Andre Candre (Yosui Inoue) -- Candre Mandre（カンドレ・マンドレ）

 

After posting the cover of "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" (飾りじゃないのよ涙は）a few days ago for Urban Contemporary Friday and knowing the distinctly dashing figure that songwriter Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）has had all these decades with those dark sunglasses, his crumply-soft voice and the easy enigmatic grin, I kinda wondered what he was like back in his early days. Yes, I was interested in his origins. 

Incidentally, Yosui Inoue is technically a stage name for the singer-songwriter born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Although the kanji for his name has never changed, he was born under the different reading (for his given name) Asami Inoue. However, when Inoue first made his debut, he went with the name Andre Candre（アンドレ・カンドレ）for a couple of years before switching to now iconic Yosui Inoue in 1971.

Yep, in September 1969, Andre Candre released his first single "Candre Mandre" under the CBS/Sony label. I don't know how he came up with either that first stage name or that debut single title, but he burst out of the gates running with this one. Looking rather serious on the single cover through two faces, one of those faces has him sans glasses which should be a rare look for the man. However, despite the night photo and those faces, "Candre Mandre" is an upbeat and fairly fast-paced folk tune about a couple heading for that land of love. Andre would release two more singles until he decided to make that fateful name change and make a re-debut.

Masayuki Suzuki/Yosui Inoue -- Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa (飾りじゃないのよ涙は）

 

Yes, the man so cool his sunglasses sprouted from his face organically is back on KKP. Indeed, I'm talking about the God of Love Songs himself, Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki（鈴木雅之）.

I'm usually not a huge fan of tribute albums of famous artists in Japan, although I did buy one for Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）several years ago. And so I was surprised to find out a few days ago that such a tribute album dedicated to the songs of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）had been produced and released in May 2025. Titled "Meikyo: Tribute to Akina Nakamori"（明響...Akina Resonates）, it apparently consists of two CDs with the first one consisting of those other singers covering her hits while the second one has the original versions of those hits sung by Akina herself back in the 1980s.

Speaking of Martin, he contributes his golden tones to one of Akina's biggest hits, "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" (These Tears Ain't For Show) and I gotta say that he hits this one right out of the park like a Kazuma Okamoto homer (which I hope the newest Blue Jay will do later today on Opening Day). I remember when I first heard the original version and thought it a pretty upbeat song which got my OK. But then when I heard the extended album version of the original 1984 single which launched her landmark "Bitter & Sweet" album from 1985, my ears and brain were sent into the stratosphere so that I ended up hearing the track a few times that night when I purchased it in Chinatown. 

A similar feeling rammed into me when I heard the Suzuki cover version a couple of nights ago, and it combines quite the potent cocktail of crystalline Neo-City Pop, funk and 60s guitar rock. Singer-songwriter Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）probably smiled through his own dark sunglasses and said "Yes, we have the singer" (a slight joke from "F1"). If there were going to be a fourth season of the anime "Kaguya-sama"（かぐや様は告らせたい）, I wouldn't mind having this be the theme song.

Continuing with the name segues, Inoue brought his own cover of "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" from his own self-cover album "9.5 Carat"（9.5カラット）from December 1984 which ended up as the No. 1 album for 1985. For some reason, I never got around to posting this one up until now, despite the fact that I remember hearing it on my old beloved CHIN-FM radio program "Sounds of Japan" decades ago. Anyways, Inoue's cover seems to have a darker and more haunting tone. Plus, the other notable thing about it is that it was arranged by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）, the man behind all that Studio Ghibli music.

J-Canuck's Hotel Songs

 

It wasn't too long ago that I mentioned that I would probably end up doing an Author's Picks on hotel-based kayo kyoku because there were so many of them out there. In fact, I had included Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets' classic Group Sounds 1967 "Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）but I got the warning from Blogger that I couldn't exceed the total of 200 characters per article in the Labels section, so I'm providing the link to the article above.

However, getting back on track, here is a small sampling of those hotel songs. It's interesting that airport-based kayo kyoku exist as a setting for bittersweet romantic partings whereas the hotel is the base for something quite the opposite (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).😍 The songs aren't presented in any sort of order.

