Kyoko Koizumi -- Minogashitekure yo! （見逃してくれよ!）

When it comes to the 1980s aidoru spectrum, Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）was the cute burikko while Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）played the misunderstood rebel. However, Kyoko "Kyon-Kyon" Koizumi（小泉今日子）was somewhere in the middle...a basically decent kid with a cheeky streak and a gorgeous smile. She was probably the one in school that the shy girls wished they were although hanging out with her pretty much guaranteed a mandatory and not-so-happy visit to the teachers' room.

The above was a commercial that I saw on heavy rotation during my time in Gunma featuring an adult Kyon-Kyon still bringing that cheeky attitude into the working world as she tried to sell Knorr Soup while her superiors brooded away.

Single No. 29 for Koizumi was "Minogashitekure yo!" (Can't You Let It Go?) from March 1990 which sounds like Classic Kyon-Kyon. She plays the angelic devil or a devilish angel as the young cog who happily breaks a few rules such as eating a bento in the conference room (oh, the horror!), hogging the mike for 5 consecutive songs at karaoke, and eating desserts while on a diet. And most likely, she will be able to get away with all of that stuff (as mildly naughty as they are) with a wink and a smile and an ii jan（いいじゃん...aw, c'mon it's OK）.

"Minogashitekure yo!" hit No. 1 on Oricon and was the 43rd-ranked single of 1990. Hidehiko Kato（加藤英彦）of The Flying Kids provided the rock beat to the song while some unit called the Kappatsu Iinkai（活発委員会...The Active Committee）came up with the lyrics. Perhaps instant soup saw some success as well.

Tomi Kitagawa/Masa Takagi -- Wasuretainoni （忘れたいのに）

Got some of those midweek blues? Have a rash of those Wednesday sighs? Yup, I hear you. I feel that Hump Day lethargy in the form of fatigue and creaky joints. Don't particularly want to get up and do stuff outside...not that I usually do in any case but especially today.

Therefore, I think for that sort of thing, I will go with something very soft for this article. "Wasuretainoni" (Although I Want to Forget) may just do the trick. The above two singers may not have ever become household words in the music industry but I can consider them to be part of the 9/10ths of the kayo iceberg remaining hidden underwater to be revealed.

First off, there is very little to be found on the singer Tomi Kitagawa（北側とみ）online save for one profile page which may have had her debuting in 1976 with "Wasuretainoni" (actually this song is her second single). It's one of those old-fashioned kayo ballads that could fit into a few genres: pop, borderline enka (since I can imagine female singers such as Sayuri Ishikawa・石川さゆり tackling this one), folk thanks to those ocarinas, and even Mood Kayo although the lady here isn't crying into her booze but into a cup of tea over a lost first love. It's one of those delicately spun songs that could have been performed by chanteuses including Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. Kitagawa's vocals and the arrangement were the points that attracted me to this one.

I don't know how many singles and albums Kitagawa ended up releasing but it looks like she expanded her horizons within and outside of the singing world. The Nagoya-born singer provided commercial jingles, appeared on radio and TV, started teaching at a tarento school, and participated in oldies bands and even one covering Peter, Paul & Mary songs.

Singer-songwriter Masa Takagi（高木麻早）wrote and composed "Wasuretainoni". She's already got a couple of entries on the blog and she has turned out to be an interesting artist since although she's been under the pop culture radar, she seems to have plied her vocals in a few genres ranging from folk to City Pop. Takagi did a cover of her creation as her 10th single released in September 1978. This version is even more austere and contemplative. Perhaps the best drink to listen to it is a cup of orange pekoe without any sugar or cream.

Chiemi Eri -- Tennessee Waltz (テネシーワルツ)

This is a song that has been heard in the two homes that my family has had since I was a toddler. It certainly helped that my parents were long into the country music thing at the time. "Tennessee Waltz", written by Redd Stewart and composed by Pee Wee King, was released in 1948 but arguably the most famous version of it came from singer Patti Page above.

Now as much as I heard "Tennessee Waltz" on TV shows such as "Hee Haw" and annual showings of "The Grand Ole Opry", I was also introduced to the Japanese cover of the romantic ballad early in my life with the most famous cover by the late Chiemi Eri（江利チエミ）when she released it in January 1952 as her debut single at the tender age of 14 (I gotta say, though, that the above picture of her sure doesn't look 14)!. Eri's version had a mix of the original lyrics by Stewart and Japanese lyrics by Takashi Otowa（音羽たかし）.

