Favorite J-Pop Singles: Tanimura Yumi / Shinjiru Mono Ni Sukuwareru

I remember thinking, back years ago when I got Tokyo Policewoman Duo’s single “Hare Nochi Parade”, that I’d FINALLY acquired all the songs from my old J-pop cassette mixes in MP3 format (or, at least, the first four mixes which were pretty much responsible for educating me on all the latest songs and artists of the time!)… so I was quite surprised when, in a nostalgic mood, I dug up my old notes where I’d written down the track-listing for the collections, and, upon reading the songs for J-Pop Mix Four, saw Yumi Tanimura’s  Shinjiru Mono Ni Sukuwareru listed, and realized it had been years and YEARS since I’d heard it... I knew the ONLY reason that that could be was that I DIDN’T have it in MP3, despite my belief that I’d acquired everything already! 

Futilely I searched all my J-pop CD mixes and old hard drives in hopes that I somehow had it, but sure enough, my searches came up dry. ARGH! I DIDN'T HAVE THE YUMI TANIMURA SONG!!!
 I went online to my usual 80’s and 90’s  J-pop Fan forums to see if any of them had it but the only Yumi Tanimura albums they had went to dead links (I realized later that none of the albums they were sharing had the song, anyway, sigh) since it had been QUITE awhile since they'd uploaded 'em...
 I next sped down to Shirokiya’s Book Off to see if they had, if not the single or album, then at least a collection that had the song. Once again, NADA! Dejected, I slunk BACK to the internet, hoping SOMEONE had the song SOMEWHERE...and then I came across a wonderful 80's Jpop Site, and LO and BEHOLD, there it was- my Yumi Tanimura Holy Grail: Shinjiru Mono Ni Sukuwareru!!! I was on that in a FLASH! YATTA!

You know, listening to any of these songs from the old mixes brings back memories, but when you consider the last time I heard Yumi’s song was the last time I played the ACTUAL CASSETTE ITSELF,  the wall of emotion and nostalgia that hit me when I played Shinjiru Mono Ni Sukuwareru for the first time in so long just had me breaking out in goose bumps! MAN, I just kept playing it over and over again! 

Getting TOTALLY into it, I went onto Youtube to see if they had ANY live performances of Yumi Tanimura, and right there on the top of the sidebar was Yumi performing the song itself, Shinjiru Mono ni Sukuwareru, and OH MY GOD, IT WAS AWESOME!!! Yumi so pretty, her voice so beautiful and soothing;  just love her breathy style of singing and just love how she pushes through that final note!!!! SOOOO, SOOO much MEMORIES!!

You know, it's so cool that there are still so many fans and forums dedicated to sharing and promoting those golden greats of the 80s and 90's for new fans to discover and listen to!
Google translates Yumi's song Shinjiru Mono Ni Sukareru as "It Will Be Saved By Those Who Believe"...now, I don't know if that's an accurate translation or not, but for someone who spent the last week trying to get an old song and happily finding on a fan forum, I think the title in THIS CASE is TOTALLY APROPOS!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Kawashima Naomi

Kawashima Naomi

Saddened to hear about the passing of actress Naomi Kawashima today…Oh my gosh did I love her back in my early days of J-drama watching! During her heyday she was definitely one of the sexiest  and most gorgeous ladies in the J-drama scene; the very first j-drama proper I ever watched was the Higashiyama Noriyuki show “The Chef”, and her role as the Chef’s sultry arch-enemy Reiko Kitamura had my heart all a' thumpin’ in each and every episode! In fact, she was my primary motive for watching the show, I loved her THAT much!

As Sultry Reiko Kitamura in CHEF

With Higashiyama. Her Signature Line: "I...WILL...EAT...HIM!"

   Back in those days, Wani Books was the publisher that was releasing all the Shashinshuu that my favorite idols were putting out, and by perusing the catalogs that were inserted in the books, found that Naomi had released a VERY tantalizing photo book called “WOMAN”, and I knew I just HAD to have it! Took me a few years to locate a copy, but I’ve had it ever since and it’s always been placed proudly in my Shashinshuu collection!

