Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Saturday, December 20, 2025

Mariko Murai -- Amidana no Christmas Cake(網棚のクリスマスケーキ)

 

Not sure if I'm totally accurate here but unlike here in Canada, there seems to be a distinct obligatory style when it comes to Christmas cake. Those guys at Fujiya might have finalized it, but I think it's the golden cake covered in white icing with strawberries on top to represent the colours of the Yuletide. Mind you, there's also the Yule Log which is also pretty popular in Japan.


I only found out about Mariko Murai(村井麻里子)through the J-Xmas compilation album "CHRISTMAS COLLECTION FOR FRIENDS★JAPANESE VOCALISTS SING" which showed up on the Internet Archives back in 2021, although I'm fairly sure that the original album was put up on the shelves some years previously. There's very little about Murai on J-Wiki, only stating that she hails from Tokyo, graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design Junior College, and had a career as a City Pop singer which lasted only between 1988 and 1993.

Murai released 9 singles and 5 albums during that time with her third album being "Faith" from November 1989. From that album is "Amidana no Christmas Cake" (Christmas Cake on a Wire Rack) which was written by Mitsuko Shiramine(白峰美津子)and composed by Naoto Kine(木根尚登), one-third of TM Network. Although by this point, I believe that the era of J-Pop had already begun, "Amidana no Christmas Cake" feels a bit like an old kayo kyoku when it comes to the contrast between the music and the lyrics. The music sounds rather triumphant and cheerful and yet Shiramine's lyrics tell of a woman seeing that titular cake sitting on the rack in a show window of a bakery and remembering when she was much happier some time before when she and her now erstwhile beau had shared a similar Christmas cake together at home. Now, she's musing that he's doing the same thing with another woman. Yep, that's a Japanese Christmas song for you.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.