Decades ago, I once had a Nintendo Game Boy but soccer wasn't my thing. It was Super Mario that I was playing all the time much to the chagrin of my parents.
It's hard to believe but this particular song was used for a commercial selling a Game Boy soccer game. It's just so romantic sounding that I thought it would have been better placed for an ad for a resort or airline heading to the tropics.
Let me introduce you to what was once the duo known as This Time. Composed of Yoshiya Komori（小森義也）and Keiko Suzuki（鈴木恵子）, they started out in 1992 to present a variety of soul, jazz, and 70s urban contemporary among other genres. Between 1992 and 1996, they released 8 singles and 5 albums with "Hadashi no Mama de" (Just Barefoot) being their third single from March 1993. As I hinted above, the song is sweet and tenderhearted due to Komori and Suzuki's vocals, the gently lilting rhythm and the 70s slow funk. Suzuki even provides a bit of soft rap in the middle of the song.
This Time has continued on to this day although Suzuki left the duo in 2014. Currently, Komori is keeping up with the side as a solo representative of This Time.
