Ihojin (Japanese: 異邦人) (English: "Stranger"[1] or "Foreigner")[2] is a song[3] written and composed by Saki Kubota,[4] and first performed by her.
[13] A cover version[14] of the song by Tak Matsumoto, featuring Zard, reached number 3 in the Oricon Singles Chart in 2003.
[18][19][20][21] The lyrics of "Ihojin" include the motif of time travel that previously appeared in the Shinji Harada song "Taimu Toraberu" (Japanese: タイム・トラベル) (1978).
The album Saudade, released in 1980, included a new acoustic version of the song recorded in Lisbon in Portugal.
The subtitle of the song "Ihojin" is "Shiruku Rōdo No Tēma" (Japanese: シルクロードのテーマ) which means "Silk Road Theme".
[41] Makaino said the arrangement is full of exoticism ("ikoku jōcho", Japanese: 異国情緒, the mood of a foreign country).
[31][42] An animated music video was created by Harune Sato and Kohei Saito from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2021.
[45] "Ihojin" reached number 10 in the Joysound karaoke rankings for Shōwa era songs in the first half of 2024.
[62] The song on the B side is a cover version of Yuming's "Ame No Machi Wo" (Japanese: 雨の街を) by Tak Matsumoto, featuring Akiko Matsuda.
There are cover versions by Hiroko Kasahara (1990),[63] Yukana Nogami (1997),[64] Akina Nakamori (2002),[65] Tatsuya Ishii (2003), Yuki Koyanagi (2003),[66] Hideaki Tokunaga (2005),[67] the 12 Girls Band (2005),[68] Acid Black Cherry (2007),[69] Yōko Oginome and Junichi Inagaki (2010),[70] Jun Shibata (2012),[71][72] Ego-Wrappin' (2013),[73][74] Misaki Iwasa (2014),[75] Kazuya Yoshii (2015),[76] Penicillin (2015),[77] Tomoyo Harada (2016),[78][79] Keisuke Kuwata (2019),[80] Hiroji Miyamoto (2020),[81][82][83] Mone Kamishiraishi (2020),[84][85][86] Sora Amamiya (2021),[87] May J.