ABSTRACT
Tears---Iovers parting, longing for home, broken hearts. These images may be found in popular songs around the world. In Japan, those tears form the nucleus of enka, the popular ballads which have been dubbed the heart and soul of Japan. Originating in the early twentieth century and continuing to be newly created and appreciated today, enka dwell on the melodramatic, the maudlin, and the sentimental. Combining Western instruments with Japanese scales and vocal techniques, enka sound continually old; a 1993 hit is easily mistaken for a 1953 one. What helps erase the gap is not only the sounds, but also the sights and, more importantly, the sentiments of the genre. Amid the tumult and complexity oftoday's Japan, as the nation wrestles with scandal, recession, and natural disaster, these affairs of the heart dredged up from a recreated past seem wonderfully simple, direct, and elemental. What ties a listener to them is not so much a melody or a turn of phrase as the baring of the heart, the private made public. In the large commercial industry that is Japan's music business, enka produce tears for sale. I
I chose to study enka from among the various genres of Japanese popular music for two reasons. First, emotions in enka run particularly high. Enka are a form of naki-bushi (crying songs), songs whose merit rests upon eliciting tears. This chapter explores those tears, analyzing who does the crying, why, and to what commercial or public gain.
