Shopping With Hikaru Nishida and the Gang!!

 There’s a fun variety show that’s regularly on the television when I drop in on my favorite Japanese izakaya each weekend, called “Hirunandesu!” which focuses on food, fashion and popular places. Usually it’s mostly on in the background as we chatter and chow down, but this past week I was thrilled to find that personal fave of mine Hikaru Nishida herself was going to be a guest on the show along with Hiroko Moriguchi (whom I also love) and regular Asako Ito to do some shopping!

Seems like it's been awhile since I've seen Hikaru appear in anything, so it's a real treat to watch!

The women dropped in on “Large Shopping Mall” Aeon Mall in Makuhari Chiba City and visited several stores focused on foods, sauces and cleaning goods, all of which were simultaneously shared with the in-house celebrities to try out!

LET'S GO SHOPPPPPINGGGGG!!!

Hirunandesu! isn’t one of the variety shows anyone is subtitling, however it was easy enough to understand and enjoy- I mean, it's gals getting excited shopping, how hard can it be to understand!

"What a Deal!!"

Quite fun watching the easygoing camaraderie between the ladies, especially with Hikaru and Hiroko who complement each other well, Hikaru prim and proper and Hiroko loud and zany!

Strangely they did not mention Hiroko’s singing or acting career, treating her more as a semi-regular? Maybe she is, I don’t know. But she sure was fun! As a fan of the old Yume Ga Mori Mori show I’ve always associated her with silliness and she didn’t disappoint here!

Speaking of singing, giggles were had as Asako and Hiroko broke into song, belting out a few lines of Hikaru’s classic signature tune “Kitto Ai Ga Aru” to her! 

"Aru ga RU RU RU!!!"

I had mentioned to my friend that Hiroko and Hikaru had appeared together before, dressed as Sailor Senshi on the Kohaku Uta Gassen some many many years back, and sure enough they brought it up and even showed a picture of it!

Ah, those were the days! Glad to see everyone looking healthy and still doing well!

Would LOVE to see more pairings like this!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Hiroko Moriguchi: Hitori Jyanaiyo

Been quite awhile since I took the time to do any write ups of my favorite J-pop singles of the past, but over this weekend I dug out my old Hiroko Moriguchi albums and was reminded once again of the greatness of her 1997 single "Hitori Jyanaiyo"!

Beginning with a guitar scratching riff, the song opens up with a sweet, disco-infused passage with bouncy horns and then launches into the catchy pop tune, and if the disco reference isn't already felt, the song even throws in hints of the Tavares' "More Than A Woman"  at the end of every chorus!

Hiroko sings the song with much playfulness in her voice, and as the song goes back to the "More Than A Woman" riff on more time (with a playful bass scale climbing down), it returns to the opening disco horn vamp which closes the song- an ABSOLUTE Pop-Perfect masterpiece!

From the FIRST time I heard it, I already knew that the songwriter was going to be Kohmi Hirose before I checked the credits, not only has Hiroko done many Kohmi Hirose penned songs (like "Lucky Girl~Shinjiru Mono wa Sukuwareru~"), but Kohmi's style of music is unmistakeable and immediately recognizable!

In fact, with all of her amazing, classic songs, it's sad to think that for most of the western audiences, Kohmi Hirose will only ever be known as the singer for the silly "Geddan" video meme! But back to Hiroko....

As documented here, the first song I knew from Hiroko Moriguchi was "Let's Go!!" her duet with Dual Dream, but it was a spot in a Princess Princess Music Fair special (where Hiroko, Arisa Mizuki, and Chisato Moritaka joined Pri Pri onstage to belt out their classics) where I realized how well she could SING!

Since I'd known her primarily as a comedienne and TV Show Host, I'd thought her musical musings were just fun side-projects, but when Music Station celebrated their 10 year anniversary, I saw how many of her singles were bonafide classics, with songs like "Anata No Sobani" and the majestic "Eternal Wind~ Hohoemi wa Hikaru Kaze no Naka", most of which I picked up for myself over time!

Later she'd blow me away with a swinging' performance of her song "Sisen" on that year's Kohaku Uta Gassen and then in 1997 came Hitori Jyanaiyo, the song that would go on to become one of my best-loved songs from her!

Side Note:
I remember I'd made a J-pop mix in 2005 or so and ended it with the beautiful Ayaka Hirahara song "Ashita" from the Ninomiya Kazunari drama "Yasashi Jikan".... 
Flowed nicely but I was left with such a sad feeling that at the last minute added Hiroko's Hitori Jyanaiyo as the official mix closing song, which summed it up nicely- or so I thought!
Later after my friend Car has given the CD mix a spin, she said, "Why did you add that pop song at the end? It was such a PERFECT ending with the Ayaka Hirahara song!" LOL, truth be told Car was not a huge fan of the more bubbly pop kind of tunes, but as for me, I quite liked my mixes ending on a bright note! Hahaha!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite J-pop Singles: Moriguchi Hiroko & Dual Dream / Let’s Go!

Back in the early days of j-pop, I would hang out at j-pop guru Dan's house, and we’d watch the latest japanese shows like Hey Hey Hey Music champ and Pop Jam on Fridays. Another fave for us to watch was a show called “Yume Ga Mori Mori”, which starred SMAP and Moriguchi Hiroko. The reason we loved watching it so much was that it was the one show airing that still featured CoCo as guests, often joining in their soccer games and other activities.

After awhile we really started loving the show, Hiroko Moriguchi and SMAP were so darn funny, and the skits I still have on VHS tapes stil crack me up! In my opinion this show did a lot in the way of showcasing the talents of SMAP with the various clips and "mock documentaries"...

Anyway, There was this one particular clip that really entertained us: Hiroko Moriguchi is attempting to sing her latest single “Let’s Go!” with Dual Dream, but she keeps flubbing her lines. At first she's laughing and joking about it, but after a while, she becomes more and more serious as she CANNOT GET THROUGH THE SONG WITHOUT MAKING A MISTAKE! For some reason, they get Nakai Masahiro and Kimura Takuya to come over and give her a “pep talk”, which actually more or less involved them kind of hanging around her.

Then after many, many takes, they try to knock out the song one more time, and much to Hiroko’s relief, she FINALLY GETS IT! She lets out a breath of exhaustion, she’s finally finished the song, and more than that, she’s done her job promoting it, because after hearing her sing (more or less) the single over and over, we’d all just fallen in love with the song, and had to go out and buy it!