Music of Japan

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Local music often appears at karaoke venues, which is on lease from the record labels. Traditional Japanese music is quite different from Western music as it is often based on the intervals of human breathing rather than mathematical timing.[5]

Traditional and folk music[edit]



Traditional music[edit]

Biwa hōshi, Heike biwa, mōsō, and goze[edit]







Taiko performing


Modern ensemble taiko is said to have been invented by Daihachi Oguchi in 1951.[8] A jazz drummer, Oguchi incorporated his musical background into large ensembles, which he had also designed. His energetic style made his group popular throughout Japan, and made the Hokuriku region a center for taiko music. Musical groups to arise from this wave of popularity included Oedo Sukeroku Daiko, with Seido Kobayashi. 1969 saw a group called Za Ondekoza founded by Tagayasu Den; Za Ondekoza gathered together young performers who innovated a new roots revival version of taiko, which was used as a way of life in communal lifestyles. During the 1970s, the Japanese government allocated funds to preserve Japanese culture, and many community taiko groups were formed. Later in the century, taiko groups spread across the world, especially to the United States. The video game Taiko Drum Master is based around taiko. One example of a modern Taiko band is Gocoo.

Min'yō folk music[edit]

A Japanese folkswoman with her shamisen, 1904
Main article: Min'yō






See also Ainu music of north Japan.

Okinawan folk music[edit]

Main article: Ryukyuan music





Traditional instruments[edit]

Arrival of Western music[edit]

Traditional pop music[edit]

Main articles: Ryūkōka, Kayōkyoku, and Enka



Ichiro Fujiyama, influential ryūkōka singer



Art music[edit]

Western classical music[edit]




Main article: Japanese jazz



Some of the newer bands include Ego-Wrappin' and Sakerock along with more experimental musicians such as Otomo Yoshihide and Keiji Haino.

Popular music[edit]


Main article: J-pop

J-pop, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a loosely defined musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s pop and rock music, such as The Beatles, which led to bands such as Happy End fusing rock with Japanese music.[11] J-pop was further defined by Japanese new wave bands such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Southern All Stars in the late 1970s.[12] Eventually, J-pop replaced kayōkyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese pop music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene.[13] The term was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music from foreign music.

Idol music[edit]

Momoiro Clover Z, ranked as number one among female idol groups according to 2013–2016 surveys in Japan.[14]

Japanese idol musical artists are a significant part of the music market, with girl groups and boy bands regularly topping the singles chart. These include boy band Arashi, that had the best-selling singles of 2008 and 2009, and girl group AKB48, that have had the best-selling singles each year since 2010.

Since the end of the 2010s, more and more idol groups have emerged. The high number of idol groups in the Japanese entertainment industry is sometimes called "Idol sengoku jidai" (アイドル戦国時代; lit. Idol war age).[15]

In 2014, about 486,000 people attended Momoiro Clover Z's live concerts, which was the highest record for female musicians in Japan.[16] Momoiro Clover Z has been ranked as the most popular female idol group from 2013 to 2016.[14]

Dance and disco music[edit]

Further information: Eurobeat and Para Para

In 1984, American musician Michael Jackson's album Thriller became the first album by a Western artist to sell over one million copies in Japanese Oricon charts history.[17] His style is cited as one of the models for Japanese dance music, leading the popularity of Avex Group and Johnny & Associates.[18]

In 1990, Avex Trax began to release the Super Eurobeat series in Japan. Eurobeat in Japan led the popularity of group dance form Para Para. While Avex's artists such as Every Little Thing and Ayumi Hamasaki became popular in the 1990s, new names in the late 1990s included Hikaru Utada and Morning Musume. Hikaru Utada's debut album, First Love, went on to be the highest-selling album in Japan with over 7 million copies sold, whereas Ayumi Hamasaki became Japan's top selling female and solo artist, and Morning Musume remains one of the most well-known girl groups in the Japanese pop music industry.


