Ebisu Muscats -- TOKYO Sexy Night (TOKYOセクシーナイト)

Last month I finished watching a Japanese reality show on Netflix (produced in partnership with Fuji TV) called Terrace House (テラスハウス). Initially, I grew interested because it was different from the reality shows aired in Brazil, like Big Brother, since it didn’t have a big money prize at the end of the show, and, basically, the participants could maintain their ordinary lives while living in the house (including jobs, dates, college and everything else). Also, if someone felt tired of the whole thing, he/she could simply leave the house and a new participant would arrive to take their place (or bed, to be more specific), which was something that happened a lot, since the show aired for 45 weeks. In the end, they were just a bunch (always six, three guys and three girls) of strangers sharing a house and living their normal lives while being filmed (well, not very normal life, since they knew they were being filmed, and could also watch already aired episodes of the show while still in the house).

About the show’s soundtrack, I confess it was pretty generic and boring stuff derivative of what American pop music has to offer nowadays. So, one could expect cheesy R&B-like songs, or even some atrocious anonymous hip-hop tunes during some scenes. The thing is, since the show was broadcasted worldwide, I think our always rigid Japanese talent agencies and record companies didn’t give permission to proper J-Pop songs being used. With that in mind, why am I talking about this show? I’ll get there in a minute.

At one point, an aspiring artist called Misaki Tamori (田森美咲) arrived at Terrace House as a new participant and she quickly became my favorite person in the show, thanks to a bubbly personality and the tough rejection she had to overcome after declaring her love to a fellow participant (coincidentally, a Brazilian guy, but with Japanese heritage). And just like happened with each participant, after a while, the show made clear what Misaki did to earn some money while living in Tokyo (she was born in Hokkaido): she was a member of infamous aidoru group Ebisu Muscats (恵比寿★マスカッツ), which originally debuted in 2011 and was, mostly, if not all, comprised of AV and Gravure aidoru.

Misaki Tamori

Personally, I remember being positively surprised with the idea of a sexy aidoru group around 2012~2013, but Ebisu Muscats’ songs were very similar to what other aidoru groups were doing at the time, much like following the boring “AKB48 quality pattern”. Time passed by, the group disbanded in 2013 and was revived again in 2015 with a new line-up, but I didn’t give them a new chance at all. It was only after I discovered Misaki was a member of the new Ebisu Muscats that I decided to listen to some of their newest songs.

“TOKYO Sexy Night”, my selected song for the article, is, by any means, a revolutionary song or something like that, but a good slice of terribly sexy disco tune that could have originated from an underground cabaret or even a foggy late 70s erotic b-movie. It tries to sound luxurious, and that’s where the joke starts… in reality, it’s a cheap sound backed by some awkward singing by the girls, which is always hilarious. If that wasn’t enough, the chorus is very catchy and , which makes the song a winner in my book.

In the end, I wasn’t even able to find Misaki in the music video, and can’t really tell if she was there at all, but I like the song a lot and that’s enough. Now, I may have finished watching Terrace House, but “TOKYO Sexy Night” is an indirect heritage I owned from the show.

“TOKYO Sexy Night” was released in November 2015 and reached #29 on the Oricon chart. Lyrics were written by Maccoi, while music was composed by Face 2 fAKE.

Source: Amazon.jp

Rika Nakai and LOS INDIOS -- Daiteyaccha Sakuragicho (抱いてやっちゃ桜木町)

I would never expect to see LOS INDIOS paired with an NGT48 member any time, but now we’re here with this song called “Daiteyaccha Sakuragicho”. To be honest, this is very wrong in so many levels that I can’t even start, but the possibility of this outrageous combination is the main reason why I love Japanese pop music in the first place.

“Daiteyaccha Sakuragicho” is a coupling track to the Type-B edition of NGT48’s “Sekai wa Doko Made Aozora na no ka?” (世界はどこまで青空なのか?) single, which was released in December 2017. As a song, it’s a return to Showa Era Kayo Kyoku in great style, and I even enjoy Rika Nakai's awkward squeaky vocals backed by the Latin beat, a wailing guitar, dramatic strings and LOS INDIOS’ harmonies. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t work properly, but its audacity makes up for all the bad things. It vaguely reminds me “Kudokinagara Azabu Juuban” (口説きながら麻布十番), a song released by the extinct SDN48 with Mino Monta (みの もんた) back in 2011.

