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.
Overdue Last read · last published · next check
Last read 2 days ago, longer than this feed's 3 hours schedule.
By Toshiyuki Imai via Wikimedia Commons It's been close to about a couple of years since the passing of actor and singer Toshiyuki Nishida（西田敏行） . I will always remember him for his biggest hit "Moshimo Piano ga Hiketanara" （もしもピアノが弾けたなら） from April 1981 , and it'll probably be difficult for his fans to prevent anything flowing from the eyes whenever the telly shows him singing this one. Well, out…
From E4024 via Wikimedia Commons How does that saying go? When life throws lemons at you, make lemonade! Apparently, that is the premise for this track from Kirinji's（キリンジ）January 2026 album "Town Beat" . The appropriately titled "LEMONADE" is the melodic elixir for all that ails you as prepared by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹） and served by both him and singer-songwriter Tomomi Oda（小田朋美） in a nice tall…
I don't remember exactly when or where I first heard this song, but I do remember discovering it sometime last year. I was already familiar with Masami Yoshida thanks to his 1980 solo album My Tune, My Turn , but I had no idea he had been making music before that. What initially caught my attention was the band's unusual name: Tchabows . Written in Japanese as 茶坊主 ( Chabōzu ), the term…
Some songs just sound TOUGH. And when I say tough, I mean you can envision someone who demands respect—or maybe even a little reverence—having that song as their personal theme, whether they're just walking down the street or kicking some serious ass. 50 Cent has "Many Men (Wish Death)." Warren G and Nate Dogg have "Regulate." Curtis Mayfield has "Pusherman." Hell, even Boz Scaggs ' "Lowdown"…
As I've mentioned in the past, I've sometimes used the 5th and final slot for my articles on Urban Contemporary Fridays to place something a little out of the ordinary. This time, I'm going with an Author's Picks devoted to songs that have some form of Friday or Saturday in the titles since we're going to transition from Friday into Saturday in a few hours, and not surprisingly, a lot of these…
Well, more than a dozen years following my article on Junko Yagami's（八神純子） seminal sophomore April 1979 album , "Sugao no Watashi" （素顔の私） , I'm giving myself a Gibbs slap upside the back of my head once more. At this rate, I may have to be mindful of concussion protocols. Now, the reason for once more going into self-flagellation mode is that even though I had provided quite a few tracks in the…
I guess it's approaching about a year since I last posted an article regarding singer-songwriter Masami Yoshida（吉田政美） . The former half of the folk duo Grape（グレープ） apparently had quite a time exploring the urbane and Latin sides of music since the professional breakup with Masashi Sada（さだまさし） in the mid-1970s. My last article on Yoshida's music was for his "Orange City no Asa" （オレンジ・シティの朝） , a…
I figured that I would still be able to find something new somewhere among my collection of "Light Mellow" , and it was within the "Breeze" CD that I encountered this one that I hadn't yet covered. Even though singer-songwriter Daisuke Mori （森大輔） has an entry on J-Wiki , he doesn't have a particularly long or detailed account of himself there. Hailing from Metropolitan Osaka , Mori is also a…
It's a lovely afternoon out there. The sun's reflecting off the houses on the other side of the street and the temperature is not too hot although I still have the old-fashioned fan going in my room. This song seems to fit the atmosphere quite nicely. I'm writing about "Mabushii Photograph" (Dazzling Photograph) , the second track from Platinum 900's third and final album "Free (At Last)" from…
Looks like I have my second insert song for a Japanese TV show today following "Aventure wa Gorgeous ni" （アバンチュールはゴージャスに） ...just by coincidence, I assure you. I was doing my usual maintenance rounds yesterday when I came across the tribute article for Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司） after his passing on October 8th 2023 . At the bottom of the article, I mentioned about the great balladeer's eldest…
Starting off this week's Reminiscings of Youth on a sad note, I saw the news scroll yesterday state that Frank Beard , the drummer and founding member of the rock group ZZ Top , had passed away at the age of 77 on August 17th . My condolences to his family, friends and fans. I wasn't a huge ZZ Top fan but there were a few songs that I remember during my youth in the 1980s . One especially was…
