Kohaku Uta Gassen 2009

This year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen was filled with sights and wonders to behold, featuring artists both old and new, and I thought I’d take the time to jot down some of the acts that really made the program for me!

Nana Mizuki

Among the many guests debuting this evening were the old-skool-jpop sounding tunes of Nana Mizuki and the first appearance of Johnny’s group NYC, whom most people saw and said “Who the heck ARE these guys?” With all the great Johnny’s groups still to appear on the Red and White, it’s odd that they chose this NEW act to come on!

NYC

Although I’d seen enka queen Fuyumi Sakamoto in “regular” clothes before (in Music Station clips featuring old group HIS, for example), this was the first time she’d come onto the Kohaku singing her songs without her traditional kimono and hairdo. She was lookin’ FINE!

Sakamoto Fuyumi

Backed up with Fuyumi was the ever stoic Takashi Hosokawa, this time belting out his awesome classic “Bokyo Jonkara”, the song I once dubbed “That song with the Fifty million Shamisens”, LOL. Truly EPIC to watch!

Hosokawa Takashi

Techno band Girl Next Door debuted last year, but this was the first time I noticed how fricking sexy and CUTE lead singer Chisa was! I thought it was great to see her looking so girlishly bouncy and giddy, doing moves with her fellow dancers like gals in a pep rally! Contrarily, my friend Car expressed disappointment that the cool rocker from last year had turned into this “idol”.LOL

Chisa, Girl Next Door

AKB48 had been slowly gaining a foothold into the “big-ass-girl-group” j-pop demographic for some time now, and it was with their kick ass song RIVER that I think they finally made it! After this year, they’d not only take over the “giant girl group” spot Morning Musume once held, but make fun and varied appearance throughout the entire show!

AKB48

One group appearing this year for the first time that I kind of liked was the very Def Tech sounding “Funky Monkey Babys” and their uplifting song “Hero”, such a great tune, I HAD to go look for it after the show!

Funky Monkey Babys

Next Yusuke came out, doing a catchy little tune called “Himawari” while looking like  Fun Boy Three’s illegitimate Japanese Brother. Really a great song, but sure a stretch from his SHUCHISHIN days!

Yusuke

Arguably the most anticipated act this year (it sure was at OUR household!), was the debut appearance of immensely popular Johnny’s group ARASHI. This has been a long time in coming, and they set it up real nice, with a cool little introduction clip before the boys came out to perform their first medley for the Red and White, performing their first single A-RA-SHI, Love So Sweet, Happiness, and Believe!

Arashi

…And then God came down and proclaimed Arashi as the new overexposed act of the new year…LOL

Besides loving Koda Kumi performing her rockin’ new single “Lick Me”, it got even BETTER when her little sister MISONO came out to duet with Kumi on their song “It’s All Love”! Loved watching the two try to out-sass each other!

Misono x Koda Kumi

 Arashi was trucked out to hold cards with the letters T-O-K-I-O spelled on them and reciting what the letters might stand for, a feat that was recycled from an older Kohaku, though THAT time it was SMAP themselves holding the cards. Nakai looks happy to be on the other end of the microphone for a change. Then TOKIO came out and rocked a bit, doing their song “Taiyo To Sabaku no Bara”.

TOKIO

Ayaka came out to do a touching performance of “Minna Sora No Shita” which brought not a few eyes to tears! Funny how much she looks like an older Nattchi Abe to me.

Ayaka

The closing acts of the night fell to veteran “Chairman Of The Board”  Saburo Kitajima for the White Team doing ‘Matsuri” and the impeccable DREAMS COME TRUE belting out an awesome “Sono Saki E”! Miwa looked great and Masato was beaming as usual, looking like the happiest bass player in the world…

Dreams Come True

Ayase Haruka as ICHI

It was another Merry Christmas for me when I received the SHOCHIKU Samurai movie ICHI from my friend Car this year! Folks round here know what a BIG Ayase Haruka fan I am, and I’d been wanting to see this movie for a while now!

