Futari no Natsu Monogatari - Never Ending Summer (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: ふたりの夏物語 Never Ending Summer,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: "Summer Story for Two of Us - Never Ending Summer"), also known as Futari no Natsu Monogatari, is the fifth single by

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe Omega Tribe (Japanese: ; sometimes stylized as Ωmega Tribe) was a Japanese soft rock and city pop project that was led by producer Koichi Fujita, with the bands being handled by industry veterans Tetsuji Hayashi, Tsunehiro Izumi, and Hiroshi ...

, released by VAP on March 6, 1985.

Background

The single, which became the band's highest charting single, was completed in three days, according to Tetsuji Hayashi. At that time, Hayashi was busy with the work of producing music for all artists, but the tie-up of Omega Tribe's

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

TV-CM was decided, and it was a situation where he could not complete the composition one day early. After that, a person Hayashi knew gave him the

advertising slogan Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etym ...

, "Only you, kimi ni sasayaku, futari no natsu monogatari!" (

: Only you 君にささやくふたりの夏物語; translation: "Only you, whisper to you, a summer story of two people"). Hayashi started to write the song alongside

Chinfa Kan (born June 24, 1953) is Japanese lyricist of Korean descent. Biography Chinfa Kan was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan as a second-generation Zainichi. He graduated from Shizuoka Prefectural Hamamatsu-Nishi Senior and Junior High Schools. Whi ...

, and it was completed in three days. When the song was completed in this way, the members, who were on a national tour at the time, returned to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in between the tour to complete the recording. Hayashi said on his own website, "I don't know because the song I finished in just three days became Omega's biggest hit." In addition,

Kiyotaka Sugiyama is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Sugiyama's career began after joining the band "Kyutipanchosu," and subsequently winning 19th Popcon with the single, "Gospel No Yoru." After being scouted by producer Koichi Fujita, Sugiyama's band became " Kiy ...

said, "When we were in a rush to make the song, we flew from

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

from

in the airplane while remembering the lyrics."

Chart performance

The single was the band's biggest hit, selling 380,000 copies and peaking at the #5 position on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts. The song was featured on

The Best Ten ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and on The Top Ten, but since the band had disbanded at the end of 1985, the song did not appear in the program at the end of the year.

Soundtrack appearance

*The song was included in the album '' Another Summer'', but was remixed in the album. Another remix was included in the greatest hits album ''Omega Tribe Groove'' by Eiji Uchinuma and Mizuo Miura.

Track listing

Single

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Joey McCoy version

In 1991, American singer

Joey McCoy Omega Tribe (Japanese language, Japanese: ; sometimes stylized as Ωmega Tribe) was a Japanese soft rock and city pop project that was led by producer Koichi Fujita, with the bands being handled by industry veterans Tetsuji Hayashi, Tsunehiro Iz ...

, previously a backing singer and vocalist of

Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe Omega Tribe (Japanese language, Japanese: ; sometimes stylized as Ωmega Tribe) was a Japanese soft rock and city pop project that was led by producer Koichi Fujita, with the bands being handled by industry veterans Tetsuji Hayashi, Tsunehiro Iz ...

, covered the song in English on his album ''Summer Time Memories''.

References

{{Authority control 1985 singles Omega Tribe (music project) songs Songs with lyrics by Chinfa Kan 1985 songs Songs written by Tetsuji Hayashi