For Eri, "Tennessee Waltz" was a huge hit, selling 400,000 records and becoming the singer's trademark tune. Strangely enough, even though Eri appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen 16 consecutive times from 1953 to 1968, she never sang her debut song on the program.

The Japanese version of "Tennessee Waltz" has frankly taken on legendary status since it's been covered by numerous singers ranging from Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）to Atsushi from EXILE.

The impetus for me to write about the song tonight was that I heard a wonderful version of it by enka singer Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）. Mizumori is known as the Queen of the Regional Songs, and this is about as far-flung a region as she has ever sung about.

Komadori Shimai -- Asakusa Shimai （浅草姉妹）

Asakusa is quite the fine shitamachi neighbourhood. I had the pleasure of working there for 2 years when I was teaching at the local NOVA branch just across from Asakusa Station over a KFC and around the corner from a McDonalds (guess what I usually ate most of the time). And when I stayed at the Toyoko Inn in the area during my 2014 trip back to Tokyo, I was reminded how very convenient it is in terms of pretty much everything from food to shopping to transportation. Plus, it does have all those festivals including the Sumida River Fireworks Festival on the final Saturday of July.

This article will be talking about the 1959 enka song "Asakusa Shimai" (The Asakusa Sisters) as sung by Komadori Shimai（こまどり姉妹）, a twin sister act from Hokkaido featuring Eiko and Yoko Namiki（並木栄子・並木葉子）. Born in 1938, they grew up in poverty and early in their lives, they began their careers as street musicians. In 1951, their family moved down south to Tokyo where they lived in cheap accommodations in the San'ya area right next to Asakusa. And there they continued to stroll the entertainment districts as musicians with their shamisen.

Several years later in 1959, they were scouted after which the Namiki Sisters took on the stage name of the Komadori Shimai (Japanese Robin Sisters) and debuted with "Asakusa Shimai". Initially, the song was to have been another song known as "Shamisen Shimai"（三味線姉妹）but to illustrate the sisters' lives in the Asakusa area, "Asakusa Shimai" was chosen. "Shamisen Shimai" would become their 2nd single which came out the following month.

Written by Miyuki Ishimoto（石本美由紀）and composed by Minoru Endo（遠藤実）for release as their debut in October 1959, "Asakusa Shimai" is a somewhat sad tale of the two sisters toiling away in the neighbourhood as entertainers in the hopes that someday they will see their mother again. I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few tears were shed by folks in the audience whenever they performed that particular ballad.

The rags to riches story did come to the sisters fairly quickly after that. In 1961, Komadori Shimai received their first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen after which they appeared 6 more times in a row up to 1967. In addition, they not only appeared quite a few times in movies, they also had their own TV show for a year on NTV from 1962 to 1963. Pretty heady stuff for the sisters, I gather, since they were still in their early 20s at the time. Of course, their singing career also flourished with most of their output being heard during the 1960s, although there was a small renaissance from the mid-1980s into the 1990s. Their latest song was released in March 2014, their first release in 18 years. The sisters even still pop up on shows such as "Uta Kon"（うたコン）from time to time.

Note about that video just above...it looks like Yoko on the right there may have changed her stage name back to her original name of Toshiko（敏子）.

Kamiya Bar
Home of the Denki Bran cocktail

Eri Hiramatsu -- Mou Waraushikanai (もう笑うしかない)

I believe there have been a number of songs detailing the plight of the working man during his decades acting as the tiniest of cogs in the corporate machine of Japan. But sometimes when I think about some of the guff that the working woman has to endure, I imagine one singer-songwriter: Eri Hiramatsu（平松愛理）.

This is not to say that Eri Hiramatsu made it her mission to sing about office ladies and company life all the time but when it comes to her music videos, they often seem to have her as the main character in one of those Japanese comedies about the nuttiness that goes on in the corporations. That was true about her 11th single "Single is Best?!" and that is true about her 10th single "Mou Waraushikanai" (I Can Only Laugh) from September 1992.

