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.
I've already posted a number of Art of Noise articles in the past ten years as parts of the Reminiscings of Youth file here on KKP, and indeed, the avant-garde synthpop group consisting of Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn and all of the rest made up some of the most incredible collages of sounds to form music to add pleasure to my time in the 1980s. By the time that they came up with their version of "Dragnet" for the movie starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks in 1987, they were very much a welcome part and parcel of the decade's pop panoply.
However, several years earlier, I was honestly taken aback and maybe even somewhat intimidated by the Art of Noise when I heard their December 1983 debut single"Beatbox". It was nothing that I had ever heard before; they made this beloved song in the breakdancing world out of various sounds which emanated like and not like human voices screeching out a march alongside some pounding percussion and perhaps my first exposure to orchestral hits.
I've read and heard that there have been various takes (or diversions) on "Beatbox" on record and in music video. If so, then the music video below is the one that I've seen because I remember seeing that image of the London police officer getting duplicated and stretched out. It was quite the tourist video for London as well.
Among all of the diversions (I've seen No. 10), I think the one that I heard the most on radio was Diversion 1 which lasts more than eight minutes and finishes with a classy classical piano take on the core song. It's almost as if AON was trying to let us know that no matter all of the technology and sampling, music still comes down to a basic beautiful melody played out on an old-fashioned instrument.
So, as I said, "Beat Box" was released in December 1983. What else was being released in Japan in that month?
Welcome to the weekly Reminiscings of Youth for this Thursday. I heard that Madonna was coming out with a new album sometime later this year. I went WOW since for a guy like me who's nearing retirement age, I first knew about Ms. Ciccone when I was in my late teens. Man, has this been a career for her!
Since hearing her for the first time back in 1983 for "Holiday", it was pretty much Madonna everywhere for the rest of the 1980s. I'm not sure how many nicknames she's picked up during that time, but one of them was The Material Girl because of that January 1985 single, "Material Girl", and it's the nickname that I usually associate with her (I just read that she hasn't been too fond of that one, though).
As with a lot of her hits, "Material Girl" was all over the airwaves and the music video was on heavy rotation on the local video shows with her going all Marilyn Monroe. Songwriters Peter Brown and Robert Rans wrote the lyrics to show that Madonna was all about the glam and goodies but the music video impressed upon the viewers that she was quite the opposite. The melody itself hit me as a synthy and slightly sinful song for Madonna done up in a cutesy yet sly fashion, and it was quite the change to see the lady done up in a totally different fashion compared to her previous videos. I also forgot that there were a couple of other celebs involved in the video: Keith Carradine and Robert Wuhl.
"Material Girl" reached No. 2 on America's Billboard and No. 4 on Canada's RPM. So, what else was hitting the record stores in Japan inJanuary 1985?
For this week's edition of Reminiscings of Youth, I'm once again going into the Canadiana vault because my good friend and KKP contributor JTM and I had a talk back on Sunday, and he was further interested in what other Canadian singers and bands were up to back in the ol' 1980s.
Well, there has been one singer that's been on my mind for a while since he went by a mononym during the time that he had made a splash on the music scene in the 1980s. Singer-songwriter (Lawrence) Gowan struck us not only with his distinct name but also with his third single, "A Criminal Mind", and its accompanying music video. Coming out in January 1985, I think I was in the middle of my freshman year at University of Toronto when this sinister but alluring pop/rock number popped out with Gowan fully acting up the role as an unrepentant if somewhat tragic evildoer amid synthesizers and guitars done up in a gothic dark way. In a way, I thought "A Criminal Mind" was a musical cousin to Pet Shop Boys'"Opportunities", although the feeling is that the bad guys in the latter song were mere pretenders to Gowan's successful mastermind.
Videographer Rob Quartly was behind the making of the video which combined stylized live-action and classic comics-influenced animation. Watching it and hearing the delectably devilish delivery by Gowan definitely made it all stand out when it was given heavy rotation on MuchMusic all those years ago.
"A Criminal Mind" made it to No. 5 on RPM here in Canada and it was a track on Gowan's second studio album "Strange Animal" which was released a month after the single. To raise the ante on the Canadian-ness of it all today, I also have to give my props to the sinister narrator at the beginning of the video, the late voice actor Len Carlson from Edmonton. I only found out that he was the same fellow who used to do all those soothing Kraft recipe ads that I saw as a kid (although I don't think my mother would ever try them out).
Of course, "SCTV" couldn't help but poke fun at those commercials. Eugene Levy was the Carlson-soundalike here.
So, what else was coming out as singles in Japan when "A Criminal Mind" lurked out of the shadows?
Well, Valentine's Day has been finished in Japan for a couple of hours as of this writing, but we're still right in the middle of it. Hopefully, you lovebirds are or will be enjoying yourselves with lots of chocolates, wine, etc. I've just decided to give a short list of all of those Japanese pop songs with the word "LOVE" in their titles on behalf of the occasion. Ah, also you may want to take a gander at "Valentine".
