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.
Showing posts with label Tsunehiro Izumi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tsunehiro Izumi. Show all posts
Several years ago, I posted an article for aidoru Atsumi Kurasawa's（倉沢淳美）April 1987 penultimate single as a soloist, "Genki desu ka"（元気ですか）which was a slightly more 50s/60s-ish tune helmed by the tenderhearted vocals from the former member of Warabe（わらべ）.
Well, let's go back a few years to October 1984 when Kurasawa released her 3rd single "Kiken na Yume" (Dangerous Dreams). A tune with a pretty urgent beat, Ichizo Seo's（瀬尾一三）arrangement of Tsunehiro Izumi's（和泉常寛）melody sounds like something from a decade previously brought over to the 1980s that Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）could have sung in her early days. Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics talk of a girl having these disturbing yet intriguing dreams of a man she can't identify but simply can't ignore. So, the chase is on! Try to make an "Inception" movie out of that. Not surprisingly, Kurasawa's vocals, when compared to her singing on "Genki desu ka", come off as being more innocent and rawer.
Yep, as a high schooler, three of my high school friends and I played gin, poker and blackjack for penny ante stuff. I don't recall making it big even with the chips and pennies...which has also informed my luck on lotteries.
Strangely enough, I find this "Black Jack" a whole lot more soul-satisfying. Sung by Yuki Kato（加藤有紀）, for one thing, it's got a great rumble of a rhythm...like taking a good ol' strut around Shinjuku or Roppongi. This was a 1983 single for the singer although I'm not sure whether it preceded or followed her other single "Nazo wa To-ka-na-i-de"（謎はと・か・な・い・で）from that same year. For some reason, there's also something oddly 60s about "Black Jack", as if a potential protagonist could be an adventurous spy who doesn't take himself too seriously like Matt Helm or Derek Flint. Well, Las Vegas had quite the scene back in that decade.
Kato herself was responsible for the lyrics which she delivers in quite the coquettish purr. Meanwhile, Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）took care of the cool City Pop melody. And according to Hip Tank Records, the fusion band Parachute was backing Kato up in the recording booth.
It didn't happen all that much since I was quite careful about how much I imbibed on a certain play night, but on rare occasions, I did get smacked with a hangover that left me either wincing with a headache or running to the nearest washroom to pray to the porcelain god. Tylenol or something stronger would usually get me out of the jam, though (long after I stopped drinking).
Perhaps 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）and any of her short-term band RAMU had their hangover problems in the past. However for their "Late Night Headache" on the band's one and only September 1988 album"Thanks Giving", it sure sounds like the fun was still filling the dance floor despite the title. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Late Night Headache" sounds like a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）project for Omega Tribe with that certain crystalline keyboard and the languid nocturnal rhythms. And maybe it is the influence of the arrangement but when I hear Kikuchi sing, it reminds me of Carlos Toshiki!
The overall feeling is of young beautiful people driving out of Tokyo to a seaside resort at night to party it up during the Bubble Era as the music wavers between City Pop and straight pop. Near the end, there's even some Eurobeat riffing.
This particular song popped up a mere few days ago on YouTube channel "Kimi no Station: The Home of City Pop", and usually it's my personal policy not to jump the gun too quickly to put up freshly-posted videos.
However, seeing that we are entering the summer months and this song exemplifies the happy and gentle side of the sunny season, it was simply too irresistible. Resistance was indeed futile. I am talking about "Memorial Song" by the duo Step. Seiken Komura（小村精権）and Kojiro Nishimori（西森幸次郎）released this in May 1983 as their final single before breaking up, so I guess in a way, this was truly a memorial song. Plus, I can guess that Kimi no Station was interested in getting this on board around the Memorial Day weekend some days ago.
Written by Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Tatsushi Umegaki（梅垣達志）, "Memorial Song" is an appropriately bouncy and sunny AOR/City Pop ditty with some fine keyboard and chorus work. Imagining a cordial stroll along the waterside in June as this is playing wouldn't be out of the question. If you can, have a read of my previous Step article for "Cool de Atsui Kimi"（クールで熱い君）.
