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.
Over the time of the blog, I believe I've mentioned that I grew up watching cartoons such as anything from Disney, Peanuts and Warner Brothers. I also have to say that "Popeye the Sailor Man" can be included. Even before I could actually eat the iron-rich vegetable, I got to know Popeye and his love for spinach along with the rest of his gang including Olive Oyl and Wimpy. And of course, there is that famous theme song by Sammy Lerner and Danny Long.
In the disco era of the 1970s, I knew that some of the older songs were getting disco-fied such as the "Star Wars" theme and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5". So it was no surprise to find out that the "Popeye" theme got its treatment of boppy bass and silky strings. But this time, it was on the Japanese side of things that a disco version of Popeye's theme was made.
You can thank Spinach Power（スピニッヂ・パワー）for the disco take on that theme, and what better group to take that on but a band whose name exemplifies everything the sailor stands for. Released as the band's first single in September 1978, of course, the main chorus is in there but there is also a driving disco part which had me wondering how people danced to that.
Tetsuo Nishihama（西濱哲男）was on vocals while fellow Spinach Power member Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）and City Pop singer Yumi Murata（村田有美）were helping out on chorus. Apparently, veteran producer Daiko Nagato's（長戸大幸）introduction to the legendary comic book character was the impetus behind the making of the song, according to J-Wiki.
I think the above was my Rum & Coke made by the robot bartender on the Harmony of the Seas back in 2017. In retrospect, I don't think it was the right cocktail to challenge the robot on since with a Rum & Coke, it's simply rum and Coca-Cola with none of that shaking needed. But on the other hand, I didn't want to look like Jabba the Hutt in front of my own family because I drank something that was way above my punching level.
My memories to you are going to go back even further now when I mention Perez Prado's"Cherry-Pink and Apple Blossom-White" from 1955. It's a familiar song by the King of Mambo because it was on that RCA compilation record collection that we got with our huge stereo. Yup, that trumpet does it for me.
Not sure whether the late singer-songwriter Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）had found inspiration from Prado's magnum opus to create "Cherry-Pink to Kawaii Olive" (Cherry-Pink and Cute Olive) which was the B-side to his 1980 single"Aa, Kimi wa Subete ga Atarashii"（ああ、君はすべてが新しい...Ahh, Everything About You is New）. At first, I was a little confused when I heard it. It's certainly a happy tropical margarita of a song with Inoue throwing out the cocktails like Tom Cruise's drinks in "Cocktail" (yes, there was a time when he wasn't Ethan Hunt), but Inoue liberally throws out the title of Side A as part of the lyrics in this song, which had me wondering whether YouTuber Crescent Moon had made a mistake in identifying the song. Yes, I had thought it was "Aa, Kimi wa Subete ga Atarashii" and not "Cherry-Pink to Kawaii Olive" but when I checked out the single's original liner sheet on Google, I could confirm that the song I heard was indeed the B-side and not the A-side. Inoue apparently really enjoyed that title "Aa, Kimi wa Subete ga Atarashii" so much that he was more than happy to sling it around on both sides.
The single was recorded as the final one of four releases in 1979 and 1980 under the name of Tadao Inoue & 5110 Band（井上忠夫と5110・BAND）.Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics for "Cherry-Pink to Kawaii Olive" while Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）arranged Inoue's melody. This record would be the final one for the singer to record under his real name of Tadao which he had used since his days with the Group Sounds bandJackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）. From 1981, he would release his material under the name Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）.
First off, my thanks to my good friend and drummer extraordinaire Hiro Sato for being kind enough to send this over to me. For a Yumi Arai/Matsutoya（荒井由実・松任谷由実）fan of many years and a blogger of Japanese pop music, I just had to acquire her 50th anniversary 3-disc BEST compilation "Yuming Banzai!" (All Hail Yuming!) which came out in October 2022. The Queen of New Music has certainly not been forgotten with this one as it hit No. 1 for two weeks and ended up as the 8th-ranked album of the year on both the CD and digital download fronts with 381,399 albums sold and 18,995 downloads respectively.
Divided into 3 discs, Yuming（ユーミン）decided to jump all over her discography timeline so we get to distinguish how she sounded over that half-century from the 1970s all the way to now. Without further ado, Disc 1 will be our topic for today and to further ramp up the auspiciousness of the occasion, this article will be Number 9500 for "Kayo Kyoku Plus".😀
Yup, I think that I'm going to pull off the Mother of All Links for this one. Anyways, the links will take you to the songs that have already been covered. I'm quite happy that there are a few that I will have an opportunity to take a look at.
"Midori no Machi ni Mai Orite", which is directly translated into "Descending into a Green Town" but given the official English title of "Ode of Morioka", is an interesting mix of Yuming, Elton John and a country tune thanks to that steel pedal guitar. Originally a track on her December 1979 album"Kanashii Hodo O-Tenki"（悲しいほどお天気...The Gallery in My Heart）, it's a sunny and pleasant song about that short trip to the city of Morioka in Iwate Prefecture and whenever the singer performs there, it's an absolute entry on her playlist.
Just looking at the above thumbnail, I had gotten the impression that Yuming didn't smile a lot in her early years on the album covers, so it was always a definite pleasure seeing her beam those pearly whites. Anyways, the video features her singing "Saigo no Haru Yasumi" which comes from her 7th July 1979 album"Olive". Actually, the song already has representation on KKP since I've already written about the album, and the vocal group Hi-Fi Set（ハイファイセット）has done their cover of the song although at the time.
"Umi wo Miteita Gogo" translates as "The Afternoon I Saw the Sea" but is officially known as "One Afternoon By the Sea". I did hear the Hi-Fi Setcover of the ballad years ago on tape but I've only gotten to know the original by Yumi Arai only recently. A bittersweet and wistful song about love lost, the singer-songwriter references a restaurant known as Dolphin which actually exists in Yokohama and has been patronized by many of Yuming's fans. The song was a track in her 2nd album"Misslim" from October 1974. I'll have to cover the cover someday soon.
"Dawn Purple" was Yuming's 23rd album from November 1991 and it was one sign to me at that time that perhaps my interest in the singer was starting to wane. The songs then didn't really hit me in the usual dependable way with this one but I may have to try and give "Dawn Purple" another chance after so much time has passed. Anyways, the second track there is "Jounetsu ni Todokanai ~ Don't Let Me Go" (Doesn't Reach the Passion) which reflects the sound that Yuming was showing back in the late 80s and early 90s with the banks of synthesizers. I remember that this was one of the songs that I actually did like right off the bat.
Anyways with Disc 1 done, I'll have Disc 2 up next Saturday.
I'm actually beginning my KKP night tonight really late...as in I'm less than 90 minutes away from midnight and then Sunday morning. One reason is that I decided to watch an entire Toronto Maple Leafs game on "Hockey Night in Canada" earlier, and the other reason is that I went into my other hobby of dozing off a few times in the armchair. Happily, the Leafs won tonight over the Buffalo Sabres, but for those of you who may be reading this across Lake Ontario in Buffalo, New York, I hope that all of you are keeping safe from that lallapalooza of a snowstorm that you're getting whacked with.
