Saori Hareyama -- Ichi-en Dama no Tabigarasu（一円玉の旅がらす）

By Monaneko via Wikimedia Commons

For the past several years, we Canadians have been getting along in our economy without the one-cent coin, aka the penny. Rounding up and down has been our way of circumventing the lack of that copper disc when paying in cash here in the Great White North. And yet...and I will apologize to Japanese currency fans in advance for what I'm about to write...the one-yen coin over there still exists despite the fact that it looks and feels more like a token to slip into a gacha-gacha machine.

And yet, the one-yen coin received its fame and appreciation in the sun when this song came out as the debut single of enka singer Saori Hareyama（晴山さおり）. Released in March 1990, "Ichi-en Dama no Tabigarasu" (The One-Yen Coin Vagabond) was presented so that the coin was depicted as the typical historical lone-wolf hero on the byways and highways of Japan. At around the same time, the consumption tax was first applied to the bills of the Japanese public so that having all of those one-yen coins became rather precious in trying to provide exact change.

Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, it was created as this rather robust if playful enka performed by the then-16-year-old Hareyama from Kanagawa Prefecture. I first saw and heard it played on a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）and just from how it sounded and what the song was about, I figured that it would have ended up on NHK's music vignette show "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）, and sure enough it was there.

"Ichi-en Dama no Tabigarasu" won a number of awards including Best New Artist for Hareyama who was especially lauded for her kobushi, the vibrato technique that is vital to any enka singer. Hareyama's career in singing had started when she won an award in NHK's amateur singing program "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）in 1988. Following that debut, however, her career failed to stay on fire and by 1992, she went into temporary retirement. She decided to give it another go for another decade beginning in 1995, but this time, she went along more of a pop vein although eventually nothing really took off for her.

Yasuha -- Morning Date（モーニング・デート）

 

Talk about a song that has had nine lives like a cat. Yasuha's（泰葉）1981 "Fly-Day Chinatown" (フライディ・チャイナタウン) has once again popped up like a rubber duckie in the pop culture bathtub after getting its exposure at the end of Episode 5 of the currently running anime  "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）. And hey, a good song is a good song no matter how often it arises out of the ether.

As such, I wanted to see what the B-side for "Fly-Day Chinatown" was. It is "Morning Date" which was also the creation of lyricist Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composer Yasuha and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）after their primo work on the A-side.

"Morning Date" is the opposite of "Fly-Day Chinatown". For one thing, as the title shows prominently, it is an upbeat morning tune compared to the nocturnal swings of "Fly-Day Chinatown". Moreover, instead of some rumbling City Pop through a famous part of Yokohama, this is basically some happy West Coast AOR in an apartment featuring a couple of newlyweds as a wife wakes up all fresh and freshly showered just so that she can greet her husband in the breakfast nook. I don't think I've ever experienced a married couple that blissful at breakfast; must be really early in the relationship. Still, I can hear some City Pop chord progressions blipping through along with a rock n' roll coda.

Love Wings -- Fly Like a Bird（フライ・ライク・ア・バード）

 

I used to hear this a fair bit in English classes and anime: "I wish I were a bird". Probably one of the great things to introduce students to the Second Conditional.

This song reminded me of that. I had no idea about this aidoru group Love Wings（ラブ・ウイングス）which has been referred to as the Kansai version of famed trio Candies（キャンディーズ）. I haven't been able to find out when this group, which incidentally started out as Love Winks before the slight tweak in one of its final morphemes, started up, but "Fly Like a Bird", the song of note here, was the B-side to Love Wings' fifth single "Happy Jumping Roller"（ハッピー・ジャンピング・ローラー）from November 1979. So, perhaps they'd been around since 1978 at least.

