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.
We're bringing back Kayo Grace Kyoku in the environs of a Japanese inn during winter. I've been hearing about the snow and ice that has been blanketing much of Japan. Temps over here in Toronto have been hovering around the freezing point this week with a mix of rain and snow.
It's been a while since I posted anything by the boomer-voiced Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）so I was doing a search and I came across this coupling song to her February 1993 25th single"Itsuka Kitto" (いつかきっと). "Winter Melody" is somewhat more of the bittersweet tune compared to the A-side with Watanabe taking care of the lyrics while frequent collaborator Hiromasa Ijichi（伊秩弘将）, who has also worked with the 90s girl group SPEED, took care of this winter melody.
About a woman coming to grips with her new life following a romantic breakup, the intro sounds like something from the Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）handbook at that time. Watanabe's vocals once again take on the form of a reassuring shoulder to cry upon while the arrangement goes into a contemporary pop mode although I wouldn't place it as a City Pop song. Surprisingly, the music gets increasingly epic...perhaps to signify the woman's rise out of despair but I think the synth brass and strings get a little overwrought by the end. Images of the lady suddenly getting into the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat and flying off to challenge Tom Cruise have come to mind. And I'm kinda left wondering what happened to the winter.
I gotta say that if there were such a thing as a 60th anniversary special for a cadre of Japanese Doctor Who, then the cover for Kome Kome Club's（米米ＣＬＵＢ）2nd digital single would be perfect.
Carl Smoky Ishii（カールスモーキー石井）and the gang are no longer active on the concert scene anymore as far as I know (their website states their latest event as having happened in 2021) which is a pity because they gave some epic performances. But this digital single "WHO?" which came out in December 2021 can help make up for this to a certain degree. It's got the old K2C brassy and funky pizzazz (thanks to Big Horns Bee) and Ishii's over-the-top delivery. I'm not sure if we'll ever seen a live performance of this song which could front a J-Drama about a local superhero, but just listening to this on the stereo is happy enough for the fans.
Another kind gift from JTM over the Holidays was Yoko Oginome's（荻野目洋子）first BEST compilation, "Yōko Oginome: The Best" which hit the shelves on Christmas Day 1985, so definitely a Merry Christmas to all of those Yoko fans. It's an interesting one to be sure because the final track on this CD is "Dancing Hero"（ダンシング・ヒーロー）, the song that I've felt to be the ground zero for my image of Oginome, the angular dancing heroine aidoru of the mid-1980s. So, all of the singles and songs before were still quite new to me although since then, I've become aware of her being one-third of the kiddie aidoru trio Milk in 1980 and then her star turn as the main character in the anime "Miyuki"（みゆき）in 1983. As well, somewhere in my dusty collection of VHS tapes, Oginome was a teenaged assistant in some sort of variety special on television where she was probably known just for "Miyuki" and as the kid sister to actress Keiko Oginome（荻野目慶子）.
In any case, I've already covered a quarter of the sixteen tracks on "The Best", and by the way, JTM gave his thoughts on another BEST compilation almost eleven years ago called "Golden Best" from 2009. I don't think I'll be able to cover everything here but let's how many we can take a look at. The ones that I've already posted will have links to their respective articles.
"Ryūsei Shōjo"(Meteor Girl) is the B-side to Oginome's debut single"Mirai Kōkai (Sailing)" from April 1984. It's the usual mellow aidoru tune on the flip side of the more active A-side. Written by Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, it's got some hints of City Pop or AOR with the instruments involved but Aki's lyrics either talk about that titular meteor girl surreptitiously looking at the boy of her dreams after having a fight with his own girlfriend in the perhaps vain hopes of welcoming him into her arms instead or she really is a girl from outer space observing the surprisingly fragile male ego. Oginome's voice is also just as mellow here, perhaps some months away from gaining that famous nasal tone.
Oginome's 2nd single is "Sayonara kara Hajimaru Monogatari" (A Story That Begins with a Goodbye) from July 1984. Indeed, a story of getting over summertime heartbreak, the lyricist was Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and the composer was Tetsuya Furumoto（古本鉄也）with Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）handling the arrangement. There's some playful drama in the music including that popular electric guitar wailing solo from those days (methinks it's a Hagita thing). I'm getting the impression that the people supporting Oginome at the time really liked to get those music videos with her. I'm not quite sure what child labour laws were like in Japan in 1984 but I certainly wasn't aware that gamine 14 or 15-year-olds were able to work at gas stations. For that matter, I wonder if that fellow at the end was a young Agent Gibbs...or Stringfellow Hawke. Incidentally, "Sayonara kara Hajimaru Monogatari" peaked at No. 29 on Oricon and won the singer a whole slew of awards including those for Best New Artist and Silver prizes.
