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It was pretty common for an artist back then to only have one or two albums before calling it quits, music acts like So Nice, Noriyo Ikeda, Soap, and most famously, Takako Mamiya (間宮貴子), only have one album to their name before fading into obscurity. Thankfully some of them did have careers afterward, Katsuyuki Kamakura the lead singer of So Nice still performs today and one of the members of Soap, Takanori Arisawa, is best known for composing the Sailor Moon anime series. Takako Mamiya was not so lucky as virtually nothing is known about her after her music career, she doesn't even have a page on the Japanese Wikipedia. But thanks to a tedious study of liner notes, translating articles, getting first-hand information from experts and people with relatives who were apart of the 1980's Japanese music industry, I've been able to compile a complete history of all the information about her so far. I hope that this essay/album review serves as inspiration for other City Pop enthusiasts to continue the journey into solving the mystery of Takako Mamiya, now that we have further led to go off of.
THE HISTORY
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Takako Mamiya, Yoshikazu Miura, & Sabine Marianne Kaneko |

This brings us to 1982, when small-time label Kitty Records, home to guitar master Masayoshi Takanaka (高中正義) and holder of many anime soundtrack licenses, were looking to expand their artist base to compete with the likes of RCA. They managed to get a hold of Takako after a session musician scouted her out from a club in Shinjuku, and began production on her debut solo album, Love Trip, April the 15th at KRS Recording Studio in Tokyo and finished August the 28th. Despite not being a big name, Takako Mamiya managed to get some pretty well-known names to help with the production of her album. The main sound producer was Genji Sawai (沢井原兒), a jazz saxophone player who led a fusion band called Bacon Egg. The bassist was Yoshihiro Naruse (鳴瀬喜博), who’s the current bass player for the jazz-fusion band Casiopea. The drummer was Uehara Hiroshi(上原浩), who’s performed for both Tatsuro Yamashita (Spacy, Moonglow, & For You) & Hiroshi Sato (Orient). The backing vocals were provided by Hiroshi Narumi (鳴海弘) and Etsuko Yamakawa (山川恵津子), who many know as the city pop duo Tohoku Shinkansen (東北新幹線).
There were also several big composers for this album; former rock artist Katsu Hoshi (星勝) who was the guitarist for 60's rock band, The Mops; Yoshiko Miura (三浦徳子) who has written songs for various anime (Cat’s Eye, Fist of the North Star, Project Ako) and other female singers (Junko Ohashi, Junko Yagami, and Anri) ; singer-songwriter Akira Inoue (井上鑑), who is mostly known for his album “Seaside Lovers”, was a composer and the keyboardists; and Kazuo Shiina (椎名和夫) who made his professional debut as one of Minako Yoshida's backing musicians (violinist). After that, served as the second guitarist/violinist of folk band はちみつぱい (Hachimitsu Pai) and the first guitarist of pop/rock band, Moonriders.



THE MUSIC REVIEW

Chinese Restaurant: While still retaining the smooth jazz vibe, this song carries a more oriental-based melody. The lyrics have the singer wistfully wondering whether her old lover still remembers their first meeting at such a restaurant.
真夜中のジョーク (Midnight Joke): The star song of the album, and for good reason. Here Mamiya sings about driving alone by herself in the middle of the night, contemplating whether her love is one big joke. This song easily has the best horns in the album as well as a rocking guitar solo at the end.
哀しみは夜の向こう(The Sadness Lingers well beyond into the Night): This song carries the same tone and theme as Midnight Joke but adds more samba elements to the mix. The lyrics tell the story of a young woman named Jenny, who’s awake at 3 in the morning, struggling to sleep because she can’t forget her former lover.
All Or Nothing: Despite having a very similar intro to Midnight Joke, the rest of the song is slightly more optimistic, with Takako singing about not letting her feelings or her vices get in the way of giving her all in a relationship.
渚でダンス (Dance At The Waterfront): This is the halfway point song that shifts the tone of the album from midnight melancholy, to night time boogie, to give us a mellow moonlight dance number.
One More Night: Has the same upbeat feeling as the previous song but with more samba elements thrown in. Has a rocking sax solo in the middle of the song.

たそがれは銀箔の…(A Silver Leaf in The Twilight): A slower skippy mid-tempo number with some light flute play a warm trombone, and some excellent dream backing vocals from Tohoku Shinkansen helping out.
What A Broken Heart Can Do: Instead of a song reprise, Takako decides to end off the album with a self-cover of the intro song, sung with decent English vocals written by Gregg Oldron .
THE VERDICT

Production: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vocals:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Arrangement:⭐⭐⭐⭐
Aesthetic:⭐⭐⭐⭐
Memorability: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Composition:⭐⭐⭐⭐
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any information about Takako Mamiya’s current whereabouts, so this serves as a collection of all the information I found out about her and this album so far. Hopefully, this article will encourage others to find out more about her and just maybe, entice Mamiya herself (if she’s still alive) to come out of hiding and reach out to us so she can see just how much we all treasure her beautiful music.
I’d like to give a big shout-out to Reddit user The_PC_Breaker and internet renowned kayokyoku expert, J-Cannuck, whom I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know personally, as their wealth of information was key to making this Essay & Review as informative as possible.