Asako Toki -- Ranhansha Girl（乱反射ガール）

Happy weekend! We finally got some of that rain that we needed although things are still rather steamy out there if a bit cooler.

I'm not quite sure when I first encountered Asako Toki（土岐麻子）and her brand of light pop. Certainly, it was when I was still living in Japan so probably in the late 2000s. Either it was her cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" （君に、胸キュン）or Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Komugi Iro no Mermaid" (小麦色のマーメイド）that I heard at the CD section of a department store in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from my city of Ichikawa. Being a fan of both songs helped but it was also that coquettish but not supremely high-toned voice that lured me into her grasp. Eventually, I would get a couple of albums by the Tokyo-born singer, her 2011 BEST album "Light" and then her 2010 original album "Ranhansha Girl" (Girl of Diffuse Reflection).

Both albums have one song that I've already covered, her own cover of "Human Nature" originally by Michael Jackson for the amazing "Thriller" album and performed by her and Sho Wada（和田唱）of the rock band TRICERATOPS.

But today is on "Ranhansha Girl" which is her 4th major studio album from May 2010. It's been categorized on J-Wiki as a rock album but after listening to it a few times, I really don't think so. Case in point: there's the second and title track about a guy who's about ready to give up on the journey of love when he gets hit by the light of a lady who's apparently half-woman and half-extremely polished prism. He doesn't stand a chance. Written by Toki and composed by Daisuke Kawaguchi（川口大輔）, this is very twinkly pop with strings attached for that light sophistication.

That J-Wiki rock label gets further driven away with Track 3, "Nessa no Onna"（熱砂の女...Hot Sand Woman）. The title track had its elements of synthpop but "Nessa no Onna" gets even deeper into the synths with this bouncy and dreamy tune that tries to encourage the title lady to get back onto the romance track again. Toki was behind the lyrics here, too, with G.RINA providing the melody.

"Usubeni no CITY"（薄紅のCITY...Light Pink City） is one of my favourites on "Ranhansha Girl" as it takes on that contemporary form of City Pop while it describes a refreshing view of the life in the metropolis as the shackles of winter finally come off. Provide a romanticized model of your favourite city (Tokyo, Toronto or New York, for example) and "Usubeni no CITY" can be the theme song as you head downstairs to that brunch place for prosciutto-filled croissants and coffee. Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）, guitarist for the band SUPERCAR, provided the lyrics while Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）of Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）was behind the happy music.

Along with Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", Toki has also provided another cover of a song by a legend. This time, it's The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" with that mix of Toki mellow pop and friendly small-town feeling. Kazumasa Hashimoto（カズマサ・ハシモト）arranged it, and I remember it well since it was used as the commercial song for docomo. Incidentally "All You Need Is Love" is the very first song by The Fab Four that I had ever heard...maybe it was because of my viewing of "Yellow Submarine" on CBS when I was a toddler.

My final song for the article today is "Sentimental" which is also another winner in my books. With lyrics by Toki and music by Kensuke Okuda（奥田健介）, guitarist/keyboardist of Nona Reeves, I love it for the sunny soulful groove. When I saw its involvement by someone from a band like Nona Reeves, I figured that it would get my aural stamp of approval. In addition to that groove, I also like the crystalline sound of the synthesizer that takes things into a more futuristic environment; I'm pushing it a tad far here, admittedly, but "Sentimental" almost sounds like the return of 70s/80s R&B in the 22nd century.

"Ranhansha Girl" had been another one of those albums that I let stew a while after my first listening to it but returning to it, I'm happy that I can appreciate it even more now. The album peaked at No. 32 on Oricon.

Happy (Belated) 40th Birthday, Rydeen!

Well, giving myself the Gibbs Slap upside my head once more since I'm about 19 days late to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Yellow Magic Orchestra's beloved creation "Rydeen". Yep, it was released as YMO's 2nd single on June 21st 1980, although it had already gotten its introduction through the album "Solid State Survivor" the previous year in September. I had just been wrapping things up for the night when I saw some of those YouTube videos for the tune and out of curiosity, I checked the J-Wiki article. Wow! 40 years...

