Well, happy news for everyone here is that unless a sudden and massive heat wave invades southern Ontario in the next couple of days, we will actually have a White Christmas this year. For those non-Canadians, you might think that snow on the ground on the 25th is a natural thing but for the last few decades, that hasn't necessarily been the case. A Green Christmas has often taken a bit of the wonder of the Holidays out of our sails, but 2017 looks more promising.
My latest contribution as a J-Xmas tune is Mari Hamada's（浜田麻里）"Last Christmas Song". A track on her album collection of ballads, "Sincerely", from December 1989, Hamada took care of the lyrics while Takanobu Masuda（増田隆宣）came up with the melody. I still don't know too much of Hamada's discography but from what I have heard thanks to the blog, "Last Christmas Song" sounds just right for Hamada with that 80s/90s pop/rock mix. Furthermore, the story of a woman remembering a past love during the Holidays is in keeping with that oft-used theme in Japan for a lonely Xmas.
Hi again J-Canuck.
ReplyDeletePretty envious of your upcoming white Christmas. Things were looking promising here about week ago with our weather forecast showing minus temperatures with possibility of snow on Christmas Eve. But the latest revised forecast has the temperatures up quite a few degrees from zero and dreams of a white Christmas flew out the window. Though we did have snow a couple of weeks back. The sight of flurries coming down all night and waking up to a snowy landscape was quite something, and a very rare occurrence this part of Texas.
Ahh, a wistful pinning for lost love Christmas song. It is a nice contrast to the super cheerful and chirpy songs that we have been inundated with everywhere since after Thanksgiving.
So, here's wishing you a very Merry and Glistening White Christmas! Happy New Year too, and I'm look forward to getting to know more Japanese songs and artists on your amazing blog! Thanks for all the awesome work!
Hi again!
DeleteYeah, it's been a wait-and-see attitude for the past several years when it comes to a White Christmas in Toronto. We sometimes get one or we end up with a lot of muck mixed in with the grass instead. Luckily we are going to get about a foot of snow in the next 24 hours...lucky for us who stay home, not so much for those on the road.
Thanks very much for your good wishes and I send the same back to you. I never closed down your account after you put up your lovely article regarding "Kita Sakaba" on The First, so if you have any other stories regarding your kayo history, feel free to put them at any time. I'm actually thinking about slowing my input down into the next year since it's getting more difficult to come up with articles after nearly 6 years of putting up stuff almost daily.
Hi, J Canuck.
DeleteHappy New Year! It's been a freezing start to the new year, weather wise, with the deep freeze that's gripping North America. Even over here at the Lone Star State where we usually have mild winters, temperatures dipped to minus the last few days. Nevertheless, hope you are having a great start to the new year!
I really enjoyed writing the article about the First, as it gave me a chance to talk about that special memory of mine from all those years ago. I do realize it's an extended piece of fan-girling that went on and on ;) So thanks for accommodating me! I would love to contribute more to this site, but my entire kayo history revolved mainly around this one singer and I'm still much too fixated on the same since coming back, so it would be more of the same blabber. But if I do think of something interesting or if any other singers catches my eye, I may just take up your kind offer.
I've always been amazed by how prolific you are on this site, and can only imagine how much effort it takes to write so many articles on a regular basis. In any case, I'm sure all your readers will understand your decision to slow things down a bit and appreciate whichever frequency that you post going forward. Wishing you an AWESOME 2018!
Morning, Francium.
DeleteYeah, it's been a cold one this year. Going off to see "The Last Jedi" today although the temperature is going no higher than -16 degrees C (I think that would be +2 degrees F). Even Florida got hit with snow.
No pressure on any additional articles for the blog and thanks in advance if you can bring anything more to the table.
Well, I did say that I would try to pull back somewhat from the blog but it's kinda like that Al Pacino line from "The Godfather Part III" when he says that no matter how hard he tries to pull away, he gets pulled back in. I'm still finding things to talk about. Rather difficult to pull away, I'm afraid.:)
Hope you have a good start to your 2018 as well.