I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
When "Kayo Kyoku Plus" contributor nikala provided an article on Shizuoka-born musician, producer and singer Masami Tsuchiya（土屋昌巳）through "Stay in Heaven", like her, I started likening him to late 1980s David Bowie slightly in terms of his looks but much more in his presentation and choice of music. Tsuchiya and "Stay in Heaven" made for some very arresting viewing and listening.
As nikala also mentioned, "Stay in Heaven" is the first track on Tsuchiya's third album"Life in Mirrors" which was released in October 1987 which involved Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）and David Sylvian among others. Another banger is Track 4, "Mizu no Naka no Hotel", literally translated as "The Hotel in the Water" but given the flashier title of "Hotel Atlantis" instead. I gather that Aquaman needed a side job as a hotelier to afford all that rinse and conditioner for his hair living in seawater.
The same duo that created "Life in Mirrors" was also responsible for "Hotel Atlantis", Yasuo Sugibayashi (杉林恭雄) , himself the vocalist for the rock band Qujila（くじら）, taking care of the lyrics while Tsuchiya created the percolating melody and arrangement. I can only say that this Hotel Atlantis must be a really happening establishment underwater considering all of the instrumentalists having a party down there. I especially have to give kudos to guest jazz trumpeter Guy Barker from the UK for his scintillating solo. He had me thinking of everyone from Miles Davis at warp speed to Maynard Ferguson.
In all honesty, although I put "Hotel Atlantis" in the New Wave and Rock categories, I think something like this song rather traverses those boundaries. Doesn't matter...it's a cool song and I can only wonder if there was ever a remix version made of it.
On this Reminiscings of Youth article, it's time to revisit the X-Men.
Yeah, I can't say that "X-Men: Apocalypse" was one of the better entries in that franchise, but there was that awesome and hilarious sequence with Quicksilver saving Professor X's students, a pizza-gnawing dog and a goldfish.
However, the sweet icing on that special-effects cake was "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics which for me was one of the primo songs of the 1980s. The first time that I saw the classic video with Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, my jaw just dropped at the figure of Lennox in the short-cropped fiery orange-red hair looking like the world's most powerful corporate dominatrix while her partner typed quietly at the computer. I was terrified and hooked at the same time.
Also, having been on my synthpop kick at the time thanks to Yellow Magic Orchestra, Depeche Mode and Gary Numan among others at the time, it was extremely easy to get drawn into the synthesized rhythms of "Sweet Dreams" along with Annie's rich soulful voice. Plus her presence in the video is truly attractive on the level of a magnet the size of a truck (it basically made her an overnight sensation). It didn't hurt either that the latter half of the video comes across as a dream to be analyzed, and I'm also including the cow in there.
From what I've read of the background behind "Sweet Dreams", the song was made from the despair that Lennox had felt after seeing her and Stewart's previous band The Tourists break up and therefore their own dreams fizzle away, although Stewart allowed some hope by adding the lines "hold your head up, moving on". Well, as I've encountered in many an anecdote, the adversity brought about success as "Sweet Dreams", their 2nd single from January 1983 (UK), hit No. 2 on the UK Singles chart and then No. 1 on Billboard once the song got its release in America later that May.
Eurythmics came out with some other great numbers but it will always be "Sweet Dreams" when that band's name comes up in my memories.
A couple of weeks ago, I did a ROY article on Randy Newman's"I Love L.A." which also came out in that same month of January 1983. So this time, instead of relying on the Oricon chart, I'll go with the Showa Pops Singles History once more to show what was also coming out at around the same time. At least a couple of the songs below were reported to have come out actually in November 1982 but they have shown up on SPSH in January 1983.
As a fan of sumo, I have to say that the most recent Nagoya tournament in mid-July was most thrilling as it served as the stage for a good number of milestones in the sumo world. Among them were the indomitable yokozuna Hakuho's 45th title and perfect 15-0 run despite a year-long absence and the birth of a new yokozuna in the form of Terunofuji. Congratulations to them both!
