kun.

 Not surprisingly, "La La La" has often become the closer at many an Ohguro concert. It's just one of those rousing get-off-your-feet-and-join-in songs. I can pretty much guarantee that even at the karaoke boxes, if this song is sung, everyone is gonna come on in. It hit the No. 1 spot on Oricon and became the 17th-ranked song of the year. 

The coupling song, "Koi wa Merry Go Round"(Love is a Merry Go Round), was also one which was a tie-in to a TV show. Along with Pizzicato Five's "Ice Cream Meltin' Mellow", this Ohguro song was also a theme to the late-night 5-minute news wrap-up, "CNN HEADLINE", also on TV Asahi. It's not quite as epic as the main song, but it's a fun high-energy tune.

Both songs were included on Ohguro's 5th album, also titled "La, La, La", released in July 1995. It also hit No. 1 on the album chart and was the 4th-ranked album for the year.

Maki Ohguro - La La La

Maki Ohguro -- Atsukunare （熱くなれ）

Well, we're less than a week away from The London Olympics, so let's show a bit of some Olympic J-Pop. Since the Seoul Games in 1988, NHK has had the tradition of having a musical tie-up theme for its Olympic broadcasts. For 2012, the group Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）will be singing "Kaze ga Fuiteiru"（風が吹いている....A Wind is Blowing).

For the 1996 Games in Atlanta, a Hokkaido singer, prolific singer-songwriter Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）came up with this rousing barnburner called  "Atsukunare"(Get Passionate). A lot of the songs that have come on as NHK Olympic themes have been these grand epic ballads, but Ohguro's contribution is this blood-pumping tune that almost makes ME, a professional couch potato, want to run with Usain Bolt. I could get the video from YouTube which has the actual NHK highlight reel that was often used at the end of the nightly Olympic highlight program matched with the song.

Released in July 1996, Ohguro's 14th single reached the No. 1 position and became the 24th-ranked song of the year. An album version  was released as part of Ohguro's 6th album, "Power of Dreams" which was released over a year later in August 1997 and became the 9th-ranking album of 1997.

In addition, have a look at "Soshite"（そして）which was not only the coupling song for "Atsukunare" but also a tune that was used by NHK for the Atlanta broadcasts.