Yuuki Hide, Kotaro Asa and Singers Three -- Hitachi no Ki（日立の樹）

If memory serves me correctly, our family's very first rice cooker was from Hitachi. I still remember what it looked like: white exterior with black lid. My love of rice (which I have almost daily) is thanks to this vital appliance.

Now, there has been that certain type of commercial that I've been watching on CNN and other American channels over the past few years. You've all probably seen it involving a medicine which touts some amazing new help when the ad starts showing happy and healing folks enjoying a baseball game or a BBQ. Then the announcer suddenly quickens his delivery and blurts out all of the potential side effects (including DEATH) as Dad is grilling his ribs.

Well, when I was in Japan watching the tube, there was also a certain type of commercial that came on which had a sponsoring company for a program devote a minute or so to the nation's many subsidiaries for that company while a cheerful song plays in the background and there is some soothing nature scene. Hitachi was one such company and it had its own super-genki tune to play during its commercials.

Titled "Hitachi no Ki" (The Hitachi Tree), it's a friendly and folksy number that has had various singers and choruses perform it over the decades since its first appearance in 1973. Asei Kobayashi（小林亜星）was responsible for the down-home melody while Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）took care of the lyrics. Apparently, Kobayashi introduced Ito as the lyricist to Hitachi while the commercial was being made up, and while the lyricist was being shown illustrations of a non-descript tree to be used, he understandably asked "What kind of tree is it?". After getting a lot of "I dunno" and "I have no idea" from the staff, Ito was then inspired to write his lyrics with the singer happily wondering aloud about what kind of tree the Hitachi tree was. Not surprisingly, the alternate title for the song has been "Kono Ki Nanno Ki"（この木なんの木...What Kind of Tree Is This Tree?）.

While the first commercial aired for the first couple of years just had an animated tree forming while "Hitachi no Ki" was being played, the second version settled on a grand Albizia saman or rain tree located on Oahu in the state of Hawaii. In Japanese, the tree is known as a monkey pod which sounds a bit more imaginative. And reading through the J-Wiki article for the song, I found out that it has been an attraction for Japanese tourists over the years. In fact, I think the article reported that Hitachi itself has been helping out in its maintenance. Although for a few years in the early 1980s, it was switched to a mango tree on Hawaii Island, a banyan in Singapore and then some tree in California, due to popular demand, the rain tree came back and has stayed so since 1984.

The first six versions of "Hitachi no Ki" were performed by a collaboration among anime/tokusatsu singer Yuuki Hide（ヒデ夕木）, singer/seiyuu Kotaro Asa（朝コータロー）and the female vocal group Singers Three（シンガーズ・スリー）. Since the song's introduction, it has also been used in any events where Hitachi is participating, and it is played every day at noon at Osaka's famous Tsutenkaku Tower（通天閣）since the company advertises there. The J-League soccer team Kashiwa Reysols' supporters often sing (or at least clap vigorously to) "Hitachi no Ki" before games since Hitachi is a major sponsor for the team.

(check from 2:12)

Gokudols Niji-gumi -- Gokudol Music（ゴクドルミュージック）

Well, the Spring 2018 anime season has given way to Summer 2018. It was basically another good outing of shows that my friend and I have seen. "Hinamatsuri"（ヒナまつり）was weird and hilarious, "Hisone & Masotan"（ひそねとまそたん）was great up until the somewhat underwhelming final episode although its opening and ending theme songs are still epic and fun respectively, "Last Period" （ラストピリオド）seemed to be petering out, and the second go at "Amanchu"（あまんちゅ!）was as soothing as ever and is having me think about returning to Ito again.

The new anime from Summer 2018 that I was introduced to yesterday seem to be quite ambitious and/or absolutely nuts. "Island" is flitting between comedy and mystery, "Uchuu Senkan Tiramisu" is plain insane, "Sunohara-Sō no Kanrinin-san" has immediately come out as a harem show, and "Banana Fish" is an anime that seems to want to become an HBO live-action suspense. Ah, I almost forgot to mention "Baki" which could make "Fist of the North Star" resemble a quaint tea party in terms of the violence.