Earlier this year, I wrote about this uniquely named band, QYPTHONE, and their warp-driven brand of Shibuya-kei. Led by Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）, who has his individual songs covered on the blog, his "Go-Go Girl" is one tasty aural catch that would have Adam West's Batman more than happy to do the Batusi on the dance floor. That particular song was on their 1999 album"Organic Sound Theatre".
Tonight's QYPTHONE keeper originates from his October 2000 3rd album"Modernica in the House", and it's the final track known as "Tension Attention, Please". It's a playful number that displays quite the affinity for Fantastic Plastic Machine with the classy 1960s swing and Shibuya-kei and a lot of the dance DJ tricks of the trade. I was half-expecting that Pizzicato Five narrator to say something about a stereophonic experience somewhere in there.
There were a couple of mysteries that I wanted to solve in "Tension Attention, Please". Well, actually, one had to do with the title of the album. I had been wondering about the word Modernica, and I was able to find out that it is a brand of furniture that strikes me as being quite 60s in appearance, perhaps like something by Eames (or maybe that was a 50s design). The other thing was within the arrangement of the song, because I also heard some growly patter and then some high-pitched cartoonish voice being exchanged in there.
Well, at first, I had thought that Popeye and Olive Oyl had decided to make their first foray into Shibuya-kei. However, at the Who Sampled website, I discovered that QYPTHONE had sampled a song titled "Here Comes De Kins" by British novelty act The Pipkins in 1970.
Yup, once again it is Groundhog Day today. February 2nd is the day that we find out whether we get an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter, and this Groundhog Day has a bit more meaning since during these pandemic days, we're all wondering whether we can have some more normalcy with restaurants and stores opening up in tandem with the warmer weather. As it turns out, our Canadian representatives, Wiarton Willie (above) and Shubenacadie Sam did NOT see their shadow today so the green season is coming sooner than usual (fingers crossed) while Punxsutawney Phil down in Pennsylvania did see his shadow so perhaps another month and a half of the cold season down Stateside. I'm more than happy to back up our national rodents.💚
I thought that the above would be the ideal time and place to put up pop/rock band Rebecca's（レベッカ）"Nervous but Glamorous" to reflect the rather bemused attitude that a famed groundhog might have about being raised several centimetres above the ground when it would prefer enjoying rest in its burrow. Anyhow, this was Rebecca's 8th single from November 1987, and it's got a nice brio-filled strut to it. To be honest, it doesn't really hit me as a rock song per se...it's more of a sultry and funky pop tune, maybe even a City Pop one.
Vocalist NOKKO and Rebecca keyboardist Akio Dobashi（土橋安騎夫）created the song and it seems that NOKKO's lyrics describe the story of the day after some intense romancing, if you know what I mean, but you can take a look at one translation at J Pop Asia. There was some nice sax there, too....yes, that wasn't a typo, I meant "saxophone". An English-language version was done for the band's 2nd remix album"OLIVE" released in August 1988. Peggy Stanziale provided the lyrics there.
Nope, no groundhogs in this ad, but "Nervous but Glamorous" was used for a Sony commercial. It looks like Rebecca was performing on an Escher-designed group of brownstones.
"Nervous but Glamorous" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon and was originally on their 6th album"Poison" which came out at the same time as the single. This hit No. 1 on the charts and ended up as the 7th-ranked album for 1988."Poison" was also given a Japan Gold Disc Award for Best Album of the Year in the same year in the rock genre. As for "OLIVE", that also hit the top of the charts and became the 21st-ranked album for 1988.
From a commenter's video referral, I came upon this conversation among singers in which one of them stated that she used to listen to "The Punch Punch Punch". My initial impression was actually one of shock because I couldn't quite believe that someone so innocent could listen to something perceived to be so violent. However, I became quite curious as to what this program was all about.
"The Punch Punch Punch" didn't involve any fisticuffs. Instead, this long-running program on Japan's National Radio Network (NRN) between January 1 1967 and December 30 1982 was sponsored by the magazine "Heibon Punch"（平凡パンチ）, and was a 15-minute program broadcast on weeknights between 11:40-11:55. Basically, it was a lighthearted quarter of an hour which had hosts and guests talking on everything between show business and social ills.
Each episode started off with a bossa nova tune created by Keitaro Miho（三保敬太郎）that also had some anarchic sound effects such as a machine gun and soft-voiced catchphrases such as "It's groovy" (remember this started in 1967), perhaps to show off the fact that things were fairly off-kilter. From what I've read in the J-Wiki article for "The Punch Punch Punch", the topics and language could get rather raw so I was wondering if it had been inspired by the even longer-running TV show "11 PM" on NTV, for which composer Miho also provided its theme.
The show was hosted initially by a trio of female tarento/singers/actresses: Motoko "Moko" Takahashi（高橋基子）,Masami "Beaver" Kawaguchi（川口まさみ）and Celia "Olive" Paul who were collectively called The Punch Girls. The hosting format and the hosts themselves would change over the years, and there were eight "generations" of hosts in its 16-year run.
One of those hosts just happened to be Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）who was just changing from 17 to 18 years of age and would be making her aidoru debut in April 1980. Matsuda started her one-year stint as a co-host of "The Punch Punch Punch" right from January of that year alongside Junko Hatsuta（初田順子）and Hiroko Toda（戸田裕子）. The above video is apparently her debut episode and from 5:00, she's given a happy-go-lucky 3rd-degree grilling in a segment called "Seiko The Question 40" in which she's thrown some rapid-fire questions such as "What are your measurements?", "How many records do you have?" and the particularly philosophical "Do you fart?". For the question, "Which singer do you respect?", she answered Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）.
It must have been quite the experience for young Seiko being a high school student from Fukuoka Prefecture already hosting a popular late-night radio show a mere few months before making her debut as a singer. As for me, I think if I'd been growing up in Japan during that time, I probably would have been listening to "The Punch Punch Punch" as something mirthful and entertaining before finally hitting sleep time, although I'm sure that my mother would have been yelling at me to turn off the darn radio!
Hi there, J-Canuck here! Last Friday, I put up an article introducing a fellow J-Pop blogger by the name of jigenbakuda and his own creation "The Tasogare Touch" where he gives some of his own musical insights into particular songs. By his own admission, he has mainly covered the music of contemporary aidoru but from time to time, he has also looked at the older Showa Era stuff as well.
In the name of good diplomatic relations, jigenbakuda requested whether he could provide a guest contribution to "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and I was more than happy to oblige. His article here is based on the Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）megahit "Dancing Hero ~ Eat You Up" originally recorded in 1985, and a 2017 album of various versions of that dynamic aidoru classic. So, without further ado, I will now leave it to jigen!
