It’s Sunday! I hope that all is well with everyone despite the chaos that is going on around the world at the moment. For today, let’s forget those fears and the panic and listen to a couple of my favorite 90s Japanese songs: Kohmi Hirose‘s “Promise” and Maaya Sakamoto’s “Yakusoku wa Iranai” (約束はいらない: I Don’t Need Promises).
Yes, you are getting two songs because it was hard to choose only ONE song for this week’s prompt of “Promise/Vow/Oath” (約束 or 誓い in Japanese). By the way, this is part of a #SongLyricsSunday challenge, which is hosted by Jim at An Unique Title For Me. Anyone can join! Details on how to participate are found at the end of this post!
“Promise” by Kohmi Hirose
Kohmi Hirose was called the “Queen of (Japanese) Winter Romance Songs” in the 90s. And “Promise” was on the reasons why. The tune was used for a winter commercial campaign for the sports store Alpen here in Japan. It was the sixth song of Hirose’s to be featured in the yearly winter campaign. My other favorite Kohmi Hirose songs, “Romance no Kamisama” (God of Romance) and “Strobe”, were also used in the campaign.
Written by Hirose herself, this 1997 Japanese pop song is about romance in a picturesque winter wonderland. Hirose has had a string of songs in the 90s that were romantic ventures situated in winter scenes. But the difference with “Promise” is in the narrative. The song’s narrative is told in a female one as “Promise” is full of a woman’s feelings of certainty, worry, love, and simplicity. Although the feelings that are inside of me are confusing and causing chaos, I just want to enjoy this beautiful winter night with you.
I love Kohmi Hirose. She is a phenomenal singer with her vocal strength, using emotions to power the song, and the way she hits the notes. If you are going to skip this song because it is in a language that you don’t understand, I advise not to do it for this one because Hirose is an incredible singer. You don’t need to understand what she is saying (that is why I provide translated lyrics down below) to understand the song, it’s all in her voice! Can’t you feel the emotions in them?
Lyrics for Kohmi Hirose’s “Promise”
Here are the lyrics for “Promise” translated into English by AnimeLyrics.com:
The beginning of love and the continuation of dreams
Surely, with you…
The cold north wind, the season draws us closer together
Feelings of love spillover from our joined hands
When I press the “warm” button on the coffee vending machine
A light is lit in my heart
Get down
It’s a trembling, spinning, shaking, painful feeling
We’re asleep together in a winter land
I’m looking just at you, you’re looking just at me
Making a pledge for tomorrow
Holding tightly to a heart burning with love
While enveloped in the snow that’s falling hard
I’ll love you forever, love you more than today
For always, eternal love
I’ll hold it dear, this silver ring that joins me to my future
I’ll always keep this proof of love safe
Your gentle smile is like a “warm” blanket
That sends my sadness to sleep
Get down
I don’t care if it’s a lie or a dream or the present
This winter night we’re spending together
Kiss me gently and make a wish on a star
And forget about the past
Softly stroke my hair, my love
The words you whisper well up in my heart
I’ll love you forever, love you more than today
For always, eternal love
Get down
It’s a trembling, spinning, shaking, painful feeling
We’re asleep together in a winter land
I’m looking just at you, you’re looking just at me
Making a pledge for tomorrow
Holding tightly to a heart burning with love
While enveloped in the snow that’s falling hard
I’ll love you forever, love you more than today
For always, eternal love
Softly stroke my hair, my love
The words you whisper well up in my heart
I’ll love you forever, love you more than today
For always, eternal love
Bonus: “Yakusoku wa Iranai” by Maaya Sakamoto
“Yakusoku wa Iranai” was used as the theme song for the 1996 Japanese TV anime The Vision of Escaflowne (or Tenkuu no Escaflowne). The plot revolves around a young girl named Hitomi Kanzaki who is transported to another Earth, named Gaea, to save it with the assistance of a king named Van, a knight named Allen, and others. It is an anime about robots and divine powers (Hitomi can see into the future and even questions if fate is natural or not). It can be a confusing anime, but I love it.
Yuuho Iwasato wrote the lyrics to the song. She wrote songs for any major female artist in the 80s and 90s. But, Iwasato also wrote songs at the beginning of Sakamoto’s career. You may know Yuuho Iwasato as she wrote the Japanese lyrics for the Momoiro Clover Z and KISS collaboration song “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mi na”. And yes, THE rock ‘n’ roll KISS.
The composer for “Yakusoku wa Iranai” is the legendary Yoko Kanno. Kanno is a legend in the Japanese entertainment industry as she wrote music for various soundtracks. If you haven’t listened to her music, I highly recommend it as she is versatile in many genres: jazz, big band, pop, rock, ballads, and etc. She also writes music in different languages like Japanese, French, and English. She is as legendary as Sting or Billy Joel.
“Yakusoku wa Iranai” is one of my favorite anime songs and I hope to play at my wedding (if I ever have one). As the song title says: When I am in love with you, I don’t need any promises. Because of your love for me, I have the strength to live life to the fullest and kept smiling even if you aren’t with me. Kind of sweet, isn’t it?
Here is a video with Yoko Kano and Maaya Sakamoto performing the song live. Kanno is very cute as she conducts the audience to sing along:
Lyrics for “Yakusoku wa Iranai”
Here are the lyrics translated in English, provided by AnimeLyrics.com:
Say, when they’re in love,
does everyone get this lonely?
Say, do they embrace the pain
that’s even deeper than the darkness?