(1983) BORO -- Negresco Hotel（ネグレスコ・ホテル）

(1990) Masayuki Suzuki -- Private Hotel （プライベートホテル）

(1985) Yutaka Shimazu -- Hotel （ホテル）

(1982) Yosui Inoue -- Riverside Hotel

(1986) Masatoshi Nakamura -- Omoide no Cliffside Hotel（想い出のクリフサイドホテル）

(1986) Hideki Saijo -- ROOM NUMBER 3021

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Momoe, Yosui & Mina

 

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Yume Saki Annainin (夢先案内人）

Yosui Inoue -- Isso Serenade （いっそセレナーデ）

Mina Aoe -- Shinjuku Saturday Night （新宿サタデー・ナイト）

Farewell to Dr. Yellow!

 

Back in June last year, I posted up an article for the song "Dr. Yellow"（Dr.イエロー）by MoJo on hearing the announcement that the famous and beloved specialized train for diagnostics on the Bullet Trains was going to be retired over the next few years. However, when I watched NHK news this morning, it looks like JR Central's Dr. Yellow had its final run today (the one belonging to JR West will be retired in 2027).

Not surprisingly, there were huge billowing masses of fans at the final stop and any place where photographers could get a glimpse and shot of the yellow Shinkansen to say goodbye. On the NHK report, there was even a focus on one photographer who had become friends of a family whose young son had been suffering from leukemia. The photographer was able to get one final shot of Dr. Yellow in tribute to the boy who had passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 11.

I was thinking of paying a further tribute to Dr. Yellow but outside of the MoJo song, there doesn't seem to be any other kayo devoted to the train. Therefore, I've decided to put up an Author's Pick on providing songs of gratitude as I'm sure that a lot of the fans have their feelings of thanks toward the train.

(1971) Jun Inoue -- Osewa ni Narimashita（お世話になりました）

(1979) Off Course -- Sayonara (さよなら）

(1995) Dreams Come True -- Thank You.（サンキュ.）

(1997) Yosui Inoue & Tamio Okuda -- Arigato （ありがとう）

Yosui Inoue -- Kasa ga nai（傘がない）

 

I guess Kayo Grace Kyoku and Mr. Calico are waiting for that bus or train while it's raining cats and dogs (no offense to Mr. Calico). Wasn't aware that Kayo's pet and manager was willing to go au naturel but perhaps it's Wednesday. But yeah, yesterday was one for the ages, meteorologically speaking (although we've been getting warned now that the situation will be normalizing over the next few decades) as the Greater Toronto Area got walloped with a month's worth of rain within a few hours yesterday. Half of the city got its power knocked out and a lot of streets including our Don Valley Parkway were transformed into bodies of water. Even hip-hop singer Drake's palatial mansion in the northern part of Toronto suffered major flooding in the basement. 

Well, we're all drying ourselves off from the Storm of 2024 today, and as such, I've decided to start today's edition of KKP with something rain-themed. The blog has included many songs along that theme such as Iruka's（イルカ）"Ame no Monogatari"（雨の物語）and Chisato Moritaka's（森高千里）"Ame"（雨）.

Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）wrote and composed his 2nd single for release in July 1972, "Kasa ga nai" (I Have No Umbrella) with Katsu Hoshi（星勝）handling the arrangements. Incidentally, I first heard this song (without knowing anything about it) when Inoue himself appeared on an episode of the Fuji-TV comedy-variety show "Tunnels no Minna-san no Okage desu"（とんねるずのみなさんのおかげです）to goof about with The Tunnels. With the three of them decked out in exaggerated versions of Inoue's old 1970s big hair, it was a bit jarring to hear the singer himself blurt out something about suicide in that toothy grin of his, but then that was the only word I could really understand from the lyrics at that time so I had no context.

As it turns out though, "Kasa ga nai" wasn't about suicide despite the rather melancholy folksy melody. It was about a young man reading about the suicide rate growing in Japan but then throwing out all thoughts of society's ills and wringing his hands instead on the fact that he really wanted to see his girlfriend but didn't have an umbrella to get to her place despite the storm happening outside. From what I've read on the J-Wiki writeup regarding "Kasa ga nai", Inoue was taking a mildly sarcastic approach as he created one of his trademark tunes at a time when the student protest movements were still pushing through with folk songs being one of the musical weapons in the arsenal. However, by the time that the song finally got out onto record store shelves, folk music had started losing its political edge and became something more self-centered in the New Music sphere of things. So, it ironically went from being a satirical joust to a harbinger of the times, and Inoue admitted that had never been his intent with this song. Ahhh....oops?

