Notes on Kohaku Uta Gassen 2008

Yukie Nakama and Masahiro Nakai tackle the reins for 2008's Year End Kohaku Uta Gassen!

There were many fine, fine acts this year last night to see and hear, including the debut of American Enka sensation JERO…

…A sweet and poignant rendition of the Aibu Saki/Mokomichi Hayami drama Zettai Kareshi theme song “Okaeri” by pretty singer AYAKA…

And a rousing, crowd pleasing performance of the singalong friendly enka rocker “Shimauta” by The Boom…

The thrilling debuts of girl-led power pop acts Ikimonogakari and Girl Next Door dazzles! Looking forward to seeing more from both of them!

 

K-pop Act Tohoshinki makes its Kohaku debut…

 

…as does electronic trio Perfume:

Mitsuko Nakamura brings the “Matsuri” Festival to the stage once again...I might add that Mitsuko was one of the very first enka singers I really dug with her fun and catchy songs!

Beautiful Ayako Fujii does a smoky, sultry performance of “Akai Ito”

 

Two "gutsy" performance by Fuyumi Sakamoto...

...and Yoshimi Tendo!

Sachiko Kobayashi looks like she’s channeling Inazuman enemy Quintuple Bambara….

Once unstoppable SPEED make a rare appearance to the show...

and TOKIO perform “Amagasa” looking like they just stepped out of the NEWSIES set…

(seriously, da heck....?)

Koda Kumi doing her Namie Amuro- flavored “Taboo”...Oooh, love this song!

All the acts this year had something to give, but for me, there was ever only one and ONLY one reason to be tuning in to THIS year’s telecast, and as regular readers of this blog ALREADY KNOW, it was about the appearance of Hexagon super-unit ALADDIN, comprised of the fun ‘n’ goofy trios SHUCHISHIN and PABO!

The entire night was centered around sightings of those three adorable and oh-so-spacey cuties that comprise Pabo, the outspoken Yukina:

The sensible and straightheaded Mai Satoda:

And my drool-inducing favorite, the curvy sugar coated gravure idol Suzanne!

I just wrapped myself in every appearance they made in this broadcast, and they were many! From cruising backstage, grinding on eggrolls or giggling together in the sidelines, they really made my night!

As you all may recall, I was really hoping they’d choose Aladdin’s song “Hiwa Mata Noboru” as the Kohaku opening song, though they didn’t, it was still nice to see it used as sort of a silly “Half-Time” show. And while it’s true that the actual performance (which started with Shuchishin singing their highly Shonentai-ish epynomous anthem before segueing into the actual song) which started off bright and fun ended up degenerating into a zany, jaw-dropping, insanity filled HEXAGON ALL STARS Spectacle, you just couldn’t deny the FUN they were having and exuding!

From there we got to see, Saburo Kitajima getting seasick riding the S.S. Smappie…

"Okay, you can stop rocking the boat...I need to get off." 

And you know it’s getting towards the end when Sayuri Ishikawa dusts off her classic Amagi-Goe with her "steely gaze off into the distance"....

SMAP came on with Kono Toki, Kitto yume Jyanai” and though they closed last year’s show…

…this year it was Akiko Wada belting it out for the Red Team...(By the way, look at how freakin’ sexy Sayuri Ishikawa looks in “regular” clothes…DAMN)

and the show’s finale was Kiyoshi Hikawa with his crowd-pleasing theme song “Kiyoshi no Zundoko Bushi”!! KI-YO-SHI!!

...And a Splendid Time was Had by All....

A couple of awesome Christmas Gifts!

Got a couple of terrific gifts from Car this Christmas, both books and both Japanese, to boot! Now, I'm the kind of guy that, when I like something, I'm manic about collecting everything about it the moment it becomes available, so it's always a happy surprise when she picks up stuff I didn't even know existed!

Knowing of my love for that Aoi Miyazaki show, she got me the third and final of the Companion books from NHK’s Taiga Drama ATSUHIME! I hadn't even realized they MADE a third book! Although I haven’t really been all that excited about Atsuhime ever since the Shogun died, It's still the only japanese drama I'm watching right now, so it was pretty cool to get this book- look at that beautiful cover! Lots of great shots of the latter cast and crew, plus the obligatory “out of costume” shots of Miyazaki Aoi, always a draw for me in ANY photo shoot!

