Kengo Kurozumi -- Lusia

Just finished prepping for my student's regular lesson this weekend, so I'm getting at the blog a little later than usual. Therefore, I'm going for something relaxing tonight for starters.

Why not go for some Kengo Kurozumi（黒住憲五）AOR? I found this B-side to his 1982 single "My Sweet Lady" titled "Lusia" which evokes plenty of hammock swaying and blue sky and refreshing cocktails. With music by Kurozumi, lyrics by Naoko Nishio（西尾尚子）and arrangement by Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）, there's something rather familiar with some of that arrangement during the refrain...maybe a bit of Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）? But I also detected some hint of an American AOR ballad from long ago, too.

capsule -- Sugarless GiRL/Plastic Girl（プラスチックガール）

It's been quite a while since I wrote anything on the intriguing duo known as capsule. I'd been planning to just talk about "Plastic Girl" tonight but I came across one of capsule's later songs, "Sugarless GiRL" tonight, so I decided why not cover both of them girls to compare the difference in time and style for both of them.

The reason that I opted to do the two-for-one tonight was that up to now, I'd always known capsule, which consists of DJ/songwriter/producer Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）and vocalist Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）, as this second coming of Pizzicato Five in the early 2000s, evident in the music and the music videos, taking a look at "Music Controller" and "Tokyo Kissa" for instance. However, as I went through the music stores such as Tower Records and HMV later in that decade, I noticed that capsule's later albums indicated that Nakata and Koshijima had chosen to go in a more electro direction.

So I was curious about how the techno capsule sounded and so I took a look at "Sugarless GiRL" which for some reason reminded me of Trident gum (perhaps 9 out of 10 critics liked the song). Remembering the cover shots of Koshijima looking like a metallic disco queen with futuristic shades from Rigel V, I took a look and listen at the video and noticed that the lass was wearing an outfit that seemed more fit for an old-fashioned soiree. However, Nakata's style in music was definitely away from Shibuya-kei. "Sugarless GiRL" resembles the technopop or electropop (not sure what the difference is here or if there is even a difference in the two genres...sorry, I've always been a neophyte in this area) that I've associated with his other even more successful project, Perfume. Plus, I am also reminded of some later tunes by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Nakata's lyrics speak to a fellow seemingly trying to woo a young lady who doesn't exactly have the warmest personality toward him. Still, the song keeps on bouncing along like a happy pinball in the machine; the man probably won't ever give up in trying to defrost her.

"Sugarless GiRL" is the title track for capsule's 8th album released in February 2007. It peaked at No. 25 on Oricon and has been described by Nakata himself as something that turned out not to be club-like pop but pop-like club music, according to J-Wiki.

Meanwhile a little over 4 years in the past, capsule released their 5th single, "Plastic Girl", in November 2002 following the aforementioned "Tokyo Kissa" and "Music Controller". Of course, Nakata wrote and composed this breezy tune which has that Shibuya-kei feeling that I first associated with the duo. But I do notice some of the techno lightly seasoning this one as well.

The official music video is noteworthy since I see that Koshijima is making like a Japanese version of 60s pop icon and model Twiggy, a figure that I barely remember from my early childhood. And yup, I also get reminded of Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）of P5, too, watching this example of happy-go-lucky life. "Plastic Girl" describes a young lady who has decided to take on that titular veneer to enjoy the footloose-and-fancy-free city life while staving off any potentially disruptive influences such as falling in love, perhaps. I don't know how the single did but it's included on capsule's 2nd album "Cutie Cinema Replay" from March 2003.

DOUBLE -- Shake

Generally speaking, my love for Japanese popular music was probably not shared between me and my fellow teachers. At least, I had no real idea about who they really liked in J-Pop at all, although the head teacher at one of my schools sent me onto the right path when he lent me his copy of Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly". Still, although I'm sure that names like Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵 ）, SMAP and Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）were used as pop cultural references in lessons, the teachers' room was pretty much devoid of chatter when it came to any admissions of affinity for them and their music.

It is for that reason that this particular memory that I have will always stand out. For a few years, some of us teachers had been regularly assigned to a government bank in downtown Tokyo a couple of days a week to instruct some of the younger staffers. And during lunch break one day in 1999, the three of us in one of the classrooms got onto the shocking news about the passing of a young singer who had been part of a duo which was on the rise in the music industry. We hadn't known at the time that any of us had any interest in Japanese music, let alone this sister act, but we actually spoke about DOUBLE.

