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.
Welcome to the final full week of November 2025. With the autumn in full swing, it's easy to get a bit wistful about the passage of this year and time in general. And I've gotten into this mood as well. I've been doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus" now for what will be approaching 14 years so our baby has turned into a snappy teenager.
I first started the blog out by talking about the many examples of kayo kyoku and J-Pop that I purchased and knew for years and years and what the surrounding situation was for each article. Of course, that has changed since for the past several years, I'm writing mostly about new songs by familiar and not-so-familiar singers and bands that I've encountered and sometimes when I get into a whole long series of those, I do wonder about getting things "on track" in a manner of speaking and at least presenting those songs that I've known about since my toddlerhood.
We have "The First" category in the Labels and I remember that I put up my own article almost five years ago on some of the firsts that I achieved through particular songs such as the first kayo kyoku that I ever heard. Well, along that similar track, I'm going to post about the first examples of Japanese music media that I ever bought or got as a gift since they are different from that other list. The above thumbnail shows the first entry.
1. First Tokusatsu Maxi-Single: Kamen Rider/Mirror Man/ Silver Kamen/Ultra Seven (1972)
Hope wherever you are, you are still digesting your bountiful repast from last night peacefully and satisfyingly. Our family had a very pleasant Xmas dinner and did the usual exchange of presents.
Back on December 13th, when KKP hit its 1000th article in one year for the first time in its history, I opted to create a "The First" article showing what some of my first aural experiences were with the singers that I've come to truly enjoy over the decades. However, since my list was going to be a fairly long one, I separated it between men and women. So for No. 1000, I dedicated that to what were the first songs that I'd heard from female kayo singers back then.
Now, thirteen days later, Article No. 1036 for 2021 will cover the first songs that I'd heard from the male kayo and J-Pop singers.
I was fairly confident that we would reach the big G by the end of the year but I just hadn't realized that it would be attained even before the middle of December. But indeed, for the first time in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" history, thanks to everyone who has helped out over the past 12 months, the blog has reached one thousand articles. We were able to reach 100 articles within a month this year and now it's 1000 within 2021! Again, let me thank all those contributors with their wonderful articles such as Noelle Tham, Marcos V., Joana Bernardo, Oliver Ebisuno92, HRLE92 and T-cat along with commenters with their suggestions including Brian, Jim, J. Noah and Scott, and of course all of the readers over the past decade. If I've forgotten anyone, my apologies in advance.
Seeing that this milestone would be reached, I had been wondering what would the thousandth article cover. Would it be one of the veterans such as Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）or Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）? Would it be one of the relative newbies in the 21st century? Or does it even matter? Just go with the flow for flow's sake, so to speak.
Well, I decided to kill two birds with one stone...or as they say in Japanese: isseki nicho（一石二鳥）. You see, I'd been musing about doing an Author's Pick over the Holidays based on that project known as The First that some of us contributors helped out on. We all put down what our first songs that got us into Japanese pop music were. Naturally, I put down mine in the summer of 2017, but then I got a little itchy again for that topic last year, and so just before the year went out, I contributed a sequel, "The Firsts", based on what were some of my first songs by genre.
Now, I'm writing down yet another sequel with a typically J-Canuck daffy title of "The Firsts, The Second" which will summarize what my first songs based right down to the individual beloved singer. And well, since there are so many of them, I've had to divide them into men and women. For today then, I will remind folks about some of my favourite female artists and the songs that I heard from them first.
Yumi Matsutoya -- Dandelion ~ Osozaki no Tanpopo （ダンデライオン〜遅咲きのたんぽぽ）
Now that we are all looking toward the final days of 2020, I was wondering what I could do in terms of a special KKP article, so of course, I was thinking about an Author's Pick. Then I remembered about the category of The First which had centered around 2017 and 2018 and invited some of the blog collaborators to write about what the first song to bring them into the world of kayo kyoku/J-Pop was.
Therefore, I've decided to combine the two categories of The First and Author's Picks together to provide a quick list of firsts so that you good folks can find out what some of the seminal songs in my kayo life have been. I have covered them individually over the past 9 years, so you can get a fuller picture through the links to them but here, I'm just gonna provide the bare bones. As well, you can get a look at my original The First article which has what I first heard during my summer trip in 1981, my first City Pop song and the first song that I'd heard on the radio program "Sounds of Japan".
Both in their own ways are melancholy and both have stuck in my heads for the past several decades. I also remember being right in front of the RCA stereo speaker as they were played. Not sure if sitting by something with a big magnet affected my brain.😱
Such a cute and schmaltzy song thanks to those muted trumpets. Too bad when I first heard this, I was in the process of barfing all over my good clothing in the taxi on the way from Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The driver seemed rather nonplussed...true professionalism.
Yes, it just had to be Seiko-chan that I first heard on landing in Tokyo for the 1981 summer trip, and what better ambassador to introduce me to the world of Japanese teenyboppers. I have to thank that Suntory commercial and that appearance on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen to sear the image of idolatry into my brain forever.
Had to represent my country on the JET Programme and my pride in the karaoke bar so I went all Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and combined the two concepts to choose "Yukiguni" as my go-to karaoke song. Considering the number of times that I've sung this all over Gunma and Tokyo and all places in-between, the singer should have gotten quite a healthy royalty cheque from me.
My third landing in Japan at the end of the 1980s would be for my first post-university job as an English teacher in the Japanese educational system. The song that would line my welcome into Gunma was by a couple of newfangled aidoru at the time that had the distinction of presenting themselves as human porcelain dolls on a rotating stand with expressions that the Vulcan Science Academy would actually praise highly.
6. First J-Pop song while on my 17-year stint: "Try Me" by Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's
I arrived for my fourth landing to work at NOVA, once the English-teaching corporate beast of Japan, in early November 1994. This song didn't come out until January 1995. I can only assume that I was so focused and stressed out from my new job that I didn't really pay much attention to J-Pop for those two months. However, I do remember that rather racy commercial plugging the song and thinking "Well, there goes the kinjo".