Tomioka Dance Club’s Bubbly Dance Routine, by Akane
So the song "Dancing Hero" is enjoying a bit of resurgence from its major feature in Tomioka Dance Club’s Bubbly Routine that went viral a while back. It happen to coincide (or maybe it was intentional, but I doubt it) with Oginome's release of the "Dancing Hero" archives. The repackage is essentially every version of Dancing Hero since 1985, its amazing how many times this song has been redone and its still good every time. The track listing shows where the versions are from and who arranged them.
Tracklisting
1. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) 2. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Special English Version-
English Lyrics：Marco Bruno
Album 「ラズベリーの風」CD版に収録。
3. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Moderan Version-
Album 「NON-STOPPER」に収録。再発版「NON-STOPPER+10」にはカラオケ版も収録。
4. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) - '70s mirrorball mix-
Arrangement ："PARADISE GROOVE" Production's
Album 「NEW TAKE BEST COLLECTIONS '92」、「ラズベリーの風+5」に収録。
5. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Club Mix-
Arrangement ：須貝幸生、神長弘一、片岡俊彦
Album 「best hits non stop clubmix」に収録。
6. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Euro Mix-
Arrangement ：Hiroyuki Yasumoto
Compilation Album「Dance Panic! Presents Euro Panic!」vol.2、3に収録。 7. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) - Extended Euro Mix- Arrangement ：Hiroyuki Yasumoto 上記の「Dance Panic! Presents Euro Panic!」の非売品プロモーション用LP盤に収録。 8. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Dancing Beat 2005 Mix- Arrangement ：SANDRO OLIVE and DAVE RODGERS 9. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Dear Pop Singer Remix Version- Arrangement ：小倉ヲージ Album 「Dear Pop Singer」に収録。 10. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Dear Pop Singer Version- Arrangement ：本山清治 Album 「Dear Pop Singer」に収録。 11. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) -Live- From the tour「VERGE OF LOVE【荻野目洋子 武道館ライブ】」中の音声トラックより収録。 12. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) <-Instrumental-> (Original・カラオケ) 13. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) <-Instrumental-> (Up-Tempo) 14. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) <-Instrumental-> (Dear Pop Singer Ver.) 15. ダンシング・ヒーロー (Eat You Up) <Accapella> (Dear Pop Singer Ver.)
I linked to the Mirror Ball version because I love love love me some music to vogue to, and this track sounds STRAIGHT out of a 90s New York Ball where they are voguing the old way (read: its my favorite track on the repackage). The music in "Dancing Hero" is almost identical to the song it covered, Angie Gold’s "Eat you up", a 1985 Italo Disco Hit in Japan. I’ve linked to my favorite version of that song as well. The main difference between the songs is in the lyrics. If you read the translation here, you can see the Japanese lyrics of "Dancing Hero" and the English lyrics of "Eat you up" are quite different, which lead to different levels of enjoyment. I love Angie’s English version, but don’t care for Yoko’s English version. Although overall, I think the Japanese Lyrics are the most enjoyable of all. There are some notable arrangers on the list, but I will point one out. Mr. Dave Rodgers, the king of Eurobeat helps to arrange the dancing beat 2005 version. It is a real treat... The arrangements are all different enough to justify its place on a release with only one song. Including the live version, which includes live instrumentation. What I would give to hear a live version of the mirror ball arrangement... To briefly go back to the Bubbly Dance Routine, Akane-chan really knows her music and picked some great tunes and representative songs. So "Dancing Hero" came out like middle of the 80’s and "Cant undo this" came out in the middle of the 90’s. They represent the italo disco scene (dancing machine) in the clubs (like Club Maharaja in the late '80s) and the techno scene (can't undo this) in Juliana’swith their fluffy disco fans and girls in that revealing “BodyCon”. From what I can tell, they are the epitome of excess in Japan due to the Bubble, at least musically. And for those who care, you can find a page explaining some of the slang in the TDC's video, here (In Japanese). Anyways, I ended up buying Dancing Hero after hearing it on TDC’s Bubbly Routine... I think... it was a while ago, maybe I heard dancing hero first, but it was around the same time. I only wish I could have seen her perform it live in her heyday, but instead I got to see her perform live with TDC on YouTube! Fun times... fun times...
One of the songs from Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）"OLIVE" that I couldn't include in my article for the album yesterday was "Kishuu" since I couldn't find it in its entirety on YouTube. However, there is a brief excerpt of it on the Amazon page below.
The arrangement for the original song kept reminding me of "El Condor Pasa" because of those pan flutes. "Kishuu" was actually Yuming's 13th single from June 1979 and it only did very modestly on Oricon, getting as high as No. 89...not too high compared to how "OLIVE" did.
To be honest, I may actually enjoy the cover version performed by Naoko Ken（研ナオコ）since it has more of a contemporary City Pop sheen to it. She first released the song as her 37th singlein November 1985 and it was also a track on her 14th album"Deep" which came out on the same day as the single.
As for "Kishuu", apparently the kanji compound may not exactly exist...at least, not as a regular word per se, since my online dictionaries didn't register it. However, the overall meaning comes across as "return to regret". And that is what the song is all about...a lady who meets an old flame but just can't come around to say how she truly feels about him and goes home filled with regret.
Hearing Ken's voice, it has always had that smoky and cracking quality to it like burning embers or representing a woman who's seen it all and has become cynically world-weary. I would say on that point, she makes "Kishuu" work. That City Pop arrangement also sounds better here than the original's inclusion of pan flutes and mandolin.
Not sure how she (or her manager) did it, but less than 2 months after releasing "Kishuu", Ken found herself performing that very song on the 1985 Kohaku Utagassen. I'm not sure whether it even got onto the Oricon rankings.
A bit of a follow-up from Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）"OLIVE" album that I have just wrapped up.
I mentioned about Yuming's take on "Saigo no Haru Yasumi" (Last Spring Break), the bittersweet tale of a high school girl who's now mourning the departure of the boy of her dreams due to graduation. Well, Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）also covered the ballad in their 7th album"Flash"（閃光）which came out at about the same as "OLIVE" in July 1979.
While Yuming's version has that 50s feeling to it, Hi-Fi Set's take has the more contemporary 70s pop arrangement for the vocal group. I also like this cover but I think I prefer Yuming's "Saigo no Haru Yasumi" since there is a bit more lushness to her arrangement. However, vocalist Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）still goes for that high note at the very end of the song just like for the writer of the song herself.
Back in the early days of my fascination with kayo kyoku, the singers I knew at the time were separated into two categories: the ones that I could see on television thanks to the wonder of VHS tapes such as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）, and the ones that I had only heard through the radio program, "Sounds of Japan". Those folks included Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）. I had no idea what the singers who often popped up on my old CHIN-FM broadcast looked like for many years.
This brings me to the topic of this article. I actually had seen the cover for Yumi Matsutoya's 7th original album"OLIVE" many years ago in some magazines without knowing who the singer was. Just from the huge serif font at the top, I naturally assumed the singer below was actually named Olive and she was just a little too much in love with herself posing like that. Of course, that was indeed the divine Yuming（ユーミン）on the cover there.
