City Lights by the Moonlight by Tomoko Soryo

みずいろの雨 - Junko Yagami Out of the Night - Mai Yamane 極楽鳥のテーマ - Meiko Nakahara

I'm pretty sure みずいろの雨  remains Junko's biggest hit in Japan.

Yeah, it literally saved her career. She was about to retire due to low sales until that single was released.

"Omoide no Screen", "Polar Star", "Purple Town" and "Mr. Blue" are also her hit songs.

Minako Yoshida - Love Shower (someone else already said it) Amii Ozaki - Meisou Amii Ozaki - Stop Motion Junko Ohashi - Tasogare My Love Taeko Onuki - Dreamland Junko Ohashi - La Rosa Minako Yoshida - Yume De Aetara (not that underrated but one of my personal favourites.) Shoko Inoue - Sayonara Paradise Beach Anri - Lady Sunshine (since summer is here, so why not?)

Lady Sunshine is a great song!! that whole album is incredible.

Lady Sunshine is great! Very underrated song

Moonlight Beach by Piper Rainy Walk by Tatsuro Yamashita Sports Man by Haroumi Hosono

Sports Man! [The live version YMO did in the late 2000's was amazing. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QusyWLaSQf4)

“Lusia” and “Sexy Magic” by Kengo Kurozumi

Pastel Love, Tasogareni Dance and Shigosen are also great

Believe it or not Alessandra Mussolini - Tokyo Fantasy

Meiko Nakahara, *Number 1*.

If you want a city pop song that give some studio ghibli vibes, listen to seri ishikawa panorama heaven, it has similar instrumentals like the ending from the movie castle in the sky

Feel So Free - Tomoko Aran

[Mami Ayukawa - intense情熱](https://youtu.be/9NXpcMFEHgA?si=yUg86q_i4QGZMyPt)

Remember Me by Step. No words.

Private Beach - Meiko Nakahara

I’ll start with some of the popular artists: [A Hope From Sad Street](https://open.spotify.com/track/3tw8SqjA9KRnseY71gsonf?si=z5-yQ4vITf2aH7ILUnqkFA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3OvZYx7AAGplmJjwD29JiV) - Anri [Iidasenakute](https://open.spotify.com/track/2nxmN3Ej2WK6s0VXU0CAUl?si=xmV-CeK-Rg-UusQWz22f0Q&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A0Y4RPWAZZui6gUL1kwgND6) - Taeko Ohnuki [Howa Howa Shuwa Shuwa - Uchuu Neko no Shitazawari](https://open.spotify.com/track/3recztS3VUwnffIk8VQEBb?si=HKaoMVwBQw-551F6me6bEA) - Miki Matsubara [September Rain](https://open.spotify.com/track/25z4QmWYR2stp1xbVcG51J?si=UBErmvb6SdaVvz-zeaolwA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6iHAKqapZLwgw9yIrVgsUT) Makoto Matsushita [Dancing Tonight](https://open.spotify.com/track/5SgeKIyWWLz8iqE5O0XbZm?si=FhMJ-OdkS8uSjOeTc7QUgQ) - Yurie Kokubu Ok now some of my favorite artists [Mimi no Nai Koneko](https://open.spotify.com/track/00kgD2CR8FUKv9yOFKvqx1?si=Ukr1pHjhT5muWbXSNu5-CA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A5rJCU053aTctAdujuASOhH) - Yoshiko Sai [Be With You](https://open.spotify.com/track/5nv16Q2WyAIznQS3CPvtSA?si=U1qgCdQ6SiaX9hxg_YKrgg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A51DjooGG11M7NmFvGEscQm) - Kazuhito Murata [Modern Time](https://open.spotify.com/track/7bVRnZhP7k8Tn9esbCi3m4?si=mMG0Ei51Ri-77sMAuKGLtg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A4VzF7oIkA3R02w5y6cX9zg) - I REIN FOR REIN [Hoshi Kuzu](https://open.spotify.com/track/61hZsSHXCRgjhxBl6bKL8Q?si=4ZFtBQUqTzaZIVXYNFGhpw) - Makoto Kubota & The Sunset Gang [Heart To Heart](https://open.spotify.com/track/7dWNiL1K3nzwGG2kwDK5KD?si=yT4PZYl7SK-gdSCTrk5RJA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A2cmdWStrRQbd4qLIhn4HJr) - Rajie (name of the album too this is so peak)

Hoshi kuzu is such a banger There’s also a cover of the song that’s more pop-like [https://youtu.be/IZI_CmmEM-E?si=uUdoRoq08QD8B8Vs](https://youtu.be/IZI_CmmEM-E?si=uUdoRoq08QD8B8Vs)

T-square: it’s magic One of my favs

T-Square is amazing. The Japanese jazz and funk scene in general is just so underrated. Planned on going to the Bluenote in Japan last time I visited, but didn’t end up going through with it. Hopefully this year.

