Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe + Rajie -- You're A Lady, I'm A Man

As the summer comes to a close for another year, I figure that the sunset ballads will be coming out around now.

So, what better example than a romantic number by Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe（杉山清貴&オメガトライブ）joined by Rajie（ラジ）? This is a shortened version of "You're A Lady, I'm A Man" from Omega Tribe's 4th album "Another Summer" from July 1985, and it's a power ballad with that familiar sound of not only Sugiyama's band but also the mellow music of Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）provided the lyrics of l'amour.

As with a number of Omega Tribe's ballads, this would be a worthy musical accompaniment for a couple walking down the beach as the sun goes down the horizon. "Another Summer" scored a No. 1 ranking on Oricon, and includes Omega Tribe's most successful single of their career, "Futari no Natsu Monogatari"（ふたりの夏物語）.

Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yogisha no Onna（夜汽車の女）

The master was back on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）last night, and continuing on with that theme of train kayo that introduced me to "Kogen Ressha wa Iku"（高原列車は行く）, Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）sang a song that probably got quite a lot of notice from the introduction by host Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）. Apparently, this number by Itsuki hadn't been sung on TV in around 40 years!

"Yogisha no Onna" (Woman on a Night Train) is certainly something different in the Itsuki discography when compared to his enka and Mood Kayo entries. His 15th single in September 1972 was, according to J-Wiki, released as the second example of Pops Enka（ポップス演歌）, following his first attempt in the previous single, the more successful "Matteiru Onna"（待っている女）.

With all due respect to the person who coined the name for that sub-genre, I can't really place anything enka onto "Yogisha no Onna" which I think is much more in the fuzzy rock/funk vein. And as with "Matteiru Onna", I could easily envisage Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）or Akiko Wada（和田アキ子） covering this. Not surprisingly, it was the same duo who had created the latter song behind the former, Yoko Yamaguchi and Takuya Fujimoto（山口洋子・藤本卓也）.

Yamaguchi's lyrics present the usual story of love gone wrong for a woman as she gets on that evening express, but it's surrounded not by the tender enka sound stylings but by Fujimoto's funky downtown arrangement that almost cry for Richard Roundtree as Shaft to rescue the lady from her emotional malaise. Even Itsuki's vocals sound quite different in that his lower tones seem to be almost missing in his delivery.

To be honest, I actually liked last night's performance of "Yogisha no Onna" by Itsuki better than the original since the person who arranged it for him actually oomphed up the 007 aspect by a fair bit (Itsuki...Hiroshi Itsuki). In addition, I was surprised that the singer hadn't sung the song on TV for decades, but perhaps he and the audience had thought this form of Pops Enka was just a little too much beyond the pale for him. In any case, the song hit No. 21 on Oricon and won Itsuki a Japan Record Award for Best Performance.

Mariko Uranishi -- Stardust Eyes (スターダストアイズ)

Even though “Stardust Eyes” was used as the opening theme for the Ronin Warriors (鎧伝サムライトルーパー) anime in 1988, I first came across this song through Hiroko Moriguchi’s (森口博子) “Kure Isogu Machi” (暮れ急ぐ街), which is basically the same song, but with different lyrics and arrangement.

The thing is, since Moriguchi originally sang “Samurai Heart”, the second opening theme for the same anime, she also recorded a version of “Stardust Eyes”, which was included in her 1989 album “Prime Privacy”. So, after reading this album’s liner notes, I've finally discovered that an original version of the song, recorded by underground aidoru Mariko Uranishi (浦西真理子), existed.

Released as a single in August 1988, Mariko Uranishi’s “Stardust Eyes” sounds like your typical 80s anisong, if it wasn’t for one detail: the arrangement is a very direct copy of Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s A Sin”, with everything included, like the thunderstorm sounds, for example. But I’ll not lie here… I loved the combination of the overtly dramatic electronic arrangement with the graceful melody in the chorus and Mariko Uranishi’s weak aidoru vocals. It was just a dreamy combination in my book, so I’m glad I’ve finally discovered this song.

As I could see, Mariko Uranishi didn’t release any other single, nor album, but she did some nude photo shoots and AV movies at some point. Well, everybody has bills to pay, I think. Also, Hiroko Moriguchi’s “Kure Isogu Machi” isn’t available on YouTube, which is a pity, since it’s a pretty nice and more down to earth version of the very over the top and 80s-sounding “Stardust Eyes”. In fact, even a third version of “Stardust Eyes” exists, this time the more rock-friendly “DEAD END LOVE” by composer Yasuhiko Shigemura (茂村泰彦), but, just like Moriguchi’s version, it’s not on YouTube.