Now, the very first album by Yuming that I had ever purchased was her "Love Wars" from 1989 so she was fully into her vivacious image and high-stepping performances onstage, and basically my history of collecting her material had me going back and forward in time. My impression is that when she was Yumi Arai（荒井由実）in the early 1970s when she helped start off the New Music boom, she didn't strike me as being the most outgoing person. Her early albums often didn't show her face and when they did, she looked quite dour. So it must have been quite something for her fans when "Olive" was released in July 1979 with that cover of her seemingly out-vogueing Madonna...a few years before the Material Girl even debuted. There was an entertainer about to hatch from the Queen of New Music. According to J-Wiki, photographer Alao Yokogi（横木安良夫）and Yuming came up with the idea to have the cover look like something from a 1960s Italian fashion magazine.
So I finally bought "OLIVE".
(tribute version)
I've listened to the album twice now and I don't think Yuming meant to have any particular overarching theme for "OLIVE". Still it starts off with something that seems to hint at that cover. "Mirai wa Kiri no Naka ni"（未来は霧の中に...The Future's In the Fog） sounds rather French poppy as the singer-songwriter goes autobiographical and sepia when she sings about her memories of the 1960s including the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and the moon landing in 1969.
Arguably the most famous song from "OLIVE" is "Aoi Air Mail"（青いエアメイル...Blue Air Mail） which seems to pop up on a lot of Yuming's BEST compilations. And why not? It's another one of those sweet and wistful ballads that she can concoct so well. In this case, it's about a woman in love with a friend who may have been close by but now is far enough away that pen-and-paper correspondence is necessary (remember the time period here...no LINE messaging). I just want to look out a window and sigh whenever this comes through the headphones.
(cover version)
I think another Yuming trope I've picked up over the decades is how her voice can get playful and coquettish depending on the song. Such is partly the case with "Amai Yokan"（甘い予感...A Sweet Premonition）, a happy-go-lucky number about that sunny drive. There is a light tropical beat and Yuming manages to name-drop The Beach Boys. According to J-Wiki,"Amai Yokan" was originally offered by Yuming to Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）back in 1977 as her 13th single.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
"Tsumetai Ame"（冷たい雨...Cold Rain） is another self-cover which had originally been created when the singer was still Yumi Arai. In fact, I had written an article about the song way back in 2012 when Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）did their own gentle version a few years earlier. Yuming's next try at the song about a very awkward ending of a relationship has got a bit more brass and pop into it. In fact, at one point in the recorded version, I think the instrumental makes it sound as if it should have been put onto the soundtrack of a Japanese comedy.
(karaoke version)
"Inazuma no Shojo"（稲妻の少女...Lightning Bolt Girl） comes across as a cheerful tribute to 50s/60s American pop about a girl who's as good with her surfboard as she is with twirling the boys around her pinkie.
My final song for tonight is the track "Saigo no Haru Yasumi"（最後の春休み...Last Spring Break）. As with "Tsumetai Ame", this was another Yuming contribution to Hi-Fi Set who recorded it in the same year as her version. Once again, it's all about the bittersweet heartbreak as a girl realizes her beloved senpai will no longer be around the school since he graduated. I will shortly be talking about Hi-Fi Set's version but Yuming's take on it has again that innocent Sandra Dee 50s sheen. When she hits that final high note, it's almost as if she suddenly regressed to the age of that lovelorn kid. Aww, you just wanna get her an ice cream at that point.
"OLIVE" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon and ended the year as the 35th-ranked album for 1979. Yep, she's another Yuming keeper, and despite that glamourous cover, it's really another album of Yuming's feelings about the life of regular young women.
A nice lazy and sunny Wednesday afternoon here...just the right type of day for this song, Bread & Butter's"The Last Letter". This track from the duo's 6th album, "Late Late Summer" which includes "Summer Blue" simply screams for a bottle of Perrier and a beach umbrella. It's quite the song for those yuppies who like to wrap their pink sweaters around their waists as they did back in the early 1980s.
Mind you, "Late Late Summer" came out in June 1979. As for "The Last Letter", it's a mellow and slightly comical song about trying to mend a figurative broken fence for a couple with that titular last letter being the final olive branch. Strangely enough, the song was created by two-thirds of the then-super popular technopop Yellow Magic Orchestra, drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）. And the other interesting thing is that Satsuya and Fuyumi Iwasawa（岩沢幸矢・岩沢二弓）especially sound like another duo from another genre, the Shibuya-kei Flippers' Guitar, on this particular track.
I started the BEST category over a couple of years ago with Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, so I figured it was time that the Queen of New Music finally got her due in this area. After all, she's got well more than 50 blog entries here as a singer and as a songwriter.
Not quite sure when I first heard the news that Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）was going to release her first BEST album as Yumi Matsutoya. But I know that it was a resolutely foregone conclusion that I was going to pick it up lickety-split since at that point I had been a fan of hers right from the "Sounds of Japan" and Kuri days up to that point in my time in Japan...a span of about 16 years. Now that first sentence in this paragraph might be coming off as a bit weird for those who don't know about the history of Yuming（ユーミン）. Well, the singer-songwriter actually had already released a couple of BEST albums in 1976 and 1977 but they were of her songs while she was still the unmarried Yumi Arai（荒井由実）. Once she married her colleague in the recording studio, arranger Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, the hits kept on coming out but there was no BEST album for those 20 years under the name Yumi Matsutoya until 1998.
I even remember when and where I got "Neue Musik" (the German translation for New Music, don'cha know?). The album was released back in November 1998 so I figure that I was already wearing the jacket and the weather had already chilled down somewhat. It must have been early in the work week since I purchased "Neue Musik" at the Shinseido CD shop at JR Chiba Station, and that was where I had to go to catch the company bus to that heavy industries company 20 minutes away on Mondays and Tuesday nights to teach my English classes. If I know myself, I probably unwrapped the album as soon as I got onto that mini-bus.
In any case, here is THE BEST album that I had been waiting for: "Neue Musik: Yumi Matsutoya Complete Best Volume 1".
The biggest surprise about making this article is that although several of the tracks have already been profiled, there are still a number of them that haven't.
One that I have yet to cover is "Destiny". During the production of "Neue Musik", there was a campaign for fans to vote on their top Yuming tunes, and this one took No. 1. Originally a track on her December 1979 album, "Kanashii Hodo Otenki"（悲しいほどお天気...The Weather's So Good, It's Sad）, it has that interesting mix of cool and comical in the arrangement, and the lyrics seem to also possess a bit of a dual nature about someone finally realizing he/she was loved by someone really close only to find out the romantic opportunity has passed. But as Yuming delivers "Ikigai no kanashii destiny" (生きがいの悲しいdestiny...the sad inevitable destiny), I'm not quite sure whether she is being literal or somewhat sarcastic as in the two could-have-been lovers getting together again by fate and one of them snarking off to the other "So we meet again...".
