Here's a popular Japanese song written by a songwriter who would later go on to become a famous video game composer. Can you guess who it was? It seems to me to bear a strong stylistic resemblance to the works of one composer in particular, and I'm curious as to whether I'm just imagining this, or if others hear it, too.

I prefer the original, but here's a recent cover for those who prefer a more modern sound.

Well, there's basically only one plausible answer: Koichi Sugiyama. And some googling proves that. Nice find.

That's correct, but not what I was expecting people to guess, because it sounds to me like something another composer would have written. Did you say Sugiyama because he's the only one old enough to have written it, or because it sounds like his other work?

Yeah, Sugiyama popped into my mind before I even listened to the song. But still, it is light and melodic in a similar way to many other Sugiyama's songs.

Although, when I began whistling the tune later on, it suddenly transformed into some Kirby song (Gourmet Race, I think).

Actually, I was thinking of Nobuo Uematsu. IMO, it sounds a lot like an NES Final Fantasy town theme.

Huh. I never noticed this before, but there's an instrumental version of this song on the recording of the 2002 Dragon Quest IV concert.