This Side of Japan's Best of 2020: Friends List
Top songs of the year, picked by friends of This Side of Japan
Hi! Welcome to the year-end portion of This Side of Japan, a newsletter about Japanese music, new and old. Our December issues are dedicated to the best Japanese songs of 2020. You can check out previous issues here.
This Side of Japan wouldn’t be what it is without me being part of a community of people who also follow Japanese music. Some of these folks got their own blogs, newsletters, podcasts or columns related to music; you may have seen some of their bylines in other websites and publications. Some of these folks are my friends on Twitter, who I constantly share music with or just simply shoot the shit on a daily basis. Whatever the connection, there’s no doubt that I learn a lot from them when it comes to music, and their tastes and perspectives influence mine.
I asked the folks below for a list of 10 of their favorite Japanese songs from 2020. Amazingly, only a few picks have overlapped with my list and everyone else’s list, so here’s about a 100 more songs that were outside of my radar. You can listen to all of the songs in this Spotify playlist.
Thank you so much for reading This Side of Japan this year! Happy listening!
Calvin
Fujii Kaze - “Hedemo Ne-Yo”
Chara + YUKI - “Hitori Kamo Nemu”
Tokyo Girls’ Style - “Bara No Kinbaku”
METAFIVE - “Kankyo To Shinri”
Chelmico - “Terminal Chaku, Soku Dance”
Perfume - “Time Warp”
Dempagumi.inc - “Nama Dempa”
Twice - “Better”
80KIDZ - “Former”
Pasocom Music Club - “Ventilation”
You can listen to Calvin’s picks in his Spotify playlist. You can also find Calvin on Last.fm.
Hannah
Riamu Yumemi - “Otahen Anthem”
Raise A Suilen - “HELL! or HELL?”
Aqours - “Cotton Candy Ay Ay Oh!”
Aqours - “JIMO-AI Dash!”
Lulu Suzuhara & Debidebi Debiru - “A Tto Teki Son Zai Kan”
Ginka Hajima - “Haiiro No Kokoro”
Asuka - “I Believe What You Said”
Photon Maiden - “Discover Universe”
Usada Pekora - “Pekorap Toropicaru Hausu Remix”
Kizuna AI x KAF: “LOVESHII”
You can listen to Hannah’s picks from her YouTube playlist. Hannah has previously collaborated with me for the feature Club Under Construction: Discussing Bandai Namco’s New Denonbu Project. You can find Hannah on Twitter, Selective Hearing or on the Arama! Japan podcast.
K
Aimyon - “Asahi”
Chiaki Mayumura - “Kabe Miteru”
EMPiRE - “SUPER FEELiNG GOOD”
Kaela Kimura (ft. BIM) - “ZIG ZAG”
Kitri - “Akari”
Little Glee Monster - “Move On”
Milet - “Somebody”
Rina Katahira - “Fuyu No Mahou”
Twice - “Better”
K translates J-pop lyrics, and you can request a translation by buying her a coffee on Ko-fi. She previously talked with me for the feature Talking Translation. You can find her on Twitter and Tumblr.
Crests
Neat.and.clean -Nitokuri- - “Amagami Inflation”
Kirameki Unforent - “Sayonara Separate”
Papipupepo Wa Muzukashi! - “Goodbye My World”
Neat.and.clean - “Dear…”
Miscast - “Midnight Through the Night”
Yukueshirezu Tsurezure - “REDERA”
.BPM - “Stalker Girl”
Gang Parade - “Fix Your Teeth”
Kaede Tsukimori - “Anata Ni Loverinchu♡”
Hollow Mellow - “The Red Shoes”
Crests has made a guide to their number-one pick, Neat.and.clean -Nitokuri-. They are currently working with me for an upcoming This Side of Japan feature. You can find them on Twitter.