The “Sekai wa Doko Made Aozora na no ka?” single reached #2 on the Oricon chart, selling 148,442 copies in the first week. Lyrics for the song were written by Yasushi Akimoto (秋元康), while music was composed by Kensuke Toyoda (豊田健甫). As for the arrangement, Makoto Wakatabe (若田部誠) was the responsible.

Source: generasia.com

Michie Tomizawa -- White Christmas

Well, since I did mention her in passing in the last article, and I'm sure at least some of you went "HUH?!" when you read about her in that article, I think my last J-Xmas article for this season can be on this lady.

Seiyuu Michie Tomizawa（富沢美智恵）, aka the snarky Rei Hino/Sailor Mars from the original TV Asahi anime "Sailor Moon"（セーラームーン）, performed her own sweet version of "White Christmas" as a contribution to the Xmas album "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Christmas For You"（美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS Christmas For You）in December 1995. The arrangement, notably the strings, is such that it actually sounds like it could mesh in well with the original background music of the series.

Although sailormusic.net mentions that this particular album is out of print, I think Amazon Japan has scrounged up a few copies here and there. After all, for fans, it just wouldn't be a Christmas if it isn't a Sailor Christmas.

Chris Hart/Chemistry/BENI/Kick The Can Crew/Beat Ratio -- Christmas Eve（クリスマスイブ）

Happy Christmas to all of you this day...or perhaps it's more like Happy Boxing Day or simply sympathies for your massive hangover.

The movie "White Christmas" (1954) has once again made its annual appearance on TV here. It's one of the favourites of the season in my household. But of course, the song itself is one of the most famous Xmas tunes in existence and therefore has been covered by just about everyone ranging from Barbra Streisand to Sailor Mars.

Five years ago, one of the first J-Xmas tunes I wrote about here on the blog was Japan's equivalent of "White Christmas", "Christmas Eve" by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）. It has also been covered a number of times by various artists in both English and Japanese. Ah, yes, I know the above is a parody of the famous JR commercial featuring the song.

The first cover of "Christmas Eve" that I had ever heard was the rap version by hip-hop group Kick The Can Crew when they released their "Christmas Eve Rap" as their 4th single in November 2001. Peaking at No. 5 on Oricon, it sold approximately 400,000 copies. The band never placed it in an original album since it was a seasonal song but it is a track on their "Best Album 2001~2003" from November 2003. That album hit No. 1 and became the 44th-ranked album for 2004.

Several years later in 2008, the R&B duo Chemistry crooned their own take on the song through their album of ballads called "Winter of Love". The album came out in November and hit No. 7 on the charts.

Okinawan singer BENI then gave the English version of "Christmas Eve" a whirl on her own album of covers titled "COVERS:2" from November 2012. It peaked at No. 5.

Exactly 2 years later, Chris Hart sang his rendition of the Yamashita classic in his Xmas album "Christmas Hearts" which peaked at No. 8. Out of the versions mentioned so far, I think I like Hart's cover the best.

Yesterday on Xmas Eve, I received a friendly greeting from a fellow by the name of Beat Ratio from Australia who also shares my affinity for City Pop and 1980s Japan in general. He's been interested in breaking into the music industry and heading to Japan so he showed me his self-made video and cover of "Christmas Eve". I asked him if I could upload it here and he was very gracious in allowing me to do so.

Also if he is interested, I would also like to ask Beat Ratio why he wanted to cover this particular song by Yamashita. In any case, it's just another 364 days before Xmas Eve again.

My Kinda Town, Asakusa Is!

Ought to be slapping myself upside the back of my head like the Gibbs Slap since I totally omitted this part of my visit to Tokyo last month. I got my reminder after just reading about Noelle's own return to Asakusa.

As with Noelle, my visit to Asakusa was a homecoming of sorts since between 1995 and 1997, that was where I used to work as an English teacher at the local branch of NOVA, on the 3rd floor over the neighbourhood KFC (on Xmas Day, I could work and have my special dinner all in the same building!) just across from Asakusa Station.

It was good seeing the old streets again filled with a whole lot of overseas and Japanese tourists.

Again, my friend Danny and I were exploring the area. One of my old friends from Tokyo suggested that I try a place called Asakusa Menchi（浅草メンチ） which served small versions of menchikatsu, which is a deep-fried loose hamburger (the ultimate comfort food). So we dropped by and ordered one for 200 yen each. Once again, my friend was spot-on. Asakusa Menchi is just a stand so we just ate standing in front of the place, and it looks like our presence didn't go unnoticed by some other tourists so they started to take interest and buying some of the mini-menchi. Hey, anything to help a small business make some income, eh?

Of course, a visit to Sensoji Temple was a requirement.

Of course, as has been the nature of Tokyo as a whole especially in the last three years, there have been some changes. A huge Richmond Hotel has been plunked down into Asakusa, and then there has been the rise of a massive Don Quixote (think a Dollarama on acid) at one edge of the neighbourhood. It was about as glitzy as Las Vegas but then again, it would be difficult to imagine buying some of those special Japan-only bags of Kit Kat in a casino.

When it comes to Asakusa, though, I can think of one song that is about the area, "Asakusa Shimai"（浅草姉妹）by the Komadori Shimai（こまどり姉妹）.

Masayuki Suzuki -- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Well, we're less than 24 hours away from Xmas here. But of course, in Japan, it's already the 25th so Merry Xmas to my old friends over there.

As I was mentioning yesterday, I was wondering whether Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）had ever come out with his own Xmas single. I did encounter this YouTube video by uploader ayatin M of Martin giving his distinctively Martinesque spin on a Xmas classic "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", otherwise known in Japan as "Mama ga Santa ni Kiss Shita"（ママがサンタにキッスした）.

According to ayatin M, it was most likely one of the 2011 episodes and sure enough I was able to find out through J-Wiki that the song was included on his second album of cover songs "DISCOVER JAPAN" from September of that year that got as high as No. 18 on Oricon. The Japanese lyrics were provided by Kenji Sazanami（漣健児）, the pen name of the former chairman of Shinko Music Entertainment Shoichi Kusano（草野昌一）.

Of course, having that snarky streak inside me, every time I've heard the title or the song, my response has often been "I Later Saw Daddy Assaulting Santa Claus". Anyways, to all of the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" readers everywhere, have a Merry Christmas!

Marubell Bromides

Asakusa has always been my favourite destination from the first time I visited it a decade ago. Ever since then, I would always make a trip there whenever we were in Tokyo, and this time was no exception.

It's an old part of town, but somehow, the 10 year-old me took to the comfortable air there and found the giant red gate that is Sensoji Kaminarimon a wonder - perhaps I just found the giant straw slipper amusing, I don't know. As the years progressed and I became the nutso kayo fan that I am now, Asakusa became more than just a place to reminisce good memories, watch daredevil pigeons brave the onslaught of feet in attempts to find crumbs on the stone pavements, and have a choco-banana from one of those pop-up stands by the temple. It became the place I knew with a guaranteed stash of most things related to the old(er) Japanese music industry. That only made me love that place more than I already did.

Besides Miyada Records and Asakusa Star Plaza that had been checked off my list last year and revisited this year, there were a couple more places I had yet to check out during my Asakusa conquest. One being the fabled record shop Oto no Yorodo (音のヨーロー堂), and the other being Marubell-do (マルベル堂), the one-stop-shop for bromides or promides, the latter being described as finished photographs in the Wikipedia page, of popular celebrities from the bygone era. Both pronunciations refer to the same thing now, apparently. And the types of celebrities include singers, actors, theater actors, sports heroes, and even geishas and rakugo talents. From the title, I will be focusing on Marubell-do in this article.

Disclaimer: I'd be lying if I say that there won't be at least some fan-girling involved in the following bit. So, you have been warned.

I first heard of Marubell-do - well, more like its products - quite a long time ago, even before getting to know about enka, while watching this pet variety show I only know as "Pochi & Tama". In one segment hosted by this overly excited host and his overly excited Labrador, Daisuke, Asakusa was featured. Along with an old kabuki theater, the next area of interest that mildly caught my attention at the time was this outlet selling old photographs of every celebrity under the sun.

