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 December and we're just 24 days away from Christmas.
OK...I have to admit seeing the thumbnail of this CD coated in a picture of chanteuse Misia standing in front of a battery of Ultramen in tuxedos caught me rather unawares. Misia is one of the premier singers in Japan and I think that she can blast the windows out of any performance hall with her own renditions of the Yuletide songs (including a song that probably wasn't officially an Xmas tune but I consider it as one). But I never thought that she would be collaborating with the heroic citizens of the M78 Nebula.
And yet, that's what she did for her "Ultra X'mas", the coupling song to "Hoshi no you ni..."（星のように…Like A Star）, her December 2009 single which was the theme song for one of the many "Ultraman"（ウルトラマン）movies, "Daikaijū Battle Ultra Ginga Densetsu"（大怪獣バトル ウルトラ銀河伝説...Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy） that came out in the same month. For "Ultra X'mas" (which sounds like a B'z title), it's a short and sweet ukulele ditty about the Yuletide written by Misia and Hinata with composition by JP. For those who love the anime "Shirokuma Café"（しろくまカフェ）, JP is the fellow who came up with the first opening theme for the show, "Boku ni Invitation"（ボクにインビテーション）.
If I haven't already done so, I'm gonna have to put up an article about that theme song, "Hoshi no you ni...". But for those "Ultraman" fans, feel free to place that colour timer at the top of the Xmas tree and adorn it with plenty of Eye Sluggers. Also, "Ultra X'mas" can also be found on Misia's November 2020 Xmas album"So Special Christmas".
My ardor for the "Ultraman"（ウルトラマン）tokusatsu series really only lasted for those mere few years in the early 1970s, although it did spark my very first trip to Japan in 1972. A lot of my television memories from that time consisted of the Nebula M78 heroes popping up to destroy the bizarre monsters weekly, and for me, they were Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace. After returning back to Canada, I did realize that there were the next generation of Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Leo but beyond that, I lost my interest although the heroes kept getting churned out. Merchandise sales need to pay for a lot of mortgages, you know.
Of course, my image of the typical theme song for any of the "Ultraman" series was a male vocal group backed up by a children's choir singing a proud militaristic march echoing the virtues and heroism of the titular hero such as the theme for "Ultraman Ace". So you can imagine my surprise on finding out that for a 1990s version of the hero, "Ultraman The Ultimate Hero" or as he was known in Japan, "Ultraman Powered"（ウルトラマンパワード）, the ending theme sounded more like a swinging caviar-and-champagne song of that decade (although the Bubble had long burst by then).
Yeah, that's right. As the Wikipedia article will let you know, "Ultraman The Ultimate Hero" was a joint 1993 Japanese-American straight-to-video production starring a couple of people that I remember: Kane Kosugi as the hero (son of martial arts star Sho Kosugi) and American actor Harrison Page as the leader of the usual special squad designed to tackle alien threats. Page had played the long-suffering detective boss in the short-lived parody series "Sledge Hammer!" on ABC years prior.
Those straight-to-video episodes gradually made their way onto Japanese TV, specifically TBS from the spring of 1995, and that is when the urbane paint-the-town-red ending theme for "Ultraman Powered" appeared. "STARLIGHT FANTASY" was recorded by Hitomi Sudo（須藤ひとみ）, a singer who's another mystery figure since I could barely find anything about her outside of the fact that she released at least three singles including "STARLIGHT FANTASY" according to Oricon. This particular song was most likely her debut single from April 1995 and it was written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Akihiro Yoshimi（良実明宏）.
It does beg the question, though. What would an Ultraman do for some decadent fun? Ah, I know!
Ahh...it's truly a pity that I lost the single cover for the "Ultraman Ace"（ウルトラマンA）theme so many years ago. It was kakkoii with the tokusatsu hero front and centre performing that famous Ultraman pose with the right fist and arm outstretched toward the viewer while their left counterparts were coiled down, ready to strike themselves.