Back in the 1970s, the three Hirasawa（平沢）sisters of Niigata Prefecture loved to sing. The eldest sister, Noriko, then went to study in the United States and when she returned home, she brought over some music videos featuring American R&B artists such as Mary J. Blige and Janet Jackson which garnered great interest from the two younger sisters. Sachiko（平沢幸子）and Takako（平沢貴子）then started indulging in singing which led to some gigs in the Niigata area. After passing an audition with For Life Music Entertainment in 1995, they made their way to Tokyo and started doing periodic concerts at Yokota Air Base, and a few years later, DOUBLE made their major debut in February 1998 with "To Me".

However, it was with their 4th single in March 1999 that proved to be their breakthrough. "Shake" is catchy with that "Shake it, shake it, shake it..." chorus and the music video is something that had a regular rotation on TV for many months. Written by DOUBLE and rapper MC Ryu and composed by Ryosuke Imai（今井了介）, "Shake" became another welcome addition of Japanese R&B in my mind along with the music of bird and Misia at the time. The groove is as smooth, sexy and slinky as the lyrics and the ladies in the video themselves, and DOUBLE themselves are more than happy to announce their sisterhood.

Selling more than 100,000 copies and peaking at No. 21 on the charts, "Shake" became DOUBLE's biggest hit when they were a duo, and it's also available on their prologue album "Crystal" which came out in June 1999. It went as high as No. 2 on the album charts and sold more than 600,000 copies.

Tragically, about a couple of months after "Shake" made its splash, in May 1999 and just a day before a concert in their hometown, the elder sister Sachiko suddenly passed away at the age of 25 from a subarachnoid hemorrhage in the brain. However, after a period of mourning, Takako resumed a solo career under the name DOUBLE. Releasing 18 CD singles up to 2009 (and 2 digital singles later on), her most successful hit has been "Driving All Night/You Got To" released in June 2002 and it peaked at No. 6. In addition to "Crystal", five more original albums were released up to 2011 with a number of remix and BEST compilations.

Parachute -- Hercules

Parachute is another Japanese fusion band find after getting to know other similar units such as Casiopeia and The Square.

Formed in 1979, it had the intriguing catchphrase of "Music is sport". Whether or not Parachute members were trying to spark a competitive rivalry with the other two bands is unclear but what is certain to me is the fame of the members. As I scrolled down the J-Wiki article on the band, I realized that there were some big names in the original lineup: drummer Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）, percussionist Nobu Saito（斉藤ノヴ）, New Zealand bassist Mike Dunn, guitarists Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）and Tsuyoshi Kon（今剛）, and keyboardists Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）and Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）, almost all of whom have been mentioned in the blog and a few of whom even have their own articles. Kobayashi left after Parachute's 1980 2nd album "6 kinds 6 sizes" but was officially replaced with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）after his guest status on that release.

Speaking of "6 kinds 6 sizes", the first Parachute article I bring to you from that album is "Hercules". It starts off sounding quite Supertramp-ish before the music gets into the familiar zone inhabited by The Square especially. Referring back to that catchphrase, "Hercules" then sounds like something that probably would have been at home as background music during a Japanese sports broadcast, a la The Square.

Parachute released 6 albums in the early half of the 1980s and probably after that, everyone decided to go their separate solo ways. However, there was a DVD released in 2015 to celebrate the band's 35th anniversary.

Kyosuke Kusunoki -- Sugar Dance

We've been having newscasters all day reassuring the lot of us that just because today is Labour Day, it doesn't mean the summer is over. There are still 19 days before autumn officially turns the corner. Yet, there are children heading to school as of tomorrow so for some of them who got interviewed on television, it may as well be September 20th already. They were appropriately rather glum at the prospect, and I do feel their pain since I've been in the same head space.

Not sure if those kids would appreciate my offer of a song to help them relax before getting their knapsacks ready and school clothes ironed, but perhaps some of the more City Pop-oriented fans out there may enjoy this one before heading back to work on Tuesday.