7. First enka/Mood Kayo that I truly enjoyed: "Brandy Glass" by Yujiro Ishihara
Before this slice of traditional Japanese pop, I merely listened to the genres of enka and Mood Kayo simply because my parents were playing it on the stereo but after having returned from that 1981 trip, I somehow gained the ability to actually enjoy these genres. "Brandy Glass" by the Big Man was one of a string of genre kayo that I would begin to cherish from the early 1980s. I didn't particularly become a drinker even in drink-friendly Japan but the music was good enough for me to savor.
8. First Technopop song: "Firecracker" by Yellow Magic Orchestra
KKP readers might assume that it was "Rydeen" which was my first when it came to the music of YMO, but it was actually "Firecracker", and for that I would have to thank the local show "Japanese Panorama" for introducing the music video one night. I had heard "computer music" before through a record that I listened to in the junior high school library, but it was all an avant-garde mish-mash of bleeps and bloops. "Firecracker" proved to me that synthesizers and other musical technology named with a combination of letters and numbers (and the musicians behind them) could produce some truly magical and catchy songs.
Well, those are my eight Firsts. If any of you have your Firsts that you would like to share, I'm all eyes and ears.
Greetings everyone! My name is Joana and I'm a new collaborator of Kayo Kyoku Plus.
I've been following this blog for the past few years, since I started listening to Showa era Japanese music, and it's a pleasure to be able to write my own posts in it. My thanks once again to J-Canuck for the kind invitation.
As this is my first post, J-Canuck reminded me of this project and I thought it would be the ideal way to start things around as I introduce a little bit about myself.
I was first and foremost an anime fan. Growing up as a kid I watched the series that aired here in Portugal, particularly the classics of the magical girl genre. In 2011 I finally got around to start watching anime in the original Japanese versions and in a regular basis.
In 2015 I was following the anime "Ore Monogatari!!" (俺物語！！) and in an evening of boredom during the Summer holidays, I decided to search about who sang the theme songs. The opening was called "Miraikei Answer" (未来形Answer), from the band TRUSTRICK. I had never heard of them before, but I went on to find out their vocalist was called Sayaka Kanda(神田沙也加) and was the only daughter of a 50-something Japanese singer called... Seiko Matsuda (松田聖子).
To be honest, at the time I didn't really like the opening that much. But with time, and after the unexpected landmark it has become in my life, it grew on me. It's a light-hearted pop tune and Kanda's vocals are pleasant to the ear - as expected, I'd say, of someone who grew up side-by-side with a superstar mom, doing sporadic appearances in Seiko's own career (both albums and concerts).
I sometimes try to find similarities between the two. I think Sayaka looks a bit like her mother when she's smiling. What do you guys think?
I'm sure Seiko-chan doesn't need further introduction. Anyway, I decided to look up for videos of her and the first one that popped up was the above performance of "Tengoku no Kiss" (天国のキッス) in a 1983 broadcast of Yoru no Hit Studio. J-Canuck has already covered this song so I linked his article, and will keep on linking the songs already in the blog.
I was struck with a nostalgic feeling, even though I wasn't born at this time. I didn't feel like I wanted to live at that time; instead, I found it more wonderful that I had the chance to hear this song more than 30 years after it was created. Internet really is an amazing invention - so I thought, and I still do sometimes.
I immediately fell in love with the song and the whole 80's atmosphere. Influenced by my parents' extensive record collection, I always liked music that was older than me. Also, I simply love cute things in general, so nothing better than a cute girl in a cute frilly pink dress singing a cute song, lol. I'm glad my first impression of Seiko was this one.
The next few days were spent following YouTube recommendations and the next artist I started listening to was Momoe Yamaguchi (山口百恵). Legend after legend, right? I wasn't aware I was going backwards on chronological order but Momoe ended up catching my heart even more than Seiko did.
The first song I heard from her, IIRC, was "Yokosuka Story" (横須賀ストーリー), one of her staple songs. Though she had a completely different aura from what I've seen from Seiko-chan, her deep voice and mature tunes captivated me. Maybe because she has considerably less titles in her discography than Seiko does, I ended up listening to all of her albums before I listened to Seiko's.
My passion for Momoe culminated in the purchase of the DVD of her famous last concert in the Budokan, in 1980. It was a day of joy as I still remember coming back from the post office with the order in hand and unpacking it carefully, lol. It was my first Showa idol-related purchase.
Despite all of this, it was Akina Nakamori (中森明菜) who ended up becoming my favorite aidoru and artist overall. I had watched some videos of her while getting to know Seiko and Momoe but she didn't quite strike me at first.
The only song that left an impression on me was "Shoujo A" (少女A) and for some time, that was the only song from Akina I had actually saved to keep on listening. I wonder why that was the one. Well, as a matter of fact, I didn't look up for more Akina tunes until I got to listen almost all of Seiko and Momoe's. Also, maybe because it reminded me of some of the later Momoe hits. Akina the aidoru was modeled after her senpai's image so it's understandable they resembled each other at the beginning.
I got around to know Akina better and now I'm a huge fan of her. I sometimes think whether I do prefer her or Momoe. I usually go with Akina but it's honestly hard to choose. They are comparable, but they aren't; their careers, music style, and themselves as individuals are different. So, I try not to compare them much, and just enjoy each of them for who they are and what they sang.
To finish this post, a slightly different note.
After some years of Japanese Showa aidoru and music in general, I started to feel like exploring something different, but still not completely unrelated. I decided to look up more about currently active aidoru. I already knew AKB48 from their original anime AKB0048 and other bits and pieces from several sources, so I guessed I'd go from there.
My initial favorite member of the group was Sayaka Yamamoto(山本彩) because of her beauty and her voice. She is actually a member of NMB48 but there was some point in the history of 48-groups when they decided to mix members around, so now I (and the management itself) prefer to talk about AKB48Group as the supergroup formed by all the something-forty-eight. But I digress.