A couple of years ago, I posted Ray Parker Jr.'s"Ghostbusters" as a Halloween Reminiscings of Youth piece, so I figured that it was time for this one as well. Now I am well aware that Halloween is not a statutory holiday but merely an observed fun tradition but I'm still going to continue our KKP tradition of coming up with something spooky on the 31st or thereabouts.
I've known Michael Jackson's"Thriller" more for the epic video of around 15 minutes in length than for the original single that was released in the United States in January 1984. Never bought the album "Thriller" in my youth so the video was my introduction to the song by Rod Temperton which was produced by Quincy Jones.
The video was released in early December 1983 and the hoopla surrounding it was incredible to say the least. Even now, I don't think music videos that are a quarter of an hour in length are all that plentiful so you can imagine how the excitement was like back forty years ago. After all, this was the King of Pop Michael Jackson doing a horror-based music video with all of the special effects trimmings under the direction of John Landis of "Animal House", "The Blues Brothers" and "An American in Werewolf in London" fame, and yep, some of "Thriller" was inspired by that final movie. Anyways, folks were really excited to see the world premiere of the video on MTV, and we here in Canada were able to view it as well, probably via MuchMusic.
Because of the plot line of the werewolf and MJ taking home Ola Ray being interwoven into the song and dance, I'd say that "Thriller" could have even been called a very specific mini-musical around one tune, and man, that was some choreography. Now if zombies ever dance again anywhere in media, they would have to follow Michael. Of course, I can't ever forget Vincent Price's appropriately ghoulish narration and his gleefully evil laughter at the end.
Once the single came out, I remember that "Thriller" kept getting onto the top of the request charts for weeks upon weeks. Putting aside all of the Halloween sound effects, Price, and even Temperton's lyrics, the song is just one funky disco song released years after disco was supposed to have been exorcised from pop culture. The musicians supporting the song were all top-notch: Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Larry Williams, and Bill Reichenbach on horns (all who have played on Japanese pop albums, too), along with Temperton and Greg Phillinganes on keyboards.
In Canada, "Thriller" the single made it up to No. 3 while hitting No. 4 in America. The countries where it actually topped the charts were Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain.
Now, what was coming out as singles in December 1983?
The rolling wake 'em up rhythm that starts off singer-songwriter Yutaka Ozaki's（尾崎豊）"Machikado no Kaze no Naka" reminds me a lot of another song which I've enjoyed since I was a kid, Billy Joel's "Don't Ask Me Why".
"Machikado no Kaze no Naka" is a B-side on Ozaki's October 1987 single , the No. 2-ranking"Kaku"（核...Core）, and though it directly translates into English as "Inside the Wind on the Street Corner", the official English title is "Twilight Wind". And yeah, it's short, sweet and perhaps a bit more romantically evocative. Being accustomed to Ozaki's ballads, it's nice to hear something this upbeat as a couple of people who have seen better days decide to throw caution into the wind and just enjoy themselves in the moment. Well, maybe lyrically speaking, "Machikado no Kaze no Naka" has a kissin'-cousin connection with "Don't Ask Me Why".
This particular Ozaki song hadn't gotten onto any of his original albums but the 2009 re-release of his September 1988 album "Gairoju"（街路樹...Roadside Trees） has included it as a bonus track.
I can hardly say that, even with the decade-long work on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've come across just about every singer in the long history of kayo kyoku and J-Pop. But among the singers and bands that I've gotten to know over the years, the late singer-songwriter Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）has come off as a balladeer with plenty of emotion on his sleeve for a fellow who wasn't in the enka category.
There is something about his music, his lyrics and his way of singing that has been able to bring a certain calmness into my surroundings (although I wouldn't compare him to a cup of chamomile tea), so I think that's one reason that he was able to get that certain legendary status amongst the most ardent of his fans. Maybe it was the impression of him being the young every man with troubles that anyone could relate to.
"Boku ga Boku de Aru tame ni" has the English subtitle of "My Song" although a direct translation comes out as "So I Can Be Myself". The final track on his 1983 album, "Juu-Nana Sai no Chizu"（十七歳の地図...Seventeen's Map）, there is an actual article on the song itself at J-Wiki in which album producer Akira Sudo（須藤晃）seems to describe the song as an ending to one journey begun by Ozaki from the first track "Machi no Fuukei"（街の風景...Scenes of a Town） where he's doing a self-assessment. "Boku ga Boku de Aru tame ni" is more of a resolution on what he must do to keep winning, and Sudo does mention that the singer hated to lose and worked hard from ending up that way.
Ozaki's melody is reassuring and comfortable, and I have to admit that even with some of his more high-profile hits such as "Oh My Little Girl" and "I Love You", I'm actually starting to prefer his more introspective tunes such as this one and "Donut Shop". The message of "Boku ga Boku de Aru tame ni" can be absorbed easily along with that cup of coffee. The J-Wiki article has some brief mention of Bruce Springsteen where it describes the song's lyrics and musicality, and perhaps there is that softer hint of The Boss in there, but if I were to bring in a fellow Japanese singer for comparison, I would go with Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）.
Yesterday morning, while I was watching NHK's "News at 9", there was a report about the piano of the late songwriting balladeer, Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）, being donated to the Toyama Art Creation Center in Toyama City.