Looking at the cover of the single, I wonder whether Love Wings performed in front of the TV cameras and audiences on roller skates as Hikaru Genji（光GENJI）would several years afterwards. But getting back to "Fly Like a Bird", the ladies whose names I have yet to discover sound just like Candies and the song is a very congenial tune written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Tatsushi Umegaki（梅垣達志）, so that I could imagine Ran, Su and Miki tackling this one, although by the time this particular single came out, the Candies had already broken up. 

Keiko Toda -- Ame no You ni Naite（雨のように泣いて）

 

I'm currently watching actress, singer and seiyuu Keiko Toda（戸田恵子）on the NHK morning serial "Anpan"（あんぱん）which is the dramatization of the lives of manga and anime "Anpanman"（アンパンマン）creator Takashi Yanase and his wife Nobu. Toda is playing a member of Parliament in postwar Japan who also has a Florence Nightingale streak saving war orphans and widows in Tokyo. What's ironic is that Toda has also served as the voice for the hero Anpanman for years.

But before all that, Toda was also cutting records, one of which from 1983 seemed like a City Pop project titled "Naturally". My first Toda article on KKP, in fact, dealt with one of the tracks, "FADE IN ~ Youmei"（溶明）. Well, another track is "Ame no You ni Naite" (Let the Tears Fall Like Rain) and it also sounds like some elegant and classy urbane nighttime tune to be heard while looking wistfully out of a hotel window. Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, who had also come up with the melody of "FADE IN", the piano, guitar and strings set up that environment of loneliness in the big bad city. 

Shingo Kazami -- Namida no Take a Chance（涙のtake a chance）

Wikimedia Commons
from E. Başak

 

When the original breakdancing craze hit North America back in the 1980s when I was a high school student, I could have thrown a rock into the existential television landscape and I would have been more than likely to hit a breakdancer mid-spin in a video. Breakdancing was pretty much everywhere...except in Japan, that is.

As much as Japan loves to soak up the pop culture from the United States and elsewhere, for some reason, breakdancing didn't seem to be the one thing that the young Japanese wanted to try. Well, it took a while but finally one person gave it a go on the airwaves.

I recall seeing Shingo Kazami（風見しんご）on an episode of "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）, and he and his crew brought their brand of breakdancing onto the polished floor of the Fuji-TV studio as the young male aidoru sang his fourth single "Namida no Take a Chance" (Take a Chance While Crying) which was released back in December 1984. Kazami had been called the pioneer of breakdancing in Japan but to me, it was more like he was the only guy of breakdancing in Japan since after that, I didn't see any other examples of the famous street dancing by any other act in the country.

Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by singer-songwriter Kuniko Fukushima（福島邦子）, "Namida no Take a Chance" didn't sound anything like a composition that would accompany a breakdance. Kazami himself sounded like he was in the Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）vein of aidoru-dom so it was an interesting combination, to say the least. 

The song hit No. 10 on Oricon and became the 45th-ranked single for 1985. It was also a track on Kazami's 2nd studio album "Whoopee ~ Gyappi no Hanran"（Whoopee〜ギャーピーの叛乱〜...Gyappi's Revolt）. As for who or what gyappi is, an edition of "Myojo"（明星）stated that it's just a word that the singer came up with. Kazami has gone into all facets of entertainment and when I was there, I saw him often enough as a TV personality with a rather acid tongue.

Miki Sawada -- Tengoku kara no Yakusoku（天国からの約束）

 

Commenter Brian Mitchell and I were having a brief discussion on that recent Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）article where singers' works can intertwine two or even more genres. Basically, I guess we are talking about crossover music a la Taylor Swift or Shania Twain. I even indicated that the Queen of Kayo Kyoku, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, delved into a number of genres although most of her songs were encapsulated within their own genres with a few exceptions such as "Kawa no nagare no youni" (川の流れのように) which seems to have merged a couple of genres in a New Adult Music style.

I also get that impression from the song "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" (A Promise From Heaven), the 6th single by singer Miki Sawada（沢田美紀）. Released in April 2008, it was a little difficult for me to definitively put my stamp on a single genre for it. I could hear the enka, but there was also folk and so perhaps I could use the hybrid genre of New Adult Music for it. 

Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" is a poignant message by Sawada as the protagonist tells her older brother who has been in heaven for a while that she's managing to do OK in life. The song was actually inspired by an incident involving the sister of the president of Tokuma Japan Communications (Sawada's recording company) who suddenly died during a trip through China.

Sawada's real name is Miyuki Oda（尾田美由紀）who was born and raised in Toyama Prefecture. While working in a company in 1996, she participated as a contestant in NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢） amateur singing contest where she eventually became a champion. She moved to Tokyo the following year to become a professional singer and released her first single in 2004.

Toyohisa Araki -- Chotto Ii Onna（ちょっといい女）

 

Back in the late 2000s or so, there was a fashion trend started by the magazine "LEON" called Choiwaru Oyaji（ちょいわるおやじ）which I could interpret as Slightly-Rough-Around-the-Edges Middle-Aged Men. Instead of being in that stuffy corporate section chief wardrobe of suits, some of those old guys opted for sunglasses and more casual wear to add a bit of "danger" to their looks...although whether their wives and kids bought into it remained to be seen.

Although this song has nothing to do with that trend, I just found that the title reminded me of it. "Chotto Ii Onna" (Slightly Good Woman) is a 2014 single that was not only written by veteran lyricist Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）but it was also recorded by him as well with Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁） providing the melody. As far as I know, this is the first time that I've had Araki up on the byline for a KKP entry.

Having released "Chotto Ii Onna" in his early seventies, Araki sings a saucy tune about encouraging those couples of a certain age (a slightly good woman, a slightly good man) to get some of that spice into their relationships again. Haba's composition certainly lends to that image with that added hip-swiveling Latin in this New Adult Music tune. Plus, there is the single cover itself with a perfectly happy and relaxed Araki looking scruffy and stylish at the same time at some watering hole. I gather that he's the Choiwaru Ojiichan（ちょいわるおじいちゃん...Slightly-Rough-Around-the-Edges Old Man）.

Hi-Fi Set -- America Monogatari（あめりか物語）

 

Well, I was just writing about vocal group Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）last week in the regular Yutaka Kimura Speaks series. Mind you, that was a song from their 1980s period but we're back in the 1970s for them, the decade that I've known them best for. And man, this 12th single from August 1978 is quite the banger.

Listening to the first few measures of "America Monogatari" (The Story of America), I have to admit that I was wondering whether we were going to get a refrain from Barry Gray's theme from "Space: 1999", knowing how prog rock and disco that song was. Instead though, I got a huge aural advertisement by Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）and company to visit the good ol' US of A. More likely, it was a big invitation to take a bite out of the Big Apple.

Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed/arranged by Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, "America Monogatari" was indeed created for a 1978 Japan Air Lines commercial campaign getting folks to come and visit the United States (though I can't find the ad on YouTube). Ohno really stuffed the song with jazz and disco which were probably the music genres that a lot of Japanese equated America with at the time. Of course, Hi-Fi Set's optimistic and upbeat delivery sure made it inviting for folks to make their reservations.

Gen Takayama -- Kokoro Koorasete（心凍らせて）

 

The above image was something that I whipped up back in the summer when I was doing the AI gallery for Kentaro Shimizu's（清水健太郎）"Shitsuren Resutoran" (失恋レストラン...Heartbreak Restaurant）, but I think the image will also come in handy for this particular song, too.

Enka is a genre that has managed to survive pretty comfortably into the 2020s with some of its songs hitting the Oricon Top 10, but I think it's safe to say that its heyday was a few decades ago, between the 1950s and 1980s. So, when I hear of an enka tune that hit the really big time going into the final decade of the 20th century, my attention is caught.