It has been exactly a year to the basho since I started watching sumo and I've had the pleasure of witnessing the last leg of Teru-chan's comeback from the pits of the 2nd last division due to injury and illness. His inspiring comeback story and beastly performance on the dohyo made him a common favourite in my household, and we were all hoping he'd be the one with the perfect score and the title to add more pizzaz to his yokozuna promotion, but alas, ol' Haks was having none of it. Nevertheless, everyone's still stoked to have their 73rd yokozuna, one who seems to embody the sumo (Japanese) core value of perseverance, so sayeth the Yokozuna Council members, at least. For the time being, Teru had his tsuna (rope, i.e. that thick white belt with the lightning bolts) made and is in the midst of preparing for his dohyo-iri (ring-entering ceremony) during September's tournament.
Speaking of sumo and yokozunas, I bring to you today an enka tune that includes just that: Kiyoshi Hikawa's"Ninjou Toridejuku" (Kindness at the Toride station). It came early on in Hikawa's career on 7th July 2004 as the B-side to the successful single "Banba no Chutaro" (番場の忠太郎) and seems to be decently popular among fans. Like its A-side, there is a ronin element to "Ninjou Toridejuku" alongside the sumo one, the latter of which I couldn't quite comprehend, what with vocabularies like keisho-mawashi (decorative apron) not making any sense to my perenially struggling Japanese ability. I mean, I did vaguely understand that the words "dohyo-iri", sung once at the end, point to sumo, but I didn't see how it related to the whole assumed ronin-based narrative.
As with most songs I enjoy, what got me into "Ninjou Toridejuku" was its rousing melody courtesy of Hideo Mizumori (水森英夫). Making it stand out from most ronin-related enka in my opinion was the liberal usage of the taiko which seemed to suggest a protagonist with a powerful and/or stubbornly proud character... which is also not uncommon among this enka category. It took seeing Hikawa patting his kimono belt and taking on a shoulder-wide stance to finally allow me to fully connect the song to sumo. You can check out the video here.
After quite a bit of research, I believe that Yurio Matsui's (松井由利夫) words take inspiration from author Shin Hasegawa's (長谷川伸) novel "Ippon gatana dohyo-iri" (一本刀土俵入), which also served as the basis for many renowned rokyoku/enka-rokyoku pieces of the same name by the likes of enka greats like Haruo Minami and Michiya Mihashi. So, in a similar vein, "Ninjou Toridejuku" centers around the hapless (former) low-ranking sumo wrestler Mohei, who got kicked out from his stable for one reason or another. Intent on getting back into the profession so as to one day be able to perform the yokozuna dohyo-iri before his mother's grave, Mohei heads to Edo from Komagata, Gunma, to seek a new stable. Along the way, he ends up at the Toride post/pitstop in Ibaraki, broke in the wallet and probably spirit. There, he meets barmaid Otsuta, to whom he relates his story. Sympathetic to his cause, she provides him with some of her possessions and what little money she has to enable him to take the ferry to Edo via the Tone river, to which he swears to repay someday. I think Matsui's telling of Mohei's exploits ends here. Spoiler: Mohei never makes yokozuna... nor even returns to becoming a wrestler. He just turned into a gambler. I mean, he reunites with Otsuta and there's some sort of happy ending, though.
Frankly, considering what Mohei was up to, somehow Mizumori's score seemed to be on the extravagant side, but I suppose if you looked at it as representing Mohei's determination, Otsuta's graciousness and the powerful sport of sumo, it is rather apt. Also, it really gets the blood pumping when having it playing in one's earpieces on the way to Ryogoku.
To round off here's what yokozuna dohyo-iri are supposed to look like, as done by Kakuryu, Harumafuji, Hakuho, and Kisenosato. Can't wait for Terunofuji's.
P.S. J-Canuck had written an article on the other renditions of "Ippon gatana dohyo-iri", so you can check it out here if you're keen.
From what I've heard about Guy Ritchie's"Snatch", one of the highlights is seeing Brad Pitt's Mickey speaking in that indecipherable dialect which probably left the other characters and viewers alike scratching their heads about what he'd just said.
