Marico -- 24th.Dec.20:45

 

Well, the Premier of our province made it abundantly clear in his press conference today: no gatherings outside of our immediate households this Christmas which shows how confident he and the experts feel about infection rates coming down enough to open things up again socially...not very. It's a pity but perhaps there might be a Christmas miracle in the coming weeks.

Speaking about a blue Christmas, as I was saying to Rocket Brown last weekend, the Yuletide in Japan is often seen as a second Valentine's Day with couples reserving restaurants especially on December 24th. Of course, there are also the large groups of friends getting together for parties and families bringing in the KFC for dinner. And then there is that one other group...the one which consists of folks who no longer have any significant others and have been left to mope about on what would ordinarily be a festive time. There is something almost downright masochistic about how this aspect of J-Xmas is depicted in pop songs although the songs themselves are arranged in a beautifully wistful manner.

Case in point: I found this Christmas ballad by singer-songwriter Marico（真璃子）several months ago judging by the fact that it was far back in the backlog. As someone who's interested in the J-Xmas sub-genre, I just had to keep it for this occasion. Titled "24th Dec.20:45", this is a track from her 5th album released in November 1990, "Venus-tachi no Kisetsu ni"（ヴィーナスたちの季節に...In the Season of Venuses）. The song does feel like something to go along with Marico's lyrics of being alone in the city because either her boyfriend is too busy at work or the relationship went completely kaput some time previously.

Singer-songwriter Junko Hirotani's（広谷順子）music has a pleasant bluesy lilt almost to match the protagonist's slow lonely walk on the pavement during Xmas Eve, and there's a nice touch with the cold-wind chorus and the classy trumpet during the instrumental break. It all ends with a few seconds of typical if ironic Christmas cheer. In a way, "24th.Dec.20:45" makes for a younger sister of sorts of another City Pop tune with an Xmas theme, the similarly titled "December 24" by Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）.