Sachiko Nishida -- Hajimete no Machi de（初めての街で）

In terms of soothing myself down after some unanticipated glitches in my day (you can take a look at my last article, "Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi"（だまって俺について来い）that I whipped up a few hours earlier), there was another song from "Uta Kon"（うたコン）last night that I had cottoned onto for the first time.

Guest Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）sang this lovely ballad called "Hajimete no Machi de" (First Time in Town) which the hosts pointed out was a successful commercial song for Kiku-Masamune sake（菊正宗酒造）. Of course, I did not know this and even my parents had been unaware of this famous ad.

Ahhh...such a mellow song to go with some mellow sake and I did see some nice dishes to go with the famous Japanese libation in the ad above.

The original singer was Sachiko Nishida（西田佐知子）whom I've usually associated with the 1960s, but "Hajimete no Machi de" was a single that she released in November 1979. In fact, her 104th single was her 2nd-last single to date. However, "Hajimete no Machi de" had been used as the reliable Kiku-Masamune jingle since 1975, and if I read the J-Wiki article correctly, Nishida was always the singer although she apparently wasn't the first choice for the gig.

For one of her final singles, Nishida couldn't have asked for a more prestigious songwriting pair than lyricist Rokusuke Ei（永六輔）and composer Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）since among many of their many kayo for other singers, including presumably Nishida, they were the ones behind the legendary "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) back in 1961 for the late Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）. The above video features the commercial version of "Hajimete no Machi de", so I'm assuming this is the original take from 1975. Listening to it, it has that old-fashioned Mood Kayo statement with a proud trumpet among the brass starting things off but the rest of the tune seems to take on a milder pop kayo flavour from the previous decade. Of course, the commercial song had to include the Kiku-Masamune name in the lyrics.

The fascinating thing about the 1979 single of "Hajimete no Machi de" is that it takes on even more musical influences. It starts off with some bluesy jazz but then it progresses into a small potpourri of genres including folk, New Music and even country. And immediately, I thought about another singer perhaps tackling this version and that would be chanteuse Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. But this is no slight on Nishida who does a great job on both versions. However, if I had to choose one over the other, I would have to go with the 1979 take. The Nakamura melody arranged by City Pop/AOR keyboardist Akira Inoue（井上鑑）is very comforting but so are the Ei lyrics as Nishida sings that no matter how many times a person might find himself in a first-time situation (town, love, heartbreak, etc.), he/she will never be alone and there will always be sake to help smooth some rough edges (drink responsibly, though!).

Getting back to Ishikawa's performance last night, though, she did great which is why I looked up "Hajimete no Machi de" in the first place. Incidentally, she also took on a commercial song for a certain kind of liquor many years ago herself, and I've also taken a long shine to it.

Hitoshi Ueki -- Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi（だまって俺について来い）

Well, today wasn't exactly the greatest day in terms of my surrounding environment. There was a small leak in the unit above that was affecting my unit, and there was a misunderstanding in terms of logistics earlier for the plumber's arrival, so I got to see my usually cheerful superintendent go ballistic on the property manager (but the plumber came an hour ago and now everything is copacetic). Then, around the dinner hour, the power went out due to the high winds outside affecting power lines, but that was only an hour's worth of inconvenience.

I seem rather sanguine, don't I? Look, after all the sturm und drang of my youth and younger years, I've come to the conclusion that life is now too short (especially since passing 50 a few years ago) to go nuts on something that is not really worth getting all worked up about. Plus, taking it out on folks who are trying to help only leads to massive guilt afterwards, believe me.

Come to think of it, the late entertainer Hitoshi Ueki（植木等）of the comical band Crazy Cats（クレージーキャッツ）probably had something akin to the right idea. Perhaps more accurately put, it was his onscreen persona of the most feckless salaryman who had the right idea since I've heard that the real Ueki was a fairly serious and dour fellow.

Last night on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, enka prince Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）did a cover of Ueki's November 1964 single "Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi" (Shut Up and Follow Me). Never having heard this lively kayo that seems to fit Ueki's Mr. Irresponsible to a well-crossed "T", I looked it up on YouTube and found the original as you can see above.