"Kasa ga nai" peaked at No. 69 on Oricon but it also ended up as a track on Inoue's debut album "Danzetsu"（断絶...Severance） which was released in May 1972. The album was a Top 10 finisher by coming in at No. 8 on the weeklies but it eventually became the No. 7 album of 1974. 

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Masaaki & Yoko, Junko O. and Yosui (Canada Day Edition)

 

Happy Canada Day! Yep, the Great White North is 157 years old today so it's a statutory holiday here. Hopefully, my fellow Canadians are enjoying BBQs or ribfests or other holiday-themed activities from Vancouver to St. John's. As such, I felt that today may be a good opportunity to provide a Canada-themed exhibition at the J-C AI Gallery with some of our kayo kyoku.

Masaaki Hirao and Yoko Hatanaka -- Canada Kara no Tegami (カナダからの手紙）

Junko Ohashi & Minowa Central Station -- Canadian Lullaby （カナディアン・ララバイ）

Yosui Inoue -- Canadian Accordion （カナディアン アコーデオン）

Yosui Inoue -- Shotaijou no Nai Show（招待状のないショー）

 

Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）has always come up with a blend of playful and poignant and party-on songs over his nearly 55-year career, but I have to say that this particular ballad is up there with his best in my opinion.

His title track from his top-charting March 1976 album "Shotaijou no Nai Show" (A Show Without an Invitation) definitely has got its emotions on its sleeve as Inoue either portrays or truly has been that singer in some tiny venue in perhaps a large city. He's the featured "star" in some setting where the audience probably cares more for the chintzy piece of cooked protein on the plate and the Chez Thunderbird in the glass than for him and his music. Meanwhile, the singer is wailing away his despair at not seeing his beloved anymore due to breakup or other sad circumstances.

Perhaps I am being a tad florid and maudlin in the above but Inoue's melody as arranged by Makoto Yano（矢野誠）reflects that loneliness, amped to high levels by the dramatic strings and the singer's resonant voice. I also can't help but feel that there is a certain kinship between "Shotaijou no Nai Show" and Billy Joel's "Piano Man" which had come out a few years earlier. Joel sings about his happy resignation being the titular piano man in a local drinking joint among the amiable and fascinating barfly regulars. Meanwhile, Inoue in his song sounds as if he is in his own beautiful perdition after his hopes and dreams have gone to ash.

A couple of singles came out of the album but neither of them included the title track, although it did show up on his May 1977 10th single "Natsu Ganbou"（夏願望...Summer Desire） which actually wasn't in the original album. The album hit No. 1 and stayed at the top spot for nearly two months, ending up as the No. 4 album of the year. I can imagine Inoue's good buddy Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）of Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）hitting this one out of the ballpark, and to add to the connection, Tamaki's collaborator Katsu Hoshi（星勝）had been one of the percussionists on the song.

J-Canuck's "Canada" Tunes

 

As it says up there, Happy Canada Day! How's it going, eh? Everything is closed today which means I get to have lots of time to figure out how to commemorate the occasion on our humble little blog. But first off, a little aside here regarding another old interest of mine.

The most recent episode of the latest "Star Trek" entry, "Strange New Worlds" showed off its third episode this season, and it involves time travel which is not a new thing at all for the franchise. But this time, a couple of characters end up in 21st-century Toronto, and this time around, Toronto isn't sitting in for another metropolis. La'an Noonien-Singh actually pegs it as my hometown right in the middle of Yonge-Dundas Square (mind you, it helps that the show is actually filmed in the Toronto area)! And who da thunk it?! James T. Kirk actually loves hot dogs and poutine. Get this guy a Timmies Double-Double!

Anyways, the soft tradition that I've had around July 1st is putting up a Canada-affiliated kayo kyoku or J-Pop song. Nope, it's not easy to do but I've tried my best over the years. And I finally decided to make this Canada Day's edition on KKP an Author's Pick compilation bringing together those relevant songs that I've mentioned. So, without further ado, here we go! And by the way, I also have the "America" tunes up and running as well.