Kind of interesting to note that in Atsuhime, there’s a geisha played by actress Natsuki Harada named Okoto who has a fling with Eita’s character Tatewaki (and gives bitrth to his child...yikes!), but she wasn’t featured in either of the first two books. I thought, "Gee, maybe if they made a THIRD book, she’d be in it”. Then when I saw that there WAS a third book, I figured, finally! She MUST be in this one, RIGHT?!…but I was wrong!!!

EDIT: As Vincent-Sama and others have pointed out to me, Natsuki Harada WAS featured in the second book, as well as the character index in the third book! I've GOT to read these books a bit SLOWERRRRRR...I'm missing too much!

Car ALSO got me the latest picture book from my favorite japanese illustrator, SHUNYA YAMASHITA! I’ve long been a fan of Yamashita’s[山下しゅんや], whose art style seems to be a meld of 1950’s Good Girl art and 1970’s Japanese Anime (a unique formula that yields the sexiest, cutest gals you ever laid eyes upon) and the pin-ups featured in this book do NOT disappoint!

Called WILDFLOWER, the book is broken up into chapter sections featuring his all-encompassing work on figures, character design, video, card games, and more, but for me, the highlight was the "unpublished" section of the book, featuring all the sketches of his sexy GIRLS! Man, the artwork here is just unbelievable- I swear there isn’t ANYONE out there who has a style quite like Yamashita’s!

Sorede, I’ve scanned a couple of my favorite pin-ups here for you all to check out! Enjoy~

In the immortal words of Jellyfish in the zany masterpiece Ignorance is Bliss, I say: "I think I've made my point!"

Favorite J-Pop Singles: IZAM with Astral Love / Sunaona Mamade

I’ve mentioned quite a few times on this blog about how certain j-doramas (YES, I’m calling them j-Doramas, what’s it to you, bub) become even better by having a kick-ass ending song, and  The Esumi Makiko comedy SHOMUNI hits that one the head TWICE, having both a killer Ending song AND an awesome OPENING song, as well!

The opening song is a rocking little number  called “SORE JYA BYE-BYE”, a slightly gangster-ish sounding tune performed by group SURFACE. In this opening, we see the cameras speeding in to the Business Building and zooming up to the various “members” of Shomuni, From Esumi Makiko through to Kyono Kotomi and Atsuko Sakurai(!), leading up to doddering old Leo Morimoto as he closes the ratty Shomuni basement door.

The ENDING song to SHOMUNI started off with a close-up of Esumi Makiko’s feet, and as the credits start rolling, the camera starts slowly pulling back until you eventually see all six of the SHOMUNI members in their “Kakkoi” stance”, and they looked VERY cool indeed!

The  pullaway shot of the Shomuni Girls was intercut with various “stills” from the week’s episode, as the eighties flavored (Think “Be Near Me” by ABC and “Red Red Wine” by UB40) song drawled over the visuals…such a perfect mix! This song ALWAYS made the endings even better!

My earliest memory of seeing IZAM was back when Tower Records was selling J-pop Calendars, and this one girl went up to one of our managers, and showing him the calendar of SHAZNA, asked him which girl he thought was the prettiest. After  perusing the calendar for a minute or so, decided on the lead singer. “Her, I Guess”, he offered, handing back the calendar to the girl...She sweetly took it back and  said, “Oh, you think that one? Cool.” She was about to walk away when she turned and added, “Oh, By The way…these are guys.” My Supervisor made a stern face and then levelly but irritatingly said, “Don’t Do That.”. Ahahahaha! The “girl” he had picked was none other than IZAM!

Years later, when  Me and Car dug out those old VHS tapes of SHOMUNI out to watch, she liked the songs so much I went to go look for live performances I had of both “Sore Jya Bye Bye” by Surface, and “Sunao o Mama De” on MUSIC STATION.

Car's been a BIG Culture Club fan from way back, she just LOVED Izam's flamboyant ways, but our 6 year old kid summed up the IZAM experience succinctly and dismissively by flatly stating out loud to us, “That singer looks like a girl!” Ahahahahahaa!

