Yumi Matsutoya -- Lodge de Matsu Christmas （ロッヂで待つクリスマス）

(from 11:50)

Yup, my first official Xmas-themed kayo kyoku. So, let's start from the beginning. According to kayo kyoku folklore, Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実) "Lodge de Matsu Christmas" (Christmas Waiting at the Lodge) is apparently the very first Japanese pop song dealing with the Yuletide*. I've come across one other blog stating that point, but in the journalistic world of getting confirmation from at least two other sources, I cannot definitively say that this is an actual fact. However, I have yet to come across any other original J-Xmas song dating before 1978, which is when this song first came to light.

"Lodge de Matsu Christmas" is the very first track on Matsutoya's 6th album, "Ryusenkei '80" （流線型 '80....Streamlined '80) which was released in November 1978, and was the 2nd album to be recorded under Yuming's married name. The title pretty much says it all: a young lady waiting at the ski lodge for her boyfriend to arrive over the Holidays. Cue 1990s Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie plot. The melody seems to pay a slight homage to The Carpenters, the duo that has near-legendary status in Japan, and it seems to simultaneously address the adult and child in its listener through its arrangement.

It's become quite the standard song during this month, and if you take a look at YouTube, you'll find more covers of it by various people than the actual person.

Another track on "Ryusenkei '80" has already been profiled: "Futo wo Wataru Kaze"（埠頭を渡る風）.

*December 9 2012....I found a song that even predates this one (by over 20 years) as the first J-Xmas song...possibly.

Yumi Matsutoya -- Ryusenkei '80