I've realized over time about how varied the dialects are in the United Kingdom and the United States, and also having lived in Japan, I also know that there is also quite a number of dialects there, too. When I was living in Gunma Prefecture up in the Japanese Alps, I heard plenty of the local thick dialect, and the Tohoku region up north apparently has a number of local dialects that only the insiders can comprehend, let alone speak in. One variety show which I used to watch had a regular segment where the camera crew went to the deeper areas of certain far-flung prefectures where they had the folks converse in their thick-as-molasses dialects after which the tarento featured on the show that week had to somehow interpret what they said.
As some of you might already know, my family basically comes from the Kansai area of Japan which includes Metropolitan Osaka and Wakayama Prefecture. Folks there are also known for their distinctive way of speaking and being very boisterous about it. Quite a while ago, I discovered this song by Miss Hanako（ミス花子）, "Kawachi no Ossan no Uta" (The Song of the Old Man From Kawachi). First off, just to let you know off the top, Miss Hanako is no lady. Miss Hanako is actually male singer-songwriter Kazutoshi Kagitani（鍵谷和利）who originally hailed from Nara Prefecture but mostly works in Osaka.
Now, as for that dialect...yep, Miss Hanako really lets it rip with the local lingo which I believe is Osakan since the speed and vocabulary remind me of what was being bantered all around me when I visited my relatives years ago (mind you, when he sings the title, it all comes out smooth as glass). Basically, the old man in the song is a true salt-of-the-earth friendly guy who everyone in the neighbourhood of Kawachi, Osaka knows. The melody by Miss Hanako has got that funky folk-rock vibe which probably made it ideal for covering by future singers and bands.
Ironically, though, the local flavour of "Kawachi no Ossan no Uta" didn't please the higher-ups at Teichiku Records who basically labeled the song as "crude". So it was Columbia Records that came to the rescue and released it after which the song hit No. 5 on Oricon after coming out as Miss Hanako's debut single in August 1976, selling around 800,000 records.
Later that year, an entire movie was built around "Kawachi no Ossan no Uta" with actor Takuzo Kawatani（川谷拓三）playing the titular grizzled old guy as a truck driver who'll even take on the Yakuza.
And here is Miss Hanako in the flesh performing the song in 2008.
Anyone who has lived in Japan long enough eventually finds about the Takarazuka Revue Company（宝塚歌劇団）, the all-female musical troupe that has pulled out all the stops to entertain fans for over a century. As an English teacher, I've met students who have been huge fans of Takarazuka and there was one short stint with a teenager who aspired to enter the exclusive academy to become a performer. Her mother was also a huge fan so their house was absolutely covered in posters with their favourite stars on the walls. If I'm not mistaken, the Takarazuka fan shop is located underneath the Imperial Hotel (which I now understand is undergoing a major renovation which will take years to complete) in Hibiya, Tokyo near the hall where the troupe performs when it's in the capital.
Am I a fan? Not really. Takarazuka is a bit too lavish for my tastes but a good friend and I were walking through the area one Saturday night, when we just happened to come across a very fascinating sight of the fans waiting for the top star to come out of the hall for a greeting and a handover of bouquets of flowers. The fascinating part was that it was all done silently as it is always done. We could've heard a pin drop on the pavement.
At least a couple of folks here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" are former Takarasiennes, Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）and Mao Daichi（大地真央）.
I'm not sure when I first heard "Mon Paris" but I think it was probably an episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）since I know that Takarasiennes, past and present, have come onto the show over the years. Also, I am uncertain whether this is an official theme song for the troupe but since it seems to have been performed a lot over the decades, perhaps it is. It does make sense thematically because Paris and France have been favoured settings for the troupe's plays.
