Mioko Yamaguchi - Tsukihime

Here's a little hidden gem from 80's Japanese Pop.
If you're not living under a rock, then you probably heard about the City Pop phenomenon: A very popular genre from the mid 70's - early 80's that is enjoying sort of a resurgence of interest, thanks to Youtube's weeaboo algorithm. A genre that is also one of the influences to the Vaporwave fad, because of its cheesy/corny/dated/whatever-other-adjective-in-the-same-vein factor. Heavily influenced by American Funk (and culture, in some ways). Most of these artists weren't known outside Japan until recently, making it also a collector's "dream". As a matter of fact, even with some of these records being influenced by the big ol' US of A, they're most marketed and sold for its country of origin, and did just fine (commercially).
Now, you could argue that was the reason why these artists didn't make it overseas: The strict market. Because, goddamnit if we westerners don't just stan these jams nowadays! Of course, they sound familiar to us. A lot of artists here were also doing this funky sound.
And here's the thing, that irks me, now: As I said, I totally understand why people love these songs so much, I'm not trying to "stop listening to this", but... BUT... if we're gonna worship at the 80's J-Pop altar, let's at least pay attention to the things that sound typically Japanese, things that couldn't come out of anywhere else in the world, you know?
Besides City Pop, another genre that was huge at the time/place was Techno Kayō. Techno Kayō, or rather "Kayōkyoku + Synth Pop". Kayōkyoku being a genre of popular Japanese music, which, yes, borrows from Western music too, but the traditional/folkloric side speaks much louder. And that side I find so much interesting, it trully adds that tasty "couldn't come out of anywhere else in the world" flavor.
Now, I know I made quite the demand earlier, but I gotta come clean: The lines tends to get blurry when dealing with 80's J-Pop. Yes, some artists (some of these falling in the controverse "Idol" category) used to record songs from both these genres (adding more genres even, like Jazz ballads, for example) and put them in the same record! Some were more "faithful" and would hop genres from record to record, instead of song to song.
WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID, I can now introduce you to Miss Mioko Yamaguchi, who falls in the later category. Her two first records, 夢飛行 [Yume Hikō] and Nirvana, from '80 and '81 respectively, would be what you can call City Pop. Fun, danceable records, with a quite sophisticated touch (mostly thanks to her smooth voice timbre). But then in '83 she drops this rare treasure that is 月姫 [Tsukihime]*
Tsukihime (or, Moon-Light Princess), a Techno Kayō record, a huge departure from the previous ones, in genre and tone, though not quite a typical Techno Kayō either. As it's customary within the genre, it goes with a slow-to-mid tempo most of the time, but it speeds up near the end (where the bangers are located). As the name may suggest, it has a ethereal atmosphere. Away from the big and bombastic productions of the time, it prefers to be airy, spacious, indicating an influence from Ambient/New Age. The instrumentation is minimalist, surprisingly enough. Every composition is centered around the piano, with synths, drum machines, and guitars making its ways sparsely, slowly and gradually. Even vocal overdubs are kept to a minimum, a tiny minimum. At this point I should add that tagging it as Art Pop is not a stretch. Kate Bush fans, get at it!
And finally, I did mention the bangers, didn't I? Goddamnit! This record is a slow burner, that I guarantee you (or "warn" if you are impatient, which you probably aren't if  you made this far into this text). It's one beautiful ballad after the other, until you get to the title track. It feels so rewarding to get to these three last tracks, particularly さても天晴 夢桜 [Satemo Appare Yume Zakura] which is THE BEST example of the marriage between Synth Pop and traditional Japanese music influence.
恋は春感 [Koi Wa Shunkan] is also worth mentioning for the fact that it's produced by Tsugutoshi Goto, a guy that will soon, very soon, appear here.

Get it [here], はやい く 
By the way, I'm also including as a bonus the last single she released (as far as I know), which includes one track produced by Joe Hisaishi (famous for doing most of Studio Ghibli soundtracks) which sounds hilariously like a tribute to Michael Jackson.

*I wonder if it inspired the visual novel of the same name...