Some of Naomi's more "modest" pics in WOMAN

 Ahhh, just took the book out again to scan some of these photos, and am just taken back, Man, what a WOMAN she was…So sad to lose someone so early in her life… Rest in peace, Naomi-san.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

J-Drama Femme Fatales: Kang Jiyoung

Jiyoung as Irina Jelavic in ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM

Well, just got through watching the incredibly zany Yamada Ryosuke movie “Assassination Classroom”(Ansatsu Kyoshitsu), a movie about a class of misfit students that are recruited by the government to kill their teacher, an alien creature posing as an instructor who tells them that if they cannot successfully kill him before the end of the semester, he will destroy the earth... 

Yeah, the film was just about as silly as it sounds, but there was one BIG perk of watching it- throughout the show, they kept introducing new government assassins posing as transfer teachers and students, and among them was an extremely hot and sexy bombshell named “ Irina Jelavic”, played by pretty Jiyoung, she late of K-pop group KARA!

Man, when Irina came out with all GUNS ABLAZIN' I was all like WHOOO HOO check out this HOT, Kick-Butt Lady! Aww, too bad that once defeated by the Alien Teacher "Koro-Sensei", she spent most of the time sitting off to the side brooding impotently... No matter, she still looked sexy as hell!

"Must...KILL that Alien Teacher...SOMEHOW..."

One of the funnier aspects is this sultry teacher’s name,  Ms Jelavic.  Vic is pronounced “Vich”, and as you all know, since the “V” sound doesn’t roll off the Nihongo tongue very well, her students end up pronouncing her name slightly DIFFERENTLY! Hilarious scene where she’s trying to tell them the difference between her name…and what THEY’VE been calling her!

"You guys have been pronouncing it like THIS"

"It's pronounced like THIS!"

"VIC, you understand? VIC."

"It's pronounced Jela VIC!!"

But it’s all in fun as Ms. Jelavic’s sluttiness is pretty much the comedy relief in the show! I mean where else can the class have an overnight sleepover in the school and the teacher comes dressed in her Negligee? LOL

Sleepover Girl Talk will never be the same!

Damn, gotta say, when I first began watching Assassination Classroom, I didn’t even recognize her-  the blonde wig was an obvious throw-off, but additionally Jiyoung was probably the last actress I expected to see here…

 I guess I shouldn’t have been TOO surprised, though, since she played another little hottie in the equally crazy monster-in-the-classroom drama JIGOKU SENSEI NUBE! Mmmm, She’s been lookin’ HELLA fine!!!

Just a Girl and Her Gun

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

All The Funky Monkey Babies!!

You all know how much I love love, love Chisato Moritaka’s Live Concert performances, and one of my favorites, from the KOKON TOZAI~ ONI-GA DERUKA JAGA DERUKA Concert, is Chisato’s explosively energetic perf of her song “Funky Monkey Baby” from her very eclectic KOKON TOZAI album! The album version itself was fun (listen below) but it only HINTED at how much POWER Chisato could bring out of it live!

You know, in the 90's Chisato was pretty much the UNDISPUTED J-Pop Dancing Queen, and watching her moves here, it's clear to see why- she infuses her performance with so much energy and wild abandoned gusto, you find YOURSELF exhausted after watching the show, and her performance of Funky Monkey Baby (along with Yoru No Entotsu, which followed right after) is Chisato in her prime!

Coming in right after a costume change (and don't you love how she looks at the audience as she strips off her blouse, saying, ya know ya love it!), this song is Chisato at her most adorably SPAZZY, not just in her frenetic dance moves, but especially the way she scats the guitar solo, enthusiastically “air-guitaring” along with Joe Hisashi! From the moment she announces to the audience "MINNASAN!", Chisato transforms into this whirling dervish and doesn't return to earth til the end of Yoru No Entotsu! Check it out:

So I always related that song to her, but over the years I began to see references to the song in movies and dramas that didn’t seem like they were talking about Chisato at all. And then when Hip Hop Group "Funky Monkey Babys” came out, their music was SO different from Chisato’s that I KNEW they just COULDN'T have been named after her song, and that there must be some OTHER meaning to the words. 

