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.
Working all those hours and days to help others. Dang it! Sometimes, YOU gotta DO something for YOU! The surgeon above finally got the hint and so this was my first exposure to cute animated ASMR. After care is important, after all.
If you remember 1991 and all that music in Japan, then you probably know about the song-and-dance group ZOO and their catchy "Choo Choo Train" with images of skiing and their distinctive approach to line dancing. I just missed out on it because I'd already left Japan from the JET Programme in the summer of that year while "Choo Choo Train" made its debut later in December. Ah, but still, I was able to hear about it somehow while back in Toronto.
Within that large shadow that "Choo Choo Train" cast, there was the coupling song "After Care". I had seen the official music video and for some reason, I'd imagined lots of seashores and water. Well, I guess my mind ran away from me since the video doesn't have those but it does have the sound of waves which probably sparked those images. In any case, "After Care", which was written by Arisu Sato（佐藤ありす）and composed by Yasunori Iwasaki（岩崎文紀）, is a slightly more soulful and much more laidback number to contrast with that dynamic main song. I'd say that it would make for the ideal after care song the day after the rampant partying from "Choo Choo Train". Enjoy the waves and the head massage for the hangover you may be experiencing.
I remember writing about ZOO's 1991"Choo Choo Train" almost a dozen years ago on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". It was quite the hit for the funky song-and-dance troupe and that one part of their dance became quite the fad to emulate for several months afterward. However that was basically the only song by ZOO that I've featured on the blog.
That is, until today. I came across ZOO's "Adam" which was the group's 11th and final single from March 1995. It's a pretty smooth and mellow funky pop tune, this time sung by dancer SAE instead of vocalist Satsuki. Written by Mayumi Ito（伊東真由美）, who also delivered the lyrics for Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）comeback "Dear Friend" back in 1990, and composed by Singaporean musician Dick Lee, the title character seems to be someone who works too hard and plays even harder, although I hope that the tenor of the song means that he's still alive and kicking.
I also found out that "Adam" has two different videos showing only some very slight differences in the arrangement of the song. SAE is apparently dancing in some stone structure, presumably in an arid country, in the above video while the one below has her performing in a hotel suite with her bandmates chilling out. I've seen a few inquiries in the YouTube comments about the fate of SAE; according to J-Wiki, she's currently a yoga instructor.
Well, NHK's "News at 9" went on a different tack this morning here. Instead of the usual doom-and-gloom news (for the most part), the anchors and reporters not only based their broadcast from the Osaka studio for the first time, but they also gave a cheery report on the 2025 Expo there and acknowledged some history in that 2022 is the 150th anniversary of railroads in Japan.
For a country filled with rabid train enthusiasts, this sesquicentennial has to be a big deal. And at Shimbashi Station in Tokyo, there was a commemorative ceremony and not surprisingly, a ton of tore-ota showed up with cameras and smartphones in tow. I can only imagine that there have been many specials all over the television dial this year as well as similar station ceremonies all over Japan.
If I'd known about this auspicious year in public transportation, I would have acknowledged it on Aya's（彩）"Happy Train" which I wrote about on Monday. However, this has given me an opportunity to devote an Author's Picks on those train-connected tunes. Of course, there is so much related kayo out there and I've covered my small share of them here on KKP, but off the top of my head, I'll just put these up in my own recognition of this piece of history.
In the next day or so, Winter will arrive for another round of snow and cold temperatures. So, having said that, I'm going to hug my inner whimsy and put up another Author's Picks with the theme today being Winter tunes. My choices are only a few of a number of winter-themed songs that are on the blog, and they've already gotten their own articles, so I'll keep my comments brief. However, they don't have anything to do with Christmas (although some of them have connections with skiing).
One of the coolest Anri（杏里）songs that I have ever heard, thanks to those great horns. Initially, I thought "Snowflake no Machikado" was a jingle for some ski resort since the pastime was in the ascendant during the late 1980s. However, as it turned out, it was actually the commercial tune for a pack of cigarettes: JT SomeTime Lights, to be exact. So I gather that the white wisps coming out of people's mouths in the cold weren't just carbon dioxide.
Would you like a bit of drama with your Yuming（ユーミン）, sir? "Blizzard" was indeed used for commercials having to do with skiing and had a small appearance in a movie about the pastime decades ago. But for me, I always think of Santa Claus having an especially tough time getting his annual run of present-giving due to a snowstorm whenever I hear this one (although I know that this Author's Pick is all about winter, not Xmas). Again, the horns stand out here.
There was no way that I would put up a list on wintry J-Pop songs without including the Queen of Winters herself, Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）. It's a tough choice since Hirose just seemed to be all about the winter and its sports in her early singles, but ultimately I decided to go with the long title of "Gerende ga Tokeru Hodo Koi Shitai". In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if almost 25 years following the debut of this song that folks get that Pavlovian reaction and get that craving to ski.
