is the 18th single by Japanese singer/songwriter Chisato Moritaka. The lyrics were written by Moritaka and the music was composed by Hideo Saitō. The single was released by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * Nipsey Hussle, All Money In * Mike Caren, Artist Par ...

on April 10, 1993. The song was used by

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had mo ...

for their "ANA Okinawa" campaign. Moritaka performed the song on the 44th ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK netw ...

''.

Music video

The music video and commercial were set in the beaches of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, with additional scenes of Moritaka singing on a blue screen background displaying the sky, the beach, and a collage of her photos. ANA's campaign sparked controversy when

University of the Ryukyus The , abbreviated to , is a Japanese national university in Nishihara, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1950, it is the westernmost national university of Japan and the largest public university in Okinawa Prefecture. Located in the S ...

professor Kei Kohana noticed that the sky depicted in the commercial was too blue for an Okinawan summer. ANA and advertising agency Hakuhodo admitted that they sent Moritaka and the film crew to an island near Hamilton Island in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

due to Okinawa having a rainy season between May and June.

Chart performance

"Watashi no Natsu" peaked at No. 5 on

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 ...

's singles chart and sold 382,000 copies. It was also Moritaka's first single to be certified Platinum by the

RIAJ 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 p ...

in April 1994.

Other versions

Moritaka re-recorded the song as a slow acoustic version and uploaded the video on her

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 ...

channel on August 28, 2012. This version is also included in Moritaka's 2013 self-covers DVD album ''Love Vol. 2''. She recorded another self-cover closer to the original and uploaded it on July 5, 2014. The 2014 version is also included in her 2015 self-covers DVD album ''Love Vol. 7''.

Track listing

Personnel

* Chisato Moritaka – vocals, drums * Hideo Saitō – guitar, bass, synthesizer

Charts

Certification

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1993 singles 1993 songs Songs in Japanese Chisato Moritaka songs Songs with lyrics by Chisato Moritaka Songs with music by Hideo Saitō (musician, born 1958) Warner Music Japan singles