During the 1990s, Inoue produced two top-3 charting singles on the Japanese chart. "Shounen Jidai" (Boyhood), a song he wrote with Natsumi Hirai was initially featured on the same-titled film adaptation of a manga "Childhood Days" (written by Fujiko Fujio (A), based on the novel "Nagai Michi" by Hyouzou Kashiwabara). It was released as a single in 1990, and also appeared on his "Handsome Boy" album came out in the same year. Because of television advertising for Sony Handycam which featured the song, "Shounen Jidai" became well-known and a huge hit around the early 1990s. As a result, it has been one of his most famous songs throughout his longtime career.