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.
When most people hear the name Miki Nakatani（中谷美紀）, they will usually associate it with the actress who often takes on the quirkier roles on TV and movies. But the Tokyo native started out from being part of an early 90s TV variety series,"Sakurakko Club"（桜っ子クラブ） as a teen aidoru (or perhaps "baradoru"[variety idol] may have been more accurate) along with about-to-become-superstars Johnny's & Associates groups SMAP and TOKIO and future actresses Miho Kanno and Harumi Inoue.
Within the show, she was also one-half of the aidoru duo Key West Club, who did their own version of the "Sailor Moon" theme song "Moonlight Densetsu"（ムーンライト伝説...Moonlight Legend）. However, she did go solo and hooked up with Yellow Magic Orchestra's (and by the early 90s, Oscar winner) Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）in 1996 which would begin a fairly long collaboration. "Mind Circus" was her 2nd single. Composed by Sakamoto and written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, the song is a synth-pop candy concoction which goes down easy enough.
Nakatani would continue her singing career until 2001.
As one YouTube viewer put it in Japanese, "Those were peaceful days." Most likely, folks my age over in Japan will look at the anime "Miyuki"（みゆき）and just sigh wistfully. Originally, it started as a manga by Mitsuru Adachi（あだち充）, the same artist who came up with the popular baseball manga/anime series, "Touch"（タッチ）. "Miyuki" was more along the lines of budding teenage love comedy.
"Omoide ga Ippai"（思い出がいっぱい....Full of Memories） was the ending theme for the anime that I profiled months ago here. It has since become one of the evergreen tunes to listen to during the graduation period in Japan. The same duo behind that hit, H2O, was also responsible for the less-remembered opening theme, "10% no Ame Yohou"（１０％の雨予報...10% Chance of Rain) which was actually put on the B-side to "Omoide ga Ippai"'s A-side when it was released in March 1983. Both songs were written by Yoko Aki (阿木耀子）and composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）who created the melodies for songs for many a singer such as Ruiko Kurahashi, Hiromi Iwasaki, Wink, Junko Ohashi, etc.
Although the title refers to the possibility of rain (albeit a small one), the song is an uptempo tune with a touch of the tropical which makes for a nice contrast with the ballad of "Omoide ga Ippai". The above video is the opening from "Miyuki"; if I'm not mistaken, the opening theme version swapped in the title character's name into the lyrics.
Both songs made it on the duo's 4th, and 2nd-last, album,"POOL"released in October 1983.
Yup, it's Labour Day....time to pack up that barbeque and close down the public pools for another year. The kids are heading back to school and the weather will eventually start to cool down. How about a nice theme song to go with all that?
"Natsu no Owari no Harmony"(Summer's End Harmony) is about as bromantic as it gets. Anzen Chitai（安全地帯） lead vocal, Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）, and his old buddy/boss/collaborator, Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）, got together in September 1986 to do this epic heartfelt duet; Inoue took care of the lyrics while Tamaki covered the music. You can almost hear the guys at karaoke just yelling "I LOVE YOU, MAN!" to each other near the coda. The ballad was also part of the large "Anzen Chitai V"album.
And in fact, it was at my old haunt of Kuri where I first heard the song. Mind you, the word "bromance" was still decades from being born.
During the 70s, enka was the active traditional portion of kayo kyoku while the first big wave of aidoru washed ashore. There was also the folk boom and the rising tide of New Music. And to a smaller extent during that decade, there were these big-voiced male singers who also made their mark on stage and on the Oricon charts. I've profiled two such people already, Shigeru Matsuzaki（松崎しげる） and the late Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦）.
Another one was Akira Fuse（布施明）. He was born in Mitaka City in the west end of Tokyo back in 1947, and had a hankering to get into showbiz after seeing his heroines, The Peanuts (already profiled). So, he made his debut in 1965 with "Kimi ni Namida to Hohoemi wo"（君に涙とほほえみを....Tears and Smiles for You). For the next several years, he would become a fixture on the pop charts as he belted his hits. Like Ozaki and Matsuzaki, he also had this debonair Western-style appearance which no doubt brought him the lion's share of female fans.
In January 1979, he got his next hit called "Kimi wa Bara yorimo Utsukushii"(You're More Beautiful Than Roses), a snappy pop affair with a big band sound and a touch of gospel. The song became the campaign song for Kanebo Cosmetics that year; the TV commercial starred British actress Olivia Hussey (who starred in the 1968 version of "Romeo and Juliet"). I mention this since a year later, she and Fuse would get married and have one child, Max. They later divorced nearly a decade afterwards.
Here is the 30-second commercial with Hussey. I still smirk a bit on hearing that slogan for Kanebo, "For Beautiful Human Life".
And here is the dapper Mr. Fuse in a live appearance. "Kimi wa Bara" was written by Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二） and composed by the lead singer of Godiego（ゴダイゴ） himself, Mickey Yoshino（ミッキー吉野）. It peaked at No. 8 on the Oricon charts, and ended the year as the 40th-ranked song. Fuse would be invited onto the 1979 Kohaku Utagassen for the 16th time to perform his hit, and would reprise it three more times in 2003, 2007 and 2008.
