Holly Jolly X'masu

Welcome to episode 133 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the 1963 album, "$100 Million Christmas In Stereophonic Sounds," featuring Hiroshi Ishimaru conducting the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. I hope you enjoyed Hiroshi Ishimaru's "$100 Million Christmas In Stereophonic Sounds." It's really a fantastic album. I'm sorry that this episode is a little lighter on content than most epis...

Welcome to episode 132 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this New Year's Eve bonus episode, I talk about the 1979 album, "Christmas Carol With Go Go," by Korean guitarist Ra Eum Pa. I hope you enjoyed "Christmas Carol With Go Go." It's been a rough week so I had to rush through this episode. Given a couple more weeks, I might have been able to find that blog that talked about Ra Eum Pa, but I gave up afte...

Welcome to episode 131 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this special Christmas Day episode, I talk about the truly amazing 1971 album by the Warner Beatniks, "Rock Christmas Rock." I hope you enjoyed "Rock Christmas Rock," and that you were able to make it part of your Christmas celebration. It's one of the most unbelievable albums in my collection, and I'm lucky to have a copy. Have a Merry Christmas, t...

Welcome to episode 130 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the Kodama Press sonojournal, "X'mas Dance Music," featuring Yasushi Ashida and his Mellow Notes. I hope you enjoyed listening to and learning what little I was able to uncover about Yasushi Ashida. The music here really is fantastic. Collecting these old sonojournals and flexi-discs has been an adventure unto itself. Whil...

Welcome to episode 129 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the Tokyo Ocean Orchestra's 1971 album, "White Christmas." I hope you enjoyed the enigmatic Tokyo Ocean Orchestra as much as I do. I really love this, not just because it's an 8-track, but because it helps show that there is still plenty of undiscovered Christmas music out there. I've been lucky enough to find several reco...

Welcome to episode 128 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this special X'mas Stars On 78 episode, I talk about a selection of my Christmas 78s. I hope you enjoyed this look at older Japanese Christmas records. The work and care that goes into these really make me appreciate them even more. Even though I've been collecting them for nearly five years, every time I listen to one, I can't help but think about...

Welcome to episode 127 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Takeshi Terauchi's 1983 album, "Electric Merry Christmas." I hope you've enjoyed learning about Takeshi Terauchi's life and career, and listening to his Christmas music. The term "legend" tends to get thrown around a lot, but Terry truly lived up to the name. As you all know, December is the high point of the year for me....

Welcome to episode 126 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Takeshi Terauchi's 1979 album, "Let's Go! Terry X'mas." I hope you're enjoying my coverage of Takeshi Terauchi. If you like Christmas Rock, you can't go wrong with Terry. "Let's Go! Terry X'mas" has a great, late 70s vibe to it, with its blend of Rock, Country, Funk and Disco. It's one of those albums that should appeal to...

Welcome to episode 125 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Takeshi Terauchi's Christmas music from the 1960's. I hope you enjoyed this first episode about the God of Electric Guitar. His records were some of my favorites early on, and I still listen to them whenever I get the chance. Although I managed to get back on pace at the end of last month, things got really hectic again an...

Welcome to episode 124 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about Hiroko Williams' 2016 album, "My Room For Christmas." I hope you enjoyed "My Room For Christmas" as much as I do. It's such a fantastic album, and Hiroko Williams is absolutely amazing. She's had a fascinating career, and learning about it really kept me engaged while working on this episode. Be sure to listen in next mon...

Welcome to episode 123 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about Mami Horie's 2010 album, "The Swingin' Christmas." I hope you liked Mami Horie's album as much as I do. There are some real gems here, and I'm glad I was finally able to share it with you. I can't help but wonder about what derailed her career, and just how big a star she would have been if that hadn't happened. On a posi...

Welcome to episode 122 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the 1997 compilation, "Winter Gift Pops." I hope you enjoyed "Winter Gift Pops." It's a fun album and one I've been looking forward to sharing. As hard as I tried to get this episode out before the end of September, life got in the way. To say it's been crazy is an understatement. Like I've said several times over the pas...

