Taro Hakase -- Etupirka（エトピリカ）

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by Steven and Nadine Pavlov

A week following rocker guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei's（布袋寅泰）big appearance on the Premium Talk segment of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）, audiences got to see another musician highlight come onto the show. Violinist Taro Hakase（葉加瀬太郎）showed up for a round of talk and musicianship.

As with Hotei, I've known Hakase for a few big hits, two of which have been used as themes for the TBS human interest show "Jounetsu Tairiku" (情熱大陸...Continent of Passion) . I noted the rousing opening theme with the same name as the program, but there is also the ending theme "Etupirka" that I've heard through concert performances and YouTube videos. "Etupirka" actually replaced a first ending theme although I don't know exactly when the transition took place, but seeing that "Jounetsu Tairiku" the Hakase opening theme made its first appearance some 39 weeks following the start of the program in April 1998, I'm going to assume that "Etupirka" also came in at the same time which would put it at around early 1999. As well, I'm also noting the violinist's 2014 BEST compilation with the title "Etupirka".

Of course, on knowing what the title for this recognizable composition was, I had to find out what "Etupirka" meant. Did it actually have a meaning or was it something like Phil Collins' "Sussudio"? Well, I found out that an etupirka was the Ainu term for the tufted puffin which lives all across the northern Pacific Ocean including Hokkaido. I had always felt that the song provided a calming and innocent feeling, and I guess the life of a tufted puffin can be like that...although mating season might be different, I'm not sure.

Taro Hakase -- Himawari（ひまわり）

 

The first time that I ever had okonomiyaki（お好み焼）was when I was on that 1981 graduation trip from the Toronto Japanese Language School as a teen. I was spending three days with my host family associated with Tezukayama Girls' High School in Nara and they were kind enough to take me to lunch at an (Osaka-style) okonomiyaki restaurant. 

It was an amazing experience seeing my host sister, Akiko, pouring the thick and chunky batter onto the teppan（鉄板）hot plate built into our table. As it turned into something like a pancake through a few practiced flips, she finalized everything by slathering on the sauce, squirting the Kewpie mayo, sprinkling the bonito flakes so they looked like they were waving at everyone and finally a few shakes of ground nori. For a Japanese-Canadian who was used to having his pancakes with butter and maple syrup, the savory okonomiyaki was a gastronomic revelation.

Years later, as a working teacher in the Tokyo area, I'd already had my share of okonomiyaki but it was my first time to have the Hiroshima-style version when my friends took me to a restaurant in trendy Shimo-Kitazawa. Visitors will believe once and for all that a huge half-head of cabbage and a ton of yakisoba can be cooked down into a golden brown mix of flour and other ingredients. But why not have a watch of the above video by WAO RYU!ONLY in JAPAN and compare the two types?

Now, why am I expressing my okonomiyaki dreams out loud? Well, this 2010 NHK morning serial drama "Teppan"（てっぱん）has to do with a young lady who wants to open her own okonomiyaki restaurant in Osaka. The theme song "Himawari" (Sunflower) was recently performed once more on "Uta Con"（うたコン）by its composer, violinist Taro Hakase（葉加瀬太郎）, and though I haven't really been a purveyor of the asadora（朝ドラ）, "Himawari" has been a rather familiar song to me.

Sounding as comfortable and homey as a visit to an actual neighbourhood okonomiyaki restaurant, I can imagine that "Himawari" pretty much set the tone for the drama. The first half of the song has that innocent and homey feel before things go off on a tangent of jazzy self-exploration and then so that things don't get too self-indulgent, Hakase pulls back to the innocence once more. There's also something in the percussion that made me think that there was also something Okinawan in the arrangement. It's been placed as a song on Hakase's 14th album "Emotionism" from September 2010. The album, which peaked at No. 25 on Oricon, has been categorized as a New Age product on J-Wiki, and maybe I will eventually put up that genre onto Labels, but for now, I'll just place it as a jazz and pop song.

Taro Hakase -- Jounetsu Tairiku（情熱大陸）/Kei Haneoka -- Muscle Queen

 

Violinist extraordinaire Taro Hakase（葉加瀬太郎）is someone that has been mentioned on the pages of KKP because of his work within the musical trio KRYZLER & KOMPANY. I've also noted that I used to see him a fair bit on television in Japan not only for his performances but also as a tarento along with his wife Mayuko Takada（髙田万由子）. What I hadn't known was that both of them could speak English as they are doing above while being interviewed by the BBC several years ago.

I saw him last week, in fact, as a guest on the popular NHK information variety series "Chiko-chan ni Shikarareru!"（チコちゃんに叱られる!...Don't Sleep Through Life!）. He was as charming and amiable as ever, and I was reminded of a song that he composed and performed as a soloist years ago which hit me through the airwaves. I never saw the TBS late-night human interest program "Jounetsu Tairiku" (Continent of Passion) which began in 1998 but I think that its theme with the same title has become even more well-known than the program itself and apparently it has become one of Hakase's most famous pieces. According to J-Wiki, though, the song wasn't used until over half a year into the program's run.

To be honest, I thought "Jounetsu Tairiku" was something that was used in commercials, and it probably was used in the ads for the source program. It's quite the heroic and snazzy number with the salsa and good dollops of jazz solos accompanying Hakase's wicked playing. Perhaps it's safe to say that it can almost be like his own theme tune. "Jounetsu Tairiku" has been placed onto the violinist's album "Songbook" released in 2021.

"Jounetsu Tairiku" has also been one of the many songs that were ripe for clever parody by composer Kei Haneoka（羽岡佳）for the anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai"（かぐや様は告らせたい...Kaguya-sama: Love is War）. Given the unlikely title of "Muscle Queen" due to a new nickname give to the title character herself in Season 3 last year, it's unmistakably a tribute to Hakase, and it's a part of "KAGUYA Music Collection Season 3" which came out at the end of March this year.

However, I remember "Muscle Queen" being played for another notorious scene in Season 3. Sigh...young people these days; no sense of control.😋