Welcome Keikaku readers to what I’m hoping will become a regular feature here. I’ve begun to collect old J-Pop 45s and LPs over the past few months. Just 50 yen here, and 100 yen there, and all of a sudden I’ve amassed a ridiculous amount of records. There’ve been some real gems mixed in amongst all the impulse buys and judged-by-their-cover buys (Take my word for it, young Matsuda Seiko may have been cute, but those records are garbage!).

27 years ago to this day, for those of us in this time zone anyway, Yakushimaru Hiroko’s first single exploded onto the Japanese pop charts. The song, entitled “Sailor Fuku to Kikanju” (Sailor Suit and Machine Gun), was the theme song to a movie of the same name in which Yakushimaru herself starred. Because I unfortunately have yet to see the movie, I’m not sure what a melancholy love song has to do with a movie about a teenage yakuza heiress with an AK-47, but I sure as heck want to find out!

While listening to this for the first time with my bargain record hunting partner Randy, he mentioned how it had this sort of nostalgic quality about it, as if we had already heard this song a hundred times before. The melody is indeed that good, instrumentally and vocally. As with most pop starlets and idols, I might say that this song would be equally good had anyone else sung it, and certainly the version put out under the title “Yume no Tochuu” by songwriter Kisugi Takao is a great song in itself. But, the truth is that, despite having only been 17 at the time, Yakushimaru’s voice has a sort of simple world-weariness to it that really shines through in a sad song about bidding “sayonara” to a former love. Her voice shakes, rises and falls, with a slight vibrato that sounds more regal than your average cutesy idol. Released in the same month as Kisugi’s version, Yakushimaru’s single hit #1 on the Oricon charts.

The single’s b-side, “Atarimae no Niji” (Ordinary Rainbow), isn’t as driving or dramatic as the single itself, but it’s tinkling piano and lyrics about a crumbling relationship manage to even be more gloomy! It’s definitely a great complement.

Here’s video of Yakushimaru performing the song with Kisugi, a bit older with a slightly more refined voice. Enjoy!

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