Yuri Kunizane -- Tomodachi Ijou（友だち以上）

 

The last time I wrote about late 80s/early 90s aidoru Yuri Kunizane（国実百合）was back in November when I posted her "Hishochi no Sagan"（避暑地のサガン）from her July 1988 debut album "Summer in Blue". That was in the territory of Motown boogie.

However, later in December of that year, Kunizane put out her 4th single "Tomodachi Ijou" (More Than Friends) which was also placed within her mini BEST album "Y-923NE" from July 1989. That album, according to Discogs, has been categorized as synthpop, kayo kyoku and City Pop, and I think that this particular song seems to exemplify characteristics from all three genres. But without any of the three winning out over the other two, I've kept the Label here as aidoru. Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, it's quite the sweetly sung song with a killer electric guitar solo near the end.

I also have to note that the title for that mini BEST album is a pretty cool depiction of Kunizane's full name in an old-fashioned Japanese pager language sort of way. Plus, Kunizane herself looks more like a lady ready to hit the dance floors in a bodicon dress in comparison to the more demure 1950s persona that she showed on "Summer in Blue".

Yuri Kunizane -- Hishochi no Sagan（避暑地のサガン）

 

I remember back in the early 1980s when astronomer Carl Sagan brought out his TV series "Cosmos" on PBS. If I had been a little older, I would have been more attuned to what he was saying but to be honest, I don't remember much aside from his pronunciation of the word "billions", something that late-night show host Johnny Carson loved to parody.

"Cosmos" was a program that left me rather mystified. What has also mystified me is an early song by aidoru Yuri Kunizane（国実百合）titled "Hishochi no Sagan" (Summer Resort Sagan). I don't believe that it has anything to do with the astronomer and the melody by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）doesn't have one iota of spacy wondrousness. Instead, it's a very down-to-earth Motown-style boogie pop tune with lyrics by Reiji Aso（麻生麗二）that was a track on her July 1988 debut album "Summer in Blue". The cover of her dressed up like Sandra Dee sitting by an old-fashioned radio tells a lot.

Yuri Kunizane -- Soba ni Ite Kudasai（そばにいて下さい）

 

Finally got out of my lunch-induced drowsiness state after watching (or trying to watch) two periods of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Tampa Bay Lightning afternoon game so that I can put up a couple of articles for KKP Saturday. Of course, the first one I'm tackling is going to be one that may put me back to sleep.

This is not to say that turn-of-the-decade aidoru Yuri Kurizane's（国実百合）song "Soba ni Ite Kudasai" (Please Stay With Me) is a bad one, but the arrangement is such that it pretty much resembles a Xmas lullaby with what sounds like a toy piano or music box in the background. It is one of four songs on Kurizane's 8th single from February 1990, "Kitakaze to Taiyou"（北風と太陽...The North Wind and the Sun）, and this one was written by former aidoru Kumiko Aimoto（相本久美子）and composed by Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）. What's winning for it is the slightly doo-wop nature of "Soba ni Ite Kudasai" thanks to that background chorus but it is a late 80s/early 90s aidoru tune with those synths powering away there.

If you wish, you can try one of her more orange-juice-sparking songs "Midori no Express"（緑のエクスプレス）from 1989.

Yuri Kunizane -- Midori no Express（緑のエクスプレス）

 

A few years ago, I introduced another one of those obscure aidoru from the 1980s, Yuri Kunizane（国実百合）, and her 6th single "Kitto..."（きっと...）from 1989.

Well, this is a track from her second album "The Seasons"（シーズンズ）from March 1989, "Midori no Express" (Green Express), and composed once more by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, it has that rollicking melody that could be called Eurobeat aidoru. It's music that I used to hear a fair bit from aidoru of that time period going into the 1990s on various variety shows when the teenyboppers showed up. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）came up with the lyrics about a woman barely making it onto what I assume is a Bullet Train, and maybe specifically, the Joetsu Shinkansen going from Tokyo to Niigata since that super-express had the green stripes. I would know since I traveled on it once a month between the megalopolis and Gunma Prefecture where I lived at the time.

After calling it a career in the early 1990s, Kunizane got married and became a therapist although according to J-Wiki, she resumed her work in music in 2015.

Yuri Kunizane -- Kitto...（きっと...）

Found another one of those many not-so-well-known teenyboppers from the 1980s, so I just wanted to show you readers.

This is Yuri Kunizane（国実百合）, an aidoru who had her time between 1988 and 1991 with a total of 12 singles and 6 albums including 2 BEST compilations. I've had a passing interest in terms of geographical nomenclature (if that is the right way to term this) when it comes to Japanese names and where they most appear, and so I'm curious about where the family name Kunizane originally came from, especially since this is the first time that I had ever heard of it.

But that's about as far as I will go off-base in terms of the mission of this blog. Yuri Kunizane is a native of Kochi Prefecture who later attended Horikoshi High School in Tokyo, kinda like the educational institution for future celebs that was not too far from my final English school during my time in Japan. "Kitto..." (For Sure...) was her 6th single from July 1989, and it's a happy Latin-tinged song (sounds faintly Matt Bianco) that had a couple of big-time songwriters behind it, namely lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. There are certain parts of it that are very twist-friendly but that aidoru brightness in the arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）is still in there. I'm not sure whether Hayashi created a lot of aidoru tunes but "Kitto..." is undoubtedly quite a different Hayashi concoction when I usually think of his creations for other acts such as Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）.