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The Boy's Dream Has Come Alive

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  When we talk about anime composers, many people will always talk about the most popular ones, such as Yoko Kanno, Kenji Kawai, Kohei Tanaka, Yasuharu Takanashi and others. We're talking about retro anime where music isn't just full-on action or slice-of-life music. Back when anime themes aren't really full-fledged pop/rock tunes and instead explains the premise of an anime show. It was one time when he claimed himself the first anison singer-songwriter . And little did he know that he was right all along... It was the mid-70s. Japan had the likes of Takeo Watanabe, Chumei Watanabe (not related), and Shunsuke Kikuchi providing just the most Showa-esqe tunes to ever grace the anime and tokusatsu period. Little problem is that none of the singers who provided the themes ever had done some lyrics and composing for those themes. Isao Sasaki, Ichiro Mizuki and Mitsuko Horie are such popular singers during that time, but neither of them ever made their own songs until later in t...
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Zunabara Zuihitsu Chapter 7 ā€œA Pleasant Thunderstormā€

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  Summer vacation was almost over. I had promised myself that year I would do five pages a day without hoarding any homework, but it was no good. I took a peek at my sister's weather [report] in her picture diary, I was able to duplicate Keiko's record of morning glories from a Katomotor [vehicle brand], Yu helped me with more than half of my work, yet I was  able to complete a traffic volume survey in front of the town hall and the station, which I had decided to do as a freeform assignment. Every day we went to inspect them by bicycle. Nobo was very skilled at the trumpet, Hisa played the contrabass, and I played the clarinet. While there was no training camp, we went to the music room every 6 in the morning to practice Over the Rainbow . The reed cut my lips as it pierced painfully whenever I drink miso soup. Should I buy a guitar? I mustn't break it this time. It's not a yakuza song; it's the Beatles. I went to stay at Ken's residence in Izumi-cho. My uncle...
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"Susquehanna-gou no Eikou VI + VII" Song Commentary

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  Susquehanna-gou no Eikou VI: Showa no Hanabira [ ć‚µć‚¹ć‚ÆćƒćƒŠå·ć®ę›³čˆŖVI ę˜­å’Œć®čŠ±ć³ć‚‰ ]  - The intro part, events from an underground diner at the Grand Central Station in New York, up to 10 minutes and 36 seconds into the song, is entirely a true story. This is also true, in detail, with an elderly Latino group bringing tissues and a lady leaving a bottle of water. In fact, I experienced something similar to this 12.3 years ago, though not very intensely. The location in an underground diner in Grand Central is very similar, but the tables were different, even though the building was spacious, and for some reason, an old woman sat down in front of me. I knew during that time, we started eating what seemed to be homemade cookies. She looked at me while chewing from time to time. I love this event, so I handed her a paper napkin and said, "" mom, [I] could use this ". Then the old woman replied, " thank you ". That was the voice of my mother, who suddenly passed away while I wa...
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Zunbara Zuihitsu Chapter 6 "Fear of Points"

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  A few years ago, I felt enthusiastic on grabbing points from a camera in Yodobashi. Cassette tapes, video tapes, fine items, expensive ones, Yodobashi has it. On the other hand, the employees at Yodobashi don't have a good altitude, their customer service is so rude. Moreover, a random employee in the audio section in the 5th floor of a general building told nonsense to the customers. "You can't connect a DAT to an MD", he said. I replied, "I'd like to take this Marantz [audiovisual company] amp off because it wouldn't fit the side rack". He told me, "Don't worry, you can easily remove it by uninstalling 4 small screws". I nearly bought it, but then thought, "Uhm, wait, let's go to the other store". When I went to Sakuraya and got a glimpse closely, the screws were removed from the side racks but they were perfectly secured. Even then, I still go to Yodobashi for the points, but with how much of a benefit? Buy for 10,00...
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Zunbara Zuihitsu Chapter 5 "Cold Analog Water"