Welcome to episode 121 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about Yasuko Agawa's 1990 album, "Come In Christmas." I hope you enjoyed learning about and listening to Yasuko Agawa. This album was a really pleasant surprise, and it's one I've listened to multiple times since getting it. I'm still trying to back on track, but I do plan on getting out one more episode before the end of the m...

Welcome to episode 120 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about Yuzoh Kayama's 1983 album, "White Christmas." I hope you enjoyed Yuzoh Kayama's "White Christmas." He's been a massive star in Japan since the 60s. One difficulty I had writing this episode was the fact that there's such a wealth of information about him. I did my best to cover the highlights, though. I'll get to his musi...

Welcome to episode 119 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about a selection of Christmas singles from the 1980s. I hope you enjoyed this collection of songs from 1984. I was hoping to get a couple other 1984-themed episodes out this month, but between my daughters' school and sports starting back, a severe lack of sleep, and a dozen other crises popping up throughout the month, I was...

Welcome to episode 118 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  For my fifth annual Christmas in July episode, I'll once again be covering a mix of tropical, summery, and out-of-season Christmas songs from a variety of artists. I hope this episode added a little Christmas spirit to your summer. These episodes where I pull songs from a variety of records and CD's are a lot of work, but they're also a lot of fun. I...

Welcome to episode 117 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the Christmas music from the obscure Group Sounds band, Takehisa Kono and the Highways. I hope you enjoyed the Highways' Christmas music. One of the things I enjoy most about collecting Japanese Christmas music is that there's such a wealth of it to discover. The sonojournals and flexi-discs add another entire layer to it...

Welcome to episode 116 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the 1970 album, "X'mas Golden Hits," by the Candle-Light Orchestra and the Singers Three. I hope you enjoyed "X'mas Golden Hits" as much as I do. While some of the albums labeled "Now Sound" can put you to sleep, this is one I can listen to over and over again. It's loaded with fun arrangements, and the Singers Three neve...

Welcome to episode 115 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the 1962 compilation, "Young Christmas." [ ] I hope you enjoyed "Young Christmas." It's one of my favorite albums, not just because of the music, but also because of how scarce it is, and how lucky I was to get such an affordable copy. When I started researching this, I didn't realize this would turn into a True Crime epi...

Welcome to episode 114 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the 1963 album, "Merry Christmas Everyone – Folk Dance Party," produced by Teruaki Kawamura and the Japan Recreation Association. I hope you enjoyed "Merry Christmas Everyone." Despite the objections to it and the song's problematic history, I've always been fascinated with Japan's relationship to "Turkey In The Straw." I...

Welcome to episode 113 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this special mini-episode, I talk about the 1957 Christmas single from Akihiro Miwa. I hope you enjoyed learning about Akihiro Miwa and listening to his music. His "Jingle Bells" is one of my favorites. Like I said in the episode, I was only able to scratch the surface about all he's been through and accomplished over the years, so be sure to Googl...

Welcome to episode 112 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the Tokyo Cuban Boys' 1966 album, "Christmas Dance Party." This is a wonderful album. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. For a popular, prolific band with a career spanning nine decades, you'd think I'd have been able to find a little more biographical information about them. Their Wikipedia entry is short and repetit...

Welcome to episode 111 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the 2004 compilation, "Christmas For Anyone?" I hope you enjoyed "Christmas For Anyone?" I'd say that it's another of those unassuming albums loaded with a stellar lineup of lesser-known musicians, but that cover is anything other than unassuming. It's a great collection, though, and one I'd already listened to multiple t...

Welcome to episode 110 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  In this episode, I talk about the children's book and album, "Superman Santa," from 1986. I hope you enjoyed "Superman Santa." While I would have loved a Casiopeia Christmas album, this was still a lot fun. It has an amusing premise and enjoyable music, and the book really adds to the experience. I'll post the pictures below. Join me back here next mo...

Welcome to episode 109 of Holly Jolly X'masu!  April is Jazz Awareness Month, and in this episode, I talk about the 1998 album, "Jingle Jazz." I hope you enjoyed "Jingle Jazz" as much as I do. I love a good Christmas Jazz album, and this one is one of the better, more recent ones in my collection. I know a fair number of people who won't give Jazz a chance. Jazz encompasses such a wide array of st...