"365-nichi no Kamihikouki" (365日の紙飛行機) has become somewhat of a signature song for Yamamoto and it's probably the greatest hit that AKB has landed with the general public in the past few years (let's say, the "post-Atsuko Maeda era"), along with "Koisuru Fortune Cookie". It was included both in the single "Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby" (AKB48) and "Amagami Hime" (NMB48), the latter being the solo version by Yamamoto, which I personally prefer.
From them I got to know several different idols, including one particular girl very similar to Momoe-chan... But that's a story for another time.
Thanks for reading and I hope you'll enjoy my posts from now on. :)
Many thanks to J-Canuck
for extending an invitation to me to contribute to this series of articles on
the special first songs that brought us into the fascinating world of music
from Japan. I enjoyed very much all the posts on the topic. My experience is a
little different, for me it was a distinctive moment with one particular song.
Kita Sakaba was
probably one of the more popular songs from Japan in the eighties. It has already
been reviewed on this site and also mentioned in a number of other articles
I’ve seen here. I don’t think I need to say much about the song itself since it
is one of those ubiquitous kind of song, and most would have heard the original
or the numerous covers whether in Japanese or other languages. Rather, I would
like to share my little story about the very first time I heard this song almost
thirty five years ago (!) and how it created a lasting impression on me.
I can’t quite recall the actual year when it
started, but back home in Singapore all those years ago, the Kohaku Uta Gassen was
shown on our local TV, not live, but as an edited show lasting around two hours,
a few weeks after the actual New Year’s Eve broadcast in Japan. Due to the
language factor, Japanese drama or songs
were traditionally not found much on our mainstream entertainment
channels, so the telecast of the Kohaku was quite a novelty.
Around the start of
the eighties ( if my memory serves), there
was this “invasion” by Japanese artists on our local entertainment scene. Japanese
TV drama started to be shown during prime time and became very popular. I remember Momoe Yamaguchi’s Akai Giwaku took the audience by storm, and
how my classmates and I were gripped by the tragic love story between the
leukemia stricken Sachiko (Momoe’s character) and her love interest (I can’t
remember his name) played by her regular co-star and later real life husband
Tomakazu Miura. Looking back, the story line was rather cliché but back then
that TV series was really popular and kept audience like me and my friends
enthralled. As an aside, and this
probably sounds strange, I always thought of Momoe as an actress and not so
much a singer, since my first exposure to her was on TV. On the music scene, singers
like Hideki Saijo, Hiromi Iwasaki, Kenji Sawada, and later on, aidoru like Seiko,
Matchy, Toshi (I can never tell these
two boys apart) and Akina, were featured regularly in the entertainment news
section of newspapers and magazines. They became increasing well known, with many
young fans idolizing them.
With the popularity of
Japanese songs and drama, it was not surprising that the annual Kohaku made its
way to Singapore. To make it easier for the local audience, there was Mandarin
commentary dubbed over the dialogues, while still retaining the spotlight on the
singing in Japanese. While I could not understand a word of the songs being
sung, I remember dutifully sitting
through the whole show or at least most of it. There was something quite fascinating
about watching all these singers belting out their best song, dressed in their
finery, in a friendly “boy team” vs
“girl team” type of competition. The show usually started with the younger ones,
always good looking and full of bouncy energy, dancing and singing some catchy
number, albeit sometimes not quite pitch perfect. As the evening progressed,
the line up turned to more mature singers, often clad in splendid kimonos, who
were usually more solemn and even on the verge of tears, their songs soaring with
powerful and emotive voices (back then I had no idea what is enka, or the other
genres of Japanese kayo, and to be honest, I still don’t). It was all very
interesting, very new and curious to me. Yet, I couldn’t say that there was any
particular singer or song that I really liked. Until a particular moment
at the 1982 Kohaku, that is.
Unfortunately I can’t remember
very much of that year’s Kohaku as a whole, I think I might have spaced out a
bit during the show, since it was shown at night. Luckily for me, I was
watching the later segment of it. This was usually the time when the heavyweights
appeared and things got serious. But instead of some stern looking singer
appearing, there was this cheery music sounding, or to borrow a term used by
J-Canuck, which I think describes the song perfectly, a jaunty tune came on TV
rather unexpectedly. Out on stage came
this guy dressed in a white tux, looking all charming and smart, who started
singing in a pristine yet warm voice. The song title appeared on screen 北酒场(Kita
Sakaba), followed by the singer’s name in Chinese, 细川贵志(细川たかし Takashi Hosokawa).Not that the song title or singer’s name
meant anything to me at that time, even though the Chinese forms are the same
as in Kanji, as I had never heard of either the song nor the singer. But within
moments of hearing him sing in his
melodious voice, I was going like “who
is this?!”, “what is he singing about??”.
Here was finally (in
my young school girl mind) someone who checked all the right boxes, someone could
really sing and looked pretty darn cute too! I know it is very hard to
associate the veteran enka singer with anything like cute in that sense, but
back in the day, he was quite a handsome, good looking chap compared to the
other male enka singers (in my eyes anyway). In an instant, I was captivated, both by the
singer and the song too, which sounded so happy and delightful. I had no idea
what the lyrics meant, which was just as well, since the words were not quite
suited for a pre-teen anyway, but the whole song and the delivery of it was so bright
and brimming with cheerfulness that was positively infectious.
The performance was
over in a couple of minutes but it resonated within me long after the show
ended that night. I remember trying really hard to make sure I memorized the name
and the song title correctly . Back in the day with no internet or social
media, it was not quite as easy as googling for the name to find out who
someone was and where to buy his records. Besides, even if I knew where to get
it, I didn’t have any money to buy anything. But I think I did manage to find
out more, possibly through some local newspaper article that actually featured
him (a rarity since I don’t reckon he was the “in” type of singer) and at least got to know his name for sure. I
also remember summoning up the courage to ask some relatives who mentioned that
they had recordings of the Kohaku to borrow the tapes and was made to solemnly
promise that I would take good care of their prized possession. It was a good
thing that I didn’t spoil the video tape by constantly rewinding to a particular
part of the show!
