When did Japanese culture first get its hooks into me? Let's see. I guess the first Japanese movie that I saw was the Mysterians (1957). Right around then, Godzilla, the horrible Raymond Burr version, showed up on the Million Dollar Movie. This was closely followed by Rodan. I was getting the bug. This shit was boss.
Kyu Sakamoto somehow got Sukiyaki on the radio in 1963. Not exactly my style of music, I was more Bo Diddley/ Beach Boys by then, but it was nice to find out that Japanese was a good singing language. No tones; no difficult sounds; uniform stress across all syllables. Tailor made for singing. Then in about 1966 I discovered Japanese cinema, the entire catalog, at a tiny all Japanese/ all the time movie theater close to Times Square. I was sold; I was on board.
There wasn't much music around. Themes to TV shows; Sadistic Mika Band; Pink Lady. We had moved to Los Angeles, so there was lots of Japanese TV and the rerun houses played the Japanese classics.
In the late 90s a law client of mine gave me a copy of the soundtrack to the Doom Generation. The client was involved with the production somehow. There were two Pizzicato 5 cuts on it, and I was over the moon.
It's all historical now, memories of a bygone era. Their music still resonates with me. It's not just that Maki Nomiya is so elegant and beautiful, although that doesn't hurt. Yasuharu Kinishi's composing, production, and playing are all wonderful.
This music is out there now for all of us to discover. I highly recommend it. "It" being P5 and the discovery process in general.
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