It’s all been so that we
can shine,
I just know it!
I… I love you.
I’m gazing at you with my heart.
I… I believe in you.
even on the coldest night.
Say, even if they’re in love,
could the end someday come for them, too?
Say, could a feeling that’s even
clearer than the blue sky end up being abandoned?
The season-changing winds
Running along the streets
Forever
I… I love you.
I’m gazing at you with my heart.
I… I believe in you.
even on the coldest night.
Even if I lost tomorrow,
and even if I lost you, too,
I want to shine,
smiling as best as I can.
I call out to you now with my tears. I don’t need promises or such things,
because of the precious strength that you’ve given me.
I call out to you now with my eyes.
I don’t need promises or such things.
I reach out to you now with my eyes,
even on the coldest night.
If you want to participate, here are the rules:
- Post the lyrics to the song of your choice, whether it fits the theme or not.
- Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due.
- Make sure you also credit the singer/band and if you desire you can provide a link to where you found the lyrics.
- Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song.
- Ping back to this post will eventually work, as long as you are being patient, but you can also place your link in the comments if you don’t like to wait.
- Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
- Feel free to suggest future prompts.
- Have fun and enjoy the music.
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I liked “Promise” best. Not hard to understand Kohmi Hirose’s fame. She has high energy and sounds (and looks) like she’s truly enjoying the song! Nice choice and commentary! 🙂
HI Music Love,
Music is the food of soul, and I also listen classic music at very slow volume, during my working time. Your collection is fantastic just I quot few lines, I really love it.
The season-changing winds
Running along the streets
Forever
I… I love you.
I’m gazing at you with my heart.
I… I believe in you.
even on the coldest night.
These all sound better in Japanese. Good choices, though!
Thanks for joining in again Amy. Hirose has a lovely voice and some powerful vocals. Very interesting music and I enjoyed watching Yoko Kano and Maaya Sakamoto together.
I agree with you that Kohmi Hirose has an amazing voice – I can feel the energy in her singing. I enjoyed the song – thank you for sharing it!
Great songs. Lovely voice!!
It is the first time hen I listen to “Promise”. It is quite cool.
I love listening to music
I have never heard these before. The music is so lovely and I will add this to my playlist!!
“You don’t need to understand what she is saying to understand the song, it’s all in her voice!”
I totally agree with you, her voice has everything you need to feel the song. It is amazing how much you can get from a song without even understanding the lyrics.
This is what I like about music. Even when you don’t understand the lyrics, you can feel the emotions and “Promise” delivers on that.
Kohmi Hirose has an amazing voice, with a tune that just pulls you in to listen. So amazing!
What a lovely song. I love lyrics that really mean something and can connect with the listener.
These are both such great songs for different reasons. You made some great choices here. It’s not an easy prompt, at least, nothing comes to my mind right away with this one.
I’ve never heard both to be honest, I feel bad i haven’t till now! Both are really great, wow…Amazing tunes.
I wish she would do an english version . I listened to her song. It is sweet and tug thr heartstrings. 💞💘❤
This is what we called real music. I don’t understand the lyrics but trust me I enjoyed the music
I love the lyrics.
“It’s a trembling, spinning, shaking, painful feeling
We’re asleep together in a winter land
I’m looking just at you, you’re looking just at me
Making a pledge for tomorrow”
That’s really powerful. You really can feel the emotions of love that she is trying to convey.
Such great songs that I never heard of until now. Thanks for sharing them.
I’m into Jpop culture and seeing few of my favorite people here is quite awesome. Thank you for sharing this.
I don’t know any of these songs so I will have to listen to them and decide which one I like best. When I think about songs that keep promises, the rhythms of Nick Kamen’s I promise myself come into my mind. That’s a really good song.
One more post with so different music and cultural intro. LOVE It!
Nice songs. Thanks for translating them for us.
Such a wonderful song! Listening to this makes me feel wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
What a sweet song. This is the first time I’ve heard this song.
You always put out great content. Thanks!
it’s easy to full in love during the winter………one needs to cuddle for warm right? the song has this warming effect…..perfect for cold winter night………..
I don’t know much about Japanese music, I appreciate these songs you share with us! Thank you!
What beautiful and powerful lyrics. This just proves that music is universal. Thank you for translating the lyrics.
such a pretty song. I have never heard of it before but thank you for introducing me to it.
Never heard of these songs but the lyrics in one of them are so sweet.
Such a nice post, I love the anime Vision of Escaflowne. Actually it’s one of my favorite anime of all time.
I had never heard of these two songs before. Thanks for this. I loved Promise more than the other.
Wow I’d never heard of these artists before. But I love the lyrics.
I love checking back here and learning about new songs and artists that I never knew about!
Beautiful lyrics! I’m going to check some of these out! My husband and I’s ‘song’ is the Love Song by Cure, which promises to always love each other. Cliche, but sweet. 😉
Great song! Lovely voice!
I am not that much music lover. But while I searched these two songs on Youtube, I really enjoyed it.
Learning more and more about jpop! I think this is an amazing song.
loved these ones. Thank you for sharing these all
I have never heard of this song but can totally relate to it and enjoyed listening to it!
Nice song and very appropriate for our wedding anniversary, thank you for this.
HI Amy Braun, Your collection is really a heart-touching.
Wow what a great theme for songs. They all seem to do well on the theme and I have to agree that these sound better in Japanese.
She has a fabulous sound! THanks for sharing a bit of Japanese music history.
Thank you ever so for you post.Much thanks again.