Seeing that we're approaching the 27th anniversary of Ozaki's untimely passing (April 25th 1992), I've decided that the second "Kayo Kyoku Plus" entry for March 2019 would be one of his songs.
And so I found his 7th single from June 1988, "Taiyo no Hahen" (Scratch of the Sun). Now, when it comes to Ozaki, although I know from listening to his 1983 album"Seventeen's Map" that he's done upbeat fare, my usual impression of his music is that of an often anguished protagonist trying to fight against a lot of existential demons that perhaps has claimed those who were once close to him in the battle. "Taiyo no Hahen" seems to be one of the representative examples.
First off, I've started to become entranced by the melody in this song that begins almost like an old kayo before quickly transforming into this seemingly sunset downtown bluesy ballad. Saxophonist and arranger Toshiyuki Honda（本多俊之）really brings a lot of urban and romantic flavour into "Taiyo no Hahen" as Ozaki can be imagined to be on top of a building, desperately beseeching the powers-that-be and the woman that he probably wronged for a second chance. The way his lyrics look, the poor guy has been going absolute withdrawal since his problems began. The titular scratches of the sun are the ones reflected in the tears running down his cheeks.
Being nearly 31 years old, "Taiyo no Hahen" will of course have a nostalgic ring, but for me, the nostalgia goes back even a bit more since especially the coda sounds a bit like "Nobody Does It Better", the July 1977 hit by Carly Simon.
The ballad went Platinum as it peaked at No. 3 on Oricon. It's also gotten further special status in that until relatively recently, the song was only available as a single for many years. It never got onto an original album. However, in 2008, "Taiyo no Hahen" made it onto "WEDNESDAY 〜LOVE SONG BEST OF YUTAKA OZAKI", a BEST compilation that got as high as No. 28 on the charts. Perhaps this album will be on my "Get" list in the months to come.
I was watching the news this morning when the newscaster read out that two-thirds of Canadians had little interest in Valentine's Day. Perhaps I would have tut-tutted the information and gone onto a reinforced soapbox and exhorted "What is wrong about LOVE?!", but then again, when I'm frankly as romantic as a Vulcan after a successful Kolinahr ritual, I don't think that I really can earn that soapbox.
Anyways, I was still surprised to realize that I had never put out a Valentine's Day list of my own in the 7 years of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", although JTM did release his "Romantic 80s Playlist" back in 2014. Well, it is indeed Valentine's Day today, so allow me to give some of my choices for the Day of Love. There are of course tons of kayo/J-Pop...way too many, in fact, to even sate a comprehensive list of which this is certainly not. In point of truth, there are songs that are knocking me upside the head like a Gibbs' slap at this moment for not being included. So, all I can ask humbly is that if any of you folks have your own choice for an ideal J-Valentine's song, please inform me.
Incidentally, all of these already have their own articles so this is more of a summary.
Let's start with something nice and 70s and kayo-like by the adorable Megumi Asaoka（麻丘めぐみ）. "Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki"（わたしの彼は左きき）is a spritely and proud tune about the fact that one lady's Mr. Right is always on her left with the premise being that they are blissfully together and in love. Somehow, I've gotten the impression that is not so much a boyfriend-girlfriend situation but more of a just-married couple starting out on their life together.
Those opening notes from Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）"Koi no Yokan"（恋の予感）are enough to get me all nostalgically moody. I don't think the song was ever meant to be recorded with Valentine's Day in mind but there's something about Koji Tamaki's（玉置浩二）delivery and the songwriting by him and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）that makes this ballad ideal for an intimate dinner or a romantic walk in a park on February 14th (we are talking about Tokyo...not Toronto).
If I'm doing a Valentine's Day list of Japanese pop songs, then Sayuri Kokusho's（国生さゆり）"Valentine Kiss"（バレンタイン・キッス）has just got to be included. No exceptions! When compared with the mature themes of the above "Koi no Yokan", "Valentine Kiss" possesses the spirit of a 1950s novelty pop confection and the image of a junior high school girl nervously leaving homemade chocolates secretly in the school shoe box of a boy she likes. From personal experience, I hope that the lucky lad gets to the box early enough, lest those sugary creations end up smelling like feet! By the way, "Valentine Kiss" peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and ended up as the 14th-ranked single of the year.
"Anniversary ~ Mugen ni Calling You"（無限にCALLING YOU...Eternally Calling You） is probably one of Yuming's（ユーミン）most heartfelt ballads about a bride ready to take the walk down the aisle, and she's absolutely sure of her life choice. I think that people in that situation would need to grab for a Kleenex when they hear this special single. Although I don't think that this particular song has made it up to my own Top Ten list of Yuming songs, "Anniversary" has most likely made it onto BEST lists by other fans.
"Zutto" was forever and always a love song that wafted through the air and inside the karaoke boxes and bars around that time. And it's the reason that Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）has stayed with me as one of the notable singers during my years in Gunma Prefecture on the JET Programme. Her plaintive "ZU-TTO, ZU-TTO, ne" strikes a nearly automatic Pavlovian response in listeners to start swaying from side to side.