(1978) Masaaki Hirao and Yoko Hatanaka -- Canada Kara no Tegami (カナダからの手紙）

(1980) Junko Ohashi & Minowa Central Station -- Canadian Lullaby （カナディアン・ララバイ）

(2008) Superfly -- Vancouver （バンクーバー）

(1993) Yosui Inoue -- Canadian Accordion （カナディアン アコーデオン）

(1983) Yasuko Agawa -- Canadian Star 

Yosui Inoue -- Feminist（フェミニスト）

 

Welcome to another Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I would have started earlier but I had to watch the finale for Season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard". Not a dry eye in the house.😉

Anyways, why don't we start off with some sunny and summery Margaritaville-type music such as singer-songwriter Yosui Inoue's（井上陽水）"Feminist"? A track from his September 1979 7th album "Sneaker Dancer"（スニーカーダンサー）, I should also add that there is some disco in there, too. Either way, it comes off as a travel-friendly City Pop that was written and composed by Inoue with Katsu Hoshi（星勝）providing the arrangement.

Looking at those lyrics, it sounds like Inoue is singing from the point of view of a footloose and fancy-free lady who's not much for feminists but does like her pianists. She likes to keep things simple and fun. Maybe that was indeed the atmosphere back in the late 1970s going into the early 1980s. As for the album itself, "Sneaker Dancer" hit No. 3 on Oricon.

Yutaka Mizutani -- Harbor Light（はーばーらいと）

 

When it comes to thespian Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）on TV, there will be his most famous role as the urbane detective Ukyo Sugishita（杉下右京）on the long-running "Aibou"（相棒）series. As a singer, he will probably be recognized for his 5th single "California Connection"（カリフォルニア・コネクション）from 1979.

But let's start off Urban Contemporary Fridays on KKP with something that's not quite in the City Pop vein but it still has some pangs of city life in there. Mizutani began his recording career with a debut single titled "Harbor Light" which was released in July 1977, just before his 25th birthday. Incidentally, this has nothing to do with Boz Scaggs' ballad, "Harbor Lights", from his 1976 "Silk Degrees" album.

Nope, this was made in Japan with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）as the lyricist, Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）as the composer and Jun Sato（佐藤準）handling the arrangements. And it sounds like a song that should have belonged to a Japanese cop show with the star pensively walking the streets of Tokyo at night. Lyrically, it's all about the most atmospheric breakup situation, and vocally, Mizutani seems to have been channeling quite a bit of Inoue. Not sure if the song actually helped the budding young actor get some of those cop roles.👮

Yosui Inoue -- White Christmas

 

Well, as I said, for that Yuriko Ohmori （大森有里子）song earlier today, we're supposed to be getting a White Christmas on Sunday. The only thing is that we may have to go through some meteorological hell to achieve that. Additionally, I pointed out that I would have an Xmas kayo to go up tonight.

Now, I wouldn't say that "White Christmas" is exactly a kayo. Of course, it's the Irving Berlin classic that got its cinematic debut in "Holiday Inn" back in 1942. Still, it's been beloved in Japan and a lot of singers there have covered the song over and over with one example being Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）bringing a hushed Beach Boys-style version on his "Seasons Greetings" album in 1993.

Here is another version by veteran Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）for the November 1976 special album by For Life Records simply titled "Christmas"（クリスマス）. Ironically, the last time I wrote about Inoue in KKP, it was about a couple of years ago to feature one other homemade song from that very album. This time, though, Inoue takes on Berlin with a short and snappy rendition that has a congenial and slightly country flavour. Mr. Sunglasses does a pretty good version with the English. I can just imagine him and his small band performing in a countryside inn somewhere in a blanket of snow.

SONY Songs

 

A bit of an odd one to start off today's articles of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but on hearing about the passing of former President, CEO and Chairman of SONY, Nobuyuki Idei（出井伸之）, at the age of 84 (his death was the top news story on NHK today) a few days ago, I began thinking of all of those contraptions that me and my family have had contact with over the decades such as the Walkman, Discman, Playstation 1 and all of those audio tapes. And crazily enough, I've also mentioned our old family pink SONY radio from the 1970s from time to time in various articles. Well, I finally found a photo of it but since this is a Pinterest shot on someone else's account, to keep things copacetic, I will instead provide the link to it right here.

It did get me to thinking, though. I remember that a number of musical artists have been featured on the commercials for all of those SONY products in the past. At first, I thought about focusing on one song but then I opted to make this an Author's Pick based on Media, and see if I could dig up some of those commercials with songs that have already made their way onto our blog. To be honest, it was a tad more difficult than I'd assumed, but I did find five.

Princess Princess -- Diamonds (1989)

REBECCA -- Nervous but Glamorous (1987)

Kome Kome Club -- FUNK FUJIYAMA (1989)

Yosui Inoue -- Shonen Jidai （少年時代） (1990)

Jamiroquai -- Virtual Insanity (1996)

J-Canuck's "Discovered at Karaoke"

 

Strangely enough, the inspiration for this Author's Pick came from that Sanma Akashiya（明石家さんま）special that I referred to in Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）"Tokubetsu na Ichi Nichi ~ a special day"（特別な一日）back on Xmas Eve. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the video for the entire show got taken down in the last couple of days (although I was able to replace it with Milet's talk with the comedian) but it did show not only Martin's chat with Sanma but also a karaoke performance of the cool singer's famous 80s "Lonely Chaplin" with R&B chanteuse AI. Apparently, AI was so nervous performing with Suzuki that her microphone was about to slip from her hands due to sweat.

But on seeing that performance, a light bulb sparked off over my head. All these years, I've been telling readers that my sources on finding about all this kayo and J-Pop have included CD shop browsing, the old "Sounds of Japan" radio broadcasts on CHIN-FM, and watching anime. But I have neglected to mention that I've also discovered songs through my old karaoke visits to Kuri in Yorkville and then those karaoke sessions in Japan, notably Gunma Prefecture. So I have decided to put down a short list of songs that I first found out about from those visits since after all, I've already talked about my favourite karaoke tunes and the ones that I utterly failed at. As well, Noelle Tham has given her karaoke experiences here, too.

By chance, if any of you commenters have any songs that you discovered through a trip to your friendly neighbourhood karaoke joint, please feel free to share. It's the Holidays, after all.🎉

Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Ruiko Kurahashi -- Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete （ラストシーンに愛をこめて）

Anri -- Snowflake no Machikado （スノーフレイクの街角）

Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi -- Kanpai （乾杯）

Anzen Chitai & Yosui Inoue -- Natsu no Owari no Harmony (夏の終わりのハーモニー）

Ikuzo Yoshi -- Yukiguni （雪国）

The Carpenters -- Yesterday Once More

 

Almost to the day a year ago, I wrote up a Reminiscings of Youth article on Carpenters' "Close to You", arguably one of the most well-known songs by the sibling pop duo of Karen and Richard Carpenter from 1970. Naturally, hearing Carpenters songs on the radio while I was a kid was par for the course.

When I first went to live in Japan, I soon realized that the Carpenters had even more fame and love in the country of my ancestors than in the United States. In addition to the usual hits, I even discovered a song by them that I hadn't heard before, shockingly enough. And that song was "Yesterday Once More". It was originally a Carpenters single that was released in May 1973, but the first time I heard it was as a the theme song for "19xx Bokutachi no Natsukashii Melody" （僕たちの懐かしいメロディー）, a late-night (or early-morning) Fuji-TV series that quietly showcased some of the oldies from Japanese pop. I remember catching it as I shivered underneath my futon in the wintry depths of Gunma Prefecture in 1990. There was nothing like the velvety voice of Karen to keep me warm before the kayo poured out. Ironically, videos of the show on YouTube have now garnered a lot of nostalgic feelings for it, a show that had been produced to display the nostalgic songs in the first place.

Y'know...if there were ever a theme song for the ROY articles or for the blog in general, it would be "Yesterday Once More" since the vast majority of the entries here is all about the nostalgia and good ol' days of music and kayo. The whole song sounded nostalgic even when it was first released in the early 1970s, and I've found out that this was totally intentional according to the Wikipedia article for the song since it goes along the 50s progression chord that was all the rage for songwriters back in the 1950s and early 1960s. Apparently one of the number of nicknames for it was the doo-wop progression.

I've found out over the years since watching "19xx" that "Yesterday Once More" has also been a popular karaoke tune to be warbled among the students that I've had; it's up there with "Top of the World" and the aforementioned "Close to You". To be honest, I've had a go with "Yesterday Once More" a few times myself at places like Karaoke Kan and Big Echo with varying results.

Furthermore, according to that Wikipedia article, the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart and has become the Carpenters' biggest-selling single worldwide, so I've definitely been missing out on some information there. And it doesn't hurt that Richard has stated that "Yesterday Once More" is his favourite creation. For me, though, no matter how much I listen to it, I will always think of it as the theme song for "19xx".

