Koji Tamaki -- Den'en （田園）



 If you take a look at nikala's posting on the music program "Music Tomato", you will come across the video for Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯） first hit, "Wine-Red no Kokoro" in 1984 with the dark and mysterious vocalist Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）. And that was the image he brought with him through the 80s and into the 90s when he forged his solo career.

However, the Hokkaido native threw all that into the pyre when he released his 11th single as a solo artist, "Den'en" (The Country) in July 1996. I used to see him in some of the songbooks in those Myojo magazines with his Anzen Chitai bandmates and in some TV interviews beaming that Leonard Nimoy smile and acting quite eccentrically goofy....quite a switch from his atmospheric videos and performances as a singer and actor. But this time, that happy-go-lucky goofiness was in full view in the official video for "Den'en" where he became the Man of a Thousand Faces: farmer, mandarin, wizard, etc. This was Tamaki saying "OK, enough with the Superman...this is a job for Clark Kent (or Kuraaku Kento)".

I first came across "Den'en" when I was still watching TV dramas in Japan in the mid-90s. There was a Thursday night drama after the Tunnels variety show called "Coach" about a dour tough-as-nails female Tokyo executive played by Atsuko Asano（浅野温子） who was unfairly demoted in disgrace and sent out to look over a failing rural mackerel-canning factory run by a kindhearted if somewhat ineffectual country bumpkin played by Tamaki himself....very much a change from his cool-as-a-hitman persona in the 80s. As I was trying to figure out this switch in roles (Asano used to play the goofy parts in shows like the detective series "Abunai Deka" in the previous decade), this country-rock song came on at the end which made me feel like renting a stallion and riding it into Saitama Prefecture. It was just filled with all this throw-it-into-the-wind spirit and lyrics about not giving in or up and mucking it out.

"Den'en" was composed by Tamaki and written by him with Akira Sudo（須藤晃）. The fun-loving Tamaki and his creation was very well-received as it went Triple Platinum, and as high as No. 2 on Oricon, finishing the year in 25th place. It was also one of the singles in his 5th album, "Cafe Japan" which had one of those fuzzy 3D covers. "Cafe Japan" peaked at No. 4 on the album charts and finished at No. 66 for the year.

With the success of the song, a number of the year-end specials came calling. Tamaki was supposed to have performed at one such special in December on Fuji-TV. But the news came that he had been felled by some gastrointestinal bug and had to decline. I remembered all the media getting whipped up into a fair bit of frenzy about what his condition was, and his then-wife, Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）, even appeared on the Fuji-TV special to reassure everyone that he was on the mend.

Well, cue to a few weeks later, on New Year's Eve. As I watching from the relatively warm confines of my apartment, Tamaki was back in fine smiley form for the Kohaku Utagassen in his first performing appearance since recovering from the bug and in his first Kohaku appearance since his time with Anzen Chitai. Everyone was wondering how he was doing and anticipating his return. His manager and production company were probably popping champagne corks at all of the media coverage. And Tamaki failed to disappoint. He went on and gave a showstopping performance with the Johnny's group TOKIO as his backup band without any hint of illness. He got quite a few cheers from the audience when he finished "Den'en".....a grand sign on the Kohaku. And I later heard that when he had gone on to do his number, the ratings chart showed a spike like Excalibur sticking out of that rock. One happy dude, indeed.

Koji Tamaki -- Cafe Japan