Main article: J-Rock

In the 1960s, many Japanese rock bands were influenced by Western rock musicians such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, along with other Appalachian folk music, psychedelic rock, mod and similar genres: a phenomenon that was called Group Sounds (G.S.). John Lennon of The Beatles later became one of the most popular Western musicians in Japan.[19] Group Sounds is a genre of Japanese rock music that was popular in the mid to late 1960s.[citation needed] After the boom of Group Sounds, there were several influential singer-songwriters. Nobuyasu Okabayashi was the first who became widely recognized.[citation needed] Wataru Takada, inspired by Woody Guthrie, also became popular.[citation needed]. They both were influenced by American folk music but wrote Japanese lyrics. Takada used modern Japanese poetry as lyrics, while Kazuki Tomokawa made an album using Chuya Nakahara's poems. Tomobe Masato, inspired by Bob Dylan, wrote critically acclaimed lyrics.[citation needed] The Tigers was the most popular Group Sounds band in the era. Later, some of the members of The Tigers, The Tempters and The Spiders formed the first Japanese supergroup Pyg.


Several Japanese musicians began experimenting with electronic rock in the early 1970s. The most notable was the internationally renowned Isao Tomita, whose 1972 album Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock featured electronic synthesizer renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs.[20] Other early examples of electronic rock records include Inoue Yousui's folk rock and pop rock album Ice World (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which involved contributions from Haruomi Hosono,[21][22] who later started the electronic music group "Yellow Magic Band" (later known as Yellow Magic Orchestra) in 1977.[23] Most influentially, the 1970s spawned the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, led by Haruomi Hosono.

In the 1980s, Boøwy inspired alternative rock bands like Shonen Knife, The Pillows, and Tama & Little Creatures as well as more experimental bands such as Boredoms and mainstream bands such as Glay. In 1980, Huruoma and Ry Cooder, an American musician, collaborated on a rock album with Shoukichi Kina, driving force behind the aforementioned Okinawan band Champloose. They were followed by Sandii & the Sunsetz, who further mixed Japanese and Okinawan influences. Also during the 1980s, Japanese metal and rock bands gave birth to the movement known as visual kei, represented during its history by bands like X Japan, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Malice Mizer and many others, some of which experienced national, and international success in the latest years.


Green Stage of the Fuji Rock Festival



Punk rock / alternative[edit]

Further information: Japanese hardcore



Heavy metal[edit]

Main article: Japanese metal

Japan is known for being a successful area for metal bands touring around the world and many live albums are recorded in Japan. Notable examples are Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East, Iron Maiden's Maiden Japan, Deep Purple's Made in Japan, Michael Schenker Group's One Night at Budokan and Dream Theater's Live at Budokan.

Japanese heavy metal bands started emerging in the late 1970s, pioneered by bands like Bow Wow, formed in 1975 by guitarist Kyoji Yamamoto, and Loudness, formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki. Although there existed other contemporary bands, like Earthshaker, Anthem and 44 Magnum, their debut albums were released only around the mid eighties when metal bands started getting a major exposure. First oversease live performances were by Bow Wow in 1978 in Hong Kong and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, as well played at the Reading Festival in England in 1982.[24] In 1983, Loudness toured United States and Europe, and started focusing more on an international career. In 1985, the first Japanese metal act was signed to a major label in the United States. Their albums Thunder in the East and Lightning Strikes, released in 1985 and 1986, peaked at number 74 (while number 4 in homeland Oricon chart), and number 64 in the Billboard 200 charts respectively.[25][26] Till the end of the eighties only two other bands, Ezo and Dead End, got their albums released in the United States. In the eighties few bands had a female members, like all-female band Show-Ya fronted by Keiko Terada, and Terra Rosa with Kazue Akao on vocals. In September 1989, Show-Ya's album Outerlimits was released, it reached number 3 in the Oricon album chart.[27] Heavy metal bands reached their peak in the late 1980s and many disbanded until the mid-1990s.


In 1982, some of the first Japanese glam metal bands were formed, like Seikima-II with Kabuki-inspired makeup, and X Japan who pioneered the Japanese movement known as visual kei, and became the best-selling metal band.[28] In 1985, Seikima-II's album Seikima-II - Akuma ga Kitarite Heavy Metal was released and although it reached number 48 on the Oricon album chart, it exceeded 100,000 in sales, the first time for any Japanese metal band. Their albums charted regularly in the top ten until the mid 1990s. In April 1989, X Japan's second album Blue Blood was released and went to number 6, and after 108 weeks on charts sold 712,000 copies.[29] Their third and best-selling album Jelaousy was released in July 1991; it topped the charts and sold 1.11 million copies.[29] There were released more two number one studio albums, Art of Life and Dahlia, a singles compilation X Singles, all selling more than half a million,[30] and since the formation had thirteenth top five singles, disbanding in 1997.[31]

