This Side of Japan's Top 100 Japanese Songs of 2022

Highlighting the year's best songs from Wednesday Campanella, Kaho Nakamura, Tohji and many more

Hi! Welcome to the Best of 2022 edition of This Side of Japan, a newsletter about Japanese music, new and old. You can check out previous issues of the newsletter here.

If one needed a sign that the people were maybe getting a little tired of the bummed-out tunes that defined the prevailing attitude of J-pop during the past couple years, you just had to follow the activities of arguably the biggest female pop singer of the moment. While Ado contributed her own batch of psychically dark songs in a style complimentary to the artists also establishing the new, modern sound of J-pop, she pivoted practically 180 in attitude this year to embrace life to its fullest. She screamed with pride in a song literally called “I’m Invincible,” and she inspired countless others in Japan to record themselves covering her song about a bright future lying ahead of us. Even an icon such as Ado stepped out of the darkness to sing about the joy of living.

There was a time and place for music to sulk to, but I gravitated towards music that strived to see better days. And I want to say artists wanted to create music that spoke a similar message this year, too. At the very least, the artists I love put out music that celebrated being here and present in this current moment, even if times were tough. After years spent with music that preferred to escape and be anywhere else, these 100 songs felt like a breath of fresh air. (Idol songs got a separate list here.)

You can check out the songs in this list as a playlist on Spotify. You can also check out the list-only version of this list here.

Happy listening, and see you next year!

1) “Hikaru Toki” by Hitsujibungaku

“Hikaru Toki” sees Hitsujibungaku fully grown out of the doomed life perspective assumed during their early years to deliver a message of hope: that the efforts we commit into living out our day to day isn’t ever without meaning. Back in 2018, if given a creative inspiration like the historical epic of Heike Monogatari, the indie-rock band perhaps would’ve emphasized instead the futility in trying to resist fate, how no matter what we do, we’ll all eventually cease to exist. Hitsujibungaku instead salvage from it a more noble proposition, that we’ll continue to live on through the memories we leave behind.

It is admittedly tempting to draw this idea of powerlessness out of a tale where its main characters can’t ever escape their demise. Hitsujibungaku’s Moeka Shiotsuka however also understands why the story remains beloved even if its ending has been openly available for centuries to its potential audience. “Even if the story of the final episode has been already decided / the present is right here, right now,” she sings in the mighty chorus. “Go on, keep shining as yourself.” The conclusion hardly matters than the ambitious ways in which people persevere until their story fades to black despite knowing what lies ahead of them.

No song lyric this year expressed a lust for life more powerfully than the chorus of “Hikarutoki.” “I’ll say it over and over again / the world is beautiful / because you won’t ever give that up,” Shiotsuka sings as the guitars steadily chug along, and her words of deep faith echo even more loudly as it follows a declaration steeped in conviction: “destiny is / calling, calling, it’s calling / if so, I’ll live it to the fullest.” Life is how we make it, Hitsujibungaku acknowledge in “Hikaru Toki,” and the band choose to give it everything they got.

2) “New Genesis” by Ado

Ado as Uta doesn’t just make it sound easy to create our own bright future in “New Genesis,” she makes it sound possible. And that applies to what it exactly takes for us to do just that: change the world through the power of music. Supporting her ambitions is Yasutaka Nakata, who supplies her with an electro-pop production as wide-eyed and epic in scale as Uta’s wholesome dream, but also a series of declarative lyrics that makes best sense when sung by Ado’s superhuman voice. “New Genesis” sounds electric, but Uta’s goal isn’t fulfilled until you feel the electricity too. She isn’t satisfied just singing about a grand future ahead of us; she wants you to be able to envision that future for yourself. A better tomorrow is possible—it’s true, Uta has seen it, and in “New Genesis,” she’s excited to show you what that feels like.

3) “Maneki Neko” by WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA

Like many of Wednesday Campanella’s songs, “Maneki Neko” hardly indulges any deeper, narrative-wise, than what’s promised in the title: frontwoman Utaha sings about, as you’d expect, the maneki neko, the porcelain feline idol of a good luck charm believed to bring good fortune and thriving business to its respective establishment. But the more the lore surrounding the titular figure inflates—according to the song, the gods eventually ascribe incredible power to the cat’s paws—so does Utaha’s engagement with the myth. She becomes absorbed by the pop fiction, none more evident than her performance in the chorus, where she’s ready to rake in the big cash, speaking as if in behalf of the figurine. “Maneki Neko” is all frankly a touch absurd—what Wednesday Campanella song isn’t?—but that very absurd nature makes it all delightfully engrossing.

