[Series] I Want to Ride on Inamura Jane (1) - In Search of Keisuke Kuwata's "Summer" -

This is the Shonan Culture Research Lab at Chigasaki City University of Brandon.
As a professor, I am conducting research that is not beneficial to the world or to people, focusing on Shonan music culture and approaching it from both historical and intellectual history.
The grading of summer exams had finished, and I was looking forward to finally enjoying this "Shonan summer" at my leisure... when some shocking news came in.

"The big waves of that summer are back"

Ami : Professor, it's terrible to call me to the lab during summer vacation.
Oz : And what about that email? "It's a pine tree! It's a pine tree!"
Professor : I'm sorry, but I have a favor to ask of you all this summer.
Ami : What is it, please?
Professor : Actually... I want to ride Jane.
Oz : Huh?

①30th Year Emotion
Professor : Were you able to go to the Chigasaki Film Festival*1?
Oz : Yes! We both managed to get tickets and were able to see it.
Professor : I see. It was the first time I was able to watch it on a big screen with loud sound.
Ami : The teacher was there too!
Professor : Yes, I was drawn in by the remastered footage. I didn't notice the poster for "Hawaii's Young Master" on VHS. I'm no longer fit to be a professor, so I've written my resignation.
Oz : Wait a minute!
Ami : Wow, sensei, that's so emotional...
Professor : So, as your final assignment, I would like you two to help me with this research this summer.
2 : (gulp…)
Professor : What on earth is "Inamura Jane"?

*1 On June 25, 2021, the 43rd anniversary of Southern All Stars' debut, the film was screened as a special invitational film to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Chigasaki Film Festival.

[Research Notes]
On June 25, 1988, Southern All Stars celebrated their 10th anniversary with their 24th single "Minna no Uta". They made their comeback after a three-year hiatus. Looking at Kuwata Keisuke's comments from this time, there is a lot of talk about returning to their roots. With his band activities from his student days now "growing too large for just the members", it seems he was searching for a way of having fun (a way of life) that was in line with his life's work.
They loudly declared, "Southern All Stars, who seemed to have died three years ago, are still alive and kicking with energy, and we'll show you," but also said, "However, we don't want to cling to the brand of the band Southern All Stars" (non-no, July 1988).
Ahead of this single and the summer tour "Great Resurrection," music critic Kenta Hagiwara, a friend of Kuwata's since college, said, "It seems that Kuwata now wants to go back to his high school and college days, when he personally enjoyed music the most... The keyword is '70s pop'" (GORO, May 1988). For Kuwata, the '70s were his youth, and 1965, the time period when Jane is set, was not yet in real time.
Here we can see Kuwata Keisuke's admiration for the 60s. It was the era of The Beatles. Kuwata released his 27th single "Furi Furi '65" the following year in 1989, and he said that the reason he likes 1965 is because that was the year The Beatles' "HELP" was released, and he liked how John was wearing a straw hat in the album, which looked very natural.
For Kuwata, the dividing line between the 60s and 70s is very big. The 70s began with the breakup of The Beatles, and the eighth-grade student himself reminisced that "my values had shifted." These values were that the world of pop music, which had seemed wholesome up until then, had shifted from pure love songs to songs about infidelity, and "infidelity was there...anything went, and I felt like I had seen the world become weird" (Cosmopolitan, October 1988).
The era of student activism was long over, and it was no longer possible to be a delinquent or an honor student. While living through such years at Aoyama Gakuin, he made his debut in 1978. Even though he was in the entertainment world during the hectic 1980s, Kuwata preferred pop music and universal things. Something more innocent and simple would be good. In 1987, he went to New York with Hiroshi Matsuda, and was touched by the purity of the musicians there, saying, "That's why I think I felt that 'Katte ni Sindbad' was a pretty great pop song" (Esquire Japan, December 1987).
However, as a band, they always try to live in the present and continue to seek new things. This is what is meaningful about Southern's 10th anniversary. The effort and ambition to continue as a band.
First, Kuwata thought about a new "place" for music.
At the time, Amuse Cinema City, which was established as the film division of Amuse, was running a series of films called "Amuse 10 Movies." It is well known that Masaharu Fukuyama passed the audition for this project in 1988 and joined Amuse (incidentally, Fukuyama also participated in the audition for "Inamura Jane"). It is assumed that this led to talk of a film project involving Kuwata being brought up between 1987 and the beginning of 1988, after "Aiko 16 Years Old" starring Yasuko Tomita.
The first announcement to the fans was not in a newsletter, TV, radio or other media, but in the MC of a live performance. It was the final performance of the aforementioned 1988 "Great Resurrection Festival", held at Yokohama Stadium on September 19th. As a gift to the fans who had waited three years, the band announced, "We're going to make a movie with the best director in Japan!"

