AKB48 -- Negaigoto no Mochigusare （願いごとの持ち腐れ）

The last time I wrote on an AKB48 song was around Halloween 2015 for the appropriately timed "Halloween Night". I may not be an aficionado of their brand of aidoru pop but when the melody goes for something a little more off the beaten path for them...such as 70s disco for "Halloween Night", I can be down for that.

Well, on an episode of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）late in May, the group appeared to perform something that was indeed out of the ordinary. Sounding like it was a folk song/romantic ballad created in Europe, "Negaigoto no Mochigusare" kept my attention due partly because of the marionette-like choreography and partly due to an arrangement that had me reminiscing of some of the "exotic" kayo that was coming out around those late 70s that I already referred to above. Of course, a song that sounds as if it came from the European countryside will have me thinking of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）by default.

Released right on May 31 2017, the J-Wiki write-up on "Negaigoto no Mochigusare" had AKB48's papa and lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer Shiori Uchiyama（内山栞）going for the feeling of a Russian folk song in 6/8 time. For me, I was thinking of a melancholy waltz. The Wikipedia translation of the song has it as "Wishful Tumbling" which is quite vague to me; mochigusare is translated on Jisho.org as "unused possession" or something that is being wasted away from disuse, so perhaps "The Unwanted Part of a Wish" might be the more down-to-earth and harsher translation. From taking a cursory look at Akimoto's lyrics, AKB48 is singing about wishing everyone on the planet to be happy but being quite realistic about it. Total happiness may be as easy to grab as a mirage of apples but at least continuing to hope for it means that all hope is not lost.

There's not much of an explanation about the official music video on Wikipedia but there is one on J-Wiki. An elementary school in Shizuoka Prefecture (the place for green tea) closed for the last time on March 19 2017 so there was an air of the inevitability of parting as being such sweet sorrow which was what Akimoto wanted as the theme for the song. So several days before the official closing, some of the members of AKB48 paid a surprise visit to the school and the kids with the song being performed there.

Some of the comments I've come across about the song have not been too complimentary which I'm not too surprised about. "Negaigoto no Mochigusare" has a melody which might have caught at least some of the fans off-guard and may be seen as being too melancholy or just plain too old-fashioned. As someone who likes the old stuff, though, I don't mind it at all and it makes for an interesting change from the usual pop and disco (which I also like). In any event, it has become another No. 1 as the group's 48th single but of course we'll just have to wait and see how it does on the yearly charts.

Yujiro Ishihara -- Yokohama Monogatari （よこはま物語）

I definitely have to get back to Yokohama the next time I visit Japan. The place has got some panache by the bay in the Minato Mirai 21 neighbourhood and there are some intriguing areas in the city that I have yet to visit. But I gotta go to the Ramen Museum and Chinatown once more.

And I guess for the late great Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）, Yokohama is just one of the settings for a Mood Kayo song. He's starting to strike me as being quite the fellow for geographical kayo. Along with swinging Tokyo, the Tough Guy has given his love to Sapporo and also to the city of note here in this article.

Ishihara gave his heart to Yokohama at least once before through the 1972 ballad "Sayonara Yokohama"（サヨナラ横浜）that Noelle covered last year. Well, 9 years later, he decided to revisit the second-largest metropolis in Japan via "Yokohama Monogatari" (Yokohama Story).

Listening to the song before checking out the details of its origins, I figured that it was probably released sometime in the late 1970s since his tunes around that time had a couple of traits: 1) a bit of Latin guitar and 2) that haunting female background vocal, with "Brandy Glass"（ブランデーグラス）being the most famous example. I actually wasn't too far off. It took a bit of searching but the single was released in February 1981.

