Oarai -- The Town of Girls and Panzers

Well, after 3 glorious nights at Hotel Rob, I checked out of Musashi-Kosugi early in the morning of the 13th and headed out to Mito. Mind you, this was Monday morning which meant rush hour from the station into Tokyo so of course that meant a population density aboard the train that would probably be measured in the millions per square centimetre. And here I was carrying a carry-on and a full suitcase. Not the easiest thing to do.

Since it was an express train, it was only a few stations but it was quite the hellish trip. Yet, I was actually grateful for the crowds packed in the train only because there were so many in there that I was actually cushioned from the worst of the jostling due to their bodies. Yes, indeed, it was the most physically cynical commute that I ever experienced. After that, I treated myself to a Mac breakfast at the Shinagawa Golden Arches across from the station.

It was a 2-hour ride on the semi-express from Shinagawa to Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. Mito Station was unexpectedly quite lively and filled with stores and restaurants. However, that city wasn't my final destination. Cue music.

Nope, it was to get onto the Kashima-Oarai Line for about the 10 minutes it would take to reach the small town of Oarai...otherwise the setting for the beloved anime "Girls und Panzer". Never did such a deep anime pilgrimage before. But my adventure started in style...the train exterior was all decked out with the characters from the show...and there are a lot of characters in "Girls und Panzer".

"Girls und Panzer" has become a cottage industry of sorts in Oarai since the show's premiere back in the early 2010s. Festivals have been held in the town, there is a tonkatsu restaurant that serves tank-shaped pork cutlet, and Oarai Station has its own little museum devoted to the anime.

I walked the 1km down to the harbour where the Marine Tower was located since there was a small cafe near the top of the tower devoted to "Girls und Panzer". Part of the setup had high school tables with menus in student binders.

Ended up ordering the stewed mackerel course based on one of the characters' preferences. It was OK but nothing to write home about but then again, with these places the quality of the food isn't the main thing.

Heading back on the deserted street back to Oarai Station, I realized that I had seen this very avenue on the anime. All in all, it was a short and sweet experience. Got a few souvenirs for my anime buddy.

For all of you "Girls und Panzer" fans, cherish the above. It is Mako Reizei smiling! Panzer Vor!

68th (2017) NHK Kohaku Utagassen （第68回NHK紅白歌合戦）

Looks like my 3 signs of an approaching December, as mentioned last year when I put up the list for last year's Kohaku Utagassen have borne fruit: I've already sent out Xmas cards to my friends in Japan, my anime buddy has sent the message for this year's year-ender, and NHK announced the lineup for this year's Kohaku.

My impression is that NHK made their announcement a fair bit earlier than usual for some reason. No problems...just gives the rest of us some more time to absorb and imagine the performances.

There will be two main hosts for the coverage this year. NHK is sending co-anchor of the 9 o'clock news, Maho Kuwako（桑子真帆 ）, but the other host is comedian Teruyoshi Uchimura（内村光良）from the duo Utchan/Nanchan（ウッチャンナンチャン）.

So once again without further ado, here are the teams for the 68th NHK Kohaku Utagassen brought to you by the good folks at Wikipedia:

Akagumi/Red Team
Captain: Kasumi Arimura (for the 2nd time in a row)

AI (3)
E-Girls (5)
Sayuri Ishikawa (40)
Yukino Ichikawa (2)
AKB48 (10)
Midori Oka (debut)
Mai Kuraki (4)
Keyakizaka 46 (2)
Fuyumi Sakamoto (29)
Ringo Shiina (5)
Shishamo (debut)
Aya Shimazu (4)
Superfly (2)
Mariko Takahashi (5)
Yoshimi Tendo (22)
TWICE (debut...or should I say, once? 😈)
Kana Nishino (8)
Nogizaka 46 (3)
Perfume (10)
Takako Matsu (3)
Seiko Matsuda (21)
Kaori Mizumori (15)
Little Glee Monster (debut)

Shirogumi/White Team
Captain: Kazuya Ninomiya

Arashi (9)
Hiroshi Itsuki (47)
X Japan (8)
Elephant Kashimashi (debut)
Kanjani 8 (6)
Hiromi Go (30)
Sandaime J Soul Brothers (6)
Sekai no Owari (4)
Sexy Zone (5)
Takehara Pistol (debut)
Tortoise Matsumoto (debut)
TOKIO (24)
Kiyoshi Hikawa (18)
Ken Hirai (8)
Kohei Fukuda (4)
Masaharu Fukuyama (10)
Hey! Say! JUMP (debut)
Gen Hoshino (3)
Daichi Miura (debut)
Hiroshi Miyama (3)
Keisuke Yamauchi (3)
Yuzu (8)
Wanima (debut)