I’d been in love with Ayase Haruka since her cute and sexy role as the heroine of the quirky Japanese drama HOTARU NO HIKARI, and back then, whenever I’d go online looking for videos and pictures of her, the posters and stills of ICHI would pop up and the more I read about it, the more I wanted to see it!

ICHI puts a feminine twist on the “Zatoichi / Blind Swordsman” legend with Ayase as a blind girl who uses her hyper sense of hearing to perceive her surroundings and destroy opponents. Along for the ride is love interest Takao Osawa as Toma, he himself a gifted swordsman but unable (for psychological reasons) to draw his sword.
This movie was interesting and quick-paced, the fight scenes quick and stylized, and Ayase Haruka, besides being as pretty as ever (even dressed in rags!), is entirely convincing as the cold and ruthless Ichi. I loved every scene she was in, and especially liked the scenes with her and the little boy who shows her around the village and lovingly follows her around as she shuffles through town.

This movie was a welcome sight after the last Ayase Haruka Drama I watched, MR BRAIN; a show that, though it had its good points, I think just totally wasted her talents. Not only did they under-use her, she was treated like no more than a supporting cast member and “comedy relief”, and MY GAWD, that haircut they gave her was just the WORST, second only to the awful permed hairdo they gave Hiro Mizushima!

Fortunately I still had awesome dramas like “Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi” and “Byakuyakou” to keep my Ayase Haruka faith alive during the time I was waiting for ICHI to get around to having a domestic release so I could purchase a DVD with subtitles! That’s where distributors FUNIMATION came in, and I guess Car was watching the release dates closer than I, because at the time I opened my Christmas gift, I hadn’t even realized the DVD had been released!!!!!! WHAT AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS SURPRISE!

That’s where distributors FUNIMATION came in, and I guess Car was watching the release dates closer than I, because at the time I opened my Christmas gift, I hadn’t even realized the DVD had been released!!!!!! WHAT AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS SURPRISE!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Hamada Mari / Hey Mr. Broken Heart

A friend once made a mix tape for me that featured songs from (among many others) artists like Mariya Takeuchi, Miho Morikawa, Mari Hamada and Harumi Tsuyazaki, but unfortunately never got around to giving me a list of the groups and song titles that the cassette contained!

Over work one day, he tried to remember which artists he put on the mix, and came up with a chopsocky mixture of artists and titles, leaving me to do some guesswork ad “match the song with the artist”!! I remember frantically scribbling down notes on the back of a poster as he rattled off the information as it came off the top of his head..."Uhm...I think that first song was Harumi, and then followed by Mariya, if it's that fast song." Err...

In any case, as I got to know the artists better, I was more orless able to discern which vocalist was singing a particular song, however, I still made an error or two, and somehow ended up attributing the song “Hey Mr. Broken Heart” to singer/songwriter Mariya Takeuchi rather than the ACTUAL artist, who was none other thatn heavy metal rock goddess Mari Hamada!

For years I had NO IDEA why I just COULDN’T get my hands on any Mariya Takeuchi greatest hits compliations that included Hey Mr Broken Heart, and it was only after the arrival of the mighty INTERNET that I was able to go online and REALIZE that ALL THESE YEARS I had been looking for the WRONG SINGER!!! D’oh!

Well, I corrected THAT mistake right away and so was FINALLY able to get ahold of that sweet, sweet Mari Hamada song (which is especially gentle and happy when compared to her earlier rock-out days!!!), though occasionally I’ll still refer to it as a Mariya Takeuchi song!!!

Crush Of The Day: Kitagawa Keiko

I’ve been watching the latest episodes of the Basketball drama BUZZER BEAT, and I have been just delirious with crushing love and affection for actress Kitagawa Keiko [北川 景子], proving once and for all that my initial attraction to the cute and quirky girl playing zany clairvoyant Hasegawa Momoko in fave drama MOP GIRL was NO FLUKE!!!
With my j-drama nights filled with vision of Keiko, I had a big hankering to write up a “Crush of the Day” essay on her, but thought (wrongly) that I’d ALREADY written up about her after watching the above-mentioned MOP GIRL. But then I realized the first post WASN’T a Crush of the Day” post more than a general raving about the MOP GIRL show itself, so an official blog entry on Keiko, a REAL “Crush of The Day”, was in high order!
Fans of Keiko know that the actress hasn’t been in all that many dramas, so when I heard she was going to be in a new show with Yamashita "Yamapi" Tomohisa and Aibu Saki, I couldn’t WAIT to get my hands on it!!! I was excited at the prospect of seeing Keiko in a new drama though I did wonder if I would like her character as much as I loved her Hasegawa character, who seemed so full of energetic personality!

