Every Little Thing -- Time Goes By

Time indeed does go by...I just read on Mixi that singer Kaori Mochida（持田香織）of Every Little Thing got married a few days ago. But I still remember that young doe-eyed lady who, with her two male bandmates, were burning up the charts with their pop hits back in the late 90s.

"Time Goes By" was another one of those songs that just seemed to become part of the mass media landscape for months and months on end. I would always remember that part of the music video popping up on shows like "Countdown TV" where the band would just fade into that old-fashioned house as Mochida sang about regrets of a romantic relationship long since dead.

That long presence on TV was warranted since "Time Goes By" would eventually become ELT's biggest hit after its release in February 1998 as their 8th single, just a month after the release of "Face The Change". Written and composed by band keyboardist Mitsuru Igarashi（五十嵐充）, it went all the way up to No. 2 on the charts and became a million-seller, winning a few awards such as Song of the Year honours at the Golden Disc Awards. It would also be the ticket for ELT to get onto the Kohaku Utagassen for the 2nd of 8 times. And according to J-Wiki, their appearance on the NHK New Year's Eve special for that year in the first half of the show was apparently responsible for spiking the ratings to 56.5%, the highest percentage for a Part 1 in Kohaku history.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Well, many congratulations to Ms. Mochida on her nuptials. I had already known that she started her career in showbiz as a child actor but didn't know that she could enjoy herself as the current occasional tarento guest on variety shows. My impression of her had been that she would have shunned that sort of thing, but recently I saw her pop up on the Arashi（嵐）game show, "VS. Arashi" having a grand old time.

Kyu Sakamoto/Hanako Oshima -- Oyaji （親父）

(original by Sakamoto taken down)

30 years ago on August 12 1985, one of the worst aircraft accidents in history occurred when JAL Flight 123 slammed into the mountains of Gunma Prefecture. Unfortunately, I don't remember much of the news coverage except for two things. One was the footage of one of the few survivors, a teenager, being airlifted from a tree, and the other was the shocking announcement that one of the passengers not to survive was singer Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）.

A few months ago, Sakamoto's daughter, singer Hanako Oshima（大島花子）, appeared on "Kayo Concert" to perform a song that her father had written and composed back in 1982. "Oyaji" (Dad) was originally created by Sakamoto in tribute to his own father who had passed away. In turn, Oshima came on the NHK stage to give her wistful version in tribute to Sakamoto. Although the cameras didn't go to the audience or to the other guests on stage during the performance, I could imagine that there were quite a few pairs of misty eyes.

I've only just heard the original version by Sakamoto. Unlike his daughter's sad but proud version, her father's tribute to his own father is a feisty and also proud account of a Showa-Era dad who didn't suffer fools gladly, especially within his own family, and was truly the king of his castle...at least when it came to the drinking part. Through the song, I can imagine Pops delivering an intestine-quivering chew-out to his errant son in the old tatami living room. And being the son of one such father, I totally understand how that feels.

Of course, although his name might not ring a bell outside of Japan or among those who are not kayo kyoku fans, Sakamoto will always be known for this particular song in many parts of the world.

Ai Otsuka -- Sakuranbo （さくらんぼ）

I believe I mentioned in a recent article on actress Ryoko Hirosue（広末涼子）about It Girls...those breakout ladies who suddenly cannot be avoided anywhere in the mass media. The same goes with singers whether it be Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）or Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. Last decade, I remember one of those young singers being Osaka-born Ai Otsuka（大塚愛）.

With her breakthrough (second) single, "Sakuranbo" (Cherries) from December 2003, Otsuka was popping up everywhere on the music shows and then commercials. She just seemed so bubbly and friendly with an infectious giggle (I got to see her laughing up a storm on "HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ"). And of course, the music video was getting heavy rotation with her dancing around on that guitar and singing in that high-pitched voice (especially with the "Yea!").

Otsuka took care of both music and lyrics for "Sakuranbo", which was about her cheerfully relating about the ups and downs of her relationship with her beau. With all that's happened, the two are just cherries joined at the stem. The song peaked at No. 5 on Oricon and later became the 16th-ranked song for 2004, and hung around even longer to be the 86th-ranked song for 2005. The singer-songwriter also won Newcomer of the Year honours at the Japan Record Awards and also got that invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen on New Year's Eve 2004.