Written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）and composed by Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）, Ishihara does his crooning best in front of a set of strings which almost sound feline but I think were meant to signify sighing. Perhaps Tough Guy likes Yokohama as the Lounge of Lost Love since that is the lyrical theme here and also in "Sayonara Yokohama". Bright lights and big city surrounding a lonely palooka in a bar? Yokohama might be the place. As for me, I still see it as one of my wonderful foodie challenges.😎

Motohiro Hata -- Himawari no Yakusoku （ひまわりの約束）

Nope, those are tulips above...couldn't find any pictures of sunflowers that would have been able to show up as thumbnails when I published this one.

One of the highlights of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）tonight was hearing this ballad by singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata（秦基博）. I had never heard of this fellow from Miyazaki Prefecture until tonight but when he performed his "Himawari no Yakusoku" (Sunflower Promise), I was instantly entranced by both the melody and lyrics devoted to love and friendship. The last several years seem to have seen its fill of male pop singers with these high soulful voices but this particular singer and song simply kinda struck me from the get-go.

"Himawari no Yakusoku" is actually Hata's 17th single since his major debut in 2006. Released in December 2014 as the theme song for one of the "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）movies done up as a 3D CG feature released back in the summer of that year, it managed to peak at No. 10 and break through the million-seller barrier.

Hideo Murata -- Iwai Bushi （祝い節）

On tonight's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, which incidentally I liked much better than last week's episode, there was a more flavourful tribute given to the late Hideo Murata（村田英雄）since the 15th anniversary of his passing is coming up. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite find the right video but although I've known him for his severe countenance, when he did smile, he can light up an entire banquet room! And sure enough, one of the video excerpts showed that beaming grin.

Nowadays, I think the thing to do for a beloved one who has left this mortal coil has been to not so much mourn his death but to celebrate his life. So perhaps I can indeed do the latter by putting up one of Murata's more joyous songs. This would be "Iwai Bushi" (Melody of Celebration) from June 1966. With that melody by Kanae Wada（和田香苗）indeed sounding quite festive, I could almost imagine Murata entering Haruo Minami's（三波春夫）sphere. And the lyrics by Hiroko Ohya（大矢弘子）seem to cover a whole range of things to celebrate, whether it be the summer festival or a full-blown wedding. Just put your hands together!

Murata managed to get onto the 1966 Kohaku Utagassen by performing this song which sounds absolutely ideal for something as celebratory as the NHK year-end special. And wouldn't it be something if it were performed again by one of the current enka stars? Bring back some of that bushi brio!

Seiko Matsuda -- Sukoshi Zutsu Haru （少しずつ春）

There are certain melodic touchstones when it comes to the individual decades that I've known kayo kyoku. For the 1980s in the aidoru department, it would be the early Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）numbers with the spritely synths anchored by the soaring strings and the galloping electric guitar. Whenever I hear that instrumental combination, the old days start flowing like spring water.

So why not have a Seiko number here with the ideal "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" (A Little Bit of Spring)? I think I've pretty much exhausted all of the A-sides for her heyday singles so that I'll probably be doing the B-sides now. And "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" is the B-side for the singer's 4th single "Cherry Blossom"（チェリーブラッサム）that I've already written about.

Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, the same duo behind Seiko's big hit "Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）, this quintessential early Seiko song weaves back and forth between super-cheerful and coquettish as the lass sings about the usual tribulations behind young love. I would say that there is an echo of "Aoi Sangoshou" as well in there.

The above video has the all of the instruments taken out, just leaving Seiko's bright voice in acapella mode. An interesting experience.

"Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" apparently didn't make it onto an original album by Seiko but it did make it onto "Seiko Box", her 4th collection of greatest hits from November 1985. That got up to No. 7 on Oricon.

Shogo Hamada -- Tokyo （東京）

For all of you kayo fans of a certain age, do you remember Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）"TOKIO"? It was all sorts of musical fun regarding the wonders of the largest city in Japan. With a bit of techno infused into the pop and rock, it just seemed to advertise Tokyo as that dream-like gleaming technopolis.

Well, several months after the release of "TOKIO", rocker Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）decided to speak up and say "Whoa, dude! It ain't all strawberries and cream here." As a result, he came up with "Tokyo", his 11th single in October 1980.

