Showa Girl Time Warp

When I was in Tokyo last month my new friends at Lamp Harajuku took me to a Showa era (time period in Japan from 1926-1989) themed izakaya called 昭和タイムスリップ酒場 代々木ミルクホール (showa time warp bar, yoyogi (the location in shibuya) milk hole). For the exhibit I had at Lamp Harajuku, I played a 1980s Japanese band called Zelda in the background, so they thought I’d like the bar. Ahh it was so nice of them to take me there! With nostalgic Showa era slang written on the walls, a menu that had a Space Battleship Yamato cocktail, Megumi Asaoka plastered on the walls multiple times, and salary men vibing out to their childhood favorites – — it was great.

There was a song list curated by the staff playing at the bar and at any time someone could pay 100 yen to play a song on the jukebox. At one point a song called Young Man (Y.M.C.A.) by Saijo Hideki came on. I asked my Japanese friends, who don’t know English, if they knew what YMCA meant in America. I told them it’s a place where people go to swim/do athletic activities and they were shocked! They never heard of that kind of YMCA before. That week I spoke more Japanese than I ever had before. Thrown in the deep end having to be in social settings where my Japanese was better than my friend’s English. Speed in which common words came to me was much quicker after that week. Speaking at 1920s-1980s themed bars in foreign countries will be my preferred method of all language learning from now on. Until next time!

Outside:

Inside:

Their menu has Showa era classics like octopus hot dogs and “spaghetti neapolitan”, which sounds Italian, but is a classic Japanese dish with pasta covered in ketchup.

I learned some great showa era slang on that lit up wall by the entrance like マンモスうれぴー (mammoth urepii (word for happy), meaning super super happy) and 鼻血ブー (hana-ji bu/nosebleed boo). It’s used similar to how we use “this gave me goosebumps” in English coined by the manga artist Yasuji Tanioka in the 1960s. His characters created trendy phrases in that time. This phrase was used for a dripping nosebleed resulting from out-of-control lust for manga.

Among many other fun objects, they had showa era astrology roulette fortune devices (called ルーレット式おみくじ器) at the bar where you put in 100 yen and a fortune comes out:

I listen to music in cycles, always returning back to a genre, but never staying there for too long. Back in the days of Soulseek, keeping track of music was much easier for me. Spent hours organizing my folders of illegally downloaded music by genre. This is an effort to get back to that organized era of lists. So here is a list of a few Showa favorites:

At the top of the list, #1 in my heart, Megumi Asaoka. The first song called “Left-handed darling” is Eirik and I’s song. When we first started talking we played this song and did her same dances on the regular. He’s a left-handed darling. Her lyrics, song titles, style is the most charming thing possible. Take a look for yourself at these translated lyrics and tell me they don’t ooze charm right into your heart:

Even when he throws me a kiss, when he throws a kiss
Even when he says come here, when he says come here
My boyfriend’s always, always a lefty
Even when he wipes my rolling tears, when he wipes my tears
Even when he gently links pinkies with me, when he links pinkies with me
My boyfriend’s always, always a lefty
I want to try and match to you but
I’m right-handed and I just miss, how cruel, oh how cruel
Even when he waves goodbye, waves goodbye 
Even when he glances sideways at the clock, glances sideways
My boyfriend, my boyfriend is a lefty 

Even when he pulls a prank behind my back, pulls a prank behind my back
Even when he drinks black coffee, when he drinks coffee
My boyfriend’s always, always a lefty
I try and copy you but I can’t change my right-handedness, how cruel, oh how cruel
Even when he writes a short letter, writes a letter
Even when he calls someone on the phone, calls on the phone
My boyfriend, my boyfriend is a lefty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swn5bl0C16U

If you prefer a version of her singing left-handed darling while sobbing, here you go:

This second song by Megumi Asaoka is called “The Girl of the Alps”. She wears her own version of 1970s German tracht singing about being an alps girl that’s in love:

This next one is a project by two members of my favorite Japanese band called Zelda. The project is called Manekineko Opera Troupe (招き猫カゲキ団) and they released one single in 1984 called “First Song Collection” (第一歌曲集). This song is called apparition night (幻夜). Very good song imo:

One of the best album front/back covers of all time:

Onto Zelda. Active in the 1980s-1990s, this is one of Japan’s first all-girl bands. I love their melodic, punk, pop, wailing vocal combination. They cover an impressive range of musical genres, from new wave, punk, pop, post-punk, and later, even reggae. They disbanded in 1996. Their best album, in my opinion, is Carnaval (1983):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=042LBlurCvo

They might be even better live:

One of the most popular groups of the Showa era was Pink Lady:

Thank you song by Suizoji Kiyoko (ありがとうの歌 – 水前寺清子) 1970:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXdAksOgyRM

I first listened to the song above because she’s dressed like a guro nurse and because the vinyl cover looks like this, but her vocals grew on me:

Have to mention Jun Togawa, but I hope you all already know her well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltSySjNZCtk