Yū Kobayashi -- HANAJI

 

I gather that for a lot of anime fans, seiyuu Yū Kobayashi（小林ゆう）brings up the character of Sasha Blouse from "Shingeki no Kyojin"（進撃の巨人...Attack on Titan） who probably had potato farmers all over the planet crying in pride and joy.

However, I never got interested in "Shingeki no Kyojin". Instead when the name is brought up, I usually go to her very lascivious character of Naruko Yokoshima from "Seitokai Yakuindomo"（生徒会役員共）. As well, she played the extremely competent but quietly intimidating assistant to a family in "Koufuku Graffiti"（幸福グラフィティー）some years later.

As such, I got accustomed to hearing Kobayashi speaking in a husky voice so it was with some surprise that I came across this opening credit sequence to an even earlier anime called "Maria†Holic"（まりあ†ほりっく）which began its run from 2009, about a couple of years before I waded my way back into the anime world. I've heard the title before but never saw this show which is about all of the usual comedic hijinks in a high school where the title character played by Kobayashi is quite unique.

But that first season opening theme of "HANAJI" (Bloody Nose) is catchy with the rockabilly sensation and the interesting thing is hearing Kobayashi singing the song in that high and squeaky voice. Written by Satomi Arimori（有森聡美）and composed by Dai Murai（村井大）, "HANAJI" seems to reflect all of the excitement and chaos that Kobayashi's Maria brings to the proceedings; apparently, Maria is quite the sadist.

"HANAJI" was Kobayashi's 3rd single released in February 2009 and it peaked at No. 13 on Oricon.

Tohoku Shinkansen -- Kokoro no Mama ni（心のままに）

 

Earlier today, both Rocket Brown and I got together to make our latest album-centered podcast on "Come Along Radio". The target album was one that we had been looking forward to doing for some months so definitely we were very glad to finally tackle it: Tohoku Shinkansen's（東北新幹線）lone 1982 album "Thru Traffic".

Now, I've given my fair share of love to "Thru Traffic" through a couple of articles on the album proper and articles on a few of the individual tracks over the years, and frankly the album articles covered only a few tracks with some of them being repeated from the individual articles since the tracks by Hiroshi Narumi（鳴海寛）and Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）who made up the short-lived but fantastic duo Tohoku Shinkansen have been just that good. I gather that giving the tracks their own little articles keeps the good times going.

One that had yet to be covered here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was "Kokoro no Mama ni" (As You Please). The tracks had Narumin and Etsu doing their own solo work or working together in duets. "Kokoro no Mama ni" was another Narumin solo with him also providing words and music in addition to the vocals. It's an oh-so-soft and lush AOR ballad about a bittersweet story of letting the one you loved go to be with the other person he/she truly loves. The singer-songwriter sings his words in a very tenderhearted matter as if he's floating around the very scene, being careful not to interfere with the sad but necessary separation. 

At the risk of giving some of our talk away before the podcast gets put up sometime later, Rocket posited that this was the Christopher Cross track of the album, something that I can agree with wholeheartedly. For me, the arrangement had me thinking a bit of Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville". All in all, it's something very hammock-worthy with a cocktail on the adjacent end table.

Sentimental City Romance -- Potato Chips Kajirusuriru（ポテトチップスかじるすりる）/Turning Point

 

At this point, there really hasn't been any media announcement about it outside of J-Wiki and a Facebook page, but unfortunately for the rock band Sentimental City Romance（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）and their fans, they lost a prime member in the last few days. Guitarist and vocalist Tokuo Nakano（中野督夫）passed away on July 27th of a subarachnoid hemorrhage at the age of 67. I'd just written about "U.S. Time Machine"（U.S.タイムマシーン）, a track from one of their 1970s albums, "Holiday"（ホリディ）, earlier this month. I actually found out about the news of Nakano's passing from my good friend, Rocket Brown of "Come Along Radio", while we were doing a taping of another podcast this afternoon.

