The song by Miki Matsubara, “Stay with me” (Mayonaka no Door), which any City Pop fan would be familiar with, has been played 4.6 million times over the past year on Spotify. The number of views is increasing in Thailand and Malaysia, and in Indonesia it has been played 30,000 times this recent month. I am happy to see this phenomenon, but at...
In this column, I will introduce the movie series Torakku Yaro (Truck Guys). This is an action-comedy movie about a Japanese long-distance truck driver. When the first one was released in 1975, it was a big hit with box office revenue of 8 million dollars, and 10 sequels were made in 5 years. Bunta Sugawara, who played the main character Momojiro, previously became a...
Aimyon debuted from an indies label in 2015, and has gained strong popularity. Her debut song shocked listeners with lyrics that were so radical that it was banned from being broadcast on TV and radio. The promotional video was very innovative, using the communication app LINE. Aimyon’s family had a big influence on her wanting to become a singer songwriter. She grew up listening to...
Who is Japan’s No. 1 band? My response would be “Southern All Stars”. They are a great band who has released so many hit songs since their debut in 1978. When I was 13 years old, I first heard their debut song “Katteni Sindbad” and remember getting goosebumps. It is when I heard “Itoshi no Ellie”, that I realized the profound impact that music had...
The 30 best Japanese anime songs were recently announced on Asahi TV, as determined by a vote from 130,000 Japanese anime fans. The first place went to Yoko Takahashi’s “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” 「残酷な天使のテーゼ」, released in 1995 as the opening song for the hit anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. It comes as no surprise, since Evangelion is a very popular anime after all! (By the way,...
Kyohei Tsutsumi, the composer of many hit Japanese Kayokyoku songs, has passed away. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he has created most of the hit songs that everyone in Japan has sang along to at one time, since the 1960’s to the present. I grew up listening to these songs. To distinguish this genre from “City Pop”, led by the...
