The sympathy of Michiko Namiki's "Ringo no Uta," the first pop music hit after World War II finished, endeared it to a battered nation. Four months later in May of 1946, however, a very different tune became a No. 1 hit. Noboru Kirishima's "Reijin no Uta" ("Song of a Beautiful Woman") played up lament where "Ringo" tried to foster hope.

"Reijin no Uta" was written by Masao Koga (1904-78), a successful composer who shaped Japanese pop music melodies through many decades. It was made for the 1946 version of the film "Reijin," based on the life of the poet and artist Byakuren Yanagiwara.

The orchestration on the song is stripped down to a guitar and flute, and on first listen it sounds like a typically Japanese melody. However, listen closely and you'll hear a Spanish influence that could be traced back to a 1929 concert by Spanish classical virtuoso Andres Segovia that Koga attended. The performance reportedly had such an impact on him, that he rushed home immediately afterward to finish a song he had been struggling with called "Kage o Shitaite" ("Endearing Shadow"). It was on that track that the composer successfully merged a Japanese melody with the flare and techniques of Spanish guitar, a skill that would later be tagged as the "Koga Melody." This form eventually evolved into the enka music genre that took the country by storm in the 1970s.