“SUKIYAKI” by the late KYU SAKAMOTO revisited. “Coping with REJECTION? I’ll always LOOK UP when I WALK.”

(DECEMBER is brrr ... a cold and wet month.

 Let’s band together for warmth.

Let’s find solace to embrace fond reminiiscences as we trudge down memory lane.

Let’s pay tribute to those we truly love and treasure, irrespective of them being alive or dead.)

Here goes:

It’s vintage time, so let me usher you into the magical era of the 60s.

3 am, pre-dawn.

The rain has just stopped.

And there’s no owl in sight (good grief).

This 24-hour radio service is belting out an old, familiar song called SUKIYAKI.

It’s in Japanese, and for goodness sake, I do not comprehend a single word.

The crooner’s voice is pleading, lilting and soulful, so much so that it sears deep inside. Badly.

Enthusiasm persuades me to look up the dictionary.

Have you gone through rejection pains as this guy is pining out sadly in his song?

Then look no further.

Listen to the man, he is nursing his angst on being dumped by his lover.

Being betrayed in love spells a thousand sorrows, trust me.

Try it if you do not believe that life has its stark brutalities.

I used to hum along with the song when I was a kid.

SUKIYAKI?

I googled for the name of the singer and yes, the name KYU SAKAMOTO surfaced.

He was really famous then, but he perished in the sky in the 80s, such a real pity. It’s horrific.

Is death predestined?

On August 12, 1985, the ill-fated JAPAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 123 carrying 520 passengers and crew including KYU SAKAMOTO plummeted from mid-air.

It was the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history,

and the third worst plane crash in history behind the TENERIFE DISASTER and the SEPTEMBER 11th ATTACKS.

It had been reported that, before the aircraft lost its bearing, SAKAMOTO wrote a farewell note to his wife.

Toying with Fate?

Don’t. It is bizarre and an eerie recall.

LIFE IS SHORT, reminding you again.

So enjoy every “moment” while you can.

It’s here now, gone forever tomorrow.

The 60s to the 80s carry the REAL years when you MUST have a genuine voice to be a singer.

These days, if you are prettily endowed, then you can get connected to a music producer, indulge in image packaging coupled with decent studio “enhancements” for high-pitch songs …..

This’d be the first step to the entertainment threshold.

The rest is up to you.

KYU SAKAMOTO has the distinction of being the only Japanese artist to ever scored a top international hit.

His song (”I Look Up When I Walk”; Sukiyaki in the West), sung completely in Japanese and against all odds, reached #1 in the US Billboard charts in 1963.

The music was written by Hachidai Nakamura.

It is said that Rokusuke Ei wrote the touching lyrics after his heart was broken by actress Meiko Nakamura.

The lyrics tell the story of a man who looks up while he is walking so his tears would not fall.

It is interesting to note that Sukiyaki is not even mentioned in the song ; the West just needed something that was easily pronounceable and associated with Japan.

SUKIYAKI is translated thus into ENGLISH:

I look up when I walk

So the tears won’t fall

Remembering those happy spring days

But tonight I’m all alone

I look up when I walk

Counting the stars with tearful eyes

Remembering those happy summer days

But tonight I’m all alone

Happiness lies beyond the clouds

Happiness lies above the sky

I look up when I walk

So the tears won’t fall

Though my heart is filled with sorrow

For tonight I’m all alone
(whistling)

Remembering those happy autumn days

But tonight I’m all alone

Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars

Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon

I look up when I walk

So the tears won’t fall

Though my heart is filled with sorrow

For tonight I’m all alone
(whistling)

Yeah, LIFE is a song, no less.

We can’t all be happy everyday.

But whatever life’s lot is, there is always somebody out there who’s a lot less fortunate than you.

We just have to count our blessings.

RIGHT?

Taking a walk down memory lane?

I have selected 3 songs from You Tube for your listening pleasure.

The first is sung by the grand master KYU SAKAMOTO.

The last two are fitting tributes.