What are your top Japanese songs to sing along to? After listening to all of the top Japanese songs above a handful of times, memorizing the lyrics and having some private karaoke time (remember, it’s important to sing along!), you’ll be even closer to getting a handle of Japanese. My friends from the US are visiting in a few weeks and I want to learn a new Japanese song. Any suggestions for something catchy but not too difficult to learn?
Ever heard a Japanese song and wondered what it meant? Listening to Japanese songs is a great way to begin learning this fascinating language. You’ll not only expand your vocabulary, but you’ll come to appreciate a rich culture and history at the same time.
Japan’s culture is a fusion of traditional and modern. This is especially evident in the music scene, which includes a vast array of artists who perform everything from J-Pop and J-Punk, to traditional and folk-style Japanese songs.
For some examples, check out this playlist of five famous Japanese songs.
5 Famous Japanese Songs
1. “Tegami (Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e)“
“Letter: Greetings to a 15 Year Old” was written and performed by Angela Aki. The lyrics are instructions to a 15 year old about how to appreciate and make the most of life.
This Japanese song urges the teenager to believe in herself during hard times. It tells her that, since there’s no running from sorrow, she should smile and live in the present.
Its final lyric, Shiawase na koto wo negaimasu, means “I wish you happiness.”
SEE ALSO: 10 Famous Japanese Expressions
2. “Yuki no Hana“
“Snow Flower” by Mika Nakashima is often covered by karaoke artists in Japan, and has been remade by many artists around the globe.
The lyrics of this Japanese song are quite sentimental as they describe how one might feel watching the first snowfall with a loved one.
3. “Minna Yume no Naka“
The lyrics in Kyoko Takada’s calming ballad are about being gracious over a lost love. The song reflects the Japanese aesthetic of yugen, which expresses that life is boring when everything is known.
Loosely translated as “mysterious,” this Japanese song implies that some things should be held back.
4. “Ringo Oiwake“
This famous enka song (Japanese folk song) has been performed by many artists, with Hibari Misora’s version being the most famous.
The song tells of a girl from Tsugaru who experiences a sad farewell on an evening when apple blossoms fell. It’s later revealed that the goodbye was with her mother, and this is the reason for the girl’s melancholy every year when the blossoms drop.
Many famous Japanese songs reflect shibui (subtleness), and this is a great example.
RELATED: 12 Japanese Holidays and Celebrations
5. “Nanatsu no Ko“
The lyrics to this popular kindergarten song were written by Ujō Noguchi, one of Japan’s preeminent nursery rhyme authors. The melody was composed by Nagayo Motoori. Its simple lyrics are translated:
“Mother crow, why do you cry so?
‘Because I have seven cute children
high on the mountain.’
‘Because I have seven cute children
high on the mountain.’
‘Kawai kawai’ this mother crow cries.
‘Kawai kawai’ cries the mother crow.
‘Kawai kawai’ cries the mother crow.
You should behold the old nest
on the mountain. And there you’ll see such
round-eyed, good children.”
on the mountain. And there you’ll see such
round-eyed, good children.”
Did you know the Japanese word for music, ongaku, is a combination of the words for “sound” and “enjoyment”? We hope you enjoyed listening to these famous Japanese songs.
Add them to your own playlist to broaden your musical horizons. And remember, if you’d like to learn more about what the lyrics mean, try taking Japanese lessons to build your vocabulary even more.
Which Japanese song is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
Photo by Dennis Amith
Do you love singing? Are you a professional or just a music lover? Do you want to practice singing karaoke songs a little by yourself, from the comfort of your home, and doing karaoke with your PC?
If you’ve never tried to do karaoke is the time to do it! The first questions that maybe you could ask are:
- What I need to do Karaoke on my PC
- Where to download Karaoke songs for Free?
The answer to the first question is very simple: just download and install KANTO KARAOKE on your PC. It is a free and powerful tool able to turn your computer into a karaoke machine. It allows you to manage playlist, record your voice over the songs, open karaoke lyrics on dual screen, etc…
About the second question, below you can find some tips aboht how and where to download karaoke songs for free. With Kanto Karaoke you will be able to play different types of Karaoke Songs: video karaoke, mp3 karaoke, midi files, CDG+MP3 files, KFN (karafun) files and .KAR files.
Solution 1. Download free Karaoke Songs from Youtube
Almost all songs have karaoke versions in YouTube. All you need is a YouTube video downloader to download karaoke songs from Youtube to hard drive. Click Here to download and install ALLMYTUBE, one of the best Youtube Video Downloader on the market.
How it works to download free karaoke songs from Youtube?
It’s very simple: Find the karaoke video you want to download on Youtube.com. Then p ress the Download button which should appear upon pageload on the top right corner of the video.
You can also download video karaoke from youtube copying and pasting the URL on AllMyTube.
![Karaoke Karaoke](http://www.traveltourxp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Japanese-karaoke.jpg)
Once you download the video karaoke files from youtube you can play them with Kanto Karaoke player.
Solution 2. Download Karaoke Songs for FREE from Internet
You can find a lot of free karaoke and midi files on the following websites:
a) MIDI/KAR: https://freemidi.org/
b) MIDI/KAR http://www.midiworld.com/files/A/all/
Some midi files could be without lyrics. This is not a problem! You can easily add lyrics to midi files using Kanto Syncro.
Solution 3. Download Professional Karaoke Songs (1.99$ only per song)
Karaoke-Version.com is one of the best website where you can find professional, high quality karaoke songs. You can download karaoke songs in mp3, mp4, wmv, KFN or CDG format. All these karaoke types are supported and compatible with our Kanto Karaoke Player.
Solution 4. Kanto Karaoke Player
If you do not want to download karaoke songs and you want to play them online, Kanto Karaoke player offers the WEB BROWSER feature. Click on the button “Web Browser” to open (by default) the page of a Youtube Karaoke Channel with thousands of songs ready to play.
You will have the full control of pages to open in the web browser and you will also able to enable the dual screen.