Reimy（麗美）may not have become a huge superstar on the level of Yuming or Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）, but she still has gained a loyal cadre of fans including me for the lyrics and music that she created. "Marry Me" is one of my favourites as an intimate love letter of a ballad with a down-to-earth arrangement and a great guitar solo. Plus, of course, the title itself is an invitation for my list.
Kanchi! Ahhh...life and love in one of the biggest and most vivacious cities on Earth, and with a theme song that brings to mind a certain time and place. Poor wishy-washy Kanji Nagao in "Tokyo Love Story" had to make that difficult choice between the ever-lovable yet unpredictable force-of-nature Rika and the more down-to-earth Satomi, his old crush from high school in Ehime Prefecture. Not exactly an ideal Valentine situation but I still had to include "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni"（ラブ・ストーリーは突然にー）as a song of the season with oomph. The above video is a short clip of the song but at least, it actually has Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）singing one of his best songs.
I not only think that "I Love You" by the late Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）is the song to be performed at a wedding reception but I could easily see it as the ideal proposal ballad. Plus, wouldn't it be something if the proposer sang it with a guitar bandied over his shoulder? An old friend of mine actually did just that when he popped on a Shinkansen from Tokyo to his girlfriend's home hundreds of kilometres away, although I don't know whether he sang this particular Ozaki ballad. But obviously since they did get happily married with kids, it was all good.
Anyways, this was just a sampling of some of my choices for a February 14th custom. Nothing happening here at home today but perhaps I will pick up a chocolate bar tomorrow.
On the morning of Monday November 6th, I made it another long day starting with a trip to the bohemian Shimo Kitazawa. The only thing is that it's only trendy and bohemian if there are plenty of people with plenty of shops and restaurants open for business. It wasn't quite that way when I got there.
It was pretty sleepy on the winding side streets surrounding the station. It was still before 11 so the only thing that I could see open was the local Daiso, the 100-yen shop.
Well, actually the Shimo Kitazawa Mister Donut shop was open, too. And there's nothing more irresistible than coffee and donuts in the morning...not that I ever had any ambitions in becoming a cop.
Mister Donut has always served those cake donuts which all Japanese have known about which would explain how Krispy Kreme became hugely popular...for a while, at least...back from 2009. Apparently, no one had ever had a glazed yeast-raised donut before in Japan. Still, it doesn't matter whether the ring is yeast or cake; donuts are all good to me.
It was also nice that the entire 2nd floor was deserted. The view wasn't exactly paradise per se but it was sunny which made for a pleasurable morning snacking experience as I read "Day of the Jackal" for about an hour.
Quite appropriate to put on this song by the late Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）.
I got the above photo from today's issue of "The Toronto Star" this morning. It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the death of Diana, former Princess of Wales. I'm not a Royal-watcher by any means but the late Diana Spencer and Japan had a connection for me.
For one thing, the wedding between her and Prince Charles took place on July 29th 1981. For all those longtime readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", you may have figured out that I was in Japan for that month on my graduation trip. Yep, I was watching the wedding with my uncle's family in that small apartment over his stationery shop in downtown Osaka. I remember snarking in my broken Japanese about how much laundry detergent was needed to wash Diana's wedding gown with that huge train.
That was the beginning of the love affair with Diana as far as Japan was concerned. I was going through university when I read and heard about the princess' first visit to the country in 1986 during which "Diana Fever" was at high pitch. There was even an anime made based on her titled "Shojo Diana Monogatari"（少女ダイアナ物語...The Story of Little Miss Diana）.
I was almost 3 years into my second tour of duty in Japan when the news of Diana's death was released on August 31st 1997. With a 7-hour difference between Paris and Tokyo, the crash of her car in that tunnel would have occurred at around 7am on that Sunday, Japan Standard Time, with her death being announced at 11am. I barely remember seeing some sort of news on TV in the morning about the crash involving her and her boyfriend.
On that day, though, I had a lesson in the western part of Tokyo with a young lady who just happened to be the daughter of a famous entertainment journalist. I already had had a few home lessons with her, and strangely enough, both her and her mother were Takarazuka Troupe fans and also fans of the British Royal Family.
By the time I got to their house, the feeling was pretty blue inside with an air of shock as both my student and her mother told me that Diana had died from her injuries. While her husband was on the phone in his bedroom and frantically packing his bags to rush off to London to cover the tragedy, the mother, the daughter and I just ended up talking about the princess for that one hour.
Now I fully realize that the anniversary of Diana's death doesn't really have anything to do with the contents of this blog, aside from the fact that I witnessed the media coverage in Japan. However, I did feel that I wanted to commemorate the day in some fashion, and so last night, I had been thinking about what sort of song would have been reminiscent of her. Well, the truth is that I couldn't find anything new but a couple of ballads that I have already covered fit the bill.
One is Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Your Eyes" from 1982 since Princess Diana's eyes were one of the striking features about what was once the most photographed face on the planet.
The other ballad is Yutaka Ozaki's（尾崎豊）"Oh My Little Girl" from 1983 which just seemed to pop up in my head when I thought about past songs that I have covered.