I bring Kyosuke Kusunoki's（楠木恭介）"Sugar Dance" from his 1985 album "Just Tonight". Just to confirm, all of his songs on the blog thus far since "Come To Me Again" earlier this February have been from this solo debut LP, so I gather that his folder here may be like the Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）file. But not to complain at all..."Just Tonight" is that good. Ironically, despite "Sugar Dance" implying a major need to do a frenetic jig on the floor after imbibing several Cokes, the actual song is a far mellower sunset affair with any hint at dancing probably restricted to a slow one cheek-to-cheek.

Kusunoki composed this pleasant mid-tempo tune with Kyoko Utsumi（内海鏡子）providing lyrics, and Hiroshi Narumi（鳴海寛）behind the overall arrangement. I especially love the mid-song trumpet insertion by Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）with the temporary key shift. Now if only "Sugar Dance" can be released on CD instead of just having only the LP available.

Walküre -- Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara（ルンがピカッと光ったら）

I have a tradition whenever the 9th month of the year arrives, and that is to listen to both versions of "September", the early single by Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and the epic joyful R&B anthem by Earth Wind & Fire. "September" by EW&F was released in 1978 but it seems like a song that I've been hearing ever since my early childhood. Moreover, it's been the one song that could get me dancing each time in my chair at home, and as far as I'm concerned, it will be the only song that will get me onto the dance floor even at my current age (as horrifying as that image might be to many).

Then one day, not too long ago, I came across this video:

To say that I was smitten and delighted would be an understatement. This was a minute of concentrated anime joy!

What I would later discover that the original song was "Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara" (When the Rune Sparkles), one of the ending themes for the 2016 anime "Macross Delta"（マクロスΔ）which just has to have been inspired by "September".

A dang catchy song in itself, "Rune" was performed by the aidoru group in the show, Walküre（ワルキューレ）, with Freyja Wion as played by seiyuu Minori Suzuki（鈴木みのり）as the lead vocal, and then the rest of the band helping out through fellow voice actors JUNNA, Nao Toyama（東山奈央）, Kiyono Yasuno（安野希世乃）and Nozomi Nishida（西田望見）. The above is the full version covered by Nyadus on YouTube, but man, she really does sound like Suzuki! You know, this could be the type of feel-good song that could even be covered by Little Glee Monster. Naoki Nishi（西直紀）wrote the lyrics while Minoru Komorita（コモリタミノル）took care of the music.

"Rune" was one song on the Walküre single "Ichido dake no Koi nara/Rune ga Pikatto Hikattara"（一度だけの恋なら/ルンがピカッと光ったら...If It's a One-Time Love） released in May 2016. It made it to No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 94th-ranked single of the year. That first song was also the first of the two opening themes for "Macross Delta". Both songs were also included on "Walküre Attack!", the group's debut album released in July that year which made it to No. 2 on the album charts and later became the 34th-ranked album.

Of course, with YouTube, the ever-popular "September" and the similarly groovy beat throughout "Rune", it was inevitable that an epic mashup just had to be done, so thanks to folks like Emdyion, there is "When the Rune Sparkles in September". Dance away!

But Emdyion wasn't finished. The YouTuber even came up with an amazing inverted version of the song, this time with the late, great Maurice White taking over on vocals.

I learned a lot here. I will no longer admire Minori Suzuki for just "FEELING AROUND" and I have a new song to love from the "Macross" franchise.

The Works of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）

Well, we're finally here once again...

Yes, it's September and this is "September", the very first Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）song that I ever heard all those years ago. I will always cherish this song (and the Earth Wind and Fire classic), but as I mentioned in the original article for the song, this wasn't actually created by the singer. Instead, it was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）all the way back in 1979.

Speaking of that year, it's indeed the 40th anniversary since that record and Mariya herself is celebrating 40 years by releasing her latest BEST compilation in the next couple of days. "Turntable" is a 3-CD extravaganza that consists of songs that she would have placed into her 2008 BEST collection "Expressions", her own covers of tunes that she provided other Japanese singers, and covers of songs by famous Western artists, many of which are Beatles creations. The above video features a quick taste of the songs on Disc 2 called "Mariya's Rarities".

Hearing about the arrival of "Turntable", I thought it was perhaps time to post either a BEST or a Creator article for Ms. Takeuchi. After some thought about it, since I've already got a lot of her hits up on the blog (although that won't stop me from eventually putting up a BEST), I ultimately decided to proceed with the Creator which will be the third such article for this year, to follow the lead of Disc 2 on "Turntable" and put up songs that she provided for other singers. Just to let you know in advance, though, I will be focusing mostly on singers that don't already have a lot of the Takeuchi connection...except for her hubby.

