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.
Just to give everyone who may not know her a preview, this is former competitive skater Mao Asada（浅田真央）. She's become quite the legend due to her feats on the ice and has been a regular face on Japanese TV not just because of her skating but also through commercials.
Apparently, she's now broken into the world of music videos. That is indeed Asada against the backdrop of a different form of H2O as Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）sings her latest release, "Days of Love" which got its debut on YouTube a couple of days ago. Written by Takeuchi and composed by her husband Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, it does have that Tats feeling of twangy guitar and languid rhythm that has often gone into one of his songs.
"Days of Love" is now being used as the campaign song for Airweave, a mattress company. It's a nice fit, considering how relaxing the song feels.
My friend and fellow contributor to KKP, Marcos V., and his own buddy were kind enough to allow me to use some of his photographs after visiting Rio in their native Brazil some days ago, so many thanks to them both. Regrettably, I've yet to travel anyplace south of the Equator but maybe someday, I'll be able to see places like Brazil or Australia or Singapore.
Although I haven't been to Brazil yet, I've been well acquainted with their samba and bossa nova for literally decades, and it seems as if folks in the Japanese music industry have also been very admiring of the genres for that long as well. In fact, I see that Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）provided some of her own songs infused with those particular two. I came across these jewels not too long ago and I couldn't decide which one to go with first, so I've opted to cover both of them together.
The first one is "Ai Suru Ashita"(Loving Tomorrow). A B-side to her 42nd single, the June 1969"Aishite, Aishite"（愛して愛して...Love Me, Love Me）, "Ai Suru Ashita" was apparently used as the theme song for a movie of the same name, and it certainly sounds quite majestically bossa nova. Written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composed by Osamu Shouji（東海林修）, the orchestra gives the song a sweepingly romantic heft and there's no doubt what the movie is about from the title and the arrangement of this song. In its own way, I kinda feel like it's the Japanese take on "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing".
The second song was recorded by Ito many years later in September 1984 for her album "Fado"（ふぁど）. "Aki no Jasmine Tea" (Autumn Jasmine Tea) is a more mid-tempo bossa song with a bit more of a City Pop feeling and fueled by the sweet and husky tones of the singer. Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）was the lyricist while Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）took care of the brisk melody. Enjoy the drink.☕
Probably like a lot of many other kids, I found out about the word "Eureka!" while reading a children's reader on Archimedes. Testing that principle myself, I found out I could overextend it by a good country cube...a little guy, I wasn't.
Now, this all brings us to singer-songwriter Gen Hoshino's（星野源）latest single from the last several days "Eureka". I've been a fan of the guy for his catchy tunes but it's been over a couple of years since I last posted up a Hoshino song and that was "Kigeki"（喜劇）, my very favourite because of the combination of Gen and groovy.
Hoshino continues the Gen and groovy with "Eureka". Not sure if it's been picked up as a theme for a J-Drama or as a commercial tune, but I certainly like it for its relatively low-key rhythms and delivery. Just like "Kigeki", it's got that nice bit of soul mixed in with the pop as well. Plus, I will always appreciate a good piano pop piece.
Well, whaddaya know! It has been used as the theme for the currently-running TBS drama "Madoka 26-sai, Kenshuui Yattemasu!"（まどか26歳、研修医やってます!...Diary of a Surgical Resident : Madoka）.
It's been a quiet Sunday today although there is a major golf tournament in Pebble Beach right now. However, we've got the Super Bowl next Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles which should have the American football fandom going wild as usual. I remember hearing a lot of American ex-pats in Tokyo trying to get Monday morning off to catch the game at a sports pub.
Perhaps 1970s aidoru Mako Ishino（石野真子）was thinking of stirring up her Sunday with her 4th single"Nichiyoubi wa Stranger" (Sunday is a Stranger) from January 1979. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it's quite the jaunty tune about a couple having the time of their lives on what is supposedly the day of rest. Nice to see Mako again, by the way, since the last time she appeared on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was back in the summer of 2021.
One interesting piece of trivia I picked up on the J-Wiki article for "Nichiyoubi wa Stranger" was the intro riff. And yep, there was something quite familiar about it. Well, it turns out that R&B-loving Tsutsumi opted to adapt a musical phrase that had been used in at least a couple of American songs: "It's The Same Old Song" by The Four Tops and "Time" by gospel group the Mighty Clouds of Joy. Ishino's single peaked at No. 19 on Oricon.
