Song of the Week: Eiko no Kakehashi - Yuzu

This week’s Song of the Week is Eiko no Kakehashi by a duo called Yuzu. The title “Eiko no Kakehashi” (栄光の架橋) means The Bridge of Glory.

Yuzu (ゆず) is a Japanese folk/pop rock duo who formed and made their debut in 1997 and released their first single in June 1998 with Summer Color (夏色). The duo comprises of vocalist/guitarist Yujin Kitagawa and vocalist/guitarist Koji Iwasawa.

Both members of Yuzu come from Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. Yuzu started out as street musicians in High School and their move into the J-Pop music industry was a big success story. The original name of the band was “Lights”, but Kitagawa disliked the name, so they changed it to Yuzu (after the fruit).

Eiko no Kakehashi was released on July 22, 2004 and was a massive hit for the band becoming one of the most popular songs of 2004. It reached number 2 on the Oricon charts. The song was Yuzu’s 21st single and was used as the theme song for NHK’s transmission of the Athens Olympic Games that summer.

I really like their music and songs with their mainly lush acoustic and upbeat sound.

Here is a live performance of Eiko no Kakehashi by Yuzu