Make Believe Mailer #128: Toshiyuki Nishida Musical Sampler

The Actor, Who Died Last Week, Found Himself Connected To Many Pop Institutions

Actor Toshiyuki Nishida, whose presence on screens big and small stretched over decades, died this past Thursday. He was 76.

Obituaries about Nishida have focused on his prolific and varied acting roles. He could play yakuza bosses, esteemed doctors, feudal lords and fishing-obsessed salarymen, among so many more.

That flexibility, though, wasn’t limited to acting. All articles about Nishida’s career following his passing rightfully spotlight his acting career. Yet he served as an example of a Showa-era staple in the entertainment industry — he was a singer too.

Nishida wasn’t a “talent,” referring to a kind of jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. Nope, he was a more old-school idea of an entertainer, who did one thing extremely well but had plenty of other skills at his disposal. He could have just busted this out for films or TV appearances…but Nishida had a fully fledged pop career alongside an acting career that earned him The Order Of The Rising Sun.

From the late ‘70s forward, Nishida released singles and albums, some of them becoming big-time hits. That could be boosted by the fact they often served as themes for shows he was starring in — hey, you got him acting, might as well get him to record a tune too — but it allowed him to have an outsized presence in this side of Japanese entertainment too. He even lays claim to the public-broadcasting-music-bonanza equivalent of the EGOT… Nishida performed, guested, judged and hosted NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Isolated, this isn’t all that special. Plenty of actors during this time also released music, and the bulk of Nishida’s songs are pretty standard fare for the period. It’s a lot of ballads built for dads. Think about enka-adjacent tunes about the good ol’ days gone by and the regrets clouding their corners. When not a little melancholy, it’s outright chipper and powered by quite a few glasses of sake glugged down. Nishida’s career in music is not an oddity like that of Alessandra Mussolini, Carl Lewis or fucking Webster. It’s closer to the norm for the time.

And yet…owing to his elevated status or just for the happenstance of when he did all of this, Nishida’s songbook is filled with moments inspiring a hearty “he worked with who?!” Plenty of artists dabbled in multiple artistic disciplines…but few have managed to intersect with so many different powerhouses like Nishida did.

Here’s a selection of Nishida songs worth digging into to honor his memory…and to see the many ways Japanese pop has evolved over three eras.

“Moshimo Piano Ga Hiketanara” (1981)

The essential starting point, as this is the defining Nishida song and the work in his history that would probably still manage to be a ‘80s classic without his acting background being brought up. That part of his career certainly helped at the time though — this was written for the drama Ikenaka Genta 80 Kilo, which Nishida also starred in, though due to a confusing chain of events “Moshimo Piano Ga Hiketanara” was relegated to B-side status initially, despite eventually becoming popular enough where it became the show’s theme song and a certified hit. The work itself is also shaped by the program, as the central conceit of the song — title translates to “If I Could Play The Piano” — is an ode to schlubby and doofy men of the time who had good hearts but weren’t necessarily great at expressing themselves, like the main character of the show.

It’s the defining Nishida musical work, and the one brought up the most in obituaries in the last week. It’s also a great example of how the Showa-era industry worked. The behind-the-scenes artists helping bring this ode to clumsy oafs across the archipelago to life are prolific industry players. The lyrics were handled by Yuu Aku, who worked on the words for a boatload of Showa-defining cuts (here’s just one) while Koichi Sakata produced and arranged it…and he has a pretty impressive history too.

This is a good starting point because it’s expected for the time…a rising actor connecting with a lyricist and producer also on the come up, everyone eventually becoming celebrated in their respective fields. It gets fun when it goes to unexpected places.

“Ikasuze! Kono Koi” (1980)

Jump back a year before his musical breakout and you can find Nishida…doing his best Elvis impression.