SHOMUNI itself would go onto spawning a couple of sequels and even a SPECIAL! The legend of those crazy Shomuni girls lives on!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: L⇔R / Day By Day

Way back in 1995 or 1996 one night Dayone was watching a weekly “spooky stories” show  on Fuji Television called “Mokuyo No Kaidan”, literally, “Ghost Stories on Thursdays”, and when they aired the previews for the upcoming episode, he was surprised to see that the episode was going to feature none other than Miura Rieko!

Being Huge fans of Pony Canyon j-pop idol group CoCo, we were thrilled whenever we found them in anything, whether it be MORI MORI DREAMS or those wacky WIDE SPECIALS, but this was something else! Plus, It occurred to me that this would be the first time I would be watching lovely Rieko speak and have subtitles so I could understand everything she said!

All week we were on pins and needles waiting for the episode to air, and when the night finally came around, we picked up dinner and drinks , planning to make an event of the airing! So we sat back, and  the show’s familiar opening began: a solemn young girl beckoned you to come closer, then her face (with the help of CGI) melted away to reveal skeletal zombie-like visage as the title MOKUYO NO KAIDAN appeared…

And THEN…...Some OTHER episode started!

WHAA! What happened? How come they didn’t show the Rieko episode? Well, we just didn’t know. In fact, it’s still a big mystery though I would later learn (when I became a subscriber) that NGN sometimes got hella wonky with their programming, and should expect problems like this. But at the time… MAN, we were MAD! All week waiting for NOTHING! We could only hope they would correct the oversight and air the CORRECT episode next week!

Argh, so back to waiting…Another whole week til Thursday came up again…

Fortunately, when Mokuyo No Kaidan  came on that Thursday night, as soon as it began, we relaxed immediately, for it was INDEED the Rieko episode! YATTA! At Last! With an interesting soundtrack of Pink Floyd’s “Money” as the backdrop, our story "SECRET CIRCLE" began…

The episode’s main character was played by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi of SMAP as Shinichi, (but we didn’t know him at the time). Back then, he was simply “The Dude in the episode with Rieko”! Anyway, Shinichi’s the kind of guy who yearns to be what he isn’t. He wants to be popular and rich, and when we first meet up with him, he’s cruising around in a rented sports car, trying to look like one of the upper crust. It’s while waiting on a light that he meets Rieko’s character, the mysterious Maria.

Maria introduces Shinichi to her “exclusive” club, a morose group of members who are obsessed with things of a  distinctly macabre nature… When  they first arrive at the club, the group is huddled around a TV set watching coverage of a terrible train wreck, and Shinichi is horrified to find that they are betting on how many people have died in the accident. He knows this is strange to say the least, but wanting to be a part of their exclusive club, decides not to say anything, and offers his guess of 10 casualties.  The others are surprised at his low guess. “They said it was OVER ten people dead,” they point out. “I WANT it to be ONLY ten", he mumbles.

  Well, Tsuyo’s guess is announced as the correct amount, and he is rewarded with a HUGE sum of money. Maria congratulates him and says he’s officially one of the exclusive members, and he should be happy. Shinichi accepts this at first, and uses he money to buy his sister gifts and expensive clothes for himself. But as the days go by and the members bets turn more and more sinister, Tsuyo has to look into himself and decide how much popularity and money is worth in the long run.

 As the show ended, the “Crypt Keeper” zombie bid you farewell with echoing laughter and then it went to ending credits… and L <-> R’s jangly, cheerful and sunny song “Day By Day” began, in jarring juxtaposition to the rest of the show! We were like ‘Ehhh? This song doesn’t match the show AT ALL!”

But you know, we watched that episode so much that it started to grow on me, and  eventually became “perfect” as the ending song! Such a strange ending- The credits scroll while specters of the morose girl from the beginning of the show (the one that turns into the monster) stand around sullenly in a dimly lit furnished room while this happy music plays on!

P.S: Yes, this is the same Mokuyo No Kaidan that fetured the show "Adventures of the Kaiki Club", that Scooby-Doo-esque kid detective show that starred (among others)  a young Takizawa Hideaki!