    It then struck me that perhaps Funky Monkey Baby was NOT a Chisato Moritaka original tune and was the cover of an OLDER song?  After all, one of Chisato’s BIG early hits was a cover of Saori Minami’s  seventies' classic “Juanasai”! I had to find out!

Doing some research online, I was surprised to find that the song was INDEED a cover, a remake of a 1975 tune penned and sung by a Rock Group called CAROL, led by Rock n Roll Elder Statesman Yazawa Eikichi! 

Downloading the MP3, I could see why Chisato had decided to cover it, such a cool, ROCKING tune with a steady pounding backbeat, and I was thrilled to find they even had a VIDEO of them performing, and Holy Smokes, they were VERY KAKKOI indeed!

  Just as she was inspired by the artists before her, Chisato has continued to pass the torch down to the next generation as many of her OWN songs are covered by younger artists (like Aya Matsuura, C-ute, and Ichikawa Yui ), so much so that many don’t even realize the songs ARE covers - I saw some young artist on Youtube covering Chisato's awesome "Watarasebashi" and reading the comments, saw that a commentator posted, “This is a cover of an old Aya Matsuura song!” LOL! 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Incredible Antique "Karakuri" Automata

Came across a clip of this amazing antique wind-up figurine "Karakuri" automata, created over 200 years ago by Tanaka Hisashige, the original president of Toshiba Electronics, of an archer notching an arrow and launching it off... After all these years it's still in perfect working condition, and as you see it move, you can see the incredible work gone into it- the fluid, very natural and realistic body movements and gestures, and all moving via carefully housed springs and gears, WOW, so COOL!

I'd originally seen this clip in the gif form (above), but then had to check out the rest of the show the clip came from, if only to see exactly how this automata WORKED!

 Not sure which show this is from, but it looks like the reporter is TOKIO's Tatsuya Yamaguchi, so perhaps it's his very intriguing show THE TETSUWAN DASH? No matter, this clip will blow your mind...check it out!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

FYI: Satomi Ishihara is a Babe

Ishihara Satomi in Tobo Bengoshi

One of the older dramas I’ve dug up and have been watching is the Yusuke Kamiji crime drama “Tobo Bengoshi” from 2010. Been a pretty good drama so far (over halfway through as we speak) but just HAD to stop to point out how FREAKING luscious Satomi Ishihara is here! This was during her “Surly, Mopey and Pouty” period (which also included her drama “Bull Doctor” and the Movie “Incite Mill”, both of which I documented here)  but sourpuss or not, Satomi's beauty just shines through, what a gorgeous girl!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

My Wish Comes True: “Ishi No Mayu” Gets Subtitled!

Fumino Kimura in Ishi No Mayu

Was absolutely THRILLED to find that avieamber on Daddicts had decided to pick up and subtitle the new mini (5 episodes) Crime Drama Ishi No Mayu (Stone Cocoon)!! As you all know I love actress Fumino Kimura and have been dying to see her in a realistic and gritty role, and by golly, that’s EXACTLY what I’ve got with this captivating show!

 A very dark drama about a police task force set out to catch a serial killer who encapsulates his victims in concrete before torturing them to death it is as desperate as they come, and Fumino is so great in this role, awkward and inexperienced but passionate and determined. At times I had a hard time believing this girl was the same fun and sunny character in the other shows I’ve seen her in, this is really a new direction for her!

There has been some buzz about Fumino’s next drama “Siren” with Tori Matsuzaka, which is going to be another crime drama with Fumino in the role of a police investigator and as Ishi No Mayu has shown, she’s totally up for the job! Can’t wait!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Another "Parents' Day" Cliche for My Collection

Been awhile since I saw that old "Parents Day" cliche , but happily the new Keiko Kitagawa Crime drama Tantei No Tantei has come to the rescue and included this old chestnut in their latest episode!