With my very limited
means, the only other thing I could do was eagerly look out for this singer in
the subsequent years’ Kohaku. I remember being touched watching a visibly
emotional Hosokawa graced the finale in the next year’s show, as well as the
following year’s rather hilarious but endearing moment when he forgot the lyrics
right at the beginning of Naniwa Bushi Dayo Jinseiwa. Alas, my memory of him and
the Kohaku stopped there, because I don’t recall watching the subsequent years
of the show, whether it was because they stopped screening it on TV, or I was
just distracted by other things that came my way, I am not sure. Nevertheless, that
first time watching Takashi Hosokawa sing his famous Kita Sakaba had always
remained a fond memory within me.
I’m really glad to be
able to find a video of this particular performance on youku which allows me to
relive this special moment
Watching this I was once
again impressed by the joy that permeated the performance. There was such a
happy atmosphere and a nice feel of camaraderie with the guys from the white
team singing and dancing to the song, and even the ladies from the rival team
were also clapping and singing along. It was much later that I found out that
this song won the grand prize at the Japan Record Awards, just earlier the same evening as the Kohaku. I guess there was indeed very
good reason for the jubilant mood as that
was his moment of triumph, after a slump in his career just the year before
when Hosokawa was hospitalized for a long time due to a serious injury
sustained during filming and he was staring at the possibility of a pre-mature
end to his singing career which started so brilliantly just a few years ago.
Another video that I
came across was at the Japan Record
Awards itself, when Hosokawa was receiving the grand prize for Kita Sakaba. In
contrast to the happy Kohaku performance just hours later, here it was all
tears and emotion as he sang the song that brought his career back on track
again.
In the ensuing years,
sad to say I did not listen to many Japanese songs. The good thing though is
that I have recently picked up from where I left off. I guess I’m now at the
age when one gets rather nostalgic and sentimental about the good old days, and
it was one of those moments when I suddenly remembered about this singer whom I
was so fond of so long ago, and then proceeded to find out all I could about
what happened to him through the years. The difference now is obviously with
the web and all the content that is available, it was not hard at all to catch
up even though the gap was more than thirty years. This was actually also how I
found this excellent site, when I stumbled upon Noelle’s article on her visit
to the Hosokawa museum in Hokkaido.
I have been sort of binge
watching all the videos on youtube and other channels that I could find. Along the
way I rediscovered some of the other singers that I have hazy memories of and
found new ones to admire too. I also looked around to see where I could buy
Hosokawa’s songs, but could only find a few on ITunes and none on Spotify, which
resulted in me getting my first CDs in years. I ordered the box set of his fortieth
anniversary commemorative CDs from Amazon Japan and it only took four days to
reach me here in the States. I’ve saved the songs into the music library on my
phone so I can bring it everywhere with me. After missing out for so many
years, this one’s not getting away from me any time soon.
Compared to my first
experience over thirty years ago, it is indeed so much easier now to get access
to things that were not so readily available then, and I am truly grateful for all the advancements in
technology that have such a big impact in not just how we listen to music, but
in all aspects of our lives. Nevertheless, in my nostalgic mood, I sometimes reminisce
on the old times. Perhaps it is through rose-tinted glasses of the good old
days especially now that I am so far away from home, but moments like my first
view of that jubilant performance of the Kita Sakaba all those years ago will always
be something special for me, like a little touch of magic that I will always remember
with great fondness.
I was trying to figure out how to go about doing my "The First" article for a while now. I wasn't sure whether to talk about my roots in J-pop or my transition to enka, but eventually I decided to combine both as I do touch on both genres on KKP. This'll be a long one, so get comfy and please bear with me.
The J-Pop Roots:
For me, everything began with Chage and Aska. As a young kid (probably around 10 years old), my parents used to play some of the pop duo's songs when we went on road trips to the neighbouring Malaysia. With rolling fields passing by as we headed to Cameron Highlands on one trip, the track that resonated with me the most was none other than "On Your Mark". I had no idea who they were or what they were saying, but the mellow rock melody and chorus had me not wanting the song to end. However, after that road trip I never got the chance to hear those C&A songs again, for some reason. Probably because it didn't occur to me that I could personally take the CD of downloaded tracks and search for the song using Dad's old laptop.
Anyway, it wasn't until a year or two later when I managed to get my hands on an MP4 player (prize from a Reader's Digest issue... I still have no idea how I became the winner) did I finally reconnect to that fateful song, which opened the gateway to the rest of C&A's discography. Being a little older and more aware of things, I also decided to sample the other songs in that CD and grew to enjoy every single one of them - the eight tracks ranged from "On Your Mark" to "Hitori Zaki" (ひとり咲き). Then I gained access to YouTube in the years that followed which allowed me to finally see the guys behind the music and broaden my C&A horizons. I distinctly remember listening to "Heart" during my one hour computer curfew, and having "if" playing in the background while I wrestled the keyboard's arrow keys to keep my character from squashing himself in online motorcycle games. Ah, good memories.
Throughout secondary school (grade 7 to 10), it was literally nothing but C&A (especially Aska). Having gotten some compilations from HMV in Singapore (when it was still around) and reprints of their original albums in Japan as well as online, I became quite well-versed in their works. Unfortunately, Aska got into trouble (2013) and went out of commission for a few years.
As terrible as it was, there was a silver lining. It had me venturing out into the works of other J-pop acts as an alternative. The most notable group I clung on to in the aftermath was Anzen Chitai (安全地帯), whom Mom mentioned and recommended occasionally. Considering how devastated I felt when Aska was indicted and the hell the GCE 'O' levels put me through, my introduction to the band via "Kanashimi ni Sayonara" (悲しみにさよなら) helped to ease the pain considerably. Southern All Stars followed soon after with "Manatsu no Kaijutsu" (真夏の果実).
Despite being a good distraction, I lost most of my interest in them quite quickly as I found Koji Tamaki (玉置浩二) to be too bohemian and Keisuke Kuwata (桑田佳祐) too zany. None of the other 90's J-pop acts I came across in 90's hit medleys really resonated with me either - their hits were good, but I wasn't enamored by the singers - and I felt like I was simply waiting on Aska to make a comeback.
Then I discovered Korokke (コロッケ), the monomane artiste, who opened the gateway to a whole "new" genre.
The Transition (with Korokke's help):
I encountered Korokke around the same time as Tamaki and Kei-chan. I recall looking for impressions of singers I recognize, which then led me to Korokke's shenanigans. What I loved about his impressions were that they could be on point, inaccurate to some degree but hilarious, or a mix of both. Now, I had no idea whom many of the targets were at the time but multiple viewings of Korokke's warped faces and exaggerated deliveries were enough to make me do some investigating. As it turned out, they were enka singers.
Needless to say, I had little idea of what enka was, besides the fact that it's old music sung by the old and grey. I'd typically avoid it at all costs, but because of my burning curiosity and slow gravitation to the fragments of the strange sounding songs Korokke sang, I went ahead to listen to some of them, one being Hiroshi Itsuki's (五木ひろし) "Yokohama Tasogare" (よこはま・たそがれ).
With its distinctive, snake charmer (as I usually call it) music and Itsuki's mellow vibrato-filled vocals, it made for a very different listening experience - it wasn't something I've heard or seen before, but it was thoroughly refreshing and amusing. From there, I began trying out a little more enka that were easy on the ears, all while marveling at the kooky characters who sang them, like Ikuzo Yoshi (吉幾三), Aki Yashiro (八代亜紀), Takashi Hosokawa (細川たかし), and Masao Sen (千昌夫). But just like what I mentioned above, it wasn't enough to sustain my interest in the genre, and so I set it aside while I explored more of 90's J-pop until I decided to look up another of Korokke's targets.
Mood Kayo's Uramachi
Brows furrowed so often it left five obvious wrinkles on his forehead, standing so straight and still he earned the nickname of "Pillar Man" from Mom, yup, it's Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清), or as I like to call him, Mae-Kiyo. Korokke doesn't do impressions of him as much as, say, Itsuki, but it was amusing enough for me to look into. Also, Mae-Kiyo was one of the last few fellows from the monomane tarento's list I had yet to check out at the time.
Oddly enough, I got drawn to him fairly quickly the moment "Soshite Kobe" (そして、神戸) hit my ears. Besides looking rather spiffy, there was just something hypnotizing about hearing his intense baritone droning on to the equally as intense and dramatic strings. And the fact that he could stand so still despite bellowing out the last line of the song was fascinating... Yeah, he became my long sough-after muse soon after.
My fascination in Mae-Kiyo and subsequently his group, The Cool Five, reignited my enthusiasm for enka and allowed me to learn about its sister genre, Mood Kayo. Current day me is more aware of what is considered an enka song and what is considered a Mood Kayo song, but considering how often the lines between the genres are blurred, the kayo green horn that was me three years ago couldn't really tell the difference and simply saw Mood Kayo as the more listenable version of enka, where singers have deeper, smoother vocals and the melodies were easier on the ears (not always, though).
Enka's Hanamichi
Coming to the tail-end of my journey into Japanese music (for now) is how I got myself into what I affectionately call "Hardcore Enka", which I wouldn't normally recommend to a first time enka listener for fear they'd run for the hills. Under this label I include the extremely melancholic or minyo-infused stuff, and singers with an overall shriller, more enka-y delivery. I had a hard time stomaching this brand of enka, especially when a ton of it descended on me via "Kayo Concert". I vividly recall uncomfortably sitting through Kouhei Fukuda's (福田こうへい) performances during one of my first viewing of the music show where he sang "Wakare no Ippon Sugi" (別れの一本杉) and later "Toge Goe" (峠越え). I was only a couple of months into my enka phase so that felt like a killer.
That was also around the time when I started visiting KKP often to look up information on the stuff I had watched from "Kayo Concert" as J-Canuck would do a write up on a song or two from the show. And that was when I came across the fierce figure that was Hideo Murata (村田英雄) via his "Jinsei Gekijo" (人生劇場) article. "Jinsei Gekijo" did sound kind of cool in both its music and title but again, just like the Fukuda experience, that was rather intense.
Anyway, with Murata becoming a familiar name, it was only a matter of time when I discovered "Osho" (王将). Now, that was something I could swallow with its elegant and powerful strings that complemented Murata's forceful growling. While searching around YouTube for more clips of this hit, I stumbled upon this video (it got removed, but I found all three parts) which had Murata and "Osho", as well as two other fellows I wasn't really aware of.
Muchi appeared first, but he sang "Aishu Ressha" (哀愁列車) instead. The first mystery fellow, the stone-faced Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也), came after to sing "Akai Lamp no Shuressha" (赤いランプの終列車). Finally, mystery guy no.2, Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎), made a grand entrance fit for "Osho" (at long last). Couldn't say I was a fan of his higher-pitched warbling but he literally stood out for standing a head over the other two and having those bushy brows.
As you'd expect, I didn't like the two melancholic train songs by Michi and Hachi a whole lot at first, them being "Hardcore Enka" and all, but as time went by, I kept visiting the same video again and again. Maybe it was because of their rhythmic beat and haunting score that had a knack for getting stuck in my head. I did look up their individual performances after the songs grew on me, which only led to me liking more of the heavy or minyo stuff from them. And so, constantly exposing myself (willingly) to the singing styles of these three enka veterans and the musical stylings of the type of enka common back in the days of yore built up my tolerance and made me more accepting of this big part of the genre. I even grew to like it a lot and find solace in it, as you can probably tell from the articles I wrote. Okay, the really, really depressing ones still do take time for me to warm up to.