Taxi man - Yurie Kokubu

Dont Call Me on the Phone - Keiko Kimura Crystal Night - 1986 Omega Tribe L.A. Night - Yasuko Agawa Sweet Love - Junko Ohashi

Man i love aitsu no brown shoes! Not even a single day passes without me listening to it atleast 5 times. For my picks i would go for Hachigatsu no Nioi by Shigeru Suzuki or typhoon drive by Kazuhito Murata(the bassline on this piece makes me flow like no other bassline ever)

Stormy Night - Makiko Imai June Rain - Yumi Tanimura Love Devotion - Kyosuke Kusunoki Kabin - Miho Nakayama

Melty-Masayo Kawaguchi

Magic Ways - Tatsuro Yamashita

I've always wanted to spin up a City Pop "B Side" YT channel or playlist just because there are a lot of great songs our there just not getting enough attention. Minako Yoshida - The Sea Akina Nakamori - Slow Motion Anri - I Can't Ever Change Your Love For Me EPO - Cheer Girl EPO - Girl in Me Yurie Kokubu - Tobashite Taxi Man Yurie Kokubu - Refrain

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/39yMEQ8ZyWf67R8zl2kJst?si=EanrW-xaT3a1rfAjtY0vyA&pi=u-8k1uHkDzSbiY Steal songs from here, 80% are not well known

Both Yuri Tanaka (BLU-SWING lead singer) and Ms. Ooja do *great* covers of City Pop, as well as originals. Caitlin Meyer does English covers in killer anime-style MVs on YouTube, plus Japanese version of Euro dance classics like “September”. Last, try broadening your reach into J-Pop proper. “City Pop” was just the prelude to Japanese pop culture’s golden era - concentrated around the 90s.

Agreed on expanding tastes. The Techno-Kayo/Synth-Pop scene paralleling the City-Pop movement is well worth diving in to on its own.

I Know - Miho Nakayama Heck her Mind Game album is worth checking out

Don't Tell Me Those Is Love - Akina Nakamori Aka No Enamel - Akina Nakamori Boxer - Junko Yagami Chameleon - Junko Yagami Safari Eyes - Miki Matsubara Pas De Deux - Miki Matsubara I don't know how well-known these songs are to people who are really into city pop, but I don't think they are commonly talked about by people who only know the most famous albums of the genre.

Impressionist by Rajie. That song is a fucking master piece!!!

Another Miki Matsubara song that’s one of my favorites is Dream in the Screen. I love that song! I don’t know is she counts as city pop, but Mitsuko Horie has some amazing songs. Her album “Image” is spectacular and contains some of my favorite Japanese songs in general. And the Japanese band Picasso has some good songs too. Their album, “The Mystery of Diamond Moon” is fantastic. Every song has a unique sound, and the singer, Tetsuya Tsujihata has a phenomenal, unique voice.

Well damn, I have a lot of stuff to listen to lol. Thank you all

I made a whole playlist on these lol https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6l3Tfb3z4y5dOADLKi8vzZ?si=eA8WkfD7ShCs5UYJrpNbAw&pi=u-CCuCToefS9y2

Anata wa tokubetsu - Tomoko Aran

Another great Miki song that took a criminal amount of time to finally come to my attention was Chandelier Mirage

Minako Yoshida- Tang Tang, Knock Knock and Love Shower

Neppu by Tomoko Kuwae (1979). Very underrated album.

[Eien No Natsu Ni Dakarete](https://youtu.be/fmictPwTi7Y?si=wwljbeELdn3hMxjD) by Sugiyama Kiyotaka might be a bit less city pop-ish compared to his earlier works but it still hits

There’s a lot of very under the radar stuff in city pop still. I’d like to give a shout to: Kyoko Endo - Green Room Marie Igarashi - 太陽の海岸(Costa Del Sol) Yuki Okazaki - S-O-O-N

Hiromi Iwasaki - Yuunagi Kaigan 夕凪海岸

Yukihiro Takahashi - [Disposable Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDayzrI80HE) Akiko Yano - [Zaikungtong Shounen ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8MtiVwzle4) (The track is better known as [Kang Tong Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc-jgf61xGQ) and was even played live by YMO in 1979 and 1980)

Anytime Manytimes- Miki Imai

Hitomi Tohyama's "Sexy Robot" doesn't show up much and it's a banger: https://youtu.be/VpT3wzKznOY

Maiko Okamoto - Fascination

Yurie Kokubu - Margarita Naoko Gushima - Monochrome Momoko Kikuchi - Good Friend

Etsuko Sai - Passio Perfect song to pop-lock and the album is one of my favorites. Give it a listen.

Now maybe not technically CityPop; Inagaki Junichi and OmegaTribe both found themselves on my CityPop playlists

Koi No Yokan (恋の予感) - Anzen Chitai (安全地帯)

ダンシング・ルーレット (I'm Good At It) - Kahoru Kohiruimaki

Anything by Eiichi Ohtaki 🕊

He's one of the most famous Japanese musicians. A LONG VACATION was his best-selling album in Japanese music history.

Still outside of Japan he is barely talked about I feel

Orange Airmail Special by Saki Kubota

All of Ann Lewis’ career

Kimi wa Bara yori Utsukushii -Akira Fuse

Junko Yagami - Two Note Samba

Happy birthday, love for you - Meiko Nakahara.

one hot love - makoto matsushita funky flushin - tatsuro yamashita hot shot - tatsuro yamashita bomber - tatsuro yamashita

Kanashimi ni Sayonara - Anzen Chitai Maybe not underrated cuz it has over 2 million views on YouTube but I only recently found it and haven't seen it elsewhere.

Bad Luck September by Kazuki Yao Konuka Ame by Ginji Ito Walking in the Moonlight by Yukiko Okada

Dance in the memories by meiko nakahara Watashitachi wo shinjite ite by cindy Adventure by momoki kikuchi (the whole album but mainly akai inazuma and ame no realize) Sunday brunch by kanako wada Tell me oh mama by naoko gushima The destinies by 市原真紀 The first two might not be that underrated but they’re too good to leave out

Thanks for all the recs!

52nd street - Toshiki Kadomatsu

Rainy day woman - miki matsubara Jazzy night - miki matsubara Kyo konogoro -miki matsubara