Maaya Sakamoto -- Platina（プラチナ）

 

Last night's edition of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was an extended one by half an hour partially because it was recognizing the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake on March 11th, so there were a lot of singers showing up. Of course, because of the tribute, everyone on stage and in the hall sang "Hana wa Saku"（花は咲く）. As the camera was panning across the stage to show all of the performers solemnly singing the ballad, I noticed one familiar face but wasn't quite sure if it was who I thought it was.

Well, she didn't appear again until the very end of the broadcast but it truly was who I thought it was. Up to now, I haven't seen much in the way of seiyuu appear on "Uta Con" aside from Nana Mizuki（水樹奈々） but Maaya Sakamoto（坂本真綾）indeed made her first appearance on NHK last night. I've known her for a while now since she's provided some of the theme songs for anime that I've seen with my anime buddy in the last decade such as "Koufuku Graffiti" (幸腹グラフィティ...Gourmet Graffiti) , and there was also her scintillating cover of "DOWNTOWN" for the 2010 "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru" (それでも町は廻ってる...And Yet the Town Moves) which I never caught.

Sakamoto last night sang a brief medley including the third opening theme for the anime "Card Captor Sakura"（カードキャプターさくら）, "Platina" (Platinum), which came out as the seiyuu's 5th single in October 1999. It's hard to believe that it's been over 26 years since this was first released. Written by Yuuho Iwasato（岩里祐穂）and composed/arranged by Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）, who incidentally created the aforementioned "Hana wa Saku", "Platina" is the type of song that I would enjoy as a breezy pop tune with a hint of soul and those swiftly flying strings. I never became a fan of the show itself though I know it's one of the more popular anime but I've become a fan of some of the theme tunes including Kohmi Hirose's（広瀬香美）aptly-named "Groovy" and chihiro's "Honey". 

"Platina" went Gold as it hit No. 21 on Oricon.

Mariko Takahashi -- Tea For Memory

 

Personally, I preferred to have my Royal Milk Tea when I was at some cafe in the Tokyo area but I was also fine with lemon tea, albeit it had to have some form of sweetness like honey in there. 

Lemon tea is also the drink of choice in this lovely Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）song called "Tea For Memory" from her March 1981 4th album "Tenderness". Through Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, it's about a couple of old flames who find themselves together again for just one spot of the drink in a cool cafe somewhere as they go over the memories of their past life together. The story and the music are very genteel and there's no bitterness...not even within the tea.

Composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）comes up with a classy set of notes on the song sheet which brings to mind some elegant jazz which matches the setting perfectly. At first, I'd thought that it was Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）behind the composition, although I've known that the Kisugi siblings have often come up with the refined stuff. I especially like the very amiable guitar intro after which Mariko's beautifully lilting vocals perfume the ears just so. After writing such florid prose, I'm actually eager to have a cup of tea myself although I won't go as far as sticking my pinkie out when I lift the cup.

Narumi Yasuda -- Tsuki no Muse（月のミューズ）

 

Of course, it all depends on where you live, but earlier this morning, Torontonians had another opportunity to catch the latest blood moon up in the sky. Sleep was more of a priority for me so I was happy enough to witness the phenomenon via television.

In keeping with the lunar theme, I would like to introduce "Tsuki no Muse" (Moon Muse) by 80s aidoru and actress Narumi Yasuda（安田成美）. Some days ago, I received a comment from someone underneath the article I provided for her April 1984 sophomore single "Tropical Mystery"（トロピカル・ミステリー）and they told me about the Ryuichi Sakamoto-esque（坂本龍一） feeling imbued in the B-side which is "Tsuki no Muse".

Well, whenever anyone tells me about a song that I had never heard that has a Sakamoto-esque feeling, I do listen. And indeed, "Tsuki no Muse" is different from the Fashion Music-ish "Tropical Mystery" in that there is a whimsical technopop arrangement that reminds me of what the late great Professor did back in those days with synthesizers, but the crazy thing is that it was the same three fellows behind the A-side that were responsible for the B-side: lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Many thanks to that commenter.