Since they were an integral part of me getting used to enka, the San'nin no Kai, plus Haruo Minami (三波春夫) in later days, also became some of my favourite singers. Yup... Muse no.4 is one of them... I think it's pretty obvious by now which one it is. Believe me, I was as perturbed when I made that revelation as you probably are now... or probably not (anymore). NO, I'm quite certain it's not because of the unruly brows. Probably his vocal gymnastics. Hmm, or that grin. Or both...
... ...
ANYWAY, that about wraps up my "The First" article. That was a long one, but I hope you enjoyed reading about my taste in Japanese music changing from J-Pop to predominantly enka. Thanks for sticking through!
This is the continuation of The First where I talked about my first Japanese song that got me into Japanese music. Technically, it's not a single song but rather Akina Nakamori (中森明菜) herself.
Departure
As I progressed through secondary school, I rarely listened to Japanese music. I would sometimes listen to that Akina tape that I made back in my cousin's home in the summer of 1984. And as the Hong Kong music scene grew, I paid more and more attention to Hong Kong singers. DJs rarely played Japanese songs anymore. If I remember right, there's probably one hour per week on Radio Hong Kong dedicated to Japanese music. But I wonder if that program survived after a few years. I knew no friend in my secondary school who listened to Japanese music.
In the 80s, Japanese songs were covered left and right by Hong Kong singers. I looked up the year 1985, the Top Ten Chinese Songs of 1985, sponsored by Radio Hong Kong, registered 7 songs of foreign origin, 6 of them were Japanese songs! I always joke that Hong Kong should give Kisugi Takao (来生たかお), Tamaki Koji (玉置浩二) and Tokunaga Hideaki (徳永英明) a Hong Kong Lifetime Music Award as they really contributed greatly to Hong Kong music :) Naturally, one may think that I would go behind the cover song and seek the original Japanese song. But I didn't. Somehow I had no interest.
I still got entertainment news from Japan from time to time, like Akina's attempted suicide, but these are passive information that I got while reading the entertainment section. In the 90s, I went to Madison Wisconsin for my undergrad and that further insulated me from Japanese music. Not just Japanese music, but anything Japanese. First Japanese Album Owned
In 1996, something happened. There was a "must see" Japanese drama among my Hong Kong friends - Long Vacation, starring Kimura Takuya (木村拓哉) and Yamaguchi Tomoko (山口智子). Well, I guess the "must see" crowd mainly consisted of girls who found the drama extremely romantic.
As I mentioned in The First, I never bought any Japanese music.
And I did not buy my first Japanese album, it was more like a gift. Also, it was not from a singer or a group, but a sound track!
In 1996, I met the future founder of YesAsia by chance (friend of friend). In 1997, when he's just started his business, he told me that my first order would be free over lunch. And so, I ordered the original sound track of Long Vacation. Looking back, I was surprised at myself that I got that CD. I think I ordered it out of fashion at the time. I liked the piano piece played by Kimura in that last scene in the drama, but I didn't really like the rest of the music. I probably played that album once or twice, and a few years ago, I donated it to the local library, upon finishing the Marie Kondo exercise.
After Long Vacation, there was a period of a few years when I watched quite a number of Japanese dramas including Love Generation, Hitotsu Yane no Shita (ひとつ屋根の下) etc., and I even went back and watched the legendary Tokyo Love Story. But still no Japanese music in my life.
First Japanese Album I Bought
In 2009, I asked a friend of mine to download the Japanese drama Galileo for me. It was adapted from various short detective novels from Higashino Keigo (東野圭吾), starring Fukuyama Masaharu (福山雅治) and Shibasaki Kou (柴崎コウ). When he gave me the DVD, he said he downloaded a "bonus track" for me. It turned out to be another detective drama called Triangle, starring Eguchi Yousuke (江口洋介, Moriyama Chisato's 森山千里 husband), Inagaki Gorou (稲垣吾郎, he's a SMAP), and Hirosue Ryouko (広末涼子).
I love Triangle, especially the first half, when it kept me guessing about what happened, and the story was unfolding at a fast pace. The latter half of the drama was slow and there's too much back and forth. The ending is surprising though. I highly recommend the drama.
Not only did I found the drama exciting, I also love the music and decided to buy the sound track from Amazon Japan. In my experience, most of the sound tracks are disappointing because you can't listen to it alone. It's meant to be an accompaniment to the movie or drama. But Triangle is different. Its music can stand on its own. It's so rare that I love every piece of music in there. Every piece is my favorite. I also want to note that the theme song is called Sayonara wa Iwanai (さよならは言わない) by Koda Kazumasa (小田和正). I like the song too. Too bad they can't put that into the sound track (I downloaded it later from the Internet). Maybe I can write about it sometime.
So, like my first Japanese Album, my first "paid" Japanese album is also a sound track.
Studying Japanese
In winter 2009, I took a trip to Hokkaido, visiting Sapporo (札幌) and Biei (美瑛), among other places. This was my 2nd time in Hokkaido, and my 6th time in Japan. In Biei, I stayed at a family owned bed and breakfast place called Jacatra. The best part of this b&b is that you can request a paid photography tour, where the owner would drive you to all the scenic spots around Biei and take photographs. I took the tour with 3 other Japanese residents, all of them serious hobbyists, if not professionals. They're shooting wide format (120) color slide films with their Pentax 645s. It was very very memorable. This is a photo I took during the tour:
I highly recommend this b&b if you are staying in Biei.
After the trip, I had an unusually strong urge to study Japanese. I guess the trip was so fun that in the back of my mind, it'd be super exciting if I could speak the language, especially during the photo tour.
