Nanda Kanda: A 5 Song Intro to Fujii Takashi
Guest writer Leika Keys guides us through the music side of the star and his 30-plus-year career in media
This special feature is brought to you by guest writer Leika Keys! She wrote a fabulous introduction to the music of Takashi Fujii for This Side of Japan issue #64. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram. Happy listening!
Comedian, actor, reality and variety TV show host, pop star: The many activities of the 51-year-old Takashi Fujii can’t be restricted to a single title. Depending on one’s media consumption, they will know a facet of Fujii out of many of his wide ranging different projects. The quirky anime Mind Game? The hit rom-com drama The Full-time Wife Escapist? The Netflix reality show Love is Blind: Japan? He is in all of them! But throughout his storied three-decades-long career in entertainment, one of his greatest feats to date is his activities as a music artist.
Originally a salaryman in his hometown of Osaka, Fujii joined Yoshimoto’s stage troupe Shinkigeki in 1992, where he became known for his various comedic characters. Since then, he’s come to be a reliable staple in the world of Japanese TV and more recently, theatre. When he isn’t busy acting, hosting, or performing, he’s busy stanning pop girls such as Perfume, Yoko Minamino, Kylie Minogue, and Gloria Estefan. But he doesn’t just talk about them—the inspiration of these artists can be felt in the music he’s released over the past 20 years.
The singer himself will be the first to claim that he’s no auteur, often eulogizing his collaborators, which range in an impressive list from Happy End’s Takashi Matsumoto, Tomoko Kawase (a.k.a. Tommy february6), to NONA REEVES’s Gota Nishidera, amongst many others. But it’s precisely this juxtaposition between his passion for glossy pop purity and his day job as a comedian which has enabled him to surprise with his delicious songs that mix pop, dance, and house music.
Below are 5 songs that simply serve as an amuse-bouche of Fujii’s history as an artist. There’s so much more out there, and I implore you to eat it all up. You can also find a playlist of some of the songs that he’s recommended, mentioned, and talked about over the years here.
“Nanda Kanda” by Takashi Fujii (Antinos, 2000)
One simply can’t discuss Takashi Fujii’s music career without mentioning “Nanda Kanda.” It’s no wonder that this first single from his first album, Romeo Michiyuki, became such a huge hit that he went on to perform it on NHK’s Kouhaku Uta Gassen. Without being overdramatic, this song is a dopamine-filled syringe shot directly into my veins: to be able to conjure up this level of an addictive and danceable song is nothing short of magical.
The song is a product of its time—sure, Japan just went through a decade of economic recession, but tonight, we’re gonna put on this track and just absolutely control of our minds and bodies. Fujii originally declined the opportunity to debut as a singer with “Nanda Kanda” and even wondered why this buoyant song was handed to him at all. But we should all be so grateful that he went along with it because this almost ridiculously upbeat song would appear grating if it was performed by anyone else—the song meets him at his hyper-energetic level and never drops the ball.
Now, he often cites the lyrics from the song, which is as close to a personal motto as Fujii has and a narrative especially reflective of his later career. He’s doing what he wants to do, and in “Nanda Kanda,” (which translates to “one thing or another”) he’s encouraging you that you do too.
…from Romeo Michiyuki (2002). Listen to it on Spotify.
“Okinuke Joke” by Matthew Minami (R&C Japan, 2004)
It’s the playful, repeated “payaa~”s that never fails to delight in this silly and glittering song about mistaking Yokohama for Kobe sung by Matthew Minami, who is definitely NOT Fujii Takashi in a blonde wig. Matthew, who is Japanese on his mother’s side and English on his father’s side, hosted Matthew’s Best Hit TV, a variety show which ran from 2001-2006 where he would chat and play games with his (often musical) guests. Through the show, he became acquainted with some of the younger pop singers of the early 2000s, such as Aya Matsuura, Ayumi Hamasaki, and Sayaka Kanda. Matthew and his show were even featured in the film Lost in Translation1.
