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20/JUN/2005 We got an e-mail from Japanese customer.

[Hi, I searched about the song by myself.The song might be "otoko to onna no blues" singed by Eigo akawashima. If it's wrong I'm really sorry. But just in case that's the one, I can help her.]

Actually Eigo Kawashima was born in 1952 so this song is wrong we thought but I told her about it anyway. Then she gave us new infomation.

[Thank you so very much for keeping up and hanging in there on the mystery of this pretty 40's song.I remember that the song was one of various popular Japanese songs of that time with different singing artists. It was on an LP or 78, I think, but it wasn't vinyl, it was one of those heavier-type records.I think he was stationed in Okinawa, but I'm going to call my aunt who might remember more about it. I have a lot of faith that the song is going to be found and I think it will be through you.Thanks again!]

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10/JUL/2006 We got an e-mail from French customer.He searched about the song by internet and found a female singer sho might be the one. But it's not sure whether she is the right one or not. Anyway We told her(American woman) about it.

This is the email we sent her.

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Dear Ms,

How are you?

Have you got any new information bout the song? from your aunty?

Some customer sent us email and he thinks the female singer might be this artist.
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Shizuko Kasagi

She released records from 1939-1955.

Shizuko Kasagi (1914-1985) is a great entertainer who had been active in singing, dance, stage and movies as a star member of the Japan's girls' opera company SGD before the World War II, and became a very popular singer with "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" and other boogie hits in the postwar Japan occupied by the Allies. A set of 3 CDs which includes almost all her recordings (only four songs are not included). A sense of swingy rhythm, and powerful and resounding vocals. Almost all the songs are composed by Ryoichi Hattori. The music is based on the American jazz and modern in style. "Rappa to Musume (Bugle and Girl)" (1939), recorded with a big band before the war, is a good tune in a swing jazz style. "Aire Kawaiya" (1946), which is like Southeast Asia's folk songs, is a popular song during the war (recorded after the war). "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" is a smash hit of the immediate postwar years. "Jungle Boogie" (1948) is the theme song of the movie "Yoidore Tenshi/Drunken Angel" directed by Akira Kurosawa.
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I'm not sure whether she is the one or not but I'll let you know anyway.
Please contact me if you have any news.]　

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And we got a reply from her.

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Thank you for remembering me.
I'm doing well. How about you?
I did talk to my aunty and she remembers the song, too, but doesn't have much information on it.

She did say that my uncle was staying in Kobe, Japan from 1947 to 1949 and that this song was very popular at that time. (how popular?)
When he came back to the US, he brought souvenirs from Japan and among them were some large LP records. This song was one of the songs among others that were being played in Japan around that time. He said that the song told of a lover whose love for drink was ruining their relationship. The best I can describe the title is, Ni Mi Saki. The words sound like NIGH MY SOCKEY (if the words were English words). My uncle said it was called No More Whiskey.
He passed away 15 years ago and the records were stolen.

The female voice is very sweet and feminine and the song is a ballad but not too slow. It's sort of flowing. Her voice sounds almost as if she comes close to crying.
I think the music has Chinese influence in the way some Chinese music sounds a bit "whiney" (the best word I can think of at this time to describe it). Not to say that this vocalist sounded whiney, but there are places in the song where it's slightly pleading.
Her voice is youthful and she sings the song with sensitivity. In fact, if you've heard "Snow White" singing in the Disney film, it's similar to that!
The accompanying music is by an orchestra of Japanese instruments. I think there was a gong or cymbals and reeds but I might have forgotten for sure on that.
I've been complimented many times on my music discrimination and I'm sure that if you should ever hear this song, you would not regret searching for it and you would love it, too.
I'm wondering if there might be older people in their 80's who remember WWII and when Japan was "Occupied" by the US and the music of that time if they might be the ones who can remember this song.
Thank you so much for your consideration.
Sincerely

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We will keep looking for the song so please contact us if you have some info about it.

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12/JUL/2005 We received a email from Ms.Jan twice on this day.

1st email[I don't want to be misleading, because I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that the records might have been under the Capitol label and might have been black with gold lettering or possibly red with black lettering. (but I'm leaning more toward the black labels). they were the breakable kind of big black records. ]

2nd[Not much help here, but I remember when my uncle brought the records home, they were out of their jackets. He had them in a record holder (like a file book). If they were not under the Capitol label, they might have been under RCA Victor or Columbia. I'm sure the record company was a popular one of the time.Thanks for hanging in there with this mystery.]