Then, there is "Back Street Girls ~ Gokudols"（ゴクドルズ）which has come out of left field....if left field were elongated as far north as Baffin Island. For the second season in a row, along with "Hinamatsuri", we have an anime that has the yakuza world turned up on its head due to a fantastically deranged plot point. Imagine three tough-guy hoodlums who have run afoul of their oyabun and his demand as punishment/wish as fantasy fulfillment is for them to be completely remade (via a doctor in Thailand [message to Doc: 👍]) into cute and majorly successful female aidorus. Truly only in Japan. In this situation, I guess it wasn't their pinkies that got cut off.

When I first heard the title, I had been expecting (dreading?) a female version of the Backstreet Boys, but then I was completely bewildered by the opening credits until everything was explained in the first five minutes. Plus, I read on the J-Wiki article that the remarkable silhouetted chromakey-esque dancing of the three girls had all been performed by the same person: director Chiaki Kon（今千秋）under different wigs. Now, that is dedication!

However, it is indeed the three seiyuu behind the gangsters-turned-idols Airi Yamamoto（山本アイリ）, Mari Tachibana（立花マリ）and Chika Sugihara（杉原チカ）, Yuka Nukui（貫井柚佳）, Kaori Maeda（前田佳織里）and Hikaru Akao（赤尾ひかる）taking care of the opening theme song "Gokudol Music" under the group name of Gokudols Niji-gumi（ゴクドルズ虹組...Gokudols Rainbow Gang）. That first word is a riff on gokudou（極道）which refers to "organized crime", "evil" or "villain".

It is syrupy and skippy, just like a lot of aidoru music, that starts off with the familiar yakuza trumpet fanfare before things change from scars and dark sunglasses to adorable flowers and bright Benetton colours. And the amazing thing is that "Gokudol Music" was written and composed by Masayoshi Oishi（大石昌良）, the same amiable fellow who came up with "Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai"（君じゃなきゃダメみたい）, the happy and folksy opening theme for the legendary "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）. I am still waiting for the sequel.

For a movie-and-TV genre that I would normally avoid like the plague, it's been a second hilarious hit in a row with these yakuza/insane comedy hybrids.

Hachiro Kasuga -- Onna no Koiji (女の恋路)

... ... It's quite terrible of me to say this, but I can't help but laugh/snicker/smile whenever I see the cover of Hachiro Kasuga's (春日八郎) 20th anniversary album "Nekketsu no Utagoe" (熱血の歌声). It actually doesn't look bad from afar (as in this photo I took), but when viewed up close it's probably the derpiest picture I have of him. I distinctly remember seeing a nice photo of him in the same pose and outfit somewhere that had him grinning naturally, at which time I wondered why the record company/Hachi himself hadn't used that and chose what we see here today as the cover shot. But, well, that's just me.

Griping about pictures aside, I managed to find and purchase "Nekketsu no Utagoe" when my hunt for records brought me to this really nice store called Fuji Records (富士レコード) in Tokyo's used bookstore haven, Jimbocho (神保町). Believe me, I felt like a kid in a candy store that evening and had a jolly good time sifting through their neat and well-stocked ancient enka/ryukoka section. I'd never seen so many Hachi albums before, and all sorts caught my eye and threatened to break my loosely estimated budget, but what made me choose "Nekketsu no Utagoe" in particular despite it not having the most glamorous of covers was that I knew that its tunes weren't what I usually heard from Kasuga. Via the mori kei YouTube channel, I was introduced to a few of the "Nekketsu no Utagoe" songs, and they struck me as modern sounding kayo and enka for its time in 1972. I wanted to explore more of what it had to offer, especially since some of what I had heard prior agreed with me, so I decided to take it with me... along with 4 other records from him. I had a lean dinner that night, but it was worth it.

When I got home, I gave all my records a good listen, and "Nekketsu no Utagoe" did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and my favourite out of the 12 songs has to be the last track on side 1 of the vinyl, "Onna no Koiji".

As with most of the tracks, "Onna no Koiji" sounds mostly pop-oriented with a touch of enka, and I absolutely love Nobuyuki Sakuradai's (桜庭伸幸) beautiful composition for its smooth, soaring strings and chirpy flute. And, of course, I really enjoy how Hachi's vocals fluctuate from low and gritty to high and delicate here. Personally, I feel that Kasuga sounded best when he sang songs like this as it explores more of his vocal range than in the regular enka classics he's known for.