Japanese metal came to global attention in 2014 with the international success of "kawaii metal" band Babymetal. This was brought about through viral YouTube hits like Gimme Chocolate!! as well as successful international live shows including the UK's Sonisphere Festival 2014 and Canada's Heavy MONTRÉAL alongside the likes of Metallica and Slayer. Babymetal was also the opening act to five of Lady Gaga's concerts in her "ArtRave: The Artpop Ball" 2014 tour.[32][33] Babymetal won numerous awards including Kerrang!'s The Spirit of Independence Award and Metal Hammer's Breakthrough Band Award. In 2016 they are due to begin a world tour at London's Wembley Arena before concluding in Japan with the band's debut performance in the Tokyo Dome.[34]

Extreme metal[edit]

Japanese extreme metal bands formed in the wake of American and European wave, but didn't get any bigger exposure until the 1990s, and like overseas the genre is usually treated as an underground form of music in Japan.[citation needed] First thrash metal bands formed in the early 1980s, like United, whose music also incorporates death metal elements, and Outrage. United's first international performance took place in Los Angeles at the metal festival "Foundations Forum" in September 1995 and had few albums released in North America. Formed in the mid 1980s, Doom played a gig in the United States in October 1988 at CBGB, and was active until 2000 when disbanded.

The first bands to play black metal music were Sabbat, who is still active, and Bellzlleb, who was active until the early 1990s. Another notable act is Sigh.


Hip hop[edit]

Main article: Japanese hip hop


Electropop and club music[edit]

Electronic pop music in Japan became a successful commodity with the "technopop" craze of the late 1970s and 1980s.[citation needed], beginning with Yellow Magic Orchestra and solo albums of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono in 1978 before hitting popularity in 1979 and 1980. Influenced by disco, impressionistic and 20th century classical composition, jazz/fusion pop, new wave and technopop artists such as Kraftwerk and Telex, these artists were commercial yet uncompromising.[citation needed] Ryuichi Sakamoto claims that "to me, making pop music is not a compromise because I enjoy doing it". The artists that fall under the banner of technopop in Japan are as loose as those that do so in the West, thus new wave bands such as P-Model and The Plastics fall under the category alongside the symphonic techno arrangements of Yellow Magic Orchestra. The popularity of this music meant that many popular artists of the 1970s that previously were known for acoustic music turned to techno production, such as Taeko Onuki and Akiko Yano, and idol producers began employing electronic arrangements for new singers in the 1980s.[citation needed] In the 1990s, Denki Groove and Capsule formed and have been mainstays of the Japanese electronica scene. Today, newer artists such as Polysics pay explicit homage to this era of Japanese popular (and in some cases underground or difficult to obtain) music.[citation needed] Capsule's Yasutaka Nakata has also been involved behind the scenes of popular electropop acts Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, both of which have had success domestically and internationally; Kyary in particular has been dubbed the "Kawaii Harajuku Ambassador" for her visibility internationally.

Roots music[edit]

In the late 1980s, roots bands like Shang Shang Typhoon and The Boom became popular. Okinawan roots bands like Nenes and Kina were also commercially and critically successful. This led to the second wave of Okinawan music, led by the sudden success of Rinken Band. A new wave of bands followed, including the comebacks of Champluse and Kina, as led by Kikusuimaru Kawachiya; very similar to kawachi ondo is Tadamaru Sakuragawa's goshu ondo.

Latin, reggae and ska music[edit]

Further information: Japanese reggae and Japanese ska


Noise music[edit]

Main article: Japanoise


Theme music[edit]

See also: anime composer

Theme music composed for films, anime (anison (アニソン?)), tokusatsu, and Japanese television dramas are considered a separate music genre. Several prominent musical artists and groups have spent most of their musical careers performing theme songs and composing soundtracks for visual media. Such artists include Masato Shimon (current holder of the world record for most successful single in Japan for "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun"),[39] Ichirou Mizuki, all of the members of JAM Project, Akira Kushida, Isao Sasaki, and Mitsuko Horie. Notable composers of Japanese theme music include Joe Hisaishi, Michiru Oshima, Yoko Kanno, Toshihiko Sahashi, Yuki Kajiura, Kōtarō Nakagawa and Yuuki Hayashi.

