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.
Well, winter is definitely back in town. We're due for about four inches of snow by the time today shifts into tomorrow. Might be the perfect weather for Hump Day commuting.
It might be time for some blippity-bloppity technopop to get the blood flowing and the nerve endings fired up once more for that one more burst before the weekend arrives. Here is the short-and-sweet "Life Style Music", a collaboration between Shibuya-kei/technopop duo capsule and the technopop group Sonic Coaster Pop which I only discovered earlier this year.
"Life Style Music" hails from capsule's third album"phony phonic" from November 2003. It's got quite the percussive rhythms in there and the percolating synths with both bands indulging in their high-toned vocoders. Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）took care of everything here. One observation I have to make here is that considering SoCoPo's breakup in 2002, they were still pretty darn active. Another is that although the upbeat perkiness of Shibuya-kei is showing its echo in "Life Style Music", I think the song is definitely more of a harbinger of capsule's stylistic future.
I've been watching the NHK news recently and along with the stories on the recent election and bear attacks, there has been the information on the heat and humidity that have been pounding Japan relentlessly, even the northern regions such as Hokkaido. I don't think that much of the working class or even the academic class has been smiling about walking about my old stomping grounds of Tokyo while bathed in 35+ degree Celsius weather but I'm hoping that the various countermeasures such as shaved ice and neck fans have had some cooling effect.
Speaking of Tokyo and smiling, I've got another track here by the Shibuya-kei/techno duo capsule from their February 2005 5th album"NEXUS-2060" to accompany "happy life generator" which I had written about last month. "Tokyo Smiling" is another cheerful tune by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）that has him and vocalist Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）providing that mix of DeVol-friendly Shibuya-kei and technopop that infuses the lyrics regarding female smiles making things alright for one guy as a tonic for all that ails him.
The music video of Koshijima and company making like a 1960s jet-set team of cheerleaders prancing about is adorable. Anytime that I can actually see the vocalist beaming is a good day for me.
Not sure whether there was a hard stop to the breezy Shibuya-kei that the duo capsule had been recording in the early 2000s and then they went into full techno. Most likely, it was a gradual transition judging from what I'm hearing from this song of theirs "happy life generator".
Until now, the most recent capsule article on KKP had been about their 2008 song "more more more" which was definitely more into the harder synths and stuff. Meanwhile, "happy life generator", a track from capsule's February 2005 5th album"NEXUS-2060", seems to have grafted a little techno while maintaining that Shibuya-kei happy-go-lucky feeling. As usual, Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）applies her sweet and breathy vocals to her partner Yasutaka Nakata's（中田ヤスタカ）lyrics, melody and arrangements. There is an English translation for "happy life generator" at this site as the song goes on to describe a person going on with life as best as they can without the significant other. At least, there is still the peanut butter.
As for "NEXUS-2060", it peaked at No. 59 on Oricon.
The above is the box of unajuu (broiled eel on rice) that I had back at Unakko, an eel restaurant located in the traditional Koedo quarter of Kawagoe City in Saitama Prefecture. It's definitely one of the dishes that I've missed since leaving Japan. I mean, I can get something like that here in the izakaya in Toronto, but there's something about getting it in the home country. Unajuu is a dish that I can always get more of.
Nope, it wasn't the smoothest segue but I did want to showcase "more more more", the title track from capsule's "MORE! MORE! MORE!", their November 2008 album. I've just recently begun exploring Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）and Toshiko Koshijima's（こしじまとしこ）foray into the hard synthesizers and electronics, and with this album, it's been officially categorized on J-Wiki as Electro. Not quite if there is a major difference between that genre and technopop, but I gather that it's more about the harder sounds and the vocoder when it comes to the former. Written and composed by Nakata, it's indeed a far distance from their earlier Shibuya-kei days.
I'd just written about Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's（きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ）"DODONPA" yesterday from 2021 with its mesmerizing video of psychedelic colours and dancing letters. Nakata created that song as well, and there is also a "more more more" video with plenty of light and colours flashing across the screen, but it's not so much letters but geometric shapes doing their boogying. The album reached No. 6 on Oricon.
Back in June this year, I wrote up an article on capsule's 2021"Hikari no Disco"（ひかりのディスコ）that celebrates some of that bracingly nostalgic 80s synthpop, and I found that the music video for the song was a shoutout to an earlier production for the duo of Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）and Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）. That particular video was for the title track of capsule's May 2011 album"WORLD OF FANTASY" which sounds like either a Disneyland pavilion or a first-person adventure game.
