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 once wrote about 70s aidoru Midori Kinouchi（木之内みどり）as having sung the first version of "Garasuzaka"（硝子坂）as the title track of her 5th album even before it became a hit for Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）in 1977. Well, the following year, she finally got that big hit with "Yokohama Eleven" in February.
According to J-Wiki, prolific lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）had been writing the words for Kinouchi's 5th to 10th singles without any of them becoming smash successes, but a switch over to lyricist Ryo Shoji（東海林良）did the trick with "Yokohama Eleven". The song title doesn't seem to hint at anything within the words of the song aside from the fact that it was the singer's 11th single. Katsuo Ono's（大野克夫）mellow but somewhat peppy melody helped to get the song up to No. 28 on the Oricon weeklies and although it didn't get into the Top 100 for 1978, the song has apparently become one of the signature tunes of that time period.
Quintessential Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. "Kanashimi no Ballad" (A Melancholy Ballad) is chock-filled with plenty of fortified ennui to fuel a short French movie. This was Kurahashi's 4th single from April 1983, and I think it's popped up on every BEST compilation that she's released.
There is that lonely piano starting things off before the singer's heart-achy vocals come into play. I realize that it might be a tad strange to call this a Mood Kayo, but Kisaburo Suzuki's（鈴木キサブロー）music sounds like a European take on the genre, and really, "Kanashimi no Ballad" isn't exactly a cheerful tune as the title would indicate. This would be the type of song to cry in your vin. Then there are Fumiko Okada's（岡田冨美子）lyrics which go into the protracted and perhaps agonizing final meeting before the end of the affair. Perhaps the soon-to-be former couple is wrenching its collective hearts but the man and woman are probably looking really beautiful.
So that's why he wears this green suit while singing this song live!
"YAAAAMA YOOOOoooo... Yamaaaa yooooo..."
The number of times I had seen Hiroshi Miyama (三山ひろし) and his beaming countenance triumphantly belting out the impressionable opening to his recent hit featuring one of Aomori's famous natural landmarks on NHK is most likely more than the number of fingers on one hand. And after singing it on this week's "Kayo Concert" that featured this year's enka hits - as well as a couple of oldies. Itsuki looked spiffy in his Pinstripe suit - I'm confident in saying that I've heard "Oiwaki Yama" and the fans passionately screaming, "MIYAMA!!!" on TV close to 10 times in this year alone.
Penned by Yukio Chiba and composed by Norimasa Nakamura (千葉幸雄.中村典正), "Oiwaki Yama" is a refreshing and noble tribute to Mount Iwaki; just the music alone makes you feel like you're in the mountain's vicinity on a clear day and taking in that crisp air. It reminds me of Sabu-Chan's "Takao San" (高尾山), though not nearly as grand. This tune earned its place on this particular episode due to the fact that it's been on the enka-yo charts for the longest time. Since its release on 11th February 2015, it has been within the Top 20, sometimes disappearing for a week or so before reemerging, and although its been 9 months, I just saw that it's currently at 5th place on the enka charts - it was actually a few spots higher in the previous week. It peaked at 13th place on the regular Oricon charts, which is pretty respectable, and sold more than 100 000 copies, making it a certified Gold record. But it is indeed a pleasant sounding song, and Miyama's smooth, slightly nasally warbling is actually better than what I had initially thought. Well, no wonder they call him "Vitamin voice".
Just some background information on this relatively new and youthful enka singer. Miyama, who hails from the Kochi prefecture, learnt how to sing enka stuff at a young age, and in 2004 he became the champion on "Nodojiman". With his mind set on becoming a singer, he became a student of the aforementioned Nakamura for 3 years. Miyama officially debuted in 2009 with "Hitokoi Sakaba" (人恋酒場), which like "Oiwaki Yama", sold over 100 000 copies and became a Gold record.
Approaching the end of the year, the various citizenry of both Japan and Canada will probably be starting to think about all those get-togethers in December, whether it be the annual Xmas parties here or the customary bonenkai back in Japan. I've been involved in both with the year-end fetes in my nation of heritage being more rigid in structure. When I was on the JET Programme, December was filled with bonenkai for me. In my first year, I think I attended parties for 5 straight nights: two for each school that I visited, one for the PTA, one for the Board of Education in my town and then the really big one for the entire town hall. I ended up calling the whole process the rubber sushi circuit. And each party was divided into the main party at the beginning, followed by the nijikai second party usually at a bar and perhaps even a sanjikai third party at a karaoke bar. Then, there was even a fourth party to end things off by gobbling down some ramen or ochazuke. Those Gunma folks could really party.
That was back in 1989. In the last few years being back in Toronto, I've organized the year-enders with my small circle of friends. The last couple of years have been spent at a fine izakaya called Kingyo but to shake things up a bit, I've decided to make this year's reservations at an Italian place called Fieramosca. Food is great but I think it's even better to gather all the guys together once a year since it is already a bit tricky to do so with a number of folks settling down and having their families.