1. Soundtrack Flashdance
2. Julio Iglesias Momentos
3. Seiko Matsuda Utopia
4. Akina Nakamori Fantasy
5. Southern All Stars Kirei
6. Michael Jackson Thriller
7. Tatsuro Yamashita Melodies
8. Akina Nakamori Variation
9. Yumi Matsutoya Reincarnation
10. Akina Nakamori Etranger
Pretty interesting lineup for this year with the top two positions being held by non-Japanese artists. I just wonder if young Japanese women sported day-glo headbands, ripped sweatshirts and leggings because of "Flashdance". Two Queens: the Queen of New Music and the Queen Aidoru held up their end, but they were trumped by the Mick Jagger of aidoru, Akina Nakamori with no fewer than 3 albums in the Top 10. And the pair of queens sandwiched one king: the King of Pop, that is...Michael JACKson (if you're nasty...oops, wrong sibling). Mercifully, I will end my puns on playing cards right here.
Of course, being September 1st and all, I just had to bring out this old chestnut by Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）. Nope, it has nothing to do with that Earth, Wind & Fire classic. It's just a happy-go-lucky disco pop song written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）back in August 1979 as Mariya's 3rd single. EPO provides backing vocals.
This was the first ever Mariya song I'd ever heard via that "Sounds of Japan" show on Autumn-based songs back in 1982. It was just one of those peppy tunes that never let go of my brain in all these decades, and whenever September rolls around, I just have to play it again. But I have to say when I did hear it for the first time, I first wondered if the voice behind the mike was that of a guy or a girl. I guess I had been so accustomed to hearing the high-voiced trilly voices of the aidoru up to that point that anything that went lower must have been a guy. And Mariya always had that lower register.
"September" is one of my favourites (peaking at No. 39 and earning Takeuchi Best New Artist honours at the Japan Record Awards), but it never cracked the Top 100 of the year in 1979. However, it was released as one of the tracks on her 3rd album, "Love Songs"which came out in March 1980 and ended up as the 12th-ranked album of the year.
Officially, we're still 3 weeks away from Fall, but traditionally since the passing of August heralds the beginning of the transition from Summer to Autumn, I thought it would be a good time to start introducing some seasonal tunes from the world of kayo kyoku. And whenever September 1 comes around, my thoughts often go back to that old Canadian Tire cassette tape I used to record that 1982 broadcast of "The Sounds of Japan" which focused on the old J-Pop of Fall.
I can still remember most of the lineup from that show:
I have been listening to the last two songs for years and I'm especially looking forward to profiling one of Mariya's early hits. As I've mentioned on the entry for Higurashi's "Aki no Tobira", this was a song that I'd been looking high and low for for decades until I finally tracked it down in July.
And now the circle is almost complete with Toi et Moi. This was a duo consisting of Emiko Shiratori and Sumio Akutagawa（白鳥英美子・芥川澄夫）. Debuting in 1969, the pair had often been mistaken as a straight folk group due to the gentle melodies and deliveries in their music, especially amongst the many singers and groups who were singing the popular genre at the time. However, Toi et Moi was just a kayo kyoku pairing singing light Japanese pop.
Toi et Moi's cover of "Dare mo Inai Umi"(The Deserted Sea) in November 1970, the group's 6th single of 21 singles they released throughout their 4-year history, comes off as this pretty and romantic kayo kyoku ballad which starts off with the lyric "Ima wa, mou aki"（今は、もう秋....It's now Fall) and talks of promises made to the various parts of that desolate patch of seashore to keep on surviving no matter what. The song peaked at No. 16 on the Oricon weeklies.
However, the original singer for "Dare mo Inai Umi"was the late chanson artist Yasuko Ouki（大木康子） in 1968 (although the makers of the song, Yoko Yamaguchi｛山口洋子｝ and Tsunemi Naito｛内藤法美｝ had originally crafted the song for singer Jerry Ito｛ジェリー伊藤｝ for a weekly bit on a morning TV show...it was never made into a record). Now, chanson is a genre within kayo kyoku that has a small but very loyal group of fans. A lot of Japanese have had a deep and unabiding love for French culture; the music of Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour made such an impact that a number of Japanese singers during the 50s and 60s took up the cause and dedicated themselves to singing chanson of which Ouki was one. Certainly the lyrics for the song lend themselves well to the genre since they talk of proudly defying the odds in the face of huge obstacles. This original version, though, never broke through on the charts.
There was another attempt at the song in the same year that Toi et Moi sang it. Composer Tsunemi Naito's effervescent wife, Fubuki Koshiji（越路吹雪）, was also a famous chanson singer, and in fact, until her untimely death in 1980, she was known as the Queen of Chanson in Japan. She never seemed to do things in half-measures. Part of the reason for that was that she had also been groomed as a young girl in the exclusive Takarazuka Academy that specially trained female students to sing, dance and act on the stage with an enhanced, shall we say, theatricality that has garnered some very intense fan loyalty. Her take on "Dare mo Inai Umi"was released on the same day as Toi et Moi's version, but her version didn't do quite as well, only reaching as high as 92 in the rankings.
In any case, the Toi et Moi version is the one that I will always cherish.
