Mika Hino & Shuji Aoyama -- Otoko to Onna no Christmas （男と女のクリスマス）

(karaoke version)

How about some hot buttered shochu to go with that roast oden with all of the trimmings? Finish it off with some fine Yorkshire purin?

Just out of curiosity, I just put in the Japanese words of "kayo kyoku" and "Christmas" into the YouTube search engine, and this song popped out. Until tonight, I had never heard of "Otoko to Onna no Christmas" (Christmas for a Man and a Woman), but right from the title itself, the melding of Xmas and enka was right there.

Written by Tsutomu Uozumi（魚住勉） and composed by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, the same duo who had come up with an earlier Mika Hino（日野美歌） hit, "Otoko to Onna no Love Game"（男と女ラブゲーム）, "Otoko to Onna no Christmas" was released as Hino's 20th single in November 1991. Paired with Shuji Aoyama（青山修二）, the song answers the question "How would an Xmas Mood Kayo song sound?" Well, the jingle bells are in there along with the flirtatious melody of a couple meeting cute in some nomiya in Shimbashi. Uozumi's lyrics talk of a man and a woman alone and lonely on December 24 (something that should never happen in Tokyo on a day that rivals Valentine's Day for romance in Japan) until they meet up at that tinsel-decorated bar by chance and resolutely decide not to be lonely anymore.

To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it on that first listen, but after listening to it a second and third time, I think it's starting to grow on me. Maybe somewhere in a karaoke box after one of the many, many year-end parties this month, some folks may actually try it out for a bit of fun. The above video actually has a civilian karaoke duo performing it well. The video below has the actual pair of Hino and Aoyama taking it to the max with the choreography. As you might imagine, the two aren't taking the musical experiment too, too seriously (well, not anymore...the video has been taken down so here is another karaoke version).

Akio Kayama/Mika Hino/Teresa Teng -- Hisame （氷雨）

Probably one of the most recognized enka songs there is, "Hisame" (Icy Rain) is the song that most likely every enka singer and even beyond has tackled on stage or in front of the TV cameras. On YouTube, Mood Kayo veteran Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清of The Cool Five) has given his rendition, but Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）also covered it some years ago, and even the late singer Minako Honda（本田美奈子） gave her tribute to it.

But I wanted to center this article on the renditions by the original singer, Akio Kayama（佳山明生）, the first female enka singer to give it a spin, Mika Hino（日野美歌）, and finally Teresa Teng（テレサテン）, who makes any enka song sound great. "Hisame" was written and composed by Ren Tomari（とまりれん）, and it follows the classic enka trope of "crying into your sake" as the lonely protagonist just hangs about in a bar feeling sorry for himself/herself since there is no one home to come to....at least, not anymore.

The very first version of "Hisame" came out in December 1977 as Hokkaido-born Akio Kayama's debut single. It seems to have been the enka song that would never die as it was released again in late 1981, and then a 3rd release was made in July 1982. Well, it was three times lucky for Kayama as this version torpedoed into sales of about 800,000 records into 1983. I'm not sure if the 1982 version had undergone major changes from the first two attempts, but the video above is for this take, and it is the one with that famous melancholy intro that has greeted professional enka singers, karaoke amateurs and audiences alike for years. It peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and eventually became the 5th-ranked song for 1983. And at the Japan Record Awards for 1983, it won the Grand Prize as well as the Long-Seller's Prize. I guess timing is everything, even for a song that at the time was already 6 years old.

In December 1982, Mika Hino covered "Hisame" as her 2nd single. The arrangement here is different but no less melancholy. Although the song can and has been covered by male and female singers alike, I've wondered if the song was truly made for a woman. Kayama's delivery seems, at least to me anyways, to take on a feminine quality, and Hino certainly makes her version her own. Her delivery has a bit more of a fuller body and more resonance when she sings it. And apparently, the lyrics for her version have also been slightly altered. As for her success with the song, it peaked at No. 5 and then became the 15th-ranked song for 1983. I can gather that it isn't everyday that the same song sung by two different singers can get into the Top 20 of Oricon in the same year.

Teresa Teng's cover of "Hisame" was never released as an official single, but I've always enjoyed her voice when she delivers those enka classics. The melody follows that for the Kayama original.

At this point in my life, I don't think I would ever be able to competently give my own version of the song in the karaoke box, but I'm more than content to listen to the professionals handling it.

Mika Hino & Shiro Aoi -- Otoko to Onna no Love Game (男と女のラブ・ゲーム）

I've heard this song so many times at the karaoke boxes/karaoke bars at the various enkai (drinking parties) in Japan over the years (and it's probably still being sung right now [at least among the older folks] at the year-end parties) that I was surprised to find out that it was actually created in the late 80s and not a decade before.

"Otoko to Onna no Love Game"(A Man and A Woman's Love Game) is a classic Mood Kayo duet in that the lyrics by Tsutomu Uozumi（魚住勉） can have the male and female singers do that verbal give-and-take, thrust-and-parry, tease-and-flirt while they pretend (or not pretend) to be drunk. The music by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, despite my initial thoughts about its origins, has some of that synthesized City Pop/J-AOR that might give away its debut date of December 1986. The song actually made it up to No. 41 in the 1987 yearly singles.

I can honestly say that I have only been witness to this song and not an active participant. Not that I would've declined the opportunity if asked, but I think my karaoke days have gone the same way as my skinny ties and silvery gray suit.

Although probably a number of artists have covered the song on various TV shows over the decades, Mika Hino（日野美歌）and Shiro Aoi（葵司朗）are the originals, and though they seem to be as sober as we karaoke singers in this video, Hino has the role of the gently chiding female half while Aoi is the bumbling sot, drunk in both drink and love.