Well, it seems I had no reason to worry, for her character Shirakawa Riko; the frustrated violin virtuoso of BUZZER BEAT was just as charming, loveable and GOOFY as Momoko ever was! With the same grimacing, guffawing and mugging for the camera whenever she was tired or frustrated, you could easily believe Riko WAS Momoko!!!

Along with Shihori Kanjiya’s character Ebina Mai, (easily the best personality she’s done since neurotic Mei in Love Shuffle), these two genki actresses join forces to become this energetic and dizzy duo that tickles you with their funny banter while at the same time warming your heart with their support and closeness to each other. Every scene they are in is lively and puts a smile of your face, they are so infectiously peppy!
It also doesn’t hurt that these girls are extremely easy on the eyes- Keiko-chan ALWAYS looks just fantastic with WHATEVER outfits she happens to be wearing whether they be smart dresses, pretty blouses or suits…and MAN does she ever rock those skin-tight Capri pants! She gives a whole new meaning when they use the term “The pants look spray painted on” to describe how a girl is dressed…in fact, my heart just about stopped in this one scene where Riko’s straightening out her outfit before auditioning for a violin combo, and her EPIC display of jeans-tugging surely gave new meaning to the term “backfield in motion”!!! I was ENTHRALLED!!!
Keiko, Keiko, Keiko…MAN I just love this chick! Fo’ Reals, Yo!!!
Funny thing about Kitagawa Keiko is that though she always plays these friendly and warm characters onscreen, my friend Car informs me that (at least on her guest appearance of Shin Domoto Kyodai, anyway) that “The girl has ZERO personality and just sits there like a stone!” HAHAHAHAHHA! Oh well, I’m not lovin’ her for her life OUTSIDE of the TV screen, and everyone knows that when I say I’m in love with an actress, it’s ALWAYS because of what comes across in the drama they’re in! I guess my “Crush of the Day” should be Riko rather than Keiko!

An Afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida CD singles.

Spent a pleasant afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida 8cm singles into MP3s. When I first got my Ipod, the Nishida Hikaru CDs were among the first CDs to get the MP3 treatment, but I didn’t get around to digging out the singles until now. I’d put it off for as long as I ccould, but there were a few singles (like fave song Melody, et al) that didn’t appear on any of her albums proper, and I really needed to get those onto my player! Not only that, but one of the great things about those old Pony Canyon singles was the fact that most of them were BACKED by songs that weren’t featured on any of her albums either, and some of them were pretty darn awesome!
One thing that struck me as I was taking them out of their cases and ripping/scanning them was just how BEAUTIFUL some of the covers were! Hikaru was an idol of the highest degree, of course, and the photographers always made the very most of each shoot, producing some of the prettiest covers ever! Here are scans of just a few of my faves.
Besides the covers, some of the CD singles had cute little bonuses like cards and (in one strange instance) an unusual “Hikaru All- Access Pass”(!) What in the world was this supposed to give me aceess TO?! Ahahahahaa! Some cd singles even seemed to be given the “deluxe” treatment, and in particular, the CD single for Hikaru’s single “Tokimeite” had this elaborate fold out cover with pretty pictures of Hikaru throughout, packaging that made one wonder if Pony Canyon was making any money on the sale of these singles after spending so much on the presentation!

When I got into Hikaru Nishada (around 1996), I was lucky enough to get all her albums (at that point she had just released the awesome “2-4”) 90% of her concert videos, and about 80% of her singles, as well! If memory serves, I think that by the time I discovered the Used J-Pop CD store Otokichi Preium, I only needed to get two or three singles (and one concert) to complete my Hikaru Nishida collection!