I wrote the article on the triumphant theme song for "Ultraman Ace" back in 2013 and mentioned that during our very first trip to Japan in 1972, my brother and I enjoyed the show of Ace battling the evil monsters with his array of beams while the defense organization connected with him, TAC (standing for Terrible Monster Attacking Crew), was helping out with its own arsenal.
Of course, it was Ultraman Ace that we came to see weekly but I gotta admit that I hadn't been aware that TAC had so many weapons and ships at its disposal to make the Thunderbirds take notice. I mean, the force had the TAC Falcon, the TAC Arrow and the Golden Hawk among other vehicles. What's not to admire?
TAC also had its own kickass song to match the one for "Ultraman Ace", simply called "TAC no Uta" (The TAC Song). According to J-Wiki, the original version had been recorded by vocal group Honey Knights（ハニー・ナイツ）with The Misuzu Children's Choral Group（みすず児童合唱団）but the video above apparently features a cover version with that same vocal group but instead of Misuzu, it's the Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）instead.
"TAC no Uta" was written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一）and composed/arranged by Toru Fuyuki（冬木透）, the same duo behind the "Mirror Man"（ミラーマン）theme, and the song parallels the "Ultraman Ace" march in its progression with the opening grim trouble-is-brewing half before the major-chord winning latter half. Strangely enough, I think the "Avengers" theme may share some genes in that respect despite its decades-later creation.
My record with both the "Ultraman Ace" theme and "TAC no Uta" that my mother had bought back in 1972 may have been yet another more subdued cover since I don't really recollect hearing in my 45" Honey Knights' "wan dabadaba wan dabadaba" scatting which peppers the arrangement. Supposedly it was quite the thing for their scatting to populate a number of the tokusatsu themes they performed on, with the "Wan Daba" phenomenon even getting its own article on J-Wiki. I have to say that it does beef up the song quite a lot.
My interest in all things Ultraman（ウルトラマン）lasted up to and including "Ultraman Ace"（ウルトラマンエース）when it came to the TV franchise, basically when I was visiting Japan for the first time in 1972 as a kid. However back in Toronto, when my family visited the old Furuya food store in Old Chinatown downtown one day, I discovered an elementary school reader that had an Ultraman that I had never seen before.
It was pretty fascinating to me. Looking like a hybrid of Ultraman Father and Ultra Seven（ウルトラセブン）, this was Ultraman Taro, and he made his debut on TV screens in Japan the year after my first visit. The story of his debut in the opening pages of the kids' book that I most likely pressured Mom to purchase was totally epic. In a span of 6 pages with color pictures, my eyes absorbed ad nauseum the spectacle of what seemed to be an invasion of Nebula M-78, the homeworld of the Ultramen, by a ton of kaiju during which all of the previous Ultramen seen including the Ultra Parents and first son Zoffy (ゾフィー) looked to be in over their shiny chrome heads. But then new son, Ultraman Taro, comes on the scene to miraculously turn the tide on the invaders with his big brothers getting that second wind to oust the beasts. I couldn't read Japanese at that point, but I was still mightily impressed.
Now where that reader has gone I've got no idea. It may still be lingering in one of the storerooms or my parents may have pitched it out long ago. In any case, I never really had that major urge to see the TV series although I finally got to see an episode many many years later as an adult. Still, I have some recollection of Taro's theme tune since it has gotten onto many a variety show for whatever reason.
Titled simply "Ultraman Taro", it was sung by Taro Takemura（武村太郎）. At first, I had imagined that the powers-that-be must have worked really hard to find a singer with the same name as the character. But it turns out Takemura was merely a stage name for actor/singer/seiyuu Ryoichi Fukuzawa（福沢良一）. He and the Shonen Shojo Gasshodan Mizuumi（少年少女合唱団みずうみ...Boys & Girls Chorus Group Mizuumi）got together to do their heroic rendition of the Taro theme written by no less than Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）.