So it was with some kismet that last night's "Kayo Concert" on NHK had a number about getting the old gang together for a good time. The old folk group Four Saints（フォー・セインツ）and actress/singer Keiko Matsuzaka（松坂慶子）teamed up to perform the group's latest single "Tama ni wa Nakama de" (Occasionally With Some Old Buddies) from October 2015. Lead vocalist of Four Saints, Toru Uehara（上原徹）, provided the gentle music with Osami Okamoto's（岡本おさみ）lyrics about meeting up with the gang for another round at the favourite nomiya. What was especially wistful was the one lyric which stated about friends who have passed who used to sing the old chestnuts. Now that I've passed 50, I'm starting to think a little more about my own mortality.
Four Saints was a folk group that had its initial run between 1968 and 1973. It was formed during a culture festival at Seikei High School in Musashino City, Tokyo and gained notice on the radio program "Folk Village". The group released 11 singles during those 5 years with the biggest hit being their debut single "Chiisana Nikki"（小さな日記...Little Diary）which sold 200,000 records. It got back together in 2006 and has been performing ever since.
It was definitely nice to see Keiko Matsuzaka back on the singing stage. Her appearance on "Kayo Concert" and in the promotion video at the very top reminded me of that former high school beauty who all the guys chased after with the one buddy finally catching her heart for good. In 2015, she's still vivacious as ever, and it's quite adorable to see her partnering with Uehara all those years after crooning her most famous song, the salacious "Ai no Suichuuka"（愛の水中花）from 1979.
Yep, time to appreciate those buddies over beer and bites. The party season will soon be upon us.
And here I thought that Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）went truly "international" with "Marrakech" in 1988. Of course, Seiko-chan probably had quite a number of overseas-flavoured songs in her discography since her debut in 1980 but "Marrakech" was the one that has always lingered in my mind.
But then I came across "Miami Gozen Go-ji" (5am in Miami) on YouTube some time ago. A track on her 7th album from June 1983, "Utopia", it was placed on the A-side which was labeled the "blue-island side". As I listened to the song, I automatically compared it with the later "Marrakech" which admittedly was like comparing apples to oranges (different times, different sounds). Still it was interesting nonetheless to remember "Marrakech" as this somewhat sultry and adventurous number from the late 80s while "Miami Gozen Go-ji" has this almost fantastical feeling (I was thinking Disney World here instead of Crockett and Tubbs) surrounding an innocent romance in The Sunshine State. The chorus backing her up almost felt like the sea breeze wafting in from the Atlantic.
Listening to all the mellowness, I should have figured that it was Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）who came up with the music while Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）wrote the lyrics. "Miami Gozen Go-ji" was not an official single but the album "Utopia"（ユートピア）hit No. 1 on the charts. Apparently, according to J-Wiki, the song was still a popular one on the concert play list well into the 2000s. And when it comes down to it, listening to the song, I feel like I should be doing some more stocking up on Seiko albums.
I believe I've seen Korean-born singer Cheuni（チェウニ）at least a couple of times on NHK's "Kayo Concert" since the name rang a bell. According to J-Wiki, she made her debut in 1972 at the age of 8 before releasing a Japanese album in the late 1970s, although it was in her native South Korea where she had her first hits into the 1980s.
However in 1998, Cheuni took another stab at fame in Japan and (re-)debuted with "Tokyo Twilight" in September 1999. Written by Yuko Natsumi（夏海裕子）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本真人）, the song sounded like the 2nd coming of Teresa Teng（テレサテン）although I realize that Cheuni sounds a fair bit different from the late Teng. But there is something about the arrangement of "Tokyo Twilight" that made me think that this would have been a tune that Teng would have tackled. And that same arrangement has a somewhat natsukashii flavour since it feels like something that I would have heard almost a decade before. I would describe it as an urban and wistful melody that could be heard as a turn-of-the-century type of City Pop.
Cheuni won a Newcomers Prize at the Japan Record Awards in 2000 for "Tokyo Twilight". Her debut would start off a series of Tokyo-based songs which included her next two singles, "Tokyo ni Yuki ga Furu"（Tokyoに雪が降る...Snow Falls in Tokyo） and "Hoshizora no Tokyo"（星空のトーキョー...Starry Night of Tokyo）.
Heck of a time to put up a TUBE song since my city is going down to a 7-degree Celsius low tonight. Well, that's not too bad for a November night...far colder evenings to come, of course. But in any case, I wanted to put up something a little spicier for a Tuesday evening so here is "Sayonara Yesterday" from July 1991.
Written by vocalist Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）and composed by guitarist Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）, "Sayonara Yesterday" is actually told from the woman's point of view as she looks back on what sounded like a brief but torrid relationship that is now firmly in the past. And considering Haruhata's melody, it looks like it took place somewhere very warm.
The song also has a bit more of a personal connection since it was one of the last CDs I purchased before finishing up my stint on the JET Programme in that year. And although there was no romance involved, I ended up going through some torrid weather as I toured around southern Japan before heading back home.
The song was called "Sayonara Yesterday" but it was definitely "Hello Happy Days" for the band since from this time forward, every TUBE single released up to 1994 sold in excess of half a million copies. It didn't get onto an original album but it was included on their the second of their BEST albums, "TUBEst II" which came out in 1996. The single itself peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and was the 15th-ranked single for 1991.