Minoru Shimai (島井実) was responsible for the words, and they center on a woman and her journey to find love. Lyrics-wise, it almost reminds me of a matatabi enka song since we have a solitary main character travelling throughout the country, although our heroine here has an objective in mind rather than just simply wandering around aimlessly like a typical ronin.

On an ending note, I have to thank mori kei for uploading the "Onna no Koiji" video. I had requested for it on a video featuring another tune from "Nekketsu no Utagoe" just yesterday, and less than an hour later the person replied stating that he/she likes the song too and had just posted it. I'm impressed and grateful.

Hachi was thicc.

Minako Honda -- Ribbon Hodokenai（リボンがほどけない）

Minako Honda（本田美奈子）would have been 51 years old at the end of this month, but her fans will later be remembering about her in November on the 13th anniversary of her death due to cancer. It's hard to imagine that it's been this long since she passed away much too early.

I mentioned that seeing that live performance of "1986 no Marilyn"（1986年のマリリン）on one of the rankings shows left a very bad taste in my mouth when it came to Honda as a singer...fairly or unfairly. However, as the years passed, and she made that transition to stage actress and singer...well, let's say that she made huge strides from her aidoru days.

But then, my jaw dropped last night when I heard this song by Honda which came straight from her second album "LIPS" (June 1986). If I had actually let my ears listen to "Ribbon Hodokenai" (Can't Untie The Ribbon) instead of the more notorious "1986 no Marilyn", which was a fellow track albeit as a new version, I probably would have had a far more different first impression.

Furthermore, the song was created by the same tandem behind "1986 no Marilyn", lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. "Ribbon Hodokenai" is a cool, urban and urbane number of style about the sad diminishing of love over successive birthdays. It's a song that I would have expected to have seen more in the corner of someone like Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki（鈴木雅之）or Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）. The other amazing thing is that Honda sounds great here as if that later career voice had already started showing up. I will have to check out some of the other tracks on "LIPS" but if the results are more on the "Ribbon Hodokenai" side than on the "1986 no Marilyn" side, then I could be persuaded to part with my yen. As it was, the album peaked at No. 3.

Daisaku Ogata -- Mushaku Ryojou（無錫旅情）

Wow! This is a fellow that I haven't heard from in years. When we were still renting out VHS tapes from Nippon Video, our family used to see this young strapping lad, Daisaku Ogata（尾形大作）, belt out the enka tunes.

Ogata was born Hiroyuki Matsuo（松尾浩之）in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1963. He made his debut back in 1981 with "Shiawase Namida Iro"（倖せ なみだ色...The Colour of Happy Tears）, but it wasn't until his 6th single in September 1986 that he got that first huge hit with "Mushaku Ryojou". Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）was responsible for both words and music, and the lyrics are about traveling through the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province in China.

Now, if I were to translate the title directly, it would come out as "My Mood While Traveling Through Wuxi". For me, that sounds pretty wordy so I've decided to go with "Memories of Wuxi"; has more of that romantic feeling.

But that's ironic since Nakayama's lyrics talk of a man fleeing to China to forget about a romance gone bad. As soon as I heard Ogata sing, I was rather reminded of Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）classic "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）from a decade earlier in that Ishikawa's protagonist is also traveling to a far-flung place outside of Tokyo to forget about love for a while. Broken hearts and traveling are a common theme in enka tunes, but I guess for the guys, there's a need to get out of the country proper.

Another observation is on hearing the piercing heroic trumpets and Ogata's delivery of "Mushaku Ryojou", I rather thought about Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）manly-man discography. His J-Wiki file doesn't mention any deshi relationship with a master, so currently not sure whether Ogata ever trained under Sabu-chan. Appearance-wise, he has that short hair and the really arched eyebrows.

"Mushaku Ryojou" was a mega-hit for Ogata. It hit No. 9 on the Oricon dailies and won a Gold prize at the Japan Record Awards. The singer also got onto the 1987 Kohaku Utagassen on the strength of his most famous song for the first of two consecutive appearances. By the end of the year, it actually became the 8th-ranked single for 1987 and then the 50th-ranked single for 1988, selling over 1.3 million copies.