Not surprisingly, the song was used as the theme for a series of Fuji-TV drama specials titled "Kisetsu Hazure no Kaigan Monogatari"（季節はずれの海岸物語...Unseasonal Seashore Story）(1988-1994) which dealt with a coffee shop owner, the ex-wife who still helps him out at the shop and the young lady who lives next door. "Destiny" got a new boost in the popularity department and according to J-Wiki, it has become a must-sing at any of Yuming's concerts.
"Kiminaki Sekai"（A World Without You） is a track from her 1997 album"Suyuya no Nami"（スユアの波...Wave of the Suvuya）. As I've said in some of the past articles on Yuming, my really big interest in her songs started fading from around the early 1990s but once in a while, there would be a song or two that would pop up from that point onward that would get my attention. "Kiminaki Sekai" is one of them and although it won't be up there with "Mamotte Agetai" or "Blizzard", it's one of those songs that is interesting for that soft reggae rhythm, the higher Yuming vocals and the violin section that she seemed to increasingly rely upon during those years.
"Diamond Dust ga Kienuma ni" (Before The Diamond Dust Fades) is the title track from Yuming's 19th album from 1987. I first heard it on an old VHS tape of her fantastic "Wings of Light" concert tour where the singer and the ladies made like mermaids. Listening to the song and seeing that title, I had this image of enjoying that elegant life on the town, although the lyrics make this a Christmas tune as the first verse talks about a happy couple enjoying the Holidays at some South Seas resort while the second verse takes place a year later when the lady is now celebrating the Yuletide alone, post-breakup. Y'know...I think I'll just enjoy it with my own idea in mind.
Y'know, Yumi...you don't have to say yes
to EVERY idea the photographer suggests...
One of my favourite Yuming songs is "Aoi Air Mail"(Blue Air Mail) since it has something of that old country-folk lilt and especially with this one, it seems like the singer has that innocent tone in her delivery. I'm not certain whether the protagonist in this story had ever had a relationship with the fellow in the song, but whatever the connection, it's all in the past (close to a decade) now although she still has a soft spot for him and wonders about how he is doing. The interesting piece of trivia here is that this had been planned to go to Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）to sing, but the deal wasn't done.
"Aoi Air Mail" comes from Yuming's 7th album, "Olive" in July 1979 which had quite the glamourous cover for her. Perhaps it was her saying that this was no longer the age of New Musician Yumi Arai but of pop superstar Yumi Matsutoya. The frustrating thing is that I saw this very album being sold at Wah Yueh but never got it for some reason, something that I kick myself for. Still, it's not as if it's a rare commodity...a few clicks online should be fine enough.
"VOYAGER ~ Hizuke no nai Bohyou" (The Headstone Without A Date) is a song that I first heard through "Neue Musik". At first, I thought it would also have been on her 15th album, "VOYAGER" but that had been released in December 1983 and this particular song came out a couple of months later in February 1984. It turned out to be Yuming's 20th single without an album and was used as the theme song for a Japanese sci-fi film with an international cast starring Tomokazu Miura（三浦友和）, the husband of retired singer Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）.
Titled "Sayonara, Jupiter"（さよならジュピター...Bye-bye, Jupiter）, it was filmed as a parallel flick to "2010: The Year We Make Contact", the sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey". And seeing the above stills from the movie in the YouTube video above, I definitely got that "Space: 1999" vibe, perhaps not all that of a shock since I always thought the Gerry Anderson series was paying some tribute to the legendary Stanley Kubrick film. Unlike the just-as-legendary theme song for "2001","Also sprach Zarathustra", though, "Hizuke no nai Bohyou" is not an epic ground-shaking anthem but a very comforting ballad about loving that soldier who now must take off for parts unknown never to return. The song reached No. 9 on Oricon.
My last song for the article is one of the two completely new songs that came on Disc 2 of "Neue Musik", "Ai wa...I Can't Wait For You Anymore", a short-but-sweet Burt Bacharesque song whose cast of characters reads like a "Yuming, this is YOUR life" list. From her Arai days, there is Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）on bass and Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）on electric guitar from Tin Pan Alley while Jerry Hey and Gary Grant bring in the horns from her days in the late 80s and early 90s, and Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）from Hi-Fi Set is one of the backing vocalists. I like the song except for that somewhat annoying "ooooooooooh" which ends the verses.
I've only featured six of the songs from this BEST album, but a good chunk of the others spread over the 2 CDs have already been profiled, and the few that I have yet to cover, I'd like to do so in their own articles. "Neue Musik" didn't need any time to hit No. 1 on the charts and within those last 2 months of the year, it managed to become the 5th-ranked album of 1998 selling 3.8 million copies.
It was finally good to get all of the all-star songs together to listen in a couple of hours, and since that time, Yuming has put out a few more BEST albums.
I don't buy too many CDs nowadays opting mostly to get most of my music via iTunes however when I recently came across this CD at Amazon Japan, I just had to get it. 「J Cover 80's ダンス&バラー(Dance & Ballad)」 (ASIN: B004P0A16E) was released in 2011 by GT Music, a division of Sony Music Direct's "Ootona"
line of nostalgic compilations geared towards those who are in their
30s-40s who grew up in the 80s. It is very similar to Sony's fantastic
「クライマックス・ベスト (Climax Best)」 series (which I also have) in which they
released various themed 80s and 90s music compilation sets sporting such catchy tiles such
as ""Sapphire", "Ruby", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow", "Fantastic" and
"Dramatic". While most of these CDs
generally covered most of the major and well-known J-Pop songs of the
80s, this particular compilation I thought was pretty unique in that it
featured a near-complete compilation of all the Japanese covers of
various European and American pop songs from the 80s.
The much beloved Fuji TV "home drama" (family drama) series 『ひとつ屋根の下』/"Hitotsu Yane No Shita" was a huge ratings sensation when it debuted in the Spring of 1993. With its inspirational, heartwarming and touching story about the lives and tribulations of a young family of six brothers and sisters living together "under one roof" in the suburbs of Tokyo, it very quickly won the hearts of its young viewers and over time became one of the best examples of the popular 90s "Trendy Dramas". With its poignant and sentimental storyline mixed in with some goofy sitcom and melodramatic histrionics, it may come as a surprise to find out that this drama was scripted by the prolific screenwriter Nojima Shinji (野島伸司) known primarily for his tragic, dark and disturbing drama series like 『高校教師』/"Koukou Kyoushi" (1993) which aired just prior to this series.
Image courtesy of http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kosumi_sk/16019382.html
"Hitotsu Yane No Shita's" success couldn't have been possible without the help of its stellar young cast headlined by the always dependable Eguchi Yosuke (江口洋介), the incredibly cute Sakai Noriko (酒井法子) and the charismatic Fukuyama Masaharu (福山雅治) as the three eldest siblings. Up-and-coming young stars Ishida Issei (いしだ壱成), Oji Megumi (大路恵美) and Yamamoto Koji (山本耕史) would round out the cast as the three younger Kashiwagi siblings.
