Fifty years ago, Kyu Sakamoto

[Art_from_Ark]

became the first Japanese singer to have a song reach Billboard Number One in the United States. Titled "Ue wo muite, arukou" ("I try to look up as I walk&quot , the song's name in the US was changed to the seemingly irrelevant name of "Sukiyaki", which is a traditional Japanese food. The story goes that while eating at a Japanese restaurant, a Hollywood music producer heard this song and thought it could become a hit in mainstream US charts. Since he was eating sukiyaki at the time, he thought that would be an easier name for American audiences to remember.

At any rate, here is one of Mr. Sakamoto's early Japan performances of the song. Below that are the words to the song-- in Japanese characters, in Japanese transcribed into Roman letters, and my translation:

上を向いて歩こう
Ue wo muite arukou
I try to look up as I walk along
涙がこぼれないように
Namida ga koborenai you ni
To keep the tears from flowing down
思い出す春の日
Omoidasu haru no hi
I remember those spring days
一人ぼっちの夜
Hitori botchi no yoru
On this lonely night

上を向いて歩こう
Ue wo muite arukou
I try to look up as I walk along
にじんだ星を数えて
Nijinda hoshi wo kazoete
And count the twinkling stars
思い出す夏の日
Omoidasu natsu no hi
I remember those summer days
一人ぼっちの夜
Hitori botchi no yoru
On this lonely night

幸せは雲の上に
Shiawase wa kumo no ue ni
Happiness is above the clouds
幸せは空の上に
Shiawase wa sora no ue ni
Happiness is above the sky

上を向いて歩こう
Ue wo muite arukou
I try to look up as I walk along
涙がこぼれないように
Namida ga koborenai you ni
To keep the tears from flowing down
泣きながら歩く
Nakinagara aruku
But I cry as I walk
一人ぼっちの夜
Hitori botchi no yoru
On this lonely night

「口笛を吹いている」
(Whistling)

思い出す秋の日　
Omoidasu aki no hi
I remember those autumn days
一人ぼっちの夜
Hitori botchi no yoru
On this lonely night

悲しみは月のかげに
Kanashimi wa tsuki no kage ni
Sadness is lurking behind the moon

悲しみは星のかげに
Kanashimi wa hoshi no kage ni
Sadness is lurking behind the stars

上を向いて歩こう
Ue wo muite arukou
I try to look up as I walk along
涙がこぼれないように
Namida ga koborenai you ni
To keep the tears from flowing down
泣きながら歩く
Nakinagara aruku
But I cry as I walk
一人ぼっちの夜
Hitori botchi no yoru
On this lonely night
一人ぼっちの夜
Hitori botchi no yoru
On this lonely night

[Galileo126]

1. Very cool!

When folks ask "Do you remember that ol' song from 'Taste of Honey' called Sukiyaki from the early 1980's?", I always reply with 'that's a hack remake!'

I always instruct them to dig up Sakamoto's 1963 song. The reason I love the original is that it has a bit of jazzy swank overlaid with Japanese 'pop' sounds. Kyu did a great job, and it is no wonder it became a hit here in the States.

Thanks, awesome post!

[Art_from_Ark]

5. After listening to the original version,

I don't think I would be able to listen to any hack remake. Kyu did, indeed, do a great job with the song.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Sakamoto was one of 495 people who died in the crash

of a JAL flight from Tokyo to Osaka in August 1985.

I spent the summer of 1985 in Japan, living in a gaijin house, and one of the other residents who didn't speak Japanese came to my room and said, "It looks like there's been a big plane crash. Could you help us figure out what's going on?"

One of the most striking aspects of that crash, aside from the fact that it's still the deadliest single-plane crash in history, was the ineptitude of the rescue effort. One of my fellow residents was a U.S. Air Force veteran who had been trained in search and rescue, and he was swearing at the TV set as I interpreted the narration.

First of all, the TV helicopters were providing aerial views of the crash site, but the official SDF rescue party set out on foot in mountainous terrain. Second, they stopped part way up the mountain because of darkness. This really set the Air Force guy off; he knew that survivors could die of shock and hypothermia in the mountains overnight. Sure enough, the rescue party found five survivors. One was a 12-year-old girl, who said that her father and sister had also survived the crash but had died during the night.

The cause of the crash was a fault in the airplane that caused the tail fin to break off, making steering impossible. The aircraft had been manufactured by Boeing, which prompted all the other airlines to inspect their Boeing planes.

In any case, Sakamoto was one of three celebrities who died in that crash, but the only one I really knew anything about.

[Art_from_Ark]

4. I didn't really know his name until the crash

I had heard the song before, but his name didn't become fixed in my mind until I read the news accounts of that ill-fated flight. I had no idea that the rescue mission had been so poorly coordinated. Also, the final toll was even worse than you thought-- 520 fatalities, with 4 survivors. I wonder how many more could have been saved?

[freshwest]

3. I remember this tune from then with great affection. Thanks for translating it.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. One interesting thing about the lyrics-- there are only 3 subjects that are expressly stated

Happiness, sadness, and tears. There are no pronouns or personal nouns to indicate who is walking or crying or remembering, so I had to take a bit of poetic license by assuming that the singer was the one who was doing all those things. There aren't a whole lot of verbs in the original Japanese, either.