Naotaro Moriyama -- Niji（虹）

 

Throughout this time of listening to singer-songwriter/actor Naotaro Moriyama（森山直太朗）, I've come to the conclusion that he can come up with some of the most wholesome and moving songs while possessing a very deadpan sense of humour.

However, it is the former that I've come to highlight here with his song "Niji" (Rainbows). This apparently was never an official single but one that he made in tandem with his songwriting partner Kaito Okachimachi（御徒町凧）as a song for chorus at the 2006 edition of The NHK All-Japan School Choir Competition. School competitions for chorus are a major deal in the lives of students throughout the nation during their time in education, and I was able to attend one such competition on the prefectural level when I was on the JET Programme.

Not surprisingly, even after the 2006 NHK competition, "Niji", which can really hit listeners in the heart, has been used at chorus competitions at the junior high school level among other events, according to the J-Wiki article on the song. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been used at the high school or even college levels as well. "Niji" has been included as a bonus track on limited editions of Moriyama's November 2006 album, "Kazemachi Kousaten"（風待ち交差点...The Intersection Waiting for a Favourable Wind）, which peaked at No. 19 on Oricon.

Maison book girl -- Yami-Iro no Asa

 

Hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend so far. I've just gotten up from a nap as would be the case for a guy my age.

Anyways I'm happy to say here that one of our Kayo Kyoku Plus contributors, Joana Bernardo, has come up with her own twenty-minute video regarding a major segment of Japanese popular music titled "A History of Japanese Idols" so I hope that you can give that a gander. Very proud of her hard work there. I was able to learn some good information from the video including someone who has been called the very first aidoru, Matsuko Ashita（明日待子）, from the early 20th century. I rather liken her to a Japanese version of Mary Pickford who was known as "America's Sweetheart" but was actually born right here in Toronto.

I'd actually been hoping to track down a YouTube video of Ashita's first recorded song from 1946, "Tanoshiki Ashita"（楽しき明日...A Happy Tomorrow）, but alas I couldn't find anything of it or even anything substantial on Ashita herself unfortunately. Maybe someday.

However, in keeping with the theme of aidoru, I've decided to devote this article to one of the more contemporary aidoru groups with that indie streak. I have already written one article on Maison book girl through their song "lost AGE" due to what I discovered in a local free magazine, and then Joana herself was even able to see them live in Brighton, England back in May 2018.

"Yami-Iro no Asa" (Dark Morning) is a track on their July 2019 single "umbla", and one commenter under the video made a humourous remark about the song and the music video traumatizing the kids if NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）ever got their hands on them. Musician-songwriter Kenta Sakurai (サクライケンタ), the man who brought together everyone for Maison book girl, was behind the words  (translation by Kimono Beat) and music for this brightly-sung and nimble-footed song whose whole effect with the video is a mix of despair and a Salvador Dali painting. The only thing missing is the melted clock.

Cindy -- Destiny

 

Earlier in April this year, Marcos V. gave his impressions on Miho Nakayama's（中山美穂）September 1989 album "Hide n' Seek" and one of the songs that he covered was "Destiny", this bubbling New Jack Swing tune. It was actually a tune that has been familiar to me for years.

And the reason for that was "Destiny" was also used as the commercial song for a Hitachi component stereo system with Miporin herself strutting away in the ad. I used to see it quite a bit on the old telly in Gunma Prefecture.

Well, as has often been the case for a Miho Nakayama dance-pop number, it was the late singer-songwriter Cindy who provided words and music for "Destiny". When she released her own 1990 album "Angel Touch", Cindy also recorded her own cover of that very song. It's about a minute longer than the Miporin original and it still has plenty of that percolating New Jack Swing goodness in Cindy's cover as well as some sultry vocals.

Satoshi Nakamura & Splaash -- City Lights

 

I was rolling through the backlog of songs that I could write about, especially an urban contemporary one since it is Friday today, and I did find one which might possibly have listeners irresistibly grab some sort of sipping libation, sit on a sofa and sigh peacefully. Even better would be having a high enough balcony to enjoy a sunset view.

Coincidentally enough, I was just talking about musician/arranger Satoshi Nakamura（中村哲）a couple of days ago for his work with the band Platinum 900 in the 1990s, and I mentioned even then that he's had a long and varied career helping all sorts of singers. Well, I tracked down his J-Wiki file and he's got a mighty huge block of clients for whom he has provided composing and arranging services. I've also read that he provided the soundtrack for a 1978 TV drama starring internationally famous action star Sonny Chiba（千葉真一）who passed away a couple of weeks ago. As well, Nakamura has helped out a few bands such as Spectrum（スペクトラム）, Prism, Paradigm Shift and Anzen Band（あんぜんバンド）.

Well, it looks like he had been able to gather some top-notch musicians to form a group called Satoshi Nakamura & Splaash (and yeah, the double-a is intentional) which released an album in 1979 titled "Splaash". Categorized on Discogs as a fusion and Latin jazz album, I gave the first track, "City Lights", a whirl and as I said in the introductory paragraph, this is a sipping liquor-friendly tune.

