Yuko Tomita -- September Girl （セプテンバー・ガール）

When I first started "Kayo Kyoku Plus" back in 2012, I initially depended on the various songs that I had already internalized over the decades through the records, tapes and CDs in my possession. There are perhaps a few left but the past few years have had me relying on music shows and those same other sources to jog my memory about previously forgotten tunes. It's also been the case now that I've encountered new old tunes on YouTube and the shows to write about.

Plus, there have been from time to time tips from the other collaborators on "KKP", commenters and other folks. So, tonight, my two contributions will involve recommendations from a commenter and one of those other folks.

The "other folk" here happens to be someone I got to know (his handle is C.C. Baxter) via the social networking site Mixi many years ago, specifically through the Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）community. We've gotten to respond to each other time and again since he has also become my Facebook friend. Plus, he was very magnanimous in getting me a copy of Kurahashi's very first album "Without Sugar".

Well, earlier today, when I was checking FB, I noticed that C.C. put up an entry about a singer named Yuko Tomita（とみたゆう子）and one of her songs "September Girl". He lamented mildly that the song never really went anywhere although he still enjoys it. Now, I realize that this isn't exactly an overt tip, but still knowing that there is a lot of potentially wonderful Japanese pop music to be unearthed in my estimation and since of course it is September, I decided to give "September Girl" a whirl.

The song was Tomita's 2nd single from August 1981 which was released about 18 months after her debut in 1979. I've seen Tomita on YouTube a number of times but hadn't taken the leap until today. And you know what? "September Girl" is a pretty pleasant piece...some synth in there and a nice guitar solo with Tomita's nice voice. Actually, it even sounds a bit aidoru-ish but considering the clothes that Tomita was wearing on her various covers, I think it was marketed as a general pop tune. Perhaps the song wasn't enough to get her into the limelight of fame but I'm sure that it struck a happy nerve with a number of listeners.

"September Girl" was also placed in her debut album "COLOURS" which was released in September 1981. Tomita was born in Nagoya in 1961 and released 13 singles between 1979 and 1992 and I believe 9 original albums. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who wrote and composed "September Girl" but I've got a feeling that they are probably quite well known.

I'm fairly sure then that when this article gets heralded on Facebook, C.C. may be in for a bit of a surprise. I will give my thanks.

Yoko Nagayama -- Haru wa SA-RA-SA-RA （春はSA・RA・SA・RA）

Since I wrote an article yesterday on Yoko Nagayama（長山洋子）as she is now as a veteran enka/Mood Kayo singer through her latest single, I thought I might as well get whimsical and feature her aidoru age with her very first single. "Haru wa SA-RA-SA-RA" (Spring is Refreshing) was released in April 1984 when Nagayama had just turned 16, and it just sounds like your typical breezy 80s aidoru tune with those strings in there.

What's remarkable about the song is that it was actually a cover of a tune by Finnish singer Eini titled "Kiitävän hetken hurma" from 1983. The original sounds more like a fairly Eurobeat-ish technopop tune.

Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）provided the Japanese lyrics on "Haru wa SA-RA-SA-RA" which was also used in the Japanese trailer advertising a 2014 Spanish film titled "Magical Girl". The original single got as high as No. 41 on Oricon. Not too bad a start for Nagayama whose aidoru era lasted a little under a decade, and actually she would have even more success with a cover of another more famous tune a few years later.

Spitz -- Natsu ga Owaru （夏が終わる）

It looks like "Banana Zero Music"（バナナ♪ゼロミュージック）is coming to be one of my regular programs on the telly since it seems to have found a home in the 7:40 pm slot on Saturdays. Last night's theme was food songs and I was quite surprised to have found out that there are quite a few out there. I've also written about a few of them myself such as Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）"Ramen Tabetai"（ラーメン食べたい）and Shibugakitai's（シブがき隊）"Sushi Kui ne!"（スシ食いねェ！）.

Apparently, a rundown of those food songs on the show revealed that the pop band Spitz（スピッツ）has had quite a few songs with food themes such as "Tamago"（たまご...Eggs）, although it hasn't gone to the level of Weird Al Yankovic.

