"Tengoku e Yōkoso" | ||||
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"Tengoku e Yōkoso/Dopa-Mint!" digital EP cover.
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Single by Tokyo Jihen | ||||
from the album Dai Hakken | ||||
Released | July 21, 2010 | |||
Format | Digital download | |||
Recorded | 2010 | |||
Genre | Jazz, alternative rock | |||
Length | 3:00 | |||
Label | EMI Music Japan | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Tokyo Jihen singles chronology | ||||
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"Tengoku e Yōkoso" (天国へようこそ, "Welcome to Heaven"), also known by its English name "Where's Heaven", is a single by Japanese rock band Tokyo Jihen, led by musician Ringo Sheena. It was released on October 17, 2010, and served as the Joe Odagiri and Chiaki Kuriyama-starring drama Atami no Sōsakan's theme song.
Ringo Sheena had written several songs for Japanese dramas before "Tengoku e Yōkoso". Her first was in 2005, when Tokyo Jihen's single "Shuraba" was used for the period drama Ōoku: Hana no Ran. In 2008, Sheena wrote the song "Amagasa" for the Johnny & Associates band Tokio, which was used for the drama Yasuko to Kenji, starring Tokio member Masahiro Matsuoka. In 2009, Sheena's solo single "Ariamaru Tomi" was used for the drama Smile, which starred Jun Matsumoto and Yui Aragaki.
Drama producer Ikuei Yokochi needed a song that would match the "strange atmosphere" of the drama, and thought of Tokyo Jihen when considering a band that could "project a unique atmosphere, where you're not sure if it's Japanese or Western music". Sheena, being a fan of screenwriter Satoshi Miki's works accepted the offer, and met with Miki to discuss the song. The drama's team requested a song "unlike today's chart toppers, but a jazz standard-like song that could be sung on forever."
Three versions of the song exist. The original, added to the band's studio album Dai Hakken as a bonus track and dubbed the "For the Tube" edition, features English lyrics, while the studio "For the Disc" version is sung in Japanese. In 2011, a samba instrumental version dubbed the "Tokyo Bay Ver." was released as a digital download in 2001, as well as on the DVD CS Channel.