Ongaku Cafe (The ’90s): My Little Lover – Hello, Again ~ (1995)

If there was one single that I would put in my top 100 best Japanese songs of all time, My Little Lover’s “Hello, Again ~Mukashikara Arubasho~” should be on that list.  It’s one of those songs that just doesn’t get old and once you hear it, you want to continue listening to it. It’s the power in the music and lyrics of this amazing song. 

BAND: My Little Lover

SINGLE: Hello, Again ~Mukashikara Arubasho~ (Hello, Again 〜昔からある場所〜)

LABEL: Toys Factory

DURATION 3 Songs (16 minutes, 11 seconds)

RELEASE DATE: August 21, 1995

1. Hello, Again 〜昔からある場所〜
2. Delicacy
3. Hello, Again 〜昔からある場所〜 (instrumental version)

For Kobayashi Takeshi, the famous producer and musician who composed hit songs for Mr.Children and the Southern All Stars and Kuwata Keisuke, and also creating the first million copy seller for Koizumi Kyoko with “Anata ni Aete yokatta” would debut a new band featuring vocalist akko and guitarist, Fujii Kenji.

Kobayashi at the time was asked by an acquaintance if he could talk to a student named akko who attended a music college and was concerned about her career. According to Kobayashi, while there were many young women that sung better than her, he was attracted to akko’s transparency.

He would create the songs “Man & Woman” and “My Painting” which would be released in May 1995 as the first single and the B-side, while for lyrics, credit would always go to KATE (Kenji Akko Takeshi Ensemble), which in truth, Kobayashi wanted to make people think a woman wrote the lyrics but in truth, he did it alone. And the change was reflected when the band’s first album “EVERGREEN” was released.

“Man & Woman” would debut in no. 48 on the Oricon Charts but would surge to the top ten (at no. 7) by its ninth week and would nearly become a million seller.

The band would release “Shiroi Kaito” (which translates to “white kite”) as the second single  in July 1995 which reached no. 11 on the Oricon Charts but gained in popularity thanks to their first single “Man & Woman” which the band would perform on the music shows.

But the big moment for the band came in 1995, as the band released a third single a month later titled “Hello, Again ~Mukashikara Arubasho~” which translates to “Hello, Again ~A place from the past~”.  The song debuted at no. 1 on the Oricon Daily Single and Oricon Weekly Singles Charts.  It’s important to note that getting no. 1 in the Oricon Charts during this time was difficult as rock music and the TK (Komuro Tetsuya) family were dominating the charts.

It was the first single which Kobayashi would partake in the group as a member and it was used for the drama “Owarai Natsu”.  It was also so popular that it was no. 1 for two weeks in a row and the song to this day ranks no. 34 in the Oricon all-time singles rating.

Akko would say about the song, “A song with a theme of boyishness, similar to “Shiroi Kaito”. It was very popular in karaoke and recorded a big hit. The song was co-written by Kenji Fujii and Takeshi Kobayashi. At first, the music that Kenji made was difficult (laughs), but there was already a change in the chorus, and although there were some peculiarities, there were elements that made me cry. I remember that it expanded into such a stereotypical form of pain and hope.” And it goes without saying that the fact that this song was accepted by many fans further expanded the possibilities of this unit, and it was also this song that made the meeting of the three more musically intertwined. When I asked Kenji to play the guitar in the intro, he seemed very lively. His guitar riffs became one of the shapes of My Little Lover from then on”.

For me, this song was love at first listen.

At the time, of course, there was no YouTube but they performed the song on a few music shows but whenever they showed the music ranking charts, you always go this short glimpse of the music video.

I fell in love with the song as I felt the combination of Fujii’s guitars and akko’s vocals were just appealing. You felt a sense of sadness and hope through the song and the lyrics, they were so deep.

The season that I was waiting for with you,
passed by without a word.
The rain pours down on this city,
Enveloping a little regret and sin
I vowed not to cry
As time passed
without noticing my aching heart I became alone in this rice field

“The two of us can live forever in our memories”
Your voice still resonates in my heart
That’s the shadow of love wandering
Did you cry a little?