TUNNELS - Ame No Nishi Azabu (雨の西麻布)

Before ウッチャンナンチャン and ダウンタウン, the reigning "bad boys" of お笑/Owarai comedy teams was the とんねるず/TUNNELS. During the mid-80s, the comedy duo of 石橋貴明/Ishibashi Takaaki and 木梨憲武/Kinashi Noritake were everywhere from CMs, to TV variety programs to print ads and radio programs etc. During their prime, タカさん and ノリさん hosted almost a dozen TV variety programs from the teen idol program 「夕やけニャンニャン」, to the dating game formatted 「ねるとん紅鯨団」, to the late night variety show 「オールナイトフジ」.

The inspiration for their unique name was said to come from the initials of their first names 'T' and 'N' as well as from 60s comedy teams like 脱線トリオ and てんぷくトリオ.

Surprisingly, unlike some of their idols like ツービート (ビートたけし & ビートきよし) タカさん and ノリさん didn't start out as お笑いタレント but instead were more like standup comedians specializing in 一発ギャグ/Ippatsu Gag and モノマネ impersonations. Friends from high school, they both attended 帝京高等学校/Teikyo High School where they both played team sports (タカさん played on the baseball team while ノリさん was on the school's soccer team).

They got their first big break in 1982 when they were invited to compete in the 「お笑いスター誕生!!」/Owarai Star Tanjou talent show. While they didn't take the first prize, they did win a special recognition award. In 1982 they would compete again and place in the Grand Prix. They won special recognition again in 1983. 

With their youthful looks, boyish charm, hip style and tall lanky frames they soon became a big hit with audiences especially female fans. Their comedy bordered on the crude and juvenile silly but their personalities were so infectious that young audiences identified with them.

It was not long that they soon experimented with singing. The above 雨の西麻布/Ame No Nishiazabu is probably their biggest hit. While the song seems to be a mocking sendup of weepy, melodramatic 演歌/Enka songs, it actually has a fairly impressive pedigree. It was composed by 見岳章/Mitake Akira who composed "Queen of Enka" 美空ひばり/Misori Hibari's biggest signature song 川の流れのように/Kawa No Nagare No Yo Ni. Misori Hibari was said to have also been good friends of the duo having been introduced to them through her son who was a fan. In the song, タカさん and ノリさん exclaim 「紅白を狙います」 half-jokingly but in reality were very serious about possibly making an appearance on the famed program.  They got their wish as not only did they appear on NHK's  「紅白歌合戦」 for that year but their song also placed No. 1 on the 日本テレビ ザ・トップテン TV show and No. 2 on rival TBS' ザ・ベストテン TVshow. The song also reached No. 5 on the オリコン/Oricon charts and won the TUNNELS best new artist awards at both the 「全日本有線放送大賞」 and 「日本有線大賞」 award shows.

They would release several other songs in the subsequent years like 歌謡曲 (1986), YAZAWA (1988) and ガラガラヘビがやってくる (1992).

As other younger お笑 teams began to become more popular, the TUNNELS scaled back their appearances and focused on just a few regular variety programs and TV shows as well as various CMs.

In 2008, the duo would again tackle the world of music this time teaming up with 氣志團/Kishindan's flamboyant lead singer 綾小路翔/Ayanokoji Sho (otherwise know as DJ OZMA) to form the group 矢島美容室/Yazima Biyo Shitsu. In typical Tunnels fashion, タカさん and ノリさん would appear in drag in their "alternate" personalities of ストロベリ ー・カメリア・ヤジマ/Strawberry Camellia Yazima and マーガレット・カメリア・ヤジマ/Margaret Camellia Yazima complete with elaborate fake bios for themselves. Surprisingly (and perhaps even in a scary way) DJ OZMA's character of ナオミ・カメリア・ヤジマ/Naomi Camellia Yazima looks the most femine/convincing of the trio.

