Sukiyaki

Exactly 50 years ago, Kyu Sakamoto was in the middle of a three-week run at number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart with “Sukiyaki.”  “Sukiyaki” remains to this day the only song sung entirely in Japanese to hit the top of the Hot 100.

The song was originally titled “Ue O Muite Aruko,” which is the line that opens each verse and that translates into English as “I look up when I walk.”  The title was changed to “Sukiyaki” in order to appeal to English-speaking audiences, though the food sukiyaki has nothing to do with the song.

“Sukiyaki” was Sakamoto’s only Top 40 hit in the United States, though “China Nights (Shina No Yoru) reached number 58 as a follow-up to “Sukiyaki.”

Unfortunately, Sakamoto was a passenger on Japan Airlines Flight 123 that crashed on August 12, 1985.  It was the deadliest accident in history featuring a single airplane, and Sakamoto was one of 520 people killed in the crash.