4) “BAD Mode” by Hikaru Utada

Utada just wants to be present for their significant other in “BAD Mode,” but the same songwriter responsible for an incredible display of emotional understanding such as “PINK BLOOD” finds themselves with no clear answer on how to just be there. Even the smooth soul production carries with it a hint of self-caution, like it’s always aware of the fact it takes one simple move to—as Utada puts it in their own words here—fuck it up again. More than the go-to remedies of UberEats and Netflix, the brave decision for Utada to just commit and see how it goes humanizes the situation at hand. All they have in “BAD Mode” is their word that they are willing to take the plunge together into the deep end. Knowing them, Utada doesn’t need me to tell them that’s all they really need.

5) “IN THIS WORLD” by MONDO GROSSO ft. Hikaru Mitsushima & Ryuichi Sakamoto

MONDO GROSSO’S BIG WORLD yearn to breathe life back into all the places where music once flourished, and “IN THIS WORLD” embodies the album’s vision right down to its production origins: Shinichi Osawa left the song dormant for a while with just the piano melody until his manager pushed the producer to complete it. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hikari Mitsushima had been brought in by Osawa’s manager to enrich the song, but it’s guest UA whose surrealist lyrics elevate “IN THIS WORLD” into a record that’s emblematic of BIG WORLD: “We’re awkward creatures who just wants to be happy / so let’s let our five senses dance,” coolly sighs Mitsushima, who prances around an empty theater in the music video, willing the lyrics into reality. Though everything about “IN THIS WORLD” remains full of grace, from Sakamoto’s pristine pianos to Mitsushima’s poise, it’s driven by an urge to break out from the humdrum of its own environment.

6) “Binetsu” by UA

UA is a fool in love. She refuses to believe in “Binetsu” that her relationship is headed to nowhere so she can keep hanging on to what’s in front of her as long as possible. The singer’s ignorance to reality inspires one of the year’s best lyrics: shut this mouth with your lips, she sings in the chorus, likening the kiss to a needed lid over a vessel overflowing with sadness. “Make me forget about every word.” The R&B beat rocks so steady for a song documenting the messy fall of a relationship, but the casual atmosphere only grounds the unfolding tragedy in realism, with the loss of love as a rather mundane fade-out — the titular cool-out of a fever. When UA finally braces for the end, she asks for a last impossible wish: “Don’t change even if the city or the years do / stay forever as beautiful as you are.” She is, after all, a fool in love.

7) “The End of Sorrow” by JYOCHO

JYOCHO rely on mutual solidarity to forge a path forward. That sentiment of “we’re in this together” is written in the band’s album title, Shiawase Ni Narukara, Narouyo, that’s also cherry-picked from the lyrics of this song. While the five-piece translate it as “let’s promise to be happy,” the literal read of “I’ll be happy so let’s be happy,” emphasizes the symbiotic nature of the relationship: they promise they will persevere as long as you do too. And within the tender math-rock riffs and serene flute passages, they weave that message straightforwardly in the chorus: “If there is an end to sorrow, I’ll make sure to stay alive for it.” The band keeps the spirit warm and lively, so they can reach the light at the end of the tunnel together.

8) “skycave” by TEMPLIME & Toto Hoshimiya

“Skycave” finds Toto Hoshimiya caught adrift in a world where the moments zoom past them, and TEMPLIME’s 2-step-inspired production captures that sensation of time moving too fast. A chopped-up arrangement of Hoshimiya’s own lyrics rush in before the vocalist sings them, offering a preview of what’s to come but also a feeling of deja vu after the first time around. Their impressionistic observations further details the sights flashing by in a blur, warping the fabric of their surroundings. But for how fast everything comes and goes, the singer sounds more enchanted than overwhelmed as they watch it all go by, transfixed as they become so lost in the moment.

