5 J-Christmas Cuts

Every year since 2000, city-popster Mariya Takeuchi’s Sutekina Holiday has summoned Japan’s hungry masses to KFC for the by-now traditional festive feast. Yet, 24 years later, she's still identified with her other work, Plastic Love and beyond.

Such is the nature of Christmas music in Japan: it’s a genre, nothing more. One that artists of all stripes can dabble in without fear of being pigeonholed if a song happens to catch on. Here's a quick look at five festive offerings from some arguably unlikely performers.

B’z
Itsuka no Merry Christmas (1991)

From Japan’s biggest-selling musical act of all time comes Itsuka no Merry Christmas (Once Upon a Merry Christmas), a sweet yet sombre ballad that has consistently ranked as the nation’s second-best homegrown Christmas song, always losing out to city-popster Tatsuro Yamashita's Christmas Eve. Not bad for a song that was never even released as a single.


_{Note: Itsuka no Merry Christmasis is only available on YouTube with Premium subscription, but is available worldwide on Spotify (unlike Christmas Eve).}

T.M.Revolution
Burnin’ X’mas (1998)

T.M.Revolution once dared to highlight the fact that Christmas ain’t necessarily a season of good cheer for everyone. The caustic Burnin’ X’mas is J-pop’s answer to The Fairytale of New York, casting Takanori Nishikawa as a lonely soul on the edge of despair on Christmas Night.

LAREINE
WHITENESS ~Yuki no kubikazari~ (2002)

Visual kei bands have always been game for some festive fun — just ask KUROYUME or SHAZNA — but a young KAMIJO once really pushed the sled out. Years before taking on the persona of an aristocratic French vampire, he lent his voice to a Christmas tree. Turns out this particular pine tree simply pines to see people smile.

SCANDAL
Koibito ga Santa Claus (2010)

Newly-minted world record holders SCANDAL were still rocking plaid skirts when they put a strummy garage rock spin on Yumi Matsutoya’s oft-covered classic Koibito ga Santa Claus (My Baby Santa Claus). Though its lyrics are arguably less risqué than Santa Baby, the highly-opinionated Takashi Odajima once blamed Matsutoya's original for single-handedly turning Christmas into a "lewd event" in '80s Japan. How very scandalous.

ToshI
Chicken Rice (2018)

We end on a more savoury note with another cover, this time a ballad, from a man who has sung a few. Chicken Rice is as wholesome as the titular ketchup-infused dish. It references co-writer Hitoshi Matsumoto’s impoverished youth, where he found himself ordering the cheapest meal off a menu out of consideration for his parents. The 2004 original was a cosy little tune in itself, but ToshI’s treatment is downright stirring.


Find the aforementioned songs, including Sutekina Holiday and over 40 others, on JaME’s “J-Christmas Songs” Spotify playlist below. Happy holidays!