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.
I came across this singer's video by pure accident a couple of days ago. And I have to confess that I had never heard of Yukie Kawakami（河上幸恵） until January 11...considering the number of aidoru that was going in and out of show business back in the 80s, there are probably hundreds that I've yet to come across.
Kawakami hails from Ashiya City in Hyogo Prefecture, and was selected as the 36th champion in the long-running talent TV show, "Star Tanjo"（スター誕生...A Star Is Born) in 1981. Making her way up to Tokyo, she made her debut in July 1983 with "Blue Etranger"at the tender age of 15. The lyrics were by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子） who had written a number of songs for Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, and the music was by Takashi Takao or Takashige （高生鷹）; can't be quite sure of the reading of the kanji.
I have to say that Kawakami's singing is surprisingly well-assured for a teenage aidoru debut, and the arrangement is quite polished....the song sounds as if it were being made for someone like Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子） or Seiko Matsuda at that time in her career. However, Kawakami's career would finish by 1985 with only 5 singles released. Currently, according to J-Wiki, she's a piano teacher and has a side job as a professional emcee in the Kobe/Osaka area.
"Yume Miru Shojo ja Irarenai"(Can't Stay A Dreaming Girl) was another song I discovered through the wonders of commercial tie-ups. It was the song for what was once my former employer in Japan, the NOVA Corporation, once the largest English-teaching company in the country. NOVA was expanding like the proverbial spill into areas far beyond its original mandate: travel, real estate, computer software, and yes, even auto racing, as you can see above (much to its later detriment). What got me hooked me about this song was the synthesizer imitating some of the rock organ used in songs decades ago both here and over there. There was also the percussion pop that you can hear on the above video at about the 24-second mark that finally said, "J-Canuck....time to head out to the CD shop."
Found out the singer was 20-year-old Nanase Aikawa（相川七瀬）from Osaka. When I saw the video one night, she kinda reminded me of Joan Jett from the early 80s....though in a less dangerous mode. Still, I probably wouldn't have wanted to run into her in a dark alley in Namba City. In any case, her debut song was released in November 1995, and was written and composed by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）, who had helped out on a number of songs by TUBE back in the 80s. It peaked at No. 12 on Oricon and helped in making her a household word for much of the latter half of the decade. Her debut album had even more success. "Red" was released in July 1996, and made it to the top spot as well as becoming the 10th-ranked album of the year.
A few years back, my student's family took me for lunch to a restaurant near Komazawa Park, a nice area for the well-to-do in western Tokyo. As we were having our lunch, my student's wife pointed out that Nanase and her husband and kid were at a nearby table. I couldn't spot her since my back was turned away from her and I really didn't want to make a spectacle of myself and bother the poor woman by doing so. I guess I can't even approach her in a well-lit dining establishment.
About a year ago when I started this blog, one of my first profiles was on Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵） "Ii Hi Tabidachi"(Leaving on a Good Day), one of the singer's classic hits. It's one of my all-time favourites with Yamaguchi's wistful singing and the solo trumpet. I will always remember her as much for that song as for "Imitation Gold".
However, there is also Shinji Tanimura's（谷村新司） cover of the song. Tanimura, leader of the folk/rock group Alice, wrote and composed "Ii Hi Tabidachi". Considering his band's music, I was surprised to find out that he had that velvety voice which was perfect for soul-stirring ballads. His version of the song first came out in January 1986 as the B-side to his single, "Gion Matsuri"（祇園祭...Gion Festival). This version doesn't have the soaring trumpet, but it has a sophisticated and even more serene arrangement and Tanimura has a silkier approach to the lyrics. In the years since, his "Ii Hi Tabidachi" has become as representative of his work as Yamaguchi's original has been of hers.
Well, I couldn't resist. Just had to show the two of them, Yamaguchi and Tanimura together, doing the same song.
Back in the early 90s, our university Japanese club had one little weekly event which attracted a fair number of Canadians and Japanese. Basically on Wednesday nights at the International Student Centre at the University of Toronto, a few members showed a couple of episodes of the popular dramas of the time via rental video tapes. One of the dramas was the Fuji-TV show, "Hitotsu Yane no Shita"（ひとつ屋根の下....Under One Roof) starring Yosuke Eguchi (of "Tokyo Love Story" fame and the husband of Chisato Moritaka), former aidoru Noriko Sakai and pop singer Masaharu Fukuyama as separated orphans-turned-adults getting back together as a family.
The theme song was a folksy ballad that had actually first seen the light of day almost a couple of decades earlier. Sung by New Music/Folk band Tulip（チューリップ）, "Saboten no Hana"(Cactus Flower) enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in 1993 as it did back in the mid-70s. It was first released in February 1975 as Tulip's 8th single and at the time, it peaked at No. 19 on Oricon. Written and composed by vocalist Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）, I enjoy hearing that country-style guitar and Zaitsu's high vocals. Kinda like a breath of fresh air from simpler times. If I'm not mistaken, the above video has the original 1975 recording. The single was also a track on their 5th original album, "Mugen Kido"（無限軌道）which could be translated as "Infinite Trajectory" or "Infinite Railroad Track".
For "Hitotsu Yane no Shita",Tulip re-recorded "Saboten no Hana" and did it once more for the sequel series a few years later. The band first started back in 1972 in Fukuoka and called upon The Beatles as their influence. In fact, lead vocalist Zaitsu was once labeled as Japan's Paul McCartney. The band broke up for the first time in 1989 but got back together in 1997 for another 9-year run, and they then went on a concert tour in 2012 for their 40th anniversary.