Ah, nice winter cottage setting there. Then again, we return to the gas station and also a dance studio and even a Japanese music show stage, so I'm guessing that this may have been the wrap-up video for a collection. It's for Oginome's 4th single"Mukokuseki Romance" (A Romance Without Nationality) from February 1985. The lyrics by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）describe a Japanese woman lured into a love affair with a foreigner overseas with the melody being woven by none other than the late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. When I read that, I chuckled a bit since I was reminded of "Medaka no Kyoudai"（めだかの兄妹）from 1982 by the cute-as-all-get-out aidoru trio Warabe（わらべ）. Sakamoto was responsible for its arrangement and it did become a hit although at the time, The Professor was perhaps somewhat aghast at the assignment. The J-Wiki article for "Mukokuseki Romance" did note that it was very unusual for him to actually come up with a melody for an aidoru ("What, again?!"), but hey, work is work. The song has that certain je ne sais quoi of exotic mysticism which is right up Sakamoto's alley. It hit No. 35 on the charts.
"Freesia no Ame"(Freesia Rain) is actually the title track from Oginome's 2nd album released in March 1985. At the risk of sounding like the narrator from Canada's "Hinterland Who's Who", the freesia is a flowering plant native to Africa, so I'm gathering that man and woman in Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）words are traveling on a train coursing through that continent with the latter figure quietly expressing her love for the big lug. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）is usually someone that I equate with arrangement but this time, he also came up with the basic happy-go-lucky melody. As for the album, "Freesia no Ame" managed to get as high as No. 26.
My final song here today is "Kokoro no Mama ni (I'm Just a Lady)"(As You Please) which is Oginome's 6th single from August 1985. Hagita was once again on hand to arrange Mai Arai's（あらい舞） melody and words, and this one seems to be reminder of some of the sweeping aidoru ballads from a few years previously as done by folks like singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. The strings used in the song especially remind me of those earlier days. There seems to be a "poor little rich girl" vibe with "Kokoro no Mama ni" as Oginome sings about being a proper lady and not being able to openly express those emotions such as falling in love. The song reached No. 16 on Oricon and it is the single before Oginome transformed into the dancing Eurobeat aidoru with "Dancing Hero" from November that year.
You know it's gonna be a banger when the first piece of information you get from the song was that it was banned.
Imagine: Japan has been at war for three years (officially, at least). Resources are stretched thinner than before; whatever that could be scraped together was sent overseas for the soldiers stationed abroad. This is stacked on top of the worsening economic situation and poor harvests.
Poverty’s stranglehold has never been tighter, morale has never been lower, and the patience is wearing thin over the war that's been dragging out for way longer than it should. Yet, the government calls for greater austerity and condemning any smidgen of decadence, from painting your nails to "overly" sentimental songs.
Nante iu yatsu genki ga tarinai (Get a load of this guy! You just ain't got enough pluck!)
And then, you have "Tarinai Song" (The Not Enough Song) recorded by the Columbia Rhythm Boys and set for release. It was September 1940. Jazz and blues aficionado Ryoichi Hattori (服部良一) had come up with a catchy, rumba-inspired number to accompany the bold words by lead tenor Hideo Akiyama (秋山日出夫) and the rest of the quartet. As with all songs at the time, it was sent in to the record censors for vetting.
In R. Hatter's biography, the purpose of this silly ditty was to encourage the masses to keep their heads up and continue to give their all to the nation during this strict State of Emergency and trying time of severe lack. So, technically, in line with what the government and censors want. I appreciate the thought, bois, and I see where you're coming from, but y'all flew too close to the sun with this one, as hilarious as the song is. Basically, "Tarinai Song" had the Rhythm Boys complaining about the lack of something, be it rice, money, the concern for the state of emergency, or the affection of the young lady working the cigarette stand. And for every concern, there'll be a retort like, "You ain't working enough! (That's why you got no money!)" The humour is on-brand, but plainly read, "Tarinai Song" is so on the nose in highlighting the lack the war is causing and kicking down the Imperial government's façade that all's fine on the resource front. With it being too accurate and honest a picture of pre-Pacific War Japan, I'm surprised they thought it'd survive inspection.
