The following song was something that I first heard on the "Weather Music" segment that's become part of the Japan "Weathernews" broadcasts, and apparently the commenters under the YouTube video have echoed the same sentiment.
Pop singer-songwriter Jun Shibata（柴田淳）is someone that I have written about before when she recorded a cover of Hi-Fi Set's（ハイ・ファイ・セット）"Sky Restaurant"（スカイレストラン）for her 2012 compilation album "Cover '70s". There isn't a lot of information on her J-Wiki file aside from her discography (and that she's been called The Diva of the Blogs due to her positive writings online) but her website has been more forthcoming. Born and raised in Tokyo in 1976, she studied piano when she was three years old and got interested in J-Pop while in high school with her debut in 2001.
Well, that song that got featured on "Weathernews" was "Ame" (Rain) which actually came out on her 7th album from November 2009, "Ghostwriter"（ゴーストライター）. A non-single track, it probably slipped under the radar of anyone who hadn't already been a Shibata fan, but now that it's gotten its second look on a weather forecast, it seems to have gained some new fans. Starting off with an indies pop vibe, "Ame" involves a man who is walking in the rain, presumably without any umbrella as a way to punish himself over losing the love of his life. It's a laidback tune which is beautifully sung by Shibata and is definitely something to be heard while sipping some chamomile tea against a window spattered by the titular precipitation. "Ghostwriter" hit No. 9 on Oricon.
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