Kiroro -- Saigo no Kiss （最後のKiss）

(karaoke version)

During that part of the 1990s that I was in Japan, I became accustomed to hearing about the various acts coming out from Okinawa, and usually my impression was that they were either performing the distinct folk music featuring the sanshin or kicking it up a notch with some high-energy dance pop (a la Namie Amuro and Speed). 

Then came Kiroro, a duo consisting of Chiharu Tamashiro and Ayano Kinjo（玉城千春・金城綾乃）, high school buddies from the Nakagami District of Okinawa who made their debut under an independent label in late 1996 with "Nagai Aida"（長い間...A Long Time）before making their major label debut in early 1998 with the same song and hitting No. 1. My visual impression of the two was seeing Tamashiro standing behind the mike while Kinjo was providing the steady hand at the piano, and thanks to their big hit with "Nagai Aida", I always saw them as a pop ballad duo, especially with Tamashiro's angelic voice.

However, Kiroro's 5th single from June 1999 was "Saigo no Kiss" (Final Kiss), a sunny number which reminded me more of Dreams Come True on a fun vacation in terms of melody. Tamashiro wrote and composed the song that may not have reached the heights of their debut single, but it was fun enough for me to purchase the CD. It peaked at No. 12 on Oricon, and was placed as a track on Kiroro's 2nd album, "Suki na Hito: Kiroro no Sora"（好きな人〜キロロの空〜...The Person You Love - Kiroro's Sky）which was released in December 1999 and hit as high as No. 5 on the album charts.

I'm not sure how many ads Tamashiro and Kinjo did but I also remember that they also had their share of the limelight in the interview sessions of the music programs and even perhaps as guests on the variety shows. The two came off as being quite giddy and more than willing to have a good time with their hosts.

ZAQ -- Alteration/Kana Asumi -- Shintouatsu Symphony （浸透圧シンフォニー）

Well, I've been quite grateful for my current translation gig handling things like travel articles. For one thing, I'm getting paid for my efforts and I'm also learning vocabulary on places such as onsen towns and the myriad shrines and temples. The unexpected benefit has to do with that latter tourist site in Japan. You see, over the past few months, I've been watching the 2013 anime "Sasami-san@Ganbaranai"（ささみさん@がんばらない...Ms. Sasami@Unmotivated） in which the plot and characters involve a lot of terms having to do with Japanese mythology such as the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and The Three Sacred Treasures of Japan. In fact, you might say that Amaterasu and those treasures are the characters. A lot of that stuff going in "Sasami-san" would have been over my head if it hadn't been for those shrine/temple articles. I had only just translated an article about a certain shrine which dealt with The Cave of Heaven, and a couple of days later, the cave got a mention in an episode of the show. Kismet or what? Anyways, the show's gotten a lot deeper and somewhat more complex compared to the debut episode which seemed to be about a sassy hikikomori ensconced in a rather nice house with an overly devoted brother with a sister complex.

But right from the beginning, I was drawn to the opening theme by singer-songwriter ZAQ, "Alteration". I have seen the singer-songwriter's name in the credits for other anime but "Alteration" has been the one by her that has finally grabbed me due to its blastoff right from the opening notes and melody which strikes me as reminiscent of a dance tune from the parapara days. Plus some of those key shifts certainly kept my ears on their toes.

"Alteration" was released as ZAQ's 2nd single from January 2013 and it peaked at No. 25 on Oricon. It is also a track on her lone album so far, "NOISY Lab." from April 2014 which got as high as No. 8 on the charts.

The other interesting thing about the show is the running gag that is the innocent ending credits. Instead of the technopop excitement of "Alteration", "Shintoutatsu Symphony" (Osmotic Pressure Symphony) is a cute aidoru-esque ending theme which for 11 of the 12 episodes, seiyuu Kana Asumi（阿澄佳奈）in character as Sasami-san refused to perform correctly for various reasons, often handing over the mike to one or more of the Yagami Sisters, her guardians, with varying results. I'm still in the middle of watching the series but I have heard that Sasami-san finally gets her act together at the end of the finale and provides the proper rendition. Lyricist and composer Kenichi Maeyamada（前山田健一）must have sighed relief. I certainly did and will be looking forward to the decent version.