The above is a video put up by YouTuber atsu M which introduces a shot from the 1985 hardboiled series "Hokori no Houshuu" （誇りの報酬...The Reward of Pride） with Masatoshi Nakamura（中村雅俊） and Jinpachi Nezu（根津甚八） as two veteran detective sergeants. The music is what I assume to be the opening theme composed Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ） of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）. A song that was neither used as an opening…
About a month ago, I brought aboard Teresa Noda（テレサ野田） and her third and final single from 1979, "Tropical Love" . She may not have had a long career under her stage name (her real name is Tamaki Saionji（西園寺環） ) but she did bring an interesting mix of reggae and disco into this particular single. The same folks behind "Tropical Love" : lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ ）, composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）…
During my years in Japan , I got to know most of the comedians and TV personalities who became familiar presences on the tube. They can be those who have that year of fame due to some particular quirk or turn-of-phrase before largely disappearing from show business or they can be ones who seem to be part of a permanent televised tapestry. Shinnosuke "Peter" Ikehata （池畑慎之介） is one that belongs to…
Not sure what's gotten singer-songwriter Masamichi Sugi（杉真理） so shocked on the cover of his May 1984 album "Mistone" . Maybe he just saw the latest trailer for "Avengers Doomsday". Anyways, I have here one of the tracks from "Mistone", "Terra" . Y'know...I don't think I had ever heard a New Wave pop tune from Sugi (usually he tended toward the old-fashioned pop of the 1950s or 1960s ) but here is…
Hard to believe but "Reservoir Dogs" is over 34 years old now. That iconic power walk with the robbers has probably been emulated all over the place, especially during Halloween . I should know...since some of my friends and I actually dressed up in black suits and strutted down one of the main streets of Toronto one October 31st . I should've exercised more. Anyways, it wasn't just me and my…
I was scrolling through the J-Wiki article showing the music of 1965 , the year of my birth, and I encountered a familiar name: Katsuko Kanai（金井克子） . I've known her mostly for her 31st single and a 1973 hit titled "Tanin no Kankei" （他人の関係） , a snazzy Mood Kayo with some distinct choreography. However, getting back to 1965, Kanai released her 10th single back in May of that year. "Noche de Tokyo"…
When it comes to the folk duo Gamu（雅夢） , most listeners of Japanese pop music of the past will quickly recollect their debut single and biggest hit , the wistful "Ai wa Kagero" （愛はかげろう） from September 1980. Well, vocalist and songwriter Kazuto Miura（三浦和人） went really dramatic with his group's 2nd single "Kanashikute" (I'm Sad/I Miss You) from February 1981 . Man, starting with that epic pipe…
It was just this morning when I saw commenter Brian Mitchell noticing that there were indeed a lot of songs in Japan with the word kanashii （悲しい）or kanashimi （悲しみ） or some variant. They refer to sadness or loneliness and it would fit in with the kayo kyoku tendency to bring up a lot of sad stories within the lyrics albeit the music supporting them has often been quite cheerful. Well, I've opted to…
Despite all the bright lights and big city that you see in Basile Morin's captivating photo of Kabukicho at night, there was a time early in my Japan residency when Tokyo , one of the largest cities on Earth , was a city that actually did sleep. It had a curfew...much to the surprise and dissatisfaction of many a lively night owl there. Public transportation tended to go to bed at just a few…
For all of the scenes I've seen on shows such as "Enka no Hanamichi" （演歌の花道） and all of those karaoke videos, I'm not sure whether there are actually a fair number of people who hit the fancy bars and izakaya to drown their sorrows in drink. It just seems rather depressing to see and it may not be all that good for business according to the bartender/owner. But the trope happily exists in…
Commenter Fireminer thankfully and recently reminded me of a song that I hadn't heard in a few decades...basically since I used to watch rental videotapes of "The Best 10" （ザ・ベストテン） . The chorus is what got the memory engrams going. I'm talking about Keisuke Kuwata's（桑田佳祐） "Kanashii Kimochi" (Sad Feelings) or the official English title of "Just a Man in Love" . Released in October 1987 as Kuwata's…
