Ruiko Kurahashi -- December 24

I'm not sure how many Japanese singers followed Yumi Matsutoya's "Lodge de Matsu Christmas" in 1978 with their own salute to the holiday. The most famous J-Xmas song of them all, "Christmas Eve" by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）wouldn't come out until 1982, but perhaps a year before his magnum opus came out, there was young pop singer Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）with "December 24".

"December 24" was one of the tracks on Kurahashi's 2nd album, "Morning Shadow" , which was appropriately enough released in December 1981. The song may not have gained anywhere near the attention that "Christmas Eve" has, but it's still one of my personal favourites within my J-Xmas collection of music. It just has that somewhat breezy arrangement of life in the big city in the early 80s.

The song is definitely in Kurahashi's wheelhouse: a mid-tempo adult contemporary tune with a saxophone solo by ever-present Jake H. Concepcion and a trumpet to assist her tender voice. Composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, the song follows that well-trod trope of being newly alone and lonely on arguably the most important day for romantic couples in Japan.

A Xmas tree in Shinjuku