Favorite J-pop Singles: Koizumi Kyoko / My Sweet Home

After falling in love with Tomoko Yamaguchi in the incredible drama Long Vacation, I was eager to check out some of her earlier dramas, and my friend met my request with a quirky drama called “Sweet Home”.

This drama was a fun show to watch- it’s about Tomoko trying to get her child into a upscale elementary school, but to do that, she will have to overcome the obstacles of a domineering teacher (played by Tomoko’s co-star in Double Kitchen,Yoko Nogiwa) and an apathetic husband!

The theme song was the wonderfully lush “My Sweet Home” by Koizumi Kyoko, and here’s where the rub comes in! It seems the reason my friend had the series on VHS tape was that he’d taped it for his parents who had gone on some extended trip and didn’t want to miss the drama! Unfortunately, in the interest of saving space on the tapes (not to mention the fact that his mother would have just fast-forwarded over the credits, anyway), he cut out each and every opening theme! :)

The way each episode began was with a 5 minute-or-so teaser which would have its punchline, then- poing! the title would ”stamp” on the screen,and then it would segue into the theme song… it was heartbreaking to see about 2 seconds of the song before it would unceremoniously cut and go directly to the show!

Not that I’m really complaining, mind you…if it wasn’t for this chance of my friend taping the show in the first place would I have ever seen the show, period! So thanks for “Sweet Home”, braddah, and thanks for all the fish…

Favorite J-pop Singles: Hirose Kohmi / Shiawase Wo Tsukamitai

I was introduced to the world of j-pop through Pony Canyon artists CoCo and the spin-off solo artist ventures such as Miura Rieko and Senou Azusa.
One of the very first non-Pony Canyon/CoCo related j-pop artist I ever heard was Hirose Kohmi, and what an introduction it was! Performing her earth shattering single “Shiawase Wo Tsukamaetai”, Kohmi immediately floored me by her ferocious take on the song, and I quickly knew that I was going to be buying more of her stuff soon!
As I got more involved with Hirose Kohmi’s songs and performances, I realized that among other things, She was way outta left field, a real eccentric performer, or, as J-pop buyer Dave once said, “She’s Weird”.
Another artist that will appear many times on my Favorite j-pop singles list!

Favorite J-pop Singles: Sakai Noriko / Aoi Usagi

The first song I ever knew from Sakai Noriko, from the wildly popular Hoshi No Kinka series, starring Sakai as a deaf-mute nurse trying to win back the love of her amnesiac fiancee. (Wow, this just spells out Soap Opera drama, doesn’t it?!)

Best performance of this song for me just has to be the 1995 Kohaku Uta Gassen(yes, THAT Red and White, again!) where she hand-signed along with the song , man, it was like an art-form, so beautiful!. Noriko herself looked pretty fine, too!

One of the first major songs I've ever loved from j-pop, and the opening piano notes will always take me right back to those days...a sad, melancholy song befitting the sad, melancholy drama it was from!

Hoshi No Kinka would go on to spawning a sequel (which also starred Sakai and featured her song Kagami No Dress as its theme) AND a reboot series, as well!

Favorite J-pop Singles: Fukuyama Masaharu / It’s Only Love

The first song I ever knew from Fukuyama Masaharu was the single “Hello”, but it wasn’t until I got a chance to see him performing two older classics on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ that I got to hear what would be my favorite song from him!

Along with the cool “Melody”, Fukuyama also performed fan favorite single “It’s Only Love”, a song that first caught my attention as a Beatles’ Tune title, then really caught my ear with the powerful beat and melody, with his sincere singing! I was hooked!

There are about three songs from Masaharu Fukuyama that I really love trying to sing at Karaoke, including “It’s Only Love”, “Heart”, and the rocking (but wacky) “Peach!!”, making him one of the BIGGER J-pop Single successes here!

Favorite J-pop Singles: Matsuda Seiko / Kagayaita Kitsetsu e Tabidatou

What can I say here that I haven’t already blathered on and on before? This is just my hands down favorite single from the once and future j-pop queen, Matsuda Seiko!
The first time I laid eyes on the legendary Seiko Matsuda was performing one of her popular medleys for the 1995 Red and White Song Festival, and I have to say that my first impressions of her were totally NOT what I expected! Somehow, I thought I'd see someone with more of a stand-offish personality like Barbra Streisand, and though she CAN have that effect some of the time, for THIS night anyway, she was channeling the spirit of an elementary school girl! I was charmed!
But the hits didn't stop there! On that same tape was yet another performance from Seiko,(from the 1994 Red and White)  but THIS time, though still as playful as a kid, somehow, THIS ensemble was SEXY as HELL!!! Dressed as an angel of sorts, Seiko's mischievous attitude seemed more like the sweet devil, and I was BLOWN AWAY!
The song was called Kagayaita Kisetsu  E Tabi Datou, and MAN! Talk about someone enjoying their performance- Seiko was  beaming from ear to ear here, and her energetic dancing made the totally catchy pop tune all the more infectious! I watched that song over and over again, and to this day, it's STILL my favorite performance of this song!
Once you've seen her performing this onstage dressed in a heavenly gown complete with strap-on angel wings and scampering around like a 15 year-old girl, you know you can never go back! Never.