Tantei No Tantei

The Parents' Day Cliche: In every drama featuring a small child going to school, there will eventually be the episode where the child has some event at school for which they’d like the parent to attend, but for whatever reason the parent has some important business or obligation to perform that day. 

  Though the parent assures the child that they will do their best to make it to the event, inevitably they run behind time/lose track of time. so for most of the school event, the child sits there in class with this forlorn look on his/her face. But all is never lost, for NO MATTER WHAT, the parent will ALWAYS show up just before the child’s turn, making the child suddenly burst into smiles as he/she proudly performs his/her thing!

At Home Dad

Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku

Otomen

Who knows where this cliche will appears NEXT!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Executive Crush Status: Takako Tokiwa

  Plotboxes uploaded a classic J-drama from my "golden age" of J-dramas, a show called Ren'ai Hensachi (Love Quotient),  and my GOSH was it filled with J-drama stars of old! Shinohara Ryoko, Nakatani Miki and even my beloved Zaizen Naomi, but the one that really brought back a wave of nostalgia was seeing Takako Tokiwa again. 

You know, some of you may not know this, but back in the day (from about 1995 to 2000), Takako Tokiwa was REALLY the BEE'S KNEES and by just taking a gander at these screencaps, it’s still easy to see why!

  Takako always had this playful, elegant, and vulnerable aura about her, and for fans of later actresses like Kitagawa Keiko and Ishihara Satomi, believe me when I say Takako was a definite trailblazer of the type- (of course Takako herself followed in the footsteps of actresses like Suzuki Honami and the queen of bubbly j-drama girls, Sachiko Sakurai), the girl with sass, determination and a helluva lotta cuteness!

  Takako is one of the few female leads that I feel are right on par with the other male actors she cut her teeth with, Kimura Takuya, Fukuyama Masaharu, Oda Yuji, Takenouchi Yutaka, and Katsunori Takahashi, in every scene, this gal can definitely hold her own!
 In recent years, she has been cast in more motherly roles, (Tonbi, for example) and nowadays one can see Takako as the main character’s mom in the current NHK drama “Mare”!
  BTW, one other actress that appeared in this drama that I haven’t seen in ages- Naomi Hosokawa! Famous for her boyfriend stealing roles in shows like Hoshi No Kinka, I never DID get to see her in any starring roles…seeing her now, I have to wonder- whatever HAPPENED to her?

Hosokawa Naomi

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite J-Pop Albums: Matsuda Seiko / It’s Style ‘95

Back when my friend was making me the J-pop mixes that would introduce me to my J-pop fandom that continues til today, he’d make the collections up out of the latest singles from the current artists. For some reason though, when it came to Seiko Matsuda’s newest album “It’s Style ‘95”, he decided to put two non-single tracks, “Don’t You Wanna Dance” and “Let’s Talk Again” onto his latest mix instead of the current singles, a move I would only realize at the end of the year…

Don't You Wanna Dance

 
Let's Talk Again

 

At the end of 1995, I saw my very first Red and White Song Festival, and thanks to Dave’s tapes, I knew almost every song, or at least from the pop artists, (not so much the enka stuff, LOL) Noriko Sakai’s “Aoi Usagi”, Chisato Moritaka’s “Futari wa Koibito”, Mayo Okamoto’s “Tomorrow”, Dreams Come True’s “Love Love Love”, all of these singles were put onto Cassette mixes Dave made for me. When it came to Seiko Matsuda’s performance however, I was surprised that she didn’t sing either Let’s Talk Again OR Do You Wanna Dance, but a song called “Sutekini Once Again”, Eh? This wasn’t the song put on my J-pop Mix!

  It was then that I found out the two songs on the J-pop mix were album-only tracks... Even more profound was when I got a VHS copy of 1994’s Red and White Festival where Seiko performed an incredibly cute, poppy and FUN song called “Kagayaite Kisetsu E Tabidatou”. which I fell in love with IMMEDIATELY! I would find out that this song was ALSO a single off of It’s Style and got passed over, and in this I was kind of bummed because I REALLY dug the song- in fact, that song would go on to become my number ONE, ALL TIME favorite tune from her!