Lyrics for “Stardust Eyes” were written by Yoshiko Miura (三浦徳子), while music was composed by Yasuhiko Shigemura. As for the arrangement, Michiaki Katou (加藤みちあき) was the responsible.

Mariko Uranishi

Atsuo Okamoto -- Kogen Ressha wa Iku（高原列車は行く）

Tonight's theme on NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）was trains. It's quite the meaty theme, actually, since Japan is indeed a train nation with so many railways criss-crossing the country like arteries and veins, and there have been so much in the way of kayo featuring the mode of transportation.

One of the first songs on tonight's show was a 1954 tune by Atsuo Okamoto（岡本敦郎）, a singer who hailed from the great sushi haven of Otaru in Hokkaido. "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" (There Goes the Highland Train) is one of those jaunty postwar numbers celebrating folks enjoying the great outdoors as the titular train passes through. It's so cheerful that it could get even me hiking into the mountains (probably won't happen).

Still, the trains can be fun to ride. Anyways, while most of the song has that happy march feeling, there's an instrumental part in there which seems to take things into a more traditional enka pattern for some reason. Athough I have categorized "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" as an enka tune, I think the tune is basically one zippy kayo.

Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）wrote the lyrics under one of his pen names which is pronounced the same way but has different kanji（丘十四夫）, while Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）created the melody. As for Okamoto, he appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen in its very early days a total of 7 times between 1952 and 1958 with his first two times being on the original radio broadcast. He performed "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" on his 4th appearance in December 1954 at Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya Public Hall. I'm sure that his clap-worthy performance had the audience all roused up.

Chiemi Manabe -- Fushigi Shoujo（不思議・少女）

Back in Spring 2014, nikala wrote up a nice article on Techno Kayo as it applied to the aidoru of that time, and one of the people who was included was Chiemi Manabe（真鍋ちえみ）. The song which was included for her was "Nerawareta Shoujo"（ねらわれた少女...Targeted Girl）, her debut single from May 1982. What was striking about it was that dramatic technopop beat and somewhat ominous air to the song. Another interesting point was the combination of the late legendary lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and New Music/Technopop pioneer Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）to come up with this song. "Nerawareta Shoujo" was also included in her one and only album "Fushigi Shoujo" (Mysterious Girl) which would be released a few months after that single in August.

Well, for the years since, I had often been wondering about Manabe's discography and the image that had always come into my head was the cover from "Fushigi Shoujo" with her looking distinctly like Peter Pan. I assumed that she had even taken over the role from aidoru Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）who was quite famous for portraying the boy who never grew up. But although Manabe is listed as a former actress on her J-Wiki file, I haven't seen any indication whether she actually did play Pan. Still, it was fascinating to see this Peter Pan-esque figure singing technopop.

nikala pointed out in her piece that fans of techno kayo had labeled Manabe as the first bona fide techno aidoru. I wouldn't doubt it. Although there were other aidorus who had come out some years earlier with individual singles/album tracks with that technopop sound (such as "Robot" by the aforementioned Sakakibara), I think Manabe's entire short discography consisted of three singles and "Fushigi Shoujo" with all with those bright and perky synthesizers behind her.

Well, I finally got an in on the album when I was able to get my hands yesterday on the CD of "Fushigi Shoujo", thanks to Toshi at the Logic Store. So during my translation work today, I popped it into the stereo and had a listen.

The title track is the track that starts things off (the above video is for the whole album, by the way). "Fushigi Shoujo" was also created by Aku and Hosono, and it also starts off a bit dramatically like her debut single before the synthesizers go on a riff that's reminiscent of The Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade.

Ooooh...I see what you did there!

"Unto Tooku"（うんととおく...Very Far Away）sounds like it's trying to take in some of the more esoteric Yellow Magic Orchestra atmosphere going into the early 1980s. It was written by Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, who I think deserves to be included at least as an honourary member of YMO for all of her contributions when the band was on tour, and composed by the late guitarist Kenji Omura（大村憲司）. It sounds quite trippy and New Wave with the echoing vocals by Manabe, and that intro would make a great test for a set of headphones. All of those other sound effects as well just keep the ears and imagination busy.

The parade of songwriters who are savvy with the technopop continues on the album with "Good-by Good-by" (37:06 on the album video above) written and composed by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. And as with a lot of Ohnuki's songs of the time, it is sweet and sweeping. You can just imagine Manabe at the top of some neighbourhood hill at night singing this to the moon or some other planetary body.

