"The Phantom of Joke Music, Toriro Miki: A Postwar History of Radio and CM Songs"

2019/08/20

There may now be fewer people in the generation who immediately recall what kind of person Toriro Miki was from his name alone. For my generation, having just passed our 60th birthday, he is known as a "master of CM songs." Jin-jin-Jintan, Jin-taka-tatta-tta (Jintan); Wa, wa, wa, three rings (Mitsuwa Soap); Kan-kan, Kanebo (Kanebo); including the theme song for Kirin Lemon still used today, he was a talented man who handled most of the representative CM songs from the early days of commercial radio and television. In conjunction with commercials, he also wrote and composed the theme song for "Tetsujin 28-go" (Gigantor) sponsored by Ezaki Glico (which included choruses like "Glico, Glico, Glico~").

For the generation about 20 years older than me, he might be known more for the satirical skits on the radio program "Sunday Entertainment Edition" than for CM songs. A famous NHK radio program that began shortly after the war, the "Joke Music" segment featuring comical songs and topical satirical skits composed by Toriro caused a social boom. Shigeru Yoshida, who led the political world in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was particularly targeted here. Talented young people who were listeners of the program, such as Rokusuke Ei and Akiyuki Nosaka, became Toriro's disciples and laid the foundation for variety shows in the television era.

I have recently published a biography of Toriro Miki, and since he was a man with a wide range of work and many private episodes, I would like to introduce some anecdotes related to Keio (Mita) here. One of Toriro's first professional songs, written in a shack immediately after the end of the war, is "The Southern Island Has Vanished," and the inspiration for this song was "Southern Island" by Bunroku Shishi, a Juku alumnus. It seems he had some interaction with Mr. Shishi through interviews and other occasions.

Toriro, who attended Gyosei, the former Urawa High School, and the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law, does not have many direct stories involving Keio or Mita, but there is a great connection with Mickey Mouse, who was popular as the Keio mascot in the Keio-Waseda games until a while ago. When Toriro first joined NHK Radio as part of a trio, he chose the stage name "Miki Torio" after Mickey Mouse, whom he had loved since childhood, and that is the origin of his name.

"The Phantom of Joke Music, Toriro Miki: A Postwar History of Radio and CM Songs"

Asato Izumi

Shincho Sensho

320 pages, 1,500 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and job titles are as of the time of publication.