9) “LOXONIN” by EDWARD(me)

While EDWARD(me) has indulged in the more bummed-out ends of grunge in her rock-tinged rap tracks to great effect, she strikes gold embracing the sweet-toothed bits of pop punk in “LOXONIN.” Whereas the metallic clank of drums and the blown-out bass line keeps the music from going full Avril Lavigne, the song supplies a dose of pop sugar through her fuzzy confessions delivered in an equally sticky flow. The track spikes in feeling like a proper pop-punk song with not even the rapper herself seemingly prepared for the sudden rush of this gooey, disarming sensation. The unexpectedness of it all, though, only makes “LOXONIN” feel more precious.

10) “Mawarukagami (polygon wave live ver.)” by Perfume

If Perfume was referencing their own past in the nostalgic return to form Plasma, then “Mawarukagami” echoed “Dream Fighter” through its lyrical ode to the live performance. Starker in sound, true—the dramatic tension has to be played as it’s partly designed to close out actual live sets with a big sweep—and compared to the triumphant beat of their 2009 classic, this B-side is steeped in deep uncertainty: never have they sang lyrics as bleak as “like I’m drifting from the deep / I struggled to swim up to the surface,” and the rumbling bass sounds as pressured and suffocating as their hellish situation. The downtrodden parts only lets their resilience resonate that much more, though not without mentioning who made it all possible: “You push me with your voice / to keep standing on this stage today,” Perfume sing in the chorus of why they get back up over and over again.

11) “SOS” by Midnight Grand Orchestra

Taku Inoue’s grand EDM production in “SOS” teems with possibility, teasing a sense of thrill of an intense, almost mythical scale, and Suisei Hoshimachi rushes over to the source so she can experience the sensation herself. When the music unleashes its explosive drop, all the built-up anticipation gives way into an enchanting burst of excitement, like everything Hoshimachi dreamed about is finally within close reach.

12) “Comedy” by Gen Hoshino

In Gen Hoshino’s portrait of family, it’s the mundane moments shared with each other that nurtures the bond between the most disparate of communities. “With you, every day is comedy,” he charmingly sings in the chorus of a warm boom-bap track, because if you fuck up, you at least got someone who’d love to hear you out.

13) “LOG OUT” by 4s4ki

The weight of the world overwhelms 4s4ki, who cries out a wish to shut down and unplug from reality in the chorus of “LOG OUT.” A hyperspeed burst of drum ‘n’ bass rips through the music with reckless abandon as if to answer her pleas. In a song filled with existential dread, that rush of sound offers an intense, if fleeting moment of relief.

14) “Koikaze Ni Nosete” by Vaundy

The drunken wah-wah funk of “Koikaze Ni Nosete” as well as its deceptively breezy melody sweetens Vaundy’s bitter reminiscences about silly yet more fulfilling times from a bygone romance. The singer-songwriter cries in the chorus like he got pulled one cruel joke but not without some delight in the fact that he can finally see clearly now.

15) “Midnight Dew” by DE DE MOUSE & punipunidenki

“I wanted to make the best city pop/future funk song,” DE DE MOUSE tweeted as he shared this single in collaboration with punipunidenki, and the producer did not exaggerate. As the lush string arrangements and delicate funk riff build up an immaculate nu-disco scaffolding, the embellishments gesture to the image of the song’s object of desire that’s so beautiful, it makes punipunidenki blush.

16) “Memory Suddenly (☆Taku Takahashi Remix)” by Haruka Kudo

Taku Takahashi re-fashions the synth-laced power-metal song by Roselia’s Haruka Kudo into a full-on 2-step production, like the voice actress is a new candidate for a m-flo loves... project. Kudo sounds weightless as her light, high-pitched voice grazes the plush synths and glides across the slinky percussion; Takahashi chops her voice into a mesmerizing stitch in a classic garage-house move.

17) “That Smile” by AAAMYYY ft. Ano

If the R&B production of last year’s great Annihilation was too bashful, AAAMYYY ensures you hear her out this time through a raw, droning punk riff. “Don’t get into my space,” she shouts in the chorus with guest Ano, and her slacked sighs grow into a titanic size thanks to the Britrock guitars that roar with a seismic buzz.