Anna
LatuLatu - “Yellow Voice”
Sumire Uesaka - “SPY”
Gesu Kiwame No Otome - “Jinsei No Hari”
BBHF - “Crayon Missile”
Reol - “Hameln”
FANTASTICS from EXILE TRIBE - “High Fever”
Matsuo Taiyou - “Libra”
The Dance for Philosophy - “Don’t Stop the Dance”
Kalen Anzai - “Fake News Revolution”
eill (ft. GANMI & PARKGOLF) - “with U”
Anna writes about Japanese music as well as pop music at large on her site Appears. You can find her on Twitter and Tumblr.
Ed
TENDRE - “Life”
Haru Nemuri - “Fanfare”
Dos Monos - “Rojo”
Mitsume - “Tonic Love”
Cero - “Fdf”
Shurkn Pap - “Suho’s White Horse”
Keiichi Sokabe - “Perpetual Mint Machine”
Mega Shinnosuke - “Japan”
Mom - “Cultboi”
Meitei - “Oiran II”
Ed is the editor to the just-launched Japanese music site The Glow. He also has monthly recommendations of Japanese albums on Tokyo Weekender. You can find him on Twitter.
Jonathan
Tricot - “Warp”
Tricot has been a favorite since the early days of Nihongaku Radio. It’s nice to see how much more nuanced and sophisticated they’ve become. “Warp” nails it with a chilled vibe and just enough tension. And that baseline that pops up from time to time is a fun surprise.Chie - “Silver Grey”
There’s a sound here that’s like a raw version of the earliest Asian Kung-Fu Generation. This type of alternative rock is the exact sound of a world besieged by 2020 and yearning to rebel.Kenshi Yonezu - “Kanden”
Kenshi Yonezu is on top of the charts for a reason and you can hear that reason in every beat of this song. A true jam that introduced me to Mr. Yonezu and encouraged me to check out the rest of his catalogue.Haruka Fukuhara - “Toumei Clear”
Anyone looking to prove the influence of Perfume upon the world of J-Pop need look no further than this song. Multiple layers of pop goodness.Pop Art Town - “i”
The driving piano sound of “i” elevated the song from a track that could’ve served as a robot anime opening (not a bad thing by any stretch) to a pop song I want on heavy rotation. There are so many details here to unpack upon repeat listens.ASOBOiSM (ft. Cypress Ueno) - “Totsuka”
ASOBOiSM is my favorite artist I’ve come across in 2020. We need all the chill hip-hop vibes we can get and ASOBOiSM really delivers them in this track.METAFIVE - “Kankyo to Shinri”
Over the summer, I listened to all the city pop I could. “Kankyo to Shinri” feels like an evolution of my favorite city-pop jams with all the electronic flourishes and brass details intact.Boris - “Lust”
The world needs more fuzzy, distorted rock. Luckily, we have Boris to call upon when the urge to bang our fucking heads strikes us. Their latest album, No, is driving and explosive. More Boris, please.Sekai No Owari - “Umbrella”
I love the scale of this song. It starts as such a tiny and delicate sound and yet it builds to fill up the entire atmosphere. It’s moody and complex, the kind of song that demands your attention.Yeti Let You Notice - “Hard Candy”
Screaming guitars and a fuck-you attitude make this track from Yeti Let You Notice. This is the kind of song I want to listen to while drinking beers at a shitty club in the wee hours of the morning.
Jonathan hosts the podcast Nihongaku Radio, where he plays a set of Japanese songs for every episode. You can find him on Twitter.
Myrna
Migma Shelter - “My Wonderland”
Gang Parade - “Namida No Stage”
Paradises - “Zurui Hito”
RilisReverse - “Natsuiro”
Go to the Beds - “Gendai Machigainaku Go to the Beds”
963 - “I Might Be Your Girl”
Her Knuckle - “Tsuyoku-Ikite”
Farewell, My L.U.V. - “Gold”
Yoneko - “Neon”
Mameshiba No Taigun - “Donkusa Happy”
Myrna previously collaborated with me for the feature The Conversation: Migma Shelter. You can find her on Twitter.