I have to admit that I've not come across the combination of apple tea and peanuts before although I've enjoyed both of them separately. Maybe they make a good remedy toward improved blood circulation. Hard to say. But that combination is indeed the title of singer-songwriter Atsuko Nina's（二名敦子） track from her 1987 album "Teibou" （堤防） . I wrote on the title track back in 2018 and compared to the…
It's indeed a Friday night as I type this so I'm sure younger and more energetic folks than I are enjoying their time dining, dancing and drinking somewhere out there. Temperatures are more reasonable and seasonable in the evenings now. A few years ago, I posted an article regarding the band Lucky Kilimanjaro and their 2021 "Ame ga Furu nara Odoreba Ii ja nai" （雨が降るなら踊ればいいじゃない） , noting that…
Swimming_Pool_Grundarfjordur_Kirkjufell Ahhh...the community swimming pool, an environment of chlorinated intrigue, romance and strategy. (Young) People are conglomerating in different cliques within or without the water admiring from afar or, if they are brave enough, communicating up close and personal. And once in a while, there may be some actual swimming taking place. But always beware of the…
A little over four years ago, I introduced singer Anna Banana（アンナ・バナナ） to the pages of KKP , a lovely lady with some golden vocals. Just from what I've heard thus far, it seems like she inhabited some of the more urbane genres such as City Pop and jazz . My first article on her "Smile" from her 1993 album "High Dive" revealed a breezy pop sense somewhat akin to some of the works of actress-singer…
J. Robinson and Sons from Wikimedia Commons Y'know...try as I might, I always confuse the heck out of myself with the singer-songwriters Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）and Shozo Ise（伊勢正三） . It sure doesn't help that they are contemporaries and that they not only worked basically within the same sphere of music from the 1970s but they have collaborated together. Plus, there's something about the pronunciation of…
By Olivier Cleynen via Wikimedia Commons It's been a while since I've posted anything by the bohemian jazz outfit Ego-Wrappin' . Can't quite believe that a quarter-century has passed since I first heard their stomping "Psychoanalysis" （サイコアナラシス） led by the booming voice of Yoshie Nakano（中納良恵）. To be frank, I'm not sure what Nakano and her songwriting/musician partner Masaki Mori（森雅樹） have been up…
There have been a few times in the past when a bunch of us have gone out to dinner. Certain couples were with us and one time, at one restaurant where some hit music was playing over the speakers, the male half of the happy duo stated that the next song to play will be their song. Well, much to everyone's hilarity, it turned out to be Depeche Mode's "Master and Servant" . I'm sure that their…
It took me a while to warm up to the idea of Japanese rap. I had seen bits of Samurai Champloo and was aware of artists like Nujabes . I’d also played games like Sonic Rush and Jet Set Radio , whose soundtracks were composed by Hideki Naganuma (長沼英樹) . So I already knew there was some great hip-hop and hip-hop-inspired music coming out of Japan. But actual Japanese rappers breaking it down on the…
It was about a couple of months ago that I posted Mai Yamane's（山根麻衣） "Kibun wa Fairness" （気分はフェアネス）, her August 1982 5th single and a most congenial pop/rock song that was used as a commercial jingle for a Shiseido brand. As I said in that article, the song seemed to be a transitional one between her early City Pop material and her later jangly blues-rock stuff. Well, today, I have the B-side from…
I barely remember watching the 1995 anime feature "Ghost in the Shell" ; there was the iconic scene of Major Kusanagi flying off the roof and going into stealth mode and the scene where a row of techs had their fingers disjoint to show a whole bunch of metal rods typing at warp speed. But that was it for my memories. I guess the movie was so mesmerizing in how everything and everyone moved that it…
When I was writing up the Author's Picks article for the works of lyricist Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子） a few years ago, I was able to find some more of her songs for other artists that I decided to save up for future entries. This is one of them. Outside of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ） , vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ） had his solo career which I've so far represented on KKP with his 1979 "Happiness"…
I was a kid raised on action movies, particularly of the cop variety. Rush Hour 2, Bad Boys, The Naked Gun, Beverly Hills Cop —all of these movies delivered great action and even better laughs. They really don’t make ’em like they used to. So color me surprised when I discovered that Japan had its own answer to the buddy-cop formula in the form of Abunai Deka (あぶない刑事; “Dangerous Detectives”).…