One of the tunes that is included on Disc 2 is "Hey! Baby" which was originally performed by singer-songwriter Eri Morishita（森下恵理）. To be honest, I had never heard of Morishita's material until some days ago when I was trying to figure out which songs to include here, but hey, I really do like "Hey! Baby" which was both written and composed by Takeuchi. This was Morishita's 3rd single from February 1986, and it's got oodles of that 50s/60s bubbly pop sensation that Mariya herself swam in especially in the early part of her career. The single itself peaked at No. 55.

The one big surprise is finding out that Takeuchi even provided a song for Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）. I'd always seen Matchy as a singer who was into raising hell and being misunderstood in his music, but his Mariya-penned "Eve no Kokuhaku"（イブの告白...Eve Confession） from his December 1986 album "Dream" takes things into a 180-degree turn. That intro especially had me thinking of a tuxedo-sporting Matchy congenially welcoming everyone into Tokyo Disneyland on Christmas Eve. However, the lyrics are a lot more intimate in the invitation. Mark Davis, who is really Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, was responsible for the epic Yuletide melody.

For this article, I tried to find out the earliest song that Mariya had written and/or composed for anyone but wasn't successful. However, I did find this tune back in October 1982 that she had done both for former Pink Lady Keiko Masuda（増田恵子）as her 3rd single. "Rasen Kaidan"（らせん階段...Spiral Staircase）. Masuda's vocals aren't quite as strong but listening to the melody, I could easily peg this as a Takeuchi creation simply because it is so pop-bouncy. Whenever I think of many of the songs that Mariya has performed and created, I can easily envisage some sort of stage performance with male and female dancers happily skipping about with straw hats and wooden canes just like on the old TV music-variety shows. "Rasen Kaidan" is one of those songs. It was also included in Masuda's 2nd album "Koi suru O-Tomodachi"（恋するお友達...Friends In Love） which came out a month after the single.

As nikala wrote down for the first Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）entry, "Ippon no Ongaku" (一本の音楽) in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" back in 2015, Takeuchi's husband, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）helped launch the mellow Murata's career, and I've always thought that the late singer-songwriter was a protégé of sorts to Tats because of the similarity in singing styles. So, perhaps it's no wonder that Takeuchi helped Murata out in a few songs such as the second track from his debut album "Mata Ashita"（また明日...See You Tomorrow） in 1982, "Whisky Boy". Takeuchi provided only the lyrics here with Satoshi/Satoru Ono（小野敏）, a fellow member of Murata's amateur band, creating the original music with some additions by Murata. Still, Ono's melody sounds like the type of song that Takeuchi would create on her own.

Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）76th single from November 2011, "Tokubetsu na Koibito"（特別な恋人...A Special Lover） is supposedly the first time that Seiko and Mariya, who wrote and composed the song, have ever collaborated together. It was released to commemorate Matsuda's 30th anniversary in the music business. If I'm not mistaken, that might be both Mariya and Tats' voices as backup. Of course, it's definitely Seiko's vocals but the song is gentle Mariya style. The lyrics are also very upbeat as a woman relates getting another chance with an old flame. "Tokubetsu na Koibito" reached as high as No. 14 on Oricon.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ct4y1Q7p4/

My final entry for these works by Takeuchi is one of the numbers she's done with Tatsuro Yamashita. In this case, it's "Samui Natsu"（寒い夏...Cold Summer） with Takeuchi providing the melancholy lyrics of someone who's missing an old love dearly while Yamashita composed the music that has some hits-me-right-there string arrangement by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）. The whole song has that feeling of the summer coming to a close as those first hints of cool winds are coming in. Perhaps the person in the song is near the dock just staring sadly away at the horizon over the ocean.

Anyways, this article just reflects a mere fraction of the music that Takeuchi has provided for herself and other musicians, and of course, I've already written about a lot of other songs that she's created for them on the blog. If I were to describe the Mariya style of songwriting in a few words, I could say something like "wistful, lovelorn and bouncy", and it seems like that there is still a place in Japanese popular music for that type of music, I'm happy to say.

I hope that some of you do get your copy of "Turntable" in the coming months. For me, I will probably get it as Xmas starts approaching. She's pretty good with those Yuletide tunes, too.

March 24 2026: I have a second list.