2. Legendary Wave
Professor : So, it seems that initially, your involvement with the film was intended to be as "music supervision."
Oz : Come to think of it, in 1989, your 25th single, "Love Song to the Goddesses (Beyond the Unreported Y-Shaped Area)," was also released as a video single.
Ami : The next single, "Sayonara Baby," is the theme song for the movie "When She Changes Into a Swimsuit"...
Professor : Yes, so he elevated his music videos to the level of works he could release to the world, and chose film as his new "venue." At the time, he said, "I want to find a medium that will allow music to come to life" (Fm fan, April 1989).
Oz : Recently, it's more common to call it a music video (MV) rather than a promotional video (PV). This is definitely an MV...
Ami : You create the music, produce the video, direct it, and act in it...
Professor : Yes, that's the state of music culture in the current year of Reiwa 3. It's no different from what young artists do on their PCs and smartphones. Kuwata and Southern All Stars noticed that before anyone else.
Ami : I guess you could call it a cross-industry director? Nowadays it's common for comedians to make movies. Kuwata's keen sense of humor...
Professor : At the time, there were still few examples of successful film directors in different fields. January 8, 1989 marked the beginning of the Heisei era, and this year was the "first year of film."
Oz : So Kuwata decided to make a movie based on the legendary wave, set in his hometown of Shonan.
Professor : Yes, so we are confronting the term "Shonan Sound" that we have always hated (laughs). Now, you all have seen the film so I'm sure you all know the plot, but what do you think this "wave" represents?
Ami : The question is, what is "Jane"?
Oz : In the end, the image of the waves never really came out clearly...
Professor : People often say that there are no surfing scenes in this movie, but that's not the point. Even the "wave" called "Jane" is not clearly depicted. It's the best.
Ami : Any hints?
Professor : In response to these questions, he said, "It can be described as sex between men and women, or it can be replaced with the waves of the times; it's something abstract" (Bungeishunju, September 1990). He also said, based on the premise that there are pains in every era, whether it be the '60s or '80s, "perhaps the 'waves of fantasy' help relieve that stress" (GORO, February 1989). He even said, "It's a symbol of catharsis" (SPA!, March 1989).
Oz : What is it?
Ami : Catharsis...
Professor : Oh, it's time for the "Akatonbo" chime again today. Next time, let's think carefully about what "Jane" represents.

※This story is a fiction.

Written by: Junsei Shaku (Chairman of Shonan Rock'n'Roll Center AGAIN, Buddhist scholar)

Born in 1989 at a temple in Chigasaki City. Specializes in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Japanese intellectual history. In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Southern All Stars, Shinko Music published a book summarizing the Chigasaki sound culture of artists such as Keisuke Kuwata, Yuzo Kayama, Kunihiko Kase, and Kiyohiko Ozaki, entitled "Our Chigasaki Story: The Genesis of Japanese Pop Music, Chigasaki Sound History."
He currently serves as the main DJ for "Shonan Rock 'n' Roll Center RADIO" on Kamakura FM every Monday from 22:10.
Official site: https://www.srcagain.com/

Editorial Support:
Ami Tazaki
Daiki Ozawa
(Shonan Rock'n'Roll Center AGAIN Researcher)
 
 
I Want to Ride on Inamura Jane (2) - In Search of Keisuke Kuwata's "Summer" - here
I Want to Ride on Inamura Jane (3) - In Search of Keisuke Kuwata's "Summer" - here