Aya Endo -- Mizuiro (みずいろ)

I made my semi-annual binge purchases of CDs the other day via CD Japan (thank you very much) and one of the discs happens to be the soundtrack to one of my beloved anime "Shirokuma Cafe"（しろくまカフェ...Polar Bear Cafe）from 2012-2013. As some of the viewers may be aware, I've written up a number of articles on the various opening and ending themes for the show which seemed to have had the policy of promoting an ending theme of the month as sung by each seiyuu from the cast.

Ending theme No. 3 which was featured in June 2012 was notable for me in that it wasn't a super quirky or barnstorming epic such as the tour de force effort of all of the seiyuu doing their covers of the song "Shirokuma Cafe". As befitting Aya Endo's（遠藤綾）calm and sweet (well, at least, most of the time) character of Sasako（笹子）, her "Mizuiro" (Water Colours) is also just as calm and sweet and very comfy. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any evidence of that particular ending credit sequence on YouTube, but it featured a supposedly live-action Sasako riding through the town on her bicycle while she sang the nice mix of folk, pop and Latin.

As with all of the ending themes for "Shirokuma Cafe", "Mizuiro" was written and composed by the virtuoso Saki（紗希）. And Endo has a pretty nice set of pipes. I read that she had gotten married recently and although I don't know if she has entered motherhood quite yet, I would think that she would be able to sing some fine lullabies to her kids with that voice. Alas, the ending themes are not included on the soundtrack I got but perhaps someday I will make that investment to get those as well.

kukui -- Toumei Shelter （透明シェルター）

Just segueing a bit on Noelle's most recent article about how she usually spends her Sundays, I've got my own routine involving my biweekly meet-ups with my anime buddy for a good round of watching the latest anime and listening to anison interspersed with runs to restaurants and cafés. Yesterday was no different, and yep, the two of us engorged ourselves on a humongous amount of Chinese dumplings.

As for the listening to anison part, one song that has popped up often on the playlist has been "Toumei Shelter" (Transparent Shelter) from November 2004, the first ending theme to what I think was the first anime version of "Rozen Maiden"（ローゼンメイデン）. My buddy was kind enough to supply me with the entire series of the latest anime adaptation from a couple of years ago but to be frank, I've yet to be sold on the latest series about goth-y dolls with attitude battling it out in front of a shut-in. But once I get through the higher-priority shows, I will give "Rozen Maiden" another go.

Anyways, I do like "Toumei Shelter" by the unit kukui since it has an interesting mix of atmospheric dreaminess and urban contemporary feeling. I have yet to see the original 2004 anime of "Rozen Maiden" but I've got a feeling that the song made for a cool match with the air of the series. The overall arrangement kinda hinted at the cooler R&B vibe that was going through Japanese pop in the early 2000s.

According to J-Wiki and Wiki, when kukui first released "Toumei Shelter", their debut single, the duo was originally known as refio + Haruka Shimotsuki（refio+霜月はるか）. Shimotsuki was on vocals while keyboardist myu took care of words and music. It managed to rise up to No. 76 on Oricon.

Yujiro Ishihara -- Sayonara Yokohama (サヨナラ横浜 )

As to how I found "Sayonara Yokohama" by Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎) that I didn't even know existed: I was bored.

Sundays tend to be a lazy day for me and half of me is willing to just kick back, relax and vegetate and let my brain temporarily become a piece of tofu. The other half of me, on the other hand, adamantly refuses to let the last day of the weekend go to waste and insists I get up off my seat and do something. Anything. This often puts me in the uncomfortable position of being caught between being bored because I'm not being productive and wanting to do something but being too lazy to do whatever it is. This Sunday in particular, I couldn't stand floating in that annoying limbo any longer and so I decided to go with doing something that satisfies the contradicting desires, and that was to listen to some enka.

I was in the mood for all things Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし), which had me revisiting a few familiar tunes as well as a couple which I normally overlook. A number of songs in and with my boredom somewhat quelled, I noticed Tough Guy's "Sayonara Yokohama" in the suggestion column, and since it piqued my interest I put my exploration of Itsuki-songs on hold and went ahead to check it out.

It turned out to be another soothing, jazzy Mood Kayo number, and for some random YouTube pick, it was way better than what I expected. And I must say that Yujiro's usual boozy delivery feels more pained and forlorn in this one. From Rei Nakanishi's (なかにし礼) lyrics, I'm guessing that the fellow is setting off to foreign soil via a boat from Yokohama and so he's bidding both his lover and the city he loves an emotional farewell. Composing the music was Shiro Yuzuriha (ユズリハ・シロー).

"Sayonara Yokohama" was released in July 1971 and was apparently one of Ishihara's more successful singles, selling about 550 000 copies.

blogs.yahoo.co.jp/xqjng092/22874130

To round off the article, I'd like to briefly highlight another find. Soon after "Sayonara Yokohama", I picked Itsuki's "Aishitsuzukeru Bolero" (愛しつづけるボレロ). Next best decision of the day. Seeing the man suavely tapping on the piano while singing the upbeat, tango-esque tune had the jaw dropping and the heart flying out of the chest.