 Their single ニホンノミカタ -ネバダカラキマシタ- would be a minor hit. The popularity of the group even spawned a movie 「矢島美容室 THE MOVIE ～夢をつかまネバダ～」/Yajima Biyō Shitsu THE MOVIE ~Yume o Tsukama Nebada~

I'm not a big fan of お笑 and really don't quite understand it's appeal in Japan. Growing up watching Laurel & Hardy, Abbot & Costello, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the Japanese お笑 duos routines and comedy

sketches seem almost too silly and juvenile consisting mainly of shock and insult humor, word play humor and situational comentary. These guys must be doing something right however as they have huge followings and many have often gone on to become major stars. They even get huge female followings. タカさん and ノリさん scored pretty well in this department with タカさん marrying gorgeous model/actress 鈴木保奈美/Suzuki Honami and ノリさん marrying 80s J-Dorama princess pretty 安田成美/Yasuda Narumi.

Here's a clip of one of their regular appearances on 「オールナイトフジ」 TV variety program

And here they are with DJ OZMA in full drag as 矢島美容室

Wikimedia Commons
via Syced

Anri -- Kanashimi no Kujaku （哀しみの孔雀）

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%93%80%E3%81%97%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AE%E5%AD%94%E9%9B%80-%E6%9D%8F%E9%87%8C/dp/B00005G5IK

(excerpts only)

Anri's（杏里） 3rd album, "Kanashimi no Kujaku"(Sorrowful Peacock), is not my favourite album of hers ("Boogie Woogie in Mainland", "Circuit of Rainbow" or "Wave" rank quite a bit higher), but it is one of the more interesting that I've come across, and one that I've wanted to profile for a while.

Released in September 1981, I came across it in one of the CD shops in Tokyo. I'd already bought a number of her late 80s/early 90s discs when she was in full thrall with American R&B, and their covers consisted of a very vivacious and smiley Eiko Kawashima standing against a very summery setting. On the other hand, the cover for "Kanashimi no Kujaku" from those early years had Anri looking very pensive in a heavy jacket standing against a tall rugged man with 5 o'clock shadow. Later buying her first 2 albums, "apricot jam" and "Feelin'", the cover for her 3rd album also had her looking more mature when compared to her teenage sylph-like looks on those covers.

In any case, looking at that distinctive cover, I snapped up that album in a jiffy. I listened to the 12 tracks and found them revealing in that Anri sounded very un-Anri-like. Her creamy vocals were still recognizable, but they were pushing in a totally different direction. Case in point, the 2nd track, "Espresso de Nemurenai"(エスプレッソで眠れない....Can't Sleep Cause of the Espresso) is basically Anri's telling of an Italian romance-comedy in which a love 'em-and-leave 'em Casanova takes off in his green Fiat while his latest conquest is left wondering whether he'll return. The lyrics were by prolific Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里） and the song was composed by Keiichi Suzuki（鈴木慶一） (I wonder if Suzuki had been a few of those small cups of the killer coffee when he was creating this song). The video is up above. The song was also Anri's 9th single released in February 1982.

Like "Espresso de Nemurenai", the rest of the tracks in this album took on a more European New Music feeling which, as Anri fans would know, was a dramatically different bent for the singer, who had just turned 20 at that time. The official age of turning into an adult in Japan is the big Two-Oh, so perhaps Anri may have wanted to reflect this more mature turn of musical phrase. In the album, she took on old-fashioned French pop, something that sounded more Central Asian, and even a touch of New Wave via Blondie mixed in with some of that old summer pop through Track 10, "Itsu no Hi ka Happy End"（いつの日かHappy End...When Is My Happy End?) which was written by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, who herself had been going through some musical changes at the time as well.

(full album)

Keiichi Suzuki, the producer of the album, was also the lead vocal for The Moonriders, a pop and rock band that had started up in 1975, and he and a couple of other members of the band were helping out in the production. The above links have a couple of more songs from "Kanashimi no Kujaku". First up is the mournful title track (composed by Anri and written by Nanako Sato[佐藤奈々子]) at 36:17 which finishes the album; Anri sings of waking up beside a lover in the morning and realizing that the relationship was coming to its inevitable end. And the next song is probably the shortest Anri song in her very long repertoire at 16:34, "Riviera kara no Tegami"(リビエラからの手紙...A Letter From The Riviera) (composed by Suzuki and written by Sato), which is a Dear John letter with a musically spooky sinister edge. If you're detecting a theme through the three songs profiled, I can assure you it's not all romantic gloom and doom....about half of it is, but not all.

