Chage & Aska -- Sekai ni Merry Xmas （世界にMerry X'mas）

Ah, yes....less than 48 hours before Santa Claus makes his annual sleigh ride, and here I give you another J-Xmas song from yesteryear. Tonight, it's Chage & Aska's "Sekai ni Merry Xmas" (Merry Xmas to the World) from their "GUYS" album of November 1992.

One of the comments for the YouTube video above was that it's a sweet Xmas song that gets one into the Yuletide mood, and that person is quite right. I would also say that it's almost Chage & Aska's way of doing their version of "White Christmas"...and in fact, a little bit of the Irving Berlin classic pops up at the very end as the guys play it up with the London children who had taken part in the chorus. Aska, who also wrote and composed the song, along with his good partner sing very comfortably in Xmas mode while still keeping that C&A sound.

It's one of those Xmas songs that is best heard at night as the gifts are being wrapped and the first of the feast is being prepared on the 24th. The official music video hits the right notes (no pun intended) as Chage & Aska are strolling down the quiet nighttime London streets with the soft glowing lights and some of that illumination. It's more of the December 24th I know over here than I knew of the party-like festivities back in Tokyo.

"Sekai ni Merry Xmas" was also used as a campaign song for the Subaru VIVIO (as was also the case for another track from "GUYS", "no no darlin'". And according to the J-Wiki article on the album, the song was apparently reflecting feelings for hope and peace due to the effects of the Gulf War that had been waged a couple of years earlier.

A Xmas tree and pachino machines