With some brassy brass and a hearty cackle that would even make The Joker stand up and applaud, Ueki is the guy you want at your side while singing this song. If you haven't quite reached that sanguine point in your life, he's the fellow who will kick you out of your blues and pull you over to a bar for some drinks and lively conversation.

Written by Yukio Oshima（青島幸男）and composed by Hiroaki Hagiwara（萩原哲晶）, the same duo behind Ueki's most famous song, "Suudara Bushi"（スーダラ節）, "Damatte Ore ni Tsuite Koi" got the singer to perform it on the 1964 Kohaku Utagassen on NHK. Perhaps after all of the hoopla and stress surrounding the Tokyo Olympics that year and the need to show Japan's best side in the postwar era, a little bit of silly and whimsical was perhaps what the doctor ordered, thanks to Ueki.

Tomoyuki Asakawa -- Prologue for The Five Star Stories/Yoko Nagayama -- Hitomi no Naka no Faraway（瞳の中のファーラウェイ）

One of the legendary titles of anime that has been heard in the winds surrounding me all these years is "The Five Star Stories".

I had never seen the March 1989 movie although there was an opportunity back in the early 90s when my anime buddy and his buddies decided to hold a presentation of it at the University of Toronto at the Robarts Library complex. As it turned out, I couldn't see it that evening since I actually had a night class so basically it was just seeing the opening title and then coming back to meet the guys for a celebratory dinner.

Well, I finally caught it at my buddy's place the other Sunday. And yup, after getting home, I spent some time reading up on all the palace intrigue and characters including Ladias Sopp since I couldn't quite understand what was happening at first glance. But man, was it gorgeous! It's been a long time since I'd seen anime characters drawn that way.

Plus, I have to tip my proverbial hat off to the person behind the movie score, Tomoyuki Asakawa（朝川朋之）. The prologue for the soundtrack is especially quite sumptuous, heralding the epic story to come. When things start rolling from 1:37, I got that ASMR feeling down the back of my neck. There was that John Williams feeling although not just from any movie, but specifically from 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". At the same time, and perhaps it is strange for me to say this, but that galloping theme reminds me of overtures that have populated many a 1950s romance flick in the opening credits. Golden Quickpen font titles race through my head!

One tidbit that I found out about composer and harpist Asakawa is that he used to be a member of the rock unit Ryudogumi（竜童組）, led by singer-songwriter Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）. Asakawa took on the name of Taro Tanaka（田中太郎）at the time and manned the electric harp.

While the ending credits were scrolling up, I was surprised to hear a song that I have heard before but not within the confines of "The Five Star Stories". And to further add to the surprise is that it's current veteran enka singer but then-aidoru Yoko Nagayama（長山洋子）who sang "Hitomi no Naka no Faraway" (Far Away in Your Eyes).

I mean, it didn't quite fit the tone of the movie but it's still a happy enjoyable aidoru tune by Nagayama, and it's one that I've heard somewhere a number of times before...most likely during one of my buddy's anison hours. This was her 15th single released in February 1989 and was written by Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）and composed by Masato Ishida（石田正人）. The single managed to reach as high as No. 27 on Oricon.

Takako Shirai -- Pillowcase ni Sayonara（ピローケースにさようなら）

Ahhh...the cool, hopeful and gleaming sound of City Pop. With this song, I hear the smart horns and the reassuring keyboards relating the story of a successful metropolis in the 1980s.

Curiously enough, these were also the sounds emanating from Takako Shirai（白井貴子）back in her early days. Up to now on the blog, I only had the one song by her, "Namae no Nai Ai demo Ii"（名前のない愛でもいい）which was this heart-on-sleeve ballad ready-made as the ending theme for the "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...The Tuesday Night Suspense Drama）. And Toshikazu Kanazawa（金澤寿和）, the representative of the "Light Mellow on the Web" site, mentioned in the liner notes for "Light Mellow ~ Beams" that there would be some surprise from listeners since Shirai has been known as a rock artist.