One of the reasons “city pop” became such a sensation online in the late 2010s is the whose-who present on the liner notes of most singles and albums. Everyone worked with everyone else, resulting in releases seeing like, two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra working with Tatsuro Yamashita and Taeko Onuki, with dudes in prominent jazz bands joining in because why not?

That carried over to releases involving people very much not associated with this funk-centric mutation of Japanese pop…like Nishida. “Ikasuze! Kono Koi” finds him imitating Elvis Presley, both in delivery and via direct references to the American artist’s songs. It at times feels like an audition tape.

What makes this such a fascinating song is who was behind it. It was written by Eiichi Ohtaki, an Eiichi Ohtaki at his prime I might add. This arrives the same year as A LONG VACATION, and even appears on special editions of that Japanese classic adding on extra tracks. It’s a curio by definition, but not in spirit — even if the assignment was “have Japanese actor pretend to be The King,” this fell right into Ohtaki’s wheelhouse of re-interpreting 1950s Americana for a post-Economic-Miracle Japan. This is exactly the kind of song he’d want to record…and with Nishida, he could.

“Toki No Tabibito” (1989)

Another example of Nishida getting a star-studded set of creators to help bring a ballad to life — here, he’s working with folk singer Tetsuya Takeda, composer Kei Wakakusa and enka crooner Takao Horiuchi to craft a number serving as a theme song about a robot cat traveling to pre-historic Japan.

On a purely “dang, dude is big” level, “Toki No Tabibito” underlines Nishida’s status, as he’s able to get a bunch of heavy hitters to help write a song for 1989’s Doraemon full-length film. These things come out yearly and always do gangbusters, so landing a song on one is a big deal (the 2024 edition featured a tune from Vaundy called “Time Paradox” which…important given the title of this 1989 one). Landing a single here is primo placement, and a sign of truly “making it.” Nishida, already a star actor, could safely say he was established as a singer with this one.

It’s also one of his best songs. As noted, the film it appears in finds robo-cat Doraemon travelling back in time, which tends to be central to the plots of about 80 percent of these films (the rest finding him and pals going to alien planets or like alternate dimensions). The song’s title translates to “Time Traveller,” and finds Nishida in an existential mood, looking at the world around him and realizing people thousands of years ago took in this same view and probably felt the same things he did. Quite profound for a movie centered around a feline who pulls gizmos out of his chest.

“The Bare Necessities” (Japanese Version) (2016)

Remember the live-action The Jungle Book? Maybe? Well, Nishida was the voice of Baloo for the Japanese version of that film (which makes him the equal to…Bill Murray? I guess sorta). Anyway part of the deal was he had to sing a Japanese version of “The Bare Necessities,” really underlining the things you have to do when you are a star.

“Baton Touch” (2011)

How will history remember Yasushi Akimoto?

Probably as “the guy who made AKB48” though slightly better memorials will note his connection to the various -46 groups and really researched ones will include ‘80s predecessor Onyanko Club in there. Since the 2010s, Akimoto’s legacy has been cemented as the architect of modern idol music — which I’d argue extends well beyond Japan at this point — and everything that comes with that, ranging from business savvy to the complicated fact a dude in his 50s was writing from the perspective of a teenage girl.

It would be accurrate, but a little unfair to his full musical history. Since the early ‘80s, Akimoto has been one of the most prolific (and profitable) lyricisits in Japanese pop history, writing for a ton of artists beyond the idol sphere. He’s crossed paths with a lot of singers…including Nishida.

The first two linked up in 1986 (above), and would work together sporadically over the next two decades. I wouldn’t call their partnership particularly tight — it was only a handful of songs — but some of them were milestones. That includes the very last single Nishida ever released, the sweet “Baton Touch.” Not technically a farewell tune — it’s directed to his daughters — but one that could easly be interpreted as such, it’s a fitting close to his original songs (we aren’t counting Disney tie-ups here). And who was called on to write it? Akimoto, a towering figure in Japanese music, criss-crossing with an actor-turned-singer one last time.

Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies

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