It looks like they will keep brushing off that official theme of "Yume wo Utao"（夢を歌おう...Let's Sing The Dream）until the Olympics in 2020. The usual mix of veterans and newbies are in there but I'm especially interested in the latter since I have never heard of Wanima or Takehara Pistol（竹原ピストル）or TWICE. I've only come across the trio Shishamo in passing. Plus, there are Tortoise Matsumoto（トータス松本）and Daichi Miura（三浦大知）on the White team who are appearing for the first time as soloists after their time in 90s groups Ulfuls and Folder respectively.

And this time as the White team captain, Nino is taking the baton from fellow Arashi bandmate Aiba-kun. I've been hearing about the "negotiations" to have Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）make one last appearance on the Kohaku after announcing her retirement from show business. No luck so far but we shall see.

Anri -- Heaven Beach

Got on my CD-buying binge...coming to the end of the year, y'know. One of the first albums I purchased was Anri's（杏里）"Heaven Beach". It's been a target for some time so I was glad to finally get my hands on it, especially after listening to the mellow groove of "Last Summer Whisper".

(full album)

This was Anri's 4th album from November 1982, released some 14 months after her last album, the more European-and-exotic-sounding "Kanashimi no Kujaku"（哀しみの孔雀）. With "Heaven Beach", according to the J-Wiki write-up on the album, this cemented Ms. Kawashima's status as the summer-sounding pop singer that we Anri fans all know and love.

At first assumption, I had thought that at least half of "Heaven Beach" was handled by musician-songwriter Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）but he actually just took care of three of the original 10 tracks. Still, this was the beginnings of a good collaboration between him and Anri in terms of the sunny summer pop that would hereafter characterize the singer. Case in point is the opening song "Ni-banme no Affair"（二番目のaffair...The Second Affair）which has all that Kadomatsu goodness with the skippy bass and galloping beat as Anri sings about struggling to keep from falling for the charms of a friend who may be trying to bring their relationship to another level.

Side A of the original 1982 LP seems to have gone more of the City Pop/dance-pop route that Anri would navigate for the next number of years with Kadomatsu's help. However, one of the songs that I've instantly liked from Listen 1 at 13:02 is by Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）, "Resolution". The ballad not only shows the singer's strength in her vocals but also that when it comes to the genre in question, it isn't always about Anri and Kadomatsu.

"Resolution", which seems to be about a woman in love thinking about things on the harbour at sunset, starts off as a J-AOR ballad but then gradually morphs into something even more old-fashioned and romantic.

"Lonely Driving" at 9:40 is some good on-the-road pop written by singer-songwriter Hiromi Kanda（神田広美）and composed by Anri herself.

Side B of the LP goes more into what Anri was doing in her earlier years with perhaps some of that exotic influence from "Kanashimi no Kujaku". Things start off with a bang at 22:02 with "Flash Back Memories" which was also written and composed by Kobayashi. And unlike the mellowness of "Resolution", "Flash Back Memories" actually flashes back memories of 1980s New Wave and Billboard pop. I love that keyboard in there as I get reminiscings of bands like Hall & Oates.

"Natsu ni Se wo Mukete"（夏に背を向けて...Turning Your Back on Summer）at 34:24 is a melodically sweet if lyrically bittersweet take on the inevitable end of a summer fling. Kanda once again provided the lyrics while Fuyumi Iwasawa（岩沢二弓）, one-half of the duo Bread & Butter, came up with the music. The song has that mellow pop sound that I would usually attribute to someone like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）but again Anri sounds great here.

She also sounds wonderful for the final and title track at 38:46, "Heaven Beach". In fact, I would say that she almost has the voice of her younger teen self in tackling this ballad which makes for an appropriate end to the original album. It has that sort of sunset feeling there but Anri, who wrote and composed it, wanted to imbue a good amount of inspiration, in my opinion.

(1:03:46)

The 2011 re-release of "Heaven Beach" contains a bonus track which originally saw the light as the B-side to Anri's 10th single "Omoikkiri American"（思いきりアメリカン）from April 1982. "Kaze no Naka de Loving You"（風の中でLoving you...Loving You In The Wind） has got that happy light samba beat; Anri has done a number of Latin-tinged songs but although I think the song is fun and all that, it feels as if it has been grafted onto the singer like she is doing more of a karaoke of a song done by the original singer. Machiko Ryu and Michihiro Kobayashi（竜真知子・小林みちひろ）took care of this one.