As you may have noticed, the word “tarinai” (meaning a lack of/not enough) in the title is presented in katakana like so タリナイ, and was mostly written as such in the lyrics rather than in kanji where it may have looked like this 足りない. Since the advent of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War in late 1937 brought about a tighter grip on media censorship, I reckon that the Rhythm Boys and dear Hattori sensei were trying to skirt the system by making the word less obvious. Kinda like how YouTubers skirt the platform's auto-censorship by replacing letters with funky characters or numbers. But with the lyrics' meaning clear as day and with how our four jazzy bois were pretty much howling out their dissatisfaction at the state of things, “Tarinai Song” may as well had a “Ban me!” (禁止頂戴) sticker pasted over it in big, bold, red words. And so the censors gladly obliged.
(Noelle from 25/1/24: I relooked at the original lyric card during a trip to the NDL today; record event organizer Tadaaki Kitakawa (北河忠昭) had also kindly shared the image on Twitter. Unlike the "Ketteiban..." album's liner notes that mostly used タリナイ, the original lyrics actually predominantly used 足りない,while タリナイ was used in reference to the song's name. So much for skirting the system. It's as if our bois just dumped a thimble of water on their heads and straight-up walked into the fire. I know record censorship was known to be comparatively sloppy, but I'm impressed "Tarinai Song" got as far as having its lyric card published in the official Columbia Records monthly entertainment magazines. Way to go, fellas. Then again, I suppose Hattori's rationale was strong enough to convince the record company to green light it.)
Despite the fate of "Tarinai Song,"Hiroyuki Kondo (近藤博之), who'd written a full-on thesis on Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴) and contributed information and commentary to the liner notes of his centenary album "Ketteiban Nakano Tadaharu to Columbia Nakano Rhythm Boys" (決定版中野忠晴とコロムビア・ナカノ・リズム・ボーイズ), wrote in the latter that by a stroke of luck, the original recording was found after the war. This was how "Tarinai Song" managed to make a comeback, the former appearing in Mr. Nakano compilations in recent years like this centenary one. I'm so glad it did because it's fantastic. Likely within my Top 10 Hattori Melody - maybe I should make that list.
Speaking of Mr. Nakano, "Tarinai Song" was just recorded by the Rhythm Boys themselves without him, which may explain the lack of a "Nakano" in the quartet's name for this tune. The quartet did their own activities without the lead vocalist from time to time. Still, the group with or without Mr. Nakano didn’t seem like particular strangers to potentially controversial yet humourous songs chock full of social critique. Just a few years prior, they did a cover of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” titled “Fukeiki Nanka?” (不景気なんか？... Is there, like, a recession?), but the titular wolf was economic recession and the three little pigs were three wretched university graduates who couldn’t seem to find employment despite their qualifications… Good thing times have changed and songs like "Fukeiki Nanka?" and "Tarinai Song" aren't that relevant, right, guys? *Puts on clown wig and make-up* Right, guys?
*Information on the state of Japanese society before the Pacific War mainly came from my understanding of "Grassroots Fascism" (Yoshiaki Yoshimi), and the prewar-wartime record censorship came from "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" (Hiromu Nagahara).
P.S. Sometime last week, I was at the National Diet Library doing my usual resource dredging, and while looking through the archives of prewar Columbia Records' monthly music almanacs, I came across the promotional pamphlet for "Tarinai Song." It had the cheeky faces of the Rhythm Boys next to the song lyrics. The guys speed-ran record bans and I'm impressed it managed to get that far before getting the axe... Why was I looking through Columbia Records' prewar archives when Hachi was from postwar King Records? Well, I'd been studying Hachi's and King's resources beforehand. And - I mean - Columbia was one of the modern Japanese music industry's old guard. *Sweats nervously* It's good to know more about kayo history, y'know. I certainly wasn't looking for snaps of a certain singer from that company from that period of time whose initials are N.T. ( ºωº; )
P.S.S. Speaking of Hattori, I've recently gone to another record appreciation event featuring the Father of J-Pop organized by the same fellas who brought Ichiro Fujiyama and Roppa Furukawa to life last year. It's split into 2 parts with the 2nd half in early February. I'll be sure to do a reflection piece after that. Apparently, Part II is gonna feature Hattori's hit ryukoka. I love me some Hattori Melody, so I'm looking forward to it.
Well, this one caught me by surprise. I was just watching the first "Uta Con"（うたコン）episode of the year which was the usual clip show as a review of the past year. I had wondered whether last year's Kohaku Utagassen would be doing a tribute to all of those singers and musicians that had been lost in 2023 but instead, "Uta Con" opted to do their own special segment to end the episode for people such as Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）and Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）.
However, one whose departure from this mortal coil that I hadn't been aware about until tonight was enka singer Shoji Koganezawa（小金沢昇司）. I hadn't come across any notice on the news regarding his death online or on TV but I did find the above TV Asahi announcement just now that had been posted a week ago. The native of Kanagawa Prefecture died on January 11th 2024 at the age of 65 from respiratory failure.
Probably his most famous hit was his "Arigato...Kansha"（ありがとう…感謝）from 2003 but I already posted about that one back in 2017. So I've decided to go to his beginnings and write on his debut single"Omae Sagashite"(Looking For You) which was released in August 1988. Sung tenderly by Koganezawa, the lyrics by Ou Yoshida（吉田旺）are actually a mix of anger and relief and reassurance from a lover who had been searching for his significant other for two years. Finally tracking her down, he gives her a solid chew out for running away from him but at the same time, promises his continued love for her. Seiichi Sakurada（桜田誠一）was responsible for the boisterous music. I wonder if a lot of Koganezawa's friends and fellow singers are feeling the same way about their colleague leaving them so early.
My condolences go to Koganezawa's family, friends and fans.
It's been nearly four years since I've posted anything on 80s aidoru Noriko Matsumoto（松本典子）. Ironically enough, the day that I did post my last article on the Tokyo-born singer was on KKP's 8th birthday on January 30th and we're fast approaching No. 12.
For the record, I think the original "Kanashii Kotori"(Sad Little Bird) by fellow 80s aidoru Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）with its particular arrangement will always be the best one for me. However, having said that, Matsumoto's cover of that 1985 song isn't too bad either. A track on her 3rd album"Jasmin" from October 1990, this version of "Kanashii Kotori", which was written and composed by the poet and photographer Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）, sounds somewhat more mature under the selection of synthesizers including one that sounds like an accordion from Paris and the slightly more measured singing by Matsumoto.
When I first heard this song, the first words of "Gomen ne..."（ごめんね...I'm sorry） suddenly sparked an engram of recognition within me. I hadn't quite remembered the title of Saito's signature song but as it went along, I finally could get my memories in order.
I'd heard about this song in the months before I saw this unit Hamaiku（ハマいく）perform it on the 74th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen almost a month ago. But just to give some background, it appears that "Uta Con"（うたコン）isn't the only NHK music program that has undergone a few regenerations like "Doctor Who". There has been a late-night Saturday music show called "Venue 101" which has been kicking around since the spring of 2022 which took over from the 2016 "Shibuya Note"（シブヤノオト）which itself had inherited the reins from the 2007 "Music Japan" and the 1993 "Pop Jam".
From what I've seen of the episode synopses on the show's J-Wiki article, "Venue 101" looks at and invites over the currently hip singers and bands. The hosts are droll comedian/TV personality Ryuichi Hamaie（濱家隆一）of the Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy duo Kamaitachi（かまいたち）and Erika Ikuta（生田絵梨花）who used to be part of aidoru group Nogizaka 46（乃木坂46）.
Well, it was decided that a few months into "Venue 101", Hamaie and Ikuta just had to come up with a song of their own for the show. Smashing their family names together to form the duo Hamaiku, a cute little ditty titled "Beat de Tohi" was released as a digital single in October 2022. Created by musician meiyo, it's got a few genres mixing it up in there but for the most part, it's the disco that I hear. Basically, it's kawaii and cornball at the same which makes for an ironic contrast with the hipper stuff from the show's guests.
The tohi in "Beat de Tohi" is something that I have no idea about (scalp, escape?) but meiyo's lyrics pretty much define what the official concept for "Venue 101" has been and that is to make listening to music more fun. But in the past several months, what's amped up the song's profile considerably is the choreography attached to "Beat de Tohi", beginning with Hamaiku themselves and then spreading onto other groups, celeb or non-celeb.
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