 One day I met up with Dave and asked him why he hadn’t put either Sutekini Once Again or Kagaite Kisetsu E Tabi Datou on the mixes, and he shrugged and said “I dunno, I liked those songs better, I guess.” LOL, I laughed, makes sense! And do you know what, despite how much I love the two singles, I have to admit that there is a special place in my heart for those two songs he DID put on that J-pop Mix, especially “Do You Wanna Dance”, which is one of my most beloved of Seiko Songs along with Kagayaite Kisetsu!

Initially the only song I really, really wanted to buy from Seiko was Kagayaite so I picked up her latest Anthology “BibleIII” which included that single as well as Sutekini Once Again (as well as quite a few others of her earlier greatest hits) but eventually I knew I needed to have Lets Talk Again and Do You Wanna Dance in my CD Collection as well, so I purchased It’s Style ’95 outright…and that proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!

The album blew me away right from the start, with the sultry titular number “It’s Style ‘95” and then right into “Do You Wanna Dance” and then BAM, into “Kagaite Kisetsu Tabi datou” and then straight into Let’s talk Again, MAN, it was like a glorified Greatest Hits in its OWN RIGHT! Adding in “Sutekini Once Again” and then a new fave song, “Akarui Mirai ni Shiyou ne, Positive ni” adding in three “Seiko” type vocal ballads and you’d think you couldn’t ask for anything else, but WAIT there was ONE MORE treat in store, as the CD wrapped up with the guitar strumming insanely catchy “Why” as the album’s closer, such a GREAT way to close a stellar album! MAN, this was one helluva tight CD!

It's Style '95

Akarui Mirai ni Shiyou ne, Positive ni

Why

And BOY, I didn’t know just how HOT It’s Style could be til I picked up Seiko's Live Concert Laserdisc "Live It's Style'95" and saw her performing it as the opening song- MAN, at the time she was really trying to be the Japan Madonna and was pushing the sluttiness to the MAXIMUM, and no performance captured this raw sexual energy better than this!
After seeing her as such a cutie-pie on the Kohaku Uta Gassen, I was so shocked to be presented with this slinky, sultry, sexy vixen, but I guess I should have KNOWN how HOT she was gonna be  just judging by the sexy laserdisc COVER and BACK…!  

Seiko's "Live It's Style '95 Laserdisc

Seiko Booty Back Cover

Pole-Dancing Seiko Gatefold YES!!!

Seiko in Black Brassiere Sets My Head a Swimming

...and if  THAT wasn’t indication enough, then certainly the drool-inducing GATEFOLD and INSERT  would have tipped me off!  Pole dancing, Skimpy Bikini Bottoms and Black Brassiere outfits? HELL YES, PLEASE! WHAT A WOMAN!

And besides the smoldering perf of "It's Style", Seiko also did most of the other songs off of the album as well, including perfs of both Let's Talk Again and Don't You Wanna Dance that took what I already considered good songs and shot them into my BIG FAVES category! Seiko performed these dressed in her "cutesy" outfits to scamper around playfully (like I'd seen her in the Kohaku shows), but somehow, in this concert even her cutesy stuff seemed saturated with naughty sexiness! Growrrrrl! Watching these two perfs, I realized ONE thing- Dave was RIGHT...THESE SONGS ARE FREAKING AWESOME!

After already liking the songs off of It's Style 95 and THEN seeing them performed live and then loving them even MORE, it totally cemented the It's Style 95 CD as one of my favorite j-pop albums of ALL TIME! Don't You Wanna Dance!

Seiko Matsuda/ It's Style '95:
1. It’s Style ’95 
2. Don’t You Wanna Dance? 
3. Kagayaite Kisetsu E Tabidatou
4. Let’s Talk Again 
5. Anata Wo Aishita Koto
6.  Sutekini Once Again 
7. Shiroi Sandal to Mugiwara Boushi
8. Akarui Mirai ni Shiyoune Positive Ni!
9. Hoho wo Tsutau Namida ga Yozora No Hoshi ni Kawaru Toki
10. You Are My Fire 
11. Why

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com