Got Kayo Grace Kyoku standing in front of some tall skyscrapers which probably means that it's Urban Contemporary Fridays on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
It was almost a couple of years back in April 2022 when I first posted a song by Shoko Arai（荒井尚子）, "Kansho Ryoko"（感傷旅行）from her one-and-only 1990 album "Je Vous Aime", produced by Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）. Arai is someone that I had not heard about but from "Kansho Ryoko", it sounds like the singer enjoyed some of that Quiet Storm in her music. And my posting of the song was deliberate since I also noted there that travel was finally beginning to awaken after a few years of the pandemic.
Well, another track from "Je Vous Aime" is "Circuit" which was created by the same duo behind "Kansho Ryoko", lyricist Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）and composer Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）. The song takes things into the late 1980s City Pop and sophisticated pop realms, and it has quite the pop through the bass and percussion (was Sheila E in the house?:)). Of course, having the brassy saxophone lends even more brio to the proceedings.
Welcome to the 1601st aidoru article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" and this one has got a style or panache that actually sent up a thrill up my back when I first heard it. And it all comes down to the observation that a lot of the aidoru tunes especially in the late 1980s have had some really lush arrangements.
Actress and singer Ryoko Sano（佐野量子）hasn't been seen as one of the superstar aidoru along the lines of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）or Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）but having covered a few of her tunes on the blog over the past few years, she's got some gems as well. "Mayonaka no Bouquet"(Midnight Bouquet) is an upbeat and dramatic tune which was included on her April 1987 album"Moderato". Written by Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, I've simply declared it an aidoru tune but one with some sophistication and class...maybe a bit of City Pop here (especially with that guitar and bass) and a bit of Fashion Music there. Sano does indeed sound like a cute teenybopper singer but she's surrounded by a melody which gives the appearance of a lass out in the big city and marveling at the infrastructure.
The duo Cherish（チェリッシュ）consisting of Yoshitaka Matsuzaki（松崎好孝）and Etsuko Matsui（松井悦子）have been their known for their adorable folk hit, "Tento Mushi no Samba"（てんとう虫のサンバ）from July 1973. However, they've been around since 1968 and according to J-Wiki, they're still around.
Up to now, Cherish has released 48 singles and 32 albums, but by the mid-1980s, the frequency of their releases was starting to lessen, and Album No. 29 was "Daydream", their first LP in five years which came out in 1986. One track that I found was "Yume - Shinkirou" (Dream - Mirage) and their sound for at least this song was dramatically different from the bouncy and upbeat "Tento Mushi no Samba", and naturally, the longer a group or singer keeps on going in their career, the more their sound evolves.
Written by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, "Yume - Shinkirou" fits the title of not only the track but also of the album. It really does have a hazy and dreamy arrangement with Matsui's soft and floaty vocals, and with that sudden engagement of that electric guitar going into the chorus, I was reminded of many a Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）ballad in the early to mid-1980s when they were contributed as ending themes to that television mystery series. I'd be interested in listening to the rest of "Daydream".
In December last year, I introduced the aidoru Junko Tokumaru（徳丸純子）who had a relatively brief go behind the mike before changing her career into acting and then modeling instead. As I mentioned then, her March 1983 debut single"Sei First Love"（聖・ファーストラブ）struck me as the quintessential early 80s aidoru tune.
Well, this time around, allow me to introduce her fifth and final single from November 1984, "Ai no Shinwa" (Sad Talk from the Heart). Before I was reminded that this was indeed Tokumaru, I had imagined that the lady on the cover was far older than the 18 years of age that she was. Since her career as an aidoru was so brief, I've kept that particular Label for her, but I think that "Ai no Shinwa" rather takes things into the sophisticated pop area although I don't think that it qualifies as a City Pop tune.
Written by Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, despite the fact that "Ai no Shinwa" didn't even chart on Oricon, I still believe that it is a pretty smooth tune nicely delivered by Tokumaru. The interesting thing is that the intro and outro come straight out of Francoise Hardy's"Comment te dire adieu" from 1968. It was covered by Jun Togawa（戸川純）under the title of "Sayonara wo Oshiete"（さよならをおしえて）a year later.
Well, I figure that if I'm gonna talk about songs from the 1988 anime adaptation of the food-based manga "Oishinbo"（美味しんぼ...The Gourmet）, I simply must have something gourmet as a thumbnail. So, KKP readers, the above is a bowl of blowfish hot pot or fugu nabe.
Actually, Rocket Brown of "Come Along Radio" and I had a conversation last weekend and the topic of the openings and endings for the anime came up. We were kinda marveling at the cityscapes during the credit sequences. Interestingly enough, I was reminded of another successful anime adaptation of the 1980s, "City Hunter", and I could see some similarities between it and "Oishinbo": smart and snarky hero in Tokyo accompanied by a long-suffering woman who may or may not have feelings for him, and cityscape credits.
Over a year ago, "Oishinbo" got its first representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" via Yuma Nakamura's（中村由真）"Dang Dang Ki ni Naru"（Dang Dang 気になる）which was the second opening theme of the series.
Well, the first opening theme was "YOU" by singer and TV personality Megumi Yuuki（結城めぐみ）who was around 19 years old when she released the song as her debut single in November 1988. Reminiscent of those brash and proud pop tunes by singers within and outside of anime back in that decade...we're talking about folks like Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）and Miki Asakura（麻倉未稀）..."YOU" is a pretty fitting title for the bright-lights-big-city feeling of decadence back then. Yoshikatsu Hirade（平出よしかつ）provided the lyrics while Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）made the melody for the happy urban arrangement by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）, who had also provided the music for the entire series.
On the B-side of "YOU" is the first ending theme also sung by Yuuki and created by the songwriters mentioned above. Not surprisingly, in contrast with the upbeat "YOU", "TWO OF US" is a softer love ballad of the city, and I think that it's good enough for a City Pop band like Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）to cover.
The Osaka-born Yuuki released a total of five singles and one album up to 1991. According to her J-Wiki profile, she had a brief marriage to a baseball player on the current Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the late 1990s. She has been operating a vocal training school along with an esthetic salon.
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".
Since first discovering singer-songwriter Ai Furihata（降幡愛）and her brand of 80s synthpop and City Pop amid the backdrop of Vaporwave aesthetics a couple of years ago, I've been charmed into purchasing her debut mini-album"Moonrise" which came out in September 2020. As well, earlier this year, Furihata released her first mini-album of cover tunes, "Memories of Romance in Summer", which includes her take on Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）classic "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。）.
Just by pure dumb luck last night, I found out that Furihata will be putting out a second mini-album of cover tunes"Memories of Romance in Driving" which won't be due out actually for a few more weeks. The release date is September 28th. However, one of the tracks' music video is out now and before I knew about the source album, it took me half the song to realize that "Ai wa Kokoro no Shigoto desu" is a cover of late 80s band RAMU's debut single from 1988.
Also to remind folks, RAMU had aidoruMomoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）fully envelop that City Pop sensation to become the group's vocalist. I had my own translation for "Ai wa Kokoro no Shigoto desu", but I actually prefer the translation given under the YouTube video: "Love Is A Work Of Mind". The RAMU original had been created by lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composer Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, and basically the arrangement by Akimitsu Honma（本間昭光）follows the same pattern but there seems to be more of a ramp-up in the spacey synths, and the music video is the Vaporwave anime that no one saw coming but has arrived triumphantly nonetheless. Another point that characterizes this cover is that contrasted with Kikuchi's famously breathy delivery, Furihata packs a fair amount of punch into her singing, especially when she sings out "I My Me Mine, My Boy".
Furihata on her YouTube channel has also provided a tasting platter video for "Memories of Romance in Driving", so enjoy the tidbits.
