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

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

For the generation about 20 years older than me, he might be remembered more for the satirical skits on the radio program "Sunday Entertainment Edition" than for his CM songs. This famous NHK radio program started shortly after the war, and the "Joke Music" segment—consisting of comical songs and current events satire composed by Toriro—became a social phenomenon. Shigeru Yoshida, who led the political world in the 1940s and 50s, was a particular target of his satire. Talented young people who were listeners of the program, such as Sukeroku 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. Since he was a man with a wide range of work and a wealth of private episodes, I would like to introduce some anecdotes related to Keio (Mita) here. One of the first professional songs Toriro wrote in a shack immediately after the end of the war was "The Southern Island Has Disappeared," and the image for this song was based on "Southern Island" by Bunroku Shishi, a graduate of the Juku. It seems he had some interaction with Mr. Shishi through interviews and other occasions.

Toriro attended Gyosei, the former Urawa High School, and the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. While there are no direct stories of him attending Keio or Mita, there is a significant connection to Mickey Mouse, who was popular as the Keio mascot at the Keio-Waseda games until a while ago. When Toriro first joined NHK radio as part of a trio, he decided to take his stage name from Mickey Mouse, whom he had loved since childhood, calling himself "Miki Torio" (Miki Trio), which 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 titles are those at the time of publication.