No cherries, I'm afraid.

Saburo Kitajima -- Guitar Jingi (ギター仁義)

My first viewing of "Omoide no Melody" turned out better than expected as the songs I was looking forward were all well sung, though I must say that it felt like I was watching the Kohaku, only shorter and more bearable. I wasn't able to watch all two hours plus of the show as my brother was strongly insistent on wanting to watch his - I know big fans of the sport (like my brother) will get riled by this word - soccer match (BPL) that began half way through the "Omoide no Melody". I relented, but I was firm in telling him to switch back during the bits that I had to watch. That included Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし) crooning "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato" (夜霧よ今夜も有難う) - yes, that is one of my favourite songs of all time. Despite my doubts, Itsuki did a fine job.

Anyway, one segment during the uninterrupted first half of the "Omoide no Melody" featured 3 stars from the 60's: bad boy actor Akira Kobayashi, rockabilly Masaaki Hirao, and enka powerhouse Saburo Kitajima. While the veterans each sang a requested song from their discographies, behind them stood black-and-white photos of themselves back then in their heyday, and boy, Kobayashi and Hirao were something to look at! Sorry Sabu-Chan. Speaking of Sabu-Chan, the tune he had in store was one of his first few hits, "Guitar Jingi".

I wasn't that game to listen to "Guitar Jingi" as the "Jingi" bit reminded me of Grandpa enka's later single "Kyodai Jingi" (兄弟仁義), and if the former were to be anything like the latter, I wouldn't like it as it's too slow and... well, boring. But upon hearing the more upbeat and elegant music, I became more agreeable with it... I ended up liking it - Mom couldn't have been any more unimpressed. She actually grumbled when I said that I fancied it. The score was composed by Minoru Endo (遠藤実), and it makes "Guitar Jingi" sound like a song that would have the words "Wataridori" in the title rather than "Guitar", especially when combined with Sabu-Chan in a kimono. The lyrics to "Guitar Jingi" were penned by Teppei Saga (嵯峨哲平).

"Guitar Jingi" was released in 1963, just a year after Sabu-Chan had made his debut. There is no write up on it on the J-Wiki, but seeing that it allowed Grandpa enka to perform on the Kohaku for the very first time, it must have been popular.

Good gravy, the fans...

The video above has Aya Shimazu (島津亜矢) giving her muscular rendition of "Guitar Jingi". When it comes to songs like these, Aya-Chan is sure to put out a good performance with her clear and powerful vocals.

crowntokuma-shop.com

Kitajima was one of the emcees on the "Omoide no Melody", and I just loved it when he dragged some of the elderly singers and special guests off the stage!

Masayuki Suzuki -- Guilty

Another Sunday night is fast coming to a close and another work week is about to commence. Time to provide some relaxing Japanese R&B, and who better than the cool Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）? Martin gave me some nice old-fashioned soul to ponder with his 4th single from July 1988, "Guilty".

The husband-and-wife team of Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi（山下達郎・竹内まりや）once again helped out Suzuki in the creation of this tune about that illicit affair in some mystery hotel in some downtown Japanese city. And along with those wonderful vocals by Suzuki, I just love the horn section which included the prolific Jake H. Concepcion on sax. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to chart on Oricon but it is on Martin's BEST album, "Martini" from 1991. Originally, the song was a track on his 2nd album from April 1988, "Radio Days" which managed to peak at No. 12 on the album charts.

As much as I like "Guilty", I have to say that I like the other Yamashita/Takeuchi/Suzuki collaboration, "Misty Mauve" even more.

Whatever you do, do NOT make fun of this man's
tapestry!

Mizue Takada/Midori Kinouchi -- Garasuzaka （硝子坂）

Last night was the annual "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー...Melodies of Memories）special on NHK. Often called the Summer Kohaku Utagassen, the focus is on the classic kayo and last night's performances all involved folks up to the 1980s.

