It was the first song by an artist from Asia to top the Billboard Hot 100. And it owed its success in America - in part – to Fresno and the Central Valley’s Japanese America community. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of Kyu Sakamoto and the song Sukiyaki.
The year was 1963, and listeners to Fresno’s KYNO radio heard a new sound on their AM radios. DJs like Sam Schwan began playing a Japanese language pop song originally called Ue o Muite Arukō. It’s Japanese title roughly translates to “I Look Up As I Walk.”
The lyrics might seem to reference the end of a relationship, but they were actually written in response to geopolitical affairs. Scholars say the song is a lament for the unsuccessful student protests that sought to stop a treaty between the U.S. and Japan that extended the presence of American troops on Japanese soil.
But according to a recent documentary from Japanese broadcaster NHK, a radio DJ from Fresno shared news of the song’s local success with Capitol Records executive Dave Dexter Jr. He was responsible for the label’s international artists, and wound up releasing the song in the U.S. as a single. In the process, the company renamed the song Sukiyaki, the Japanese hot pot dish, which has nothing to do with the song’s lyrics. It didn’t matter to U.S. listeners, and the song sold 13 million copies. It spent three weeks on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