In 1994, Pony Canyon released a CD collection called “The Very Best Of Hikaru”, which featured many of the elusive B-sides like Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt and Truth, but a single CD just wasn’t enough space to cover them all, not to mention all the singles and b-sides that came out after 1994! So tracking down the actual singles seems to be the only way to get em all! Besides, when the CD packaging and artwork is so nice, it really makes it worth the effort!

Hikaru ‘s last album release was the sweet “Love For All Seasons”, and her last single was “Sorairo”, way back in 2000, almost ten years now! She left the biz for a bit to get married and raise her family and though we’re extremely happy for her, we’re still waiting for her to stop by again with some new tunes!

Moritaka Chisato on the 2009 FNS Kayousai!

This year’s FNS Kayousai was really a treat for those like me who were really getting into J-pop music in the mid-to-late nineties! With Performances by LINDBERG, KOHMI HIROSE and NOKKO (among others!), it really was a nostalgic night, but for me, the highlight just HAS to be the appearance of one of my all-time favorite j-pop artists Chisato Moritaka (whom I’ve gushed about many times before!) in a cool medley with awesome fellow j-artist alumnus Noriyuki Makihara and featuring a whole slew of artists in for the ride!

Starting things off with a bang with Arashi performing Makihara’s “Fuyu Ga Hajimaru yo”, an AWESOME tune that just gets everyone in a genki mood, the boys themselves look like they’re enjoying it to the fullest!
Soon they’re joined onstage by Makihara himself, and he simply jumps in~ keeping up with the cool and swinging vibe! Watching they perform together, it strikes me how similar their styles are~ it looks like Noriyuki’s up there with younger versions of himself!

Once the song is over, Arashi bows out stage left and are replaced by two pretty vocallists in the form of JUJU and Aoyama Thelma, and they get together with Makihara to perform a ballad with the backing help of the girls in SPEED and the Hexagon All-Stars!!

As they sing, the camera pans out into the audience, and over Noriyuki’s shoulders we see petite Chisato Moritaka enjoying the song, and no sooner has the song ended when they start up with a fave Chisato song, the fun WATASHI GA OBASAN NI NATEMO!

It really was a treat to see the gals in SPEED taking turns singing this song, but the funniest part of the performance has to be when Noriyuki harmonizes with Hiroko, and they sing to each other: “When I’m an Old Lady, You’ll be an old man, too!” Then he pats his stomach as he harmonizes with Eriko singing the line “You won’t be so cool…and You’ll have a pot-belly!!” AHAHA!
Then Noriyuki departs to let the girls take over, and SPEED leads the chorus of gals in a rousing rendition of “Junanasai” before the princess herself, Ms. “Lovely Legs” Chisato Moritaka herself comes onstage to close the medley with one of her very best songs “Watarase Bashi”!!! WOW!!! What a Set!!!

Crush Of The Day: Kobayashi Ryoko

Back when I had just finished watching the awesome movie NANA, I found myself just smitten with actress Aoi Miyazaki, and after watching her adorable wide-eyed portrayal of Nana Komatsu, found myself going online to look up information about this wonderful actress and download pictures of her as well. It was a funny thing though, I found that while all the pictures of Miyazaki were nice and pretty, somehow, something about what I found so fascinating about her in NANA seemed to be missing in the actress’ real-life pics. I related this feeling to my friend who agreed, saying that when he saw pictures of Miyazaki in publicity shots, he realized “Some sort of Magical Makeup seemed to have been lifted”. It was only after stepping back did I realize the problem: I was in love with the character Miyazaki was playing, not the actress herself! Though I would come to love Miyazaki as one of my favorite actresses, at the time it wasn’t Miyazaki I was in love with, but Nana Komatsu!

Which brings us to my current crush of the day.

A few months ago I began watching the Toma Ikuta/ Ohno Satoshi drama “Maou”, the dark story of a devilish lawyer named Naruse Ryo (Ohno) who pushes and manipulates a cop named Serizawa Naoto (Ikuta) who had accidentally murdered Ryo’s brother back when they all were children. Naruse has been systematically threatening and killing off all the people who played a part in not only the actual murder, but all who have helped to get Serizawa off the hook with a “Self Defense” plea.

Amidst all this blood and turmoil, Naruse comes across a quiet and shy girl working in a nearby library who becomes friendly with him through pleasant small talk. He later finds she’s been gifted with a sort of second sight and has been working with Serizawa in the case, interpreting the mysterious tarot cards that he has been sending his victims. Despite this obvious conflict of interest, however, her sweetness and innocence strangely touches his heart.
Her name is Sakita Shiori, and she is a sheltered girl- a girl who attends church and works part-time at a library and lives above a friend’s coffee shoppe. Believing Naruse Ryo to be a straight arrow who can help with the case, she finds herself falling for Naruse, and it is her faith and purity that coaxes out his humanity that has been buried deep inside his heart since his brother was murdered all those years ago.
Well, the “sweet and innocent” image will never get old, and I found myself liking Shiori from the very first episode, and as they developed her character and you got to know her a little bit more, I found myself falling for her the same was that Naruse Ryo was! They always had her dressed in these very girly type of blouses, and I just loved how she looked in each scene she was in! As the story advanced and Shiori began actively pursuing Naruse (i.e. asking to be taken to the festival or stopping by with cookies), she started wearing even sunnier and prettier clothes, and MAN by the time Naruse fell for her, I knew EXACTLY what he was going through because I was there too!

So it was at this point that my earlier experience with “Nana” came around again, for, as I began going online looking for pictures of Kobayashi Ryoko, I found the same dilemma I did when looking for those pics of Miyazaki way back when… Something was missing in these pictures of Ryoko-chan!

Why, Kobayashi looked like…a normal girl!

It then hit me that history had happened once again, and I was in love not with Kobayashi Ryoko per se, but her character of Sakita Shiori! I DID find quite a few really nice pictures of Kobayashi, but it seems the girl I love can ONLY be found in the episodes of MAOU!

Ah well, I'm sure the more roles I get to see Ryoko Kobayashi in, the more my admiration will grow, and I’m looking forward to seeing more dramas with this adorable actress to see what new characters she'll be offering up!

PS…Strangely enough, going online, I found most people referred to Kobayashi Ryoko as “That spooky looking actress with the weird/scary eyes”. Ehhh? A strange label that even Sakita Shiori couldn’t have predicted with all her tarot cards!

Shida Mirai appears on Himitsu no Arashi, Remains Cute Doing So

The adorable Shida Mirai appeared on Himitsu No Arashi weeks ago to promote Shokojo Seira, her new drama remaking that timeless classic story of "A Little Princess" and was as affable and fun as you'd expect!

Besides discussing the latest drama, she found time to also discuss the allure of Hiroshi Abe, tomatoes, and, in a strange but fun twist on Arashi No Shukudaikun's "Food Tasting" segment, the merits of tuna with Mayonnaise!

After tasting the tuna and finding it quite palatable, she offers up the dish for Arashi to have a taste...

And after tasting both, Matsujun has to agree that it is indeed "Umai"...

Much to the vindicated delight of Mirai-chan!

Ah, I must say that Shida Mirai is turning into quite the pretty young lady! Definitely a gal that will be around for a while!

Favorite J-Pop Singles : Matsuda Seiko / Sutekini Once Again

Seiko Matsuda "Sutekini Once Again"

Legendary Sony Records artist Seiko Matsuda has been recording and making music on the J-pop scene since 1982, so she was one of the few Japanese recording stars that even I’D heard of, but it wasn’t until the 1995 Kohaku Uta Gassen Red and White Songfest that I got to see her for the first time…and I gotta say, she hooked me right from the start!
 They started out Seiko’s segment with a short medley of a couple of her early 80’s hits, and though they were catchy enough, what really intrigued me was Seiko herself: She was so damn pretty and her OUITFIT! She was dressed in this cutesy little girl fairy dress and strapped to her back was a fuzzy Teddy Bear backpack! With white sneakers she performed with such playful gusto, jumping and stamping around, it was this image that made me say “I think I love Seiko Matsuda”!