The Works of Karuho Kureta（呉田軽穂）

I think anyone who has been reading this blog regularly over the years, especially the Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）entries, will probably cotton onto the fact that Karuho Kureta（呉田軽穂）is the pseudonym of singing and songwriting veteran-with-a-V Yumi Matsutoya (nee Arai)（松任谷由実・荒井由実）. Writing an article in the Creator category about Yuming（ユーミン）was pretty much a must (especially after writing a BEST article on her not too long ago), but she's written a ton of songs for a good number of singers throughout the decades that I needed to narrow things down a tad. And I thought focusing on her works under the name Karuho Kureta (a cute little semi-pun on the late Greta Garbo when you read the name in the Japanese way) was a good way to do so. Naturally, Yuming has created songs for other singers under her real name, but for today, let's focus on Kureta.

Of course, the first time I noticed Yuming's seeming subterfuge was when I was writing about the various songs that she had created with lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）for Queen Aidoru Seiko-chan in the early 1980s. I don't have definitive proof but supposedly the reason that she came up with the pen name in the first place was that she had once declared that she would never write or compose a tune for an aidoru so that the name was a way of hedging her bets, so to speak.

In fact, there is that Seiko BEST album, "Train" which contains her tunes under Kureta-Matsumoto collaborations, but I still wanted to include another happy sunny song by them titled "Lemonade no Natsu"（レモネードの夏...Lemonade Summer）. This was the B-side to Seiko-chan's 9th single, "Nagisa no Balcony"（渚のバルコニー）from April 1982, and in a way, my impression is that the Kureta oeuvre has frequently been about the cheerful and summery side of things, although her contribution to folk/City Pop duo Bread & Butter's "Ano Koro no Mama"（あの頃のまま）was definitely cooler and more introspective.

Speaking of Bread & Butter, Kureta provided just the lyrics to the duo's "Tobacco Road 20"（タバコロード20）on that fine album of theirs, "Late Late Summer" back in 1979; now, I really got to get that album considering that all of the Bread & Butter entries on the blog come from that one release. Along with the cheerful and summery melody by one-half of the duo, Satsuya Iwasawa（岩沢幸矢）, Kureta writes about one-half of a couple letting the other half sleep contentedly under the summer sun, and there's definitely that relaxing feeling to it.

On the other hand, Kureta came up with the genki, genki music for Ikue Sakakibara's（榊原郁恵）15th single in March 1980, "Yay! Yay! Onee-san"（イエ!イエ!お嬢さん...Yay! Yay! Girl）. Shizuka Ijuin（伊集院静）, under her own pen name of Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, was the lyricist here for this supremely happy-go-lucky tune with a bit of 50s/60s sax which fit the supremely up-with-people Sakakibara.

The one big surprise for me is Kureta composing a song for Toshihiko Tahara（田原俊彦）in February 1985, "Ginga no Shinwa"（銀河の神話...Galactic Myth）. Usually when it comes to Toshi-chan as one of the Tanokin Trio, I usually envision him and his music bounding across the stage and bouncing off the walls on programs like the Kohaku Utagassen or "The Best 10", but his 21st single is a nice mix of his usual hyperactive stuff with a certain Yuming mellowness from the late 70s and early 80s. In fact, I could even imagine Yuming herself singing this in concert. The other big surprise is seeing J-R&B queen Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）being the lyricist. "Ginga no Shinwa", by the way, high-stepped all the way up to No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 84th-ranked song for 1985.

Kureta once again gave some 50s vibe albeit with some synths for then-budding singer Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）with "Calendar"（カレンダー）. I still don't have anywhere near a complete knowledge about Tone's discography but usually I think of her more in the urban contemporary or funk vein of Japanese music, but there was something distinctly old-style about this song whose lyrics were provided by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）. "Calendar" came out as a track on Tone's debut album "Purple Rose" in 1985.