18) “Good bye Claire” by Kaho Nakamura

A once-in-a-lifetime encounter passes Kaho Nakamura by in “Good bye Claire,” and the singer-songwriter breathlessly recounts the brief moment as though she’s reporting back a sighting of a shooting star. The restless, drum ‘n’ bass-inspired production offers no luxury to obsess over any regret, which seems completely fine for Nakamura: she’s too transfixed by the beauty in “Good bye Claire” to care about anything else.

19) “Flashlight” by Roselia

Roselia trade in the grandeur of their baroque metal to adopt a sleeker, kinda math-y rock style that’s signature to their collaborator Eve of the Jujutsu Kaisen OP fame. The glossier sound also puts a lot more emphasis on melody, and the song is just spoiled with them. The chorus in particular displays a different way for Aina Aiba to flex her mighty vocals, propelling her performance through its pop bounce as if to show Roselia as a band got more to show than just climbing scales.

20) “Dustware” by Masayoshi Iimori & viwiv

Masayoshi Iimori and viwiv throw all my favorite sounds into a blender in The Two Ravers EP, and “Dustware” grabs my attention through one key ingredient: the haunted cowbells that also populate the best of classic Memphis rap. It’s all in set-up for the screeching hardstyle breakdowns endlessly supplied in multiple forms by the two EDM collaborators.

21) “Play dead” by Menace9

“Don’t think, go hard” is the motto behind Menace9’s hard-trance pop with lyrics zooming by as fast as the intense beats.

22) “REFLECTION” by tofubeats ft. Kaho Nakamura

As if the drum ‘n’ bass breaks wasn’t enough to get the music moving busy, tofubeats invites Kaho Nakamura in “REFLECTION,” whose lyrics flow in a melody as restless as her mind. But for all the action buzzing in the background, the lyrics describe a rather static world, its lack of activity resonating even more poignant coming from Nakamura whose craving for excitement spills from her voice. While the singer holds on to the little, if not banal things that shake up her day for the better, it’s the chorus where she allows the small details to cut deep: “I just want to talk / to friends who look like me,” she sighs, and the drum breaks can do nothing for her but keep moving forward.

23) “Super Ocean Man” by Tohji & banvox

Tohi grows larger than life as he harnesses the burst of energy radiating from banvox’s fluorescent swag-hop beat.

24) “Yarusenai” by Kudaranai1nichi

Kudaranai1nichi unleash a jagged, furious piece of emo all in hope to drown out the miserable numbness residing at the pit of their stomach.

25) “heartless” by Lucie,Too

It’s unbelievable the other person can’t get a clue with Lucie,Too announcing their feelings over a riff that drop over your head like an anvil.

26) “Kunekune (Wiggle Wiggle)” by Raon

Raon briefly steps out of Ado’s shadows and indulges into a more contemporary pop realm that’s still ferociously bombastic.

27) “mischief” by cresc.

The sleek, ebullient electro-pop of cresc.’s debut single sounds even more fitting considering their make-up as a trio as it calls to mind Yasutaka Nakata’s flashy creations for Perfume during the JPN era. If the Nijisanji group seem rather disengaged in response to such a loud, electric beat, it only shows how desperately they want someone to relieve them of their boredom.

28) “RAW” by TORiENA

“RAW” delivers on its title, dropping a slamming set of rave-piano stabs and rapid-fire rounds of laser synths all in a flash of 140 seconds.

29) “Choudai” by miyuna

Infatuation sweetens miyuna’s sleek funk to the point of delirium, warping her vocals and metaphors into a sugar-coated fuzz.

30) “Anchovy” by BIM ft. Dongurizu

The boom-bap beat may be stoned-out, but BIM and Dongurizu’s collaborative cypher goes by in a flash as they inspire in each other an athletic performance of back-and-forth raps.

31) “My First Love Is Crying” by Aimyon

Heartbreak after a break-up keeps the narrator of Aimyon’s latest jangling guitar-pop at a loss, inspiring a thought that reads intense on paper yet so freeing on record: “if that person disappeared off the face of the Earth, I don’t think it would be so bad.”

32) “Ai Wo Inoranaide” by So Shibano

The vibrant power-pop unfortunately doesn’t signal a romantic beginning but instead a more bummer point in time, with So Shibano emotional stung after being reminded of who she lost far after the break-up.