That's where Gen Takayama's（高山厳）song "Kokoro Koorasete" (Freeze My Heart) comes in. Takayama had started his music career partnered up with Hirofumi Bamba（ばんばひろふみ）and Hiroshi Imai（今井ひろし）in the folk group Banban（バンバン）in 1971 before going solo in 1975. There had been some lean years before his 14th single from August 1992 was released, but when it did, "Kokoro Koorasete", an elegant enka/New Adult Music ballad about a man possibly on the verge of losing his significant other if not already, became a huge long-running hit for the next couple of years, selling over 750,000 copies.

The song was composed by veteran Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）with lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, who had also written Teresa Teng's（テレサテン）"Tsugunai"（つぐない）, a song that I compare with "Kokoro Koorasete" in terms of similar tone and rhythm. "Kokoro Koorasete" went Platinum as it hit No. 10 on the Oricon weeklies. In the yearly rankings, the ballad managed to become the 85th-ranked single for 1993 and even clawed further up the chart the following year to finish in the No. 58 spot. It also won a number of awards and earned Takayama his one and only appearance on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1993 to give his quiet and tenderhearted performance.

Kye Eunsook -- Suzume no Namida（すずめの涙）

 

It's been a few years since I've featured a Kye Eunsook（桂銀淑）song on the blog, and my impressions of her music involve the high-class side of New Adult Music, that Japanese music area ranging between straight enka and (sophisticated) pop music. Just taking a look into her J-Wiki article, I found out that in her native South Korea, she's known for her country's genre of trot（トロット）which is similar to enka.

Her second single as an artist in Japan was "Suzume no Namida" (A Sparrow's Tears) from April 1987. Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it starts off slow and elegant before going into a jaunty rhythm reminiscent of Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days". Araki's lyrics talk of a strong-willed woman who's reluctantly letting go of the man she loves but covering her true feelings with shallow words that would come across as "Hey, later, eh?" in English. The title refers to the fact that she's not shedding too much lachrymal fluid for the guy...at least not in public. Hama's and Wakakusa's melodic creation certainly doesn't paint a picture of the breakup happening at a McDonalds...probably an expensive restaurant many floors above a McDonalds.😁

Along with a few awards, "Suzume no Namida" reached No. 32 on Oricon. Kye Eunsook also received her first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1988 to sing the song.

Kouhei Fukuda -- Shonai Shigure Sake（庄内しぐれ酒）

 

Unfortunately, I've never been to Yamagata Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan but above, here is a video by YouTuber rivideo3 of the Shonai district by the Sea of Japan. I think once when I was teaching a student, he was telling me a bit about Yamagata and its ramen.

(shortened version)

One reason that I'm starting off with a geography lesson here is that when we were watching "Uta Con"（うたコン）earlier this morning, enka singer Kouhei Fukuda（福田こうへい）made his appearance to sing his latest single, his 15th to be exact, "Shonai Shigure Sake" (Early Winter Sake in Shonai), which was released right on New Year's Day 2024. Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, it's the story of a man from the titular district who has long since moved to the big city but still missing his hometown to which he can never return to, since apparently according to Araki's lyrics, he sold the family homestead. I can imagine the poor lug drinking a cup of sake to the old home.

For an enka of regret, "Shonai Shigure Sake" possesses a lot of brio (especially with that electric guitar wailing away in there) in its melody. Perhaps the hint is that all is not lost and that he can go back home again, although Fukuda sings that though he wants to head back in the worst way, he simply can't do so now. 

The Fukuda file might be more of an annual thing when it comes to his singles. About a year ago, I wrote about his 14th single, "Tenkuu no Shiro"（天空の城）.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Yasuhiro Kido -- Zin Zin Zin（ジン・ジン・ジン）

 

Number: 045

Lyricist: Toyohisa Araki

Composer: Yasuhiro Kido

Arranger: Masaaki Omura

From Kido's 1977 album "Kid"