As I mentioned in the article for "Last Summer Whisper", "Heaven Beach" the album got no higher than No. 89 on Oricon when it was first released. I gather that folks had yet to cotton onto Anri although better days were just around the corner. However, I think in retrospect, the album is an important one for Anri fans since it was a crossroads of sorts for showing what she had been doing and what she would be capable of in the coming years. Definitely happy to get this one.

Minato Mirai 21

One of the other nice things about living in Musashi-Kosugi is that by train, a resident there is not far from either Tokyo or Yokohama by train. Both cities can be reached easily within 15 minutes by express.

After lunch, Rob and I decided to spend an afternoon down in Yokohama, specifically around the Minato Mirai 21 area. It had been 6 years since I last stepped foot in the great port city, and the district surrounding Yokohama Bay is one of my favourites anywhere in Japan. Landmark Tower, Queen's Square, JR Sakuragicho Station, the Nippon Maru...all lovely places to walk by.

We basically walked a circle around the harbour including taking a dip into the World Porters mall.

We ended our time there by having some coffee in the largest Cafe de Crie that I had ever been in. My one regret is that I didn't get a chance to explore some of the other sights in Yokohama but I figure that will be my next mission for Japan. Perhaps I will set my accommodations more for the big Y.

To be honest, I think "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）by Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）is more of a night song but along with "Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）, I couldn't think of a more representative kayo for Japan's second-largest city in terms of population.

Ramen Tabetai ga...

During my stay at Rob's, I was able to continue enjoying life in the neighbourhood of Musashi-Kosugi in the city of Kawasaki. On the 11th, his family and I had lunch in a dim summy family restaurant in the Grand Tree mall called Dim Joy.

The soup dumplings came out and I also had a nice spicy bowl of tan tan men. Now, folks might assume that I had a perpetual IV in my arm pumping tonkotsu ramen throughout my trip considering how much I love the stuff. However, I only had the dish twice during my entire time in Japan. The reason was that Toronto now has decent ramen restaurants all over the place so I could actually use my time and stomach on other culinary pursuits. So to complete my sentence above that has been acting as the title for this article: ramen tabetai ga sonnani hitsuyo ga nai（ラーメン食べたいがそんなに必要がない...I wanna eat ramen but there isn't that much of a need）.

Of course, that's now how Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）would see it.

Ritsuko Kurosawa -- Sayonara ga Nemuranai（さよならが眠らない）

Never heard of Ritsuko Kurosawa（黒沢律子）before. But listening to her "Sayonara ga Nemuranai" (Goodbyes Never Sleep), I figure she might have gotten her first Canadian fan. Admittedly, it's from the nostalgic point of view since the arrangement of the song by Toshihiko Miyoshi（三好敏彦）pretty much screams early 1990s with that certain synthesizer and the power pop stylings that are reminiscent of ZARD.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of information about Kurosawa aside from the fact that she debuted in 1990. "Sayonara ga Nemuranai", written by singer-songwriter Yui Nishiwaki（西脇唯）and composer Keiko Yokoyama（横山敬子）, comes from what was probably her 2nd album, "RITZ" from December 1991. According to this one page, "RITZ" is now out of print and possibly her other albums might be in the same boat. Kurosawa's vocals may not be the most standout but this one song has gotten me on the hook at least.

Rina Chinen -- Love You Close

I guess if Marcos V. can come up with the first Rina Chinen（知念里奈）single for the blog, then I can come up with her 15th and last single to date.

Yep, I bought "Love You Close" on watching the official music video on one of the music channels one sunny Sunday and I got hooked on its gentle melody by Chika Ueda（上田知華）. It sounded rather like an old 1980s pop ballad with a hint of R&B despite it being released in March 2001. Hiromi Mori（森浩美）came up with the lyrics.

I only found out today that it had been the ending theme for the first "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）movie of the 21st century, "Doraemon Nobita to Tsubasa no Yūsha-tachi"（ドラえもん のび太と翼の勇者たち...Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves）. Chinen even had a minor role in the movie. "Love You Close" made it all the way up to No. 39 on Oricon and was also a track on her 3rd album "breath", released in July 2001. The album peaked at No. 28.