My final song just happens to be the first song that I came across when I was looking for the works of Karuho Kureta on J-Wiki. It looks like she and Takashi Matsumoto joined forces once more in August 2010 to create a gentle ballad, "Margaret"（マーガレット）for actress/singer Haruka Ayase（綾瀬はるか）, her 4th single. I've usually seen Ayase through her work in dramas and as an often unintentionally hilarious guest on the variety shows but I wasn't sure about her musical output. However, at least with "Margaret", she sings just like she speaks. Her final single to date managed to get as high as No. 20 on Oricon, and she's apparently covered a couple of Seiko-chan's old tunes.

According to J-Wiki's article on Yuming, she's provided a number of songs for a variety of other singers, and those are the ones that have been listed. So my earlier assumption that Karuho Kureta was just a nominal excuse to write Seiko songs has definitely been smashed to bits.

Yuko Sasamoto -- Kono Omoi wo Tsutaetai (この思いを伝えたい)

One of the things I like to do is to visit an older cousin who plays a lot of different games. However, I’m kind of childish when it comes to games, so I don’t like to play realist games, such as the ones he plays. Based on that, before he bought some games in the style I like to play, we’d only play a lovely puzzle game called “Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo” (スーパーパズルファイターII X), which was originally released in 1996.

“Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo” is a fun game, and its puzzle style reminiscent of the classic "Puyo Puyo" (ぷよぷよ) is one of the few I know how to play well enough to beat my friends (I played another "Puyo Puyo"-inspired game called “Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine”, which was actually the Western version of "Puyo Puyo", in my childhood). Also, it’s a puzzle game from Capcom with well known characters from “Street Fighter Alpha” (ストリートファイター ZERO) and “Darkstalkers” (ヴァンパイア) games.

Besides being very fun and cute, one of the reasons I love the game is, of course, because of its lively soundtrack. The theme I like the most is the game’s version of character Sakura Kasugano’s (春日野さくら) theme, which can be heard below.

I could listen to this thing forever, and it’s not a lie as I keep repeating it non-stop for years now. In fact, when I play "Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo" with my cousin or my friends, I always end being the player one just to choose Sakura as my character in order to listen to this beautiful melody without stopping. My cousin and friends are the most considerate guys, so they don’t complaint at all.

I already loved the instrumental tune very much, but I was even more amazed when I discovered that a vocal version of the song existed, and it was a hidden feature of the game. Honestly, I never did what was necessary to unlock the song, but that’s why we have YouTube nowadays.

The vocal version is called “Kono Omoi wo Tsutaetai” by voice actress Yuko Sasamoto (笹本優子), and it’s the one featured at the beginning. The arrangement is quite different from the one I was initially used to, but it’s as lovely as Puzzle Fighter’s traditional instrumental version. I quite like the amount of keyboards and synths in it, but also how it also manages to keep the melancholic vibe that’s also apparent in the instrumental version.

In the end, it’s the same type of sound used in a lot of anime songs of its time, so that’s probably why I identified myself with it. Now imagine if Megumi Hayashibara (林原めぐみ) covered it... well, I’m kidding.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo cover

Natsume Mito -- 8-Bit Boy (8ビットボーイ)

Source: generasia.com

If Perfume, CAPSULE and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ) weren’t enough, Yasutaka Nakata (中田ヤスタカ) started producing another artist this year. Her name is Natsume Mito (三戸なつめ) and, like Kyary, she’s a Harajuku model.

Kyary’s gimmick is the so-called creepy kawaii aesthetic that also transposes into her music, while in Mito’s case it's a very random one: her short bangs. The thing is, Mito’s image is based solely in the strange bangs that don’t cover her entire forehead, which makes her look a little bit odd. It’s also cute, though.

Mito’s debut single was “Maegami Kiri Sugita” (前髪切りすぎた), or “I Cut My Bangs Too Short”, which is a quirky and funny song about her short bangs gimmick. She released it in April 2015, and also shoot a lot of different low-budget videos to promote the song. I didn’t count, but, according to generasia, she released eleven videos just for “Maegami Kiri Sugita”.

Personally, I liked her debut a lot, but ended not writing a post about it yet. Maybe one day I’ll do it. But for now, the song that I keep playing non-stop is her second single, “8-Bit Boy” (8ビットボーイ), which was released in September 2015.

