Little Glee Monster -- Seishun Photograph（青春フォトグラフ）

I guess that you could say that this is similar to the "Hibike Euphonium"（響け!ユーフォニアム）phenomenon on YouTube, but in recent weeks, I've been watching (and ultimately subscribed) to the channel KHORnime with its anime videos based on certain clever themes.

Several KHORnime videos have an opening sequence done to this most catchy song while various dancing scenes from different anime are playing. It's quite well done, actually, and most sagely, KHORnime was good enough to put down the group and the title behind the tune.

So, faster than you can say "Hibike Euphonium brought me here", well, I can say that KHORnime brought me...and a number of other viewers...here. This would be Little Glee Monster's 2nd single "Seishun Photograph" (Salad Days Photographs) from March 2015.

The release date was an example of good timing since the theme here with the song and the video seems to be about those March school graduations which take on quite a lot of pomp and circumstance in Japan. It's 4 minutes and change of good feelings mixed with some Motown soul and perhaps even some boogie-woogie. There may be tears shed at a junior high school graduation but Little Glee Monster is here to lift those spirits up!

Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）the former guitarist of the band Supercar, wrote the lyrics while singer-songwriter Miho Fukuhara（福原美穂）along with KEN for 2 SOUL MUSIC inc. and Philip Woo came up with the happy-happy-joy-joy music. I think "Seishun Photograph" is so filled with glad tidings that I was surprised that it didn't get higher than its No. 25 peak on Oricon, but as I said, it's getting its re-discovery through KHORnime. The song is also on Little Glee Monster's debut album "Colorful Monster", released in January 2016. That album peaked at No. 4.

Satoko Ishimine -- Doyoubi to Pen to Udedokei（土曜日とペンと腕時計）

Satoko Ishimine（石嶺聡子）is a name that I found among the CDs of the "Good Times Diva" series, and if memory serves, she has often sung songs of her native Okinawa.

However, her debut single from November 1994, "Doyoubi to Pen to Udedokei" (Saturday and a Pen and a Wristwatch) was more in the breezy pop vein. I mentioned last night in NUTS' "Kaze wo Kanjite ~ my precious time"（風を感じて）about how some female singers introduced some of that refreshing and pleasant pop in the early 1990s. Well, I think this first single by Ishimine fits the bill perfectly.

The keyboards and strings feel so relaxing that this would be the ideal Sunday morning/afternoon J-Pop to hear over brunch or lupper. I wouldn't be surprised if this had been used as a campaign tune for some commercial (actually, it was used as the ending theme for the news program "Broadcaster"). There's also that feeling of re-birth in there, too, since Ikki Matsumoto's（松本一起）lyrics talk of a woman enjoying some more freedom in her life after a breakup. Ken Sato（佐藤健）took care of the carefree melody.

The Wikipedia article for Ishimine mentions that she has loved listening to The Beatles and The Carpenters, but her J-Wiki entry gives an even longer list: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Diana Ross, The Jackson 5, Elvis Costello, Madonna, Aimee Mann, Cheryl Crow, Vonda Shepard, Shania Twain, Bjork, Sarah McLachlan, etc. On the Japanese side of things, she is a fan of NOKKO, Chara and Tamio Okuda（奥田民生）.

Akiyoshi Imanari -- Hikaru Sabaru~Omoide no Naka no~（光る砂漠～思い出の中の～）

Folk singer Akiyoshi Imanari（いまなりあきよし）has been here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" once before, although it was as the songwriter for the jazzy "New York 1961 Fuyu"（ニューヨーク 1961 冬）as recorded by Yoko Oda（小田陽子）in 1982.

While I was listening to the aforementioned Oda single, I noticed on the right side of YouTube a song that was actually performed by him. Titled "Hikaru Sabaku~Omoide no Naka no~" (A Shining Desert~Within My Memories~), once I finished with "New York 1961 Fuyu", I gave the former a spin.

It is definitely different. Imanari's final single to date was released sometime in 1976, and it's quite the despair-laden story. I actually couldn't find the lyrics online but from what I could glean from his lyrics, the protagonist seems to be at his wits' end on that long pitfall-and-pleasure laden road known as life. "Hikaru Sabaku" is a folk-rock hybrid with plenty of drama through Imanari's vocals, the electric guitar and some timpani. There's something about it that also reminds me of the 1970s Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）.

Imanari hails from Niigata Prefecture and got his start as a singer and songwriter from the early 1970s. He's released 3 albums and 6 singles.

All-Points Bulletin: Name This Tune

Happy Saturday! Received a message from Alan through the Contact Form about the above song. It's got an apparent title "Summer Night (In Rio)" although I'm not 100% certain on that since I couldn't find anything that title paired with "City Pop" through the Yahoo Japan search engine.

So it's not really a "Name This Tune" but more of a "Name This Band/Artist". From the arrangement, it sounds like a 70s City Pop song, and from first listen, I thought it could be the group Higurashi（日暮し）who wove among folk, New Music and City Pop, but I'm not so sure.

