Japanese Pop Music x Bon Odori（盆踊り）

 

Being summer, it's festival season in Japan and I know that it's in full swing whenever I hear about or see Tokyo's Sumida River Fireworks Festival on the final Saturday of July. I've seen it on television from the air-conditioned comfort of my Ichikawa apartment and around thirty years ago, I actually saw it with my own eyes from the apartment of a student who generously invited teachers and fellow classmates over for a fireworks party. We were very fortunate in that the apartment was right by the Sumida River in Asakusa where I used to work, so the fireworks literally exploded right over our heads. Getting back home, though, was quite the adventure in time and physics.

Festivals in Japan also mean bon odori...the great communal dance around the raised stage all draped in red and white like the colours of the Japanese flag. Nothing says the dog days of summer than doing those rhythmic steps while sporting a colourful yukata and geta while a min'yo is being sung and performed on stage.

However, in the last several years, there has been some relaxation of the rules in terms of the music, so instead of the traditional stuff, examples of kayo kyoku and J-Pop have been used to get the crowds all roused up and dancing. Thanks to an NHK report yesterday, I was rather inspired to put up this list that I got from a far bigger list on Line Music. Yes, you can dance to these in the Bon Odori style!

(1984) Ann Lewis -- Roppongi Shinju （六本木心中）

(1985) Yoko Oginome -- Dancing Hero （ダンシング・ヒーロー）

(1993) Pizzicato Five -- Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichi-ji (東京は夜の七時）

(2001) B'z -- Ultra Soul

(2013) AKB48 -- Koisuru Fortune Cookie (恋するフォーチュンクッキー)

P.S. They could even make a Bon Dance out of this classic!

NHK Jido Gassho Dan/Miku Hatsune -- Sakura, Sakura（さくらさくら）

 

Although February 11th 2026 has already passed into history in Japan as I'm typing this, it's still February 11th here so allow me to give a belated Happy Birthday to the nation via its National Foundation Day. As such, I was wondering what song I could contribute to commemorate the day and I remember that I had yet to post this one onto the blog.

"Sakura, Sakura" is a traditional folk song that I've known since I was only yea high. I'd assumed that this was a truly ancient creation going back a thousand years or so, but its birth was relatively recent...being sometime during the Edo era (1600-1868). No songwriter was ever identified and actual lyrics for the song weren't included until around 1888. 

I guess in a way then that the mystery surrounding its origins fits the mystique of "Sakura, Sakura" since it sounds so hauntingly beautiful with lyrics that talk about how fleeting the existence of things are...illustrated by cherry blossom petals. My early years of listening to the song were only via the instrumental version that I heard often enough whenever my family went to Nikko Gardens, one of Toronto's first Japanese restaurants. Basically, I had thought that "Sakura, Sakura" was the patron saint song of Japanese restaurants. I would always remember whether I should choose the teriyaki set or the tempura set while it was playing on the speakers. The above version, by the way, is performed by the NHK Jido Gassho Dan（NHK東京児童合唱団...NHK Tokyo Children's Choir） while the one below (with a slightly different arrangement) is performed by Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）.

It's pretty safe to say that over the decades, whenever a traditional Japanese music group comes over to the West for recitals, "Sakura, Sakura" is pretty much obligatory performing. As for my initial assumption on the age of the song, I'd thought that I would actually break a new record of how far back I could go in time with a new ancient year in Labels as opposed to 1597, but I guess I will go for the aforementioned 1888.

Nash Music Library -- Kamakura de X'mas

Dirk Beyer via Wikimedia Commons

 

Well, it wouldn't be a KKP Christmas season without including something Yuletide from the good folks at Nash Music Library. I did have something from them last year with "Happy Christmas". And so, I thought "Why not have them aboard again?".

This time,  I have "Kamakura de X'mas" (Christmas in Kamakura). Now, to be honest, Kamakura would be one of the last places where I would imagine anything having to do with Noel and the like, but hey, this ancient city gets snow and illumination so again, why not? "Kamakura de X'mas" is most likely the first KKP entry which has both the Xmas and Traditional Instrumental labels for the same song and with the piano and the jingling bells in there, I couldn't help but get images of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and even Studio Ghibli vibes via Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）. The song was part of the October 2024 compilation "Christmas Avenue".

Nash Music Library -- Cocktail From Japan

From Good Free Photos

 

Considering yesterday's slight flood in the bathroom that I noted in yesterday's Casiopea's article, things are quite a bit more chill in the household today. But man, I could have used a cocktail...or three or four...to assuage my stress. Speaking of which, you can take a gander at the above video featuring the winner of the 2019 Suntory Cocktail Award. To be honest, I'd like to taste Asuka Hijiya's Shunmu cocktail as well.

I'd been wondering what the first released-in-2024 song on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" would be and as it turns out, it's this one. "Cocktail From Japan" is a track from good ol' Nash Music Library's January 12th album "Stylish Japan 2". Short and sweet, perhaps like the Shunmu, I wouldn't say that it is a perfect melding of traditional instrumental and technopop; it's more of an amiable give-and-take between those two genres with the synths pumping away on one side while the koto and shakuhachi are playing on the other. So, if I were to think of a cocktail analogy here, maybe it would be a layered drink like a B-52.

Unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure of drinking a B-52 though I've seen it made and imbibed by friends. It took a while to get a response from them afterwards, though. Perhaps if I downed one, I would be sleeping it off in the corner for the rest of the day.🍸 Incidentally, as of this writing, "Cocktail From Japan" is only the second song that I've blessed with the Traditional Instrumental label. You can also check out the first one, Michio Miyagi's（宮城道雄）"Haru no Umi"（春の海）.

Michio Miyagi -- Haru no Umi（春の海）

 

Hopefully, Nakamise-dori in my old stomping grounds of Asakusa still isn't that super-crowded right now after all of the New Year's hoopla. But looking at that time stamp in the bottom-right corner and probably with the increased foreign tourist activity, I can't be sure on that.

It's a bit late now that I'm typing this on January 7th but this particular song, "Haru no Umi" (The Sea in Spring), has become so ubiquitous during Japan's New Year's Holidays that it basically went over my head and beyond my ears as something to be covered. It's been used on many a variety show and even anime episodes with a New Year's theme including this little talk between seiyuu Shintaro Asanuma（浅沼晋太郎）and Yoko Hikasa（日笠陽子）. Plus, stores pipe it over the speakers to get folks into that Holiday mood.

However, I've finally seen the light, so to speak. And in fact, this one song had me creating two new categories in Labels: 1) New Year's since I've got a couple of other tunes, "Hotaru no Hikari" (蛍の光）and "Ichigatsu Tsuitachi"（一月一日）on KKP to signify the holiday, and 2) Traditional Instrumental because I can't think of any other way to describe "Haru no Umi". I certainly can't put this down as enka, minyo or Mood Kayo.

"Haru no Umi" is arguably the most famous work of koto player and composer Michio Miyagi（宮城道雄）from Kobe who lived from 1894 to 1956. It was first composed in 1929 and is usually performed as a duet of shakuhachi and koto. I gather that "Haru no Umi" is to Japanese New Year's as "Jingle Bells" is to Christmas, but up to now, I only heard the first minute or so of this creation. It actually lasts for almost eight minutes.

I actually don't know even whether Miyagi had intended "Haru no Umi" to be a New Year's-themed piece. According to his essays via J-Wiki, the kotoist created the song under the motif of his memories of passing through the Seto Inland Sea on his way to Tokyo in 1917. I gather that the coming of a new year is akin to the coming of spring.

In 1932, "Haru no Umi" became a hit record after Miyagi had performed the song with French violinist Renée Chemet.