From what I could glean from the J-Wiki article for "Mon Paris" is that it began as the first grand revue in Japan by the Takarazuka in September 1927. Takarazuka playwright Tatsuya Kishida（岸田辰彌）was behind it all, and a couple of years in 1929, he even came up with the lyrics for a song under the same title while Kyo Sakai（酒井協）, a Takarazuka composer provided the jaunty melody. For the above version, a student from the Flower Troupe, Miyako Nara（奈良美也子）, performed the song. A single was released from two companies (one was Columbia Records) and it became a huge hit.
Seeing that I mentioned Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）in my last article, I realized that I have yet to put up an SAS article this summer, and we are already in August.
When Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）and company ended up creating a song for their June 1978 debut single, "Katte ni Sinbad"（勝手にシンドバッド）, that has since become one of their most beloved classics in their 43-year-old career it's easy to forget that there was a B-side. Yes, Virginia, there was indeed another song on the other side of that vinyl 45".
And you know what? It's quite a nice corker on its own. "Attate Kudakero"(Hit and Crush) by Kuwata isn't nearly as legendarily chaotic summer fun as its A-side compatriot but it is still an enjoyable strut. The J-Wiki article for "Katte ni Sinbad" has oodles and oodles of text dedicated to the song but "Attate Kudakero" has just the one line stating that there is a Motown rhythm underlying it. Well, it's not just the Motown (although I can hear the tribute to "You Can't Hurry Love" in the intro). I can also pick up on some Stevie Wonder soul, ragtime piano and maybe even some Beatles devil-may-care playfulness. Someone even toodles away on a jazzy guitar two-thirds of the way through.
That one-line summary for "Attate Kudakero" also states that Kuwata incorporated at least the idea of the Kumamoto Prefecture-based folk song, "Otemoyan"（おてもやん）, into his lyrics. "Otemoyan" involves a Meiji Era maiden falling for and eventually marrying a man who doesn't exactly have the smoothest or nicest face on Earth. Kuwata's lyrics almost stand for a response to any doubts that the maiden has had about the relationship, exhorting her to ignore the rumours and hit and crush any of those doubts and the doubters themselves.
The above is the boulevard going toward the hotel district of West Shinjuku and all of those skyscrapers. I took that photo back a dozen years ago, and I'm sure that it was blisteringly hot back then as it is now. As such, I was grateful that there were always a few vending machines of drinks every few hundred metres.
Ah, yes...the typical summer festival scene in anime. It can be the ideal setting for romance to blossom. In the nearly ten years that I've been back on the anime kick, the summer festival seems to wend its way into an episode in many a show. During my life in Japan, I've been to a few myself but alas and alack, romance didn't exist for me there, but the many different kinds of food made for a fine consolation prize.
It's just the introduction that I needed for "Summer Love". From that title, one would expect a band like TUBE or Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）, but actually this was a song originally recorded by the late Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦）and his wonderful boomer of a voice. His 28th single from March 1987, it's a wistful ballad that is a bit reminiscent of some of those old summery tunes from the 1960s. Daisuke Inoue and Norio Maeda（井上大輔・前田憲男）helped in the melody and arrangement while Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）came up with the usual lyrics of the warm love in the hot season. The song peaked at No. 34.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
Strangely enough, "Summer Love" was something to be covered within the same year. In fact, one interesting singer behind the mike didn't have a microphone in his day job; it was more a golf club. Yup, another Ozaki...this time, professional golfer Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki（尾崎将司）...covered and released his "Summer Love" in 1987. And crazily enough, he's not bad at the singing thing; he's even come out with three more singles and an entire album.
Ozaki and another famous Japanese golfer, Isao Aoki（青木功）, appeared together on a commercial for Asahi Beer, but it was actually the original "Summer Love" with Kiyohiko Ozaki playing in the background. I wonder if Hideki Matsuyama（松山英樹）has a good set of vocal cords.
Even enka singer Shinichi Mori（森進一）, who's been no stranger to the poppier side of music, covered "Summer Love" in his 1987 album of covers "Kanashii keredo..."（悲しいけれど...I'm Sad, But）.
But let's leave this article with the original singer. Here's Ozaki performing "Summer Love" with composer Daisuke Inoue accompanying him.
