Meiko Nakahara (中原めいこ) — Fantasy
from Friday Magic (1982)
You guys were probably worried that I’d lost interest in Japanese disco, right? Well… never fear. I would never let you down…
Meiko Nakahara grew up in the Tokyo suburbs, learning piano and dreaming of becoming an idol singer. That dream came true in 1982 with her Latin-influenced track ‘Tonight only: Dance Dance Dance,’ from the album Coconuts House.
She followed that up with Friday Magic, a set of disco-ish J-pop numbers like this. ‘Gigolo’ is another great track. (“I want your love for only me…”) Good luck, Meiko…
I heard this track on the terrific ‘Daijoubu’ mixtape by Jiro over at Ying/Yangs… one of my favorite blogs. ‘Daijoubu’ (大丈夫) means ‘ok’ in Japanese.