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Zard / Nemurenai Yoru O Daite

By the time ZARD released their seventh album TODAY IS ANOTHER DAY, I was a MAJOR fan of their work, and made it a point to track down just about every abum  and Cd single that I could! All their albums were top-notch, but (for me, anyway) the three albums that really stood out were the aforementioned TODAY IS ANOTHER DAY,  their frist album proper MOU SAGASANAI, and what must be their finest album  of all, HOLD ME!

HOLD ME works on so many levels, it has so many of my favorite ZARD tracks here, and what holds the whole thing together and makes it a tight, concise piece is the way the songs are strung together and of course , the most important thing: a KICK-ASS beginning song , and that’s EXACTLY what  “Nemurenai Yoru O Daite” is!!! From its awesome majestic keyboard opening to the droning chugging of the guitars and powerful drum beats, this was a ZARD single par excellence!

 Besides being one of my all-time favorite songs from ZARD (along with the similar sounding  “Fushigi Ne” and “My Friend”), Nemurenai Yoru O Daite also has the distinct status of being one of only a few songs ZARD ever performed, and so when we saw the clips of them performing it on the MUSIC STATION 10 Year Anniversary Special, we went nuts!

In later years ZARD would actually go out and tour, but at the time seeing her singing on any TV shows was almost unheard of! It was thrilling enough just to see the band moving around  and playing onstage, but additionally, Izuki Sakai looked so damn pretty, we could hardly stand it! And so we watched those clips Over. And. Over. Again!

PS: Hahaha, Just noticed that during the interview part of the show, you can see Reiko and the rest of the CoCo girls behind the hosts! Ah, these really were the Golden Days!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Nishida Hikaru / C'mon, C'mon, C'mon

The theme song for the wacky drama Natsu! Depart Monogatari starring Tatsuya Yamaguchi of TOKIO fame as the bumbling but hard working department store clerk whose dream is to become a first rate employee and date the daughter of the company, played by Hikaru Nishida!

Though this show was fun and entertaining, I must warn anyone wanting to check this drama out for the sole purpose of seeing Nishida Hikaru: She 's hardly in it at ALL! Far from what you might think by the promotional picture. (above) Hikaru only appears at random points in the show to smile at or encourage Yamaguchi as he bumbles earnestly through the latest problem! Sigh...but she does look nice when she's onscreen!

C'mon, C'mon, C'mon (or rather, C'mon3, as it's REALLY titled) played during the ending credits as the cast members all gathered together at the beach to play volleyball, followed by the TOKIO song “Soko Na Shi Love” as the previews for the next week’s episode ran...

Maybe it was the visual of the kids playing volleyball and having fun or the sheer poppiness of the song, but this tune always seemed like a really “genki” song, sure to put a smile on your face!

A nice bonus to picking up the C’Mon3 single was the c/w song called “Go Beep”, which is a great, catchy little song she performed live on the “Live 2-4” tour that isn’t available on any album!

Below: Behind The Scenes via BOMB Magazine:

BOMB really was CHOCK full of good stuff for the budding J-pop/Idol enthusiast!

Favorite J-pop Singles: Field Of View / Totsuzen

Theme song from the 1995 Pocari Sweat campaign! Another terrific song  written by the late Izumi Sakai of ZARD, and you can find her version on the terrific TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY album.
ZARD's version is an airy and sweet song, quite a different feel from this incredible gothic, chorus-laden version...Field Of View sure knew how to arrange and produce their singles for maximum effect, ne!
Field of View had already sung the absolutely pop-perfect KIMI GA ITAKARA, another great song by ZARD and subsequently another great single from Field Of View! Both songs were performed by the boys when they appeared as Music Champs on Hey! Hey! Hey!

PS: No, You're not imagining things...this post is an almost exact replica of Field Of View's previous post! AHAHAHAHA

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Mizuki Arisa / Promise To Promise

Theme song from the drama/comedy NURSE NO OSHIGOTO, starring Mizuki herself as the klutzy nurse-in-training Asakura, this was a show that started off as wacky and zany as could be, but somehow always seemed to end each episode on a somber/poignant note. And that's a good thing, too, because Promise to Promise just has to be one of Arisa's most beautiful songs, a dreamy tune that makes one feel thoughtful and lonely (at least, that the effect if always had on ME) and it just wouldn't have matched with those early scenes of Asakura dropping needles all over the floor for comedic effect! (and in these days of malpractice and lawsuits, I wonder who the heck would think this was funny anyways! AHAHAHAHA)

The wacky scenes were VERY wacky, and yet, the serious episodes were REALLY  touching, and after it was over, I remember making a copy of the series for my friend Golden, who watched Asakura zanily banging around the Hospital and dropping medications for about 10 minutes before turning off the tape and giving it back to me!


I told him, 'But it gets better! Trust me, only the openings of the episodes are crazy- This is a REALLY GOOD drama! But he just couldn't make it through the silliness and shrugged his shoulders! AHAHAHAHA!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: L<->R / Knocking On Your Door

Theme song for the extremely funny and heartfelt drama BOKURA NI AI O! (Give Us Love!!) starring Eguchi Yosuke, Takeda Shinji and Suzuki Anju (looking particularly yummy here!)

Eguchi runs a dilapidated rooming house filled with equally dilapidated boarders (among them the always quirky Kokubun Taichi of TOKIO!), but he find a goal to strive for when cutie stewardess Anju Suzuki and friends move into next door’s fancy hotel.

Whenever I hear this song, I can’t help picturing the opening credits for the show… so wacky, they've even got Eguchi and the gang lip-synching to the song, happily playing away on instruments and dancing as the credits rolled!

Arg, another song I tried once upon a time (very unsucessfully) to sing at karaoke...

Favorite J-pop Singles: Nakayama Miho and WANDS / Sekaijuu no Dare Yori Kitto

Watching this live video the other night, I was surprised to realize that I hadn't written up something in honor of this awesome single earlier, and in fact, I had to go through my pages one by one to make sure I didn't, 'cause I sure THOUGHT I did!


Taking the solid rock beats and vocalising of group WANDS (whom I've written about before here) and adding the sweet, sweet vocals of petite Miss Nakayama, and you had SUCH an INSPIRED winning combination! Already known to me just by word of mouth, I finally got to see a MUSIC STATION performance of this song, and MAN, was I hooked! The band sounded great, but of course what really sold it was cute li'l Miho, and she had this certain stance that she took during this song, one foot in front of the other, arms crossed and gently bumping along with the rhythm of the tune...!

I've gotten quite a few performances of Miho doing this song since, and it's neat that she takes that killer pose in each and every one of them! Not to mention lookin' pretty as heck!

Kohaku Uta Gassen 2007

Nakai and Shofukutei, note Sayumin looking adorable as heck in the background!

 Well, I have to say that this yer's Kohaku Uta Gassen (or, rather, the Red and White Song Festival) was a pretty straight forward event, and resonated (at least with me) as about as average on the whole scale of Kohakus, anyway. I should have known things would be  meh when I saw that for the first time, they were gonna use two GUYS as the Red and White Captains, respectively Nakai Masahiro for the Red (Female) Team and Tsurube Shōfukutei for the White (Male) Team. How off is THAT?

Apart from that diversion from the traditional, the show went off without hitch and there were a few acts I thought stood out for me...

The Princesses and the Queen:

Morning Musume started the show with an explosion of girlish playfulness...and then Kenichi Mikawa followed with this year’s example of excessive gaudiness! 

 

 

Once again, the Kohaku proved that Enka is still alive and well, and like last year, Yoko Nagayama did her always fierce performance of "Jonkara Onna Bushi", rockin' that Shamisen while growling out those lyrics and delivering the steeliest gaze ever...

And they had cute young girl groups backing up the seasoned pros, this time with Shoko Nakagawa and AKB48 backing up Natsuko Godai...

Kohaku Regulars TOKIO were back again, this time performing their rocker "Seisyun", that cool little theme song from the terrific Nagase Tomoya/Aibu Saki drama "Utahime"...

Nakamura Mitsuko was the one to ring in the “matsuri” stage…

The Shakalabbits- flavoured Mihimaru GT roused the crowd

WaT did their best Simon and Garfunkel….

We had the reunion of Kiyoshi Maekawa and Cool Five…

Enka goodness with Kaori Kozai

We got a TREAT with the reunion of the awesome KOME KOME CLUB, back in rare form performing their old classic hits like Kimi Ga Iru Dake and Roman Hikou!

Ai Otsuka came on to deliver the funniest, zaniest and most eccentric performance of the night, with the bouncy fun "Chu-Lip"!

K-pop Diva BoA wows! 

And speaking of WOWing, even Kimutaku can’t hide his awe at the epic pyrotechnics of Satomi Kobayashi!

 

A softer side of Kumi Koda...

A strangely ghoulish performance by Mika Nakashima…

Ayumi Hamasaki knocks it out of the park as usual

While Gackt does his Taiga Drama performance (in full get-up!!!)

Next we had 80's veteran Noriyuki Makihara come on, but wasn't his performance of his song "Green Days" that did it for me as much as the admiring gaze of adorable Yui Aragaki watching over him as he sang the theme to the drama "Love and Farm"...

