Aimyon -- Marigold（マリーゴールド）

As expected, last week, the participants in this year's Kohaku Utagassen on NHK were announced, and by my token, it looks like the enka part of the annual show has decreased somewhat more which is kinda too bad. But there are some new faces to see as well in 5 weeks including this young lady named Aimyon（あいみょん）.

Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Aimyon is a singer-songwriter who has listed among her inspirations Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）and Ken Hirai（平井堅）, although in an interview for her 5th single on the pop culture news site, Natalie, she has mentioned that she has yet to settle on what her sound is.

That 5th single is "Marigold" from August 2018 and I've been enjoying the song for that very sound which is reminiscent of some of the guitar pop that I used to hear back in the 1990s. It wouldn't be too bad if some of that pop/rock music returned again for another go-round. I had also been wondering where the music video was filmed; as it turns out, it's Shanghai according to the rockin'on.com site. "Marigold" peaked at No. 26 on Oricon. Aimyon has also just released her 6th single in the last week, "Konya Kono Mama"（今夜このまま...Tonight Like This）.

Here's hoping that she does well on New Year's Eve.🍸

Keiko Mizukoshi -- Ikigai（生きがい）

As the expression goes, "Ignorance is bliss". Some months ago, I discovered this Keiko Mizukoshi（水越けいこ）song called "Ikigai" (Raison D'etre) which was on her 8th album "I'm Fine" from February 1982. However, I'd read from a couple of sources including this "CD Journal" review (that I found on the Amazon page) which basically ranted about Mizukoshi's change in image and forced cheeriness for this particular album.

Well, the bricks thrown at "I'm Fine" rather reminded me of the criticism that Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"Mignonne" had gotten back in 1978, but in the last few years, even before the current love for all things Japanese and funky, people like myself have given the album a second look and found it fine after all. I was never aware of Mizukoshi being a rather moody and introspective singer as those reviews had intimated; really, the only song that I've known by her has been "Hoho ni Kiss Shite"（ほほにキスをして）which is a pretty uptempo number in itself.

So, being ignorant of much of Mizukoshi's discography, I was quite happy with "Ikigai". Not quite sure which genre the song truly belongs to...City Pop or J-AOR...but it's a very pleasant number that begins each verse with something similar to bossa nova. However, the rest of "Ikigai"is a nice and refreshing bit of pop to me.

Mizukoshi took care of words and music, but her backing band here is none other than members from the band TOTO. I think that it was the sound of TOTO and other bands/artists from around that time that helped me get into the Japanese urban contemporary and J-AOR genres, so there's something of a full circle feeling on finding out that folks like Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather may were helping out in Japan. I think that it's quite the feather in Mizukoshi's cap that the band was behind her in the recording of "Ikigai" since at the time, TOTO was getting their huge album "Toto IV" ready for release in April 1982.

Mariya Takeuchi -- Shiawase no Monosashi（幸せのものさし）

Fireminer let me know about this Japan Times article that has come out in the last few days about singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and the "Plastic Love" craze that launched like a missile over a year ago. Personally speaking, I'm happy that folks from outside Japan have discovered and enjoyed the tune but y'know, I think it's time to let this fad fade into a nice memory. Plus there are plenty more of her hits to savor.

Case in point: her 36th single from May 2008, "Shiawase no Monosashi" (Measure of Happiness) which coincided with her 30th anniversary in show business. I hadn't been aware that the song was a relatively recent release, probably because of the song's disco-like roots. It's a very uptempo tune of encouragement that hits the ground running, and hopefully, it has brought some of its listeners out of the blues with some measure of good cheer.

"Shiawase no Monosashi" was the theme song for the 2008 TBS drama "Around 40 ~ Chuumon no Oi Onna-tachi"（注文の多いオンナたち...Women with Lots of Choices） starring Yuuki Amami（天海祐希）as a psychiatrist who, with her close buddies, go through various ups and downs in their lives around the big 4-0. Amami herself contributes to some of the chorus work in the song and Takeuchi apparently made an uncredited cameo appearance in the final episode of the drama.