  It helped that the song she was promoting was a really great song, a little ditty called “Sutekini Once Again”. My friend Dave had made a J-pop mix for me with a couple of her songs “Let’s Talk Again” and “Don’t You Wanna Dance” and so I was expecting her to do those songs, but I wasn’t disappointed at all with this one! A fun and cloying song, or at least, that what it SEEMS like since that’s how Seiko was BEHAVING anyway!!!

 PS, I remember talking to my friend Golden about Seiko and her performance at the Red  & White, and he laughed, saying, My Mom was watching it with me and when Seiko came out, she exclaimed, “WHO IS THIS OLD LADY WITH ALL THAT MAKE-UP ON PRETENDING TO BE 10 YEARS OLD!” LOLOLOL, I admit she might have a point, but MAN, this is JUST the kind of gal I LOVE! Seiko, You're the BEST!

SPEED Cake Capers

Now that I’ve finally gotten around to ripping some of my old VHS tapes, I’m coming across some gems that I’d heretofore forgotten about!

Here’s a cute short clip from Utaban of years past, back when j-pop supergroup SPEED were just starting out  and had come on to promote their new single White Love.

The last time SPEED had come on, Hiroko had baked a few homemade cakes for Nakai and Takaki as omiyage. When asked how it was, Nakai (in his usual jokingly insulting way) stated that it was pretty bad, to the laughter of all the girls except Hiro-chan, who hid her face.

 Everyone continues laughing, until they realize Hiroko has actually had her feelings hurt by Nakai’s remark, and as the girls in SPEED soothingly console her, Takaki and Nakai nervously glance at each other as if to say “Holy CRAP! She was really hurt by that!”

Back to the present, and Nakai tells Hiroko that he REALLY felt bad about that last time, and so has come with a present for her to make it up to her, a beautiful long  suede jacket, and her happiness upon receiving the gift makes Nakai feel a little better about what had happened before.

 Suddenly, Nakai realizes he’s fixed Hiroko’s problem, but has neglected to bring anything for the OTHER girls!  When he admits he should have got them something, too, cute Takako pipes up, “I want a dog!” AHAHAHAHA!!!

 At the end of the show, Takaki tells the girls he’ll get all of them something,a nd the mischevious Nakai says, “That’s your Papa, girls!” To which all four girls call out “Papa! Papa!” to a wincing Takaki!! AHAHAHAHA, too funny!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Ozaki Yutaka / Oh My Little Girl

There was this general agreement going ‘round in the 80’s that Boaz Davidson’s THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN was the most depressing movie of all time, at least in the books I read and people I talked to at the time… (I didn’t agree, for me, the most depressing movie was Woody Allen’s PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO-but I digress)

And on the suject of “Most Depressing” awards, It’s time to talk about the j-dorama KONOYO NO HATE (The End of the World) the UBER depressing 1994 drama starring Mikami Hiroshi and Suzuki Honami!

This is without a doubt the most tragic drama I’ve ever seen, and with all the surprise death conclusion/hero-lies-in-coma endings I've seen, that’s saying something!

“But what about Oni No Sumika, that drama where Kyoko Fukada has to work as a practical slave to her relatives?” a friend asked.

“I said Depressing,” I retorted back, “not a load of crap!” You see, the difference was, though both had sad storylines, Oni No Sumika was a terrible drama. Konoyo No Hate, on the other hand, was great. It just had like the biggest downer as its plot!

Attn: Spoilers Below!

Mikami Hiroshi stars as Takemura Shiro, a brilliant world famous pianist who falls hard for cutie Suzuki Honami (and really, who could blame him) as Sunada Maria, and amidst the hurdles of their tumultuous lives, begin courting each other. Eventually them become an item, but soon enough the relationship goes south (as all relationships in any drama are wont to do), and in one of the most disturbing and bizarre actions since Van Gogh , Takemurai decides to prove his everlasting love for Sunada by taking razor sharp shards of a broken bottle and slicing his hands to ribbons! ACKK!!! From there....well, that about says it all, dunnit? Holy Toledo, this one just...affected me!!!

Tonikaku.