One pleasant surprise was seeing the wife of a sumo stablemaster appear on stage to perform some of her old hits when she was but a teen. It was Mizue Takada's（高田みづえ）first appearance in front of the cameras in 31 years, and in my early Kohaku viewing days, she was an annual performer who I first heard on an ancient tape of kayo kyoku. She also had a career as a tarento, often appearing on the old Drifters' variety show and more than willing to get dunked in water and other stuff to get the laugh.

The Kagoshima-born Takada made her debut as an aidoru after winning the championship on the Fuji-TV talent search show, "Kimi koso Star da!"（君こそスターだ!...YOU Are The Star!）in 1976 at around the age of 16. In March 1977, she started off her career with "Garasuzaka" (Glass Slope), the very song she sang last night in "Omoide no Melody".

Written by Takemi Shima（島武実）and composed by rocker Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）, "Garasuzaka" is a pretty jaunty tune that I found notable for Takada's phrasing. There is this countryside lilt to the song that was also quite appealing to me with Uzaki's lyrics . I'm not 100% sure about the overall meaning but I believe Takada was softly admonishing someone for not having the gumption to relate his/her true feelings for that special someone.

As a debut single, "Garasuzaka" did very well. It broke the Top 10 on Oricon, peaking at No. 9 for Takada, and becoming the 36th-ranked single for 1977. It sold a little over 300,000 copies and earned the singer not only a Best Newcomer prize at that year's Japan Record Awards, but also her first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen.

Unlike Takada, I know little about Midori Kinouchi（木之内みどり）except for whatever I was able to glean from J-Wiki. The Hokkaido native also debuted as an actress/aidoru back in 1974, and has had two pretty famous husbands with Hubby No. 1 being bassist/composer Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）and Hubby No. 2 being actor Naoto Takenaka (竹中直人...who co-starred in the original "Shall We Dance?").

Kinouchi actually first brought "Garasuzaka" into the world a month before Takada's version as the title track of her 5th album. Her version seems a bit more languid but that same syncopated delivery is also there.

Former aidoru-turned-enka singer, Yoko Nagayama（長山洋子）, gave her own version of "Garasuzaka" in the mid-1990s.

And someone was kind enough to actually upload Takada's return to the NHK stage after 3 decades. I was also quite happy to see her sing her most successful single, "Watashi wa Piano"（私はピアノ）last night as well. "Garasuzaka" was actually her 2nd-most successful release.

Keisuke Kuwata -- Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!! （100万年の幸せ!!）

Hard to believe that after first watching the adventures and misadventures of one Momoko Sakura（さくらももこ）on TV in Gunma 25 years ago, I'm still watching the show with the family here in Toronto on Sunday nights. "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）is that nice slice-of-life anime about Sakura's childhood in 1970s Japan but it can also have quite the level of spiky snark in it among the characters including Maruko herself. She is often the sympathetic heroine but can also be the sneaky little brat who gets her comeuppance at the end of the episode.

I'm not sure how up-to-date the episodes coming here to Toronto have been, although not too long ago, we were getting eps which started with the 20th-anniversary commemoration, so probably circa 2010. However, over the last few months, I'm pretty sure we are now getting "Chibi Maruko-chan" from at least since 2012 because that is when the latest ending theme was released.

For a few years, I was accustomed to seeing the ending credits featuring Maruko's voice actress, TARAKO, and the comic duo Bakusho Mondai singing that loony tune. Therefore, it was a bit surprising to catch the new ending credits with the Ohanami setting and a happy laidback song by none other than Southern All Stars' leader, Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）crooning "Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!!" (A Million Years of Happiness!!) who even appears in the credits.

Composed by the singer and written by the creator of the original manga, Sakura, unlike some of the more frenetic themes from the past by folks like Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and B.B. Queens, "Hyaku-man Nen no Shiawase!!" is just a sunny hammock-friendly piece which is well illustrated by all of the characters in the ending credits enjoying their respective picnics on the grass. I never imagined I would ever hear Kuwata doing a "Chibi Maruko-chan" theme song but I guess we are all mellowing. The song was released as a track on his July 2012 BEST album, "I LOVE YOU -now & forever-" which hit No. 1 and later became the 6th-ranked album for the year, going Triple Platinum.

Futako-Tamagawa Station