Mari Amachi -- Futari no Nichiyoubi (ふたりの日曜日)

The above is Den'en-Chofu Station which is on a Tokyu Railway line going west of Shibuya. I used to come here biweekly on Sundays to teach a student who lives in the neighbourhood. It's one of the tonier areas of Tokyo with quite a lot of nice houses although they are not nearly as big as the mansions of Beverly Hills. In fact, when my student picked me up and drove me over to his home, we sometimes passed the house of then-Prime Minister Hatoyama and depending on the level of the crisis hitting the Diet, there could be anything from one to a handful of security officers in front of his house.

It is rather interesting comparing my biweekly Sundays now and then. Over 5 years ago, it was my student and me as the duo of the day taking care of a private English lesson; now it's my buddy and me taking care of private anime viewings.

All that prelude to present early 1970s darling, Mari Amachi（天地真理）, and her 5th single from December 1972, "Futari no Nichiyoubi" (Sunday For Two). Another characteristically jaunty outing from Amachi about going out with that special someone on that Sunday, it seems to be more fit for spring or summer than the technically autumn release but I gather that when meeting the one you love, any Sunday of any season is a grand one.

Masaaki Hirao's（平尾昌晃）bouncy melody seems to fit the mood of the young lady or perhaps the entire couple walking down that park lane, supporting the cheerful delivery of Michio Yamagami's（山上路夫）lyrics. It was the lone No. 3 hit in the middle of a series of No. 1s for Amachi and it became the 13th-ranked single of the year, ultimately selling a million records. The song also spearheaded her 4th album "Ashita e no Melody"（明日へのメロディー...Melody for Tomorrow） which did hit No. 1 on the album chart.

Hopefully, that nice sunny Sunday will come up this weekend, but knowing Toronto weather, it could be anything approaching early summer weather or a snowstorm.