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  To my niece Miho, "This is the Kurama Tengu"; to my nephew Takao, "This is Hiroto"; to my BABAR with my Jijy impression, "Hey Fuki, I'm calling you from the heavens"; to my apprentice JALLA, "This is the Nakano Police Department"; to Kawase, "Ooh~~ Kawase, it's the professor"; to Ikuro in my Ikuro voice, "Hello, this is Fujiwara"; and this is to an extent where I keep my name for myself. Otherwise, I would never use a pseudonym, add a certain number of strokes, or anything else. Even when I stay at an hotel for an affair, I simply write as Masayuki Yamamoto . Perhaps. And now, analog letters. Stamps are wonderful, especially regular stamps. I was a stamp collector in my youth. I wanted to read the letter I received as soon as possible, so I tore open the seal. A stationary paper popped out from the inside. Hmmm...that handwriting, could that be his handwriting~? Whaaat??!! He's sick!?? I got worried. Okay, so tha...
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Zunbara Zuihitsu Chapter 4 "The Village Miracle"

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 In 1986, I met two of my friends at the 57th NIPPONCLUB Gallery. As for its surroundings, this is where senior artist Goroh Saitoh held a solo exhibition in New York. We were seated for the commemorative exhibition party on the first day: many Americans, a couple of Chinese and us Japanese. One of them was Newsweek journalist at the time, Durian Bencoil. When he attended an interview, I got introduced to him, and I never thought we would become good friends. The next day, Bencoil accompanied Goroh to a radio station where he was tasked as an interpreter, and I was the photographer to document it, then Bencoil recommend us a restaurant for a hearty brunch. That was all.  The other was the UN desk, MISS  Kumi Yasui, Michiyo Yasui's daughter, the producer for Goroh Saitoh's solo exhibition. She was interested in me as a composer and we gathered about talking for 15 minutes. That was it. Time had passed, and it was June of 1989. I arrived in the US alone, unpacked my luggage...
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Zunbara Zuihitsu Chapter 3 "The Truth Behind MoeDora"

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  Today, July 5 [2000 as he posted this chapter] completes the production for Moeyo Dragons! 2000 . Yet, they lost 13-0, but that's alright. It seems that it would be significant to present this musical piece every year now that it has become more important in recent years. My favorite Dragons warriors are, in order: 1. Tatenami. I love that man's attitude; timid but wonderful. No matter how well he does, he takes no guts (apparently my least favorite word in the world right now). Only when he receives a timely hit in a tremendous pressure does he runs for it small, under the waist, for a moment, and that's swell. Tatenami should be THE Mister Dragons. 2. Gaillard. He's just beautiful. The Dragons blue [uniform]  looks good on him and he delivers the scent of America to home base with a swoon with every pitch. Anyways, it's got an imperial atmosphere to it. I wish he had been registered as Gaillard   (different kana spelling) . 3. Yoshihara. I watched the CS Western...
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2024 Recap

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 2024 was...indeed a turbulent year. The 50th debut anniversary went bitter, sure, but at least the  Sainou no Kiseki  Blu-ray set released last month saw many Masayukists watching any of his old concerts for the first time as if they were actually seeing him in person. I wish I was born in the late 70s/early 80s... This year had me also go on a different approach since I am also an artist who draws. If I am not doing college duties, I am mostly focused on my art and sharing them across social platforms that I currently run on. In fact, this year, I had little ideas. Little motivation. Little plans in updating my fanpage and providing translations of liner notes, song commentaries and interviews. Those fan pages I made are still sparse and incomplete. I didn't even have the time to write album reviews. DOES THIS MEAN I HAVE STOPPED BEING A FAN OF MASAYUKI??!! IS MY YAMAMOTO-SENSEI FIXATION OVER???!! Absolutely not. I still listen to him almost every day. I'll still love t...
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Mid-Year Updates

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 Hiya! As college is on the way again, and with my third year coming, it's time to put my fan pages on (rather) semi-hiatus. Oftentimes I'll become very inactive since I need to prioritize more as college gets more serious, but that won't stop me from checking and updating from time to time. Ever since I opened a Tumblr page the past few months, I've been more starstruck on any Masayuki Yamamoto pics I've been grabbing from; and by that, I mean I couldn't stop looking at him with that innocent look, adorable smile and energetic altitude. Here for The Masayuki Paradise, I somehow lost motivation to continue translating the Zunbara Zuihitsu series, instead mercilessly translating some album liner notes and song commentaries. I'll make myself sure to continue when I have the time. And....for the original Masayukist's Zone, it doesn't seem to be updated at all. As somebody with autism, I'm part of the multi-fandom gang and sometimes I had other stuf...
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