Momoe Yamaguchi -- Jealousy（ジェラシー）

There seems to be an underlying sub-genre when it comes to kayo kyoku that perhaps transcends the various Japanese music genres. Songwriters sometimes love to explore the theme of that emotion known as jealousy. The actual word has been used in titles and has imbued itself into the lyrics. I think that the frequency of jealousy is even higher in Japanese pop music than in the American variety. I'm obviously no expert in Japanese psychology or sociology but perhaps I can posit that there is a certain allure to the more devilish side of love in a society which doesn't tend to wear its heart on its collective sleeve as a general rule but seems to have an affinity for truly melodramatic stuff on TV and in music as well.

So it is here that I introduce "Jealousy" by Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）. I've pretty much covered all or almost all of the legendary 70s aidoru's major songs, so it's always nice when I can make a new discovery when it comes to her.

"Jealousy" is a track on Yamaguchi's 16th album, "Manjuu Shaka"（曼珠沙華）from December 1978. I've never bought the album but I get the impression that this one has quite a good variety in it since it has the atmospheric title track and one of her truly famous hits, the wistful-with-a-capital-W "Ii Hi Tabidachi"（いい日旅立ち）. "Jealousy", though, stands out because it firmly takes the singer into the City Pop realm right from the intro and has her make some shoutouts to a couple of the fun areas of Tokyo, Harajuku and Omotesando.

And when I compare the songs from her special 18th album "LA Blue", which was her exploring more of the American AOR beat, "Jealousy" sounds like a truly Japanese tune which takes place in the city with that arrangement of strings, thumpy bass, that certain keyboard at the end and plucky electric guitar. It's starting to grow on me with each listen but I can understand why it didn't get placed as a single in its own right since it keeps that unspecial steady pace all throughout its 4 minutes-and-change without making any big jumps. As well, perhaps that syncopated delivery by Momoe may have polarized her fans, but I think it's pretty interesting, and I'm beginning to think that maybe it represents that state of mind of that jealous woman who seems to spend her times in cafes in Harajuku and Omotesando while struggling to keep that green-eyed monster at bay when she spots a happy couple. At the very least, that singing could represent her well-manicured nails rhythmically tapping on the table. Finally, the beat got me humming the song!

Katsumi Usami（うさみかつみ）wrote the lyrics while Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）composed the music for this musical study in jealousy. As for the album, "Manjuu Shaka" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon. The songwriters were not Yoko Aki and Ryudo Ozaki（阿木燿子・宇崎竜童）, who took care of Yamaguchi's more blistering works in the latter half of her career, but I think Usami and Hagita kept the singer on that path of seen-it-all, done-it-all weariness and hidden fury.

Omotesando

Japan Top 10 Podcast

Hello, J-Canuck here! For the past 6 years, a number of collaborators and commenters and myself have been providing Japanese pop music and our own thoughts about it through "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and I think it's been a good time for all involved.

Well, a couple of days ago, I received a message from Jack Shi, general manager of a program called "Japan Top 10" which has been providing podcasts on the same sort of thing we have written and talked about here on the blog (70s/80s Japanese music, current hits and enka, etc.). And another wonderful thing is that Jack and the show are also based in my neck of the woods in the Greater Toronto Area.

Jack actually asked me for a favour, though, and I thought it best to have him make the plea himself:

YES we are CANADIAN and based in the Greater Toronto Area! We are a federally registered non-profit organization in Canada and all our team members are volunteers. However, our team members are actually quite varied in terms of where they are based from. Most of them are in the states, but we have a few in Asia including Japan. Since all the work is done online, we do not require our staff members to be based in the GTA; they can be literally be from anywhere in the world. The majority of our board of directors, are based in the GTA, thus we do try to keep somewhat of a Canadian presence.

