I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Knowing that I have mentioned curry-based kayo in the past, I have waxed philosophically on the type of curry I like. First off, I was weaned on the Japanese style of rice curry through the good folks at S&B but going into my university years, I did discover the varieties from other nations such as India and Thailand. I also discovered the limits of my gastrointestinal tract (but they were all tasty, I assure you).
Back in 2015, the Okinawan-based rock and hip-hop band Orange Range gave their tribute to one particular dish "Sushi Tabetai"（SUSHI食べたい）with help from a fellow named Soy Sauce（ソイソース）who's a guitarist from the band NAOTO. Over a decade later, the collaboration came up with a sequel in July of this year titled "Curry Tabetai" (Wanna Eat Curry). With a bit more rap and a tongue pressed further into the (curry-laced) cheek in addition to an even more deranged video, the boys focused their voices and stomachs on the wonders of the Japanese style of curry.
Well, whaddaya know? There was a method to the madness!
And when I say tough, I mean you can envision someone who demands respect—or maybe even a little reverence—having that song as their personal theme, whether they're just walking down the street or kicking some serious ass.
50 Cent has "Many Men (Wish Death)."Warren G and Nate Dogg have "Regulate."Curtis Mayfield has "Pusherman." Hell, even Boz Scaggs' "Lowdown" comes to mind.
There are very few Japanese songs that I would personally classify as "tough." But if there's one that makes the cut, it's "Tonpei's Hey You Blues."
Damn, that bassline stanks!
Somebody come get their Uncle!
Look at this guy! Look at his fit! Look at him gangster-leaning against that pipe. Look at him pointing at me like a JoJo character. Whoever this man is, he means business.
Obviously, that's the titular Tonpei Hidari (左とん平), a Japanese actor and singer known for his comedic touch and appearances in productions such as Monkey (1978), The Ballad of Narayama (1983), and Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder (1972).
Hidari often portrayed a sort of "regular working man" character—someone who could be funny, irritable, streetwise, and unexpectedly sympathetic. That archetype definitely shines through in "Tonpei's Hey You Blues."
Produced by Mickey Curtis and arranged by jazz-fusion keyboardist Jun, the song feels like somebody accidentally recorded something years ahead of its time.
Although it isn't "rap" in the modern sense, Hidari's forceful spoken-word cadence sounds remarkably similar to the work of Gil Scott-Heron, who is often regarded as one of the important precursors to conscious rap and hip-hop. Songs such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", or "Whitey on the Moon" immediately come to mind when listening to the way Hidari talks like he's standing on a street corner telling you exactly what's on his mind. Reminiscing about how life had worn him down like a lonely pestle.
Funny enough, the record would later be rediscovered by Japan's hip-hop community thanks in part to a sample featured in Scha Dara Parr's 1990 track "Scha Dara Parr no Theme Pt. 2." That track also samples a few other Shōwa-era classics, including Godiego's "Monkey Magic."
Hard to believe but "Reservoir Dogs" is over 34 years old now. That iconic power walk with the robbers has probably been emulated all over the place, especially during Halloween. I should know...since some of my friends and I actually dressed up in black suits and strutted down one of the main streets of Toronto one October 31st. I should've exercised more.
Anyways, it wasn't just me and my buddies who got all "Reservoir Dogs" fashion-crazy. The two hip-hop groups m-flo and RIP SLYME got together (maybe for the first time?) in 2025 to record "ARIGATTO" and make a video where they all looked like snazzy-looking heist folks just dying to be recruited by Quentin Tarentino himself.
Released in September 2025 as a digital download single and as the most recent entry in the 2020s slate of the "m-flo loves" series, "ARIGATTO" is basically a rapping volley among the members of the two groups including Lisa, Verbal and Ilmari. The back-and-forth starts things off before a fun and funky 70s melody joins the heist and heck the guys even have a grand old time singing away over the supposed victim in the trunk.
I remember the "m-flo loves" series which came out in the early-mid-2000s with Verbal and the gang collaborating with singers such as melody. & Ryohei, so it was nice to hear that m-flo came back with the concept during the early 2020s. This single managed to reach No. 17 on Oricon.
It took me a while to warm up to the idea of Japanese rap. I had seen bits of Samurai Champloo and was aware of artists like Nujabes. I’d also played games like Sonic Rush and Jet Set Radio, whose soundtracks were composed by Hideki Naganuma (長沼英樹). So I already knew there was some great hip-hop and hip-hop-inspired music coming out of Japan.
But actual Japanese rappers breaking it down on the mic like Eric B. & Rakim? Nah, I just couldn’t fathom it.
I don’t remember the first J-rap song I ever heard, but so far, the earliest example I’ve personally traced it back to is Motoharu Sano(佐野元春)’s 1984 single “Complication Shakedown.”
Listen, let’s get this out of the way: this song is corny as all get out. (Although he's got a nice fit on the cover)
In all fairness, it’s no cornier than Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball.” Plus, the beat is admittedly catchy, which is important. Still, I’d be hard-pressed to call Motoharu Sano a rapper. This feels more like the Japanese equivalent of Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel suddenly deciding to turn their caps backwards.
I think it’s safe to say that J-rap didn’t really begin developing its own identity until the early-to-mid ’90s. Recently, I had the opportunity to check out the 1995 single “Keep Rock On” by Naohirock & SuzukiSmooth, and man were they cooking.
