Ski Songs by J-Canuck

 

I remember this time last year when ski resorts in both Canada and Japan were major ugly crying the blues because they simply didn't have two snowflakes to rub against each other. There had been a serious lack of snow which caused the resorts to wonder about their livelihood for the 2024 season. But cue ahead nearly a year later and fate decided to give everyone a huge break and then some. The white stuff has been pretty much non-stop for the past few months and business is booming once more. Maybe it's booming a little too much since all those blizzards could also be making transportation to the slopes a tad difficult.

Considering I'm from the Great White North, my interaction with skiing has been minimal at best (generally, sports and I are not good friends). I did some cross-country skiing during one elementary school trip and then when I was in Gunma Prefecture on the JET Programme, I joined teachers and students on the annual one-day field trip to the slopes (northern Gunma is famous for skiing) and after a few minutes of trying to glide down the bunny slopes, I quickly retreated back to the warmth of the hut and drank down a few gallons of cocoa for most of the day. Additionally, I remember on Wednesday mornings on the local train as I was heading to the weekly visit to the smaller school when it was packed with skiers and had to be careful not to be poked in the eye with a ski.🎿

However, this won't deter me from the pleasure of presenting some of the kayo kyoku/J-Pop ski-themed tunes I've heard over the years. After all, back in the late 1980s with the Bubble Era, skiing became a huge hobby of the Japanese as they hit the slopes of Naeba or Gala Yuzawa. Moreover, although skiing isn't quite the trendy thing to do now, I'm sure that there are still many dedicated skiers taking advantage of the powder snow all over the nation. And as such, allow me to show just five of the many songs that have reminded me of skiing. Consider this the kissing cousin to "Snow Songs".

(1990) Hiroshi Takano -- Niji no Miyako e （虹の都へ）

(1980) Yumi Matsutoya -- Surf Tengoku, Ski Tengoku （サーフ天国、スキー天国）

(1993) Kohmi Hirose -- Romance no Kamisama （ロマンスの神様）

(1986) Anri -- Innocent Time

(1996) globe -- DEPARTURES

Izumi Taku Singers/Candies -- Kaerazaru Hi no Tame ni（帰らざる日のために）

 

This will be the late Taku Izumi's（いずみたく）23rd article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and the composer has been responsible for a lot of works including a commercial jingle and themes for television shows along with his hit songs such as Saori Yuki's（由紀さおり）"Yoake no Scat"（夜明けのスキャット）and Aoi Sankaku Jougi's（青い三角定規）"Taiyo ga Kureta Kisetsu"（太陽がくれた季節）. However, I didn't know about the fact that he had his own group of singers.

Working since the 1950s, in 1972, Izumi brought together a total of thirteen young men and women from an entertainment company, the alumni group from the NHK music-variety show "Stage 101" and even members from the defunct Group Sounds band Fifi the Free to form Izumi Taku Singers（いずみたくシンガーズ）. Initially, the group was divided into a singing team and a dancing team, and during their three years together, they released seven singles and three albums.

However, by the time of their fourth single, Izumi Taku Singers was basically pared down to around seven members. That single was "Kaerazaru Hi no Tame ni" (For the Day of No Return) which was released in April 1974. A bossy and boppy kayo composed by Izumi and written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）, the No. 13-ranked hit was created for the NTV rugby-based drama "Warera Seishun!"（われら青春!...Our Salad Days!）that had an April-September run in that same year. 

The legendary aidoru trio Candies（キャンディーズ）covered "Kaerazaru Hi no Tame ni" on their December 1974 3rd album, "Namida no Kisetsu"（なみだの季節...Season of Tears）. Their version is a bit brighter, for the lack of a better word.

Eiichi Ohtaki -- Christmas Ondo（クリスマス音頭）

 

Yes, I do realize that Christmas ended two weeks ago today but I really couldn't let this one song go, especially I would have to wait another eleven months to activate this one.

To be honest, I only discovered this Xmas oddity a few days after December 25th. The late singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）showed off his humourous side once more with "Christmas Ondo" (Christmas Folk Song). It was placed suitably as the penultimate track on his Xmas Day-release 1977 concept album "Niagara Calendar". Inspired by Julie London's 1956 "Calendar Girl", Ohtaki's tracks follow along the theme of a calendar from New Year's to New Year's.

"Christmas Ondo" is a fun mélange of Xmas music and Japanese festival melody that includes excerpts from "Silent Night", "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells". It makes me wonder whether some enterprising folks in Japan ever came up with a Christmas matsuri somewhere in the years since. One bit of trivia that I got from the J-Wiki article on "Niagara Calendar" was that Ohtaki had begged Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）to include and arrange a string section. Tats wasn't too keen on the necessity but Ohtaki insisted and somehow the deed got done.