Our mission statement is: To educate, entertain and enhance the public’s engagement with Japanese and Korean music culture. 
Our vision statement is: We envision a podcast that listeners can learn, enjoy and interact with, and in turn, lead to an enhancement of the Japanese and Korean music industry. 
Our core values are: We believe the power and future of digital radio broadcasting is in podcasting. We strive to be acclaimed at educating and entertaining listeners in Japanese and Korean music culture. We cater our podcast to the feedback and needs of listeners. We believe in the development of the Japanese and Korean music industry through digital media broadcasting.

Our podcast, Japan Top 10 is all about educational Japanese music discovery. Although we do have a focus on the top 10 songs in Japan (hence our title) and a general focus towards featuring J-Pop tracks, we also feature varied Japanese music themes, spanning from 80's city pop to Visual Kei. Our main product, which is the top 10 countdown, is released generally on a bi-weekly basis. We also have 3 other themes in our episodes, including artist of the month episode (released once a month, we feature an artist/band + their music), top 50 countdown (released twice a year, one with a special theme while the other is the top 50 songs of the year) and specially themed episodes (released once a month, ranging from a wide variety of Japanese music themes). While letting our listeners hear the tracks, we do have a strong educational & commentary based where our hosts provide a detailed information about each track featured on our show. On our website, we do monthly song reviews where our staff members provide their written comments about new J-Pop music releases.

Right now, we are in the need to look for new volunteers to assist with on-air hosting, audio editing, content production (scripting) and some other non-front line positions (though our aim right now is to get those front-line positions filled). To apply, they will need to go to this website: https://mymti.org/current-openings/. That link will also detail about what we expect from our volunteers and the process they will need to undergo in order to join our organization. 

To learn more about our podcast, visit https://jtop10.mymti.org/ and to learn about our organization, we can be found at https://mymti.org/. To listen to us,

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/japan-top-10-ri-bennotoppu10/id1065197068?l=en&mt=2 

TuneIn Radio: http://tunein.com/radio/Japan-Top-10-p613114/ 

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/I6ey6crei36qwqgw55uodgkj2ou?t=Japan_Top_10_10_JPOP_HITS

iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-Japan-Top-10-JPOP-H-29238024

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4uC9BEyB44R8utpwa7rD5v?si=hyqiBWxrTZaPw58VPg7OhQ

Thanks very much, Jack! So for any readers, commenters and collaborators who would be interested in volunteering and perhaps even provide a literal voice about the music that we all love here, please feel free to contact Jack and the folks at "Japan Top 10" at the relevant links above. As he said, you don't have to be anywhere near the Toronto area to help out...something that I could certainly agree with, since we have had contributors chiming in from Brazil, Singapore, Portugal, Hawaii, etc.

Anyways, continued success to the folks at MTI!

Nanamusica -- Ame Nochi Hare（アメノチハレ）

In the years of doing this blog, I've written about the hit makers and those who haven't quite made it under the bright lights of fame but really have a nice story to tell through their music.

For me, the duo of Nanamusica（ナナムジカ）fits somewhere in the middle. Although I never got to know them during my time in Japan, they have had some success via Oricon, and I've been enjoying this one song by them called "Ame Nochi Hare". Now, an interesting about the translation. Knowing my way around weather in Japanese, when I saw the title, I immediately translated it as "Rain Then Sunny" but then when I threw in the plain hiragana into the Google translation machine, it came out as "Tears" for some reason. I think either translation could fit the lyrics of the song.

Speaking of the lyrics, both them and the music were provided by 243. The music is something that I like because it does sound so soothing and introspective with a beat...kinda like being in a comfy rocking chair by the window. Plus, the lyrics are encouraging ones about how it's often the darkest before the dawn and how one person wants to bring his or her friend up from the depths. Kozue Nishijima（西島梢）, the main vocalist, and Yuri Matsufuji（松藤由里）, on piano and chorus, bring a gentle and folksy harmony.

"Ame Nochi Hare" was a track on Nanamusica's sole album from April 2006, "Yubana"（ユバナ...Flowers of Sulfur）which peaked at No. 17 on Oricon. During their time together between 2005 and 2007, the duo also produced 6 singles. Nishijima is currently following a solo career, under the name Kozue（梢）.

Yurie Kokubu -- STEPS

Well, it took me long enough after having read nikala's fine article on the cool and snazzy "I Wanna Be With You" back in 2015, but I finally got Yurie Kokubu's（国分友里恵）2nd album "STEPS" from 1987. It was because that I revisited that article and song, and the amazing cover that nikala had also referred to, that finally got me to happily part with my yen. I guess it could be my interest in the old film noir that had me drawn to that cover of "STEPS": those exposed gams, the man in black with a lamp or lighter and that bleak but beautiful landscape. Last but not least, I really like the font for the title itself.

"I Wanna Be With You" was the second track, but it's "I Got You Inside Out" that launches things for the album, and as nikala mentions in her article, there's quite a bit more oomph when compared to Kokubu's debut effort, "Relief ~ 72 Hours" (1983). I did say in that article that the singer-songwriter was celebrating her party girl days with that one, but listening to "STEPS", it sounds as if she apparently decided to take her party to Los Angeles for a weekend. "I Got You Inside Out" fires off a pretty big missile in that respect. Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）took care of words and music and had a hand in all of the songs on the original version of the album back in 1987.

Track 3 is "Cosmic Love" whose amazing keyboards (including that hyper piano) were handled by Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）. I think I mentioned this in a past Kokubu article, but Iwamoto also happens to be the singer's husband, and he was responsible for the arrangements of the tracks in the original "STEPS". It's a great urban contemporary number that would have happily accompanied any aerobics class back then. "Cosmic Love" is another example of how Kokubu kept things within the City Pop/R&B department from "Relief" but took it higher onto the dance floor.

"In Your Eyes" is reminiscent of all of those power love ballads that I heard from acts like Chicago and Whitney Houston back on the radio in my high school/university days. Another Haba creation, this is the song where folks will come out on the floor for the slow dance or just relax on the sofas for a while. I did far more of the latter than I did of the former. Being a nerd helped.

Kokubu wrote the lyrics for "Margarita" to go with Haba's melody here. The track stuck out for me since with that title, I had been expecting something beachside in LA or beachside in Rio, but actually "Margarita" is referring to a young lady who seems to need a bit of help in the love department. I'm not sure but there is something distinctly TOTO-ish about this one especially with that opening piano by Iwamoto. I also enjoy that echoing effect in the refrain.

I keep referring to the original form of "STEPS", and that is because the album that I got has come up with a couple of extra tracks, namely the A and B sides for Kokubu's 1986 single "Nagareru Mama ni~Rakka Ryusui"（流れるままに～落花流水～...As It Flows - Mutual Love）. The B-side "Refrain"（リフレイン）is a song that I've already covered on the blog, so here is "Nagareru Mama" which, like its title, flows like a romantically slow river. Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）took care of the music and arrangement, and with that slightly melancholy feeling thanks to the strings and flugelhorn, it does feel like a Hayashi-made ballad, and is quite different from the original tracks on "STEPS" and even its B-side (yet Hayashi took care of the funky music while Yasushi Akimoto wrote the lyrics). Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）provided the lyrics. The ballad was actually the theme song for a 1986 mystery film starring Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）titled "Kizu Darake no Kunshou"（傷だらけの勲章...Scarred Medal）, about a detective investigating the assassination of a company president in Egypt.

Some fine evolution in the music of Yurie Kokubu. And unlike that cover, this isn't a moody or atmospheric album, but it is packed with lots of fun and nostalgic dance pop from the 1980s.

Alphabet's -- BABY BABY BABY

Dipped into the "Light Mellow" series for this one, specifically from the "Sunshine" CD.

As Toronto hit a Humidex of 42 degrees today, thereby smashing a number of meteorological records, we've all been reminded that summer is not quite done with us yet although it looks like the bottom is ready to fall out of the temperatures starting from tomorrow.

