The Voice that Bloomed at the Bottom of the Night: Keiko Fuji's Grudge Song and Solitary Shadow (1969-2013)

The Voice that Bloomed at the Bottom of the Night: Keiko Fuji's Grudge Song and Solitary Shadow (1969-2013)

There was a singing voice that appeared as if nestled in the darkness of the Showa era. Keiko Fuji, an 18-year-old girl known to the world by the name "Shinjuku no Onna," was the incarnation of a grudge song, playing her emotions in a husky bass tone. A woman walking in the backstreets of Shinjuku at night, gasping for breath - in one line of the lyrics, she was all there was to her.

Keiko no Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" (Keiko's Dream Opens at Night), which sold nearly one million copies, became a symbol of sorrow and resignation. There was no skill in her singing. There was only a soul that had been stripped away. She said she did not sing to sing, but to live.

She became a mother, and her daughter Hikaru Utada flew around the world, but Keiko's path was always a lonely one. In 2001, she disappeared from the skies of Shinjuku. But her voice continues to bloom quietly on late-night radios and in the corners of bars. In a dark corner of the Showa era, the light of Keiko Fuji still wavers.