However, like Mai Yamane（山根麻衣）, Shirai the rocker also started out in the mellower genre of City Pop and J-AOR. In fact, "Pillowcase ni Sayonara" (Goodbye to my Pillowcase) was her 2nd single released in February 1982, but I got my copy through as a track on the aforementioned "Beams". This was indeed written and composed by the singer-songwriter, and I really get that American 80s urban contemporary scent and Al Jarreau vibes. Heck, even the cover for Shirai's debut album, "Do For Loving" from November 1981 has her looking like she was ready for a yuppie jog in the suburbs. Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）, later of Tokyo Ensemble Lab, was on the flugelhorn.

As for the meaning of the title, Shirai is reflecting the feelings of a woman who no longer needs to cry into the pillow case, her to-go textile source of solace, since she's ready to get back onto her feet and face the world once more.

Yosuke Tagawa -- Yo-yo（ヨーヨー）

I first talked about 70s aidoru Yosuke Tagawa（太川陽介）over a couple of years ago when I wrote about his big hit, the dynamic "Lui-Lui" from 1977.

This time, the song is "Yo-Yo", Tagawa's 6th single which was released in April 1978. Written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, there is something country and disco in this one, and I keep getting reminders of Boney M. As the protagonist describes his perhaps on-again/off-again girlfriend as a yo-yo, I wonder if the fellow might actually be one himself as well. No idea how well it did on the charts.

Apparently, according to J-Wiki, the actual toy yo-yo had their respective booms in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s after first coming over in the early 1930s.

Bread & Butter -- Chikatetsu（地下鉄）

I have got to say that the cover of Bread & Butter's（ブレッド&バター）3rd album "Barbecue" is likely the most welcoming and sunniest that I've ever seen on anything having to do with Japanese pop music. It basically is a family photo in some obviously well-off resident's backyard. One can just wonder how much a pop singer was making even back in those days.

One track on "Barbecue" is "Chikatetsu" (Subway) about a guy instantly falling in love with a long-haired woman on a subway one day. It's a pretty rollicking folk tune created by the duo making up Bread & Butter, Satsuya and Fuyumi Iwasawa（岩沢幸矢・岩沢二弓）with an arrangement that somehow reminded me of the songs recorded by artists like Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. And y'know what? I think this would be the type of song that could be sung at the barbecue party on that Bread & Butter cover.

By the way, "Barbecue" also has a Bread & Butter classic, "Pink Shadow"（ピンクシャドウ）.

Ikimonogakari/Masayuki Suzuki -- Kaeritakunatta yo（帰りたくなったよ）

Welcome, April 2019 and another Monday! There were the usual April Fool's jokes thrown out on TV today with some folks wondering if the announcement of the new Japanese reign period name "Reiwa"「令和」was part of it. It hasn't exactly been embraced by everybody, you might say. I'm not exactly overwhelmed myself but y'know, I can work with it.

A lot of folks have been going ga-ga over the opening theme for the anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）, "Love Dramatic"（ラブ・ドラマティック）by Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）with Rikka Ihara（伊原六花）, and I know that the show is in its endgame. It's been fun but things have taken a fairly dramatic turn in the last couple of episodes.

The coupling song with "Love Dramatic" is "Kaeritakunatta yo" (I Want to Go Home), a sweet ballad by Martin which I hope can be sneaked into the last episode since the lyrics (and music) by Yoshiki Mizuno（水野良樹）speak of someone going through some hard times wishing to head back home where loved ones are waiting. In a way, that's how I think of Kaguya herself especially after watching Episode 11. The lass has been through a lot, no thanks to her father.

"Kaeritakunatta yo" is actually the 9th single by Mizuno's band Ikimonogakari（いきものがかり）, released in April 2008. To be honest, as much as I love Martin, I have to go with the original version as sung by Kiyoe Yoshioka（吉岡聖恵）. I'm sure that quite a few tears were shed whenever this one has been performed at the concerts. It broke into the Top 10 at No. 7 and ended up at No. 122 in the yearly rankings, going Gold and Double Platinum. The ballad was also placed in Ikimonogakari's 3rd album "My song Your song", released on Christmas Eve 2008 which hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 14th-ranked album for 2009.