Last night, I was looking at HRLE92's epic article on the various side projects budding out of the perennially summer time City Pop/J-AOR bandOmega Tribe（オメガトライブ）, "Omega Tribe-Related Works Review". Up to now, I had assumed that it was Kiyotaka Sugiyama's（杉山清貴）group to be passed over to Carlos Toshiki（カルロス・トシキ）, but like the multiverse which began to sprout at the end of the first season of "Loki", Omega Tribe apparently grew its own branches.
One album that came under HRLE92's scrutiny was Toshiki's debut solo album"Emotional" from December 1991. It wasn't looked upon too kindly by my fellow KKP contributor but he and I both agree that the first track "Yoake made Borderless" (Borderless Till Dawn) was the one standout. The song was actually his November 1991 2nd single as a solo artist following his 1982 "Lusia" (also noted in HRLE92's review) which had been released before Toshiki's relationship with Omega Tribe.
Written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the keyboards might sound 90s but in all other regards, "Yoake made Borderless" feels as if Toshiki had never left the band. Those harmonized backing vocals and the summery sax seal the deal in terms of the familiarity. The single only did very modestly, though, by scoring a peak of No. 97 on Oricon. The Economic Bubble Era may have crumbled away in that year but this song sure didn't get the memo.
Last night, I was listening to one of the fine albums that KKP contributor JTM had been kind enough to gift me over the years, and one was 1986 Omega Tribe's（1986オメガトライブ）"Crystal Night".
The album was the second one under the 1986 Omega Tribe name released in February 1987, and yep it was a good album to warm up folks in winter of that year. Of course, included on the release was the title track "Crystal Night", a really downtown City Pop tune with that Omega Tribe taste that I'd already written about back in 2017. In fact, I also provided my articles on a couple of other tracks from "Crystal Night": "Indian Summer" and the single "Super Chance". So I gather that I will be doing some clean-up here.
Arrangement for the tracks was handled by both Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, as we begin with the first track "Counterlight", a bouncy dance-pop tune written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composed by Omega Tribe keyboardist Toshitsugu Nishihara（西原俊次）and sung by Carlos Toshiki（カルロス・トシキ）. There seems to be some major tension building within what could be the end of a relationship although the music promises that it will be one of the coolest and maybe coldest breakups.
"Lady Free" comes across as if Omega Tribe had wanted to launch more on the rock side of AOR with that thrumming intro but when Carlos hits the mike, the old Omega Tribe smoothness flows in like the tonic water that comes with every song. Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）provides the lyrics telling the story of a woman who won't let something like romance tie her down in the big city, especially following a breakup, although the male observer (maybe her ex) points out that the lass is using her freedom as a shelter and maybe as a crutch. Guitarist Shinji Takashima（高島信二）came up with the music here.
I guess this romance trouble is the overarching theme for "Crystal Night" since the third track "Phoenix" now deals with a love triangle involving a young lady and a couple of buddies vying for her affections. Urino is once again behind the lyrics while Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）comes in as the composer. Things are a tad more synth-heavy but slightly mellower here in Funayama's arrangement, and as the song proceeds, the chirpiness in the keyboards increases reflecting the growing tension in the relationship.
"I'll Never Forget You" is the one song that has returned to my memories after many years on hearing that twinkly synthesizer opening. Some lovely solo guitar work reminding us of the City Pop of it all, thanks to Izumi's melody and Shinkawa's arrangement. The late Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）contributed the bittersweet lyrics of...what else?...love about to be lost for some reason; in bed, the young man is watching his paramour sleeping soundly next to him as he thinks about what he's had and then what is to become of it.
Urino, Izumi and Shinkawa worked together on "Ipanema Rain", a song concocted in honour of the fact that Carlos hails from Brazil. It's got some of that Latin rhythm mixed in with some spacey keyboards, and the melody has a few of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" vibes.
