Talk about good timing. Just as the enervating ennui of tsuyu set in, reggae singer Mikidozan released "Lifetime Respect," whose mellow vibe and infectious melody have taken it to the top of the charts. (It's No. 1 on the July 2 Oricon singles chart). With its loping, steady groove and positive message of love and dedication, "Lifetime Respect" (released May 23 by Tokuma Japan Communications) is the perfect antidote to the rainy-season blahs.

There has been a dearth of reggae on the charts in the past couple of years, so Mikidozan's timing is also good in that he correctly sensed that a good solid reggae number would grab the public's attention. And in taking as his motto "Music sung by Japanese, in Japanese, about Japan," he's building on the tradition established by pioneering Japanese reggae artists such as Nahki, who was one of the first local musicians to write and perform credible Japanese reggae.

In many ways, Japanese reggae's evolution parallels that of Japanese rap: Take a very culture-specific black musical genre, copy it, get into the fashion and lifestyle associated with the music, start to gain a deeper understanding of the music's spiritual/social roots, and eventually transmute it into homegrown rap or reggae.

Like Nahki, Mikidozan's roots are in the dance-hall DJ tradition, and he's considered to be one of Japan's top exponents of the genre. And you gotta like a guy whose stage name is a play on the name of legendary pro wrestler Rikidozan.

Backing Mikidozan on "Lifetime Respect" are keyboardist Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson and drummer Cleveland "Clevie" Browne, Jamaica's No. 1 dance-hall reggae production team. They also backed Mikidozan on his first single, "Kiru! Japanese," released last summer.

Over the last few years, I've lost interest in dance-hall reggae because, as with rap, it's fallen into the rut of mindless, macho posturing. Call me an old hippie, but give me the righteous "one love" vibe of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Aswad, Maxi Priest and Black Uhuru every time -- even if it means having to filter through wacko Rastafarian ideology.

So it's really refreshing to hear a guy like Mikidozan singing a dance-hall tune with a good, positive message. To Mikidozan, "respect" is a word with many different connotations: gratitude, love, reverence, fairness and the classic Japanese dichotomy of giri-ninjo (obligation and humanity).

"The word symbolizes the coolest, most beautiful emotion one can have toward anything or anyone," states Mikidozan's PR blurb. Positive vibrations, or what?

"Children who have been brought up with too little love and respect tend to have little sensitivity," Mikidozan states. "I think it's one of the reasons that times are so troubled right now."

A typical line from "Lifetime Respect" is "I'll take care of you to the end, even if you become senile." OK, so it's a bit on the melodramatic side, but that's a pretty gutsy thing to say in a pop song.

Perhaps Mikidozan's success in rekindling interest in reggae with "Lifetime Respect" will give Nahki's new album, "Big Step," a boost. I haven't yet heard anything from "Big Step" (it's due out July 4 on Kitty MME), but some indication of the album's thrust, as it were, may be found in the cover photo showing Nahki relaxing in a bubble bath, cheroot in hand, with a bevy of bikini-clad lovelies hovering around him like so many houris. Oh, dear.

When he's not soaking up the suds, Nahki has also been busy producing an album comprising tracks by some of the many fine female singers the Japanese reggae scene has produced of late, including Syndicate Girls, Baby-M, Reena and Jamosa. That album, "Dancehall Divas," was released by Nippon Crown on June 21.

Of course, summer is the time for reggae concerts, but this year there's a distinct lack of large-scale reggae festivals in Japan. There's the Roots Reggae Music Festival 2001 in Hamakita, Shizuoka Prefecture, on July 22, but most of this summer's reggae events are indoor affairs.

One of the most promising is the release party for Japanese reggae band Cultivator's new album, "Break Out From Babylon," on July 22 at Cay in Aoyama, Tokyo. Besides Cultivator, performers include Rub-A-Dub Market, Cool Wise Men and Dub Wiser. Sounds like a very cool evening indeed.