Out of this carnage of a drama, however, came probably one of the most poignant, sincere songs ever, the beautiful “Oh My Little Girl” by the late Yutaka Ozaki. Off of the SEVENTEEN’S MAP album, It’s about as basic a song as you can get, but the FEELING this song conveys are oceans!

I remember I loved this song so much after watching the drama, and really wanted to get my hands on the single for “Oh My Little Girl”, but by the time I saw Konoyo No Hate, it had long been out of print! Fortunately, my friend Golden was a HUGE fan of Yutaka Ozaki, and he burned the entire awesome album for me! I was even surprised to find the only other song I knew from Ozaki, a song called “I Love You”, was ALSO on this album! Yatta!

from youtube:

Always a favorite to sing at karaoke, I remember one day at work, me and J-pop buyer Richie were sitting around, and I started singing the opening lines of Oh My Little Girl aloud: “Konnani mo..sawagashi..” Then Richie grinned and chimed in with “Machinamini tatta zumu kimi ga…” then before you knew it, we started belting out the whole song there, laughing our butts off!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Miyazawa Rie / Akai Hana

Years ago I picked up a couple of J-pop collections for various Japanese commercials and TV Show Theme songs (called, curiously enough, TV-CF Songbooks) primarily because it featured songs by Kome Kome Club, a group that I was just getting into at the time, as well as a few others. As I’d mentioned in an earlier post, this was the same collection that turned me onto artists like Ruriko Kuboh and MISATO, with popular tunes that I hadn’t heard before.

But there was this one Country-Western-style song that I loved ‘cause it sounded just plain FUN! Fast-paced and sung in this oriental sing-song style, it was one of those that immediately brings a smile to your face! Though I couldn’t read the japanese kanji at the time, I was to later find out it was a song called “Akai Hana” performed by none other that the precious Miyazawa Rie herself!

My very first exposure to Ms. Miyazawa came from a strange place- Long, long ago when I was still working at a one-hour photolab, someone came in with what I thought was a curious subject: he’d taken photos of a photo book (this was before color copying was easily accessible, I guess), and these pictures were pages a very pretty girl in the nude, sitting in a field of flowers. “This guy must really like this girl to be taking pictures OF the book!” is all I thought at the time.

A few years later a friend had told me about some shashinshuu he’d asked his parents to get him from Japan, and I was surprised to see that it was none other than that book the guy had copied! I found out her name was Miyazawa Rie, and her nude book SANTA FE (shot by master photographer Kishin Shinoyama) was a notorious hit in Japan because it came in the midst of her clean idol image!

Moving forward a few more years, and I’m now heavily into j-pop and all things Japanese, and it was around this time I picked up those two TV CM compilations. Funny, listening to the “Akai Hana” song, not once did it occur to me that this was the same girl in that photobook. In fact, because of the way the song was sung, my mental image of the singer was more like a seventies type of singer like Asada Miyoko or Agnes Chan!

I got my hands on a copy of the 1993 (or so) Kouhaku, and it was here that I saw Rie Miyazawa for the very first time performing, doing a David Bowie rip-off song called “Game” (based on the Bowie/Lennon/Alomar song “Fame”) sitting scrubbing her back in a tub of soapy suds(!). Though I associated this semi-nude girl singing with the girl in the aforementioned shashinshuu, I still didn’t make the connection to the Country song I’d loved on the CM Compilation.

It was only after one day when I had this nostalgic urge to dig out those old CM compilations did my Miyazawa discovery come to light!

So, I’m sitting there, listening to those tunes on the CD, and when Akai Hana came on, I thought, “Wow, I forgot about this song! This song is SO much FUN! Say, who sings this?” Looking through the booklet, I was properly astounded to find that the singer was none other than Rie Miyazawa herself!!!! WOW!

From then, she was firmly established in my mind, and after a heartwarming appearance on SMAPxSMAP, my love for her only grew! My friend got ahold of two classic albums of hers (Chepop and MU, the former featuring the aforementioned song GAME) and made me copies which I played over and over again that summer! While all the songs were catchy and fun (“I say Hi” is an exceptional fave!), there will never be a song of hers to equal “Akai Hana” for me. That song just gets better and better over the years!

