is the debut single by Japanese band S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe released by VAP on April 21, 1983. Produced by

Koichi Fujita was a Japanese guitarist, lyricist, composer, record producer, and businessman. He was known for producing for Kiyotaka Sugiyama, Carlos Toshiki, Toshiki Kadomatsu, Momoko Kikuchi, and Lazy. Biography Early life and career Fujita was born ...

and written by

Tetsuji Hayashi Tetsuji Hayashi (林哲司, ''Hayashi Tetsuji''; born on August 20, 1949) is a Japanese composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger. Hayashi got his start after he was influenced by American pop music when he was kid. He started to compose and arra ...

and

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 ...

, the song is made to have a "domestic Japanese melancholy" by the request of Fujita after rejecting two previous songs by Hayashi and Kan. It peaked at 9th place on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

in 1983.

Background and release

, an industry veteran, was contacted by BMG Victor director Uji Okamura to be a composer for a new band called . He was introduced to producer

, who had scouted the band from their performance at the 1980

Yamaha Popular Song Contest The , generally known as , was a Music of Japan#Popular music, Japanese popular music contest which ran from 1969 to 1986. It was sponsored by the Yamaha Music Foundation and was held annually (later, twice a year) at the Yamaha Resort Tsumagoi in ...

, and Hayashi was tasked to create a song for their debut. Working with lyricist

, they created the songs and A.D. 1959, both based on the band's

yacht rock Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast soundThat ' ...

sound, but the songs were rejected by Fujita who wanted a song that was "more Japanese" and melancholic, more akin to

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dru ...

. With an image of the summer and the sea seen at the time from magazines such as ''

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...

'' and ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.record jackets, with the jackets of both "Summer Suspicion" and later ''

Aqua City is a Japanese band from Yokohama, Japan. It consists of lead vocalist Kiyotaka Sugiyama, rhythm guitarist Shinji Takashima, lead guitarist Kenji Yoshida, keyboardist Toshitsugu Nishihara, bassist Takao Oshima, drummer Keiichi Hiroishi. The star ...

'' having none of the members present, but instead, the beach. During recording, Fujita made lead singer

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 ...

re-record vocals several times in order to get the right vocal quality that Fujita wanted. Before the release of the single, it was decided that instead of being called Cutie Panchos, it would be renamed to S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, with the label that would be debuting them changing from BMG Victor to VAP, which had started two years prior. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Nagisa no Sea-dog", is a revised version of the song "Furafura Natsu Yōki", which was made by the band while as Cutie Panchos.

Composition

The song has been described as a "uniquely domestic Japanese melancholy" due to Hayashi's composition, based around the

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

at the time. Chinfa Kan wrote the lyrics without any mentions of the beach or ocean, but instead, wrote the lyrics about two lovers are in a car during a drive.

Commercial performance

Upon release, the single was a hit and debuted at 100th place on the

on May 23, 1983, entering the top ten of the chart on August 22, 1983 and peaking at 9th place. The song peaked at 39th place for Oricon's end of the year charts. The song made its first appearances on the shows and on July 11, 1983 and August 4, 1983. It peaked at 8th place on ''The Top Ten'' and 9th place on ''The Best Ten'', with the song being at 53rd place on the end of the year charting from ''The Best Ten''. The song was awarded two Tokyo Music Festival awards, the Domestic Tournament Golden Apple Award after their performance on March 23, 1983 and the World Tournament TBS Award on March 27, 1983. The single was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

Performances and other usage

A month before the release of the single, the song was performed by the band at the 12th

Tokyo Music Festival The Tokyo Music Festival was an international music contest that ran from 1972 to 1992. It was organized by the Tokyo Music Festival Association. The first edition of the Tokyo Music Festival took place on 13 May 1972 with 12 participating countri ...

on March 23, 1983 at

Nakano Sunplaza , formerly Nakano Sun Plaza, is a hotel in Nakano, Tokyo. The hotel includes a concert hall, the Nakano Sunplaza Hall (formerly Nakano Sun Plaza Hall). Built in 1973,

. The band also appeared on the show and promoted the song before its release. During the groups ''First Finale Tour'' in 1985, "Summer Suspicion" was the last song performed on the set list; a recording of the song is published on VAP's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

as the official video. Sugiyama has covered the song multiple times in his

live albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

throughout the years, including an orchestral version with

Akira Senju is a Japanese composer, arranger and conductor. Biography Senju studied composition at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and received his master's degree with honors. Between 1994 and 2003, he produced series of cover albums ...

, who was previously in Cutie Panchos before leaving in 1980. The song was also covered by Hayashi on his 1988 album ''Time Flies'', as well as being covered in English by American singers Jon Otis, on ''Beach Pops for You'', and Joey McCoy, on ''Summer Time Memories''. In 1992, a

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

from the

Shadai Stallion Station is a thoroughbred breeding facility located in Abira on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. The farm was begun in the late 1970s to early 1980s by the late Zenya Yoshida, and is now run jointly by his sons (Katsumi, Haruya, and Teruya Yoshida), known ...

was named after the song, making its debut in 1995 and winning the

Aoba Sho The Aoba Sho (Japanese 青葉賞) is a Japanese Grade 2 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old Thoroughbreds. It is run over a distance of 2400 metres at Tokyo Racecourse in April. The Aoba Sho was first run in 1984 and was elevated to Grad ...

that same year.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control Omega Tribe (music project) songs 1983 songs 1983 debut singles Songs with lyrics by Chinfa Kan Songs written by Tetsuji Hayashi