Years and years ago, I purchased a set of Pony Canyon collections that showcased greatest hits from their catalog of the 70’s and 80’s. Along with Pony Canyon greats like Shizuka Kudoh, Hikaru Nishida and the mighty Checkers, the CDs also featured a quirky new wave group with a peppy anime-voiced lead singer- the group was FAIRCHILD, and the vocalist was a girl named Ehara Yukiko, better known as the charismatic YOU!
This group was pretty spectacular, for along with YOU’s interesting (to say the least) vocals, the band also featured respected session musicians Seiji Toda on Bass & Keyboards, and Hirokazu Kawaguchi on guitar! Through this introduction I got to know hits such as Chiisana Hoshi, Sagashiteru Noni and the super-catchy Jelly Eyes wa Amakunai (My all-time fave song from them!)…Here, Check out this awesome live Fairchild performance of Jelly Eyes at Hibiya-Yaon (yep, THAT arena that Princess Princess and Ribbon fans alike will instantly recognize!)
Nowadays, most people know YOU through her famous starring role as the dead-beat mother in the popular movie Daremo Shiranai (Nobody Knows), but it was through her frequent guest-appearances on (of all things) Kinki Kids’ Domoto Tsuyoshi’s show Shojiki Shindoi that I fell in love with her!
It’s hard to explain to someone not familiar with the show how loose and carefree the set-up is for the program. Tsuyoshi does this thing called the “Shindoi Walker”, where he’ll get dropped into some various town and he and a guest will simply walk from venue to venue, sampling the restaurants, happenings, and secluded haunts, soaking up the atmosphere.
I’d gotten used to the sassy, raspy voiced YOU’s antics on Shojiki Shindoi before, but a special three-part Shindoi in *HAWAII* is the one that knocked me out! She was SOOO funny, so naughty and HELLA SEXY! Besides her devil may care attitude, she had these quirks that always made me smile- when she and Tsuyoshi would be eating something delicious, instead of just saying “Oishii”, she’d stop with her mouth full and hit Tusyoshi! He’d just snicker and blow her off, just the way she expected him to! SO ENTERTAINING-I’d watch these Shindois OVER and OVER again!
Even after that, YOU’s appeared on the show several times since, always winning me over with her crazy ways! And I think it’s saying something that she’d be on a show with someone like uber-boobed Eiko Koike and I’d still only be staring at YOU!
YOU was just on Shojiki Shindoi again a few weeks ago, and when I decided to write up a little entry on her, I was stunned to find the lack of pictures of her on the internet. Despite her LONG legacy in Fairchild and her work with DOWNTOWN, it seemed like the ONLY pictures available were the stills from Daremo Shiranai! I downloaded the best ones I could find, but sadly, she didn’t look so great in the movie. After all, she was a slummin' Mommy, and she really wasn't painted in that great of a light...I was bummed that these were the only shots I could get of her!
Then fate stepped in, as I wandered one weekend through the store that carried used japanese fashion magazines… and there, in the front row, stood the very magazine you see scanned here, the February issue of IN RED!!!
My heart leapt up, and even though I got some funny looks from the lady ringing me up, ( what’s this guy doing buying a japanese girl fashion magazine?!) I threw down the seven bucks with pride and triumphantly left the store with my treasure! Its time to share!
