Japanese with anime voice: episode6
Hello everyone. I’m Sachi.
It will soon be Christmas! How will you spend your Christmas? I’m going to spend Christmas the same way as any other day, but I’m going to eat cake and chicken. I used to think that it was normal to spend Christmas romantically with one’s sweetheart, but I remember being impressed by the cultural differences when I saw scenes of spending Christmas with family in foreign movies and TV dramas. Do you spend Christmas with your family? Or with your lover?
So, in honor of Christmas, I would like to introduce five of my favorite Christmas songs! Of course, they are Japanese music. I chose songs that are easy to listen to, especially for those of you who are studying Japanese! All of them have great lyrics. I hope you will give them a listen. But sadly, I can’t play the songs due to copyright issues. Yeah, probably. Instead, it’s listed in the summary section, so just copy and paste it and google it! You can easily listen to it on YouTube or something.
I wish I could sing, but unfortunately, I am very poor at singing. So I can’t sing. If I sang it, it would be too different from the original, and I think it would confuse you. Since I can’t play the song, I’ll introduce the meaning of the Japanese words and the lyrics instead. First, let me start with the titles of the five songs.
- クリスマス・イブ
- 恋人がサンタクロース
- いつかのメリークリスマス
- 白い恋人達
- ゲレンデが溶けるほど恋したい
Let me explain each one in turn.
クリスマス・イブ/山下達郎
This song was used in a JR Tokai commercial in 1988 and exploded in popularity, but it was released in 1983. Although it is a very old song, it is still a standard Christmas song that is played in Japan at Christmas time, following the likes of “Mariah Carey” and “Wham. The song starts out with “Ame ha yofukefugi ni yuki heto kawarudarou,” and when it rains in winter, this phrase always comes to mind. By the way, to explain the word Yofukesugi, it is a combination of the words yofuke and sugi. Yofuke” means midnight, and “sugi” means a little after midnight. In terms of time, it is about 2:00 a.m.
恋人がサンタクロース/松任谷由実
All of Ms. Matsutoya’s songs, nicknamed “Yumin,” have a nostalgic melody. Also, her voice is clear and crisp, making it very easy to listen to. The title of this song is “Koibito ga Santa Claus. Reading only this title, you may think that the particle is wrong. The particle here should be “ha,” not “ga.
The lyrics of the song make this clear. The lyrics read, “A long time ago, a neighbor’s sister told me that Santa Claus was coming to my house”. The child who hears this really thought it was Santa Claus at the time, but as an adult he realizes that what the neighborhood sister was talking about was her lover. So this title is not subjective, but an objective statement, so the particle is ‘ga’.
いつかのメリークリスマス/B’z
The title of this song, “itsuka”, refers to any of the days in the past. It is used when you don’t remember a specific day or want to be ambiguous. This song is probably a lyric about the end of a relationship with a lover you liked very much. You wanted to cherish it, and you should have, but somehow or other, that love ended. Was it a bereavement? Or did they just break up? These are the kind of lyrics that make the listener wonder.
白い恋人達/桑田佳祐
The words of this song are easy to understand, but trying to know the meaning of the lyrics can be a bit difficult. Someday I would like to try to translate the meaning of the lyrics into English. Regardless of the melody. Simply to tell people that this is what the lyrics mean. For me, the title of the song is “Lover,” but I don’t think it is a song about love alone. I don’t know if the person has passed away or gone far away, but anyway, I am thinking about the person who will never come back to you again. I can imagine that these lyrics are not only about a lover but also about someone very close to you, such as a family member or a friend who was close to you. The last lyric, “tada aitakute mou setsunakute koishikute namida,” always makes me sentimental.
ゲレンデが溶けるほど恋したい/広瀬香美
There is a saying, “nigashita sakana ha ookii”, and the lyrics of this song seem to express exactly that. This song is very direct in saying, “If you lose me, your life is over, okay?”, like this. It seems unusual for a Japanese woman to clearly express her feelings to her lover like this, but I think it is good to have this level of confidence toward the person you love. If your girlfriend sings this song, you should think that she is saying, “If you break up with me, you will surely lose your life,” instead of “I can’t stop loving you.
These are the five recommended songs. All of the artists are famous and popular in Japan. Moreover, they have created songs that transcend generations and are still loved by people today. I prefer Japanese music from the 80’s to the early 2000’s. I’m sorry that this podcast is not about anime songs, even though I’m trying to push the anime voice. I would like to introduce some recommended anime songs next time. By the way, the other songs by the artists introduced here are also very good. However, please note that Mr. Kuwata has a unique way of singing, so some of the songs are difficult to understand and some lyrics are a little bit outrageous.