In any case, listening to the album again today after so many years to prepare for this profile proved to be a fascinating experience, especially in light of what was to come for her in the form of another producer by the name of Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）. There wasn't much information even in Japanese concerning "Kanashimi no Kujaku", but what little I could get I found on The Moonriders website which did give some insight into this very different Anri album. After Anri's debut success with "Olivia wo Kikinagara" in 1978, the singer went through a dry spell for a number of years. I mentioned that perhaps the coming-of-age for her may have influenced her temporary direction into this European sound, but it could also have been an attempt to break out of the slump. Thanks in part to Kadomatsu and Anri's efforts, she could finally achieve that lasting success two years later with "Cat's Eye".

The streets of Manhattan

Anri  -- Kanashimi no Kujaku

As a bit of a PS, I came across this cover version of "Espresso de Nemurenai" by a singer/model by the name of nAo, which was released in 2011.

GAO/Chikuzen Sato -- Sayonara (サヨナラ)

When GAO debuted as a singer through the NHK BS music program Young Battle, she revealed neither her real name nor her birth year. Her gender was a mystery at first, too, and she was clever enough to take advantage of her androgynous looks and husky voice to conceal the fact. I've read on one blog that when press tried to ask her whether she was male or female, she would answer "neither". Who knows if this story actually happened, but it seems plausible. In 1992, however, when her single Sayonara (サヨナラ) became a huge hit, Kohaku Utagassen producers asked her to perform on the show at the end of the year, which would mean that she had to make a choice between joining the "red" (female) team or the "white" (male) team. GAO accepted the offer and chose the former, thus revealing her identity.

As for "Sayonara", it's a sublime rock ballad that will probably get stuck in your ears for hours after you listen to it. It's interesting how GAO's voice and image can even make a love song "genderless", but that's what gives it a wide appeal, I think. Written by GAO and composed by Ikki Kai, it shot to No. 3 spot on Oricon weeklies and became the 16th-ranked single of 1992 and the 97th-ranked single on 1993, selling over a million copies total. The song eventually overshadowed the artist herself, making her a one-hit-wonder figure. I've listened to her other material from the early 90's and warmly recommend it to those who enjoy "Sayonara".

A number of artists have covered the song through the years, but I couldn't resist highlighting Chikuzen Sato's（佐藤竹善）take on it from 2007. His version sounds refreshingly down-to-earth compared to the original.

Image source: cdjournal

Masayoshi Yamazaki/SMAP -- Celery (セロリ）

During the late 1990s, both singer Masayoshi Yamazaki（山崎まさよし） and premier (at that time) Johnny's Entertainment group, SMAP, were heading to the top of the geino heap. SMAP was absolutely taking the Japanese entertainment world by storm (ironically to hand over the torch years later to another Johnny's unit going by the Japanese word for 'storm', Arashi『嵐』) with their songs, TV roles and variety show appearances. Yamazaki would also storm the charts with his heartrending ballads that got him a lot of airplay in the karaoke boxes and tears from grateful listeners at his concerts.

But they have a common bond through a most polarizing vegetable.

"Celery" is Yamazaki's 3rd single released in September 1996. Written and composed by the Shiga Prefecture singer-songwriter, it's a happy-go-lucky uptempo song talking about the fact that no matter the differences between a romantic couple, if they still love each other, that's good enough. The green leafy vegetable is merely one example of a potential difference-maker and ultimately a minor one, at that. The video was also fun to watch as Yamazaki, who I had always thought to be a very introspective type, showed an amiable side as the single young man getting settled into his new apartment.... something that I could relate to very well.... although I never quite had the opportunity to cavort with a bunch of cute women in bikinis (ahem).

The single itself peaked at No. 68 on the Oricon weeklies, and was also a track on Yamazaki's 2nd album, "Home", released in May 1997. It went Double Platinum and peaked at No. 4 on the album charts.

