Toshiki Kadomatsu -- Step Into The Light

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

A YouTuber by the name of Rodion Drozdov created a spiffy video bringing together the main cast of the anime "Hisone to Masotan"（ひそねとまそたん）from their dancing end credits and some spunky 80s dance music via Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）.

Drozdov already mentioned the source of the song in the comments, but I will identify it as well. It's "Step Into The Light", a track from Kadomatsu's 1984 album "After 5 Clash". Aside from all of the rapping and chorus work, it's an extended musical riff whose funkiness reminds me of The Dazz Band to a certain extent.

It may remind me of The Dazz Band but it isn't from The Dazz Band, and this is why I like to read the comments sometimes under a video. One never knows what kind of information can be gleaned. The uploader for the "Step Into The Light" video provided above and a commenter talked of the fact that Kadomatsu had gotten the basis for the song from a creation by an American R&B act known as Unique. The song is titled "What I Got Is What You Need" and it was released in 1983.

There was no mention of this point in the J-Wiki article for "After 5 Clash", but it did make it into the article for the band under "Legacy" at the bottom. The source was a page on "Japanese Soul" on which the author had made the comparison with a couple of videos (the "Step Into The Light" video has been taken down unfortunately).

In any case, joining Kadomatsu's funk here are Eiji Nakahara and Noriko Miyamoto（宮本典子）in the rapping portion. Kadomatsu, Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and Keiko Toh provided the chorus.

Banana Zero Musica -- O-Kome Kakurenbo（お米かくれんぼ）

Due to my upbringing, the carbohydrate that I have the most loyalty to is, of course, rice. If there is any sort of protein on the table during dinner, I simply gotta have my gohan as accompaniment. I was once a two-bowl guy (o-kawari was something that I used to say) but now I'm down to the one bowl although my stomach hasn't exactly shrunken too much.

But it's not just the nightly bowl of hot white rice that I seek. I also enjoy it as fried rice, onigiri (as you can see above) and even outside of Japanese cooking, I also love it as nasi goren and jambalaya.

So, I can truly understand where the comedic duo of Bananaman（バナナマン）is coming from when they sing their "O-Kome Kakurenbo". Actually for the purposes of this song, taller Osamu Shitara（設楽統）and portlier Yuuki Himura（日村勇紀）are known as Banana Zero Musica（バナナゼロムジカ）since "O-Kome Kakurenbo" was a 2017 project from their now-defunct NHK program "Banana Zero Music"（バナナ♪ゼロミュージック）. The guys and the staff from the show put heads together to come up with this pretty dandy ode to rice that is directly translated as "Rice Hide & Seek", but I prefer to be cute and go with "Rice & Seek".

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av16125344/

Although the full song is in the YouTube video above, I also like the colourful video that was produced with "O-Kome Kakurenbo", so I've added the link to the page which is the only place that I could track it down. As Banana Zero Musica delve into their gusto-filled love of rice anywhere around the planet to the extent that some dried examples seem to pop up somewhere on their clothing, the song does some melodic shifting on its own with its own samples of comical kayo, festival enka, funk and rap.

The video even had its fifteen minutes of fame through regular appearances on NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）in 2017. Moreover since I got to see both "Banana Zero Music" and "Minna no Uta" regularly via TV Japan, "O-Kome Kakurenbo" was also oft-seen by me.

Kiyoko Suizenji -- O-shoubu（大勝負）

Being just a wee lad at the time, whenever I did see some old footage of Kiyoko "Chiita" Suizenji（水前寺清子）singing her heart out on stage, I did wonder whether I was witnessing a woman or a man. Despite the cute face, Suizenji's short haircut and that forceful gravelly delivery of hers had me somewhat confused for a good long while. Of course, at the time, I also had little knowledge of Japanese nomenclature.

I listened to all four songs from the maxi-single at the top and the one that caught my ear the most was "O-shoubu" (Do-or-Die) which was Chiita's 36th single from November 1970. Starting off with a fanfare of traditional instruments and low horns that seem to portend a monumental storm or a major battle in feudal Japan, the singer proudly throws out with much brio a story of how men could win back in those days.

Listening to "O-shoubu", it is indeed a truly shibui enka ballad composed by Sanechika Ando（安藤実親）that I remember hearing as a kid, especially with the way those strings just bend and wail before Suizenji starts singing. Shinichi Sekizawa's（関沢新一）lyrics have her giving the rules for being a winner: 1) Men must win 2) Men must not fall in love and 3) Men must not cry. I can hear those katana or lightsabers being unsheathed right now.

Considering how much George Lucas dipped into Japanese historical culture for "Star Wars", I'm now kinda wondering whether he had discovered this Suizenji song and used the verse to concoct those Jedi rules. I also scrolled down the list of her singles and found out that she had been releasing six to seven singles a year at one point, including 1970, with "O-shoubu" being her 6th single for that year. She must have already achieved the level of Jedi Master with that sort of energy and stamina.

Takako Minekawa -- Fantastic Cat

Once again, I have to marvel at some of the things that I have learned in the years of doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Even the little things make me want to go "Oh-HO!". Case in point, the Japanese voice that pops up whenever the Sony Playstation logo appears. The voice belongs to one Takako Minekawa（嶺川貴子）, singer-songwriter.