33) “Matenrou” by iri

Iri in “Matenrou” sounds “over it” being the ever-stoic R&B singer and decides to instead wreak havoc and play the thrill seeker. The music tries to keep up to her demands, the zooming disco track supplying her with the needed glamor as much as the speed. She assumes this loud and brash persona naturally as if she always lived this hedonistic lifestyle, but without sacrificing the suave cool she has cultivated through her music over the years: she elicits a mystique as alluring as the city that draws her in, through her demeanor but also her labrynthine lyrics.

34) “Hakoniwa No Kofuku” by Azusa Tadokoro

The sparkling, slightly psychedelic synth-pop inspires equally surreal words from the voice actress about opening up her heart and stepping out of solitude.

35) “eyes” by Dirty Androids & RANASOL

Dirty Androids may keep the electro-funk delicate and poised, but RANASOL urges for more friction.

36) “Feta!” by Young Coco

Young Coco sounds reinvigorated as he fully embraces rage music with the crunchy beat inflating his ego, power and taste for destruction.

37) “Step into the Arena” by PUNPEE & JJJ

While the influence of drill music isn’t as visible in Japan’s rap community compared to scenes in other countries, consider “Step into the Arena” as proof that there exists a more than decent amount of interest from Japanese rap producers in the subgenre. PUNPEE and JJJ mostly adopt the production elements of drill, utilizing the wonky bass as well as the shifty shuffle recognizable more from the UK strain. The duo’s homage is admittedly more surface level—they step away from the genre’s stock flows and put on their own off-kilter, boom-bap-rooted cadences—but echoes of drill still fascinate at this level of mainstream, especially as it props up a song dedicated to the Magic: The Gathering card game.

38) “World’s Rot” by BRAVE OUT

While the hardcore punk act seem at a loss as any of us dealing with the cruel times of the present, they muster up a response and flip it into a valuable hook: push it back, push it back.

39) “Sunday Freestyle” by C.O.S.A. ft. Senninsho & JJJ

A loose homage to Senninsho’s “Monday Freestyle,” the cypher finds C.O.S.A., Senninsho and JJJ deeply pondering the here-and-now over an equally downtrodden boom-bap.

40) “Matsuri” by Fujii Kaze

Fujii Kaze’s expression of celebration in “Matsuri” is not a victorious roar but a rather disinterested shrug, and the disengagement is exactly to his point when “no one really cares / just do what you want” serves as the song’s central refrain.

41) “Dance with Me Tonight” by SARA-J x ONJUICY x FOFU

SARA-J laces a flirtatious hook for this comedown R&B tune while rapper ONJUICY tries his best recalling a blurry memory from a night-out, still intoxicated from its faint high.

42) “The Edge of Summer” by adieu

Over resigned acoustic-pop, Moka Kamishiraishi laments company that came and went like the summer—an obvious presence whose exit was also perhaps inevitable.

43) “Non-Fiction” by kamome sano ft. Kasane Teto

An artificial voice such as the one from the Kasane Teto Vocaloid makes the lyric of “Non-Fiction” strike a far deeper emotional chord as it adds a sliver of naivete, starting from one of its first opening lyrics: “I lied for the very first time / I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it,” it sings of a human moment like a fascinating discovery. After it stumbles upon a thought, Teto continues to chronicle the process of pulling words and sounds seemingly out of nothing, connecting it all together to build perhaps the very song you’re hearing. Kamome sano orchestrates a cosmic arrangement for the endeavor, an electro-pop magic that sounds infinitely immense yet deeply intimate as Teto’s creative imagination.

44) “Pineapple Groove” by Guchon

Out of all the effervescent house tracks Guchon put out this year, I always go back to the sticky groove that first caught my attention to his work.

45) “Highlight Highlight” by the peggies

That humming hook goes a long way to elevate “Highlight Highlight” from the rest of the peggies’ usual exuberant power-pop.

46) “MAD” by DAOKO & Yohji Igarashi

Feeling the fat bass line supplied by Yohji Igarashi in this house track, DAOKO can’t help but turn up to the beat.