Yup, Koshijima had driven the cool sports car in Tokyo back then for "WORLD OF FANTASY" as she did for "Hikari no Disco". But little did I know that the basic rhythm for both songs are basically the same (at least, that's how it sounds to me). As I said above, "Hikari no Disco" has the 80s synthpop vibe, but "WORLD OF FANTASY" had the club techno (Electro House as categorized in the Wikipedia article for the album) adorning that rhythm back in 2011, and up to now, I hadn't covered capsule in its absolute techno period since I was covering their Shibuya-kei days up to now. Well, I get my opportunity at last.
As Nakata's thumping electro beats away, Koshijima, who looks like the most formidable hedonist in Roppongi on a Friday night, hops into the Tony Stark-designed car (actually a Lamborghini Gallardo, according to the J-Wiki article for the album) and takes off onto the highways. And I gotta say that whoever thought of just using a simple mirror effect for the cityscape of Tokyo deserved to get a huge year-end bonus. The capital of Japan has frequently been called futuristic but the video basically has literally reflected the megalopolis as a mixture of a "Blade Runner" city, Coruscant and the inside of the second Death Star in "Return of the Jedi". I wonder how tourism exploded for Tokyo after this video got out. Truly a world of sci-fi fantasy. The album, by the way, hit No. 3 on Oricon.
First off, I would love to know where that café is. Secondly, that must have been one laid-back video shoot. Capsule vocalist Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）does her singing in that Pan Am flight attendant outfit with an orange fetish and then she can sit down for a bit of lunch with whom I assume is her partner and songwriter Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）. But then again, it was all about the breezy life in the early years of the duo, wasn't it?
The last time I wrote about capsule was about 2 1/ 2 months ago in mid-June with their most recent production "Hikari no Disco"（ひかりのディスコ）, a tribute to those 1980s and Vaporwave. Well, I'm heading back to February 2004, when capsule was more about the Shibuya-kei rather than the EDM. I have here their 7th single"Retro Memory".
Let's bring out those martini glasses, shall we? Naturally written and composed by Nakata, "Retro Memory" has all of that wonderfully swinging French jazz and Koshijima's kittenish vocals to take us on that nostalgia trip. The vocalist is giving her thanks and farewells to all those old lovely memories before heading back to the present. However, there doesn't seem to be anything maudlin here. Everyone had their fun time but all good things must come to an end and all that, and there are no regrets. Head back home with a skip.
"Retro Memory" hit No. 50 on Oricon and the song was also a part of capsule's first BEST album"Flash Best" which came out in August 2009. It hit No. 7 on the charts.
For any City Pop fan, isn't this the video for you? Driving around the Tokyo Bay area at night in a convertible with all of the wonderful lights of the city smiling at you?
And yet, "Hikari no Disco" (Disco of Light) isn't a City Pop song per se. The duo capsule did have their early Shibuya-kei fun with songs like "Music Controller" before ramming into their EDM which I have to admit that I still have yet to explore in greater detail, but perhaps their "Sugarless GiRL" is one example which I've covered. In any case, getting back to capsule's first regular single in several years, "Hikari no Disco" is actually a throwback to the synthpop of the 1980s and the video even tries to emulate that somewhat dated look of VHS tape. However, I'd like to think of that slightly blurry appearance as the viewer's bleary-eyed sight after getting a little too drunk during a Tokyo pub crawl and vocalist Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）dutifully driving them home. I say that because I have been in that very situation in the backseat once when I was an undergrad who had multiple Screwdrivers and Creamsicles one night to my later great discomfort and dismay.😵
Of course, Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）prepared "Hikari no Disco" for its release a couple of weeks ago and being a literal student of the 1980s, I've been having a good time with this nostalgia trip, and perhaps a lot of the old Vaporwavers are swooning at this right now. However, for an even better insight into "Hikari no Disco", I refer you to Eddie Lehecka'sarticle about the song on the "Otaquest" site.
I've only known about this anime franchise "Knights of Sidonia"（シドニアの騎士）by name only but it looks to be quite the space opera, and apparently "Hikari no Disco" is the theme song for its second motion picture "Knights of Sidonia: Ai Tsumugu Hoshi"（シドニアの騎士 あいつむぐほし）which came out in theatres on June 4th this year. The other interesting thing that I've learned is that the "Hikari no Disco" music video that I've been swooning over has some resemblance to that of a past capsule song "World of Fantasy" which came out as a digital single over 10 years ago. I will have to definitely take a look at that one, too, and perhaps write about it soon enough.