Game music[edit]


Another well-known author of video game music is Nobuo Uematsu. Uematsu's earlier compositions for the game series, Final Fantasy, on Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System in America), are being arranged for full orchestral score. In 2003, he took his rock-based tunes from their original MIDI format and created The Black Mages.

Yasunori Mitsuda is the composer of music for such games as Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, Chrono Cross, and Chrono Trigger.

Koji Kondo, the sound manager for Nintendo, is also prominent on the Japanese game music scene. He is best known for his Zelda and Mario themes.

Jun Senoue is well known for composing music for Sonic the Hedgehog. He also is the main guitarist of Crush 40, who is known for creating the theme songs to Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic and the Black Knight, as well as providing music to other Sonic games.

Motoi Sakuraba is another well-known video game composer. He is known for composing the Tales of series, Dark Souls, Eternal Sonata, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun, and the Baten Kaitos games, as well as numerous Mario sports games.

Yuzo Koshiro is also noted for his work with games, having composed electronic music-influenced soundtracks for games like Revenge of Shinobi and the Streets of Rage series.


Today, game soundtracks are sold on CD, as well on digitally on websites such as iTunes. Famous singers like Hikaru Utada, Nana Mizuki and BoA sometimes sing songs for games as well, and this is also seen as a way for singers to make a names for themselves.

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]


  2. ^ "The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Releases Its 2014 Data on the World Music Market". Retrieved April 22, 2015. 
  3. ^ "2014 Oricon Yearly Album Ranking TOP50". tokyohive. 6Theory Media, LLC. 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2015-04-22. 
  4. ^ "2014 Oricon Yearly Single Ranking TOP50". tokyohive. 6Theory Media, LLC. 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2015-04-22. 
  5. ^ "Classical Japanese Music: Gagaku Court Music, Shakuhachi Flutes, The Koto, Biwa And Other Traditional Instruments - Japan". Facts and Details. 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2012-08-17. 
  6. ^ Malm, William P. (1959). Japanese Music and Musical Instruments (1st ed.). Tokyo & Rutland, Vt.: C. E. Tuttle. 
  8. ^
  9. ^ Malm, William P. (1963), Nagauta: The Heart of Kabuki Music, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press 
  10. ^ Hughes, David W. (2008). Traditional folk song in modern Japan: sources, sentiment and society. Folkestone, UK: Global Oriental Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905246-65-6. 
  12. ^ "New Music" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-13.  (Translation)
  17. ^ 【マイケル急死】日本でもアルバム売り上げ１位を獲得 (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-06-27. 
  18. ^ さよならポップス界のピーターパン　栄光と奇行と (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. 2009-06-26. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-27. 
  19. ^ "Japan keeps Lennon's memory alive". BBC. 2008-12-08. Retrieved 2009-03-10. 
  21. ^ 井上陽水 – 氷の世界 at Discogs (Translation)
  22. ^ Osamu Kitajima – Benzaiten at Discogs
  23. ^ Harry Hosono And The Yellow Magic Band – Paraiso at Discogs
  24. ^ "Kyoji Yamamoto leaves all inhibitions behind". 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  25. ^ "Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts". Retrieved 2012-08-17. 
  26. ^ "Lightning Strikes - Loudness". Billboard. 1991. Retrieved 2010-03-14. 
  27. ^ "Outerlimits Oricon chart" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 12 September 2010. 
  30. ^ "X JAPAN". (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
  31. ^ "X JAPANのシングル売り上げランキング" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-08-31. 
  32. ^ "BABYMETAL レディー・ガガの米ツアーに大抜擢、LAワンマンも – Daily News – Billboard JAPAN" (in Japanese). 
  33. ^ "Lady Gaga Artrave US Tour 2014: Babymetal Confirmed As Opening Act". 2014-06-18. Retrieved 2014-06-18. 
  34. ^ 高橋智樹 (2015-12-14). "BABYMETAL、宙を舞う！ 新曲連打、大発表続々で燃えた横浜アリーナ公演レポート！". Rockin'On Japan (in Japanese). 株式会社ロッキング・オン. Retrieved 2015-12-21. 
  35. ^ Kinney, Caleb. "Hip-hop influences Japanese Culture.
  39. ^ "「およげ！たいやきくん」がギネス認定、再評価の気運高まる". Oricon. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 

External links[edit]