*Sigh* ~ Dang, he's sexy in this video... ... ~.~

(sorry but the video has been taken down and replaced)

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Kikoetekuru Rhapsody （聞こえてくるラプソディー）

By the late 1980s, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）wasn't exactly hitting the top of the charts anymore but she could still provide some wonderfully sung music. Case in point: her 44th single from May 1988 "Kikoetekuru Rhapsody" (I Can Hear A Rhapsody).

Apparently, this single didn't chart at all but this was still pure Iwasaki loveliness with that delicate voice of hers wafting through a morning-friendly contemporary-sounding (for that time) arrangement. Considering some other similarly-sounding arrangements for other songs, I could have easily imagined "Kikoetekuru Rhapsody" being the theme song for a late-night documentary series (well, late night is technically morning). However, there was nothing on J-Wiki to show that it had ever been some sort of TV tie-up song. In any case, the ballad was also a track on her 19th album from July 1988, "Me too". Singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）composed the song while Shinnosuke Uesugi（上杉伸之助）took care of the lyrics.

Sakanaction -- Boku to Hana （僕と花）

I had been thinking about what sort of song I was going to write about today when I started getting this craving for Sakanaction (サカナクション). Well, perhaps it wasn't a craving but more of a wondering about what sort of quirky and appealing stuff the band was up to in the earlier days. I still have a lot of catching up to do since I only found out about Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）and his crew through their lone appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen a couple of years ago.

So I came upon their 6th single from May 2012, "Boku to Hana" (The Flower and I) and watched its music video. It was quite the theatrical experience with a renowned choreographer playing the flower while vocalist Yamaguchi (who wrote and composed the song) himself was the protagonist starting to lose himself in the cruel world. And although I'm still getting a handle on the Sakanaction sound, I think with "Boku to Hana", I can pick up on that strangely soothing combination of rock and technopop. Definitely a unique unit.

"Boku to Hana" was Sakanaction's first theme song offering for a TV drama, specifically Fuji-TV's "Sanjuu-nana Sai de Isha ni Natta Boku"（37歳で医者になった僕...Becoming a Doctor at 37）starring SMAP's Tsuyoshi Kusanagi（草彅剛）. The single went Gold and went as high as No. 6 on Oricon. It was also a track on the band's 6th album "sakanaction" from March 2013. To be honest, the Wikipedia write-up on the song is even more comprehensive than the J-Wiki article so to get that detailed report on "Boku to Hana", take a look here.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto -- Last Good-Bye

I've been seeing this fellow in the pages of "Japanese City Pop" for the past little while now and looking him up on YouTube, I was surprised to find quite a number of his songs represented there.

For a bit of background, Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）is a singer-songwriter who was born in Shinjuku Ward in Tokyo in 1954. As a child, he joined the chorus group which would later be known as the Tokyo Shonen Shojo Gassho Tai（東京少年少女合唱隊）, or as they are known in English, Little Singers of Tokyo; according to J-Wiki, the group did a tour of the United States and even appeared on the legendary "The Ed Sullivan Show" (still have very early memories of that program). In his university years, he got involved in a band called Orange for a few years until it disbanded in 1976 after which he started his solo career as a singer-songwriter.

I'm not sure what his Orange days were like but from what I've read in "Japanese City Pop" and viewed on YouTube, it looks like Yamamoto fully embraced his inner City Pop (in fact, his J-Wiki bio stated that he was once called The Young Noble of City Pop) starting from 1982 at least which was when he released "Last Good-Bye". It's a nice slice of nighttime City Pop with soul and the singer sounds a bit like fellow crooner Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）in a slightly lower register. While he composed the song, Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）provided the lyrics for the single which sold a little over 70,000 records and got as high as No. 40 on Oricon.

His J-Wiki bio also mentioned that although he has taken on that appearance of coolness in his concerts, he apparently has had the penchant for showing off his comic monomane skills in front of the audience. Nice.

Welcome to Toronto, Miku Hatsune!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/4evermiku/4966670119

Well, I've been seeing the announcements for weeks now but tonight, the Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）will be making her concert appearance at the Sony Centre in downtown Toronto. My interest in the cyber singing superstar is merely casual so I wasn't willing to shuck out the loonies and twonies for a seat although there is a part of me that is slightly regretful that I hadn't taken the opportunity. Still, I've been quite happy to have her represented in a number of kayo kyoku that she has sung over the years via this blog, and there's no doubt that she is one of the avatars of Japanese pop culture.

Therefore as a "Kayo Kyoku Plus" welcome from my hometown to Miku-chan, allow me to embed a few of her kayo kyoku covers.

A classic from the 1960s, here is "Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）which was originally sung by Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）.

One of my favourite tunes ever from the 1980s, "Hatsukoi"（初恋）was Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵）biggest hit.

And last but not least, this is the Henry Mancini-esque Mood Kayo/City Pop classic "Douzo Kono Mama"（どうぞこのまま）by Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）from 1976.

I certainly hope that Miku and her minders enjoy their time in T.O. and if she were able to eat, I would definitely suggest a visit to St. Lawrence Market or the nearby Hero Burgers. If there is anyone reading this who will be going to the concert tonight, you're more than welcome to let all of us know how it went.