Miki Imai -- Hitori de Xmas (ひとりでXmas)

"Hitori de Xmas" (Christmas Alone) was a song that was written and composed by Miki Imai（今井美樹）, one of two new tracks on her otherwise album of covers, "Fiesta" released in December 1988. The album itself peaked at No. 6 on Oricon as Imai tackled The Carpenters, Minnie Ripperton and Rickie Lee Jones. I came across her first Xmas song actually on her first Best album, "Ivory" in 1989, and it has that early Imai sound of soft synths. The lyrics, as the title suggests, has Imai seeing that white blanket of snow on the ground while wondering what an old flame is doing with his new girlfriend on Xmas Eve. Knowing about Imai back then, I can only guess she would probably have looked out the window while drinking a cup of cocoa in an overly large sweater for hours before curling up in a big armchair and watching "White Christmas". Such is life.

(cover version)

Yujiro Ishihara -- Arashi wo Yobu Otoko (嵐を呼ぶ男）

My memories of Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎） were mostly of his later years when he was The Big Man: crooning enka ballads and being the veteran police squad leader on TV. I wouldn't know until much later that Ishihara had once been the tall strapping young hellraiser in his movies. To be honest, I haven't seen any of his flicks in the 50s and 60s, but there was one scene from one movie that I managed to catch on a television retrospective on Ishihara.

The movie was "Arashi wo Yobu Otoko" (Man Who Causes A Storm) which was released in December 1957. It's about a young ex-con named Shoichi (played by Ishihara) who finds a job as a drummer in a Ginza nightclub and proceeds to claw his way up the ladder. The big scene is when Shoichi sings the main tune while he drums up a storm despite having injured his hand.

Written by Umetsugu Inoue（井上梅次） and composed by Seitarou Omori（大森盛太郎）, the song sold 630,000 copies after its release in February 1958. There wouldn't be an Oricon ranking system for another decade, but if there had been, this song probably would've been a No. 1 easily.

The above is the trailer for the movie. Seeing Ishihara's two different types of cool in the 50s and in the 70s/80s rather reminds me of Clint Eastwood. Perhaps his brother, former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, could've felt the same way when he met Eastwood himself a few years ago when the director came to Japan.

And in one of the recent Kohaku Utagassen specials, Ishihara's old kohai and buddy from the Ishihara Gundan, actor/singer Hiroshi Tachi（舘ひろし）, gives his own tribute to The Big Man.
(The performance starts at around 5:20 below.)

Momoe Shimano -- Apple

Not sure when I first heard this song....it was probably in a CD shop at either a listening post or just through the speakers in the store. But having listened to an excerpt of it, I knew I just had to get it. I just loved the intro....it doesn't really sound like an Xmas song, but it's got a fine groove and Shimano mentions Xmas Eve at least twice.

Momoe Shimano（嶋野百恵） from Osaka made her debut in July 1998 with "Baby Baby Service". "Apple" was her 2nd single released in December of that year. I'm not sure if she's still recording music now since her last recorded single was in 2003, but she is keeping up a blog right here.

Kazumasa Oda/Bobby Caldwell -- Kimi ni Merry Xmas （君にMerry Xmas)

(instrumental version)

I'd been flicking through the Kazumasa Oda（小田和正） singles at one of the major music shops in Tokyo; I'd already gotten "Little Tokyo" by him which I loved, but then I came across this other Oda single titled "Kimi ni Merry Xmas"(Merry Xmas to You) with a picture of this nighttime Xmas tree that you see above you. I bought it and took it home to give it a listen. It was a sad but beautiful ballad with a sound that was more reminiscent of New York City instead of Tokyo. I especially loved the bluesy saxophone in the middle; actually there were two versions of that sax solo, the second of which is heard in the above video.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%90%9B%E3%81%ABMerry-Xmas-%E5%B0%8F%E7%94%B0%E5%92%8C%E6%AD%A3/dp/B00005EJTH

(excerpt only)

"Kimi ni Merry Xmas" came out in December 1989 as Oda's 4th single, and peaked at No. 6 on the Oricon weeklies. This is also another one of my must-plays in December.

Not sure when but soulful crooner Bobby Caldwell also came up with a cover of the Oda Xmas classic titled simply, "Merry Xmas". He also does a masterful job, and the English lyrics pretty much tell the original meaning of the Japanese words in which a man is trying to make amends after a fight with his girlfriend on Xmas Eve.

Xmas in Shibuya

Princess Princess -- M

In place of the usual NHK "Kayo Concert", there was an NHK documentary about the return of the rock band Princess Princess. I mentioned in my first entry ("Diamonds") on the band that the five ladies were getting back together after 16 years of retirement from active performing to raise funds for recovery efforts from the 2011 Earthquake in November. The documentary was an interesting one as the camera focused on each member as she individually prepared herself for the return while take care of regular life. Lead vocal Kaori Kishitani（岸谷香） spoke on the demands of taking care of her kids at school, guitarist Kanako Nakayama（中山加奈子） has just been taking the train like everyone else while sporting her guitar without any fear of being mobbed by rabid fans, and drummer Kyoko Tomita（富田京子） has been renting out a music space and hitting the gym to get herself back into touring shape.

