Kyoko Endo -- Chiisana Ryote ni Merry Xmas（小さな両手にMerry Xmas）

 

Earlier this morning, I did some Xmas shopping at Oomomo which is the local Japan-themed dollar store in Canada that has a few branches in the Toronto area. Couldn't resist but I had to pick up a couple of bottles of Milk Tea since I haven't had any in some years now. Also at the same time, I noticed Oomomo had a couple of J-Xmas tunes playing on the store speakers: Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎） rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）cover of "The Christmas Song", both of them about as Hallmark Greeting Card as one can get on a Xmas tune. I was slightly tempted to see if management had a laptop set to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" but I kept my silence. 😁

(1:12...truncated version)

I found this particular J-Pop song with a Christmas theme on one of my J-Xmas compilation discs, although I believe that this was originally on singer-songwriter Kyoko Endo's（遠藤京子）brief November 1993 album "Fuyu no Niwa"（冬の庭...Winter Garden or Le Jardin D'Hiver）. It shares track space with the bouncy "Yuki ga Furu Mae ni"（雪が降る前に）which was originally recorded in 1984 so I'm gathering that "Fuyu no Niwa" may be more of a compilation over the years of Endo's Xmas-themed music. 

Characterized by a rich piano and acoustic guitar, Endo gives a slightly hushed performance in "Chiisana Ryote ni Merry Xmas" (Merry Xmas in Both of Your Little Hands). In comparison with her earlier "Yuki ga Furu Mae ni", this Yuletide ballad is a more introspective affair possibly set at the wooden lodge way outside of the city and surrounded by many drifts of snow. Let's say that this is a hot-chocolate-with-a-single-marshmallow sort of song and with that chorus becoming prominent near the end, I think that there is even a bit of a Carpenters feeling to it.