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.
Back in my last trip to Tokyo in 2014, I stayed one night at the condo owned by my good friend Rob. Even then, it was evident that the Musashi-Kosugi neighbourhood along the JR Yokosuka Line and the Tokyu Toyoko Line was showing some major growth as not just a bedroom town but a full-fledged small city in its own right.
Coming back to my friend's place again...this time, for 3 nights...some more residential towers have popped up like bamboo stalks along with a a huge shopping mall to go along with the other huge shopping mall. And I did see a new hotel in the area, too. Musashi-Kosugi is a happening place.
Plus when the sky is clean and clear, like it was on the 12th, I can even see Mt. Fuji from his living room.
Rob and I also went to a nice Indian restaurant on my first night there. Butter chicken curry...come to papa!
Had to think of an appropriate video for the article so I went with "Matenro Blues"（摩天楼ブルース）by TokyoJAP.
On the morning of November 7th, I made my way over to Akihabara since one of my foodie missions was to get some kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi. You might think that the electronics and geek district of Tokyo might be an odd place to get sushi but there is a kaiten sushi place on the 8th floor of the massive Yodobashi Akiba electronics emporium right by JR Akihabara Station.
The 8th floor is chock-filled with all sorts of restaurants for those hungry visitors and/or geeks. It's gone through some changes over the last few years between visits. One of them was the kaiten sushi place. There was a Sushi Zanmai kaiten but that's gone now. Still, I gather that the folks at Yodobashi must have felt that a kaiten sushi was still needed so this place came in.
I was the first customer there that day so as you can see above, things were pretty barren. The other think I noticed was that the place was virtually automated.
Yup, aside from the lady who welcomed me in, brought the oshibori along with a few plates of sushi, and then took my money at the register, all of my interactions were done with a tablet. Just press away on the screen. There was something quite "Blade Runner" about the ordering.
It felt a bit lonely without the human element but I couldn't deny that the sushi was good. Most of the dishes came out on the special express conveyor at the very top. Somehow a computer was able to throw the dish to the right location and all I had to do was press the flashing red button in front of me to acknowledge delivery. It was probably the most austere foodie experience I've ever had in my life.
(cover version)
Hoorah! The original video to Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）"Oh Yeah" has finally appeared on YouTube (sadly not anymore). It just happened to be the song that was playing over the speakers at the sushi place. My futuristic time there cost me about 3,000 yen for 10 plates of sushi.
Sugamo, which has been called the Harajuku or Shibuya of the senior citizens in Tokyo, was, strangely enough, one of the places that I had been meaning to go to. Well, I am tilting ever closer to that age group anyways, and it's actually the next station over from Otsuka where I was staying at the R&B.
The other reason is that I fondly remember the anime "Joshiraku"（じょしらく）, especially in Episode 8 when the rakugo girls decide to visit the neighbourhood of Sugamo and even make the pilgrimage to the local temple.
And I did as well.
To be honest, I didn't make it a very detailed walk but it was just a nice little traipse in the area before I went back to the hotel. There were the usual stores selling the traditional Japanese wares and sweets but I do remember a couple of shops that sold red wear. I still don't totally understand the meaning behind the tradition but if any visitor is ever in need of red longjohns, Sugamo is the place to go.
Well, I noticed that the Kahoku Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）YouTube channel had added a new entry into its store of videos so I checked it out. It was called "Shiokaze no Love Call" (Sea Breeze Love Call) which which seemed to have been inspired through the usual kit-bashing of kayo title tropes at the time. I never heard of this one before...at least the title, so I figured it must have been one of Kohhy's very early B-sides or an album track.
Then, I heard it. Lightning struck!
Decades back, during my university days, I had heard this very song on either some compilation tape without checking out who was on it or on a tape that I had borrowed from a like-minded friend. Afterwards, I realized that both the song and the singer sounded awfully familiar.
I had already known about Kohiruimaki through what was arguably her first big hit, "Hold On Me" from 1987. And listening to "Shiokaze no Love Call", that delivery, I mused at the time, sounded just like Kohhy but I just couldn't be sure. Time flew by so the mystery of the identity gradually flew from my mind.
As it is, "Shiokaze no Love Call" was a B-side to the singer's debut single from October 1985, "Never Say Good-Bye" and now getting confirmation about who sung it, I can hear the beginnings of that husky voice which would later characterize her. I think she must have been all of 18 when she released this one.
I did say the song sounded familiar. Well, that is because Kohhy sang a cover of "Just As I Am" by the Australian soft rock duo Air Supply. That song also came out in 1985. Rob Hegel and Dick Wagner were responsible for the original music but Kohiruimaki herself took care of the Japanese lyrics.
Rather slick-looking fellow, if I don't say so myself.