In April 2010, 4 months after the trip, I decided to enroll in Beginning Japanese at Foothill College. Initially, I thought my enthusiasm would die down quickly, but now I've been studying Japanese for 7 years already and still going!
Back to Akina
Shortly after I started my Japanese studies, I decided that I need to find something Japanese that I'd enjoy. This was the lesson I learned when I was studying English. English was part of the curriculum and I was forced to do it. That's why it was so tough because I never found anything related to English that I enjoyed reading or listening. This time, I decided that I need to find something Japanese that I would regularly read, watch, and listen. What better place to start than listening to Japanese music, I thought. And what better place to start than picking up where I left off in that summer of 84, when I stumbled into Akina.
So, I was searching on YouTube fanatically. At that time, there were a lot of Akina's live performances, mostly on TV like The Top Ten. I found myself rediscovering Akina in a whole new way. First of all, I realized how good she was when she sang live. Many idols, regardless of era, do not perform well live. They're called idols for a reason, I guess. And I always wonder if the TV appearances of AKB 48 had a prerecorded track to make them sound better than they are . Akina's live performances, on the other hand, sounds authentic - authentically good. Second, I like that Akina doesn't hide her emotions when singing live. I'm mostly talking about her TV appearances singing Nanpasen (難破船) and Yokan (予感) in her concerts . In one video, I saw her hands trembling upon finishing her performance of Nanpasen. In another, I can see tears coming from her eyes while performing it . And in one concert, she bursted into tears at the end of Yokan, as she was singling the last line: もう疲れたの (I'm already tired) , as if it invoked her painful memories with Kondo Masahiko (近藤真彦). Unlike most celebrities, Akina feels close because I can see her human side. Last but not least, Akina can really dance, compared with most idols around her time. It just made her so much more special.
I have a bad feeling that in a few months, these videos would have been erased by YouTube police. But I'll still post them here for you to enjoy, albeit for a short period.
So, to answer J-Canuck's question, "Which song triggered my final plunge into Japanese music?" - my answer is Nanpasen. Not only the song itself but Akina's stunning live performance as well.
First Japanese Song Album
By now , you would have guessed that my first Japanese song album is from Akina. And yes, it's Akina Ballad Best 25th Anniversary Selection. Interesting enough, there're 2 versions - the Japanese version vs the rest of Asia version. I have the latter only and so I can't confidently say there are no differences, but the list of songs are definitely the same. However, the price doubles for the Japanese version! So if you want to go for the cheap, you should get it from YesAsia or something like that, or maybe get a 2nd hand CD in Japan. Like J-Canuck said, 2nd hand CDs from Japan are usually very good deals.
Last Words
Japanese music entered my life in a weird way. If not because of my Japanese study needs, I probably would not have discovered Japanese music. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. I also learn quite a lot of vocabulary through song lyrics. It just shows how unexpected life can be. I never thought I already sowed the seeds of Japanese music in 1984 for myself in 2010. It's fascinating!
In July, I got an email from J-Canuck, asking all Kayo Kyoku+ contributors if we can write about "Our First" - an account of how we get into Japanese music in the first place. I thought it's a fantastic idea and so I made a promise. Now that I got some time, I'm going to share "My First" with all of you.
Confession
Interesting enough, I didn't regularly listen to Japanese music till around 2010 when I started learning Japanese. For a long stretch starting from my college years in the 90s till 2010, I listened to ZERO Japanese music. Yes, that's right, NIL.
So, I decide to write The First and a follow-up article, Second Chance, in which I would share my recent (is 7 years too long to qualify as recent?) foray into Japanese music.
First Japanese Song Ever Heard
Honestly, I forgot. But it HAS TO BE A SONG FROM AN ANIME SERIES.
When I was 4 or 5, every Sunday morning from 8 to 11, there's 3 hours of non-stop cartoon on TV. Weekday 4-6pm was kids time and Japanese anime were all over TV. There were occasionally American cartoons (e.g. Popeye the Sailor) but we all thought they're boring. None of my friends wanted to talk about them. We only talked about Japanese anime. On the school bus, we would be singing those anime theme songs, in Japanese, because in that era TV stations in Hong Kong didn't ask local singers to cover like they do now (Well, Jade TV in Hong Kong started to ask local singers to cover starting in late 70s, if my memory serves correctly).
Drawing from my memory, it's EXTREMELY likely that the first Japanese song I ever heard was this one:
It was the theme song of Mazinger Z (マジンガーZ), an extremely popular Japanese anime in Hong Kong when I was small. I forgot what the story was about now. Of course, I never understood what I was singing on that school bus.
First Non-Anime Japanese Song (and First Kouhaku)
This I remember clearly. It's Judy Ongg's (翁倩玉) Miserarete (魅せられて). J-Canuck wrote an article about it in 2012 (sorry J-Canuck, I borrowed your YouTube link below).
On December 31, 1979, my Mom and Dad said that Ongg's going to appear in Kouhaku (紅白). It was a big thing because Ongg's Chinese. My Mom also said Ongg's going to wear a costume that would turn herself into a peacock. I thought a person turning into a peacock would be pretty cool and so I watched Kouhaku with my parents. It was also my first ever Kouhaku.
The song made a pretty strong impression, especially the paragraph "Wind is blowing from the Aegean...." (I didn't realize it was English and I thought it was Japanese at that time). Ever since I listened to it for the first time in 1979, I would still remember the melody in all these years. And whenever I describe who's Judy Ongg to my friends, I would hum that melody.
Okay, Okay, The Real First
First, some background.
I was 11. A fresh school year had just started. Hin-Chung Mak, my friend who sat in front of me, had something new in his wallet. It was a photo of a young girl. I asked him who that girl was. He took the photo out of his wallet and showed me. There's a name printed on the photo - 松田聖子 (Matsuda Seiko). Not knowing who she was, I asked Mak why he liked her. He told me that she's cute, and he liked her songs. For some reason, I was not interested in anything Japanese at that time. So we went back to talk about a popular local manga called 龍虎門 (Oriental Heroes).