Not only does the beat sample one of my favorite smooth-jazz songs of all time, Ronnie Laws’ “Friends & Strangers,” but the actual rapping is pretty good too. Maybe it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure most American rappers had stopped saying stuff like “It’s the place to be!” and “Microphone check, one-two-three!” sometime around the mid 80s.
Nevertheless, it’s still a really fun song to listen to. There’s something endearing about hearing the attitude, and conventions of old-school American hip-hop in another language.
I definitely wouldn’t mind cruising down Crenshaw with this blasting out of the speakers.
Not a huge fan of rap in general, let alone the Japanese variety, but "DA.YO.NE" (Ain't It So?) by short-lived unit EAST END×YURI has kinda stuck with me over the years. The reason is not particularly because it's one of my favourite songs but it did begat a variety of intra-national dialectical variations and it is believed to be Japan's first hit of the genre.
I saw the release date on J-Wiki and Wikipedia for "DA.YO.NE" which was August 1994, and I had first thought that I must have missed something since my remembrances of the phenomenon surrounding the song were set after I had arrived in Japan for my second tour of duty there from November 1994. But after reading the articles for the song, I realized that "DA.YO.NE" had had an initially slow history before it got a well-needed boost of promotion from a Hokkaido radio station which gave the song some heavy rotation on its turntables and then widespread exposure across the nation.
Seemingly, though, the song and the unit seemed to get real big overnight although I knew next to nothing about EAST END×YURI. However over the years, I learned that YURI was Yuri Ichii（市井由理）, a former aidoru from Tokyo Performance Doll（東京パフォーマンスドール）who got into this collaboration with hip-hop group EAST END (consisting of Yoggy, Gaku and ROCK-Tee) to create this safe pop-rap tune (no sex, drugs or alcohol or deep social message) incorporating plenty of Japanese teen-speak. And just like one of those earworms, it was pretty much everywhere for a time including the big music shows such as "Music Station". Just to be specific, the song was written by Gaku and Mummy-D from Rhymester and composed by Yoggy.
"DA.YO.NE" came in at the right time, I think...just between the pop-rock of the early 1990s and the musical tidal wave of the Komuro Boom with Namie Amuro, Tomomi Kahala and trf that would take over a lot of J-Pop for the next few years. It broke into the Top 10 by peaking at No. 7 and it broke through the million barrier. Plus the rap also got EAST END×YURI their invitation to the 1995 Kohaku Utagassen, almost 18 months after the song's release. "DA.YO.NE" would end 1995 as the 33rd-ranked single. Before the song was released as a single, it had already been a track on the unit's debut album"denim-ed soul" which had been released in June 1994.
Ah, I did mention those dialectal variants, didn't I? As a cool reminder to folks not from Japan about the number of regional dialects there are, parody versions of "DA.YO.NE" were whipped up. For example, there was the Osakan "SO.YA.NA" by WEST END x YUKI which came out in February 1995. The WEST END were a couple of Yoshimoto Kogyo comedians, Koji Imada and Koji Higashino（今田耕司・東野幸治）, joined by Yukiko Takeuchi（武内由紀子）from Osaka Performance Doll（大阪パフォーマンスドール）.
Hearing this version, there was so much Kansai-ben thrown about, it sounded like a lot of the usual banter among my family and friends put down to a musical beat. "SO.YA.NA" actually exceeded the original in the Oricon weeklies by hitting No. 6 although in the yearly rankings, it finished somewhat lower at No. 59.
Then, there was "DA.BE.SA", the version in the Hokkaido dialect which was released a couple of months after "SO.YA.NA" by NORTH END×AYUMI. The NORTH END was Takayuki Suzui（鈴井貴之）, who was hosting a late-night TV program in Hokkaido at the time, and Ryusuke Denno（伝野隆介）, a local tarento. AYUMI was Ayumi Ito（伊藤亜由美）who was also a local TV personality at the time. This northern take performed a bit more modestly, hitting No. 43.
Following those, there came versions from the Tohoku district, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. All of the dialectal covers ended up on the album "SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO DA.YO.NE".
After all of the linguistic hoopla launched by "DA.YO.NE", there was still one niggling question from me. Sampling in hip-hop is no surprise but for the life of me, I couldn't recognize the sample in that particular song. My need to have my curiosity sated gradually waned as the song slowly disappeared into music history. But recently, the question popped up again due to the blog. And the smooth piano sample was straight out of George Benson's"Turn Your Love Around", a hit from 1981 that I used to hear all the time on Toronto radio, so I wanted to slap myself upside the back of my head a la Special Agent Gibbs-style for the non-recognition.
In any case, according to the J-Wiki article on "DA.YO.NE", Bill Champlin of the band Chicago, who had helped create "Turn Your Love Around" along with Steve Lukather of TOTO and producer Jay Graydon, just happened to be in Japan when he heard those familiar notes in "DA.YO.NE". Apparently, there was the point about not getting official approval for using the sample (oops), and Champlin made an issue about it, but in all likelihood, it didn't get nasty since with the proper payment of royalties the following day, all was copacetic. That made for a smoother resolution that a certain other song didn't enjoy.