Of course, Nakamura not only composed and arranged "City Lights" but he also shared tenor sax duties with Yasuaki Shimizu（清水信之）. Katsutoshi Morizono（ 森園勝敏）and Kenji Omura（大村憲司）, who are also represented on KKP, are on guitar, and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）is on the acoustic piano among other stars who all help provide some relaxing bluesy fusion. Nothing better than this on a Friday night before a weekend (especially a long one that we will be having here in Toronto over the next few days) to chill out.

Naomi Miyanaga -- Love Collector

 

Uncertain where I took this photo...Japan or Canada? The massive size of those strawberries and waffles would indicate my hometown of Toronto (maybe at Café Demetres) but the date on that photo in the bottom right seems a tad early for my Holiday trips back home. So who knows? I'm sure that it was a delicious dessert.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1i34y1n7Qp/

(12:56)

Anyways, we have singer Naomi Miyanaga（宮永尚美）for her third time on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". In her first two articles on the blog, I featured a couple of her tracks from her 1984 debut album "Moment": "Summer Rain" and "Party ni Furarete"（パーティーにふられて）. Having a listen to those two once more, I found them on the mellower side of City Pop. 

Miyanaga's 2nd album (and possibly her final album) was "Che~!"（チェッ!...Tsk!）in 1986, and the cover has the smiling singer looking like she's about to paint the town as red as that background. "Love Collector", a track provided to her by lyricist Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and composer Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）, is definitely more laden with the beats. There seems to be an infusion of Hitomi Toyama（当山ひとみ）dynamism which would imagine some of that American West Coast danceable form of R&B of that decade. As I said, Miyanaga looks ready to party hearty and her voice has taken on some more sultriness.

Hiroshi Sato -- Shiny Lady

 

Mighty shiny building in West Shinjuku. I hope those window cleaners got a hefty bonus for their work. Not sure whether I actually set foot in there, but there was one of those towers that I did get to enter to have dinner right at the top. Wonderful view...in fact, it was so wonderful that I've completely forgotten what I ate there. If you know my appetite, that's not easy to do.

"Shiny Lady" is the first track on singer/musician Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）compilation album "This Boy" from May 1985. Sato of course composed and arranged this bouncy and funky City Pop tune that, for the lack of a better word, is a typically Sato-esque creation. The man is a marvel on the keyboards which include a Yamaha DX-7, a Mini Moog and a Fairlight CMI according to the J-Wiki article on the album, and the whole effect is like a walk among the modern skyscrapers of the aforementioned West Shinjuku, day or night. Yui Masaki（真沙木唯）is behind the lyrics that Sato and his backup, EVE and Miho Fujii（藤井美保）, sing out high and low.

Now that I've been listening to City Pop with all of its members including Sato, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）among others, I've gotten some pretty solid images whenever I hear their music. With Tats, it'll either be a beach or an Eizin Suzuki painting, but with Sato, it'll be photos of gleaming Tokyo buildings.

Yu Mizushima -- Autumn Wind

 

Looks like we've got our second "Yu" singer for today. Earlier this afternoon, I wrote up on Yu Hayami（早見優）since she's celebrating a birthday, and now here is seiyuu Yu Mizushima（水島裕）.

According to his J-Wiki profile, he's been playing anime characters since 1976 but he has also been dubbing for specific actors in Hollywood movies, one being Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in the NTV broadcasts of the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Now, the video here doesn't specifically state that it is indeed the Fukuoka-born Mizushima dubbing Hamill although when I punched his name and "Star Wars" into the YouTube search engine, this is what I got.

However, I'm not here to go ga-ga over the Japanese dubbed version of "The Empire Strikes Back". Mizushima also released his own set of singles and albums beginning all the way back in 1972; yes, I know that his seiyuu career didn't begin until 1976 but apparently he released his first single that year under a different stage name. Actually, his real name is Kenji Noda（野田憲司）.

Anyways, his final album to date was "Mujaki na Kankei"（無邪気な関係...An Innocent Relationship） from 1985 and doesn't he look cute in that candy-cane rugby outfit? I don't know whether the entire album is City Pop or J-AOR, but one track on Side A, "Autumn Wind", certainly has that vibe. I kinda figure with the cooler weather today and our distance toward the first day of fall getting smaller everyday, it was time to pull out the seasonal tunes. Besides, City Pop Fridays is upon us so why not get started several hours early?

Written by Tamamitsu Akaoni/Akaki（赤鬼玉光）and composed by Junichi Kawauchi（河内淳一）, the song screams so much 80s urban contemporary in Japan that I really needed to get that bottle of Perrier and that pink sweater wrapped around my waist. To be honest, Mizushima's vocals aren't bad but I don't think folks like Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）will be shaking apart their guitars in fear. Still, the AOR keyboards with a bit of twinkly Doobie Bounce go down smoothly.