Chijō no Hoshi

Infobox Single
Name = Chijō no Hoshi"/"Headlight, Taillight
Artist = Miyuki Nakajima
from Album = Tanpenshū
Released = July 19, 2000
Format = CD single
Recorded =
Genre = Folk rock/JPop
Length = 20:16
Label = Yamaha Music Communications
Writer = Miyuki Nakajima
Producer = Ichizo Seo, Miyuki Nakajima
[ Reviews = ]
Last single = "Matataki Mosezu"
(1998)
This single = "Chijō no Hoshi"/"Headlight, Taillight" (2000)
Next single = "Gin no Ryū no Sei ni Notte"
(2003)

nihongo|"Chijō no Hoshi"|地上の星|earthly stars is the thirty-seventh single of the Japanese singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima.

Song information

In March 2000, Nakajima wrote the songs "Chijō no Hoshi" and nihongo|"Headlight, Taillight"|ヘッドライト・テールライト|heddoraito tēruraito for an NHK documentary about inventors, nihongo|"Project X: Challengers"|プロジェクトX～挑戦者たち～|purojekto X chōsenshatachi. On 19 July 2000, the songs were released as a double A-side single through Yamaha Music Communications. The single made its debut at #15 on the Japanese Oricon singles chart, and remained there over two years.

On 31 December 2002, Nakajima made her appearance on the annual NHK music program "Kōhaku Uta Gassen". Here she performed "Chijō no Hoshi" from the tunnel in Kurobe dam, Toyama Prefecture. Nakajima's performance recorded the highest audience rating in the program in 2002. After appearing on the show, the single began climbing the chart again, reaching #1 in January 2003. The single was later certified to have sold more than a million copies. More recently "Chijō no Hoshi" was used in a demonstration of how the forthcoming Nintendo Wii is capable of playing music and showing picture files at the same time.

"Chijō no Hoshi" has also been covered by Fuyumi Sakamoto and Twelve Girls Band, whose version was called "Earthly Stars (Unsung Heroes)".

Track listing

* All songs written by Miyuki Nakajima
# "Chijō no Hoshi" – 05:11
# "Headlight, Taillight" – 04:58
# "Chijō no Hoshi" (TV mix) – 05:11
# "Headlight, Taillight" (TV mix) – 04:58

Personnel

* Miyuki Nakajima: Vocals
* Ichizo Seo: Keyboards, Strings Arrangement & Conduct
* Hideo Yamaki: Tomtom, Cymbals
* Hideki Matsubara: Bass
* Masayoshi Furukawa: Electric Guitar
* Elton Nagata: Keyboards, Acoustic Piano
* Keishi Urata, Seiichi Takubo: Computer Programming
* Masatsugu Shinozaki: Violin, Concertmaster
* Kiyo Kido: Violin
* Jun Yamamoto: Violin
* Yumiko Hirose: Violin
* Osamu Inou: Violin
* Kei Shinozaki: Violin
* Yu Sugino: Violin
* Naoyuki Takahashi: Violin
* Kathrine Cash: Violin
* Tsunehiro Shigyo: Violin
* Keiko Nakamura: Violin
* Machia Saito: Violin
* Masako Mabuchi: Viola
* Joshin Toyama: Viola
* Gentaro Sakaguchi: Viola
* Kaori Naruse: Viola
* Masaharu Karita: Cello
* Tomoya Kikuchi: Cello
* Masahiro Tanaka: Cello
* Susumu Miyake: Cello
* Yasuhiro Kido: Backup Vocals
* Fumikazu Miyashita: Backup Vocals
* Katsumi Maeda: Backup Vocals
* Toshiro Kirigaya: Backup Vocals
* Etsuro Wakakonai: Backup Vocals

Production

* Ichizo Seo: Produce and Arrangement
* Miyuki Nakajima: Written, Compose, Vocalize and Produce

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Sources

* [http://www.miyuki-lab.jp/disco/soft/sg37.shtml Database on Fan Site "Miyuki Nakajima Laboratory"] (Japanese)

External links

* [http://www.yamahamusic.co.jp/tv/_a/2004_01/ycdw-00001_45.asx An excerpt of Promotional Film "Earthly Stars (Unsung Heroes)"]