Not sure, but I think "Rydeen" may be the one song on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that has gotten the most follow-ups, including this one. I remember that Marcos V. covered its cover by E-Girls in 2014 and then anime fans got reminded about it through "Sound! Euphonium".

Now, how do I celebrate it? Well, I can mention that "Rydeen" has been used in a commercial.

This is the one for Pocky with Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）themselves appearing in 2014. They just had to be there!

I've been hearing about it for years, but "Rydeen" was also used as the theme song for a long-running game show in Italy called "Bis".

I also just learned that "Rydeen" has been used by Tokyo Giants supporters to cheer on their baseball team.

Plus, it has been used as the entrance theme for pro wrestler Ricky Steamboat whenever he comes to Japan.

Finally, there are all of the remix versions for "Rydeen" on YouTube of which I've enjoyed Chick Norman's tributes above and below. If any of you have any other recommendations, please let me know.

What can I say about one of the cornerstone songs that helped usher me into the wonderful world of popular Japanese music? Fell in love with "Rydeen" and have yet to fall out. I've loved all of YMO's catchy technopop tunes all these years but why has "Rydeen" pulled such a spell on me? I guess it's because when I do hear it, I recall how Japan was simply bursting with energy, industry and technology at the time of its release. If there are homemade music videos using the song, I will always envisage tons of Japanese commuters, trains and other vehicles racing all over TO-KI-O at breakneck speed. Maybe one fellow was right..."Rydeen" was the theme song for Japan in the 1980s.

My only wish right now is that somehow it gets used in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (if the Games do occur). Anyways, Happy 40th!

Chiyono Yoshino -- Slow Dance ni Sasowarete（スローダンスに誘われて）

I gather that there is some sort of record in this. To explain, this is the first time probably in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" history that I've written about two City Pop songs by two different female singers, each with the Japanese word sasowarete on the same day. One is the first article I did earlier this afternoon, Eri Hayakawa's（早川英梨）"Sasowarete Natsu"（誘われて夏）.

This article is on pop singer Chiyono Yoshino's（吉野千代乃）3rd single "Slow Dance ni Sasowarete" (Invite Me for A Slow Dance) from October 1986. Sweet, sultry and smoky, nonetheless I was at first wondering whether the song could still be categorized as a City Pop number, but I couldn't help but feel the urban contemporary nature of it all. Even though there isn't a really huge boppy bass in there, there is the bluesy saxophone, and the strings and keyboard bring that certain air of sophisticated pop.

"Slow Dance ni Sasowarete" was written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也） and is the first track on Yoshino's 2nd album "SLOW DANCE" which came out on the same day as the single. I've just got the one album by her, "Montage" as you can see in the photo at the top but from listening to some of her other tunes on YouTube, I really ought to invest some more of her back catalog. She's starting to strike me as one of the more underrated pop singers in the 1980s.

Masaki Ueda -- Wagamama（わがまま）

Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, who is currently the sophomore anison singer, has been given the eternal title of The King of Love Songs. Well, to share the wealth so to speak, perhaps I can knight another wonderfully cool crooner as The King of Kansai Soul. The recipient of that sword tap on the shoulder is Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）, born in Kyoto and partly schooled in Hyogo Prefecture, and who's been most famous to me for his "Osaka Bay Blues" originally recorded in 1982.

In the same year that Martin came out with one of my favourite songs by him, "Mou Namida wa Iranai"（もう涙はいらない）, Ueda released his September 1992 single "Wagamama" (Selfish). When I first heard "Wagamama", I automatically recognized his similarly smoky vocals but this time with a City Pop arrangement that reflected those early 1990s, primarily through the synths and other keyboards. Once again, it's all about the champagne-and-caviar feeling for that era of City Pop although I think by 1992, the Economic Bubble had already burst.

Written and composed by Ueda, the mellow and loving melody also has lyrics of some consternation from the protagonist who's actually hoping the affair will end but not because of any loss of love. Apparently the whole thing has been too exquisitely painful.

To end the article, I guess my final comparison between Suzuki and Ueda is that whereas the former looks like a nightclubbing tough guy, I've always found the latter to be more of the professorial cool guy. Would be interesting to know whether the two soul singers have ever collaborated.