We decided to not open this information for now and see how it goes.

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20/JUL/2005 We got email from a Japanese customer.

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Hi,

>Ni (Nai) Mi (Mai) Saki
>Ni(Nai) Mi (Mai) Sa-aki
>Me na Me na Ma ti-i-o
>Ma-a roo nee (nay?)
>ya no nee no .....
>(etc).

The song sounds exactly the same as the song called "Nagasaki no Ochosan" sang by Watanabe Hamako.

Na Ga Sa Ki
Na Ga Sa Ki
Mi Na Mi No Ma Chi Yo
Ma Ru Ni
Ya No Ji No.....

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They are almost the same!!! The story is not relevant to alcoholic guy but it's a story of a girl who lost love.

Furthermore one of our stuff found a picture of SP record and this record has black back and gold lettering. Also the record company is "Columbia"!!!

We told her about it.

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23/JUL/2005 We got a email from Ms.Jan.

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OMIGOSH!!!! I do believe this could be the very song!!!
It DOES look strikingly similar to the song I remember!
My uncle was a soldier in the U.S. Army when he found the records in Kobe, Japan. He was a music lover and he fell in love with that song as well as with several other songs. But, he knew very little of the Japanese language and he might have been misinformed of what the lyrics meant. (possibly from another U.S. soldier?)
WOW! I am really excited about this discovery!
At the moment, my two little grandchildren are staying with me and will be going home tomorrow. Keeping up with them is about all the concentration I can afford but after they've gone back home, I will definitely search with the information you and your reader have sent to me and I'll let you know how it turns out.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

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We searched that there is a CD album which includes "Nagasaki no Ochosan" and asked her to get it if she wants.

And she gave us a reply on 3/AUG/2005.

[I do believe that the information of the song your customer has sent to you is the same song that I've hunted for these past thirty or more years.I am so thankful to you and all those who have been interested in helping search for the song.I want to buy the CD from you because you are the procuror and if it had not been for you I doubt if I would have ever found the song.Thank you very very much.]

On the next day, we got the CD and will send it to Ms.Jan. If it's right song, this mystery that everybody in the world cooperated will be concluded.(in my opinion it's 99% sure the right one) I'm so existed when I imagine the moment she meet the song that she has been looking for over 30 years.

COLOMBIA OTOKU-BAN SERIES WATANABE HAMAKO

1.Aikoku no Hana
2.Soshu Yakyoku
3.Shina no Yoru
4.Nagasaki no Ocho-san
5.Adew Shang-Hi
6.Kaze wa Umi kara
7.Itsu Kimi Sairai
8.Sayon no Kagi
9.Itoshi ano Hoshi
10.Ame no Holland zaka

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After that she was away for holiday with her grandchildren so we couldn't contact to her for while. We sent CD on 15th/AUG. And....

16/AUG/2005 We got an email from Ms, Jan.

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I'm attaching one of me so that you will know I'm a real person. I'm a granny. I have 3 young grandchildren.
I am 99 9/10 % sure that the song you've found is the one I've been hoping to find.
Thank you for taking the time to help me with it.
I'll be sure to let you know the outcome.
Thanks again.
Jan

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23/AUG/2005 We got an email from Ms, Jan.

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Dear Masahiko Takahashi
DOMO! DOMO! DOMO!
THANK YOU for searching for, finding, and sending my LOST SONG!!!!!
When the CD arrived today, I didn't think my fingers could ever tear off the cellophane. Then, I was apprehensive to play the CD, afraid that I'd be disappointed in it not being the real song, but GUESS WHAT!!!! YES!!! IT IS THE LOST SONG!!!!
I was SO HAPPY to hear it again that I danced and whirled around as it played.
The rhythm is slightly faster than my memory had it, so I might have confused you in saying that it was a ballad. The rhythm is a little peppier that what I remembered, but NO PROBLEM. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!
Track #9 is also very pretty, and #10 reminds me of Madame Butterfly.
I'm attaching a picture of my family.Everyone wanted to learn the outcome of our treasure hunt.
I don't have a digital camera and it will take some time to send a picture of me with the CD but I will do that eventually.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! again! You have made someone far away in America very appreciative and happy!
Sincerely,
Jan

in picture: middle son, Ryan, his wife, Shandy, oldest son, Kerry, his wife, Robyn, grandson, Trystan, Me (Jan), daughter, Gina, little girl, grand daughter, Lilly, my mother, Lillie, youngest son, Robin

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24/AUG/2005 We sent email to Japanese man who found the lost song to let him know the outcome. And we got reply.