"Zin Zin Zin" is a pearl of a pop tune that should be called the greatest lost treasure within 1970s City Pop. With its gentle melody, its high-quality acoustic sound due to Masaaki Omura's（大村雅朗）arrangement, and a beautiful harmony that only a masterful chorus can create, even listening to it now, it sounds absolutely fresh. It would be spot-on to say that it is a masterpiece that was forty years ahead of its time, so there's no way that it will go stale.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Hello, J-Canuck here. OK, this is another song from the 100 list that I had yet to cover personally, so I'll do it here. There is a discrepancy between the "Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100" and what J-Wiki told me about the year that Yasuhiro Kido's（木戸やすひろ）album "Kid" was released with the former stating 1977 while J-Wiki says 1978 when I covered another song from the album "Mr. Music". But since I'm still digesting a heavy steak dinner right now, I'll just let it go. 😈

I'm not sure what the title is about, except that perhaps it might be some happy form of onomatopoeia. However "Zin Zin Zin" is that comfy, hammock-friendly 1970s City Pop that I've heard from artists such as Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）and Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）. I also enjoy that saxophone that starts off with the guitar and keyboards. It's the sort of song that you race to on a Friday night to help launch that therapy of relaxation and recovery following a tough week at the office.

Kiyoshi Maekawa -- Otoko to Onna no Kakera（男と女の破片）

 

Y'know...checking through the Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）file, I realized that this has been solely Noelle's realm all these years. Although I have put up my fair share of articles for The Cool Five, Mae-Kiyo's old Mood Kayo group, I had yet to post anything by the singer solo. Hopefully, my fellow co-administrator will understand.

Well, what sparked me to post my first Maekawa melody was once again last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）episode. Earlier today, I noted Yukari Ito's（伊東ゆかり）"Suteki na Cappuccina"（すてきなカプチーナ）and HIROMI's（ヒロミ）"Hachioji no Uta"（八王子のうた）which had also been performed on the show. Another one was the aforementioned Maekawa along his buddies, the vocal group Junretsu（純烈）, and together they performed "Otoko to Onna no Kakera" (Fragments of a Man and a Woman), which was the singer's 10th single from July 1991. 

Listening to the original recorded version above though, I really got that impression that "Otoko to Onna no Kakera", a ballad about loving each other so much and yet the necessity that the couple has to sadly break up, was the quintessential example of that hybridized genre known as New Adult Music. It's got the quivery emotion of an enka or a Mood Kayo but with the modern uptown arrangement of urban contemporary. Lyrics were provided by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）while the music was composed by Takashi Tsushimi（都志見隆）. As usual, Mae-Kiyo looks as dapper as ever.

Miyuki Maki -- Indo no Michibata（インドの道ばた）

 

If there were a quintessential song to accompany a nice drive on the toll highways within Tokyo, I could pick this one. "Indo no Michibata" (Roadside in India) is a song by Miyuki Maki（牧ミユキ）which has been included in DJ Notoya's "Tokyo Glow" compilation from 2021 but was originally on Maki's March 1980 album "Love Knot". Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Takashi Miki（三木たかし）, "Indo no Michibata" has a nice and steady strut to it and I'll always welcome some tight horns to any City Pop song.

Maki began her career in 1968 with the song "Exotic Love"（エキゾチック・ラブ）under her real name of Tomoko Kinoshita（木下節子）. Now, the kanji for her given name has a variety of readings but considering that this site has stated that her nickname is Tommy, I'd probably say that Tomoko is the formal reading. According to Discogs, under her stage name of Miyuki Maki, the singer released a couple of singles and a couple of albums including "Love Knot". 

Along with the singing part of her career, Maki has also been a tarento, swimsuit model and thespian. She's also changed her names a few more times as she has been known as Yukie（優希枝）and Yukiko Oka（岡ゆき子）. Although I don't know when this particular webpage was composed, the information states that currently, Maki also has the name of Tomoko Ono（小野節子）in her capacity within movie production, songwriting and other activities. At this point, I'm not sure whether she's under JASRAC or the CIA.

