Sambomaster/Bird feat. Kuchiroro -- Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze（世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ）

Over 10 years ago, there was the story of "Densha Otoko"（電車男...Train Man）about an Akihabara otaku and young lady who get into an unlikely romance when the former rescues the latter from a drunken idiot on the train. The Train Man is shocked and delighted to perceive some possible interest from the woman code-named Hermes and has to consult with his fellow geeks via 2channel about how to handle the situation.

The story was intriguing enough that it was adapted into both a movie and a TV series. I'd heard all about "Densha Otoko" when I was living in Japan, but by that point, the petals had fallen off the flower long ago when it came to my interest in the local TV dramas, so I never bothered watching.

It's only been recently that I discovered that the ending theme for the TV series was rock band Sambomaster's 5th single "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze" (That's What the World Calls Love). I had also heard about the band before since the vocalist Takashi Yamaguchi（山口隆）has had a penchant for going from soft vocalization to throat-shredding screams.

With "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze", which was written and composed by Yamaguchi, I think that the downtrodden corporate cog may have found his/her rallying anthem to get that second wind and go for something bigger and better. At the very least, the average salaried worker now had another song at the karaoke boxes to mightily de-stress. As for me, along with that feeling of getting off one's duff and becoming a hero to someone special, I've also enjoyed those key shifts in the refrain. Not sure if I could ever sing the song but I wouldn't certainly mind hearing someone sing it at karaoke.

Coming out in August 2005, the song went Gold, reaching No. 7 on Oricon and becoming the 76th-ranked single of the year. The single also ended up on Sambomaster's "Boku to Kimi no Subete o Rock 'n Roll to Yobe"（僕と君の全てをロックンロールと呼べ...Call Everything About You and Me Rock 'n Roll）, their 3rd album from April 2006, which peaked at No. 8.

"Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze" has been covered by a number of singers over the years including Bird who performed her version with the pop unit Kuchiroro（□□□）in 2007 on her "BIRDSONG EP-cover BEATS for the party-". Her take is also pretty cool with that familiar Latin/club treatment that I've known her for.

I was surprised that "Densha Otoko" didn't quite get the interest of Hollywood since they were more than happy to adapt all those horror stories like "Ringu" along with heartwarming tales such as "Shall We Dance?" and "Hachiko". But then again, maybe something similar happened on TV instead.😁

Yasuhiro Abe -- Juu-ni-gatsu no Yuki（12月の雪）

Yeah, the above was an October photo of snow in our city. That isn't happening this year for Xmas. The temperature is 9 degrees Celsius as I'm typing this and my window is open to let in some of that fresh balmy air. It's gonna be a green December 25th with all of the positives and negatives.

However, we kayo kyoku fans in Toronto can imagine a bit with the help of this song that I first heard on the Xmas edition of Come Along Radio last night. This is Yasuhiro Abe's（安部恭弘）"Juu-ni-gatsu no Yuki" (December Snow) which was the coupling song for his 14th single, "China Rain In Christmas" released in November 1990. The song was also a track on his 8th album "Tengoku wa Mattekureru"（天国は待ってくれる...Heaven Can Wait）.

At first, I was thinking about categorizing it as a City Pop Xmas tune but after listening to it a few more times, I realized that this was more of a sentimental mix of jazz standard and pop...kinda like the stuff that I used to hear decades ago and more along the lines of a Michael Buble seasonal song. Written by Rui Serizawa（芹沢類）and composed by Abe, "Juu-ni-gatsu no Yuki" is a classy and cuddly ballad crooned ably by the singer about those tender white flakes coming down one night before Xmas. Maybe it's one of those tunes to imagine while taking a breather outside away from the jolly cacophony inside the house during the annual get-together.

Sugar Babe -- Yuming

OK, first off, I got a message from my friend Jerry, aka Rocket Brown, at Come Along Radio. His one-hour City Pop Xmas special is up on Soundcloud so why don't you give that a listen while wrapping up those presents and writing those cards?

Also, you may be wondering why I put up a video of a pivotal scene from "The Blues Brothers" as the thumbnail. It has to do with Jake, Elwood and the band performing some of their stuff at a bar whose customers initially don't take too well to their brand of music with only their repeated renditions of "Rawhide" coming in to save the day.

The reason I mention this is that Rocket also sent me a video of an interview with Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, singer-songwriter extraordinaire, on what I recognize as an NHK afternoon talk show, in which she said with an utterly stony face that her old band from the 1970s, Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）with Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）, etc., had gone through the same thing apparently. Yup, bottles and other solid detritus were thrown at them since their brand of music didn't exactly sit well with the audience at the time. I guess that would be called paying one's dues. In any case, the interviewers looked somewhat uncomfortable. Fortunately for everyone involved, happier days were to come. Well, Ohnuki still had another bump on the road in her career with "Mignonne", but then after that, things were probably better.

Rocket also later told me another thing about Sugar Babe. Apparently, there is a mystery tune that was never released as either a single or as a track on the band's lone album "Songs" from 1975. Certainly, I don't recall ever hearing this one on my copy of "Songs", but Tats wrote and composed this tune called "Yuming" after his famous contemporary, Yumi Arai（荒井由美）later to become Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）.

I don't know why it was never officially released although we can hear it on YouTube, and apparently the author for this Japanese article on the song, Tamotsu Thomas Ueda, isn't sure either. However, he also mentions that even the lyrics that he got from one recording of "Yuming" may be different from what is heard since apparently Sugar Babe often modified them each time they performed.

"Yuming" may not go down as an absolute Yamashita/Sugar Babe classic but it's still a fun and carefree tune in that Sugar Babe way in tribute to one of the most famous and vivacious singer-songwriters in Japanese pop music. I can imagine that Tats may have whipped this one up as a sorta birthday gift for Yuming at a party.