I have to say that although I never got into the original series I did find Ultraman Taro to be quite the imposing figure especially with the horns...at least until Ultraman Leo (ウルトラマンレオ) came along.
Although I mentioned about this song in the article for the theme for "Ultra Seven"（ウルトラセブン）, I thought it was time to give the theme song for the original "Ultraman"（ウルトラマン）its due. One reason is that when I first heard it, I thought it was quite different to the proud heroic marches that accompanied Ultraman's siblings, Ultra Seven and Ultraman Ace.
On hearing the Misuzu Children's Choral Group （みすず児童合唱団）sing the theme, I wondered if it was something that Ultraman would have twisted to. Yeah, there was something of a 60s go-go beat to it thanks to the guitar, although there was also the horn fanfare at the intro. While the other theme songs had that superhero feeling, "Ultraman no Uta"(The Song of Ultraman) felt more superspy than superhero....more James Bond or Napoleon Solo than Superman or Batman.
As with the show itself, the theme song came out in July 1966. Kunio Miyauchi （宮内國郎）came up with the music while Kyoichi Azuma （東京一）was responsible for the lyrics. Now, what I didn't write in the "Ultra Seven" article was that looking at that name, I knew it had to be a half-jokey pen name since it can also read as Tokyo Ichi (Tokyo One), and sure enough it was a pseudonym. The real name of the writer was none other than producer Hajime Tsuburaya （円谷一）who became the 2nd president of Tsuburaya Productions, the studio behind the "Ultraman" franchise. His father, Eiji, （円谷英二）was the founder and first president along with being a special effects director and one of the co-creators for "Godzilla".
The above video happens to be the English-language version of the theme when the show was aired Stateside. I was surprised to find out that "Ultraman" had actually been shown in America (no such luck here in The Great White North....at least not in what is now the GTA). My first exposure to one of Japan's greatest pop cultural heroes was right in Japan via Ultraman Jack and the aforementioned Ace. Of course, my brother and I being little bratty kids at the time, we were more than happy with the Ultra Guys and ended up with books and records from the franchise. Some years later, as a teacher on the JET Programme, I started giving my so-called in-house wisdom to one of the children of a colleague in the neighbouring village of Niiharu since he was starting to get into Ultraman himself. Man, maybe there were a few Ultramen to talk about but all those monsters.....sheesh!
Yup, old guy fanboy coming through here again. My summer in Wakayama Prefecture in 1972 had my brother and I enjoying the pleasures of watching all sorts of tokusatsu kiddie programming. There was the "Kamen Rider" series, and then there was the "Ultraman" franchise. I mentioned that the theme that stood out amongst all those Ultramen opening songs was the march for "Ultra Seven", although we were never able to catch a single episode of the hero during our time there.
However, we did catch a lot of the Ultraman who was around in that year, namely Ultraman Ace, as he graced the tube on Friday evenings. Like his senpai, Ultra Seven, looked somewhat different from the originalUltraman. He had a somewhat more angular head and a bigger horn on top of it (compensating for some insecurity perhaps?). And the show was different in that for the majority of its run, it took two to tango. Namely, a truck driver by the name of Seiji and Yuko, a nurse (who, incidentally, was actually a resident of the Moon.....quite a commute, I hear) were needed to do the famed henshin to become Ace. I have to be honest....I did have my first crush on Yuko-chan.
My brother and I loved the show, so Mom bought us the original single for the "Ultraman Ace" theme song, which came with the full-length version. It also had the TV version which was extended by a short recorded excerpt of a typical adventure with TAC, the Special Forces unit dealing with kaiju invaders from outer space, and the inevitable arrival of Ace to save the day (and provide tons of jobs to structural engineers).
The theme, written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一） and composed by Masahiko Aoi（葵まさひこ）, progressed like a typical episode. There were the opening minor-key verses signalling trouble ahead (kinda sounded like the theme from "The Tuesday Night Suspense Drama" with that string flourish) before the song goes heroic to welcome Ultraman Ace. As with the theme for "Ultra Seven",the Misuzu Children's Choral Group participated in this recording as well, along with Honey Knights, a male vocal group that specialized in commercials and anime themes.