His last single came out in December 2009, and he has been indulging his other hobby of motocross racing. Currently, he is enjoying life with his wife and daughter in Fukuoka.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu -- Family Party（ファミリーパーティー）

Last Friday, I watched an NHK profile on the essayist and illustrator Rune Naito（内藤ルネ）who had also been known as the pioneer for the whole kawaii aspect of Japanese pop culture. The documentary showed the man in a rather tragic light as he dealt with his homosexuality in a society that at best showed (and often still shows) gay people as comical oddities, while also having to deal with the lessening popularity of his works which had once been the talk of the town as his health started failing. In the years since his death, though, the value and appreciation of his creations such as the Runepanda have grown again.

In one of the videos at the very top, there was a photo of a number of ladies holding some of the art by Naito. One of them was singer/fashion diva Kiriko Takemura（竹村桐子）, aka Kyary Pamyu Pamyu（きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ）, and seeing those old drawings of young ladies with those bee-stung lips and bouffant hairdos, I wondered whether Ms. Takemura had modeled her alter ego on them.

I've also come across this music video for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's 9th major single, "Family Party" from June 2014. Sounding like a visit to a very cheerful video game by Atari in the early 1980s and looking like a view of a cute battle between Kyary and a robot on the galaxy's cutest planet (maybe Thor should have ended up there), "Family Party" seems to be about trekking forward despite the challenges ahead. Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）took care of words and music.

To be honest, not being a dedicated KPP fan, I think the author for this blog "Super Happy Awesome" has provided better commentary vis-a-vis "Family Party". The song was also the ending theme for the anime movie "Crayon Shin-chan: Gachinko! Gyakushu no Robo To-chan"（クレヨンしんちゃん ガチンコ!逆襲のロボとーちゃん...Crayon Shin-chan: Intense Battle! Robo Dad Strikes Back）.

I was never particularly a fan of "Crayon Shin-chan" either but I've known about the yam-headed boy with the slight resemblance in personality to Bart Simpson. Reading the plot for this movie, finding out about Shin-chan's father being converted into a robot had me automatically reminded of Bill's conversion into a Cyberman in the last few episodes of the past season of "Doctor Who". However, I've got the feeling that the story in the "Crayon Shin-chan" movie was far less sinister.

Anyways, "Family Party" was one of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's biggest hits by reaching No. 2 on Oricon, and earning the singer an Award of Excellence at the Japan Record Awards. The song also belonged to her third studio album "Pika Pika Fantajin"（ピカピカふぁんたじん...Sparkling Fantasy Person）from July 2014. It hit the top spot on the album charts and went Gold.

Hana*Hana -- Aah, Yokatta（あ〜よかった）

Dug deep into my memories of the turn of the century for this one. Yes, I was living in Ichikawa and there were a number of songs that had their time in the spotlight for a while before disappearing into the pages of a karaoke guide book only to be later re-discovered by some pleasantly surprised amateur singers.

Case in point: one of those songs is "Aah, Yokatta" by Hana*Hana（花*花）. Hyogo Prefecture's Izumi Kojima and Makiko Ono（こじまいづみ・おのまきこ）, who have known each other since elementary school, formed the duo in 1998, and they had their indies period in which they released 6 singles between 1998 and 1999. That 5th single was "Aah, Yokatta" which went as high as No. 91 on Oricon.

Once they got their major label, though, Hana*Hana decided to debut with "Aah, Yokatta" with the added "Setagaya Mix" in July 2000. I don't know what the original version sounded like so I can't make comparisons but the "Setagaya Mix" sounds plenty happy with that slow strutting beat. I can even hear a bit of Motown in there.

As for the translation of the title, there are a number of ways that "Aah, Yokatta" could be expressed such as "Oh, What A Relief" or "Oh, What A Stroke of Luck" or "Oh, I'm So Happy". But considering that the lyrics and melody by main vocalist Kojima are about how happy she is that her significant other has been by her side through thick and thin, I would probably go with that last option. Certainly, I think "Aah, Yokatta" would be one of those songs that would be played at a Japanese wedding reception.

The really modest showing on Oricon for the original version wasn't copied by the "Setagaya Mix". In fact, it broke into the Top 10 by peaking at No. 5, selling over half a million copies. In addition, it also ended the year by finishing as the 57th-ranked single, plus the duo received that invitation from NHK to the year-end Kohaku Utagassen in 2000.