Iruka -- Ano Koro no Boku wa（あの頃のぼくは）

The last time that I put up an Iruka（イルカ）article was New Year's Day this year, so now with 2019 almost up, I gather that it's time to write about another one of her songs.

I'm going way back here this time. In fact, this is Iruka's debut single as a solo singer. "Ano Koro no Boku wa" (Me Back Then) was released in October 1974, and to my ears, there is nothing like a proto-Iruka or an Iruka-in-development in how it sounds. This is quintessential Iruka: plaintive vocals and that sweet folk sound that I've heard in many of her songs back in the 1970s.

Her good friend Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）wrote and composed this story of looking back at an old school romance with a mix of regret and gratitude. I could say that it's the perfect kayo of reminiscence. The protagonist is probably wondering how his old flame is doing right now. As he is making coffee for himself, is she making for herself and her current husband?

The above has Iruka and Ise performing the song. Wouldn't it be nice if Iruka could come back to the Kohaku Utagassen one more time?

Yutaka Yokokura -- This Christmas

Well, many Xmas cards, present-buying and a few parties later, I find myself in the homestretch for December 25th. Perhaps just some remaining things to tweak and I should be relatively stress-free for Christmas.

Along with that marshmallow-topped cup of cocoa, I think another calming stress buster is Yutaka Yokokura's（横倉裕）cover version of "This Christmas" from the compilation album "A GRP Christmas Collection" released in 1988. The originating studio is GRP Records which was formed by composer/arranger Dave Grusin and producer/musician Larry Rosen as a jazz label.

"This Christmas" was originally recorded and co-written by the late soul singer Donny Hathaway back in 1970, and it's been called "absolutely the premiere holiday song written by an African American" by guitarist/bassist Phil Upchurch according to the Wikipedia article for the song. I remember hearing the song on radio thanks to that repeated horn riff but from coming across the Yokokura cover, I was finally able to really listen to and appreciate the Hathaway original as an Xmas song in the big city.

However, listening to Yokokura's "This Christmas", I think the AOR arrangement is such that I can consider it to be its own animal, so to speak (although that robotic voice near the end is a weird touch). The top video for the cover version has one scene of a house out in the countryside and for me, it's the crowning Xmas-scape for this song. Just have the family and friends enjoy a sunny day in the cold and crisp air and mounds of snow before coming back in for that fine dinner.

Yoshimi Iwasaki -- Congratulation

Discovered this one on a City Pop compilation in the last hour or so, and then was lucky enough to find a lone video for this very song.

Rocket Brown from Come Along Radio and I have already spoken on the one trope of not basing one's love for a singer on a single amazing hit (namely Mariya's "Plastic Love"), and I think that it sorta fits here as well. All these years, I've only known Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）for that big 1980s hit "Touch"（タッチ）, and it's only been within the last several years, namely the years that I've been doing the blog, that I've realized that Hiromi's（岩崎宏美）younger sister wasn't just stuck on 50s-ish pop tunes but had been recording mellow City Pop/J-AOR songs nearly right from her debut.

Case in point: "Congratulation" from her September 1984 album "Wardrobe". Slight typo aside, this is one very desirable track thanks to that fine pairing of lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）who know more than a thing or two about the urban contemporary. Kan weaves a story about a woman at a friend's wedding party where she sees someone she's had feelings for but hasn't seen since their college days. What could happen? Dunno...but apparently she's waiting poolside to get him alone.

Beauty Pair -- Makkana Seishun（真赤な青春）

Happy weekend! As a kid, I remember that my childhood on Saturday afternoons often consisted of playing with the neighbourhood children outside in the snow and then watching wrestling on City-TV or CHCH Channel 11 in Hamilton. Some of the colorful figures bashing and smashing each other on the screen and in the ring included Rowdy Roddy Piper, Arriba Martinez and The Sheik.

Japan has had its own long history of wrestling but I never really got to know that scene very well. However, one duo that actually permeated my veil of ignorance when it came to Japanese wrestling was Beauty Pair（ビューティ・ペア）. Female wrestlers Jackie Sato（ジャッキー佐藤）and Maki Ueda（マキ上田）became quite the heroines during the latter half of the 1970s not just in the ring but also through pop culture as well. And of course, when celebrities of any stripe hit the big time, that also means cutting a record or two.

Releasing 6 singles between 1976 and 1978, the one song that I've heard by the Pair is "Makkana Seishun" (Beauty Sunshine, although the exact translation is Bright Red Youth), their 2nd single from June 1977. In fact, Jackie and Maki have even performed it in the ring.

Obviously wrestling being their stock-in-trade, their singing is not classic but I think the two acquit themselves pretty well in "Makkana Seishun" which was written by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）and composed by Tachio Akano（あかのたちお）. With the cute kids in the chorus, it sounds like an especially cheerful tokusatsu theme song. And strangely enough, a movie was made around them with the same title "Beauty Pair: Makkana Seishun" that same year.

Reading some information from an October 2012 feature on a TBS afternoon show via J-Wiki, their time together as Beauty Pair lasted until 1979 when Maki decided to break up the duo in a direct talk with the president of their management company without telling Jackie. Apparently, the relationship between Maki, who was more sociable, and Jackie, who was more of the lone wolf, had never been all that good to begin with. The president allowed it under one condition: the two would have to fight each other with the loser retiring from professional wrestling. Maki lost and retired but Jackie would do the same just a couple of years later.

Gradually, though, Jackie and Maki made amends, culminating in an onsen trip together, according to their bio. Unfortunately, this new friendship didn't last too long since Jackie would succumb to stomach cancer in 1999 at the age of 41.