At the same time that Yamazaki's "Home" was released, SMAP revealed its cover of "Celery" to the world. Thanks to the Fender Rhodes, their version has more of a groove and perhaps more of a 70s/early 80s feel to it. And perhaps because it was the guys who were singing it together, I think the song seems to have a wider meaning of overall friendship instead of a romantic relationship. In any case, the SMAP cover was the one that I discovered first, and it's the one that I like better. Plus, it's the first time I've seen KimuTaku and the fellows get all gussied up for a video, and just sitting on the stools singing away....kinda like the old days of singing on a variety show. Nice little change.

SMAP's "Celery", their 25th single, was able to hit No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and was the 27th-ranked song for 1997. The song was also the theme song for member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi's drama at the time, "Ii Hito"(いいひと...Good Guy). I never saw the show myself but I remembered the trailers for the series with the amiable Kusanagi playing just the nicest guy anyone had ever met. And that's the image he has in SMAP....aside from an unfortunate incident involving him running around drunk and naked in a Roppongi park several years ago....would still love to treat him to a non-alcoholic drink. The song also belonged to the group's 10th album, "SMAP 011 Su"(SMAP 011 ス）which was released in August of that year. It peaked at No. 3.

SMAP doesn't sing too much anymore, so I think coming across "Celery" once in a while serves as a bit of a reminder of their up-and-coming days. And as for my opinion on celery, I hated it as a kid but actually do like it now nice, raw and crunchy.

Akiko Yano -- Ramen Tabetai （ラーメン食べたい）

Today, Toronto got socked with a snowstorm that hadn't been seen in 5 years supposedly. Quite the result considering last year was the year without a Winter in my fair city. But whenever a ton of snow gets plopped down either here or in Tokyo (which did get smacked with the white stuff a few weeks ago), I get the craving for that wonderful steaming bowl of Japanese noodles. It is available every day of the year, of course, but I think Winter is the perfect season to slurp down some tonkotsu or miso ramen.

Akiko Yano（矢野顕子） thought so, too, apparently, thus "Ramen Tabetai"(I Wanna Eat Ramen) that she had written and composed as a track for her 7th album, "Oesu Oesu" in June 1984. I actually first heard the song on her 1996 BEST album, "Hitotsu Dake"（ひとつだけ....Just One), as a re-arranged version, so I was quite surprised to hear the original version through the video above. It's as if the band Santana had decided to give their tribute to the famed Japanese dish, and so it also stands out since the early 80s had her performing a number of technopop tunes. This one, though, has a slick somewhat disco beat to it. A couple of months after the album release, "Ramen Tabetai" also got its due as an official single.

The refrain has Yano wanting her ramen this way according to her lyrics:

Don't want any BBQ pork, don't want any naruto (a thin slice of fish cake with a spiral pattern),
Won't order it fancy
Put on the onions, put on the garlic, just pour it on

Can't agree with her choice totally....I DEMAND my pork and naruto in any ramen.

However, as we go further into the song, there's some depth in there, as in any decent ramen stock:

It's tough for guys, but it's tough for women too.
It'd be nice if I could become a friend
These exhausting days, I wanna talk so
Read the letter with the huge words with all your might, eh?

I will eat my own ramen. I will eat it on my responsibility
Next time I come, I'll come with everybody, I'll even bring my grandma
But, but, 
For now I wanna eat it alone, I wanna eat ramen.

Although there was no official gender segregation when it came to ramen restaurants or any of the Japanese fast food places such as gyudon joints, back around the time that Yano had written this song, it was hard for women to enter ramen joints by themselves. There was a heavy feeling that such places were only for men, and I think Yano wanted to say (perhaps in a tongue-in-cheek way) that she also wanted to break through the Noodle Ceiling to get her chance to slurp down a bowlful of the good stuff by herself without feeling intimidated. I don't think she was particularly trying to make a political statement against any perceived "Women Not Welcome"policy amongst the ramen restaurants of Japan, though, and as it was, the powers-that-be certainly didn't think so, since the corporation Myojo Foods was more than happy to use the song as a commercial jingle.