Now I've heard the name off and on over the years but never bothered to research about her. But then last night, I was listening to one of the "Japan Top 10" podcasts hosted by Ethel about Shibuya-kei (Episode 245: August 2018). There were the familiar sounds of Flipper's Guitar and Pizzicato Five, of course, but then came Takako Minekawa who hadn't automatically registered as someone who was in the Shibuya-kei genre. But from reading her Wikipedia profile, I found out that she loved French pop and the works of Kraftwerk. Incidentally, that is also where I realized her Playstation connection.

"Fantastic Cat" was the song played on the podcast and it's this catchy love child of the theme from the old "Batman" TV show and cute minimalist technopop ditties delivered with a breathy sex appeal, reminiscent of Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）....if Karie had grown up as a Valley Girl. Looking at the music video, I would definitely nominate it as a "City Limits" entry.

This ode to this amazing cat was also a track on Minekawa's 3rd album "Roomic Cube" released in May 1996.

I also read on Wikipedia that "Fantastic Cat" had also been used in a commercial for Miller Beer. Happily, I was able to track down that ad and wondered about the possibilities of recursive environments and Dyson Spheres afterwards.

Hiromi Go -- Kimi no Na wa Psycho（君の名はサイコ）

Your name is PSYCHO!

Yes, quite the line of romance to throw out on a first date...after which the next thing thrown will be a glass of that red wine.

And yet, that is the translation of a track from Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai"（比呂魅卿の犯罪）, his 21st album from April 1983. Judging from the titles of both the track and the album which translates as "Lord Hiromi's Crimes", and even the look of the cover, I take it that the folks behind the production of the album were going for something Halloween-y.

However, there is a nice feeling of urban contemporary with "Kimi no Na wa Psycho". Although I could hear the synths and a slight echo with Go's voice, I don't think it's so much a technopop tune than it is something in the City Pop genre. But no need for me to fret too much over that since it is Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）who concocted and arranged the music (in fact, he was the sound producer for the entire album), and he's had plenty of experience in both genres. Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）wrote the lyrics about a woman that Lord Hiromi may be simultaneously infatuated with and afraid of. The music is cool and the story might be just as cool...although as cool as a knife going between your ribs.

Kana Yuuki & Saki Miyashita -- FLY two BLUE

Just a few weeks ago, I featured a cute-as-heck fictional commercial jingle used in the anime "HaruKana Receive"（はるかなレシーブ）as sung by Chisaki Kimura（木村千咲）.

Well, let's get onto the opening theme for the show titled "FLY two BLUE", sung by the two lead seiyuu Kana Yuuki（優木かな）and Saki Miyashita（宮下早紀）as Haruka Ozora and Kana Higa（大空遥・比嘉かなた）respectively.

"FLY two BLUE" fairly soars off into the big blue yonder right after the twinkly synths bring our ears in. Listening to it again after getting our first snowfall last night made me even more nostalgic for the summer days that didn't seem to be too far off in the past. Makoto Nishikawa（西川マコト）wrote and composed the opener that could even reflect a typically fun if strenuous beach volleyball session between HaruKana and the Thomas Sisters.

Miyu Tomita, Yu Shinohara, Lynn, Azumi Waki -- HAPPY!! Strange Friends（HAPPY!!ストレンジフレンズ）

Yes, indeed, the bewitching holiday is once again upon us. Although the above picture was taken back in October 2014, I'm fairly sure that McDonalds Japan is once again serving its annual squid-ink burgers. Happy Halloween, everybody!

We got our first meteorological scare last night after I finished my chat with JTM. I looked out the window to see a clean layer of snow outside; it's about the earliest I've seen of the white stuff in many a year, but it was all gone by this morning. I also took a look at YouTube's live stream camera onto the main intersection of Shibuya. There was a Halloween presence including a couple in corny prison uniforms and another couple that I can only describe as "Stripper Precure". However, maybe it was the timing but my impression was that the celebrations seemed a little more subdued this time. Then again, we still have a few more nights before the 31st.

Happenstance perhaps, but this season's crop of anime includes at least a couple of Halloween-friendly shows that my buddy and I have started watching. There is one that I would like to label as "Gochuumon wa Kyuuketsuki desu ka?" or "Is The Order A Vampire?", but its actual title is "Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san"（となりの吸血鬼さん...Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood.）.

It's another cute slice-of-life anime starring Miyu Tomita（富田美憂）as the 360+-year-old vampire Sophie Twilight who is far more grounded than a lot of humans. Tomita is no stranger to supernatural and horror since she was in last year's just-as-goofy "Gabriel Dropout"（ガヴリールドロップアウト）and later in the beautiful if oft-horrifying "Made In Abyss".

And as was the case with the theme songs for those shows, Tomita jumps in with the rest of the main cast to perform them. In this case, I want to feature the ending "HAPPY!! Strange Friends" as sung by Tomita, Yu Shinohara（篠原侑）as the vampire-obsessed Akari who becomes her BFF (or tries to, anyways), Lynn as Akari's human BFF from school, and Azumi Waki（和氣あず未）as fellow vampire Erie who I will probably see for the first time next week.

I did mention that shoutout to "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka"（ご注文はうさぎですか?）at the top there. Well, "HAPPY!! Strange Friends" is rather reminiscent of the theme songs used for that popular series, and I gotta say that I enjoy how Tomita draws out those first few lines in the verses. Junko Miyajima（宮嶋淳子）took care of the lyrics while Yu handled music and arrangement.