Gakky watching Makihara perform

...she approves!

Speaking of which, there was not one but TWO cuties on the judges table this year, with not only Yui Aragaki, but Aoi "Atsuhime" Miyazaki in attendance!

 

 

For me, the absolute highlight of the evening was the incredible performance of "Winding Road" by the smooth sounds of Kobukuro duetting with the stellar vocals of singer AYAKA, man, such a  great song, such a COOL delivery, I loved it! Ah, and wasn't Ayaka just sooooooo PRETTY?! YES!

What Kohaku can be complete without seeing Saburo Kitajima with confetti in his hair (and,occasionally, in his mouth)?

But they seem to be shuffling around the younger acts in recent years, and instead of Saburo Kitajima, we had acts like the mighty Dreams Come True as the penultimate act...

...And having SMAP close the Red and White is definitely something I’ll have to get used to…. 

All in all a fun time!
Well, that was about it for me, We'll see what they come up with NEXT year!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Zard / Anata wo Kanjite Itai

Another terrific single off of that first J-pop mix I got, (and truthfully, when you consider that that tape was the thing that more or less INTRODUCED me to the world of J-pop, pretty much EVERY song on that cassette is gonna be a certified “fave”!) “Anata wo Kanjite Itai” was the very first song I ever heard from the beautiful stylings of Izumi Sakai and ZARD, a group (or artist, whichever) that would go on to become one of my favorites!

ZARD always seemed like a mystery to me- I never saw them performing on any of the TV shows I watched, and even their CD covers all had this very vague look to them, complete with washed out colors and that famous ZARD logo, but I remember wanting to know more about them! At the time, Zard’s  sixth album FOREVER YOU had just come out, but a guy at work made copies of  his  ZARD albums  Oh My Love and Yureru Omoi  which became the first albums I heard, and they were in fact the first non-CoCo j-pop albums I listened to!

When I first heard Anata wo Kanjite Itai, I figured ZARD to be a kind of dreamy, poppy type of band, but listening to Oh My Love and Yureru Omoi, found they really touched upon all genres of music, from gentle love songs to Beatlesy tunes to almost hard-rock!

By the time TODAY IS ANOTHER DAY came out, ZARD was just about my favorite group, and I remember those days of frantically trying to trace down each and every album and single release! And boy, in the days before the internet, IT WAS HELLA HARD!!!! Ah, but boy, was it worth it!!!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: DEEN / Love Forever

When I received my 5th J-pop cassette Mix from my friend in April of 1996, I was blown away by not just one but two new Hirose Kohmi songs, two new Mr. Children songs, and a couple of songs from a cool rockin’ band I’d never heard before, DEEN! What a terrific group this was!

In a way it was like getting a crash course in DEEN goodness because the two songs that opened up side two of that cassette mix were just about their best songs ever: the catchy whimsical HITOMI SORASANAIDE and the dramatic rock ballad LOVE FOREVER!

Lead Singer Ikemori Shuichi’s vocals always sound great, and I have to say that in LOVE FOREVER, they’ve never sounded better, especially the parts that are double tracked and he’s harmonizing with himself! And that B-GRAM music style of the band sounds so much like ZARD, it almost feels like he’s subbing for Izumi while she takes a breather!

PS: Picked up DEEN’s greatest hits package KISEKI, and was shocked to find out that these were NEW versions of Hitomi Sorasanaide and Love Forever!!! Gack! Lucky I kept my hands on those original singles!!!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Tamura Naomi / Yuzurenai Negai

Incredible single from Naomi Tamura, the lead singer of kick-ass rock group PEARL (which featured some prolific musicians like Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge fame and Tony Franklin) with her solo outfit!
The first time I saw her was on this Music Station special, and I was floored by her powerful voice. The song was “Yuzurenai Negai”, a song I would later see her do on that year’s Kohaku as well! What a Gal!!!

Naomi made a few more rocking singles, and then, strangely enough, I suddenly stopped hearing from her after that! I DID notice Tower Records started carrying various PEARL Cds after this…did the group reform, cutting Naomi’s solo venture short?

Anyway, here's Yuzurenai Negai to wrap your ears around...let the rocking begin!

Favorite J-pop Singles: Mr. Children / Theme of "ES"

My friend Dave made a cassette tape for me that ended with this incredible, epic song from Mr. Children. What a perfect closer to any compilation! Although he'd already introduced me to the music of Mr. Children on an earlier mix with their peppy single See-Saw Game, it was the "Theme of ES" tune that really caught my ear!

A song that starts off silently, with only an acoustic guitar strumming along with the vocals, as slowly, elements enter the song, violin strings, a VERY George Harrison-ish guitar refrain, all building up to a big finish that segues into a gentle ending...

But...what the heck is “ES”, anyway?! Was it some show or something?