b. Minaru Watanabe, 9 October 1924, Fukushima, Japan, d. 1991. Hachirô Kasuga trained himself as a singer of kayôkyoku (formerly the most common and typically Japanese form of popular song) in Tokyo. He was signed by King Records, debuting with a hit single, ‘Akai Lampno Shûressha’ (‘The Last Train With Red Tail Lamps’), in 1952. His popularity increased the following year with ‘Otomi-san’ (‘Miss Tomi’), a convivial song about a character in a well-known kabuki play which was originally intended to be recorded by a senior artist, Haruo Oka. Kasuga’s stardom was finally established in 1955 by ‘Wakare No Ippon Sugi’ (‘A Solitary Cedar By Which We Parted’), which led to the emergence of many other ‘home-pining’ songs in the late 50s, reflecting the increasing influx of population into large cities from rural areas. Many other hits, sung in a well-regulated manner, were produced in his long career, including ‘Arekara Jûnen Tattakana’ (‘Was It Ten Years Ago?’) and ‘Nagasaki No On’na’ (‘A Woman In Nagasaki’).