Ami Suzuki -- love the island

Marcos V. wrote the first two articles for Ami Suzuki（鈴木あみ）, a teen singer who had been coming up the ranks in the late 1990s when a combination of dirty dealings from her management company and legal pushback from her parents ended up in industry blowback against her, and she was deemed persona non grata by the geinokai for a while at least.

My memories of her coincide with the beginnings of my time at my second of third schools during the late 1990s in Tokyo. I remember riding the Sobu Line along the Kanda River and seeing those fishermen dropping their lines. Yep, when I hear the name Ami Suzuki, that's what comes to mind. Oh yes, there was also that McDonalds that I used to frequent as well. It's a miracle that I've managed to survive to this day considering how often I visited the Golden Arches.

The one Ami-Go（あみ〜ゴ）song that I've always remembered is her debut single "love the island" which had come out in July 1998. Written by Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）and Marc Panther from Globe and composed by Komuro, I hadn't been aware that "love the island" was meant to be a promo tune for commercials sponsored by the Tourism Bureau of the government of Guam (Guam is to Japan as Florida is to us snowbirds in Toronto). In any case, those three words of the title chirped by Suzuki automatically set off those engrams of life in Tokyo at the turn of the century.

"love the island" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon and ended up as the 90th-ranked single for 1998, selling nearly 300,000 copies. It also got placed onto Suzuki's debut album "SA" from March 1999. It hit No. 1 and was the 9th-ranked album for that year, selling over 2 million copies.

According to Wikipedia, once Suzuki got blacklisted in late 2000, all production and sales of the single were stopped cold. However, a new version was recorded and released online in 2011 and was also included in "Ami Selection", an album of her hits.

Yumi Matsutoya -- Mizu no Naka no ASIA e（水の中のASIAへ）

Two weeks ago, an old friend of mine called me up to say that his wife was giving away a lot of her Japanese pop albums, and of course, knowing that I'm the big kayo kyoku fan, offered me some of the discs including a number of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）releases. The only thing is that they were coming in naked, so to speak; without any jewel cases or cover booklets. But that's OK...as long as the music is coming across fine, I'm fine.

One of those albums is Yuming's（ユーミン）"Mizu no Naka no ASIA e" (To ASIA in the Water) from May 1981. What I found out is that although it had been released originally as a 12-inch EP with just four songs back then, it's been considered to be the singer-songwriter's 11th studio album.

Amazon.jp

The cover for "Mizu no Naka no ASIA e" is one of the more striking ones that I've seen on a Yuming album. According to the J-Wiki article for the album, the singer was photographed at The Raffles Hotel in Singapore, wearing a kimono that she brought over herself and dressed herself in. I think the fact that her family operated a Japanese fabric store may have given her some expertise. However, in the same paragraph, she also conceded on a radio show that she had gotten the position of her obi wrong.

Short but sweet "Mizu no Naka no ASIA e" seems to be a musical travelogue through the various nations of the titular continent itself. I've already written about one of the four tracks, "Hong Kong Night Sight", a pretty giddy traipse through the then-British colony.

"Hong Kong Night Sight" is Track 2 but what starts the album off is "Subaraya Douri no Imouto e"（スラバヤ通りの妹へ...To The Little Girl on Subaraya Street）which Yuming based on her encounter with a little girl in Jakarta, Indonesia some years before. Unlike the exciting urban tour of that second song, "Subaraya Douri no Imouto e" takes things a lot slower and easier as if Yuming herself was musically relating a very pleasant walk on Subaraya Street which is apparently famous as an area of antique shops. She also uses an Indonesian phrase repeatedly, "Rasa sayange" (Loving Feeling), which refers to a popular Malay folk song.

(cover version)

Track 3 is "Dairen Bojou"（大連慕情...Dalian Yearnings）, another mellow tune in which a young woman finds an old crumpled letter from her dead father, who had lived and died in Dalian, China, to her mother. Despite the perhaps bittersweet feeling from the lyrics of a time long passed by, the arrangement by Yuming's husband, Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, is pretty breezy and kinda straddles the line between urban and suburban.

To wrap up the album, here is "Wakiyaku de Ii kara"（わき役でいいから...Just Happy Being A Sidekick）. The music by Yuming is pretty darn uplifting but the song is actually about a final wish from a woman to an ex-boyfriend who's now working in another country, with the hint that he simply didn't want to get married. She simply gives a final request that he remembers her once in a while. Pretty sad and I wanted to encourage the lass to let go of the heel and find someone worthier.

"Mizu no Naka no ASIA e" broke into the Top 10 by peaking at No. 9 and won a Best Album prize at the Japan Record Awards for 1981. I will always treasure Yuming's voice in the early days.

Superfly -- Gifts

Whenever I think of Superfly, I am always reminded of that wonderfully cheerful student with the worst post-nasal drip who came in for that model lesson around a decade ago, since she's the one who first introduced me to singer-songwriter Shiho Ochi（越智志帆）, aka Superfly. Back then, Ochi and her former partner, Koichi Tabo（多保孝一）, were making that mix of alternative pop and music from the late 60s and early 70s.

I think since then, Superfly has swung herself to become a more conventional pop singer with that powerful voice who can still rock it out. I hadn't heard from her all that much recently, but then a few months ago, I was catching NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）between programs when a new Superfly song came on accompanied with some mesmerizing animation.

This would eventually become her 24th single, "Gifts", released a few weeks ago on October 10th. For those who might be feeling the blues, I think this ballad, written and composed by Ochi with Koichi Tsutaya（蔦谷好位置）also helping out in the music, is an inspiring one as the singer encourages listeners to remember that everyone has their friends and family supporting them and places to explore, so they ought to get out of their shells and go for it.

The music video for "Gifts" seems to be a combination of Ochi's performance and visits to a number of high schools in Japan seeing what inspired and encouraged students can do. At this point, the song has reached No. 7 on Oricon.

Not surprisingly, the message behind "Gifts" has gotten it performed by various school chorus groups according to YouTube. I think it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if "Gifts" became (or has already become) a standard to be sung at the annual chorus group contests. And I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Superfly gets to appear at the Kohaku Utagassen again at the end of the year.

Kumiko Ohsugi -- Rock River e（ロックリバーヘ）

(That 2018 video has been taken down

but did find a 2016 sighting in Tokyo.)

I remember last Thursday when I woke up and was watching "NHK News at 9", and the top news story was about a wayward raccoon that improbably found itself in the urban jungle of Akasaka, Tokyo. Raccoons are simply not seen in that fancy neighbourhood (and at those prices, I'm not surprised...ba-duh-bum!) unless "Guardians of the Galaxy" was playing at a theatre there. I was also rather amused and bemused by all of the excitement surrounding the capture of this brand of Procyon lotor, as if it had been Mothra or Godzilla in the nets.

My neighbourhood here doesn't have too many raccoon sightings although we've got plenty of squirrels and one time, I did manage to see a porcupine almost crossing a street one night before a truck tragically ended its life. Raccoons tend to be more of an issue where my brother lives quite a ways up north since they do tend to go after the garbage bins and leave brown land mines as parting gifts. I guess in Japan, they must be seen as rare novelties especially in the big cities.

The raccoon sighting in Tokyo last week reminded me of the time when I kept hearing about this old anime from the 1970s involving a rather intelligent raccoon named Rascal. In fact, I was wondering whether the Japanese started just calling the Procyon lotor a rascal in the same way that we here call any sort of facial tissue Kleenex.

Actually, the raccoon is still referred in Japanese as araiguma and the anime in question is "Araiguma Rascal"（あらいぐまラスカル...Rascal The Raccoon）.  Based on the novel, "Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era" by Sterling North, the anime was brought to Fuji-TV in 1977 and had its run between January 2nd and Xmas Day. I only know the show through clips on retrospectives, and so I only got to know the theme song "Rock River e" (To Rock River) very recently.

And to show how little I knew of the song, I kept hearing the opening chorus done in English and initially assumed that this must have been a full English version of "Rock River e" done for the dubbed versions that went overseas. In fact, after the initial intro by the St. Mary's Children's Chorus, singer Kumiko Ohsugi（大杉久美子）and another children's choir group, Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）, sing the Japanese lyrics.

"Rock River e" sure is a jaunty square dance-friendly tune (with a hint of disco) that was written by Eriko Kishida（岸田衿子）and composed by Takeo Watanabe（渡辺岳夫）who was in charge of the soundtrack for "Araiguma Rascal". It won the Golden Hit prize at Japan Columbia in 1977. Strangely enough, the song reminds me of the theme song from the far rowdier "Blazing Saddles".