Despite the video that should have gotten Hiramatsu her own starring role in a Fuji-TV comedy, her lyrics from "Mou Waraushikanai" are a mild admonishment to that significant other to shape up more in the romance department. She's been trying to hold her end of the bargain so it's only fair that the guy do so as well. And that slight chew out is made more appealing due to the singer's usual bouncy pop music. I would almost loved to have been her boyfriend simply to get a musical earful from her.

The song got as high as No. 17 and was the opening track to Hiramatsu's 5th album "Erhythm" which came out at the same time as the single. That album did hit No. 1. Listening to the song again fired off some memory engrams so when I checked out the J-Wiki article, I found out that I probably had heard at least the beginning of the song over and over again since it was used as the theme song for a segment on Fuji-TV's "Waratte Ii Tomo"（笑っていいとも!...It's OK To Laugh） noontime variety show.

Katsuhiko Haida -- Tokyo no Yane no Shita （東京の屋根の下）

Working and living in the Tokyo area, there was a lot to like about the megalopolis: city centres with their own distinct personalities, great food and plenty of spots for my friends and I to enjoy. Rush hours were one of the few things that I didn't like but with my daily schedule, I was able to avoid most of them.

So when I heard and saw Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）give his proud performance of the old chestnut "Tokyo no Yane no Shita" (Under the Roof of Tokyo) last week on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, I could relate to the ode that the lyrics were making to Japan's capital city.

"Tokyo no Yane no Shita" was originally sung by singer and heartthrob, the late Katsuhiko Haida（灰田勝彦）, as one of his singles from 1949. Arranged as this contented but proud stroll of a song, Haida, who was actually born in Honolulu in 1911 and spent most of his first decade in the future American state, crooned his romantic compliments to the various areas of Tokyo such as "the love promenade of Hibiya", "the night tango of Shinjuku" and "the dream paradise of Asakusa". Somewhat florid words to be sure, but at the time of its release, Japan was still coming out of the shadow of war so perhaps people were seeing the hopes of a rebuilt Tokyo or its actual rebirth.

The song was written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）.

One recommendation that I would have is to take a good long walk through one of the distinct neighborhoods of Tokyo and then make that journey from one area to another. Walking from the bustling Ueno to high-tech Akihabara would be one example. I once took an all-day journey one day during the Golden Week holidays to make that trek from Asakusa all the way down to Shibuya in about 6 hours while following (and not taking) the Ginza Line. A lot of different environments to be had, and although my feet were sore (at me) for days afterwards, it was worth it. Of course, I won't ask you to try anything quite that crazy but it goes to show that Tokyo is a great walking city.

Koichi Kawazu -- Ginga no Seishun （銀河の青春）

With all of the anime that was flooding into North America and then re-shaped and dubbed into new forms back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, one of those shows that arrived when I was in high school was "Voltron" (I guess "Wattron" didn't have the right ring). I'm not sure how exactly but I vaguely remember a show about a giant mecha formed from 5 ferocious robot cats, and then strangely enough, an English-dubbed cartoon starring that exact character popped up on the TV screen.

Along with the Cat Voltron, there was also a Vehicle Voltron series (with a huge cast) which came after the cats. I only found out yesterday that this particular part of "Voltron" was originally known as "Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV"（機甲艦隊ダイラガーXV...Armored Fleet Dairugger XV）from TV Tokyo that had its run for one year between 1982 and 1983. Where these producers came up with the names of these mecha is beyond me. My theory is that they all had their own versions of Scrabble or Boggle, just threw out the tiles or blocks at random and then added a few choice vowels.

Moving on from there, I was at my anime buddy's house once more yesterday for the usual anime outing and of course there was the anison hour. Feeling in the nostalgic mood, he put on the theme song for "Dairugger", and although it's one thing to hear the opening theme on YouTube, it's quite another to hear it on my friend's souped-up stereo. He put it on since he wanted to show how much the bass was working overtime on these old anison back then. However, I also heard the characteristic soaring strings and the rat-a-tat horns (especially that howling French horn) working together to create this heroic song that pretty much populated every super robot anime. Koichi Kawazu（川津恒一）did his level best to sing "Ginga no Seishun" (Youth of the Galaxy) like a national anthem.

"Ginga no Seishun" was written by Keisuke Fujikawa（藤川桂介）and composed by Seiji Yokoyama（横山菁児）.

Now that I think of it, I wonder what has become of this supposed live-action version of "Voltron". Perhaps it ran into the most dreaded of Hollywood monsters, Development Hell.