Posted on 10/21/2025 8:31:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Tokyo Boogie Woogie--Kasaki Shizuko with the Columbia Tokyo Orchestra (1948)
The tune soon crossed the Pacific.
Tokyo Boogie--Moon Mullican (1952)
Charlie Nagatani is from Kumamoto where we live . Heard his band and met him some years ago . Not a C&W fan but he was playing locally and a Japanese friend wanted us to go so we did . I don’t see much interest in C&W music amongst younger Japanese .
Tokyo Shoeshine Boy--Akatsuki Teruko (1951)
This is a rough translation:
I'm a shoeshine boy with a deerstalker hat and a chest protector, with a maroon tie and a cheerful whistle.
I'm good at dancing and fluent in English.
The young lady that I like hasn't arrived yet, but surely she will come whether it's rainy or windy.
If I shine any shoes, they will shine beautifully; it's a Tokyo specialty.
That young lady in red shoes, wandering around Ginza again today,
Surely she’ll bring souvenirs, chocolate, chewing gum, and Coca-Cola.
The young lady I like, what has kept her away today? Surely she’ll come tomorrow, and someday we’ll dance together.
If I shine, everyone will be cheerful, and shoes will shine beautifully
It sure has been a well kept secret.
I’ve never seen or heard of Country music in Japan - not in any news or magazine articles, tv segments, films, whatever.
It’s not just Japan. Country music is also popular in England. I took a ferry ride from England to Gothenburg, Sweden in 1992, just so I could say I’d been there.
I was only on the ground for 6 hours. I and a friend walked to a mall near the ferry terminal, and we saw American light trucks everywhere. While walking thru the mall, we saw and heard an American playing guitar and singing. You guessed it, he sang country music.
Amazing to me too, I worked in Country Music radio here in the states for 40 years and never read or heard about its popularity in Japan.
The Japanese probably never heard Slim Whitman.
Only Americans in Japan during WW2 were POWs.
ACK! ACK! ACK!
(That’s a Mars Attacks reference, for those wondering)
Agreed, Buck does fit here, and he is one of my favorites. Regarding the Girl Made In Japan, I’ve run across some very beautiful Japanese women over the years. Of the Eastern girls, I’d say they are the cutest.
I caught that too. Seems like every day a easy to spot journalistic screw up like this is made. Could be a dumb journalist doing this, or most likely AI.
This isn’t exactly Country, but was a hit in the early 60’s and is one of my favorites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UIn3lufcZ0&list=RD_UIn3lufcZ0&start_radio=1
They also have little bars or cafes where there is minimal talking.
Music played on extraordinary stereo systems — vinyl. I’m talking $3-400,000 systems of extreme audiophile quality. Boulder, Nagra, KEF, Bowers. Lyra Atlas cartridges. Silver wires.
Walked into a cafe and drank beer because I heard Texas swing.
Their blues/jazz is also amazing. They fuse with old country.
Watched an anime (believe it or not) called “Cowboy Bebop” (NOT the awful live action version) just for the music. About a Jewish space bounty hunter modeled after the 1960s spy and detective shows. Very Peter Gunn. Great theme song.
Wife was shocked I watched a cartoon and then got sucked into it!
What kind of music entertains them?
Different country, but...
Hearing Loretta Lynn sing “Stand By Your Man” in Germany was semi-strange the first time.
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