CAROLE KING PERFORMS IN JAPAN, Though I couldn’t go to the show
__According to her official website, Carole King had performed in Japan’s cities, Osaka, Saitama, and Tokyo. I wonder whether the venues were fully occupied by Japanese audiences or not, because Japanese no longer have strong interest in US culture. If it were in 1970’s, she could have got more audiences in Japan. According to Wikipedia, the first time that Carole visited Japan was 1990. It makes me feel that “it is too late”. Because I had thought she should have visited more often Japan in 1970’s unless she didn’t like Japan as another famous singer/song writer.
__So this is the second time and should be a rare chance to see her performance in Japan. (Would it be the last chance?) But anyway, I could go neither Osaka, Saitama, nor Tokyo. I’m so busy that I cannot spend any times for my personal pleasure. The shows were sponsored by USA KIKKOMAN for commemorating their 50 years of business in the USA. KIKKOMAN is famous for their soy sauce or “Shoyu”. For reference’s sake, when English speaker says “show you”, Japanese always think of “Shoyu” that is an important seasoning on the kitchen table
__In my life, I mean my “music life”, Songs of Carole King have been really important me. They affected me so much. The first song I knew was “It’Too Late”. I had tried so much to figure out its code progressing when I was a university student somewhere in Japan. And at the end of the schooldays, one of my friends lent me a CD “Now That Everything’s Been Said / The City (1968)”. It was titles in Japanese;”夢語り”, which means “Dream Tale”, though I don’t know whether my translation is correct or not. I liked the songs very much, and after that, I started buying her albums.
__The end of the my school days was very sad for me because many things happened to me at the same time and they depressed me a lot. Now so many years have passed, tough, I don’t want to remember those days. So I have decided that I will never listen to the album “Now That Everything’s Been Said”. By the way, those days, I lent another CD from the same friend. The CD was played by Japanese artist “はっぴいえんど” which means “a happy end”, and titled “風街ろまん” which means “winds, city, and romance” (I don’t think my translation is good). The City’s album was released in 1968, and “風街ろまん” was in 1971. It can be said that both albums were released in almost the same year, though one was in US, and the other was only in Japan. And it is needless to say that the latter has nothing to do with the former (I am not sure whether the former influenced the latter or not). But both albums are related to the word “City”. So I would like to know whethe there is anyone who had drawn a comparison between the two in Japan, or not. Someone might have written in his/her blog, but I don’t know. Anyway it should be an interesting thing about popular culture of early 70’s in Japan. I expect that.