So what were the singles that got released in May 1973?

Tulip -- Kokoro no Tabi （心の旅）

Sayuri Ishikawa -- Kakurenbo (かくれんぼ)

Yosui Inoue -- Yume no Naka e （夢の中へ）

Theme Songs for Some of Masakazu Tamura's Dramas

 

I did forget that Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）also had his fun in commercials as well. Anyways, I promised in my first tribute to the actor whose passing had been announced within the last few days that I would come up with a further tribute through the theme songs that adorned some of his 1980s and 1990s dramas. They all have their own articles on the blog so I will just treat as a hub to get in touch with those pages. However, I will mention the song, singer, drama and year of broadcast.

Minako Honda -- Oneway Generation / Papa wa Newscaster (1987)

Miki Hirayama -- Joudan janai Asa / Atsuku naru made Matte! (1987)

The Alfee -- Weekend Shuffle ~ Hanayaka na Shuumatsu / Papa wa Nenjuu Kurou Suru (1988)

Yosui Inoue -- Riverside Hotel / New York Koi Monogatari (1988)

Kyoko Koizumi -- Anata ni Aete Yokatta / Papa to Natchan (1991)

Yusuke Honma -- Theme from Ninzaburo Furuhata / Furuhata Ninzaburo (1994)

Yosui Inoue -- Merry Christmas（メリー・クリスマス）

 

Welcome to the first weekend of December 2020. First, I'd like to mention that Rocket Brown has put up another Xmas-themed episode of "Come Along Radio" but this time with his special guest being Scott who has his own podcast specializing in J-Xmas songs from all decades called "Holly Jolly X'Masu". You can take a look at it on Rocket's Mixcloud site and you can also find out Scott's website there, too.

That's not the only commonality here in this article. I mentioned about Rocket's 3-hour Xmas episode on Chieri Ito's（伊藤智恵理）bright "Merry Christmas" song a few days ago. Well, the song here is also titled "Merry Christmas" but this time, it has been penned and sung by Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）. Scott actually told me about some of his YouTube cache of J-Xmas tunes that he's found over the years, and one of the videos is of this very song.

Inoue's "Merry Christmas" was one track on a collaborative effort among him and fellow folk singers Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）, Shigeru Izumiya（泉谷しげる）and Hitoshi Komuro（小室等）in the form of a special November 1976 album simply titled "Christmas"（クリスマス）. The album has also gotten some discussion in that conversation between Rocket and Scott today. As much as a lot of J-Xmas tunes have been about the hearty partying in the city and the lonely predicaments on December 24th, "Merry Christmas" is a bit different in that it's a quiet and heartwarming celebration of the Yuletide in the countryside. I can easily envision Inoue (and I'm assuming that it's indeed his fellow collaborators on backup) playing this for his dear guests at the country home in the woods with the fireplace and falling snow, and the video images are very apt.

Perhaps a lot of people in Japan also had the Christmas spirit back in 1976. "Christmas" reached No. 1 on Oricon.

Miyuki Kosaka/Yosui Inoue -- Kannazuki ni Kakomarete（神無月にかこまれて）

Up to now, the only thing that I've really heard from 70s/80s aidoru Miyuki Kosaka（小坂みゆき）was her lovingly techno-quirky "Nuance Shimasho"（ニュアンスしましょう）in 1984, created by the dream team of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and EPO.

Then a few months ago, I heard her 21st and final single from November 1989, "Kannazuki ni Kakomarete" (Wrapped Up In The 10th Month of The Lunar Calendar) which is also pretty catchy in a different way. Written and composed by Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）, it's a fairly driving pop/rock tune with the sheen of that decade. I figured that it was probably made as a theme song for some action drama starring Kosaka.

Well, I may be half to completely right on that guess since it was used as the first theme song for an anthology drama series called "Dramatic 22"（ドラマチック22）, so titled because it was broadcast at 10 pm or 2200 hours on TBS. The show lasted for about 18 months and though I didn't go through the entire list of episodes to look for Kosaka, it looks like it starred pretty much all of Japanese show business in one way or another.

