Rokusuke Ei

Wrote the Japanese lyrics of “Ue o Muite Arukō” (1961)

Ei wrote his words walking home from the 1960 Anpo protests against the US-Japan Security Treaty, but kept them deliberately general so they would read as any lost love. He did not write the English words heard on the 1981 hit — those are Janice-Marie Johnson’s, written new after Ei supplied her with a literal translation of his own.

Who recorded it

Songs written by Rokusuke Ei

Sukiyaki

Written by them — first recorded by Kyu Sakamoto

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