Anyways, may we all have our chance to take that drive over Tokyo Bay Bridge soon enough once the pandemic is over.
My first sighting of a capsule video was "Music Controller" from August 2002 and so the impression that solidified in my head was of Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）and Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）keeping up the Shibuya-kei fight, especially with the accompanying music video. Several years later, they took a pretty big leap into electronica, an area of their career that I have yet to explore fully although the images of the duo on the album covers in that phase have me thinking Daft Punk's Japanese cousins with a willingness to show off more of their faces.
Though capsule formed in Tokyo in 1997, their debut single wouldn't come out until March 2001. "Sakura" isn't even in the Shibuya-kei genre but it does have that techno exotica feeling and it's plenty jaunty as it combines that feeling of Japanese traditional and synthesizers.
The music video is even more revealing showing Nakata and Koshijima looking more like a singing team from avex trax, and dang, Koshijima just appears really cheerful and happy. I also have to agree with one commenter because her eyes are indeed quite pretty. It's always fascinating looking back at the beginnings of a long-established band.
Ground through another assignment and yep, I'm feeling a little more tired than usual. Usually, I would watch the famous "Portals" scene from "Avengers: Endgame" on YouTube to pep me up, but this time I've taken a different tack.
Instead, I'm going with this song by Shibuya-kei unit capsule, "Sweet Time Replay". But apparently this time around, it isn't Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）on vocals but a singer named Dahlia who may be the same person behind the song "I'll Be Your Love" which came out in October 2003 as her debut single.
"Sweet Time Replay" came out quite a bit earlier though in February of the same year as the first track of capsule's first 12-inch single"CUTIE CINEMA pre-PLAY" and then capsule's 2nd album"CUTIE CINEMA REPLAY" which was released a month later. I gather that those brash drum rolls are part and parcel of the Shibuya-kei experience and the overall melody by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）brings to mind 60s swing and swiveling hips. Nakata's lyrics are all about reprising the joy of a kiss...sounds quite Parisian. The song also shares track space with "Music Controller", the first capsule song that I had ever heard and the first capsule song to make it onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
It's been quite a while since I wrote anything on the intriguing duo known as capsule. I'd been planning to just talk about "Plastic Girl" tonight but I came across one of capsule's later songs, "Sugarless GiRL" tonight, so I decided why not cover both of them girls to compare the difference in time and style for both of them.
The reason that I opted to do the two-for-one tonight was that up to now, I'd always known capsule, which consists of DJ/songwriter/producer Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）and vocalist Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）, as this second coming of Pizzicato Five in the early 2000s, evident in the music and the music videos, taking a look at "Music Controller" and "Tokyo Kissa" for instance. However, as I went through the music stores such as Tower Records and HMV later in that decade, I noticed that capsule's later albums indicated that Nakata and Koshijima had chosen to go in a more electro direction.
So I was curious about how the techno capsule sounded and so I took a look at "Sugarless GiRL" which for some reason reminded me of Trident gum (perhaps 9 out of 10 critics liked the song). Remembering the cover shots of Koshijima looking like a metallic disco queen with futuristic shades from Rigel V, I took a look and listen at the video and noticed that the lass was wearing an outfit that seemed more fit for an old-fashioned soiree. However, Nakata's style in music was definitely away from Shibuya-kei. "Sugarless GiRL" resembles the technopop or electropop (not sure what the difference is here or if there is even a difference in the two genres...sorry, I've always been a neophyte in this area) that I've associated with his other even more successful project, Perfume. Plus, I am also reminded of some later tunes by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Nakata's lyrics speak to a fellow seemingly trying to woo a young lady who doesn't exactly have the warmest personality toward him. Still, the song keeps on bouncing along like a happy pinball in the machine; the man probably won't ever give up in trying to defrost her.
"Sugarless GiRL" is the title track for capsule's 8th album released in February 2007. It peaked at No. 25 on Oricon and has been described by Nakata himself as something that turned out not to be club-like pop but pop-like club music, according to J-Wiki.
Meanwhile a little over 4 years in the past, capsule released their 5th single, "Plastic Girl", in November 2002 following the aforementioned "Tokyo Kissa" and "Music Controller". Of course, Nakata wrote and composed this breezy tune which has that Shibuya-kei feeling that I first associated with the duo. But I do notice some of the techno lightly seasoning this one as well.