The thing is, though, that "Kannazuki ni Kakomarete" was actually originally recorded by Inoue himself for his December 1972 album "Yosui II: Sentimental"（陽水II：センチメンタル）. The album has been classified as a folk release, but Inoue's first take of "Kannazuki ni Kakomarete" also has that same urgency but within a combination of Latin rhythms and light psychedelic rock. It's like doing the tango in a wide-lapeled suit and bell-bottoms while the piano keeps on chugging along.

As for "Yosui II: Sentimental", it peaked at No. 10 on Oricon, and though it took its sweet time, the album became the 8th-ranked release for 1974 and then came in at No. 15 in 1975.

Asami Kobayashi -- Transit

Recently, I was asked by a commenter on how I was able to quickly peg a particular tune from the late 1970s as a Yuming-penned one. I simply answered that it was because of the 50s pop feeling imbued into the melody and I think the only other singer-songwriter who could do that, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, had just debuted herself.

When I heard the intro for Asami Kobayashi's（小林麻美）"Transit", I received that same inkling that this was another Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）creation especially in the way that piano tinkled away. Well, actually, I was wrong in that Yuming（ユーミン）wasn't responsible for the music. She provided the lyrics. Meanwhile, it was Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）who composed "Transit", the B-side for her 9th single "Kanashimi no Spy"（哀しみのスパイ）from August 1984.

Compared to the suspenseful technopop of that A-side for which Yuming also provided lyrics while Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）gave the music, "Transit" is a shorter and dreamier musical interlude with a bit of blues in there. Yuming's lyrics describe a woman who is in the middle of a stopover just making adjustments to the time and settling into that airport relaxation rhythm. Perhaps she's following that kayo trope of taking an international flight to get a breather after breaking up with a fellow.

I figure that the song was probably the final track on either Side A or Side B of her 4th album "Crytograph ~ Ai no Angou"（愛の暗号...Code of Love）which came out in the same month of the single. Well, I saw on Amazon that it was Track 5 out of the ten tracks, so I think my guess may actually win out here.

Yosui Inoue -- Canadian Accordion （カナディアン アコーデオン）

For those who are not aware, July 1st is Canada Day. And this Canada Day was a bit more auspicious than most in that 2017 celebrates our nation's 150th anniversary since Confederation. So most of us are taking notice of the Great White North's sesquicentennial. It's just too bad that I only had this luggage tag as a thumbnail. I had been planning to go out on June 30th to take some photos of the more festive areas of Toronto but since the weather was lousy, I've postponed it until July 3rd which is still part of the long weekend.

Once again, I was left thinking about a song that I could feature in tribute to Canada. I've already covered the most famous kayo tune about my country, the karaoke-friendly "Canada kara no Tegami"（カナダからの手紙）, and I even wrote about an obscure pop ballad sung atypically demurely by Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）titled "Canadian Lullaby"（カナディアン・ララバイ）.

Well, last month when I wrote about Yosui Inoue's（井上陽水）cool and rumbling "Make-up Shadow", I found out that his next (34th) single from November 1993 was "Canadian Accordion"! That title alone had me shaking my head. I know that the Canadian sport is ice hockey, Canadian food products include poutine and maple syrup, and of course, the Canadian tree is the maple. But a Canadian musical instrument?!

I'm not sure how Inoue was inspired to come up with "Canadian Accordion" but he whipped it up as the theme song for an NHK morning serial drama "Karin"（かりん）which seems to take place entirely in Nagano Prefecture right after the war. Perhaps it was all of the woody wilderness from the setting that had Inoue thinking of my country. Anyways, the ever-bespectacled fellow wrote the lyrics while veteran composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）created the melody which seemed more apropos for my cruise down in the Caribbean back in May. In any case, although Inoue doesn't croon the word Canada once in his lyrics, he does describe the stereotypical sylvan setting that would fit that drive from Calgary Airport to Banff (once and perhaps still a popular destination for Japanese tourists) while a fellow is trying in vain to extract the arrow from his heart due to a lovely passenger on the bus. He can only hope that he can get that love letter from Canada someday.

(karaoke cover)

"Canadian Accordion" managed to reach No. 35 on Oricon. As for me, we all had a pretty quiet unassuming Canada Day as would usually be the case for Canadians. We're proud but simply not as gung-ho about the national birthday as our neighbours down south would be. In any case, I will finish things off by leaving you a video on how poutine is made at the most famous poutinerie in all of Canada, Smoke's. Maybe someday, a Japanese songwriter will come up with a song for that dish. "Tasogare Poutine", anyone?