Favorite J-Pop Singles: Ishida Ayumi / Blue Light Yokohama

After that whole Kisarazu Cat’s Eye brouhaha, I was online looking for older live performances of Akiko Wada. Not only did I want to see some videos of her doing “Ano Kane Wo Narasu No Wa Anata”, but I REALLY wanted to see some clips of her doing “Waratte Yurushite”, which in fact was the first song I ever saw the “young” Akiko Wada singing, a very, very KAKKOI song!

Anyway, after watching Akiko for awhile, I began to browse around, and since I was in Akiko’s 1970’s clips, the sidebar featured a whole slew of other 70’s artists, and I spotted a thumbnail of Ayumi Ishida in the options, and thought to myself, “Wow, Now there’s a girl I haven’t watched in a while…”

Now, I love Akiko Wada to death, but MAN, going from watching clips of Akiko Wada to Ayumi Ishida is like eating a New York Steak Dinner and then eating a Strawberry Parfait with cherries on top! From blustery and Powerful to Demure and Refined…

An author I read (can’t remember who, if pressed, however, I’ll go with Tom Robbins) once said (probably half jokingly) that the surest proof that God exists is by looking at the pretty face of a beautiful woman, and O How that quote was running through my head watching these performances! From YouTube:

It’s one thing to be watching Ayumi singing her signature song “Blue Light Yokohama” in 1994 or 1986 or 1977 (and YES I watched them all), but watching her in 1968 is another thing entirely! Ayumi is so achingly beautiful it’s almost hard to watch! ARIGATO, KAMISAMA!