Pizzicato Five -- 24 Decembre

No White Christmas here in Toronto this year. It's just been too warm. A number of people are rather lamenting this meteorological situation but after the long and hard winter last year, there are folks like me who simply don't mind too much if we can see still the lawn on December 25th.

In Tokyo, though, not getting the snow has been pretty much a normal thing for the past few decades at least. Still, as I may have mentioned in past articles, Tokyoites can really do up the commercial Xmas spirit in a way that can even impress Norman Rockwell even if the white stuff no longer comes down all that much in the Japanese capital.

Case in point, I had never heard of a Shibuya-kei Xmas song. So of course, it was Pizzicato Five to the rescue when they released their own brand of Yuletide cheer via "24 Decembre" in November 2000 as an EP. It's indeed a P5 song paying tribute to the Holidays in their own distinctive way, and the music video has a touch of cornball with vocalist Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）and some kids as angels flying over various famous vicinities in Tokyo like Ginza and Shibuya with the insertion of some snow for good effect. Written and composed by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, the melody has that "party on in the big city" feeling since that is what Christmas Eve is supposed to be all about over there. I guess in a way, then, "24 Decembre" could be a sister tune to Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや） "Kon'ya wa Hearty Party"（今夜はHearty Party).

Have fun out there folks, but remember...no drinking and driving!

No snow but there is ice for skating!