In any case, if any of you have any inkling about the identity of the singers behind this peppy number (or if the original uploader, Mellow Citypop, can shed any light), please let me know.

NUTS -- Kaze wo Kanjite ~ my precious time（風を感じて）

Time to bring out another one of those singers or bands from the underwater 9/10ths of my personal musical iceberg.

I'm not sure how the duo that makes up NUTS came up with the name. I mean, it's obviously their decision and preference to go with it, but the opportunities for snarky jokes could have been endless, if they had decided to take the act West. If someone didn't like the duo's sound, he could just blast out "I'm allergic to NUTS" or if folks had forgotten the names of the members, they could have just pointed at them and simply said "They're NUTS". Of course, since I've come across a lot of bands while doing this blog over the past several years, I could have proposed a collaboration between this duo and a City Pop duo from the 1980s, and said that they were BEERS AND NUTS. A Japanese mixologist's dream lineup for his bar if it had a stage.

All (bad) joking aside, NUTS was made up of vocalist Tomomi Saito（斎藤友美）and keyboardist Akihiko Hirama（平間あきひこ）, and they had a brief time as a duo between 1994 and 1996. Releasing 7 singles and 2 albums, one of those singles that got some attention was "Kaze wo Kanjite ~ my precious time" (Feeling the Wind). An appropriately breezy pop song according to the title, it's a very comfortable tune that reminds me just as much of the early 1990s in terms of J-Pop as any of the rockin' Being acts did.

"Kaze wo Kanjite" got its notice for being the campaign song of the Tiovita vitamin drink in 1995 (though I couldn't find any commercial above with this particular song). The tune was actually the 5th single by NUTS, released in July 1995.

The late 1980s had its share of female singer-songwriters providing their form of City Pop through those champagne synths. The early 1990s, though, had J-Pop characterized partially with pop tunes defined by somewhat airier synths, figuratively bringing in a fresh feeling and openness. It's almost as if singers and their fans had wanted to get out of the nightclubs and discos of the Bubble Era and out into the sunniness of the daytime countryside.

Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos -- Yogiri no Imperial Road（夜霧のインペリアル・ロード）

It's been a while since I've put up a good ol' Mood Kayo number up here, and it is Friday night which should mean the peak evening for the bars and other drinking establishments.

Here is "Yogiri no Imperial Road" (Imperial Road in the Night Fog), the 13th single of Mood Kayo group Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）, released in August 1969. It's a tad ironic that the song was released when it was since a Tokyo night in August is far from being cool and foggy. Folks living there would probably be praying for weather that comfortable in the dog days of summer.

"Yogiri no Imperial Road" is a straight-ahead Mood Kayo: bluesy sax intro, plucky Latin guitar and lyrics of love for that woman and the city. I think the NHK Creative Library definitely knew what to do with their video tribute. Written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）, this is the type of song to accompany you on your kayo adventures through the drinking neighbourhoods of Tokyo, or perhaps something to try out in karaoke.

I was trying to find out where this Imperial Road was, though. At first, I thought it was another nicknamed side street in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo since there is the famous Golden Gai of narrow nomiya. But perhaps it may just be a romantic concoction made up by Saeki and Tokuchi. After all, what better-named road to have that wonderful guy or lady on your arm as you slowly walk in the fog among the bright lights and neon signs during a luxurious night?

Iyo Matsumoto -- Neverland Hatsu 7 O'Clock（ネバーランド発 7:00 p.m.）

No offense meant at the fans of Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）, but when I think of the huge hierarchy of 80s aidoru, Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）were up at the peak, while aidoru such as Matsumoto occupied the level just below. And Matsumoto was in good company since I think there were other teenage singers on that same echelon such as Yu Hayami（早見優）, Chiemi Hori（堀ちえみ）and Hiroko Mita（三田寛子）who had their own loyal bases of fans and were stars in their own right, but I never quite saw them quite as the superstars although they were also household names.

However, that's OK since now in retrospect, I can go over a lot of those neglected singles and album tracks by the B-team (and for that matter, even those from the C-team) and find some jewels. The Seiko and Akina hits are songs that I've known and become accustomed to for decades...it has been time to make some new and pleasant discoveries.

Case in point: this one by the aforementioned Iyo-chan, "Neverland Hatsu 7 O'Clock" (Neverland Departing at 7 O'Clock) is a track from the Tokyo-born singer's 4th album "Endless Summer" released in June 1983. This aidoru tune is pleasingly peppy and even though it is teenybopper Iyo, "Neverland" has that breezy arrangement filled with that feeling of pop from the West Coast. I think it's downright EPO-esque except that it's Toshikazu Miura（三浦年一）behind the melody while Mayumi Shinozuka（篠塚満由美）handled the lyrics. What got me thinking of EPO was that electric guitar in there.

Goes to show that there is still so much to explore in the Japanese pop of yore.