The song peaked at No. 8 on Oricon and became the 153rd-ranked single of 2008. However, its achievement on the singles weekly charts can be further amplified by the fact that Takeuchi became the oldest female solo artist to get a single into the weekly Top 10 at 53 years and 2 months, overtaking the previous record holder, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）with "Kawa no Nagare no Youni" (川の流れのように) when she was 52 years and 1 month old. Since then, Takeuchi's record was overtaken by jazz and kayo singer Junko Akimoto（秋元順子）just a smattering of months later. "Shiawase no Monosashi" also appears on Takeuchi's very large BEST album "Expressions" which came out in October that year, scoring a No. 1 ranking for three weeks in a row and becoming the 11th-ranked album of the year.

As I finish writing this, I realize that as of this date, Takeuchi is just 5 days shy of celebrating her 40th anniversary as a singer. Yup, it was on November 25th 1978 that she released her first album "Beginning" and her first single "Modotte Oite, Watashi no Jikan"（戻っておいて、私の時間....Please Come Back, My Time). Time does indeed fly but I hope that the singer continues to fly high and strongly as well.

Yumiko Takahashi -- Good Love!

Last week, commenter Pocari D. referred to Yumiko Takahashi（高橋由美子）in my article for Chami Satonaka（里中茶美）. I'd known that Takahashi did have her aidoru phase in the 1990s, but I primarily knew her as an actress in all those J-Dramas way back when.

During my time back in Toronto between my JET days and my far longer stay in Japan from the mid-90s onwards, I used to get videotapes from Japanese TV whether it be through the local rental stores or from friends living in the nation. One of my favourite programs happened to be the annual or semi-annual blooper reel shows that popped up on Fuji-TV.

One of the shows featured was a comedy-drama called "Onegai Darling!"（お願いダーリン!...Please Darling!）starring Takahashi as a high school student married to a high school teacher at the same school. Apparently, much hilarity ensued.

The other television memory that I have of Takahashi was when she co-starred as one of the office ladies in the "Shomu-ni"（ショムニ...General Affairs, Section 2）franchise about a much-maligned section in a huge corporation where careers go to die. Takahashi played the incredibly stone-faced Rie Himukai（日向リエ）, the section's fortune-telling expert. She barely cracked any sort of emotion in that show, aside from one special episode where Himukai actually fell in love.

Getting back to that first show, the theme song for "Onegai Darling!" was Takahashi's 10th single, "Good Love!" from February 1993. Pocari D. referred to her Eurobeat material but at least with this one, I wouldn't say that this falls into the Eurobeat genre and I'm not even sure if this would be a totally cutesy aidoru tune itself although Miyu Yuzuki's（柚木美祐）lyrics refer to a woman's falling head-over-heels in love. The melody by Kazuya Motojima（本島一弥）and arrangement by Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）take things a bit higher in my estimation; I'm such a sucker for the keyboards during that decade.

And I have to say that so far, Takahashi doesn't sound too hard on the ears. She apparently didn't sound too hard on the ears for a lot of people either, since "Good Love!" peaked at No. 17, selling a tad over 190,000 copies and becoming her 2nd-most successful single.

Orange Range -- Hana（花）

At the same time that I discovered a classic enka duet from almost 80 years ago on last week's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, I also truly heard for the first time one of the big hits by the rock group Orange Range on the same program.

Their 8th single "Hana" (Flower) came out in October 2004, and I was surprised to find out that this hadn't been mentioned in the J-Wiki article for the song that this would make for a great wedding reception song in Japan. But that's my guess. Written and composed by Orange Range, the lyrics pledge one person's love for another through thick and thin, amity and conflict, and even if they were to be reincarnated into flowers, they would grow beside each other in the garden. Try proposing with that song playing in the background in that Italian restaurant in Tokyo!