Masaru Imada -- Andalusia no Kaze（アンダルシアの風）

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure where Andalusia was initially which goes to show how much my geography has deteriorated over the decades. However, I did find out from Wikipedia that it "...is the southern autonomous community in Peninsular Spain.", and with Jere Travels' video of the region, I could witness how lovely it is.

My curiosity in the area was sparked by this first and title track from jazz pianist and arranger Masaru Imada's（今田勝）1980 album "Andalusia no Kaze" (Andalusian Breeze). I've yet to find out much about Imada aside from what I gleaned from his brief description at Tower Records which states that he was born in Tokyo in 1932 and he graduated from Meiji University. He's had a dynamic career as a top musician at various events including concerts and festivals.

The last statement for that Tower Records description mentions that Imada likes to go for a beautiful and romantic sound based on Latin rhythms. "Andalusia no Kaze" has that in spades and I'd also like to add that guitarist Kazumi Watanabe（渡辺香津美）, who I covered just recently through one of his own tracks in the same year, is also contributing his talents on "Andalusia no Kaze" the album. Indeed, it's as smooth as freshly-polished glass, and his piano often sounds like peals of bells.

Eri Hayakawa (Atsuko Nina) -- Sasowarete Natsu（誘われて夏）

To begin, the song of this article is titled "Sasowarete Natsu" (Tempt Me, Summer). For the past several days, Toronto has been in a heat wave and it's very possible that this will continue for at least another week, though there looks to be some rain coming during the weekend. Therefore at this point, I'm more than willing to say "Don't Tempt Me, Summer", although admittedly, Tokyo summers are still far more fiery.

However, on a more musically pleasant note, this "Sasowarete Natsu" is the first single by Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）from 1979. As explained in her first article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" nearly a year ago, the originally named Atsuko Iwai（岩井敦子）from Osaka took on the stage name of Eri Hayakawa for a couple of years and then went to a new moniker, Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）.

In the J-Wiki article for Nina, it's pointed out that Hayakawa's "Sasowarete Natsu" doesn't really follow the City Pop rhythms that she would later adopt from her first album "City" in 1981. But I will respectfully disagree with that statement since I think the bossa nova involved in Yuji Ohno's（大野雄二）melody was an ingredient (along with jazz, R&B, disco, etc.) in what made City Pop what it was in the late 70s and early 80s. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）provided Hayakawa with the lyrics for this debut of hers that reminds me of the first stage of Miharu Koshi's（越美晴）career when she debuted at around the same time with "Love Step", and was also going along the City Pop line. In any case, I'll have that tall glass of caipirinha right now.🍹

"Sasowarete Natsu" is available on a recent re-release of Hayakawa's "City" album as a bonus track. The singer had released a second single under her first stage name, "Kiri no Liverpool"（霧のリバプール...Foggy Liverpool） before that album came out.

Hisayo Inamori (hie) -- Heavenly Sweet

This is my heavenly sweet since I was born: apple pie. It was first the typical smooth pastry crust but in the last couple of decades, I've fallen hard for the crumble-top version.

It's been months since I put this song onto the backlog but I figure that it got there since music master Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）was behind the melody for "Heavenly Sweet", the 2nd single for fashion model, seiyuu and singer Hisayo Inamori（稲森寿世）. This was released in August 2008 with Inamori and LINDEN providing the lyrics. According to her J-Wiki profile, she has gone under the name hie for any of her music activities while going with her full name when going with her other endeavors.

At first, "Heavenly Sweet" struck me in the beginning as a potential synthpop tune but then the warm Tomita touch flowed in like a tide. There is that feeling of bossa and those familiar key shifts which always give me that nearly ASMR reaction down my spine. Yup, that's my Tomita Lab, I thought! The single barely made it onto the Top 100 of Oricon by coming in at exactly No. 100 and was used as the theme and image songs for a couple of TV shows.

In addition, from her J-Wiki profile, she greatly admires singer Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）and actress/singer Mari Natsuki（夏木マリ）along with Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez. Her hobbies include Internet surfing and DJ'ing.