Compared to the cute and slightly technopoppy "TOKIO", Hamada's answer song (which he wrote and composed) is its brassy and brawling cousin from Kabukicho. The singer-songwriter puts in a goodly amount of reasons for folks living out in the countryside to sigh relief that they are not living in Tokyo: prostitution, exhausted commuters coming home on packed trains and some other sordidness in the big city. But Hamada doesn't frame this in a slow and downbeat melody. On the contrary, the music is as upbeat as the one for "TOKIO" but with a darker side, and drivers bombing down the highway will like to rock their heads and sing to it. Especially love the horns and drumming.

The above video has a Hamada copy band, J. Club, providing a cover of "Tokyo". I don't know how the single did on J-Wiki but the album that it also came on, "Home Bound", from October 1980, peaked at No. 20. It was released in the same month as the single.

The impetus for the article and my interest in the song is from commenter Arc who has started getting into Hamada's music. And as per Arc's request, I've provided a translation of the lyrics.

Some girl is selling her body in the back alley
Kids are making gangs and searching for prey
Sprawled out poolside, full of money, and looking for work on the midsummer streets
People just hanging out...oooh
Oooh, how long can you hold out?
A bed is creaking beyond the wall
The TV is shouting out at full volume below the floor, Tokyo
Don't twist me around, Tokyo
Don't tear that girl apart, born under the expressway
Dying over the subway, Tokyo
Don't go overboard with yesterday, Tokyo
Don't paint over tomorrow, Tokyo

The exhausted faces on a packed train
Children are getting crushed in school
Loneliness is being bartered under the neon, the old people
Say nothing in the middle of their despair....oooh
Oooh, how long can you hold out?
Engines are roaring beyond the window
Ultra-low jets are flying over our heads, Tokyo
Don't come after me, Tokyo
Don't shake that girl, falling in love with her at the disco, making love to her in the hotel
Saying goodbye to her at the drive-in, Tokyo
Don't blame it on the times, Tokyo
Find the light, Tokyo

Ayumi Hamasaki -- poker face

Went out with some good friends to catch "Wonder Woman" today. It's been a while since I've seen a blockbuster flick so early in its release so it was actually rather nice to hear some laughter and emotion from the larger audience. As for the movie itself, I was quite happy for DC that they finally got the successful superhero movie they had been desperate for. No guarantees on what "Justice League" will be like later this year but at least they've got one hit on their hands.

I wrote my first Ayumi Hamasaki（浜崎あゆみ）article just a little over 2 years ago and related the fact that I was never such a big fan of hers aside from a few exceptions such as "SEASONS". However, I cannot deny that a decade or so ago, she was pretty much the female pop superstar in Japan. Figuratively speaking, I could have thrown a rock somewhere through the TV airwaves and there would have been a good chance that it would have struck a performance or a music video of the lass.

Furthermore, even with my relative apathy toward her music, I'm fairly certain that if a few bars of her music flowed into my ears, I would still be able to identify it as a Hamasaki tune. She was that widespread in the pop culture zeitgeist going into the 21st century. Even listening to her very first single "poker face", there was a certain piece of melody that fired off some memory engrams in my head.

I have to admit that listening to the whole song and watching the music video at the top, I did get some flow of nostalgia due to the 90s synthesizer work and seeing a fresh-faced Hamasaki performing. There was none of that heavy makeup, blonde tresses and the glamour that would characterize her looks during the prime of her career. It was just that Fukuoka-born woman barely in her 20s launching her way to stardom.

"poker face" was released in April 1998 with Hamasaki writing the lyrics and Yasuhiko Hoshino（星野靖彦）providing the melody. It peaked at No. 20 on Oricon. The song (and her next 4 singles) was also part of her debut album "A Song For xx" from January 1999 that had a couple of consecutive runs at No. 1 before ending the century as the 16th-ranked album of the year. It not only went Platinum but also earned Best Album honours at the Japan Record Awards.