Eguchi, who had previously starred in two other hit TV series by Nojima - the landmark romantic drama 『101回目のプロポーズ』/"Hyaku Ikai Me No Propose" (1991) and the ensemble drama series 『愛という名のもとに』/"Ai To Iu Na No Moto Ni"(1992) and who had captured hearts as the lovable Lothario Mikami in the series 『東京ラブストーリー』/"Tokyo Love Story" (1991), delivers another memorable performance as eldest brother Kashiwagi Tatsuya (柏木達也). With his trademark long locks, goofy character eccentricities and over-the-top emotional outbursts, Eguchi seemed to be channeling his "101 Proposal" co-star Takada Tetsuya (武田鉄矢) in the series. Like Takada's famed Kinpachi Sensei, Tatsuya always seemed to have some sort of quaint life lesson to teach to his siblings. His commitment to family, earnest attitude, and hardworking ethics seemed more reminiscent to the traditional values of older generations and thus made his character very admirable and a stark contrast to the stereotypes of modern generations of young people. After "Hitotsu Yane No Shita", Eguchi would continue to star in numerous and varied TV projects and films, successfully shaking off his J-Dorama idol image. He would also go on to marry the leggy 80s singing idol Moritaka Chisato (森高千里).
"Hitotsu Yane No Shita" was Fukuyama's first high profile role after starring in a couple of smaller TBS series. His role as the aloof, troubled and idealistic second brother Masaya/雅也 would be a career changing turn for him and he would later find fame both as a singer and as a film actor. His most celebrated TV role would come almost a decade later as the crime fighting Associate Professor of Physics and Amateur Detective, Yukawa Manabu in the popular Fuji TV series 『ガリレオ』/"Galileo" (2007) and its sequel. Fukuyama recently won further acclaim as the star of Koreeda Hirokazu's poignant family drama 『そして父になる』/"Like Father, Like Son" (2013) which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival and which is rumored to be remade for American audiences by Steven Spielberg.
"Hitotsu Yane No Shita" was also the first major TV role for popular 80s idol singer Sakai Noriko AKA Nori-P (のりピー). Nori-P's charming personality and touching performance surprised many critics and won the hearts of audiences making her even more in demand. After her stellar performance in the series, it would not be long until Nori-P would go on to headline her own drama series and further display her natural acting talents in the tearful NTV series 『星の金貨』/"Hoshi No Kinka" AKA "Heaven's Coins / Die Sterntaler". Nori-P's devotion to her craft would clearly be displayed as she would spend nearly half a year mastering Sign Language in order to portray lead heroine Aya in the series. Nori--P would also contribute the theme song 「碧いうさぎ」 for the series and which would go on to become not only one of her most successful singles but also one of her signature songs. Yet, her personal life would take a dramatic and tragic turn in 2009. As if in imitation of one of her TV Dramas, Nori-P would find herself involved in a drug scandal involving her husband, a former Pro-Surfer. In the days that followed, Nori-P would be wanted by police and the target of unrelenting tabloid media coverage. Nori-P would be charged with the use and possession of Amphetamines and although she would receive a suspended sentence, Nori-P was publicly humiliated and saw her various endorsement deals cancelled. Her clothing line and recording contracts would also be revoked and she would be forced to cut ties with her Talent Agency. However, in an ironic turn, sales for her various past albums and singles including "Aoi Usagi" would see a dramatic increase during the period after the scandal. Nori-P would eventually make her comeback to show business in 2011 after a brief hiatus but her former "pure" image would be forever shattered by lingering negative rumors which include details of her family's "Yakuza" affiliations and the revelation of images of various tattoos on her body including one on her ankle, one on her ring finger and a rumored elaborate "butterfly" image inside her inner thighs surrounding her private area.
Nojima favorite Ishida Issei is the son of popular actor Ishida Jyunichi (石田純一). His father and mother would divorce when he was only three years old. His mother would subsequently take him to live abroad in a nomadic lifestyle in such diverse areas as Oregon in the US and Australia where he lived until he was sixteen. He would be discovered by a TV Producer when Issei happened to be attending a concert performance featuring his father. He would soon debut as an actor later that year (1991). After his appearance in "Hitotsu Yane No Shita", Issei would appear in a string of other Nojima scripted dramas including the powerful disability drama 『聖者の行進』/"Seija No Koushi AKA When The Saints Go Marching In" (1998) and the cult juvenile detention drama 『リップスティック』/"Lipstick". In 1994 Issei would also debut as a musician and Music DJ with the Warner Music Japan group and release a couple of original albums. Yet like his co-star Nori-P, he would get involved in a drug scandal of his own in 2001. He would be charged with drug use and possession and after a sentence of one year house arrest, he would resume his acting and music career.
Top Row - L-R - Eguchi Yosuke, Sakai Noriko, Fukuyama Masaharu; Bottom Row - L-R - Ishida Issei, Oji Megumi and Yamamoto Koji
Oji Megumi began her career as a model and campaign girl for such companies such as the Seibu Department Store chain and JVC. "Hitotsu Yane No Shita" would be her first major role in a series. As a result of her impressive performance in this series and its sequel, Oji would find steady work starring in a number of TV dramas and series in subsequent years. Yamamoto Koji began his acting career as a baby and child model. He would also display his singing talent by appearing in various Japanese musicals and theatre productions. "Hitotsu Yane No Shita" would also be his first major role in a TV drama and would lead him to other appearances in various TV series and dramas particularly "Jidai Geki" productions. He would also make further appearances in various theatre and musical productions.
The supporting cast featured a number of great and familiar character actors who would later go on to find their own individual successes after starring in this series and its sequel. The list of guest stars in "Hitotsu Yane No Shita" would read like a "who's who" of up-and-coming stars including - Uchida Yuki (内田有紀), Murakami Rikako (村上里佳子), Fubuki Jun (風吹ジュン), Nakatani Miki (中谷美紀), Adachi Yumi (安達祐実), Yamamoto Kei (山本圭), Matsu Takako (松たか子), Ukaji Takashi (宇梶剛士), Ogi Shigemitsu ( 小木茂光), Ito Yuko (伊藤裕子), Asai Erina (浅井江理名) and Fujiwara Norika (藤原紀香).