"Hana" debuted on Oricon right at No. 1 where it stayed for two weeks twice and quickly ended up as the 4th-ranked single of the year despite its relatively late release date. It even hung around for another year and became the 21st-ranked single for 2005. It became a million-seller and went Triple Platinum and even won the Gold prize at the JASRAC awards. "Hana" is also a track on Orange Range's 2nd original album "musiQ" from December 2004 which also went to No. 1 and became the best-selling album for 2005. In Oricon history, "musiQ" is currently at No. 33 in album sales after hitting 2 million.

2004 was a pretty banner year for the band due to "Hana" and also for its summery fun "Locolotion"（ロコローション）which was the 7th-ranked single for that year.

Akiko Futaba and Noboru Kirishima/Chiyoko Shimakura -- Niizuma Kagami（新妻鏡）

(karaoke version)

Last Tuesday on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, there was a tribute to the late kayo composer Masao Koga（古賀政男）through one of his classic creations, "Niizuma Kagami" (The Bride's Mirror) which was the theme song for a melodramatic motion picture of the same name released in 1940.

Initially from the title, I had assumed that the song would relate the sufferings of a newly-married woman due to the long absences of her husband and an imperious mother-in-law. However, looking at the lyrics by Sonosuke Sato（佐藤惣之助）, they themselves tell of the strong love between husband and wife, although the movie itself as seen above in the karaoke video has the main character indeed suffering when she is blinded by what seems to be a stray bullet.

"Niizuma Kagami" was a duet originally performed by Akiko Futaba（二葉あき子）and Noboru Kirishima（霧島昇）. According to her Wikipedia profile, the Hiroshima-born Futaba was once one of the most popular female singers in Japan and participated in the first 10 years of the Kohaku Utagassen making the transition from radio into television. Along with the duet performed on last Tuesday's show, I've also enjoyed this original version as an enka/kayo waltz which has that mix of melancholy and devotion.

Futaba debuted in 1936 and retired in 2003 at the age of around 88. She passed away in 2011 when she was 96.

Chiyoko Shimakura（島倉千代子）performed a cover version of "Niizuma Kagami" at the 1965 Kohaku Utagassen, although I'm not sure whether her recorded take came out in the same year. From listening to it a couple of times, her "Niizuma Kagami" seems to have that more traditional enka flair. I could imagine cherry blossom petals frittering away in the wind, for example. Interestingly enough, Futaba herself never performed the song herself on the NHK New Year's Eve special in her decade's worth of appearances.

Y'know...I look at that performance of the Kohaku in the year of my birth and I wonder what it must have been like to view the show back in those relatively early days.

Gontiti -- Honto no Uso（本当の嘘）

In recent years, the acoustic guitar duo Gontiti（ゴンチチ）has probably become known among anime fans for their work on the score for the relaxing "Amanchu!"（あまんちゅ！）and "Amanchu! Advance"（あまんちゅ！〜あどばんす〜）. My anime buddy might have the soundtrack, and if so, he could probably use it for relaxation purposes. In fact, I would highly recommend getting a hammock just for those purposes.

Back in early 2016, I wrote about PSY-S' collaborative 1987 album "Collection" and lamented that I couldn't feature a full version of one of my favourite tracks on that release by Gontiti themselves. Well, I'm no longer lamenting. About a good 30 years before Masahiko "Gonzalez" Mikami（三上雅彦）and Masahide "Titi" Matsumura（松村正秀）wove their wonderful feel-good music about a couple of high school divers, they contributed to "Collection" with "Honto no Uso" (True Lies).

As I mentioned in the article for the original album, while Gontiti created "Honto no Uso", PSY-S' Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）arranged it and vocalist CHAKA added some of her vocals. It's some lovely relaxing bossa nova with some of those Matsuura synths thrown in for good measure. I especially love that one part in there when the duo go into a brief exploratory instrumental with their guitars.