Bacci
Dempagumi.inc/Risa Aizawa - “Abnormal Q”
Gang Parade - “Namida No Stage”
Lucky Kilimanjaro - “350ml Galaxy”
ONIGAWARA - “Neko Mo Shakushi Mo Paradise”
Yufu Terashima - “#YuflightII”
Migma Shelter - “It Doesn’t Matter”
Chara + YUKI - “Hitorikamonemu”
Urbangarde - “Android Rondo”
BBHF - “Crayon Missle”
Tokyo Jihen - “Uru Uru Uruu”
Bacci previously collaborated with me for the feature The Conversation: Dempagumi.inc. You can find them on Twitter and Medium.
Keegan
Weave - “Intense Blue”
Kudaranai1nichi - “Red Eyes B. Dragon”
ANORAK - “The Same Gloomy Look”
Komuso - “Kong Yiji”
Sedai - “Mudai”
Sans Visage - “Deception”
Deerafter - “Pay Day”
Zeami - “Kozetsushita Shikkanja”
Country Yard - “Tonight”
Bearwear - “P.S.”
Keegan is an editor at The Alternative, where he has the monthly column Friendship International covering the best new emo and alternative releases from Asia. He also wrote “The Indonesian Underground: From Its Political Roots to the Present Day” for Bandcamp. You can find him on Twitter.
Fabricio
Negicco - “Gozen0ji No Sympathy”
Aoi Yamazaki - “Shibuya Ni Tsudouna!”
Chelmico - “Disco (Bad Dance Doesn’t Matter)”
DAOKO - “Anima”
Erika Nishi (ft. Emi Okamoto) - “Hi-Light”
Kano - “Yours”
Laura Day Romance - “Rendez-vous”
Pasocom Music Club - “Murmur”
RYUTist - “Jikan Dayo”
SHISHAMO - “Kumori Yozora Wa Ame No Yohou”
Fabricio previously collaborated with me for the feature The Conversation: Sora Tob Sakana. You can find him on Twitter.
Taylor
PEDRO - “Karappo Ningen”
Ayutthaya - “Drama”
PEDRO - “Kenshou Ouka”
Stereogirl - “I Don’t Play Baseball”
PEDRO - “Henachoko”
Ayutthaya - “Back”
Anisonin - “Meidou”
Co Shu Nie - “Flare”
DAOKO - “Anima”
Soko Ni Naru - “Lament Moment”
Taylor writes about Japanese music in her blog Goodbye Subculture. You can find her on Twitter.
Patrick
4s4ki - “Nexus”
Tofubeats - “Club”
Cuushe - “Not to Blame”
RYUTist - “Jikan Dayo”
Iri - “Sparkle”
Los An Jewels - “Drink Up”
Eve - “Heart Forecast”
Minori Yoshikawa & TOMC - “Yume No Hanashi Wo Shiyou”
Kenshi Yonezu (ft. Yojiro Noda) - “Placebo”
Valknee, Haruko Kojima, Namichie, ASOBOiSM, Marukido, Akko Gorilla - “Zoom”
Patrick runs the Japanese music blog Make Believe Melodies and puts out the newsletter Make Believe Mailer. His writing has also appeared on The Japan Times, Otaquest, Bandcamp, and many more. You can find him on Twitter.
Ronald
E-girls - “Bessekai”
BAD HOP (ft. T-Pablow, Tiji Jojo & Benjazzy) - “Bayside Dream”
King & Prince - “Mazy Night”
Official HIGE DANdism - “I Love…”
Fujii Kaze - “Yasashisa”
JO1 - “Oh-Eh-Oh”
Negicco - “Gozen0ji No Sympathy”
Yonezu Kenshi (ft. Yojiro Noda) - “Placebo”
KEITA (ft. Okazaki Taiiku) - “Tokyo Night Fighter”
Tofubeats - “Somebody Tore My P”
Ronald writes for Arama! Japan, and he hosts the Arama! Japan podcast. His writing has also appeared at the Japan Times. You can find him on Twitter.
Happy holidays! The next issue of This Side of Japan is out in January. You can check out This Side Japan’s Best of 2020 here: 100 Favorite Idol Songs of 2020 / 100 Favorite Songs of 2020. You can also check out previous issues of the newsletter here.
Need to contact? You can find me on Twitter or reach me at ryomiyauchi9@gmail.com