Hello!
Welcome to the official Japanese music OT. This thread has been created to discuss all things Japanese music related regardless of genre. We hope you enjoy your stay here & find some great music along the way. Below are some playlists to help you get started if you are new to Japanese music or would merely like to find some new discoveries.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li...eEfXrHKLjr&jct=SdzcZLpMp0_yeU1_aDxZC79tNa2vVA
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgWh3ZTHPnKs9GtLtQTc5kYAPcnqwxpd8 (Thanx Kurita)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA_ek28UI4jIbrrtSeDEN9ZuBg2_V4SaH&jct=_7CPk3qNm6NdtwRMu-6J8tVDGMyYqg
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA_ek28UI4jKu19UHebQNf0cQGIzP0o2G&jct=6lnqEZ48MkwlALEaftASq8VKRnVc9g
What is Shibuya Kei? Shibuya Kei is a genre of music that arose in Japan during the early 90's. Started by duo Flippers Guitar who consisted of Kenji Ozawa & Keigo Oyamada who would later go by the aliase of "Cornelius" & release one of the genres most beloved albums "Fantasma". The Genre is primarily influenced by 60's western culture & pop music. Early influences include Bossa Nova, Lounge, Ye Ye, & Psychedelic Pop. The genre would later go on to be influenced by House, Synthpop, Trip Hop, & many other genres thru the 90's. Prominent artist in the genre include Pizzicato 5, Fantastic Plastic Machine & Kahimi Karie.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li...gy0pp-7Xr0&jct=imyBI367k_-6A-qBLiaZMcK4ZRerLg
What is City Pop? City Pop is a mixture of jazzy funk, disco & r&b influenced pop that began in the mid 70's & rose too popularity near the end of the decade as Japan's economy started booming in what is now called the bubble era. Later iterations of the genre would take influences from techno pop & synth pop artists like Yellow Magic Orchestra. Popular artist in the genre include Tatsuro Yamashita, Toshiki Kadomatsu & Anri.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li...w39GTD_clC&jct=R4LDvj0DGy-wxgs8OJf0wAn8uvgrcQ
Many Japanese artist & labels do not have their music easily available to those outside of Japan but those that do often have their music available on services like Spotify & Apple Music. If you'd like to purchase music, services like iTunes, Ototoy, & bandcamp will be the best way of doing that. In some cases you will need to creat a Japanese iTunes account to purchase music that isn't on your regions store & will require Japanese iTunes cards that can be purchase online.
Streaming:
[Apple Music US](https://www.apple.com/music/)
[Apple Music JP](https://www.apple.com/jp/music/)
[Spotify](https://www.spotify.com)
A Japanese IP is needed to access their whole Japanese catalog.
Buying:
[Ototoy](http://ototoy.jp)
They accept non Japanese credit cards.
Bandcamp: [Tokyo, Japan](https://bandcamp.com/tag/tokyo,-japan) [Japan](https://bandcamp.com/tag/japan) [Tokyo](https://bandcamp.com/tag/tokyo) [Japanese](https://bandcamp.com/tag/japanese)
[iTunes](https://www.apple.com/itunes/)
[Make Believe Melodies](http://makebelievemelodies.com/)
[Coolest Sound](http://coolestsound.jp/)
How to make a Japanese Spotify account (Android):
1. Download Spotify if you don't already have it
2. Download a VPN app like Hola. Any will work as long as the VPN is located in Japan but i'm choosing Hola for this tutorial since it's pretty straightfoward.
3. Install both Spotify & Hola.
4. Open Hola first and from the app choose Spotify. It might not immediately show Spotify in the menu, if this happens i recommend restarting your phone, It should appear after that. After choosing Spotify click on the submenu that appears and choose Japan then click open.
5. The Spotify app should be in english after opening it. Everything is pretty straightforward. Fill out the required info. You'll know that you have a Spotify Japan account immediately after finishing the sign up based on some of the items in your home menu.
6. Go to your email to confirm your account. The email will be in Japanese but it's your usual confirmation email so you just need to click the link in the email.
7. You're Done! Congrats you have now have a Japanese Spotify account with access to the entire catalog. This will be a free account with limited features & ads. If you'd like premium features like unlimited skips & song selection you will need to use the tablet version of Spotify which includes these features free of charge. You can also use the official Spotify web player while using a Japanese VPN to access these features as well. Keep in mind that to continue accesing their catalog you will need to always be on a VPN. You can stick with Hola or choose to use another if you aren't comfortable with Hola knowing that you like idols.
Last edited:
