Mariya Takeuchi -- Suteki na Holiday （すてきなホリデイ）

(cover version)

Let us talk of Ivan Pavlov. Yes, this is the Nobel-winning Russian physiologist who came up with the notion of Classical Conditioning in which he could get a couple of dogs salivating by merely ringing a bell (which often signified food).

The J-Pop version of that famous experiment has been in existence since the beginning of the 21st-century with this song,..Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Suteki na Holiday"(Happy Happy Holidays). Since 2000, this has been the theme for Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan during the Xmas holidays, and nothing says Xmas dinner than KFC over there. Seriously. In the United States and Canada, bringing home a bucket from the Colonel on December 25th will probably get you a reservation at Chez Doghouse, but in Japan, you'd be given a hero's welcome. Turkeys aren't all that plentiful, except in the major cities and the average gobbler probably wouldn't fit into a Japanese oven unless premature dissection were performed. So, what to do? Of course, head for the Golden Drumsticks!

As for "Suteki na Holiday"itself, it's probably the most Norman Rockwell of Japanese Xmas songs. Written and composed by Takeuchi herself and arranged by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）, it presents itself as a melodic Hallmark Xmas card with all of the nostalgic trimmings, right from the prelude. I can easily imagine the sleigh being pulled by those two horses through the snowy forest as I hear those first lines. I'm not sure if Takeuchi was trying to relive her days back in Illinois when she had done her year of high school there, but she did mention in her giant Best album, "Expressions"(2008), that she'd wanted to to put a day in December to music with a Disney-like orchestration.

The song became part of her 9th album, "Bon Appetit!"(2001) which hit the No. 1 mark and was the 18th-ranked album of the year.

This is a 2009 KFC commercial with the song. Every time I hear this, my salivary glands start chugging away and thoughts of "breasts", "drumsticks" and "11 herbs and spices"start dancing in my head. Perhaps the rumours are true....Harland Sanders and Kris Kringle are one and the same!