We Are Family - The Principal Cast of "Hitotsu Yana No Shita" - L-R - Sakai Noriko, Oji Megumi, Eguchi Yosuke, Yamamoto Koji, Ishida Issei and Fukuyama Masaharu
The Kashiwagi Family would represent a microcosm of interesting personalities and each sibling would have their own unique, complex and intriguing back story as well as compelling subplot:
Kashiwagi Tatsuya/柏木達也 (portrayed by Eguchi Yosuke) - A
former Marathon runner who had Olympic medal potential but ultimately
gave up on his dreams after suffering a severe and debilitating Shin Splint
injury. Tatsuya is set to marry the daughter of the company president
who had sponsored him during his Marathon competitions. To celebrate
his pending marriage he makes a fateful decision to travel from his family's
small hometown in Kyushu to Tokyo to reunite with his estranged younger
siblings. Seven years prior, their father (a kindly small town
physician) and their mother had both died in a tragic car accident leaving
them orphans. Unable to take care of his younger brothers and sisters,
they were each sent off to live with family friends and relatives around
Tokyo. Tatsuya envisions a tearful and joyous reunion but is shocked and
saddened to discover that his young brothers and sisters have all grown
distant. Only eldest sister Koyuki is happy to see Tatsuya and together they vow to rebuild their broken
family no matter what happens. Tatsuya decides to open his own small dry-cleaning business and buys a small three room, one bath, 2-story home in a subsection of Tokyo. As the series unfolds, Tatsuya's plans for marriage falls apart. He eventually does fall in love again with a Shinjuku Bar Hostess, "Jasmine" (Murakami Rikako) but is jilted by her later in the series. As the big brother, everyone's pet name
for him is "Anachan" 「あんちゃん」. While a bit of a country bumpkin
(he often exclaims that even though he had only a high school education,
all the important lessons in life he learned were in kindergarten) and
prone to emotional outbreaks (he cries easily) and physical altercations
with his younger brothers, he is of big heart and will do anything to protect and keep his family together.
His favorite food is pudding deserts and his favorite cartoon character as a
child was "Muttley" (known as ケン-ケン/Ken Ken in Japan), the snickering Hanna-Barbera dog character from
"Wacky Races" and "Dick Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying
Machines") in which he and his siblings frequently imitate his trademark snickering.
"Muttley You Snickering Floppy Eared Hound..." - The cast of "Hitotsu Yane No Shita 2" doing their "snickering" pose and Muttley (AKA Ken-Ken) - Images courtesy of http://ameblo.jp/kabutoxx/entry-10777414183.html and http://superheroisemgeral.blogspot.com/2012/02/hitotsu-yane-no-shita.html
Kashiwagi Masaya/柏木雅也 (portrayed by Fukuyama Masaharu) -Second eldest brother. Was 18 years old when the car accident that killed their parents occurred. He was then adopted by his father's medical school rival, Dr. Kinouchi, who was ironically once engaged to wed Masaya's mother. Masaya was being groomed to take over the Kinouchi family's hospital. Spoiled with his new found wealth and corrupted by his privileged position as a fledgling doctor in training, Masaya had become arrogant and condescending. When Tatsuya first visits Masaya, Masaya refuses to even acknowledge him as family and even bribes Tatsuya with money to leave him alone (thinking that the only reason he is visiting him is to get money). In time and with the help of his sister Koyuki (whom Masaya had always had a deep romantic love for), Masaya has a change of heart and begins to re-establish his relationship with his siblings. During the course of the series, he falls in love with one of his ailing patients, the terminally ill but arrogant actress Hiyoshi Rina (Uchida Yuki) who unfortunately dies in his care and then proclaims his love to his sister Koyuki, whom he has always known was adopted into the family. In the sequel, he leaves Japan to practice medicine abroad as part of a "Doctors Without Borders" type medical organization. When Koyuki is diagnosed with leukemia he returns to Japan to help treat her. His family pet name was Chi-Niichan 「チイ兄ちゃん」
Kashiwagi Koyuki/柏木小雪 - (portrayed by Sakai Noriko) - Eldest sister of the family. Acts like a surrogate mother for her younger siblings. Was abandoned at the clinic where Dr. Kashiwagi worked at by Koyuki's mother (Fubuki Jun) who was just a teenager at the time. Rather than sending her to a foster home, Dr. Kashiwagi adopts Koyuki (he name's her after the snowy weather conditions she was born in). Koyuki's gentle nature, strong motherly instincts and genteel personality made her the family's favorite sibling. Tatsuya and Masaya would be the only ones besides Koyuki who would know that she is adopted and would be very protective of that secret. After the death of their parents, Koyuki was sent to live with close relatives in Tokyo. She eventually graduates from a local college and begins work as an OL ("Office Lady"/Secretary) at a large financial company. There she begins a secret extramarital affair with her married supervisor. She is the only one who welcomes Tatsuya when he comes to Tokyo. When Tatsuya disapproves of her affair, she ends the relationship (she has secretly always had romantic feelings for her older brother). When Tatsuya is rejected by "Jasmine", Koyuki professes her love to Tatsuya to console him but is rebuffed. When youngest sister Koume finds out about Koyuki's past, it would cause a rift in the family. Koyuki would later in the series go to Southern Japan to find her birth mother who has since remarried and had another daugther, Megumi (Adachi Yumi). Koyuki would get a marriage proposal from follically challenged, meek businessman Maezono Toshio (a surprising early "nice guy" role for the physically imposing Ukaji Takashi, who would later go on to play primarily film and TV villains including his recent appearance as conniving businessman Higashida in TBS' sensational 2013 hit series 『半沢直樹』/"Hanzawa Naoki"). Still later in the sequel, Koyuki would nearly die as a result of a leukemia but would pull through by the efforts of her siblings and a bone marrow transplant from Megumi.
Kashiwagi Kazuya/柏木和也 (portrayed by Ishida Issei) - Hot-headed middle brother of the clan. Was only 13 when the tragic accident that killed his parents occurred. Was sent off to a close relative in Tokyo but the home environment was less than ideal and he soon became a juvenile delinquent who got into numerous altercations with Police. One incident even landed him in Juvenile Detention for a period of time. He would get involved in a juvenile gang with Yakuza ties. Although in recent years he had tried to distance himself from his troubled past, his former gang boss would try and force his hand in returning to crime. In order to help Kazuya, Tatsuya agrees to have Kazuya live with him to keep him out of trouble. Prone to violent and emotional outbursts, opinionated and strong-willed, he frequently gets into physical altercations with his elder brother. Kazuya eventually frees himself from the criminal influences of his past and finds steady work at a manufacturing company. There he meets the spunky tomboy Mochizuki Miki (the great Matsu Takako) who is caring for her ailing mother. Miki is also working part-time at a "Cosplay"-themed Companion Bar to make ends meet. They fall in love and she eventually moves in with the Kashiwagi family albeit, she and Kazuya are forced to live in an outside tent because Tatsuya had rented out Kazuya's room to the effeminate college "ronin" Hayakawa Masumi (Kuroda Yuki), a fellow country bumpkin who has come to Tokyo with dreams of entering Tokyo University ("Todai"). Kazuya eventually is inspired to follow in Tatsuya's footsteps and becomes a Marathon runner. Coached by Tatsuya's former teammate and tarnished Olympic hopeful Kawamura Izumi (Watanabe Yuki), who had been disgraced in a "doping" scandal, Kazuya attempts to win a local Marathon for the family's honor.