Akiko Ozawa -- Hachi-gatsu no Christmas（八月のクリスマス）

 

We've got our long weekend right now with tomorrow (Monday) being a Civic Holiday and all. With Toronto going into August, we can look forward to events such as the Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade and the Canadian National Exhibition. Nights ought to be getting a little cooler, too.

Near the end of last month, I mentioned in the article for Momoiro Clover Z's（ももいろクローバーZ）"HOLIDAY" that my friend Scott had his usual "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast with the theme being "Christmas in July". Now, "HOLIDAY" wasn't featured in the podcast itself but this article's song was, and I believe it was the first tune there.

"Hachi-gatsu no Christmas" (August Christmas) isn't really an Xmas tune per se although it has the romanticism that the Yuletide in Japan possesses in its role as a second Valentine's Day. Additionally, the recording artist here isn't usually a pop singer but an enka singer by the name of Akiko Ozawa（小沢亜貴子）. The singer from Nagano Prefecture released "Hachi-gatsu no Christmas" as a single commemorating her 15th anniversary in show business in April 2007. Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ） and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, it's a summery story about a woman reminiscing over the love of her life who has now departed her due to breakup or death. What stuck out to me especially was Sugimoto's arrangement of the song which hit me as something that the late Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）would create: a twangy 60s pop ballad.

I'd be interested in hearing some of Ozawa's enka material, but in the meantime, since it is also listed in her J-Wiki article, I'll mention some of her hobbies. She enjoys the shamisen, Japanese dance and min'yo songs and she is fluent in Mandarin. Her favourite colour is aqua and her favourite dish is tonkatsu.👍

DEW -- Atsui Sasayaki（熱いささやき）/Night Time

 

To begin the first Urban Contemporary Friday for June 2023 on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I may have found one of the rarest of the rare. I am talking about what was probably the short-lived duo DEW consisting of guitarist Hiroshi Yasukawa（安川ひろし）and keyboardist/producer Nobuo Kurata（倉田信雄）. In 1980, they put out one single and one album titled "DEW 1st".

Today will provide space and time for the lone single "Atsui Sasayaki" (Hot Whispers) with lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and melody by Yasukawa under Kurata's arrangement. It's notable for some odd choices such as Christmas bells in the intro and a weird combination of keyboards in the coda, but between the two is some rumbling downtown Latin-tinged City Pop.

The B-side is "Night Time" which starts off with a steamrolling cascade of piano before the convertible takes off for a road trip on the expressway. Kurata trips the light fantastic on his instruments and there is a feeling of 70s and 80s City Pop arrangements coming together for a passing of the torch perhaps. Yasukawa also has a good deal of fun on the guitar. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who was handling the songwriting for "Night Time".

I could find the J-Wiki articles for both Yasukawa and Kurata although neither make any mention of their time in DEW. Yasukawa began his music education as a violinist at the age of 5. Graduating from Doshisha University, he entered a jazz trio and later on, provided his skills for the television industry. Yokohama-born Kurata began as a studio musician in 1977 and has worked with virtually everyone ranging from Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）and Masashi Sada（さだまさし）to Misia and Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）.

Kouhei Fukuda -- Tenkuu no Shiro（天空の城）

 

I've read that there is a castle in Japan whose altitude is high enough that it can be seen above the cloud layer. Well, as it turns out, there are six such castles including this one above at 353 metres above sea level, the ruins of Takeda Castle in Hyogo Prefecture as shown by YouTuber Japan Experiences. These castles or what remains of them seem to float above the ocean of fluffy clouds.

(shortened version)

Of course, that tourist site is what came to mind when I first heard enka singer Kouhei Fukuda's（福田こうへい）latest single last night on "Uta Con"（うたコン）. "Tenkuu no Shiro" (Castle in the Sky) was released just last month, and though the lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）don't specify any particular castle among the six, Hideo Mizumori's（水森英夫）melody is appropriately grand and magical for Fukuda. Samurai may no longer exist but I can imagine them occupying their proud castle as seeming shipmates protecting their vessel from attack as it floats on a sea of white.

