Makoto Matsushita -- This is All I Have for You

Now that the Holidays are truly done for another year here, everyone's headed back to work, although those lucky Japanese will continue to enjoy the New Year's holidays for at least a couple of more days. Pretty soon, those credit card statements will be flowing in like water and we will all have to face the music. Still, I managed to pick up a set of Sennheiser headphones over the weekend since that is what I wanted and needed for a few months.

I've been testing the Sennheisers on music such as Makoto Matsushita's（松下誠）1981 "First Light" album. Nice to hear the deeper bass and more richness coming through my ears. Another track is "This is All I Have for You". I've compared some of the other tracks on this City Pop classic to folks like the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan but I don't think either defines this smooth, gallant and yet slightly introspective song. Still, it fits nicely into my favourite Japanese pop music genre.

Interesting title as well. I've long been accustomed to the tradition of gift-giving in Japan starting with the gift-giving person saying something humble such as "This is nothing special, but..." which comes out as "Tsumaranai mono desu ga..."（つまらないものですが）. Early in my Japanese-speaking experience, I once pulled an unintentionally hilarious error and said "Tondemonai mono desu ga..."（とんでもないものですが...This is utterly ridiculous but...）. Luckily the folks around me had a sense of humour.