From Youtube:

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Hitomi / Go To The Top

When you think of Avex Trax artist HITOMI, the first thing that ALWAYS comes to MY mind is the cover for her album “LOVE LIFE”, and those of you who live in Hawaii and have visited Nippon Shoten even once know EXACTLY what I mean! They’ve had that promotional poster hanging on their wall since like forever, and one’s eyes just can’t HELP but gravitate towards it when entering the store, Hitomi is just so damn pretty and sexy here!

But that was a lot later, when she was a lot more well-known. Back in 1995, she wasn't a household name yet, and my first memories of Hitomi was seeing her debut album GO TO THE TOP featured on Tower Records j-pop rack of new artists, and I have to say the generic looking cover didn’t leave much of an impression on me at the time.

It wasn’t until a year or so later that I rented a music special that featured the popular videos of the previous year, and I saw a clip of Hitomi running around what looked to be the Australian Outback and singing just the CATCHIEST of songs! Then I heard the totally genki girl sing the lines, “Let’s Go To The Top!”, and I immediately realized, HEY! This song is the title track from that album we used to have at Tower!! MAN, what a catchy song!!! But by then the CD was long gone, and I kicked myself for not picking it up!

A year or so later, I was over at a friend’s house recording various B-sides of ZARD singles, and while perusing his extensive collection, happened to notice that he had a promotional copy of that Hitomi album on his shelf!!

“DUDE!” I excitedly yelled, “You have GOT to make me a copy of that song “Go To The Top! I’ve been curious about it ever since I saw a clip of it on a Music Show, and I’ve never even heard the whole song yet!”

Well, after finishing up that ZARD collection, he threw the Hitomi song onto a new compilation along with other acts like Sakurakko Club and V6, and I couldn’t WAIT to get home and listen to my new stash!

First impressions of the song once I got a chance to sit down and really listen to it was the shock of how much it sounded like a Tetsuya Komuro production. I mean, it WAS a Tetsuya Komuro production, but really, Hitomi sounded like a DEAD RINGER for TRF singer YUKI in this song! Not that that’s a BAD thing- In fact, I really liked trf, but it’s funny how listening in retrospect to Komuro’s songs from trf, globe, Misato and Amuro Namie all have that similar sound!

Tonikaku, the song was as cool as I remembered, with awesome beats and terrific hooks, and the thing that really made the song for me was the way the song ended. Each chorus ened with a repeating line of Mayowazuni…Let’s go to the Top.”, but when it came to that last powerful refrain, Hitomi ended it withan upbeat and drawn out, "Mayowazuni-Let’s go to the TOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPP!!"! So CUTE!!! Aw, MAN this song kicked butt!

Now, CD burners back then were not like the stuff of today. Funny how each computer seems to come with a drive built right in, but back then, my friend had to drop more than seven hundred dollars for an external burner, and these things were really hit and miss, resulting in many “dud” discs and misfires. As computers got more and more savvy, those CDs we burned got more and more out of date, and eventually my computers just stopped playing them. GASP! So after all these years, I had to make a concentrated effort to find my beloved Hitomi song, and I found a copy of the original 3 inch single from the strangest of places- CD JAPAN!!!

Addendum: Funny thing about that LOVELIFE poster that affected me so much- just a few months ago, hitomi released a sequel CD of sorts with LOVE LIFE 2, featuring the artist once again posing nude for its cover- this time fully pregnant with child! And in celebration of her coming child , she additionally released an accompanying shashinshuu- capturing her soon-to-be motherhood in the buff! (And YES, I ordered that one, in fact, it came in the same shipment as my CoCo DVD Box Set!) Let's Go To The Toooooooooop!

The CoCo DVD Box Set is Here!!!!

Yes, you read right, the CoCo DVD Box Set is finally here- AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL! I cannot express how EXCITING it is to hold actual DVD cases of each of these concerts...after years of temptation to purchase Hong Kong Bootlegs JUST to have the CoCo concerts on disc, it REALLY is like a DREAM COME TRUE to have the REAL thing in my possession!