Going back to 1989 though, "M" was actually the B-side to Princess Princess' biggest hit, "Diamonds". However, "M" probably got as much airplay as the other hits by the band. I used to hear it tons of times at the junior high schools I used to teach at, especially when it came to graduation season since the song, written by Tomita and composed by Kishitani, referenced a woman's remembrances of a high school friendship that has now gone into wistful memory as the two have gone their separate ways. I recollect one playing of the song near the end of a school year which had the female students sobbing away. Princess Princess definitely is one of my bands of memory when it came to my time in Gunma Prefecture.

So, back in 2012, it's nice to hear that Princess Princess will be appearing on this year's Kohaku Utagassen in a few weeks....for the very first time. Will like to see what the ratings will be like at that time.

Akiko Kobayashi -- City of Angels

http://www.amazon.co.jp/GOLDEN%E2%98%86BEST-%E5%B0%8F%E6%9E%97%E6%98%8E%E5%AD%90-Single-Collection~%E6%81%8B%E3%81%AB%E3%81%8A%E3%81%A1%E3%81%A6~/dp/B0052PN75S/ref=pd_cp_15_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1MQE8WY77H71SBN7D8WS

(excerpt only...yes, I realize that

the above is a link to one of her BEST compilations

but it's the only source for some of the tracks from "City of Angels")

Having been an Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）ever since her huge debut hit, "Fall In Love" in 1985, I think I joined a lot of fans marveling at how similar she sounded to the late wonderful Karen Carpenter. So, of course, the inevitable "What If?" question was asked. Namely, what if Kobayashi and the other half of The Carpenters, Richard, teamed up? Her staff must have mulled this a good long while before suggesting to Akiko:

Staff: Why don't you ask him?
Akiko: Uhhh....you know this is Richard Carpenter.
Staff: What have you got to lose?
Akiko: Well.....Ohhhhhhh-kay.

Of course, the above exchange is pure conjecture. I can't imagine what the real conversation was like, but the result was that Kobayashi sent over a demo tape to Carpenter, and he enjoyed what he heard and was intrigued by the similarities between her voice and that of his sister. The "What If" was resolved in March 1988, when Kobayashi's 4th studio album, "City of Angels", was released. Carpenter handled the production and arrangement, and it shows. The entire production was done in the actual City of Angels.

The first track is "Rainbow, Rainbow", written and composed by Kobayashi, and when I first listened to it, I went "WOW!" With Carpenter back at his old station behind the keyboards and helping out on backing vocals, the song just sounded like a Carpenters tune circa 1980s. Kobayashi sounded even more like Karen than usual. I'm sure a lot of her fans were reaching for the Kleenex.

Kobayashi and Carpenter teamed up also on backing vocals for "Only the Angels Know", an urban contemporary entry composed and written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford respectively. I'm not sure if it was the Carpenter effect, but Kobayashi's vocals seemed to get somewhat deeper and richer from this album forward. In her earlier albums of "Fall In Love" and "Kokoro no Mama ni", the cadence was there but her voice seemed to be in a higher register than that of Karen's. Everything just seemed to click into place here. Below is also a wonderful version by Linda Clifford.

On this very Carpenteresque album, "Let's Fall in Love Forever" is probably the most reminiscent of The Carpenters' heyday. The musical ingredients are there: the flowing keyboards and strings, Richard and Akiko singing away, and the plaintive oboe. Randall Rumage took care of the music while Pamela Phillips Olard wrote the lyrics which were changed into Japanese by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）.

It's very difficult for me to pick out which of Kobayashi's albums is my favourite...kinda like trying to choose my favourite child. Still, I think with "City of Angels", there was some wish fulfillment accomplished for the vast majority of her fans, including myself.

Akiko Kobayashi -- City of Angels

Ruiko Kurahashi -- December 24

I'm not sure how many Japanese singers followed Yumi Matsutoya's "Lodge de Matsu Christmas" in 1978 with their own salute to the holiday. The most famous J-Xmas song of them all, "Christmas Eve" by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）wouldn't come out until 1982, but perhaps a year before his magnum opus came out, there was young pop singer Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）with "December 24".

"December 24" was one of the tracks on Kurahashi's 2nd album, "Morning Shadow" , which was appropriately enough released in December 1981. The song may not have gained anywhere near the attention that "Christmas Eve" has, but it's still one of my personal favourites within my J-Xmas collection of music. It just has that somewhat breezy arrangement of life in the big city in the early 80s.

The song is definitely in Kurahashi's wheelhouse: a mid-tempo adult contemporary tune with a saxophone solo by ever-present Jake H. Concepcion and a trumpet to assist her tender voice. Composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, the song follows that well-trod trope of being newly alone and lonely on arguably the most important day for romantic couples in Japan.

A Xmas tree in Shinjuku