But this time, I won't be doing a food-themed Spitz song here because I came across another very nice tune by them with a more seasonal theme called "Natsu ga Owaru" (Summer's Ending). This was a track on their 4th album "Crispy!" (which is how I like my chicken and fries) from September 1993, and I like it because it has that AOR feeling of yesteryear to it.

Vocalist Masamune Kusano（草野正宗）wrote and composed "Natsu ga Owaru", and on the J-Wiki article for the album when referring to this particular song, guitarist Tetsuya Miwa（三輪テツヤ）mentioned that it was a type of tune that hadn't been tackled up to that point by Spitz, so it was quite fresh to them. "Natsu ga Owaru" was also made the coupling song for the band's 7th single "Kimi ga Omoide ni Naru Mae ni"（君が思い出になる前に...Before You Become A Memory）which came out a month after the album.

At a concert in 2013, Kusano himself talked about the song and mentioned that although he had written the lyrics to help listeners get over a really hot summer (which is par for the course in Japan...believe me, I know), the summer of 1993 was actually unusually cold. All I can say is that listening to it, it can probably act in warming people up then.

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/crispy/id539314213

"Crispy" itself peaked at No. 27 on the album charts and earned Gold status while "Kimi ga Omoide ni Naru Mae ni" managed to top off at No. 33.

Speaking of AOR, I'm dedicating the article to Walter Becker of Steely Dan who passed away today at the age of 67. "Peg" remains one of my melodic delights.

Yoko Nagayama -- Wakare Jouzu （別れ上手）

Young Yoko

I really ought to be giving myself a Gibbs-level slap to the back of my head right now since I've been quite amiss when it comes to enka singer Yoko Nagayama（長山洋子）. Up to now, the only Nagayama entry that I've had on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is her cover of "Venus" and that was back in her aidoru days. She's been an enka singer for almost a quarter of a century and I had nothing to represent that period.

(short version)

Up until now, that is. For those TV Japan viewers who are also fans of Nagayama, the past week must have been seen as a good one since she appeared not only on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）but also on that new NHK kayo-and-talk show "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ...Afternoon Songs）that's televised Friday afternoons.

Her most recent single is "Wakare Jouzu" (Good At Breaking Up) which to me is a great title for something that is a bit more on the Mood Kayo side rather than the enka side according to the Latin-ish arrangement. Maybe the title has been used before but it's the first time for me to hear it, and it rather embraces that classic Mood Kayo trope of the love 'em-and-leave 'em heel. However, the way Nagayama sings it, it doesn't sound like the latest victim of this Lothario is too broken up about it; perhaps she's pouty that the time flew by so fast but knows that he'll have her in his arms after a while again. The single, by the way, is dedicated to her 35th anniversary of being in show business, and yep, that includes her aidoru age.

Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）took care of the music while Noriyo Suzuki（鈴木紀代）provided the lyrics. "Wakare Jouzu" was released in July of this year according to her website. Not sure how it did on Oricon. But I'm glad that I finally got the singer's enka discography finally represented.

Mariya Takeuchi -- Kagayaku Starry Night （輝くスターリー・ナイト）

It's a nice Saturday out there. It actually feels cool in my room which is usually a disguised sauna during the summer. Haven't had to turn on the fan in the last several days.

I figured that it was time to dip into the kayo kyoku vaults for a Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）number from all the way back to her origins. And so once again, I refer to her debut album "Beginning" from 1978.

Back in 2013, I actually did the article for "Beginning" itself and showed how one of the most famous pop singers in Japan was trying out a variety of genres. However, this particular track "Kagayaku Starry Night" (Glittering Starry Night) has struck me as being one of the quintessential Mariya songs in my view since it goes to her predilection for these old-style love songs from mid-20th-century America.

"Kagayaku Starry Night" has this cute sing-songy melody which makes it almost adorable enough (especially with Mariya's delivery) for it to be considered a kid's tune, but at the same time, it has that feeling of a couple of teen lovers sharing a malt at the local ice cream shop while this is playing on the jukebox. The crazy thing is that two of the technopop pioneers behind Yellow Magic Orchestra were responsible for this "Happy Days"-friendly song. Yup, drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋ユキヒロ）provided the lyrics about getting all moony-eyed at the night sky while bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）came up with the music.