On NHK's "NewsWatch 9" this morning, there was a feature on the fact that today was the 25th anniversary of Yutaka Ozaki's（尾崎豊）passing. Apparently over the past few days, folks from all over the nation made a pilgrimage to a particular terrace at Shibuya Cross Tower in Tokyo where a plaque of the balladeer is placed.
During the feature, it was made pretty clear that Ozaki had no love for school, and there was one song which was played at certain points which punctuated that feeling, his debut single"Juu-go no Yoru". I translated it directly as "Night at 15" although the official English title is "The Night".
Released in December 1983, the song was based on an incident which had involved Ozaki and his buddy back in junior high school . His buddy was criticized for having hair that was too long for which the teacher decided to take a pair of clippers to shear off the offending lengths. The future singer-songwriter took extreme umbrage at this action with the result being that he and his friend decided to run away from home one night.
I'm not sure how long or how successful Ozaki's countermeasure was but the memories of it certainly crystallized within him. Although the incident had happened when the singer was 14 years old, he decided to change the initial title of "Juu-shi no Yoru"（14の夜）to "Juu-go no Yoru" since the former didn't quite roll off the tongue as well.
From hearing the music and the lyrics, the theme for "Juu-go no Yoru" seems to have been that first discovery of freedom. Why be hampered by useless information, arcane rules and authoritarian fuddy-duddies when you can take off and really learn about the world out there and not in a stuffy classroom? The piano, the guitar and the sax along with Ozaki's vocals exhort listeners to get on that motorcycle and just race anywhere from home to nowhere in particular...as long as you're free. Heck, even the cover of his first album, "Juu-nana-sai no Chizu"（十七歳の地図...Seventeen's Map）and that first single has Ozaki jumping over a huge prison wall.
Just my opinion but it's interesting that the ballad wasn't about fighting the power but getting away from it. Perhaps it wasn't about tearing down the status quo per se but enjoying it without the chains...not all that surprising considering the country was enjoying the benefits of the economic miracle at the time.
In any case, it's pure Ozaki...all of that naked emotion out there. "Juu-nana-sai no Chizu" which came out on the same day as his first single got as high as No. 2 on Oricon and became a million-seller. Not sure how the original single did on the weeklies but his posthumous 13th single"Juu-go no Yoru Live", which came out in April 1993 charted in at No. 15.
Akira Sudo（須藤晃）, who produced the song, later wrote a book in 1998 titled "Ozaki Yutaka - Oboegaki"（尾崎豊 覚え書き....Yutaka Ozaki - Memorandum）as a tribute to the late singer. And in it, he spoke about those lyrics in "Juu-go no Yoru":
Those were teenage lyrics by a teenager for teenagers, something that no one else had ever written before.（誰も書いたことのないような、ティーンエイジャーのための、ティーンエイジャーによる、ティーンエイジャーの詞だった。）
It's been nearly 2 years since I put up my last article on a Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）song, and I just realized that I passed his 50th birthday last November. It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 24 years since his untimely passing, and just to realize that he was born less than 6 weeks after me makes me wonder what would he have been doing had he lived. I'm sure he would have kept up his songwriting and perhaps even his singing although considering how much emotion he put into this stuff, I'm not sure if he could have kept up that level of performance in his concerts if he were still here. And perhaps he might have gone into other genres such as blues or jazz. But I'm merely speculating...
Recently, I put the CD of his debut album "Juu-nana Sai no Chizu"（十七歳の地図...Seventeen's Map）from 1983 into the player after a good long while. Of course, on the album there are his two famous ballads, "I Love You" and "Oh My Little Girl". My impression is that the much of the rest of the album has that old rock-n'-roll style of the happy lone wolf crossing the country on his motorcycle.
However, there is one track that I remember very well outside of those two ballads. "Kizutsuketa Hitobito e"(To All That I Hurt), although it has those strings which remind me of some of those 50s and 60s love songs, strikes me as being more of a contemporary West Coast pop tune. In addition, unlike the title, it's a pretty happy-go-lucky one written and composed by Ozaki and quite a bit lighter when I think of some of those emotional ballads.
I've only started to go through the lyrics and although the title implies that he's referring to a number of people he's hurt in the past, I kinda wonder if he's apologizing...or at least explaining himself...to a single erstwhile or forgiving love. And considering the relatively bouncy melody, I also wonder if the protagonist is being somewhat feckless or insincere in his explanation and basically saying that he can't help who he is. There is a point in the video above (which has since been taken down and replaced with the current one) when Ozaki just gives a sheepish grin and a shrug as if to transmit a "Hey, what can I do, man?"
In any case, "Kizutsuketa Hitobito e" may not be one of his most recognized works but it works for me since I like the genre that he covers here. It was actually the B-side to his debut single"Juu-go no Yoru"（15の夜...The Night）from December 1983.
Ozaki died in 1992, less than a decade after he had released this particular album. And hearing this particular track now, I also just wonder if this can also be a message to his fans from the beyond.
This time of year is the time for the emotionally-wrought school graduation ceremonies. Those seniors gussy up their uniforms and somberly receive their diplomas from the principal while their kohai and former teachers look on, and then later on, a lot of the students have a good ol' cry about it. However, considering the winter we all seem to have had this past year, I suspect that there was a whole lot more snow than cherry blossoms surrounding the schools.
