It seems strange to think about, but there was a time when you could stroll into any of the many japanese video stores around town, and rent the NHK Kouhaku of the year, checking it out like any other movie or video! And it was in this way that in early 1996 I was able to view the 1993 Kohaku of years past!
Initially, I really wanted to see the ’93 Kohaku for Moritaka Chisato’s performance (she did “Watashi No Natsu” in front of a huge whale….CUTEST perf ever!) but I ended up loving it for a performance by ANOTHER vocallist- The unexpected surprise fave of mine was the latest single from Shizuka Kudoh, the queen of Pony Canyon and late of Onyanko Club!
As soon as that SONG started- with its very Quarterflash sounding horns and driving beat, I knew it was a winner already, but what really hooked me was the catchy chorus and hook, when she sang the line,“Tomodachi nanka janai toiu omoi”…Shizuka sounded so cool and sultry belting this one out, ARGH! I just LOVED IT!!
Initially, I really wanted to see the ’93 Kohaku for Moritaka Chisato’s performance (she did “Watashi No Natsu” in front of a huge whale….CUTEST perf ever!) but I ended up loving it for a performance by ANOTHER vocallist- The unexpected surprise fave of mine was the latest single from Shizuka Kudoh, the queen of Pony Canyon and late of Onyanko Club!
As soon as that SONG started- with its very Quarterflash sounding horns and driving beat, I knew it was a winner already, but what really hooked me was the catchy chorus and hook, when she sang the line,“Tomodachi nanka janai toiu omoi”…Shizuka sounded so cool and sultry belting this one out, ARGH! I just LOVED IT!!
And furthermore, you have to understand…Shizuka looked unbelievable here…I don’t think I ever saw her looking so beautiful and elegant…I was completely smitten right off the bat!
I really wanted a copy of Doukoku for myself, but seeing as how the CD single was over two years old, it was no longer “on the shelves” anywhere, and I needed to special order it, but that in itself presented a problem! You see, to fill in the special order form at Hakubundo, I would have had to know how to either write the english romanized title, or write the song title in kanji…and I couldn't do either of them!
The title of the song was: 慟哭 , two really unrecognizable kanjis (for me), and after hours and hours of poring over my “Kanji ABC’s” book (given to me years ago as a gift from Dayone) to try and “hunt down” the characters without luck, I gave up. It was just too darn complicated for me to crack!
Fortunately for me, I had a friend who had a real knack for figuring out kanji (using that stroke order formula that I find utterly incomprehensible) and was able to determine that the song title was either DOUKOKU or some other alternate translation, that of which I can’t remember for the life of me. But for the most part, I had my title! YES!
Well, sad to say, despite putting in that order and waiting for months, the single never did come in for me. It simply had been too long since its initial release for me to get a copy of my own! But once again Dayone came to my rescue when he got me a copy of Shizuka’s two-disc greatest hits package SHE~BEST OF BEST, and you could have heard my cheers of happiness all the way in Japan when I saw Doukoku listed on the tracklisting! YATTA!
Addendum: In 2008, through the awesome services of (of all places) the Hello Project Goods Shop, I was FINALLY able to get a copy of the very single you see pictured above! WHEW!
The title of the song was: 慟哭 , two really unrecognizable kanjis (for me), and after hours and hours of poring over my “Kanji ABC’s” book (given to me years ago as a gift from Dayone) to try and “hunt down” the characters without luck, I gave up. It was just too darn complicated for me to crack!
Fortunately for me, I had a friend who had a real knack for figuring out kanji (using that stroke order formula that I find utterly incomprehensible) and was able to determine that the song title was either DOUKOKU or some other alternate translation, that of which I can’t remember for the life of me. But for the most part, I had my title! YES!
Well, sad to say, despite putting in that order and waiting for months, the single never did come in for me. It simply had been too long since its initial release for me to get a copy of my own! But once again Dayone came to my rescue when he got me a copy of Shizuka’s two-disc greatest hits package SHE~BEST OF BEST, and you could have heard my cheers of happiness all the way in Japan when I saw Doukoku listed on the tracklisting! YATTA!
Addendum: In 2008, through the awesome services of (of all places) the Hello Project Goods Shop, I was FINALLY able to get a copy of the very single you see pictured above! WHEW!