The final track "For Each Other" smacks of West Coast AOR via a lot of those 80s romantic ballads that were hitting the Top 10 on Billboard or RPM in my high school/university days. Koichi Fujita（藤田浩一）and Carlos came up with the lyrics with Izumi providing the music. The final trumpet adds some lasting class. After all of that sturm und drang of love in the earlier tracks, it's nice to end things on an optimistic note.
"Crystal Night" the album hit No. 1 and finished 1987 as the 20th-ranked album.
Happy Thursday! And as I type this, the Japanese are entering the Golden Week holidays which may be the first time in a few years that folks there have been able to travel within the nation, let alone overseas. My good friend and student is planning an outing with his family, and KKP contributor JTM has informed me that there will be a number of Japanese travelers entering the Aloha State over the next several days. I myself would love to head over to Japan to see old friends but I don't think that the opportunity will come for a while at least. Regardless, for all those over there heading out, have a very safe trip!
So I wanted to start the Thursday April 28th 2022 edition of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with something somewhat travel-oriented, and I came across this YouTube video put up last year by Island Fantasia, aka HRLE92 here on the blog. Titled "Kansho Ryoko" (A Sentimental Journey), this is a track from Shoko Arai's（荒井尚子）one-and-only album "Je Vous Aime" released in 1990. As noted by my fellow contributor, the album was produced by the one-and-only Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）and it has quite the luxurious lineup of composers and arrangers helping Arai out including artists such as musician Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）, Tohoku Shinkansen's（東北新幹線）Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）and singer-songwriter Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）. You can read the rest of the lineup under the video on Island's page for it. One other website mentions that the album has a very refined pop sense along the lines of the works of singers such as Anri（杏里）, Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）and Eri Hiramatsu（平松愛理）.
And I definitely can agree with the luscious arrangement behind "Kansho Ryoko". For this number, Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）was on lyrics while Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）took care of the melody with Shingo Kobayashi's（小林信吾）arrangement which has that feeling of 1980s Quiet Storm a la Anita Baker. It's quite the refreshing cocktail of a song, thanks to those sparkling keyboards.
Shoko Arai has her own J-Wiki article but with a slightly different kanji configuration（荒井晶子）. Additionally, there is no mention of the music part of her career aside from the fact that she is listed as an actress and a singer. Hailing from Tochigi Prefecture, she won the Miss Nippon beauty pageant in 1987 and entered show business in 1990. In 1994, she married actor-singer Shingo Kazami（風見しんご）.
Friday night looks to be a good night for some Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）. When I hear some of her material, I get some associations with other singers such as Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）back from the 1980s and Miho Fujiwara（藤原美穂）of Chocolate Lips.
I've already dipped twice into the well that is Tone's 2nd album"Purple Rose"from October 1985. For one thing, I've covered the funky opening track "Broken Eyes" that launches the album and then there is the sophisticated pop of her "Matenro Monogatari"（摩天楼物語）. Why I hadn't bothered getting the album is beyond me although I will still try for one of her BEST compilations.
Now here is the 2nd track, "Talk To Me", which starts off with some sassy back chorus and some jumpy keyboard work. Tone also sings it totally in English with an appropriately sultry attitude through Linda Hennrick's lyrics alongside Tsunehiro Izumi's（和泉常寛）music. Having listened to "Talk To Me" a few times now, I definitely do get those Kokubu vibes although the introduction of those strings (synth or otherwise) also has me thinking once again of some sophisti-pop.
Not to say that the song of this article has anything directly to do with the anime "Kaguya-sama: Love is War", but "Hoshizora no Date" (Starry Sky Date) kinda describes the situation that Kaguya and Miyuki found themselves in when the latter got all moony over the moon and the former got all moony over Miyuki getting all moony over the moon.
(1:01:11)
As for "Hoshizora no Date", this was the first song on pop singer Rika Himenogi's（姫乃樹リカ）"Golden Best" compilation from 2006, but it was originally a track on her debut album"Fairy Tale" which was released in August 1988. I wrote about her "Glass no Kiss"（硝子のキッス）back last New Year's Eve, and that debut single actually had an anime connection, but although this one doesn't, it does have the same songwriters in lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）.
I also mentioned in the article for "Glass no Kiss" that there was something fairly aidoru-ish about the song, but for "Hoshizora no Date", the arrangement has made it plainly clear that this is some stylishly fine pop on the same level as Miki Imai（今井美樹）at around the same time. Those soothing keyboards are indeed the ticket and Himenogi's vocals in the chorus are just top-notch for me. Listening to some of the other tracks on the BEST collection have also been quite pleasant as well.
Nice to see that the singer is still active in recent years. According to the information for the video, Himenogi was singing "Hoshizora no Date" at a Yokohama venue in 2019.
Oooh...wow! Haven't heard this one by 1986 Omega Tribe in ages...simply because I'd forgotten the song as the decades passed. Also, it didn't help that "Cosmic Love" had never been placed in an original album by the band, and frankly I rather abandoned those old compilation audiotapes.
"Cosmic Love" was the 3rd single by the band under that certain name of 1986 Omega Tribe with Carlos Toshiki（カルロス・トシキ）as the vocalist. Released in October 1986, hearing it again after so long, the City Pop/J-AOR vibes are indeed present but thanks to that special synthesizer, the whole song does make things rather cosmic, and the instrumental break smack-dab in the middle takes things briefly into a whole other dimension. From what I can glean from the late Koichi Fujita's（藤田浩一）lyrics, there is a relationship in trouble because of that geometric shape that never bodes well in love, i.e. the triangle, and one corner of that shape is trying to mend fences, although how the infusion of cosmic forces will help is beyond me. Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）was responsible for the melody while Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）brought all things spacey into the arrangement.
As I said off the top, "Cosmic Love" hadn't been placed in any original album by Omega Tribe, but slightly different versions were included onto the 1989 album"BEST REMIX" and the 1991 "Omega Tribe History: Good-bye Omega Tribe 1983-1991". The original single hit No. 3 on Oricon (and ended up as the 56th-ranked single of 1986) while "BEST REMIX" peaked at No. 30 and "Omega Tribe History" got as high as No. 29.
TGIF! For me, when it comes to singer Miho Morikawa（森川美穂）, until recently, all roads have led to her theme songs for the NHK anime "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia"（不思議の海のナディア...Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water), so I've seen her as someone who loves her power pop, and my lone Morikawa album "Pop The Top!" (1991) as you see above in the thumbnail continues to show that.
The last Morikawa article I did was back in August 2020, and I was happy to hear that she also had gone for a downtown party phase in the late 1980s with songs like "Splash Blue" from her "1/2 Contrast" album released in June 1988. Well, she also explored some R&B as well through her later 10th single,"Real Mind" which came out in October that year.
Veteran lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）, who would also pen the opening theme for "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia", wrote "Real Mind" as this scathing telling of a relationship that has been abruptly stopped by the cad. Bad news obviously, but I can't complain about the funky music by the duo of Hitoshi Haba and Tsunehiro Izumi（羽場仁志・和泉常寛）; will never turn down the offer of a beefy bass and bang-and-crash horns. When I first heard the song, I was rather reminded of the output of another Miho...Nakayama（中山美穂）, to be precise.
"Real Mind" peaked at No. 32 on Oricon and it's been included on her November 1988 5th album"Ow-witch!" whose LP version went as high as No. 16 while the CD peaked at No. 12. That title is quite intriguing, though. It sounds like what Bugs Bunny said in reaction to getting his head banged on something.
Indeed, yes, it's the final day for 2020. Unlike the above 2019 photo, though, it's not quite as bright and clear out there today although the temperatures are above normal. Another December 31st also means that I caught the last third of this year's Kohaku Utagassen live earlier this morning, and I figure that one of us here on the blog will give our thoughts on this most different edition of the annual NHK special.