The official music video is noteworthy since I see that Koshijima is making like a Japanese version of 60s pop icon and model Twiggy, a figure that I barely remember from my early childhood. And yup, I also get reminded of Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）of P5, too, watching this example of happy-go-lucky life. "Plastic Girl" describes a young lady who has decided to take on that titular veneer to enjoy the footloose-and-fancy-free city life while staving off any potentially disruptive influences such as falling in love, perhaps. I don't know how the single did but it's included on capsule's 2nd album"Cutie Cinema Replay" from March 2003.
A Caffe Latte at the Tower Records Cafe in Shibuya
In one of my university textbooks on Japan, the author once described the country as having a bar culture which is a point that I do not disagree with at all. At the same time, I can describe my old stomping grounds of Tokyo as currently having a cafe culture. Now, there have been coffee shops in the Big Sushi for decades and decades with one of the venerable franchises being Renoir which has an interior design that has remained in the 80s at its most recent. But since the very first Starbucks in Tokyo set up its first branch in Ginza 20 years ago, there has been a mammoth influx of the famous chain along with other similar chains such as Excelsior Coffee. I would say that the Japanese have as much a need for caffeine as they do for alcohol.
For good or bad, a lot of my years in Japan have been spent professionally as well as personally in places like Starbucks, Doutor and private Mom and Pop cafes. Although it was somewhat awkward teaching a student in those places, when we were lucky enough to be in a nearly empty coffeehouse, the atmosphere was very conducive for study with some decent coffee and some jazz music helping out the lessons. If I were to actually write a book about my time in Japan, I would title it "My Life and Career in Cafes".
Well, all that preamble to introduce my first song of the week, "Tokyo Kissa" (Tokyo Coffee Shop) by capsule. Released as their 3rd single from October 2001, the song created by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）was very much from their early period of Shibuya-kei. In fact, a number of the comments on YouTube have remarked at how much the duo of Nakata and Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）sounded like good ol' Pizzicato Five. And I think the song seems to match the atmosphere of some of the more trendier cafes I've visited in downtown Tokyo. The only place in Toronto that I've been to which has had something similar in terms of decor is this gourmet donut cafe near Kensington Market called Jelly which would be perfect for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down)
Apparently there were two short-but-sweet music videos of "Tokyo Kissa". The one above has Koshijima so coquettishly singing the song in an apt setting of a café. I've always enjoyed the vocalist's eyes so it was a pity that she felt the need to cover them up when capsule decided to go full techno some years later.
Here is the other video done up in a cutesy sketchy anime style. "Tokyo Kissa" is also available on capsule's debut album, "High Collar Girl"（ハイカラ・ガール）from November 2001. You can also check out the other article I've written on the group, "Music Controller".
With all of the Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu songs in the blog now (courtesy of Marcos V.), I thought it would be nice taking a look at their maestro's (Yasutaka Nakata...田中ヤスタカ) old (and still current) unit, capsule, back in its early days. I kinda relate it to writing about Sharam Q （シャランＱ）after putting out all those Hello Project articles.
I was just drowsily browsing around the local TV stations back in Ichikawa one night when one channel highlighted this new pair's videos. The one capsule video that especially caught my eye was the one for "Music Controller". The video definitely had that Shibuya-kei/Pizzicato Five sheen and the main vocalist, Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）, was channeling P5's Maki Nomiya's glacially funky looks. The song itself also contained some of the flightier elements of Shibuya-kei, but there was also more technopop and a hint of exotica that got me remembering the earlier songs of Yellow Magic Orchestra.
"Music Controller" came out in August 2002 as the band's 4th maxi-single. It was written and composed by Nakata as a playful instruction manual on how to use the medicinal Music Controller as a remedy for all things of the heart. I haven't followed capsule too closely but knew that the band headed into a more techno direction later on judging by some of the excerpts of later songs and their album covers, so it's a bit nostalgic (if one can deem 2002 nostalgic) to see this more multi-genre video with Koshijima's eyes in full view (a lot of their later albums had her eyes covered up in those blast shield glasses for some reason, but it looks like her pretty peepers are getting seen again).
The single also became a track on capsule's 2nd album from March 2003, "Cutie Cinema Replay", although it wasn't the original version but the Piconova remix as shown above. The Wikipedia article on the album has it classified as Shibuya-kei and Picopop, the latter genre being something that I hadn't heard before but the link brought me to the article on chiptune. As for information on the band itself, I can refer you to the original Wiki article here.
