Hideyuki Yonekawa & Keiko Utsumi -- Lover's Holiday

 

As anyone who has spent a Christmas or two in Japan will know, the Yuletide over there is often observed as a second Valentine's Day. Hotels and restaurants are usually booked solid for romantic rendezvous, and anyone who finds themselves alone on the 24th or 25th will be hitting the Cup O' Noodles hard.

"Lover's Holiday" strikes the note perfectly on that aspect of a Japanese Christmas. A cool and soulful duet consisting of Hideyuki Yonekawa and Keiko Utsumi（米川英之＆宇津美慶子）, the song was composed and arranged by Yonekawa and written by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）. I first heard about it from Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast last year centering on his review of "White Album '90" which was released in November 1990, and "Lover's Holiday" was the contribution from the pair for the album. The lyrics by Konishi have their references to Christmas but otherwise the arrangement eschews the typical jingliness of the season and goes for something more contemporary R&B.

Yonekawa began his solo career in 1990 following several years in his stint as the guitarist for the band C-C-B in the 1980s. According to his J-Wiki file, he's been strongly attracted to rock and AOR since he was a junior high school student.