Nakano was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in February 1954 and outside of his work with Sentimental City Romance, he was also providing support to other singers such as Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, EPO and Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）through songwriting and backing musician support. He also released three solo albums between 1997 and 2016.

As a tribute, I'm putting up a couple of Sentimental City Romance songs up here to show some of the band's versatility during some of their career. The aforementioned "U.S. Time Machine" from 1976 was about their roots rock roots. But the above video has SCR's "Potato Chips Kajirusuriru" (Gnawing on Potato Chips) from their December 1977 album "City Magic". Written and composed by fellow guitarist and leader Nobutaka Tsugei（告井延隆）, this strikes me as being a gritty and subdued urban rock tune with some hazy hints of progressive rock as someone slowly gets overwhelmed by life among the bright lights in the metropolis with only his potato chips to console him. I can imagine the poor fellow walking the seedy streets of 1970s Kabukicho, a notorious district in East Shinjuku.

KKP contributor nikala was the first person to bring SCR into the blog with her articles on "Flight Tonight" and "Miss Biscuit", both of which appeared on the band's November 1982 album "Dancing". What was interesting about these two was that the album was Sentimental City Romance's foray into a more AOR direction. Another track is "Turning Point" which was co-written by Nakano and Takao Ito（いとうたかお）and composed by Nakano. I think that this particular song has more of that TOTO AOR/rock edge to it as Nakano sings about overcoming all the bricks and sticks being thrown and knowing that there is always a brighter tomorrow...a theme that all of the current Olympians in Tokyo would be happy to accept.

In any case, I would like to offer my condolences to Nakano's family, friends and fans out there. YouTuber Toru Imai uploaded the following video to his channel featuring Nakano and friends covering "Downtown".

Takiko -- Alone and alone

 

I've mentioned it to Rocket Brown of "Come Along Radio" a few times but though I like all aspects of City Pop ranging from the hazy feelings from its 1970s iterations to the new types coming out in the 21st century, there is something that I like to call the "down-home" version of the City Pop umbrella that I've also enjoyed. Now, when I say "down-home", I don't mean that there is a vein of country music running through the Japanese urban contemporary; what I've intended to say that any City Pop tune with that "down-home" feeling is truly something of Japan without any (or barely any) influences from Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers or Airplay. It still feels like a city-bound song whose setting could be a Shinjuku hotel-top bar. If I could mention one example, it would be Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）"Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）.

Come to think of it, I think I may have found another one of those down-home metropolitan tunes via singer-songwriter Takiko（多喜子）. I have never heard of her before but encountering her "Alone and alone" from her 1980 "Jinsei no Waltz"（人生の円舞曲...The Waltz of Life） album, there is something there that also has me thinking of drinking alone in a classy Tokyo watering hole far above the traffic.

She's been listed as a folk singer but with "Alone and alone", at the very least, I see her tackling New Music here but with that cool horn arrangement and a really classy use of the piano, I keep imagining a tryst playing out on the shiny dance floor in a sophisticated environment. Takiko took care of words and music while Kazuo Otani（小谷和夫）arranged everything for "Alone and alone" which reminds me melodically of Junko Yagami（八神純子）and vocally of Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）.

Again, no J-Wiki article for Takiko, who was born Takiko Sato（佐藤多喜子）in Iwate Prefecture. According to "idol.ne.jp", she became interested in music after listening to Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）and began singing folk songs from her high school years. From the mid-1970s, Takiko began working at the Sendai branch of Yamaha Music as a vocal instructor but she also became a DJ at the local NHK radio station in the city where she hosted a segment on one of the shows for 6 years. In 1979, she released her debut single "Jinsei no Waltz" at the age of 25 after which the album of the same name was released the following year. Her catchphrase (and the Japanese seemed to love adding catchphrases onto their new talent) was "A warm breeze blowing in from the north".

I don't know exactly how many singles she released but I think the 1980 "Jinsei no Waltz" was all she wrote in terms of albums.