It's been an interesting ride thus far with singer-songwriter Masami Urabe（浦部雅美 or うらべまさみ） , someone that I first discovered earlier this year. I first heard her 1976 debut single , the congenially country "Sukoshi Tōde wo Shitemimasen ka" （少し遠出をしてみませんか） and then there was her City Pop "Tomadoi" （とまどい） from 1982 . Yup, it's been observed that a number of singers made a leap from folk or country…
Well, this one crept on me fairly quickly. I guess it's because this week at least is part of the O-Bon Holiday season but I had completely forgotten that August 11th is Mountain Day in Japan , a national holiday. Of course, folks visited their nearby mountains. My old English conversation circle's members are all mountain-hiking enthusiasts although I'm glad that none of them invited me to any of…
I haven't really watched a J-Drama in many many years although I know of the usual types of drama that get onto the commercial networks such as TBS and Fuji-TV. There are the medical dramas, the ones dealing with cops and also the legal battles, and to be honest, they sound a lot like what's on American prime-time television. Frequent commenter Brian Mitchell told me about this drama that he and…
I just discovered this one after posting "Airport Kayo" back in June . But my impression is that this airport-titled song is far away from the others in terms of time and space. "Portable Kuukou" (Portable Airport) is one of the songs for capsule's 3rd single "Portable Airport" from May 2004. It has been categorized as an electro song although I can still hear some vestiges of the duo's old…
Many things have probably been said about The Professor, aka Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一） , since he dabbled in a lot of different genres. "Not boring" would be one such phrase. Certainly this song of his titled "Calling From Tokyo" which leads his November 1989 album "Beauty" （ビューティー） has quite its fair share of story behind it. Some years ago, I discovered that he'd harboured a long fascination for…
A lot of typical weeaboos fantasies about visiting Japan go something like, “I want to go to Shibuya,” or “I want to visit a maid café.” Me? I'm a simple man. I just want to sit down at a old izakaya and enjoy a glass of that good old Suntory Old Whisky. Suntory it is certainly one of the country’s most famous and recognizable brands. Its commercials are especially iconic—and they happen to be…
By Monaneko via Wikimedia Commons For the past several years, we Canadians have been getting along in our economy without the one-cent coin, aka the penny . Rounding up and down has been our way of circumventing the lack of that copper disc when paying in cash here in the Great White North . And yet...and I will apologize to Japanese currency fans in advance for what I'm about to write...the…
Its always refreshing to know that older artist you grew up listening to still have "the sauce" , and they can still turn out great music years later. It's kind of like seeing an old friend years later and knowing that he's doing great in life. That's kinda' how I felt after hearing Taeko Ohnuki's voice in the new song "Ohayo"( (おはよう) / Good Moring). Produced and arranged by the artist STUTS ,…
Amazon.jp This Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵） song was recommended to me by a commenter a few days ago and it turns out to be her fourth single that I hadn't known about. "Harukaze no Itazura" (Spring Wind Mischief) which was released in March 1974 arrived between a couple of arguably more well-known hits by the famed 70s aidoru and actress, "Kinjirareta Asobi" （禁じられた遊び） from November 1973 and " Hito Natsu…
From YouTube I'd been noticing it for a while but the Labels on the right had been showing 1,990 articles under the Aidoru tag. Well then, I decided (having that little bit of whimsy inside me) that the next article regarding an aidoru wouldn't only be the 1991st article but also an article about an aidoru with a song from the year 1991 . Well, when I think of aidoru from 1991 , my first thought…
From Rakuten Just by coincidence, I noticed that yesterday would have been singer-songwriter Masahiro Kuwana's（桑名正博） 73rd birthday. Unfortunately though, the native of Osaka had passed away at the age of 59 in 2012 from heart failure. I came across this track from his 5th album titled "Kuwana No. 5" from June 1979 . "Limelight" is a cool and strutting number that has been classified as blues-rock…
.jpg)
