Career
Although the original version was camp, Saijō"s version was intended to seriously inspire "young men". Saijō"s career spans over three decades. He gained popularity again in the 1990s in the cartoon Chibi Maruko-chan and by releasing a cover version of the Enrique Iglesias song "Bailamos".
He also sang the theme song and became the character (specially created for the Japanese version — Lucky Mucho) in The Emperor"s New Groove and also performed "Turn a Turn", the first opening theme song for ∀ Gundam.
In the late 1990s, he also appeared on an episode of the original Japanese cooking show Iron Chef as a guest judge, for the Rice Battle, involving Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto and Chinese chef Masayoshi Kimura. In 2003, around the time that his 85th single was to be released, he suffered a mild stroke while performing overseas in of Korea.
After rehabilitation, in 2006, he released his 86th single, "Meguriai". Lyrics were set to André Gagnon"s "Comme au Premier Jour".
In 2009, he released a downloadable single, "Vegetable Wonderful" which is tied to the Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai program, Time for Vegetables.