Yup, I'm including the ancient kayo here, too, such as Yukio Hashi's（橋幸夫）haunting "Muhyou". As I mentioned in that article, it's not only a part of this winter songs list but it's also perhaps the earliest exposure that I had to a kayo kyoku in my life. Ever since I figured out what the title meant, I can't help but see all sorts of rime ice build up on the various eaves and windows. This is as moody as Mood Kayo can get.
Ahhh...nothing like a kayo about the north country. Obviously the title meaning "Snow Country" has a lot to do with it, but there is also the fact that I always saw that video for my No. 1 karaoke song and watched the trains inexorably plowing through the snowscape as they made their way up to places like Iwate and Aomori. Yup, I gotta get my enka in here, too.
Speaking of trains, I have to finish this list with a campaign song for Japan Railways, "Choo Choo Train" by ZOO. Not sure how long the skiing boom lasted in Japan, but I'm sure that it wasn't heading downwards at this point when ZOO came out with their 4th single in November 1991, just in time for the snow season. It probably was a mainstay on the ski resort speakers for a good long time to keep the citizens happy.
Post-apocalyptic world with some fine entertainment.
Looks like Mom's now a fan of EXILE. Her rationale for liking this song and dance unit is that they actually look cool, ATSUSHI and TAKAHIRO sing decently, and their moves are on point.
While they are a group I don't exactly mind and it is quite hypnotizing to watch such synchronous dancing, I can't say that I know very much about them save for a couple of songs. So being exposed to more of their works and who's who in the whole hoard of them by Mom was an interesting feeling. The tables had been turned this time around! I'm usually the one introducing her to enka-yo stuff whether she likes it or not, and now she's educating me on the EXILE TRIBE... whether I like or not. But of course, that's only that much EXILE/J Soul Brothers I can take before I shut it out and return to my comfort zone. Also, I thought this to be rather amusing as if I were to be completely normal, it could have been the other way round.
Anyways, I'm still in the process of getting to know EXILE's other works, so I thought I'd write about something by them that I'm most familiar with, "Choo Choo Train". While I got to know this tune a few years back via the group behind the original version from 1991, ZOO, I often see it associated with EXILE who had remade it in 2003. It's one jaunty and catchy song so it's no wonder that both versions were hits in their time. I enjoy "Choo Choo Train" for its nice beat and the trumpets in the background makes it more funky. However, similar to what J-Canuck had said in his own article regarding this song, the English words in the lyrics have me wondering what they even mean. Comparing both versions, I have to say that EXILE's one sounds more soulful, especially when ATSUSHI comes in, but I have no favourites; both are good.
Hang on, actually, I stand corrected. I do have a favourite version. He's not as flexible as the members of ZOO or as smooth as the EXILE guys, but Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清) made up for that in terms of effort in his attempt at this pop classic. He wasn't doing his usual pillar shtick in this bit of his 40th anniversary concert in 2008, alright! Mae-Kiyo's version can also be found in the album "Enka no Chikara Saikyo Z White" (エンカのチカラ 最強Z ホワイト) from 2011. Ah, he really never fails to surprise me. :) Dang, this feels like the Itsuki-"Aishitsuzukeru Bolero"-thing all over again.
I came back from Japan after my 2-year stay there in the summer of 1991, but I was still getting some packages from my former residence in the form of old VHS videotapes filled with the latest in music. One show presented this rather....angular-looking...group of young folk who looked like refugees from early 90s Shibuya doing a corkscrew version of the conga line. I first thought....well....Oooooh K....interesting stuff is still going on there. But the song did catch on with me, especially the intro when singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）is providing the chorus lead-in.
"Choo Choo Train" may sound more appropriate as a title for a kindergarten reader, and the English teacher inside of me may cry a bit at some of the lyrics, but it is a fun (fun, we hit the step, step) song! This can even get ME up and boogeying away. And the video takes me back when the ski boom was in full bloom. In fact, "Choo Choo Train" was the theme for the Japan Railways Ski Ski campaign push...I'm not sure, but I think the video was filmed somewhere in Karuizawa, a popular resort town.
The song, ZOO's 4th single, was released in November 1991, just in time for ski season, and peaked at No. 3 on Oricon. It also became a million seller. It was included in the group's first mini-album, "Present Pleasure" , released in December where it reached the top spot. In 1992, it became the 18th-ranking album of the year.
The group itself began in 1989 and disbanded on Christmas Day 1995. There was apparently a revolving-door policy when it came to members but the average size was 9-10. In the group, Satsuki was the lead singer, but a couple of other members also found later fame. YU-KI would front her own group, trf, in the early 90s, and HIRO would start up the singing-and-dancing men's group, EXILE, in 2001. This must be J-Pop's version of the X-Men franchise!
In 2003, HIRO and EXILE covered "Choo Choo Train" which did one better than the original by reaching No. 2 on Oricon. And it was also a million-seller. I'll let you guys decide which version you prefer.