So as such, I felt like throwing in this happy summery tune from 1983, "BABY BABY BABY" by Alphabet's（アルファベッツ）. As has been the case with a number of musicians represented in the "Light Mellow" series, this band is a new find for me. Consisting of bassist and main vocal, Tohben Yukawa（湯川トーベン）, drummer Tetsu Mukoyama（向山テツ）and keyboardist Suntory Sakamoto（サントリィ坂本）, I only know this song by Alphabet's but my impression is that for this band, summer pop was in session when they were in session. The song rather reminds me of the work of the late Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）and also that of The Style Council.

Yukawa wrote and composed "BABY BABY BABY" for Alphabet's' first of two albums "Alright!", and according to his J-Wiki file, he had been involved with at least a couple of bands since the 1960s including the Kodomo Band（子供ばんど）, a hard rock unit. Coincidentally enough, I found out that he and the aforementioned Murata plus one other musician would get together to form another group, Cyclings（サイクリングス）in 2009. However, he would make another start with the Kodomo Band a couple of years later.

Koji Handa -- Yokohama Concerto（ヨコハマ・コンチェルト）

Perhaps along with Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo, Yokohama seems to a favourite place when it comes to creating songs in the enka and Mood Kayo genres. And that isn't too surprising since the Kanagawa prefectural metropolis has been the happening place for decades as an international port.

Today, in my browsings through YouTube just to depressurize from another round of translations, I encountered this enka tune that I had never heard of before. Come to think of it, I had never heard of the singer before, either. This is Koji Handa（半田浩二）who trained under songwriter Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）and made his debut in 1988.

His second single is "Yokohama Concerto" (July 1990) which stands out to me. It first starts off with this flourish that sounds like I'm going to get something from "Wuthering Heights" before a snare drum rat-a-tats into a dramatic and bouncing melody (words and music by Nakayama). That melody has an underpinning of what sounds like a combination of "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" and perhaps something from Eurobeat. It certainly gets the blood flowing, and I thought that the karaoke videos would have shown something from a suspense movie to go with the beat.

Handa, who was born Masahiro Iida（飯田政弘）in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture in 1963, has so far released 27 singles up to July of this year, but it doesn't seem as if he has hit the big time as of yet. According to his J-Wiki profile, he's only made a handful of TV appearances. However, now that I've heard "Yokohama Concerto", I'd be interested in hearing some more from him.

Earlier today, I did hear about the Shindo 6+ quake that had hit Hokkaido. There was the resulting structural damage including a wide swath of power outages but I hope that the people there are coping as best as they can.

Rie Tomosaka -- Escalation（エスカレーション）

I actually saw actress/singer Rie Tomosaka（ともさかりえ）on today's edition of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）so I wondered about covering one of her old songs from the 1990s.

Back in that decade, I knew Tomosaka primarily for her role as the first incarnation of Miyuki Nanase（七瀬美雪）, the foil to Hajime Kindaichi（金田一 一）, the genius teen detective in "The Kindaichi Case Files"（金田一少年の事件簿）as first played by one half of the Kinki Kids, Tsuyoshi Domoto（堂本剛）. Then I heard that she was going to release her first single, and it seemed like at the time that any teen star who makes it big was pretty much obliged to record at least a few songs.

Tomosaka's debut single was "Escalation", and actually, I was surprised to find out that she wasn't too bad at the singing game. Plus, it helped that the music provided by M. Rie had that touch of light funk. I wouldn't say it was urban contemporary but it was pop that had a bit more pop in it. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）wrote the lyrics about a budding love that has sort of popped up all of a sudden between two friends. I think what also struck me about the song was Tomosaka's vocals which have that certain sultriness or silkiness.

"Escalation" was released in April 1996 and it peaked at No. 8 on Oricon. Now that I've seen her again on television today (she occasionally appears on "Asaichi"), I have to remark that Tomosaka hasn't really aged at all since her teen years.