[citation needed] In September 1999, a remix of Sakamoto's "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" titled "Heart of Asia" was released in Europe by German-Turkish disc jockey DJ Quicksilver, under the alias Watergate.

In 2004, Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica included a piano remix of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" on his third album, Variations Part I&II.

In 2008, a cover version of "Forbidden Colours" was included on Hollywood Mon Amour,[18] a collection of songs from soundtracks of movies made in the 1980s, rearranged by Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague with Nadeah Miranda providing the vocals.

In 2009, British singer Faryl Smith recorded a version of the song for her album Wonderland, entitled "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Somewhere Far Away)".

[19] On 27 July 2024, at the Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba, the German band Kraftwerk played a cover version of "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" as a tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died in 2023.