Perhaps we can start off then with some articles from all over the spectrum starting with another musical contribution to the "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）ethos. This time, I found this theme song for "Maison Ikkoku ~ Kanketsuhen"（めぞん一刻完結篇...The Final Chapter）, the cinematic representation of the famous anime released in 1988. Titled "Glass no Kiss" (Glass Kiss), it was sung by Rika Himenogi（姫乃樹リカ）, and she joins the pantheon of "Maison Ikkoku" themes by Picasso（ピカソ）, Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）.
I was looking at Himenogi's J-Wiki and Wikipedia profile, and I didn't really see any indications that she had been groomed as a late 1980saidoru but there's certainly something quite aidoru-ish with the bouncy "Glass no Kiss". Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）with overall arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, along with the grand happy-go-lucky melody, I've also found something rather Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）-ish about Himenogi's delivery. "Glass no Kiss" reached No. 21 on Oricon and it serves as the singer's debut single from February 1988. It can also be found on her December 1988 album"Reminiscence 〜Singles vol.1〜".
Himenogi was born Rika Nishimura（西村理香）from Oita Prefecture and pretty early on in life, she found herself and her family moving from place to place due to the demands of her father's occupation. Sometime in 1982, she entered a music contest broadcast on TV Tokyo which resulted in her getting scouted by an entertainment company, and later on in 1986, she made her appearance in the June issue of the magazine "Momoco" and then on the TBS show "Momoco Club"（モモコクラブ）as a regular personality. At the time, though, aidoru Tomomi Nishimura（西村知美）was also on the program so to prevent any sort of conflict due to identical family names, Rika took on the stage name of Himenogi. Shortly after "Glass no Kiss" came out, she started her own radio program "Himenogi Rika no Oshaberi Salad"（姫乃樹リカのおしゃべりサラダ...Rika Himenogi's Talk Salad） and became a regular in the journal "Radio Paradise"（ラジオパラダイス）which boosted her popularity.
As a singer, she put out a total of 7 singles and 3 original studio albums under her stage name of Rika Himenogi up to 1990, but later that decade, she changed her name into a variant of her real name, Rika Nishimura（西邑理香）and released a few more singles and albums. In 1995, she married musician Dave Crigger and then moved to America where they have a family including three children.
"Genki desu ka?" (How are you?) was one of the first Japanese expressions that I ever learned as a kid, and I think the question has taken on a little deeper meaning considering our current circumstances. Hopefully, everyone is hanging in there although Toronto will be sadder for the next 28 days at least since we're going back into lockdown as of tomorrow due to the rates in hospital and generally speaking being too high.
"Genki desu ka" also happens to be the title for 80s aidoru Atsumi Kurasawa's（倉沢淳美）penultimate 9th single from April 1987. Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, the usual sunny teenybopper arrangements have that slight feeling of Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）and doo-wop as Kurasawa inquires about how a former flame (?) is doing in a new town in a new job.
Kurasawa who hails from Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture started her career in show business as one of the three members in Warabe（わらべ）, an aidoru group born on the variety show "Kin-chan no Doko Made Yaru no!?"（欽ちゃんのどこまでやるの?!...Kin-chan's How Far Will You Go?!）that garnered at least a couple of hits including "Medaka no Kyoudai"（めだかの兄妹）in the early 1980s. She made her solo debut in 1984, ending up with those 10 singles, 4 studio albums and a couple of BEST compilations by 1987.
According to her J-Wiki profile, early in her solo career, Kurasawa was a victim of a slashing attack by a 26-year-old company employee at an autograph session in Sapporo, Hokkaido which left her with a 6-cm gash on her wrist. Apparently, he took issue with a statement that Kurasawa had said that he perceived as a slight against the aidoru's partner in Warabe, Tomoko Takabe（高部知子）. On happier news, some years later, Kurasawa married a fellow from Australia and moved there to become a homemaker and mother before moving with her family to Dubai in August 2011, according to a feature on a TBS variety special focusing on Japanese wives all around the world that was aired in 2013.
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