Here's another song whose video almost became or perhaps was even more celebrated than the song itself. Through her videos of her singles from her first 2 albums, "First Love"and "Distance" I saw the club kid Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル) in her hoodie or walking through a party in New York City. But then came "Traveling" which struck me as her first foray into dance music. The song was catchy enough but this concept video came with it which acted like some really good Hollandaise Sauce on Eggs Benedict.
The video was directed by Kazuaki Kiriya（紀里谷和明） who would become Utada's husband a year later; it was this crazy mix of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace", "Galaxy Express 999" and an insane TV test pattern. The song and video came out in November 2001, and I distinctly remember the morning the news came out about "Traveling". I was watching the Fuji-TV morning show, "Mezamashi Terebi", and my clone, entertainment reporter Shinichi Karube first broke the story about this new Utada song. Saw the clip of the video....I have to say it's never good to see such vivid colours that early in the morning. My cereal got so soggy that it actually melted into the milk. It was definitely different from anything I had seen Utada in before.
"Traveling"was written and composed by Utada as a song with which she wanted to get some cheer out of her audience, according to the J-Wiki writeup. It certainly got everyone talking. And Utada has been noted as saying the video increased her enjoyment of the song by several times. It hit No. 1, became the 2nd-ranked song of 2002, and sold a little over 850,000 copies. It was also a track on Utada's 3rd album, "Deep River", released in June 2002. It sold over 3 million copies to become the top album of the year, and it currently is the 8th-ranking album in sales in Japanese history.
That hair! Those pants! That strut! Guess what the title is? I have to say that when I hear the expression "simple is best" as applied to Japanese music videos, this would be the arch example. I'd thought for the longest time that this was a BOOWY song because of the presence of Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）, but nope....once Hotei finished his time with Kyosuke Himuro（氷室京介）, he hooked up with Koji Kikkawa（吉川晃司）in 1988.
And may I say that Kikkawa is a great name for a J-Rocker....Kikkawa....KICK!
The unit of Kikkawa and Hotei was then dubbed COMPLEX, and as it turned out, it was more than just a name; it kinda described the relationship between them which apparently imploded a couple of years later. Ah, well.....Kikkawa's loss, Miki Imai's gain. Anyways, their debut single, "Be My Baby", written by Kikkawa and composed by Hotei, debuted right at No. 1 when it was released in April 1989. I knew I was in for something completely different when I caught the video and saw the guys chanting the title before they started making moves like Jagger. Kikkawa just went to town with that voice of his while Hotei danced his stuff like a daddylonglegs on acid. And it was just one camera and a pure white set. Very effective in a minimalist way.
"Be My Baby" eventually became the 39th-ranked song of the year. It's also a track on the unit's debut album, "COMPLEX" which also hit the top spot on Oricon. That tune takes me back as much as any aidoru tune does.
Yurakucho Mullion Clock
One of the great landmarks in Tokyo.
My image of Yurakucho（有楽町） in Tokyo is that it is the immediate northern and more financially accessible neighbourhood to the more famous Ginza. Yurakucho is certainly a trendy area for the young and the young-at-heart, but at least there is a likelier possibility that folks dining and/or shopping in the area won't get that much in the way of sticker shock or credit card guilt after lunch or dinner there. In recent years, there has been a fair bit of change. The massive building complex known as Yurakucho Mullion has had one of its two longtime department stores disappear although the structure still dominates the area. And there are a few more commercial complexes that have gone up in the last few years I was there, including the oddly-named Itocia which in itself includes the 2nd Krispy Kreme branch in Tokyo.
But way back in the 1950s, when Japan was still recovering from World War II, Yurakucho was far from what Tokyoites know of the place now. It was a pretty dank and dark black market area, just metres away from what Ginza was already becoming. However, it was decided that the neighbourhood would get a major facelift, beginning with the installation of a Sogo Department Store which was founded in Osaka. The campaign soon adopted a catchphrase, "Yurakucho de Aimashou"(Let's Meet in Yurakucho), taken from a Hollywood movie "Las Vegas de Aimashou" which was known as "Viva Las Vegas"with Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse.
The catchphrase evolved into a trendy phrase outright for that time, and soon enough, at the end of 1957, a song was created by lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫） and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正） with that very title.
Sung by Kiyoto Frank Nagai,（フランク永井・永井清人） whom Yoshida had discovered, "Yurakucho de Aimashou" is a resonant and solemn song in which Nagai mentions about the train platforms, the tea rooms and the department store (i.e. Sogo....product placement apparently existed even then), all under persistent rain. The song is about as ideal a mood kayo that has ever been written. Although it was Sogo's official campaign song, I don't think it sounded like one to bring the masses to a department store in a rejuvenated Yurakucho. My impression was that it was meant to bring a certain type of clientele....the type that loves to drink and take in the atmosphere of a drinking establishment at night in the big city.
The long-term campaign to change Yurakucho lasted for well over a decade, and when it was officially over in 1973, Nagai sang the song at that year's Kohaku Utagassen. Now, over half a century after its creation, "Yurakucho de Aimashou" remains one of the most popular examples of natsumero or nostalgic melodies. Perhaps it's taken on even more of a sepia-toned hue since Yurakucho Sogo, the store that was the catalyst behind the whole project, closed its doors for good in September 2000. There is now a Bic Camera store.