In 1985, there also seemed to be quite the influx of graduation-themed pop songs. Mid-80s aidoruMomoko Kikuchi and Yuki Saito（菊池桃子・斉藤由貴） had their hits that year with songs of the same title, "Sotsugyo"(Graduation). Rock balladeer Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊） also had his own "Sotsugyo" ready, and his 4th single was the first out of the gate as it was released in January 1985. However, unlike the cutesy namesakes of Kikuchi and Saito, Ozaki's take on the annual academic event was just like him and his songs: gutsy and filled with emotion. And in this case, the emotion seemed to be that of frustration.
According to his lyrics (there is an English translation at "The Last Dream", an unofficial Ozaki fansite), Ozaki sings out loud about all of that pent-up energy that builds up in a lot of teens but has nowhere constructive to go....so some of it may just get distributed into the act of breaking the school windows or fighting. The singer is chomping about this but at the end, he also laments the fact that by the time he finally gets out of the verdamnt educational system, he'll most likely lose that power and end up as that salaried droid. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire. And yet, his music sounds like a proud anthem. Most of the kids might be growing into the life of corporate obedience but Ozaki is going to make sure that they get at least a warning from him.
The original 45" single of "Sotsugyo" peaked at No. 20 on Oricon, but 5 years later, the 8-cm CD single release managed to get as high as No. 8 on the charts. It was also a track on Ozaki's 2nd album, "Kaikisen"（回帰線...Tropic of Graduation）, which was released in March 1985 and went to No. 1. In fact, it also received a prize for Excellent Album at the Japan Record Awards.
Image courtesy of http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/yoshimasayano/7490930.html
野島伸司/Nojima Shinji's 『この世の果て』/"Kono
Yo No Hate" (1994) is often regarded by Japanese Drama fans as
being one of the "darkest" Japanese drama ever (which is
somewhat of a dubious distinction). Indeed the drama is very depressing
at times and as the title implies is a bit nihilistic in its outlook
regarding life yet it is also a brilliant character study of
characters that are "on the edge".
With its themes of
sacrifice, salvation, redemption and devotion, it a surprisingly very spiritual
story with its frequent refrences to Catholicism, the Virgin Mary,
Heaven and Hell.
In typical Nojima fashion, the drama's cast of
characters are a collection of deeply troubled, emotionally damaged,
self-destructive and needy individuals who are all trying to survive
admist life's harsh obstacles but who end up hurting themselves and
those around them with their desperate actions. The drama's
underlying themes could best be illustrated through the telltale
psychological test and question that is frequently proposed
throughout the drama --
"It is the end of the world and if you are
given a chance to escape on a boat with only one animal as your
companion which would you choose?" (A) A Horse; (B) A Peacock; (C) A
Tiger or (D) A Sheep.
As explained in the context of the drama, the
test is said to be a fairly accurate identifier as to what one most
cherishes and values in life as that each animal represents a certain
human desire. When the lead character, the tragic and
self-destructive 高村士郎/Takamura Shiro (played with absolute abandon by the
great 三上博史/Mikami Hiroshi) is confronted with this theoretical question,
he non-chalantly answers - "I wouldn't get in the boat".
Blessed Maria - A very different role for Suzuki Honami
This indifference and
apathy are what causes Shiro to decend in a downward spiral to his
own personal hell. A famed concert pianist with a celebrated and
bright future, Shiro decides to throw his fame and fortune away one
day and runs away from his lavish lifestyle and wife, the cold and
distant 高村百合子/Takamura Yumiko (「スチュワーデス物語」/"Stewardess Monogatari's" 高樹澪/Takaki
Mio), whose father had plucked Shiro from obscurity and mentored him
to become a worldclass pianist. It is through a random accident and
chance encounter that he meets up with the feisty and brash, tomboy
砂田まりあ/Sunada Maria (the beautiful 鈴木保奈美/Suzuki Honami, portraying a character the
complete polar opposite to her fun loving and carefree Akana Rika
from 東京ラブストーリー/"Tokyo Love Story" -1991) who has a dark past. Maria
is moonlighting as a hostess inorder to pay for operations to help
restore her younger sister なな/Nana's (another great role by the
brilliant 桜井幸子/Sakurai Sachiko) eyesight which was lost when their family
home was burned down. Shiro (who is feigning amnesia) is recovering
at a hospital from injuries suffered in a hit and run accident. With
seemingly no one to contact or take care of Shiro, Maria reluctantly
tells the hospital that she will let the handsome stranger recover in
her apartment until he recovers his memories. As Shiro and Maria get
to know each other and share experiences, they soon begin to fall
deeply in love. However their blossoming romance is soon disrupted
when Yumiko and former Police officer turned shady Private
Investigator 二村浩一/Nimura Koichi (加藤善博/Kato Zenpaku) discover his deception and
whereabouts and attempt to force him back to his old life.
Not wanting to leave his
new life with Maria and desperate to not be anyone's "robot"
anymore, Shiro takes drastic action and mutilates his own hand with a
broken wine bottle so that he can never play the piano again.
