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Kyōiku

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Kyōiku (教育, Education) is the debut studio album by Japanese pop rock band Tokyo Jihen, released on November 25, 2004 (2004-11-25) in Japan through Toshiba EMI and Virgin Music.[3] The album was produced by the band and Japanese recording engineer Uni Inoue. Kyōiku reached #2 on Oricon albums charts[4], selling over 200,000 copies in its first week and to date, approximately 390,000 copies. Kyōiku is currently the band's most commercially successful album.[5]

Background

Tokyo Jihen was formed in 2003, fulfilling Ringo Shiina's desire to be in a band, instead of a solo artist.[citation needed] All members of Tokyo Jihen had been members of Shiina's backing band for her 2003 Sugoroku Ecstasy tour.

She answered the interview of the magazine, "Kyōiku (education) is the same usage as the education used for NHK Educational TV, or educational programs of television. It seems that I have not given such an impression so far. Sad to say, my fan said to me in the letter before that his/her mother told him/her never go to such a concert. So I avoid R rating this time".[6] She also said that the gentle sounds such as straight pianos were used for the album and it gave an impression as if children could listen to it.[7]

Recording and production

Kyōiku is the only album to feature the band's original line-up, with pianist H Zett M (Masayuki Hiizumi) and guitarist Mikio Hirama. In their time together in the band, they contributed four tracks to Tokyo Jihen. H Zett M wrote the music for the songs "Gunjō Biyori", "Genjitsu ni Oite" and "Service", while Hirama wrote the music for "Kao" (顔, Faces), a B-side on the Gunjō Biyori single.[8] The band also covered Hirama's song "If You Can Touch It" from his 2001 album Yume to Negoto on the Dynamite! tour, but did not record it.

Shiina regarded "Gunjō Biyori" as the sort of song she could not write and was surprised by the difference between the impression from the song and his own image.[9] Sheena wrote "Sōnan", which is the first tune that she wrote for Tokyo Jihen, at the end of her solo tour.[10][7] The lyrics occurred to her with music. She wrote "Sōnan" as an ordinary love song, but she composed music imaging the band members played it because she was influenced by them during her solo tour.[9]

Most of the songs of the album are quite close to Shiina's demo version. She adopted "Ringo no Uta" which is her solo single to invite the fans of her solo era, and Seiji Kameda took the initiative arranging it.[7] Ukigumo, who would eventually replace Hirama in the band, played the guitar in these demos, and the guitar riff at the very beginning of the introduction of "Sōnan" was created by him.

The 17 songs from the album sessions were recorded in only four days[11], and the album contains 12 tracks among them. Songs were also given English titles different from the literal translation in the booklet.

Release and promotion

Kyōiku released on November 25, 2004 (2004-11-25). Two singles were released from the album. The lead single, Gunjō Biyori, was released on September 8, 2004[8]. It was used in commercials for cellphone provider KDDI's CDMA 1X WIN W21SA phones[12]. The band released their second single, Sōnan, a month and a half after Gunjō Biyori's release[8]. Music videos were filmed for the B-sides Sono Onna Fushidara ni Tsuki (その淑女ふしだらにつき) (cover of show-tune The Lady Is a Tramp) and Dynamite (ダイナマイト, Dainamaito) (cover of the Brenda Lee song), and were aired back-to-back with each respective A-side[13].

An analogue set of their singles was released on the same day as the album[8].

Content and structure

Track list symmetry
01. 林檎の唄
A Song of Apples 		12. 夢のあと
A Scar of Dreams
02. 群青日和
Ideal Days for
Ultramarine 		11. 母国情緒
Feelings for My
Motherland
03. 入水願い
The Suicide 		10. 御祭騒ぎ
The Carnival
04. 遭難
A Distress 		09. 駅前
A Station
05. クロール
Crawl 		08. サービス
Service
06. 現実に於て
Back to Earth 		07. 現実を嗤う
Laugh at Facts

The album, much like many of Sheena's solo works (such as Shōso Strip, Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana), features a symmetrical track list. Tracks are paired to another in title length, type of script and placement of grammatical particles. The official English titles given in the album's booklet also follow this theme (occasionally receiving non-direct translations to fit the theme).[14] The English titles receive identical grammatical structure (for example, A Song of Apples/A Scar of Dreams [indefinite article, noun, preposition, pluralised noun], The Suicide/The Carnival [definite article, noun]), though . Each individual track length is also symmetrical, in that the number of minutes and the final digit of seconds are always the same number.

