I was eating some late night ramen just a few weeks ago near my apartment when I first heard this song. While the singer, Uemura Kana has a beautiful voice and excellent song-writing talent, the part that struck me the most was not the actual song but the setting in which I first heard it.

On that particular evening, I was quietly enjoying my dinner when a rather large, obnoxious Japanese man barged into the shop demanding to know what the specials of the day were. The shop owner politely informed him about the set menu and a few minutes later the man re-entered with several of his late-night drinking buddies. They took up half the restaurant (granted it’s not a very large restaurant to begin with) and promptly continued their conversation over a round of frosty beers.

Once this song came on the radio however, a quiet lulled over the group - perhaps it was because it came on at the same time that their noodles arrived - and I could enjoy both the music and my food in some quiet harmony. A few minutes passed and I noticed that someone was singing along to the lyrics. I looked over and the large man, was singing the song word for word in a rather sweet, near-perfect pitch. He was really getting into it…and enjoying his dinner and beer too. It was a strange happening of events. After that, I went home and looked up the song on youtube.

The story behind this song is about the singer-songwriter’s late grandmother who told her that a god of beauty lived in the toilet and that if she cleaned it everyday, she too would become beautiful. This rather sweet and somewhat sad song is the perfect mix to be a national hit. Uemura recently debuted on the New Year’s NHK Red-White Singing Contest and she became an overnight success. I guess it goes to show you that probably behind every large, rather obnoxious Japanese man, there is a sweet singing young boy thinking about his grandmother.