Yet
this self-sacrificing action of pure devotion to Maria backfires on
him and he ultimately loses his only true talent in life. With no
other useful talents or marketable skills, Shiro suffers
through a succession of humiliating menial jobs. As his selfworth and
confidence waning, he becomes increasingly resentful towards Maria whom
he blames for his deliema. However despite Shiro's declining mental
state and increasing dependence on her, Maria never complains and
infact falls even deeper in love with him and even takes on an almost
motherly role caring for him.
Feeling like a "leech" and a burden, Shiro
eventually falls victim to the seductive influences of the
manipulative and absolutely depraved 加賀美ルミ/Kagami Rumi (played with
villainous glee by 横山めぐみ/Yokoyama Megumi) who is also in love with Shiro.
Under Rumi's evil influence, Shiro becomes addicted to heroin and
soon becomes a drug trafficer for a criminal syndicate.
When Maria
tries to save Shiro from his addiction, Shiro, in a violent and
hysterical rage, beats Maria so savegely she has a miscarriage (she
was pregnant with Shiro's child). Maria in desperation soon turns to
rich playboy 神矢征司/Kamiya Seiji (the wonderful 豊川悦司/Toyokawa Etsushi) heir to a
vast corporate dynasty and who has come to frequent the high class
lounge that Maria works at. Their love/hate relationship soon shifts
from one of platonic respect to one of romantic love. Seiji's
normally aloof and indifferent demeanor melts the more he becomes
aware of what Maria is suffering through. Seiji vows to save her and
does what he can to help Maria deal with Shiro (even going so far as
to introduce Shiro to a decent job with a Planitarium) but when
Shiro's erractic behavior and increasing drug dependence causes him
to fall deeper in despair, Maria takes drastic measures and with the
help of Nimura forces Shiro into isolation to free him of his drug
dependence.
Shiro's cold and controlling wife Yumiko (Takaki Mio)
Throwing It All Away - Shiro (Mikami Hiroshi) mutilates his own hand to stay with Maria
Maria's younger sister
Nana has her own issues to content with as she gets involved with the
brooding and troubled mechanic 三島純/Mishima Jun (大浦龍宇一/Oura Ryuichi). Severely
disfigured from a car accident that killed his parents, Jun is
hesitant to get close to Nana for fear of being rejected by her but
at the same time is desperate to win her love even though he has a
criminal past (he and an associate had robbed a convenience store in
which Nana was an unwitting witness).
When Nana eventually discovers
Jun's involvement in the robbery and fearful for her safety, she
drives Jun away. Unwilling to let Nana out of his life Jun decides to
to learn braille and begins sending Nana touching heartfelt letters
under the alias of another individual living with blindness. Nana
soon learns of Maria's dark secret (that Maria was responsible for
the fire that caused her blindness and the death of their father, who
she felt had not paid her enough attention). Nana also discovers
that she and Maria are actually step-sisters as Maria's biological
father left their mother before she met Nana's father. Feeling
betrayed Nana decides to distrance herself from Maria by agreeing to
be adopted by the kindly elderly couple whom she has been working for
in their flowershop. Yet when the couple's morally corrupt and vile
only child 村井道夫/Murai Michio (沢向要士/Sawamukai Yoji) gets wind that Nana will be
inheriting not only his parents' store but also their inheritance, he
conspires to marry and then kill Nana. Together with his girlfriend
博実/Hiromi (土屋久美子/Tsuchiya Kumiko) the pair trick Nana into signing a marriage
form and proceed with plans to kill her until Jun intervenes and
beats Michio near death.
Sisters Maria (Suzuki Honami) and Nana (Sakurai Sachiko)
Mad Love - The both physically and emotionally scarred Jun (Oura Ryuichi)
Later in the series Shiro eventually kicks his addiction and
finally resigns himself to leading a more decent and quiet life, while Nana
gets her sight back through the efforts of her mother (who commits
suicide with Maria's biological father) and gives permission for the
hospital to use her corneas to replace Nana's.
The cruel bitch Rumi
gets her comeuppance when a former lover gets his final revenge on
her for destroying his life by throwing acid in her face, disfiguring
her. In one of the most shocking and melodramtic scenes in the drama,
Rumi's hulking degenerate henchman, 井野仁/Ino Hitoshi (松田勝/Matsuda Masaru) who
has secretly longed for her, in a sign of pure love destroys his own
eyes to prove to her that her now severely scarred visage means
nothing to him and that he still loves her.
The beautiful yet utterly ruthless bitch Rumi (Yokoyama Megumi)
A crazed and now horrifically scarred Rumi attempts to kill Maria one last time.
Love is Blind - Rumi's loyal Henchman Hitoshi (Matsuda Masaru) gouges his own eyes for Rumi.