Source: J-Wiki
Toshiro Omi (近江俊郎) is a name I see quite often whenever I'm digging around YouTube for enka or ryukoka to listen to due to his melancholic "Yu no Machi no Elegy" (湯の町エレジー) sitting among those fondly remembered kayo of yesteryear - I talked on it a little in Part 1 of the Masao Koga (古賀政男) Creator article, so you can check it out here if, you like. He seemed like a pretty cool character to me (just like a few other artistes from his era) and I quite enjoy his vocals, so I was keen to get to know more of what other songs he had recorded in his career besides his smash hit. Quite by coincidence, I stumbled upon "Kanojo wa Iya to Iimashita". It's not one of Omi's more well-known entries in his discography as, besides this video, I am not able to find it anywhere else on the web. I do, however, find it entertaining.
Unlike "Yu no Machi no Elegy", this isn't your cry-in-your-sake-at-the-bar tune. In fact, it's a stark contrast with its happy-go-lucky and charming score that is quite refreshing and easy on the ears, brought to you by Shigeru Tamura (田村しげる). And then there's the lyrics. "Kanojo wa Iya to Iimashita", translates to something on the line of "My girlfriend/She said no", so what's the girl saying no to? Well, it's not explicitly mentioned, but from what 青戸隆幸 (I'm not sure how his name is pronounced) had written and that sweetly coy manner in which Omi sang the "no/iya" bit, I believe it's quite apparent that our leading lady here is not rejecting an offer of a cheeseburger. Instead, she's shutting down the hopeful advances of her sweetheart as they take a stroll down a (most likely) secluded forest path, much to his increasing frustration. Despite that, it looks like she finally relents in the end after he got miffed by the prospect of not hitting first base... or maybe he was gunning for a home run?
Whatever intentions the fellow has in mind, it gives quite an honest look into what goes down in a young/new relationship, I must say, but with its undertones and premises, I wonder if Omi got some flak from the powers that be for "Kanojo wa Iya to Iimashita" when it came out in 1952. And then again, with all the scrutiny going on in the recent years, I'm pretty sure if it came out at this day and age there'll be netizens (among others) pouncing on it and tearing it to shreds.
Anyway, since this is the first proper article for Omi, here's some background info on him. Omi, whose real name was Toshihiko Ohkura (大蔵敏彦), was born in Tokyo on 7th July 1918. He debuted as a singer under the name of Toshihiro Sameshima (鮫島敏弘... I also don't know if that's the right pronunciation) with the song "Suberoyo Ski" (辷ろよスキー) in 1936. However, he did not produce any hits for a good decade, and had revised his stage name multiple times only settling on "Toshiro Omi" in 1942. It was only in 1946 when he finally had his big break via "Kanashiki Takebue" (悲しき竹笛), a duet with Mitsue Nara (奈良光枝), and then "Yu no Machi no Elegy" came out a couple of years later, and its success allowed Omi to join the ranks of Haruo Oka (岡晴夫) and Yoshio Tabata (田端義夫), who were collectively known as the Sengou Sanba Garasu (戦後三羽烏... Postwar Trio). In 1955, he made his directorial debut with the movie "Youki na Tengoku" (陽気な天国) which he starred in and was produced by his own company, Omi Production (近江プロダクション). In 1992, at the age of 73, Omi passed away after battling prostate cancer for a few years.
P.S. Y'know perhaps this lady's lover would've backed down if she had this wonderful postcard courtesy of the nutso character Sam, played by the crudely hilarious YouTuber Brandon Rogers - only look up his stuff if you don't have a weak heart.
imgrum.org/media/1231347142924833161_2410543715
... Okay, okay, I'm kidding. Please don't come after me.
Going further into the afternoon, the two of us continued our trek into Kawagoe by visiting the remains of a castle and then the local museum before walking back to the main drag of Koedo. By that time, the sun was setting lower into the horizon and then the evening lights flashed on. It was a pity that darkness hadn't come a little sooner since I think that would have been the peak for taking photos of a atmospheric Koedo.
Something quite jazzy and urbane could have become a nice theme song for Koedo of the evening.
The neighbourhood is also famous for the Toki no Kane（時の鐘...The Bell of Time）so we took a few photos of that place as well.
After our sumptuous eel-on-rice lunch, we took a little walk around Koedo but then decided it was time for some coffee. A short search revealed a nice little cafe called Aburi Coffee on a side street.
One thing that I've loved about Japan is that whether it's the big city or the small town, individualistic coffee shops can pop up like mushrooms. Of course, there are the big chains such as Starbucks, Tully's and Excelsior Coffee, and they're all fine, but I love the mom-and-pop shop in that small part of town. The coffee might not exactly be inexpensive but customers can settle in for some nice relaxing atmosphere and a choice of different brands of the brew. Incidentally, we went for the usual cake set so I had cheesecake.
I realize that there are plenty of cafe-friendly kayo/J-Pop that I could have chosen from, and in fact, I've come across compilations at places like Tower Records which focus on such music, but I always seem to come back to Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）"Nemuri no Mori"（眠りの森）featuring Hanaregumi（ハナレグミ）. The song has that right blend of sunniness and relaxation, a couple of ingredients that would be good for a spate of coffee and conversation at a cafe.