As of last year's appearance, enka singer Yoshimi Tendo（天童よしみ）has been on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen a total of 29 times so far dating all the way back to 1993. Following further tradition, she once again released a new song last month.
Tendo's 81st single from January 15th is "Showa Gokoro" (The Heart of Showa) which seems to come in line with her previous single a year back "Showa Katagi"（昭和かたぎ）. Written by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, there's a lot of metaphor within the lyrics as the Showa era (1925-1989) is seen as this older but more-than-welcome traveler arriving at the station of Reiwa (the current era) to bring back some of those laughing and crying sepia-toned memories.
"Showa Gokoro" is a stately song with plenty of that sleeve-grabbing emotion that is de rigueur for any enka tune, and the way that Tendo delivers it brings some of those memories of Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, the Queen of Kayo Kyoku who Tendo has often been compared to. The single managed to reach No. 21 on Oricon.
A couple of days ago, fellow Miho Nakayama fan and KKP contributor Marcos V. was kind enough to inform me of a video on YouTube showing the late singer-actress' final concert recorded last July and released late last November, only several days before her untimely death. It's been up on the platform for about a couple of weeks now and frankly I don't know how long it will stay up before the powers-that-be probably clamp down upon the uploader, so get your views when you can. There's also a disclaimer by the fellow stating that the video will only be available at night. I'm assuming that means Japan Standard Time. As well, there are time stamps on the YouTube page so you can check out your favourite Miporin tunes.
When I got my own copy of Miho Nakayama's（中山美穂）"Blanket Privacy", her 6th compilation album of re-recordings of her ballads, two new tunes and three cover songs from November 1993 years ago, I was surprised that one of those covers was Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete" (Fill The Last Scene With Love). Not to say that doing so was the wrong thing to do by any means; Kurahashi remains one of my favourite singers to this day. It's just that I had never expected a former aidoru-turned-pop singer to cover a tune by another singer whose profile didn't reach anywhere near superstar status (although Ruiko has a very dedicated following including myself). To be honest, the only connection between her and any other singer that I was aware about was through the duet consisting of her and Takao Horiuchi（堀内孝雄）, "Hanrira"（ハンリーラ）back in 1985.
And yet, here Miporin is, covering a Kurahashi Fashion Music classic. The original "Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete" has an epic orchestral feeling that makes me feel as if it could be used for an Oscar ceremony "In Memoriam" segment. For Nakayama's cover, the Knock arrangement of Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）and Kisaburo Suzuki's（鈴木キサブロー）creation keeps things classy but has more of a contemporary power ballad feeling. Although I think in any emotional tribute video to the singer, a more well-known Miporin ballad will be used, her "Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete" could also fit the bill.
Indeed, welcome to February! And as would be the case here in the Great White North, it's sunny but the temperature is currently a frigid -12 degrees Celsius with a -19-degree wind chill. Seeing the NHK weather caster in Tokyo do a cute shiver and say that the Japanese capital is faced with the deep freeze at +7 degrees C had me sighing. We Torontonians would kill for a +7 right now!
However, the skiers and snowboarders are definitely not crying the blues right now and they're most likely flocking like pigeons to the slopes north of us. There was quite a lot of snow falling in southern Ontario a few nights ago.
And that of course has reminded me of the connection between J-Pop and skiing. About a month ago, I posted up an Author's Picks regarding the popular ski songs which kinda centered on the ski boom days of the 80s and 90s. Well, relatively recently, a solo act called Nostalgic New Town (with lyricist/composer connie also as the vocalist, I'm assuming) came up with an enthusiastic tune in early 2023 that hearkens back to those lovely ski times and songs.
"Mafuyu no Winter Love"(Mid-winter Winter Love) reflects the nostalgia in Nostalgic New Town as I got reminded of the Queen of Winters, Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）, and even that duet between Hiroshi Takano（高野寛）and Takao Tajima（田島貴男）, "Winter's Tale ~ Fuyu Monogatari"（冬物語）. I can even hear a bit of an Earth Wind & Fire riff in there, too, although that could be heard as an aural version of the snow-dusted winds whipping up on the slopes.
I couldn't find much information on Nostalgic New Town aside from one blurb that's been repeated on other sites. Apparently back in 2022, a Niigata Prefecture metal manufacturing company known as Marudai launched a project called M.CREATE which collaborates with artists of various stripes and genres to create products under the concept of making fantasy into a reality, and Nostalgic New Town has been one of those creations. In the same year, NNT had also released a debut single titled "Seaside Breeze"which I'll have to check out soon enough.