However Nojima leaves the best for last as he pulls the
ultimate "WTF" ending -- Maria decides to marry Seiji who
promises to finally give Maria the happy life she has always longed
for. After their lavish wedding celebration aboard a private cruise
boat, they take a corporate helicopter to the wedding
chapter to exchange vows. When Maria sees Shiro at the launch pad and
remembers the happiness she had with him at the very beginning of
their relationship, she decides to throw away her future life with
Seiji and jumps from the helicopter into the ocean. While Maria
survives the fall, the resultant impact with the water not only
shatters her legs (making her a paraplegic), the resultant severe head
trauma has also made her catatonic. Guiltridden by all the pain and
suffering he has caused Maria, Shiro has finally found purpose in his
life and vows to take care of Maria for as long as she
remains alive. The final scene shows a strangely content Maria,
smiling as she is clutching the "blue bird of happiness"
that Shiro had given Maria when they first moved in together.
Saving Maria - Wealth benefactor Seiji ( Toyokawa Etsushi) tries to save Maria from her troubled life.
Paradise Lost - Maria (Suzuki Honami) literally throws her life away so that she can be with Shiro.
Oh My Little Girl - Maria (Suzuki Honami) has finally found happiness
The all-star cast is
absolutely brilliant and their performances are not only truly
memorable but incredibly poignant as well. "Kono Yo No Hate"
features a number of actors who have or would star in other Nojima
scripted projects. As mentioned Suzuki Honomai (who starred in
Nojima's "Ai To Iu Nano Moto Ni" - 1992) played against
type and her chain-smoking, rough-and-tumble, tough-girl portrayal
here was in nice contrast and a welcomed change from the overly sweet
characters she portrayed previously.
The fetching Suzuki Honami - Image courtesy of http://f.hatena.ne.jp/reirei01/20081205080343
Mikami Hiroshi (who would also
star in Nojima's sublime 「世紀末の詩」/"Seikimatsu No Uta" - 1998 and the
fan favorite 「リップスティック」 -1999) played a truly morally
conflicted and pitiful character in this drama. As much as one hates
his continual self-destructiveness and tired of his pathetic,
self-loathing behavior, he still managed to make his character
sympathetic and likeable. Sakurai Sachiko (who was the heroine in
Nojima's 「高校教師」/"Kou Kou Kyoushi" - 1993 and would later go on
to co-star in several of his other projects including 「人間*失格」/"Ningen
Shikkaku" - 1994 and 「未成年」/"Miseinen" - 1995 delivers a very nuanced and convincing portrayal
as a blind woman. With her alluring and beautiful features and
ability to play complex and empathetic characters, it is little
wonder why she became Nojima's "go to" actor for his
screenplays. The beautiful Yokoyama Megumi gives a commanding and
often times chilling performance as the truly villainous Kagami Rumi.
Rumi certainly ranks as one of the most hateful villains in Japanese
drama history with her cold, calculating
ruthlessness (Rumi proudly exclaims that she will not allow anyone
else to enjoy and experience the true love that is denied her).
Yokoyama would go on to play other morally ambiguous characters like
the indifferent Vice Principal Mayuzumi in the recent drama 「35歳の高校生」/"35-Sai
No Kou Kou Sei" - 2013.
The theme song for this
series was appropriately Ozaki Yutaka's sentimental and tearful love
ballad "Oh My Little Girl" which was released posthumously
in 1994, two years after his untimely death and which eventually went
on to become one of his most popular and signature hit songs.
J-Canuck has already covered this great song back in his 2012 post
but I just wanted to add some additional trivia for the song and how
it relates to the drama.
Image courtesy of http://tongolele.pixnet.net/blog/
Image courtesy of http://ameblo.jp/yupuki/entry-11425923238.html
"Oh My Little Girl" was originally titled "Sailor Fuku
To Little Girl" on a demo tape which Ozaki recorded early in his
singing career. It went through several iliterations and title
changes ("Tonari No Little Girl") until finally becoming
the song we know now. It was featured with little fanfair on Ozaki's
debut album 『十七歳の地図』/"Jyunanasai No Chizu" (1983) but it wasn't
until the song was used as the title song for "Kono Yo No Hate"
that it got the attention it deserved. The song was released as a
single that year and it went to No. 1 on the Oricon charts the week
of its release.
As with his breakout hit "I Love You" in
1991, "Oh My Little Girl" is a quintessential love song
filled with heartfelt lyrics about true love and eternal devotion. It
was tailor-made to be the perfect song for weddings or other events
where proclamations of love are exchanged. Yet series director Nakae
Isamu (who also directed the similarly dark "Lipstick") and
music arranger Mizoguchi Hajime (who would also work on such future
series as "Pure" and "Beautiful Life") do
something really devilishly clever - they twist the meaning and
lyrics of the song and warp it into a sad, foreboding and
almost darkly prophetic indicator of how things will turn out in the
end (that Shiro has found purpose caring for a caotonic Maria who now
depends on him for everything). Even Ozaki's refrain of "Oh My little girl" begins to sound more and more like "Oh Maria" in a haunting unconscious way.
While "Kono Yo No Hate" was released to VHS a few years after it aired on TV, it has sadly and inexplicable not been released to either DVD or Blu-Ray. This is a complete shame as despite its dark tone and tragic ending, it is perhaps one of Nojima's most poignant and heartbreaking drama series. Ozaki's bittersweet theme "Oh My Little Girl" is the perfect compliment to this story and I can't help but be reminded of this unforgettable series whenever I hear this song.
.JPG)
