Yasuko Kuwata -- Moshikashite Dream（もしかして・ドリーム）

 

I began the Yasuko Kuwata（桑田靖子）file pretty early in the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", with her 4th single "My Joyful Heart" from 1984 getting onto the blog in the middle of 2013. Surprisingly, I have yet to write about her debut single "Datsu - Platonic"（脱・プラトニック）from early 1983 which seems to have been her most significant hit.

But until that day comes, I'm going to continue the Kuwata file with her 3rd single from October 1983, "Moshikashite Dream" (It Was All a Dream?). Created by the same team which took care of her first two singles including "Datsu - Platonic", lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, it comes off initially as an intrepid and fairly serious theme for a TV detective series in the 1960s until the chorus bursts forth into a major-key happy tune. Maybe that dream has actually turned into a reality? The song managed to peak at No. 71 on Oricon.

Yasuko Kuwata -- Hisoyaka na Hanran（ひそやかな反乱）

 

It's been a day of tiny good fortune. I thought I'd won simply a Free Play at one of the semi-weekly lotteries only to find out that I was up on the higher level of winning a whopping $3. Then, my regular sandwich-making lady was kind enough to give me a free Mountain Dew with my biweekly run there for lunch. Now, if I could only get a whopping good fortune.

Regardless, when I first heard this song by 80s aidoru Yasuko Kuwata（桑田靖子）, I figured from the snarling electric guitar and the melody rumbling like a Yamaha engine, it must have been another collaboration by composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. After all, they were also responsible for the even more famous "Shojo A"（少女A）by Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, another case of 80s aidoru rock. Sure enough, not only were both Serizawa and Hagita behind "Hisoyaka na Hanran" (Secret Rebellion), but the same lyricist for "Shojo A", Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, was also taking care of the words for this particular tune.

Released in November 1984 as Kuwata's 7th single, Urino's lyrics talk of a teenage rebel girl who's struggling with her feelings for a guy while trying to maintain that tough outer shell in front of everyone else. Basically, the punk feels that it's all or nothing with the potential romance. If she fails to hit the target, then she won't ever fall in love again. Yeah, well, good luck with that.

"Hisoyaka na Hanran" managed to make it as high as No. 66 which is Kuwata's 2nd-highest tally on Oricon. I would think that the song would have also made for a good fit for the aforementioned Akina Nakamori but by the end of 1984, I think Nakamori had already gone beyond her initial persona as misunderstood high school punk to become a pop superstar.

Yasuko Kuwata -- Tokimeki Jikanwari（ときめき時間割り）

 

It's kinda refreshing to hear an early 1980s aidoru arrangement once more after a while. Those soaring strings, the latent funkiness, and the sparkly keyboards surrounding the cute teenybopper vocals have me thinking back to Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）.

However, the aidoru here is Yasuko Kuwata（桑田靖子）and the song is "Tokimeki Jikanwari" (Heartthrob Timetable) which was a track on her December 1983 2nd album "Tokimeki"（ときめき）. Written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Ikuro Fujiwara（藤原いくろう）, the song is a pleasantly natsukashii aidoru tune sung in an appropriately chirpy way by Kuwata. They certainly don't make songs like these anymore.

Yasuko Kuwata -- Ku-gatsu ga Kite mo（九月が来ても）

 

I just realized that I haven't written about 80s aidoru Yasuko Kuwata（桑田靖子）since 2013 through her single "My Joyful Heart", so allow me to rectify the situation.

This isn't a Kuwata single but a track from her third album "Vacation"（バケーション）released in June 1984. "Ku-gatsu ga Kite mo" (Even When September Comes) is a spritely summer song that launches with a bit of happy West Coast flavour. Her J-Wiki article stated that the aidoru had a good high-toned delivery and I'd say that "Ku-gatsu ga Kite mo" is a nice reflection of those vocals. The song was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Wataru Kuniyasu（国安わたる）.

From reading that J-Wiki article about her, I found out that her overall catchphrase was "The No. 5 Cutest Girl in Class" which struck me as being rather insulting and mystifying. Even on Kuwata's own blog, the singer-turned-tarento has refuted it as words that someone came up with.

Yasuko Kuwata -- My Joyful Heart

My knowledge of the vast ocean of aidoru in the 1980s is very much restricted to the surface, so it's always great when I come across a very pleasant and nostalgic song for the first time (as somewhat oxymoronic as that may sound). For today, that is Yasuko Kuwata's（桑田靖子） "My Joyful Heart", which I found through YouTube.

The Fukuoka-born Kuwata (real name: Saeko Ikeda) debuted as an aidoru in 1983 with "Datsu Platonic"（脱・プラトニック....De-Platonic), along with contemporaries such as Maiko Ito（伊藤麻衣子） and Hiromi Koide（小出広美）, and attended Tokyo's celeb-filled Horikoshi High School in which her dokyusei (year-mates) included Yukiko Okada（岡田由希子）, Yoko Minamino（南野陽子） and Minako Honda（本田美奈子）. Her 4th single, released in January 1984, was "My Joyful Heart", written and composed by Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・たかお）. Just my bias, but there is something about songs created by the Kisugi siblings that kicks them up a notch in terms of listenability.

Since I've only encountered this song just in the last hour, if there's anyone out there who has some deeper comments about Ms. Kuwata or even this particular song, please let me know.