08. Smells Like Fireworks (Jayson Chun // Tatsuro Yamashita)

Episode notes

In the late 1970s a young Tatsuro Yamashita was making a name for himself as a prolific session musician and songwriter. He launched his solo career, but didn’t see big commercial success at first. Yamashita took a trip down to the US and learned some tips from Western producers and began building up his solo work back when he returned to Japan. This would include some of his most iconic songs, like Ride on Time and Loveland Island, both of which are included in this Greatest Hits comp we’re talking about today.

Dr. Jayson Chun, Japanese and Korean pop culture professor, sits down with us to talk about why city pop resonates with Western listeners, CM songs, and Tatsuro’s work with Charles Calello.

Check out our Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there! We also have the playlist on YouTube

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In this episode...

Christian Dueñas

Host

Yosuke Kitazawa

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Richard Robey

Producer

Guests

Jayson Chun

About the show

Primer is a music podcast about translation and illumination. Host Christian Dueñas is joined by a different co-host each season to explore a genre of music from outside the English-speaking world. In its debut season, music writer Yosuke Kitazawa (PBS SoCal, Light in the Attic, Temporal Drift) joins Christian and special guests to explore Japanese City Pop. They celebrate the lives of its artists, explore the cultural and historical context of the songs, and reflect on the impact that music had on listeners everywhere – including personally, as fans. Primer invites both newcomers and crate diggers alike to find their next favorite album and learn more about the music they already love.

Podcast art by Geoff Tice.