“8-Bit Boy” is tied to Adam Sandler’s latest movie, “Pixels”, and athough I’m not very excited for the movie itself, I’m glad that Nakata had to compose “8-Bit Boy” with the movie in mind. Based on that, it’s a song with an exciting arrangement full of retro video-game sounds.

As a 90s kid, the song really made me remind the time I played games such as Sonic The Hedgehog, and so many others, in my Sega Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis in North America). Well, the Mega Drive already used 16-bit technology, but I still associate it with the older 8-bit tech consoles. They’re both old technologies, anyway.

More about the song, the chorus is ridiculously catchy, especially when Mito keeps repeating “uh, uh, 8-Bit Boy”. Another great thing about it is the instrumental break where Nakata just unleashes he’s well known synth magic. And kudos to him for making “8-Bit Boy” sound so fun, light and exciting at the same time. I don’t know, but it’s probably he’s freshest work of 2015 so far. I also hope he keeps creating good songs for Mito-chan now that Kyary’s sound is starting to not work very well anymore.

To finish, here’s the short version of the music video, which, unfortunately, don’t show Nakata’s instrumental break. That’s basically why I was happy to find the song in its full glory in our beloved Chinese (?) site above.

As always, Nakata created the lyrics, the music and the arrangement.

Source: generasia.com

Masayuki Suzuki -- Kirai da yo （きらいだよ）

Interesting where searches can take you. I was actually looking for the theme song for the old comedy-variety show "Downtown no Gottsu A Kanji" （ダウンタウンのごっつええ感じ...Downtown's Feeling Good） starring the veteran duo Downtown. I barely remember the song by Fairchild, "Kirai da yo" but I did want to profile it since it did sound a bit catchy from what I could glean from my memory engrams. However, it was nowhere to be found on YouTube.

But hope rings eternal as ever. I did find a Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）song on NetEase with the same title of "Kirai da yo" (I Hate You), and as ever, Martin delivers another cool tune. It wasn't even an official single but a track on his 6th album from 1993, "Perfume". Plus, it has all of the wonderful Suzuki tropes: soulful vocals by the man himself, groovalicious melody by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）, and that wonderful mood of a night out in the big city. The lyrics were provided by Hideki Ando（安藤秀樹）as Martin sings about painting the town a very luxurious red with that young lady while he internally gives that sardonic "I hate you" since either the romance or the evening seems to be coming to an amicable end. Must be nice to be able to afford the nocturnal activities of Tokyo.

Well, I can only hope that I will continue to bump into further fortuitous songs this way. Now I'm wondering whether to pick up this particular album.

Hitomi Tohyama -- Door Goshi no Good Song （ドア越しのGood Song）

I've always loved that cover of Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama's（当山ひとみ）1981 debut album "Just Call Me Penny". The way the lady is sitting in that armchair makes me wonder if the title was meant to be more of a command rather than a kindly request. She's got that sexy if no-nonsense look about her.

In any case, I've chosen another track from that album, "Door Goshi no Good Song" (A Good Song Behind The Door) which actually launches "Just Call Me Penny". From the songs that I have heard by her on that 2-disc BEST album that I got online, I've known Penny mostly for her Japanese funk during the 80s. But with her first album, I think she was feeling her way around the genres.

The other song from that album that I've already profiled, "Rainy Driver", is a nighttime City Pop tune, but "Door Goshi no Good Song" has got that 60s American girl pop feel to it (complete with introductory voiceover in darn good English), so I start thinking Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）from around the same time. However, the singer's delivery here has me imagining Ayumi Nakamura （中村あゆみ）with more silk and less husk. It's a light and pleasant song...I would say that it is the musical version of an aperitif that any record marketer wouldn't have pushed as a debut single but it makes for a nice way to profile her pure vocals.

"Door Goshi no Good Song", which also has the alternate title of "So Many Times", was written by H. Kurashiki and composed by Yoshihiro Yonekura（米倉良広）. Although I have that BEST album, I'm sorely tempted to get "Just Call Me Penny" just on that album cover alone.