47) “Reflections” by Michiganized

Aoi Yumi calls out impossible questions into the void, and the tidal shoegaze riff answers back.

48) “Kawaki” by Petit Brabancon

Come for the thick, muddied nu-metal riffs, stay for the vocal theatrics by Kyo also of Dir en Grey.

49) “HAVE A NICE DAY” by TENDRE

TENDRE offers a warm R&B groove as consolation that things will eventually be OK as long as we keep pushing.

50) “Suisei x Konya Wa Boogie Back nice vocal” by Tomoko Ikeda x TENDRE

Both tofubeats’ “Suisei” and Kenji Ozawa’s “Konwa Wa Boogie Back” stand as staple hipster J-pop records with each representing two different cultural generations, and the two make such a brilliant pair for a mash-up, it almost feel too obvious to mix together. Tomoko Ikeda and TENDRE’s version of the mix indulges more of the mood prevalent in tofubeats’ record as well as his decade in culture: the wistful G-funk whine from “Suisei” colors the nostalgic track with ambivalence and melancholy signature to the track while the two sing the lyrics of “Konya Wa Boogie Back” at a slight remove, like they can’t quite relate to Ozawa’s enthusiasm about his moment in culture. As if blending two classics wasn’t enough, that all this hidden cultural commentary can be found in a single commissioned as a commercial tie-in—in this case, for chu-hi brand Horoyoi—makes this even more a fine piece of classic J-pop.

“Piplup Step”

51) SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS - “Hatsukoi No Akuma”

52) Find Me Alone - “Foreigner”

53) Serph - “Piplup Step”

54) Photon Maiden - “Akatsuki (Fruits Mix V2)”

55) Laura day romance - “well well”

56) Haretokidoki - “winter memory”

57) Moon in June - “Summer Pop‘97”

58) Hoach5000 - “Paper Bag”

59) Nerd Magnet - “Everything’s Ruined!”

60) harmoe - “HAPPY CANDY MARCH”

Momo Asakura

61) ANORAK! - “Kichijoji”

62) YeYe - “Tashikana Gogo”

63) Ferri-Chrome - “How Could I Feel You?”

64) Seimei - “Formation 1992”

65) Aimi - “Near Equal”

66) Momo Asakura - “Stained Glass”

67) Fellsius - “Hatch”

68) Afterglow - “Dokuso Shusa”

69) Kana Hanazawa - “Don’t Know Why”

70) Sakanaction - “Shock!”

Yayuyo

71) Shake Bose ft. Tohji - “Moon Sun”

72) XLARGE ft. CYBER RUI & ShowyRENZO - “I got the speed”

73) Foursidewalks - “1995”

74) Shapeshifter - “Black Liquid”

75) majiko - “FANTASY”

76) Yurufuwa Gang - “Beatles”

77) Penguin No Yuuutsu - “Ochiru”

78) Tokimeki Records ft. Hikari - “Toumei Na Girl ~Dye Me~”

79) Loota, Brodinski & Modulaw ft. Gliiico - “The Light”

80) Yayuyo - “Abayo,”

Awich

81) Yackle, Rinne Yoshida & DAOKO - “Skill Loop Part 2”

82) Fuji Taito - “Crayon”

83) Mashinomi - “escape”

84) Yo-Sea - “Without you”

85) Awich ft. KEIJU & Yellow Bucks - “Link Up”

86) cetow - “water leaf”

87) HARU NEMURI - “Shunka Ryougen”

88) STUTS ft. JJJ & BIM - “Voyage”

89) Morfonica - “The Circle of Butterflies”

90) Yuga - “Tomoshibi”

RUNG HYANG

91) RUNG HYANG - “Kirainahito”

92) Merm4id - “I will never die”

93) Chilli Beans. - “School”

94) LEARNERS - “Twinkle Winter Day”

95) South Penguin ft. Dos Monos - “gadja”

96) QUEENDOM - “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”

97) Anna Takeuchi - “Te No Hira Kasenereba”

98) TYOSiN ft. Xgang, HAKU FiFTY, W, Yvng Patra, ORIGAMI & GNB AAlucarD - “Raimei”

99) Fake Creators - “Her Footwork”

100) Official Hige Dandism - “Mixed Nuts”

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