An Easy Intro To Japanese Music

Man this is another one I started trying to write over a year ago and was doing on and off since then until fully focusing on it this month. Glad to have it finally done. Quite proud of this one!
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
04:54 Haruomi Hosono - Hosono House
08:58 Ryo Fukui - Scenery
10:20 Taeko Ohnuki - Sunshower
12:27 Cornelius - Fantasma
14:12 Fishmans - 98. 12. 28.
16:16 Number Girl - School Girl Distortional Addict
19:24 Nujabes - Metaphorical Music
22:22 Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Fanclub
25:03 Perfume - GAME
27:05 Tricot - THE
29:09 Mass of the Fermenting Dregs - No New World
30:49 The end

Link to the Number Girl final live performance:

Edit: Wow now that I finally figured out how to make voiceover audio actually sound okay I already hate how I sound here how did I ever think that was good enough

[banjohead]

For myself, it's taken years to accumulate a huge catalog of Japanese bands I love and I really don't mind having engaged the time and effort. I've been dedicated to it long enough that YouTube and Spotify recommendations are including same-day releases of new artists that align to my very varied tastes. I'm currently finding roughly 12 new artists that I especially like each month.

If you're as particular about music as I am, you'll probably find very little value in charts based on who's currently selling well. Your best bet might be to sample through the artists represented here, follow the ones you dig, let the recommendations come, follow the recommendations you dig, repeat... If you're a critical listener, this will absolutely work for you as well as it has for me.

Also watch for collaborations/side projects/solo work among the artists you like. Watch the other artists that the artists you like produce or take on tour.

This playlist is evolving over time and will continue to do so -- breeze through it, skip the ones that don't resonate, follow the artists that do resonate and that world will reveal itself to you in a big way.

[coolbrotherf]

Most people start to learn Japanese for understanding anime and/or manga, but I actually started to understand and learn more about Japanese music. It's really cool to go from just enjoying the singing and music of a song to being able to fully understand the lyrics and subtleties of meaning and wordplay in the language.

[hommeboy]

the passage into japanese music is a never ending one. it's the type of music that makes you want to search deeper and deeper for more.

[choualacreme]

Nujabes and all artists that participate to the citypop era are my personal favorite 🥰

[tsugmakumo]

Japan has the 2nd largest music industry in the world. And I'd say it has the widest variety of sounds in the world.
The depth of their market is insane, I still manage to find great artists even though i listened to thousands of album.

[VersusThem]

As others pointed out, Casiopea, T square and Masayoshi Takanaka are absolute LEGENDS, and loved by the community, they HEAVILY influenced videogames music and city pop too. Also, please please please, listen the album "The rainbow goblins".
Oh, and The Pillows is its own mood

[DarkClud]

Surprised not to see Masayoshi Takanaka on here, his guitar style is so great and upbeat. He’s a lively guy who owns, and has live played a massive surfboard guitar. Amazing music and an important part of city pop!

[sentopain]

98.12.28 is my favorite live performance of all time, first time I heard it was such a cathartic experience.

Also wanna mention my personal favorite Japanese band Lamp, their entire discography is soul warming

[Gunzo]

Another big one, Casiopea that’s relatively underrated, especially since it’s more so jazz fusion. Great band definitely belongs in this discussion.

[Pattkii]

Tricot are in my opinion on the best bands in the world, they bring a very innovative sound with high energy and incredible vocals, also their bassist is a beast

[cassiephobia]

I see Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, I click. No New World is such a slept on album.

[eneteachedos]

I got into Japanese music around 2004 with L'Arc~en~Ciel and X Japan, i think them were a big discovery for a lot of people outside Japan

[spacelemming]

The pillows have allways been my favorite japanise band, almost evry song is nostelgic. Im not technical with music but my freind compared their music to the beatles singing over a navarna backing. Im glad there getting more recognition now.
Hybrid rainbow just does something to me

[Jemunari]

I was lucky enough to meet Mukai from NUMBER GIRL in February. He is such an awesome dude. Love that band so much.

[skylerstook]

Awesome video! I took a college class last semester on how music evolved through Japan, all the way from pre-western contact into the hyperreal JPOP stuff. A lot of the more modern material we covered, you covered as well. Glad to see you covered the Yamashita, Hosono, Ohnuki, and Sakamoto connection, as when I found out about that I was super blown away. Interestingly with regards to Tatsuro Yamashita, a lot of his big hits were due to tie-ins with commercials and movies such as his tie-in with the JR Tokai christmas commercial in 1989 (if I recall correctly).

[coconuthead]

I got into Japanese music from math rock, and my love of it just grew. Now I live in Japan and get to see a bunch of local artists live

[NexusBecauseWhyNot]

This list is amazing! Between my dabbles with Junko Ohashi, Casiopea, Omega Tribe, Suneset Rollercoaster and Shibusashirazu, I was stuck in finding a cohesive route though Japan's amazing musical works... I am glad there are people like you to guide us

[NK-qiez]

I’m Japanese.I personallyrecommend
(Psychedelic rock)
1.betcover!!
2.yura yura teikoku
3.fishmans
4.kimisima oozara
5.rashinban(or boredoms)

(other than that)
1.Lamp
2.kaneko ayano
3.yuta orisaka
4.kilingi

[airi]

Nano, hitsujibungaku, and Ai Higuchi fill my trifecta of artists that perfectly reflect my inner feelings. Ai Higuchi’s “minamikaze/south wind” is probably up there with my favorite songs of all time and I want everyone to hear it

[kemarcusdepay]

If you haven't checked out Shiina Ringo. I highly recomend it. She is really one of those artists that the more you find out about her the more you realize how amazing she really is. Shoso Strip and Kalk Samen are both easily 10/10s.