Hatsumi Shibata -- Party is Over

 

Yep, I'm going pretty long on this particular Urban Contemporary Friday trip on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" this week. But I'm still game for a few more articles...yep, even at my age.

This was a recent discovery on YouTube, and it's nice that I can have singer Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）back on the blog after a few years. Another wonderful thing is that she's singing a down-home City Pop tune in the form of "Party is Over", a track from her January 1981 album "Show Me the Way". Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）and arranged by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）, this is the type of song to accompany any Japanese city hotel-top bar visit with a particularly cool-sounding cocktail.

From what I could understand of the lyrics, Shibata is singing about the great game of romancing on the fly...seeing if a one-night tryst can translate into something more substantial and longer-lasting. Just another story in the big city, I guess. As for the melody, a lot of it is enhanced by the jazzy trumpet and fluegelhorn of Chuck Findley. Findley had also handled the flugelhorn solo on the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You".

Masaki Kanda -- Tasogare no Prelude（黄昏のプレリュード）

 

Fascinatingly enough, I have included singing families onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus". For example, there are the Miuras: father Tomokazu Miura（三浦友和）, mother Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）and one son Yutaro Miura（三浦祐太朗）.

Well, now I'm about to complete another set. Aidoru icon Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, as we all know, has a wealth of songs, her daughter Sayaka Kanda（神田沙也加）is represented in one article thanks to Joana Bernardo's first contribution to the blog. But what about Sayaka's father and Seiko-chan's first husband, Masaki Kanda（神田正輝）? Along with the fact that he was married to Matsuda for a while, I've known him primarily as an actor who was part of the Ishihara Gundan（石原軍団）, led by the late Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）, and as such, he also had a role as a cop on the famous police drama "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ!）. You can see him above in the light blazer and T-shirt.

Of course back in the 1980s, there was no such thing as a publicly-accessed Internet but somehow I was keeping tabs on the fact that the Japanese media was going absolutely bonkers over the fact that the Queen Aidoru was getting married to Kanda, especially considering that Seiko-chan had long been connected romantically with singing heartthrob Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）.

But before I get off topic here, let me complete the Kanda set with Masaki's 3rd single (yes, he did sing a bit) from September 1984, "Tasogare no Prelude" (Sunset Prelude). For a song with a dusky title, it's a pretty perky down home City Pop number created by lyricist Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composer Takashi Miki（三木たかし）. Kanda seems to take a crooning vocal style slightly familiar to that of his fellow gundan comrade, Akira Terao（寺尾聰）.

Kanda released a total of 7 singles and 3 albums with his debut album "if -- Yokan" （if -予感-...Premonitions） released in June 1984 holding "Tasogare no Prelude".

Yasuhiro Kido -- Mr. Music

 

From penning this week's ROY article on Little River Band's "Reminiscing", I did find another single that came out in June 1978 but didn't include it among the three Japanese pop songs that I usually provide at the bottom of the piece because I had yet to even write about that one here. Well, I'm writing about it now.

I have already provided articles on a couple of tracks from singer-songwriter Yasuhiro Kido's（木戸やすひろ）first album "Kid" from 1978: "Kimi ga Soba ni Ireba"（君がそばにいれば）and "Love Magic". Well, I'm now also including the first track "Mr. Music" which was Kido's debut single, too. 

With Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）providing the lyrics, Kido's melody has been said on one site to be similar to Sugar Babe's（シュガーベイブ）"Parade"（パレード）, and indeed there is that similarity and that feeling of happy-go-lucky walking on the park path. However before I read that comment on that site, I had my own opinions on what "Mr. Music" sounded like. I can compare it to either The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" or a certain Electric Light Orchestra song which I cannot remember right now. Anyways, "Mr. Music" really does come across as fresh and innocent as a boy running around with a butterfly net in the summer, especially with that title of "Kid" on the album and the cute album cover with those toys.