Amy -- Dance in Dream

 

Once again, I'm adding to the Amy file here on KKP that not only takes care of her career but also that sole album of hers, "Amy" from 1983. 

"Dance in Dream" is the penultimate track from "Amy" and it was written and composed by Hiroshi Suzuki（鈴木浩）with arrangement by Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）. I had initially wondered whether Suzuki here was the jazz trombonist Hiroshi Suzuki（鈴木弘）but I realized that the kanji for the first name was different. Then, there is the Hiroshi Suzuki whose kanji matches and is also a composer, but he was only around 18 years old in 1983 and would later join the Neo-Acoustic band b-flower whose music is a totally different kettle of fish. I'm not saying that it's impossible that it could be the same guy but I think it's pretty unlikely.

And that is because Amy's "Amy" is all about the City Pop and AOR. "Dance in Dream" has a few drops of tropical punch added to the beachside warmth of a melody that seems to weave somewhere between City Pop and AOR. I'll have to go through the rest of Amy's tracks once more, but I think out of all of them, "Dance in Dream" seems to get the most aidoru-esque vocals out of the singer although that's just my opinion.

Beers -- Hold Me

 

A little over a decade ago, I was rather intrigued by this campaign sparked by a collaboration between Sapporo Beer and Royce' the Japanese chocolate manufacturer to create some limited-edition chocolate beer for Valentine's Day. In fact, I was so curious about it that I actually bought a can of the stuff for consumption in my Ichikawa apartment.

The above is indeed my very busy coffee table and dominating the photo is a goblet filled with the Sapporo and Royce' concoction of chocolate beer. During my 17 years in Japan, I never drank beer at home, although on occasion I made my own Brown Cows, so it was something for me to bring home this particular brew. It didn't sound as crazy as one would think initially because I think something like a pint of Guinness would have those taste notes of chocolate and/or molasses. Well, as it turned out, the chocolate beer really did taste like regular beer but then during the aftertaste, the chocolate did kick in. It wasn't a bad thing at all but it didn't change my rules on beer at home.

(12:16)

Anyways, I make my groan-worthy segue into the City Pop/AOR duo Beers, and I recall that one of the KKP commenters thanked me for introducing Megumi Saito（斉藤恵）and Yoko Takahashi（橋本ヨーコ）to him. You're very welcome, I will say, and also in return, I have another track that I didn't cover from their 1983 album "Mistress". "Hold Me", which was created by Takahashi and Saito (words and music respectively), is a journey into the Japanese equivalent of Margaritaville, thanks to the husky voices and the mellow Fender Rhodes, and it hints at that same feeling that I had after downing the entire goblet of Sapporo/Royce' chocolate beer. Fortunately, I didn't have work the next day.

JADOES -- Windy Noon

 

I was planning to get my hair cut at an actual barber nearby for the first time in almost a year but the place looked plenty full with two customers waiting and two customers in the seats so I made a beeline back home once more. Not that I look like the beginnings of a human haystack but things are starting to appear fairly straggly on my scalp. Anyways I'll see how tomorrow looks for a trim.

Yes, as that album screams out, it is Friday which means that the more urban contemporary will be coming out to play today on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". And from JADOES' November 1986 debut album "It's Friday", I bring you "Windy Noon". 

Written by JADOES percussionist Kensaku Saito（斎藤謙策）and composed by vocalist/bassist Hideki DANCE☆MAN Fujisawa（藤沢秀樹）, "Windy Noon" has a bit of disco here and some sparkly Tokyo City Pop there put into the mix. DANCE☆MAN goes full bore on the bass at one point, drummer Yukio Shimamura（島村幸男）brings the sticks crashing down and it sounds like Kazumasa Denda（伝田一正）is having a fine time at the electric guitar. Still, with all of the instruments acting out, "Windy Noon" perhaps does reflect that particular part of the day since I don't get that four-to-the-floor nighttime dance club parade. It is more of that sunny afternoon in the big city and a prelude to even bigger things in a few hours after the sun goes down.