Matthew recently graced the Japanese public with his return as the host of the Amazon Audible original podcast Matthew’s Matthew: Heya no Naka no Matthew in 2022, which finds a new crop of celebrities at the mercy of his antics. While today’s Matthew is much more toned down, the core of Matthew—the ditzy and boyish entertainer but who also appears interested in and fascinated by his guests—is still there. In the first episode of the show, he reunites with Matsuura, who left the music industry some time ago, and Fujii Matthew bursts into tears at the moment they see each other for the first time in years.
…from Daisougen No Chiisana Matthew EP (2006). Listen to it on Spotify.
"Disco no Kamisama" by tofubeats ft. Fujii Takashi (Warner Music Japan, 2014)
This single from tofubeats’s First Album is the most well-known of Fujii’s work with contemporary electronic music producers and DJs, such as Moe Shop, Pasocom Music Club, and Night Tempo. While clearly deeply influenced by the music of yesteryear, Fujii carries this inspiration into his projects and delivers to us his versions of the smooth and twinkling songs from his youth. Fujii’s expressiveness as a vocalist draws the listener to these dance songs—he just sounds excited to be there, and his excitement would make anyone want to join him as a pulsing body under strobing lights. While the song is a prayer to the God of Disco to deliver us the divinity of a good time on the dance floor, the singer’s elation and desire to get lost in the beat and melody alone are more than enough to get you where you need to go.
…from First Album (2014). Listen to it on Spotify.
“Unmei no Rebuild” by Oniyakko Tsubaki (Slenderie Record, 2018)
In 2014, Fujii created his own record label Slenderie Record, which was made with some of the negative experiences from the time of his musical debut in mind, saying that he doubted himself, was not taken seriously and felt misunderstood by others in the larger entertainment industry. With Slenderie Record, he said he wanted to create a space for other entertainers to make music they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to do, and comedian Oniyakko Tsubaki’s “Unmei no Rebuild” is part of the project.
While Fujii’s vocals are not featured in the song, he helped produce it for Tsubaki for her IVKI EP. As a child, Fujii said he wanted to be a commercial director, and while he may not have gone down that career avenue, he certainly knows how to sell another artist. This thumping electronic song is the opener for the fake anime series Choukuu no Gingaian that they created whole cloth to promote the EP. One has to admire the commitment to the bit that they even wrangled up voice actress and Fujii’s longtime industry friend Megumi Hayashibara of Detective Conan and Neon Genesis Evangelion fame to write lyrics for a song on the EP and to promote the project.
The IVKI EP highlights Fujii and the other Slenderie Record comedians’ sense of humor as well as Fujii’s aesthetic prowess. Through his label, he’s been able to flex his creative muscles and entertain his interest in design and visual art by taking up art direction for other projects. The melding of his sense of humor with aesthetics and sound in this way makes his work all the more witty and charming.
…from IVKI EP (2018). Listen to it on Spotify.
"We Should Be Dancing" by KAKKO and TAKASHI (2022)
Originally a song by KAKKO, or Suzuki Anju, released in 1990, this version in Fujii’s 2022 album Music Restaurant Royal Host—an earnest tie-in album with family restaurant chain Royal Host—features both Suzuki and Fujii with added Japanese lyrics plus the glisten and sparkle of early ‘90s nostalgia. Listening to Fujii’s work, the DNA of his songs jump out, and the genealogy of his songs can be traced along the extensive lineage of pop and dance music: the particular obsession with actresses-turned-singers such as Suzuki as well as Akiko Hinagata, Kyouka Suzuki, and Emi Wakui is a trademark of the comedian-turned-singer Fujii. You can hear the joy that these women and their craft brings him, and through his work as a producer and perspective as a fan, he delivers Suzuki’s magnetism and pop fun from his point of view right to the listener’s ears. He’s asking us to dance along with them, and you know what? He’s right—we should be dancing, however we want to.
…from Music Restaurant Royal Host (2022). Listen to it on Spotify.
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Admittedly not in a positive light as Matthew, with his gaudy suits and effeminate and imp-ish personality, is presented as an annoyance to Bill Murray’s character and is offered as a symbol of the obnoxiousness, emptiness, and maximalism of Japanese variety television to western audiences, for which I have some complaints!
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