Of course, I gotta have a scene with the Ace man in action.
And here is Ultraman Ace when he is not on 3-minute duty....as Yuko and Seiji. As for that single record....not sure where it is now, but I'm pretty confident it's still somewhere in the annals of my home.
The Ultraman Guidebook I got in 1981.
It just called out to me.
A few days ago, when I was typing up another entry for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", the foot under my desk kept leaning against something (my laptop is basically in a walk-in closet that used to be my old bedroom...such is life). Since it was restricting things a bit, I found out it was an old Canada Dry plastic bag containing a lot of old 45" singles of kayo kyoku that my parents had brought over from the old country. But one record in there was a special one for me....back in 1972, when I made my first trip to Japan ever with my brother and mother, my mother bought us a record that contained the theme songs for four of the big superheroes at the time: Kamen Rider, Mirror Man, Silver Kamen and Ultra Seven.
Now, during that hot summer in Osaka and Wakayama Prefecture, my brother and I did our share of butterfly chasing with nets and trying to avoid the huge snakes around the rice paddies of my grandpa's farm (although a scarab beetle managed to sneak into my underwear for several minutes...but that's another story). However, our big television memories there were watching the anime and the big superhero vs. monster shows, otherwise known as tokusatsu（特撮...literally, special filming). As kids growing up in Toronto, we used to watch "Monster Week" on the Buffalo NBC affiliate WGRZ (WGR back then) during their afternoon movies at 4 p.m., so Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra were big names at our place, and so the huge Japanese monster obsession we had was transferred with us to Japan. Now, at the time, the Ultraman series had long been in production before we got there ("Ultra Q" premiered in 1966), so the current Ultramen in 1972 were Ultraman Ace on its first run and his predecessor, Ultraman Jack, in the afternoons. We had a ball watching the good guys using their punches, kicks and laser beams on the monsters.
But the theme song we loved was for "Ultra Seven", the second of the Ultramen to grace Japanese small screens. And so, when we got back to Toronto, this song, plus the "Kamen Rider" theme song got heavy rotation on the RCA Victor. And apparently, it's THE theme song for the entire Ultraman franchise that everyone remembers to this day (although Mom also got the "Ultraman Ace" single for us....but as much as I like that one, too, it just doesn't quite have the presence).
"SEVEN.....SEVEN.....SEVEN!"
The original theme for "Ultraman" had that Group Sounds good times guitar vibe with its chorus, but the theme for "Ultra Seven" just screamed "Hero coming through!!!" There was the anthemic brass intro, followed by the three members of chorus group The Echoes sliding in "Seven" before they and the entire Misuzu Children's Chorus Group blasted "Seven" again in staccato notes before the burst of French horn, and then the triumphant lyrics written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一） with Toru Fuyuki（冬木透） behind the notes. It's a theme that just stands up and out for an Ultraman that also stood out in his appearance and his battle tactics; I think his Ice Slugger is the coolest weapon that any of the warriors have had (yeah, I know I'm going a bit fanboy here). My brother and I were doing a fair bit of kicking and spinning around in the living room when that song was on, although we had never seen one episode of "Ultra Seven" in our time in Japan.
The above video doesn't have a great recording of the theme but it does show Ultra Seven doing what he does best.
And here is the live version of the theme being performed by a Tokyo orchestra with J-R&B singer Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三） providing lead vocals, and the original composer, Fuyuki, as the conductor. Of course, Ultra Seven himself just had to be there. One interesting piece of trivia I got from YouTube and J-Wiki is one of the members of The Echoes happened to be Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦） (he's the 3rd voice sliding in the "Seven") who would later find even bigger fame as the big-voiced singer behind the evergreen "Mata Au Hi Made".
Just for comparison, here is the original "Ultraman" theme.
Yup....the record...41 years old this summer.
Not too worse for wear.
