Welcome to episode 19 of Holly Jolly X’masu! In this episode, I cover Ryoko Moriyama’s 1969 album, “Ryoko’s Christmas.” Ryoko Moriyama is one of the most beloved and influential singers in Japan. Known as the Joan Baez of Japan and the Queen of College Folk, she has a career that has spanned six decades. She is still active today and will soon be re-embarking on a retrospective concert tour that was delayed due to COVID.

Ryoko’s Christmas – 1968

I’d been wanting to get her Christmas album for quite a while. When my sister donated to my Ko-fi page for Christmas, I decided to finally get it. I knew she’d released a few Christmas LP’s, as well as an earlier EP (I mistakenly stated it was from 1967 in the episode—it’s actually from 1968). I got what I thought was a later re-release of her 1969 album, only to find out it was a Christmas greatest hits album. Considering how often her original album has been released, though, the confusion was understandable.

Ryoko’s Christmas – 1969

It took me a while to figure it out, but I was finally able to determine which album each of the songs had come from, and just how much of her music I was missing. The 1976 album includes 21 songs, taken from three different albums. Those albums include a total of 40 songs, so I was missing nearly half her Christmas songs. And that’s not including her 4-song EP, or her 10-track LP from 1981. Her albums are generally affordable, though, so I decided to get all five. I considered getting them on CD, but from what I could tell, the songs from her EP have never been rereleased, while the three earlier albums have only been released in their entirety in a pair of extremely costly boxed sets.

Christmas Album – 1976

The pictures above are the ones I purchased. The pictures below are a variety of covers from the rereleases of the 1969 album. I believe this is all of them, not counting the CD releases. I’ll post pictures of her other albums with their respective episodes.

Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoyed Ryoko Moriyama’s music as much as I have. I look forward to covering her other albums in the coming weeks. Be sure to listen in. And don’t forget that my regularly-scheduled Christmas in July episode should be available on the 25th. I have some really great songs planned for that, and you don’t want to miss it.

As always, any feedback on this episode would be appreciated. If have any suggestions, or if you’d like to recommend a song or album for a future episode, drop me a line and let me know.

Remember, I’ve added a button to my Ko-fi page. If you’d like to support me one cup of coffee at a time, a donation is only $3. Any donations received will be put towards purchasing new Japanese Christmas music to review for future episodes. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And if you get a chance, leave me a review on iTunes. Thanks!