Interestingly enough, Ohtaki got together with vocal group Chanels (before they became known as Rats and Star) at a Christmas Day 1979 concert and did their version of "Christmas Ondo". Methinks the guys had generous helpings of spiked egg nog to get them through it.

Hikaru Utada -- Electricity

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Pikachusoup

Time has certainly flown by when one realizes that singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）celebrated her 25th anniversary in show business in late 2023. I remember when "Automatic" was all over the airwaves that one year, especially when I walked into the Shibuya branch of Tower Records back in the day.

In April 2024, in commemoration of that anniversary, Utada released a greatest hits album known as "Science Fiction" which naturally hit No. 1 on Oricon and ended the year as the No. 7 album on CD and the No. 2 digital album. One of the new tracks on "Science Fiction" is "Electricity" which sounds like an intimate tune with saxophone and dance beats about two people coming together and forming the strongest bond. It's soulfully grounded and spacy at the same time. The music video is rather intriguing as it brings together the technological and the natural worlds.

"Electricity" was also a campaign song for the Itochu corporation under the catchphrase "Thanks to you, I'm happy". 

Ruiko Kurahashi -- Ai wo Shiru Toki（愛を知る時）

 

Last night, I met up with fellow KKP contributor Larry Chan for dinner at an izakaya on a very cold night downtown. But at least, the very negative wind chill factor made the hot food all the tastier. One of our conversations focused on the recent edition of the Kohaku Utagassen, and then we got into our choices for our Fantasy Kohaku which involved singers and bands that had never gotten onto the New Year's Eve special. One of Larry's choices was Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）which was splendid. Mine would be the lady of this article: Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）.

Her 1986 album "Main Course" was one of the first album-based KKP articles that I posted all the way back in 2012, and it still remains one of my favourites. A good part of it is based in City Pop, love balladry and sophisticated pop, but the final track on "Main Course" is actually some very innocent and simple straight pop called "Ai wo Shiru Toki" (When You Know Love). Written by Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）and composed by Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）, the soft and comfy arrangement is also something that Kurahashi has done before as she sings about friends realizing that they can take their relationship higher.

Caoli Cano -- Gozen Ni-ji no Angel（午前2時のエンジェル）

 

In my search for that Caoli Cano（かの香織）Xmas song, I did encounter a number of her other songs on YouTube including this one which seems to be perfect for upcoming Valentine's Day. It may be a tad bittersweet though if my interpretation of her lyrics is the right one.

"Gozen Ni-ji no Angel" (2 am Angel) was written and composed by Cano as her 7th single from January 1996. A contemporary version of some 70s soul balladry, it seems as if the angel is a nocturnal young lady who may be torn between two men with one man who finally takes one for the team and decides to let her go despite his own feelings for the lass while she runs off to the other lucky fellow. But again, I may be reading this all wrong. 

In any case, the arrangement is lovely and romantic and can be the right tune for February 14th. Just kinda wished that the music video from YouTube had been shown a bit more clearly. "Gozen Ni-ji no Angel" was actually used in a commercial for Nihon Unisys.

Pal/Ichiro Araki -- Yoake My Way（夜明けのマイウェイ）

 

Although I got into Japanese variety shows and all of those music ranking programs from the 1970s, the typical drama was something that I never really got into. However, the above show "Chotto My Way"（ちょっとマイウェイ...My Little Own Way） which was broadcast as a comedy-drama based on life in a Tokyo restaurant on NTV between October 1979 and March 1980 on Saturday nights caught my eye because of the cast consisting of people who are now considered to be veteran thespians and/or legends such as Naoko Ken（研ナオコ）and Kaori Momoi（桃井かおり）.

What caught my ear as well was the theme song by the vocal group Pal（パル）. The last time I posted about this band which lasted between 1977 and 1982 was back in December 2023, and they have been notable in their presence on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for the fact that each of their songs here have been given different genres, so they were certainly variable in the type of music they sang.

In any case, the theme song for "Chotto My Way" was "Yoake My Way" (Daybreak My Way) which has a half-grand/half-disco opening and ending on the same level as a theme tune for an American prime-time drama in the 1970s. In between though, the song (and words) by Ichiro Araki（荒木一郎）sticks to a jaunty pop arrangement that fits the typical sitcom style in Japan, and as I hinted above, it's the first time that I've used the pop label to describe a Pal song. And this time, it's obvious that the main vocalist is Kayo Watanabe（渡辺香世）. 

The J-Wiki article on Pal is a relatively short one but it does have a section on "Yoake My Way" itself since it did get its own single release in October 1979 and became a hit for the band. It scored a No. 18 ranking on Oricon (ending up as the No. 80 single of the year), selling 400,000 records.

There were a few other artists who covered "Yoake My Way" including the original songwriter Araki himself. His version showed up on his April 1981 album "Concertrick" and it's a more laidback and groovier take.