I kept this information at the back of my head last year as somewhere new to explore, but because of my hunt for Miyada Records, I never took the time to sniff it out. But when it came to this year, I stumbled upon a website that sold something similar before the trip. Long story short, I discovered that this online shop and the Pochi-Tama-featured shop, which I later learnt was called Marubell-do, were the same thing, and that it wasn't too far away from Miyada and the Star Plaza - just a block away (to the left if you're facing Kaminarimon) from the main Nakamise Shopping Street and not far from the Asakusa train station.

With that settled, and after perusing Marubell's site to check out what they had in stock, and being absolutely *ahem* shook over my finds, I made a list of what I hoped to get:

- 5 of Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎)
- 2 of Haruo Minami (三波春夫)
- 1 of Hideo Murata (村田英雄)
- 1 of Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也)
- 1-2 of Yoshio Tabata (田端義夫)

As you can already guess from the pattern, I intended to get the Yonin Shu set. And then depending on my mood, I might've gone for a Wakadaisho or Yujiro too.

When I was finally at Marubell-do, the first thing that struck me was how tiny it was. It was literally just a hole in the wall with half a flight of stairs up to the cashier, and an underground den where most of the goods were hidden. All the walls were covered from top to bottom in bromides, a good number of which were familiar faces.

The stuff I was searching for were in the aforementioned den that could probably fit a maximum of only 9 people at a time. I needed a little assistance at first to get myself oriented with the surroundings and to get my hands on my main priority, but I soon got to know its system of the portraits being stuffed in phonetically arranged boxes. There was this middle-aged lady doing her own bromide shopping who found it amusing to see me holding the stack of Kasuga bromides while asking for Mihashi's. No, ma'am, they ain't for grandma.

As I soon noticed, it seemed like the online stock and in-house stock were different as there were fewer Hachi bromides than I expected, and there weren't the ones I planned to get. But, no matter, as you might've seen in my Top 12 list for him, I managed to find some that were close to my expectations: one taken around the mid-60's, and four cute ones from the 50's. It was when choosing the pictures that a question I never thought would ever cross my mind popped into my head, "Which one is better: Hawaiian Hachi, Madorosu Hachi, or Matatabi Hachi?" I went with madorosu with the reason being that he sang more of the madorosu style of songs rather than matatabi. The Hawaiian one was, well, cute, plain and simple. The photo on the extreme left gave me Teruhiko Saigo (西郷輝彦) vibes - it's the eyebrows - but I was fine with it. And the one next to it... that was the best of the lot with that dreamy look (I warned you).

There were also fewer Minami ones than that projected on the site (400+!). From documentaries, I became aware that he was very much more charming in his younger days, and these photos only magnified that, especially in those like the one above. He was elegant in a kimono, but he was just as spiffy in western wear.

Here's the venerable 4. I was considering whether to get one of Muchi's portraits with him in a suit because one doesn't see that all that often, but I was good with this one where he wore a black (?) kimono. And this bromide of Michi was the most apt with him in a kimono and holding a shamisen - matched the theme of the other 3 too. He looked rather odd in the others, so I kept to my target.

Next was getting one of Batayan's. It was a simple decision: Get the one that looks most Batayan. In other words, one with him and his trusty guitar, which I did. Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to not just have the Yonin Shu on display, but have the Sengou Sanba Garasu too?" And that's why Haruo Oka (岡晴夫) and Toshiro Omi (近江俊郎) are present. If only Oka had a guitar, or maybe even an accordion.

In the end, I left Marubell-do satisfied with 12 bromides that served as my birthday present... Hmm, I just realised how awfully spot on that number is, considering that day's date and occasion. Well, but that's not very important. Since I was talking about Asakusa, I'd like to round up the article with one of the very few songs I know that are specific to my favourite place in Tokyo, "Asakusa Nagashi" (浅草ながし). It's got a retro feel that fits this old part of town nicely, so it would do.

Over at my corner of the globe, it's the day already, but not yet in the other half. Either way, I'll take this chance to wish you guys a Merry Christmas!