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Thank you for letting know the outcome.

I checked your web site.
I'm pleased about the song I mentioned is the right one.

I'm 52 years old and this song was famous when I was born.
So I didn't know about the song but I was interested in this mystery when I saw your web site.

Apart from mystery, I wanted to listen the song because this song is very beautiful song as you wrote.

Firstly I started to read the lyric in English(that she wrote) in Japanese sound.
From "NI MI SAKI" I thought "xxxxMISAKI"("MISAKI" is a cape) and I felt
it might be "NAGASAKI" which is used often in Japanese song.
However this isn't enough information so I couldn't find the song.
And I gave up for while.

Several days later, I checked your web site again and you have updated more information.
Finally this info [music has Chinese influence in the way some Chinese music sounds a bit "whiney "] lead me
to think of singers like "Ri Koran" and "Watanabe Hamako".

So I searched  "Nagasaki Watanabe Hamako" by GOOGLE.
Then "Nagasaki no Ocho-san"'s information appeared.

I bought this CD too and it will be unforgettable song for sure.
It's very interesting that I love American old time song from 1920's and she loves old time Japanese song.

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Oh it's great he didn't know the song but he found it by only reasoning!!

He can be real detective, can't he?

Anyway he lead us to the happy ending. We all thank him a lot.

Not only this man, many people sent us some information.

We believe that all of your kindness lead to the conclusion.

In this world, terrible terrorism and many violence crime are occurred but

we re-recognized that not only bad things in this world. There are a lot of nice things

and nice & kind people like you.

Thank you very much for all of you!!!

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25th/AUG/2005 We got an email from Ms, Jan.

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Hello once again
I'm sorry to be flooding your website and emails with so many messages and I hope you are not tired of me, but I do want to say a few things more.First, I want to thank your Japanese customer for taking the time to reply and to have an interest in our song search AND to have known the right song in question.I'm still in awe of the outcome. I played the album twenty times yesterday!

Second, I want to say that there are other things I could say in regard to my feelings of sorrow and respect concerning the tragedies that happened between our two countries around the time of the popularity of the song, but I don't want to bring up sad feelings any more than I already have, only to say that I've always respected your people and your culture and feel grief for those who suffered in those days.

When I was a little girl, I drew pictures of ladies dressed in kimonos and wished I could wear them, too, as well as other long dresses.
When my uncle came home from Japan and brought the Japanese records, he was very proud of them and also had happy stories of the Japanese friends he made while in Kobe. I fell in love with the songs, especially "Nagasaki" and he let me borrow them to take home with me two hundred miles from his house. I kept them for some time until he asked for them back.Years later, he passed away and the records were lost.

When I had children, I began to raise them in a strict old-fashioned way, but during that time, when the children were young, I was priviledged to travel to many places such as San Francisco, New York and Hawaii. In those travels, I'd see and observe Asian families who were also travelling and on holiday. (I did not have such opportunity where I lived in Indiana). I would especially be observant while waiting in airports and I began to realize that, in general, Asian parents looked upon their children as "fun" little people. They (the parents) enjoyed their children and didn't take them too seriously.

For example, if my son would have an ice cream cone and accidentally drop it on the floor, my first reaction would have been to scold him and be frustrated at the mess. But an Asian parent would laugh at the incident and smile while taking care of it. The children were quiet and well-behaved while my children were prone to be wiggley. (I hope you can translate my choice of words).

I learned in time to adapt the parental behavior I learned from those families, and I live that philosophy to this day. That life cannot be taken too seriously and that we should look for the joy in it, even in the little things.This message is quite long and I don't mean for it to be a regular thing to be doing. Just still in awe that I have the beautiful song now, thanks to you and your customers, and I've found several other songs that also are very nice on that album (although "Nagasaki" is still my #1 favorite).
If you ever can take the time, would you mind to let me know the lyrics in English?   It's a lot to ask and please don't feel obligated. I understand that you have your own work to do.

It would be fantastic to have dinner or tea with you someday in beautiful Japan. But if that should never happen (although I wish it does) maybe we will some day meet in the hereafter and reminisce over our favorite songs.

Sincerely,

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