Kashiwagi Koume/柏木小梅 (portrayed by Oji Megumi) - Youngest sister of the group. Was only 9 years old when the accident that killed her parents occurred. Obstinate and somewhat withdrawn, she was sent to live with distant relatives in the outskirts of Tokyo. However she was frequently bullied by the relative's own daughter who resented the fact that Koume was a top student at school. Koume at first rejected Tatsuya's offer to live with him and re-unite as a family but after Tatsuya promised to help pay for her college costs (Koume had secretly worked part-time as a Companion Girl at a Carabet Bar) she moves in with him. Although she loves her older sister Koyuki, she is secretly jealous of her and when she discovers that Koyuki is not biologically related to the rest of the family, Koume uses the opportunity to try and replace Koyuki as the family's favorite. As the series progresses, Koume and Koyuki reconcile and become loving sisters again. Later in the series, Koume is violently raped on her seventeenth birthday as she is walking home to attend her birthday party. Koume suffers severe psychological trauma from the event and Tatsuya vows to bring the perpetrator (an unapologetic and privileged college student) to justice. Tatsuya runs a local marathon in Koume's honor and nearly re-injures his legs in the process. Koume had a schoolgirl crush for close family friend, the kindly family doctor Hirose Yukio (Yamamoto Kei) who was considered an "uncle" to the family. Koume would eventually find love in the sequel when she meets up with the handsome Captain of her Tennis Club. Kashiwagi Fumiya/柏木文也 (portrayed by Yamamoto Koji) - Youngest of the Kashiwagi clan. Was only eight years old when the accident that killed his parents occurred. After being orphaned, he was sent to live with his mother's relatives. However, he was largely neglected and grew up withdrawn and shy. He was involved in a motorcycle hit-and-run accident in his first year of high school and was left paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheelchair, his foster parents sent him to a institution as they were unwilling to take on the burden of caring for him. The accident left Fumiya even more depressed and isolated, so much so that the caregivers at the Institution mistakenly thought he was autistic and mute (Fumiya refused to talk to anyone). Tatsuya rescues Fumiya from the Institution and takes on the responsibility for caring for him. In time Fumiya begins to open up to Tatsuya and the rest of his siblings and begins to talk again. Tatsuya attempts to have Fumiya go to a regular High School but his efforts are blocked when local high school officials refuse to accept Fumiya based on his disability. Fumiya eventually accepts his condition and agrees to go to a school for the Disabled. Fumiya would display a natural talent for art and would be encouraged to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist/painter. Fumiya would be seduced by his Art Tutor (who is five years his senior) and who takes advantage of his trusting nature in order to steal the idea of one of his drawings (so that she can enter it as her own into a Art Contest). Later Fumiya would find his true love in the beautiful concert flutist Terada Nami (Asai Erina) who is herself disabled (she is blind). While they share a deep and strong love for each other, Nami is nearly killed in a traffic accident when she attempts to see Fumiya over the objections of her stern parents. Nami and Fumiya reluctantly break up their relationship in order to save Nami from any further danger and suffering.
Image courtesy of http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B00005FRXS?ie=UTF8&index=1
J-Canuck has already written an excellent post for Tulips' (チューリップ) 1975 classic folk song 『サボテンの花』 (Saboten No Hana) which was used as the Opening Theme for the series and its sequel, so instead I wanted to talk about Le Couple's (ル・クプル) beautiful love song 「ひだまりの詩」/"Hidamari No Uta" which was used as the insert song for 『ひとつ屋根の下 2』. There are only a few JPop love songs that really had the emotional impact to actually make me weep (山口 百恵/Yamaguchi Momoe's 「 いい日旅立ち」, Anzen Chitai/安全地帯 「悲しみにさよなら」 and KAN's 「愛は勝つ」 come immediately to mind) and 「ひだまりの詩」 certainly ranks as among one of the best love songs ever. With its touching lyrics, gentle melody and lead singer 藤田恵美/Fujita Emi's angelic vocals, it is the perfect sentimental song for pulling at the heart strings.
Image courtesy of http://photozou.jp/photo/show/140238/7031637
Le Couple was comprised of the singing/song writing husband and wife team of 藤田隆二(Fujita Ryoji) and 藤田恵美 (Fujita Emi). Fujita Emi has always wanted to be in the spotlight even at a young age. From Kindergarten up through Elementary School, Emi was groomed to be a star - acting in school plays and singing in various chorus groups (one of her early performances was with a chorus group called the "Himawari Cuties" 「ひまわりキティーズ」). In 1978, after high school she tried her hand at becoming an Enka singer but wasn't able to secure a recording contract. Dejected but still determined to pursue her dream, Emi continued to sing (mostly Country and Bluegrass songs) in various Live House venues while working as an Real Estate Agent for the Tokyo area. Fujita Ryoji grew up listening to the Beatles as a teen and taught himself to play the guitar in Junior High School. After high school, he joined a Country Music cover band and played various Live House gigs across Tokyo. It was during one of these performances that he met and fell in love with Emi who was also singing at the Live House he was performing in. They married in 1990 and took a break from music, only performing on occasion as a hobby. After three years Emi and Ryoji decided to pursue their dreams again and began to sing original songs as a duo at various Live Houses in Tokyo. It was at one of these performances that they caught the attention of a Talent Agent for Pony Canyon who quickly signed them up to a recording contract. Emi and Ryoji would later debut under the name "Le Couple" the following year. In 1994 they would release their first single, a cover of the 1968 song 「海の底でうたう唄」'"Ume No Soko De Utau Uta" by the radio personality group モコ・ビーバー・オリーブ/Moko, Beaver, Olive. Subsequent singles would follow but it wouldn't be until their 5th single "Hidamari No Uta" in 1997 that they would finally get their big break. "Hidamari No Uta" owes much of its success to its being selected as the insert song to the drama series 『ひとつ屋根の下 2』 and within the span of only a few weeks, the song would jump from outside the top 100 to No. 78 and then into the Top 10, finally reaching the No. 2 position, selling over a million copies. The single would earn the duo not only an invitation to perform at that year's "Kouhaku Utagassen"/『第48回NHK紅白歌合戦』 but the song would also be selected as the No. 3 most popular song of the year by Oricon.
Unfortunately Le Couple wouldn't be able to match the huge success of "Hidamari No Uta" and this would be their only major hit. Ironically, Ryoji and Emi (whose songs talked about eternal love and the perfect romance) would find their relationship waning and they would divorce in 2007, two years after retiring as a singing group. The couple did not have any children while together. Emi would however continue to perform as a solo singer under her married name.
The "Hitotsu Yane No Shita" series and its sequel would be released to VHS home video and Laser Disc but would inexplicably be denied either a release to either DVD or Blu-Ray. "Hitotsu Yane No Shita" is one of those rare series in which one really does get to care for the characters of the story. While some of the humor was a bit forced and the subplots a tad bit too melodramatic, the series stands as one of the best examples of Japanese family dramas and its young cast of up-and-coming stars truly captured the hearts of audiences. This series is one of my all-time favorites and proved that scriptwriter Nojima could write happy stories too and not just the "doom and gloom" type stories he was famous for.