The album begins with Ringo no Uta, the final single Ringo Shiina released before beginning activities with Tokyo Jihen. The original was a mid-tempo bossa nova song, while the version that features on the album is an upbeat rock song, with Shiina's voice distorted through a vocoder.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Ringo Sheena; all music is composed by Ringo Sheena except where noted, and arranged by Tokyo Jihen

CD
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Ringo no Uta (林檎の唄, A Song of Apples)
(Official English title: A Song of Apples)"		 2:52
2."Gunjō Biyori (群青日和, Ultramarine Weather)
(Official English title: Ideal Days for Ultramarine)"		H Zett M3:33
3."Jusui Negai (入水願い, Wish to drown)
(Official English title: The Suicide)"		 3:23
4."Sōnan (遭難, A Distress)
(Official English title: A Distress)"		 3:23
5."Crawl (クロール)
(Official English title: Crawl)"		 4:04
6."Genjitsu ni Oite (現実に於て, In reality)
(Official English title: Back to Earth)" (Instrumental)		H Zett M1:11
7."Genjitsu o Warau (現実を嗤う, Laugh at reality)
(Official English title: Laugh at Facts)"		 4:24
8."Service (サービス)
(Official English title: Service)"		H Zett M4:04
9."Ekimae (駅前, The station square or In front of the station)
(Official English title: A Station)"		 3:53
10."Omatsuri Sawagi (御祭騒ぎ, The merrymaking)
(Official English title: The Carnival)"		 3:33
11."Bokoku Jōcho (母国情緒, Mother country atmosphere)
(Official English title: Feelings for My Motherland)"		 3:03
12."Yume no Ato (夢のあと, A Scar of Dreams)
(Official English title: A Scar of Dreams)"		 4:44

All the Official English titles depend on Ringo Sheena's website.[15]

Charts and certifications

Singles

Title Peak position Chart run Sales
"Gunjō Biyori"
  • Released: September 8, 2004 (2004-09-08)
 2 (Oricon) 13 weeks 203,000
"Sōnan"
  • Released: October 20, 2004 (2004-10-20)
 2 (Oricon) 8 weeks 123,000

Notes & References

  1. ^ "G-Music 商品基本資料 東京事變/ 教育". Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  2. ^ Virgin Music is one of the labels of EMI Music Japan.
  3. ^ "東京事変 教育". Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  4. ^ The #1 album, Ken Hirai's Sentimentalovers, was co-produced by Tokyo Jihen bassist Seiji Kameda
  5. ^ a b "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」". Oricon. Retrieved 2010-01-04. (subscription only)
  6. ^ No. 52, 2004, Weekly Big Comic Spirits.
  7. ^ a b c Gogoichi!: Space Shower Chart Show, broadcasted on October 24, 2004.
  8. ^ a b c d "SINGLE Ideal days for ultramarine / INCIDENTS TOKYO". Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  9. ^ a b The interview on MTV Japan in 2005
  10. ^ MTV Japan World Chart Express, broadcasted on October 21, 2004.
  11. ^ Kubota, Taihei (久保田泰平) (2004-11-25). "東京事変 - bounce.com インタビュー". Bounce. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  12. ^ ""東京事変 ／ 教育 [CD] [アルバム] - CDJournal.com"". CDJournal. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  13. ^ "東京事変 楽曲一覧". Space Shower. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  14. ^ Tokyo Jihen. Kyōiku (教育, Education) (liner notes inner booklet). Tokyo:Toshiba EMI, 2004.
  15. ^ "教育". website. kronekodow. Retrieved 2012-05-29. Template:Ja icon
  16. ^ 週間CDソフトTOP 20 アルバム総合ランキングTOP20 2004年11月22日～2004年11月28日 調査分
  17. ^ "ゴールド等認定作品一覧　2004年11月" (in Japanese). RIAJ. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
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