Garo -- Utsukushiku Sugite（美しすぎて）

 

The article for folk rock band GARO's biggest hit "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" (学生街の喫茶店）was posted up in the very early days of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but it's now been almost a decade since I've put up anything by the group. Time to rectify.

According to the J-Wiki article for the June 1972 3rd single "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the original release had the song as the B-side while the A-side was "Utsukushiku Sugite" (Too Beautiful). However, seeing that "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" was getting the lion's share of accolades, the record company quickly did an about-face on that plan and made any future releases with the more famous song becoming the A-side.

Not to say that the relegated "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a bad song at all. It's a wonderful song and a very different one, to boot. In contrast with the Japanese folky "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a laidback tune that brings to mind the loveliness of American Sunshine Pop and perhaps even some Motown R&B thanks to Kunihiko Murai's（村井邦彦）melody and Kaoru Iiyoshi's（飯吉馨）arrangement. As with "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the lyricist here was also Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）.

You Ishihara -- Yaburekabure（破れかぶれ）

 

It was on New Year's Eve last year that I introduced the mysterious You Ishihara（石原祐）, a singer that I couldn't really find a lot of information about, although commenter Brian Mitchell sent me some of what he had gleaned.

Well, the article that I posted was on her 1978 single "Hakka Tabako"（薄荷煙草）. Today, it's time for the B-side, "Yaburekabure" which has quite the amusing pronunciation...something akin to "topsy-turvy" or "abracadabra". However, its meaning is "desperation" although the melody by Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）sounds anything but. I'd say that for a desperate individual, "Yaburekabure" is surprisingly quite upbeat and happy-go-lucky especially with those silky strings coming in. Legendary lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）was the one behind the words. 

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- LIMBO

 

Just out of curiosity, I threw something into the Yahoo Japan search engine: Any underrated songs by Yellow Magic Orchestra? After all, being a good fan of the legendary technopop band from Japan, I've covered quite a few of their songs throughout the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Well, luckily enough, I did hit some pay dirt. I'd never covered this first song, "LIMBO", on YMO's "Service", their December 1983 8th studio album. Written and composed by Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, "LIMBO" is about whether or not to leave the Limbo or not. It may be boring but dependable. The outside world may be unpredictable but exciting and evolutionary.

I've been reading some of the English comments for "LIMBO" underneath the YouTube video, and indeed I did catch the David Bowie feeling in the vocal stylings. YouTuber withblueberry also posits "It's enormously interesting musically. It includes dance music, minimal music, atmosphere of Ambient music, etc. . . and has a contemporary cool sense." Personally, I think the arrangement of "LIMBO" also has that whimsical sense of technopop from that decade, nurtured by YMO, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, and I've got to admit that the bass voice doing all of that slow rap adds an extra layer of intrigue as if enticing reluctant tourists from Limbo with free admission to a dance club.

OK, I have to be honest and admit that a part of me initially had thought that "LIMBO" was all about that other limbo.

Yuki Saito -- ONE

 

In comes March...not like a lion; more like a polar bear. Yes, it's still rather Arctic-looking outside my window but we still have three more weeks of official winter to get through.

Outside of her inclusion in ROY articles and any Author's Picks, Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）hasn't shown up on KKP for almost a couple of years, so it's nice to begin this third month of 2026 with one of her tunes. And this time, it's a pretty ethereal one. "ONE" launches her 4th studio album "Fuumu"（風夢...Wind Dream） from April 1987.

Sounding like something that should be listened to after having lit up a particularly pungent cone of incense, Saito's voice suits the high-falutin' English lyrics by BANDIT and the near-mystical melody of Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. She sings about two becoming one in a paradise-like setting. I'm just surprised that no religious figures were mentioned here. 

Another track that was on the album was "MAY" but I'd like to clarify my statements there by saying that "MAY" was actually on the CD version of the album, and not on the original LP, according to the J-Wiki article regarding the album. My apologies on any confusion.