For all you lovers out there...

Yasuyuki Okamura -- Love Message （ラブメッセージ）

Well, that Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）really tore the funk off when he did "Viva Namida"（ビバナミダ）back in 2014 for the anime "Space Dandy". That song has stuck in my cerebellum ever since I saw Dandy dance to it in the opening credits, and it has come to the point that, hope beyond hope, it might even get into the 2020 Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics. I will even double-down on my hopes and wish for Dancing Gundams with Okamura during the performance.

(short version)

In the meantime, it looks like he's been continuing on with the funky good times. Case in point, his 30th single (and his most recent single up to this writing), "Love Message" from September 2015. It was the ending theme for this movie based on the manga "Minna! Esper da yo!"（みんな!エスパーだよ!...All Esper Dayo!）that looks pretty whacked-out from the music video, but then again, "Space Dandy" wasn't exactly your run-of-the-mill program, either.

And similarly, "Love Message" is another one of those Okamura-made earworms that just grabs hold and never lets go. So "Viva Namida" will have a brain mate forever. It's just that catchy. And Okamura doesn't hold back on the vocal funk either.

It got as high as No. 23 on Oricon and was a track on his 7th album "Koufuku"（幸福...Happiness）from January 2015 which peaked at No. 3 on the album charts. Okamura may look more like a button-down salaryman now when compared to his leaner days in the 1980s, but he can still thrill listeners to jump up and dance.

Mayumi Hara -- Bye, Bye, September

September is here once again! Can't believe how quickly summer came and went, and to prove that, when I woke up this morning, it was just 9 degrees Celsius (48 or 49 degrees F). Trees should have just shivered themselves into colour on that pronouncement.

Perhaps this is just me but I think when it comes to kayo kyoku and the months, September seems to be the favourite among singers and songwriters for some reason. Maybe the Japanese seem to feel especially poignant when it comes to this particular change in the seasons, although I think the Tokyo area really doesn't get autumnal until October nowadays. But I digress...I've already written about a few songs concerning the month in the past.

So here I was looking for another kayo about September to write about since I'm simply that sort of whimsical guy, and I was expecting to find something more along the enka or Mood Kayo line. Instead, I found this aidoru tune from the 1980s by a young lady named Mayumi Hara（原真祐美）. "Bye, Bye, September" was Hara's 3rd single released right on September 1st 1983...yep, it's 34 years today.

Launching like a jet airplane on disco fuel, Hara doesn't quite meet the same ambitions as the music by Yasuo Kosugi（小杉保夫）vocally speaking but I think this is where the theory that folks like Marcos and others have talked about comes into play. This is the one where the songwriters have provided that decent safety net for the aidoru who may not have the greatest voices. Instead, "Bye, Bye, September" takes the aidoru and us for a fun little ride through the last few days of the summer holiday before having to return to work/school. Veteran lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）provides the story of saying goodbye to that seasonal romance.

"Bye, Bye, September" didn't exactly soar up the Oricon charts, though, peaking at only No. 89. However, this was her biggest hit and apparently it still got quite a few accolades. It won Hara Best New Artist awards at the FNS Kayo Festival and the Japan Music Awards, plus Silver prizes at the Shinjuku Music Festival and the Ginza Music Festival, and a few others as well. J-Wiki reports that it also hung between the 101st and 200th rankings on Oricon for about 6 months, so although it wasn't a huge hit that put Hara on the route towards stardom, it was considered to be a long-running success (although with those rankings, I'm not quite sure how many records would have been sold).

Hara was born Mayumi Taneda（種田真祐美）in Sapporo, Hokkaido in September 1966. She was first scouted while shopping in her hometown, and became a model and appeared in commercials before making that foray as an aidoru in early 1983 with her debut single "Kesshin"（決心...Resolution）. Hara also did some acting as well. But after 8 singles and 4 albums and graduating from high school, she quickly retired from showbiz.

I also read that Hara had even done a cover of Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）haunting "Kuro no Clair"（黒のクレール）on one of her albums. Would love to hear that one.