Years later, during my time in the various ramen joints of Tokyo, it looked like that the Noodle Ceiling was broken for the most part, since I've seen women coming in alone or in pairs, and there was nothing even remotely resembling a sidelong glance from any of the male customers or staff.

As for Toronto, my city has been in the middle of a ramen boom for the past couple of years. It seems like our little corner of Ontario has also discovered the joy of a bowl of pure Japanese comfort food.

A steaming bowl of shio cha-siu
at Santouka in downtown Toronto

Sing Like Talking -- Steps of Love

One of the happiest things in my kayo kyoku-collecting career was coming upon this band, Sing Like Talking, and it was purely by accident. And I believe that I explained that story in one of the earlier profiles....I think it was for their album, "Discovery" in 1995. Vocalist Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善） and his buddies have just been able to come up with some irresistible hooks within the genres of music I love: AOR, jazz and R&B.

Composed by Sato and written by SLT keyboardist Chiaki Fujita（藤田千章）,"Steps of Love" was the band's 6th single released in February 1991. It's a fun little single about trying to get out of the Dark Side and into love. With its fusion vibe, it has that sort of melodic path which would make it ideal as the theme for some meet-cute romantic comedy. However, as the song approaches the end, Sato decides to get a bit of whimsical with a few vocal effects and Shigeo Fuchino's saxophone. With the light funk and a bit of that rock guitar by Tomohiko Nishimura（西村智彦） during the bridge, American band TOTO would love this one as well.

The single was also a track on SLT's 4th album, "0 [love]", released in April 1991. It peaked at No. 33 on the album charts....very respectable and a sign of things to come for the band.

https://music.apple.com/jp/album/second-reunion-2018-remastering-ver/1536026057

(excerpt only)

Mie Nakao -- Kawaii Baby (可愛いベイビー）

Ensure that you haven't eaten any cakes or chocolates before viewing the above video (alas, that video is gone but Nakao still looks very cute above). The sugar shock could kill you. It's indeed "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"-some.

In any case, Mie Nakao's（中尾ミエ） debut tune, "Kawaii Baby" (Pretty Little Baby) is one of those songs that has buried itself in my brain so thoroughly as an early Japanese music hit that it's almost hard to believe that it had actually been a Connie Francis 1961 song. And I think it's been pretty much Nakao's trademark song since its release in April 1962. This was back in the pre-Oricon days, but it did hit the No. 1 spot in the rankings within the longtime Japanese music magazine, "Music Life". And what must've sent the then-16-year-old over the moon, her rendition of the Francis song ultimately sold 1 million copies. And I have to say that at least for me Nakao does sound as if Francis had internalized the Japanese language.

My image of Mie Nakao when I was over in Japan was of a friendly straight-talking middle-aged lady who occasionally appeared on variety shows or music retrospectives and more often on those late-night infomercials. If I hadn't heard her song on tape or seen her on video performing the song, I would never have pegged her as a former teen singer. But that she was. And in fact, she was placed alongside two other teen idols, Mari Sono and Yukari Ito（園まり・伊東ゆかり） as a triumvirate known as Spark Sannin Musume （スパーク３人娘....The 3 Spark Girls). At the time, the three young ladies, who all belonged to the all-powerful Watanabe Productions (the same company who took care of The Peanuts and Candies), helped host a show titled "Morinaga Spark Show"(森永スパーク・ショー）for 18 months from 1962, ostensibly to show the talents of Takashi Fujiki（藤木孝）, a rockabilly singer. However, when Nakao, Sono and Ito gained even further popularity, Spark Sannin Musume stuck around for a few more years.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

The above video is of the 1963 Kohaku Utagassen with the Musume doing something called "The Cutie Pie Medley" at around 31:30 with Ito, Sono and Nakao performing in that order. During the medley, Nakao does another cover of another old 60s hit, "Bye Bye Birdie". It's interesting to watch as a snippet of how a certain segment of Japanese pop music at the time liked to emulate American pop culture in terms of music and fashion.