A few years later, there's new name from Japan - 中森明菜 (Nakamori Akina). Because the character 菜 means vegetable in Chinese, we're always joking about her name. Not only that, but because 菜 in Cantonese slang also means one's girlfriend (similar to tea as in "my cup of tea" in English), we made even more jokes. Still I never heard a single song from Seiko or Akina.
Summer 1984, I was spending a week at my cousin's house. I was staring at his bookshelf. There were cassette tapes - rows and rows of them. Michael Jackson's Thriller & Beat It. Here Comes the Rain Again from Eurythmics. Cindy Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Kenny Loggins' Footloose. I duped every one of them into my TDK 90 minute tape that I brought with me!
I still remember that I didn't want to buy music because I thought it's a waste of money. Pop songs, by definition, would fade in a few years when nobody listens to them anymore. So why waste the money, I thought.
Then, my eyes suddenly caught something, Nakamori Akina's "Best Akina Memoir" was sitting right in the middle of all these Western pop music. My first reaction was, "dear cousin, like my classmates, you also found this 'vegetable' attractive, don't you?" In fact, I found Akina pretty cute at that time, but never thought I would buy her music, or even listen to her music because I was so absorbed by Alan Tam (譚詠麟) and other Hong Kong singers at that time. But since I had a whole week, I might as well check her out, I thought.
And so I did. Kinku (禁区) was the first song but I was not impressed. I found Akina's voice too "rough", like Hong Kong singer Anita Mui (梅艷芳). Then came the 2nd song, Twilight - Yuugure Tayori (トワイライト-夕暮れ便り-). The piano intro immediately grasped my attention. Then I heard a completely different female voice.
She sounded like an angel to me. Can this be the same Akina I just heard in Kinku? Are they really the same person? How did she do that? I was amazed and puzzled at the same time by this "double personality". So I listened more. The 3rd song did not make any impression on me. The 4th song, its piano intro mesmerized me again, it's Your Portrait (あなたのポトレート). Same voice as the 2nd song, but definitely different from Kinku. It almost felt comical because in my mind it could not be the same person. It had to be a trick, I thought. A little bit later, Shoujo A (少女A). Yeah, I recognized the name of this song. I saw it on entertainment news that it was banned for broadcasting in Japan. I never listened to it till that point. So this is the song, I thought! Same voice as Kinku, but definitely a different voice than Twilight and Your Portrait. Slow Motion (スローモーション) - yes, my angel returns. I have to say that at that time I loved the ballads much more than the others because they sounded similar to those Alan Tam songs that I loved.
I didn't have enough space to dup all the songs in Memoir. Somehow, I was very indifferent about Second Love (セカンドラブ) and I never even considered it. I decided I want Kinku, Twilight, Your Portrait, Ruri Iro no Yoru e (瑠璃色の夜へ), Shoujo A, Slow Motion, and 1/2 no Shinwa (1/2の神話). I only had around 4-5 minutes left and I had to decide which song to include last. After listening to the tape again and again, I finally settled for Ginga Densetsu (銀河伝説)!
I still had that tape with me till last year, when I finally said goodbye to it while I was doing this Marie Kondo exercise. Too bad I didn't take a picture of this tape.
So, technically speaking, my first is not really a single song, but rather Nakamori Akina herself.
First Japanese MV
This, I also remember clearly. It was this video (I hope it can escape from the YouTube police).
The most impressive scene was the last one, when she boards the train, then the train door closes, and Tamaki Koji watches the train leave the station.
Where did I watch it? It was on a music show on Jade TV in Hong Kong. Must be 1984 or 1985. MV started to become popular and Jade TV decided to produce a music show dedicated to MV. Like a radio show that allows people to call in and ask the DJ to play their song, you could call in to this TV music show and ask the VJ to play the MV of your choice. Somebody called in and asked for Tamaki Koji's (玉置浩二) Love Premonition (恋の予感), and that's the first Japanese MV I watched.
Last Words
As I mentioned at the beginning, I didn't regularly listen to Japanese music, even though it has become quite popular in Hong Kong when I was in middle school. After I came here to the US, I didn't listen at all. It's not until 2010 that I really picked it up.
For that story, you have to wait till I write the follow up article, Second Chance.
Hopefully, I'll be able to write within the next 2 weeks, when I'm visiting my parents in Canada, and catching up with J-Canuck :)
I've never written anything Japanese music before. It's become something fundamentally important to me, something that allows me to feel a sense of euphoria. Well, it's always been there, even though I've barely been listening to it for two years.
It's always been there in the background- from my grandfather's love for enka to nursery rhymes I learnt as a child, and even the CDs in the car. It was only near the end of 2015 when my mother introduced me to a track from the CDs in the car: "Road" (ロード) by THE TRA-BRYU (THE 虎舞竜).
This track is number eight on the CD that my grandfather compiled. At first, I didn't even know the name of the song, and simply referred to it as "track eight". It was only later that I discovered the song's tragic backstory, about how it was written for a female fan that died in a car accident. It wasn't long before I had the song lyrics with me and the second (DEEN's "このまま君だけを奪い去りたい") and fourteenth track (沢田研二's "時の過ぎゆくままに") caught my attention.
Armed with my newfound appreciation of these three songs, I began to listen to recommendations from my grandparents- a mix of enka and kayoukyoku.
The CDs in the car were replayed over and over again, and I discovered Chage and Aska. In the span of two months I had accumulated a few songs that I liked- but they say growth is exponential. Indeed, it was only another month before I fell fully for kayo, VOCALOID, J-pop, and other genres of Japanese music.
Although I have no CDs (other than two Chage and Aska albums that belong to my mother), I have a proud collection of 7GB worth of music (I hope it'll one day equal my grandfather's cabinets of songs and records).
And that's how I fell into Japanese music- tentatively, and then head first.
