"NOEL A LA MODE" is a champagne festival held every November at the Isetan Shinjuku store. This year, marking its 12th anniversary, the event will run from November 19th to 25th, with approximately 30 exquisite champagnes lined up in the store's main building's 6th floor event hall. We spoke to musician Naruyoshi Kikuchi, who oversaw the music for the event, about the appeal of champagne. Kikuchi, who oversaw the music for the event, created a selection of music perfect for enjoying champagne, titled "The Marriage of Music and Champagne." He applied his unique aesthetic sensibility to select music perfect for sipping champagne, from Duke Ellington's jazz and Maria Callas' opera to Pharrell Williams' "IN MY MIND" and jazz by UA and Naruyoshi Kikuchi. Kikuchi explains the appeal of champagne as follows: "In a time when sake and wine are increasingly being honed in their locality, champagne has no locality. Rather than being honed in a particular region, like "Chanel" or "Porsche," champagne is unique in its own right." "Aging" is a key theme at this year's Noël à la Mode, and the venue will feature vintage champagne aged in each maison's carefully curated underground cellar. Kikuchi explains the sense of passing time: "While many modern-day Japanese hobbies are regressive, I believe that our sense of taste never reverts. Taste experiences, like being able to eat things we couldn't eat as children, never regress. That's what makes taste so fascinating and rich." Next month, Kikuchi will be releasing an album by Rinko Kikuchi, produced by Kikuchi. He also describes her appeal as having a "bitterness" that's a bit too much for the average Japanese man to handle.

Kikuchi also said that what he likes most about Isetan after the remodel is "The Stand," a bar that was opened in the sales area on the second floor. "For example, next to the (women's) shoe department on the second floor of the main building, there's a bar that's conveniently located where you just want to take a break, and it's great that you can have champagne or coffee. It feels just like a teahouse on a mountain pass," he said with a smile, before leaving the venue with a glass of Michel Reybier champagne that he had chosen himself.