My last song for tonight here is a bonus track that was added to the remastered CD. Titled "Night Train Bishoujo"（ナイトレイン・美少女...Beautiful Girl on a Night Train）, this was Manabe's third and final single from October 1982 that had Aku and Hosono pairing up once more. There's something about the pairing of a piano and a synthesizer that really makes me like a lot of the technopop from this period. I also enjoy the drums and "shrieking" guitar in there as well. For some reason, I think this would have been a nice theme song for a contemporary anime.

Now, for some of the songs, Manabe's vocals aren't the strongest that I've ever heard but as I've mentioned before, a lot of the teen singers in the 80s were given some great support by their songwriters, and I think that's the case with the tracks on "Fushigi Shoujo". And I have to say that it has been a fun trip with this aidoru who was fully embraced by the technopop aesthetic for an entire album (and I got through my work a little faster than usual😁). For those who are interested in the techno aidoru, I think this would be a must-have.

I hope she wasn't being rebellious here.

Ryuko Mizuta -- Hirado Ujou (平戸雨情)

I remember turning into a fan of gorgeous enka singer Ryuko Mizuta (水田竜子) through Noelle Tham’s article of the song "Yopparachatta" (酔っぱらっちゃった) back in 2016, and, thanks to that song, have always wanted to buy one of her CDs since then. During last Christmas, I ordered her “Best Selection 2016”, which featured almost all of her singles from 1994 to 2016, with the exception of one, if I’m not mistaken, in order to finally have it in my collection. However, not only of “Yopparachatta”-like songs the compilation was comprised, and that was sort of a problem (in fact, the problem is to become infatuated by the woman regardless of what she sings, but let’s not talk about that).

Mizuta’s discography, in special her latest singles, is comprised of… surprise, surprise… enka in its purest form, with the melismas and all the stuff required… which I’m not very fond of, to be quite honest. Her voice and technique are always on point, but the overall production, sometimes excessively dramatic, is not really for my taste (I still try to like it, though). So, besides “Yopparachatta”, some singles from the late 90s, and a couple of others from past years, like the already covered “Uwasa no Minato”, one of the highlights of the selection comes in the form of “Hirado Ujou”, a more restrained kayo kyoku released back in February 2014.

“Hirado Ujou” is quite smooth and classy, which is probably why I liked it so much. While I’m not an expert on the subject, I think the song could easily pass as an old Showa-era ballad with this nostalgic mix of Western arrangement with some Eastern details. And Ryuko Mizuta still sings it in a light enka style, but not in an overwhelming way. In the end, the song earned its spot in my enka playlist (yeah, even I have one of those).

Lyrics were written by Reiji Mizuki (水木れいじ), while music was composed by Hideo Mizumori (水森英夫). As for the arrangement, Toshioki Maeda (前田俊明) was the responsible.

Ryuko Mizuta Best Selection 2016

Mieko Makimura -- Koi Ningyo（恋人形）

Last year, I mentioned about enka singer Mieko Makimura（牧村三枝子）, someone who we, as a family, used to see rather frequently on the old VHS tapes of music programs from Japan. Apparently, according to her J-Wiki article, she has been performing again since 2004 after several years of serious illness.

(Commenter Kaz has given corrections to my description below but I'm keeping the text intact so that future readers will want to know what was corrected. Of course, though, I have changed the title above.)

Makimura had her big hit in the late 1970s with "Michizure"（みちづれ）which was an enka love proposal, but tonight, I wanted to go further back in time to her debut. After her first single "Shojo wa Otona ni Narimashita"（少女は大人になりました...The Girl Has Become A Woman）in July 1972, her second single came out in December of that year. Titled "Koibito Katachi", I initially had wondered about how to read those three kanji as you can see as usual at the top. Those three kanji could conceivably be read as "Koi Ningyo" which would translate as "Love Doll", but I don't think the lyrics by Takao Yamada（山田孝雄）seem that racy.

Instead, "Koibito Katachi" (The Shape of Lovers) has Makimura singing from the man's point of view as he wistfully remembers the names of past paramours and wonders why he can't seem to find that Ms. Right. In the end, he resignedly leaves Tokyo to head for his hometown and his mother. Yamada's lyrics are pretty melancholy but I have to say that the music by Mitsuyoshi Yanagida（柳田光義...I hope that his given name is pronounced correctly）sounds pretty Mood Kayo; in fact, I could even imagine the Cool Five covering this one easily. But, of course, this is Makimura instead of Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）extolling the stories of lost loves, and the teenager had quite the powerful voice...something along the lines of a Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）with a bit of Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）in there.

The whole song is all very pleasingly nostalgic, and although it wasn't a hit for Makimura, it's a nice discovery for me.