As for Ohsugi, she has become even more famous for her rendition of the "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）theme song.

Kinokuniya Band -- Hangin' Around

I first encountered Kinokuniya Band（紀の国屋バンド）through their cover of Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"4AM" on their 1979 album "Street Sensation".

(30:01)

Here is another song from that album, "Hangin' Around" although in the video above, vocalist Masako Takasaki（高崎昌子）identifies it as "Hangin' Around Downtown". Still, the vibe is definitely in that neighbourhood of the city whether you're taking that stroll through Tokyo's Ameyoko as shown in the top photograph or striding down glittery Omotesando. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who wrote and composed "Hangin' Around", but it's chock full of Takasaki's rich voice, jazzy riffs and good dollops of bass. Makes one wonder what it must have been like being in Japan's largest metropolis at the turn of that decade.

June 10th 2025: As you can see below, I just received a kind message from Ms. Takasaki herself stating that it was singer-songwriter Shizuru Ohtaka（おおたか静流）who had written and composed "Hangin' Around" for which the band has been very grateful. I also found out from her that regrettably Ms. Ohtaka had passed away in 2022 at the age of 69 from cancer. My belated condolences go to her family, friends and fans.

Ohtaka also has her own article on KKP for her song "Kanashikute Yarikirenai"（悲しくてやりきれない）.

Mari Natsuki -- Ichiban Suki na Mono（いちばん好きなもの）

Over the years on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we've covered a fair share of female singers who's possessed that mixture of style, class and even a hint of...danger. I'm thinking of ladies such as Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）of Pizzicato Five, Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）and Kaori Momoi（桃井かおり）. Now, I would like to introduce Mari Natsuki（夏木マリ）.

Perhaps for international audiences, Natsuki may be known as the voice of Yubaba on the Studio Ghibli film "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi"（千と千尋の神隠し...Spirited Away）, but I've seen this actress/singer a number of times on TV over the years. By my impression, she has that sort of presence which would demand the best armchair at a swanky soiree at some mansion where she could gleefully hold court as one of the best raconteurs that any of the partygoers ever met. I think the adjective "vivacious" would be an ideal one for her.

Beginning her recording career under her stage name of Mari Natsuki in 1973, she released her first single, "Kinu no Kutsushita"（絹の靴下...Silk Stockings）and since then she's released 26 more singles up to 2012 and several albums. The subject of this article "Ichiban Suki na Mono" (My Favourite Things) is a track on her 2013 album "Natsuki Mari ~ Inshouha Collection"（夏木マリ 印象派コレクション...Mari Natsuki ~ Impressionists' Collection）.

Purring her way through, I can imagine her singing an acapella version of "Ichiban Suki na Mono" under a spotlight in a darkened intimate live house in the basement while sucking back on a cigarette. However, I do like the full version here with that Latin jazz and Shibuya-kei vibe. Not surprisingly, it was Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）from Pizzicato Five who wrote and composed this one for Natsuki as she sings about her love of makeup, cigarettes and wearing fur coats (and nothing underneath). However, there is some darkness as she also mentions about crying within all that luxury. Still, it wouldn't do for her to show that side to her admirers.

Megumi Hirota -- Senaka Awase no CRESCENT（背中あわせのCRESCENT）

Found another one of those mystery singers with a nice song who never got detected on my sensors.

This is Megumi Hirota（広田恵）, and yep, I could find extremely little about her anywhere. Most of what I could dig up was the description for this video itself. "Senaka Awase no CRESCENT" (The Crescent Moon On My Back [?]) is from Hirota's 2nd album, "Gray", released in 1991.

Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）, "Senaka Awase no CRESCENT" starts with an exotic flourish before going into a beat that I knew had to be from the late 1980s/early 1990s even before I saw the year of release. I've cottoned onto it and there's a synth solo in the middle which reminded me of Steve Winwood's 80s stuff to a certain extent. Apparently, one Twitter fan even likened "Gray" to "Style", the debut album for Keiko Kimura（木村恵子）, so that has got me rather interested in the former.

At the risk of sounding like a scriptwriter for the hilarious "Zoolander", I think I can now put my own moniker onto the sound of those synths that seemed to be de rigueur during that part of the 20th century: Cool Steel. It's the type of sound that I also heard on a lot of those old 80s action movies starring Sly Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger.