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songs

The top 10 graduation songs in Japan as chosen by current Japanese high school students

From covers of classics to altogether newer songs, these are the melodies that Japanese youth associate with graduation in this current Reiwa age.

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Was there no “Song of 2021” in Japan?

The country’s legendary year-end music program is struggling to find its hit.

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Japanese artists in New York sing Sukiyaki together in heartwarming video

With lyrics like “Tonight I’m all alone” and “I keep my head up high“, this is a touching, perfectly fitting song for our times. 

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Osaka club offers up great heavy metal hand washing song selections

Help seek and destroy germs with these 20-second segments of metal classics.

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HacoKara Karaoke Box: The best way to de-stress at the cinema in Japan

Mr Sato belts out a tune in the phone-booth style box and emerges like Superman.

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Ariana Grande “fixes” her 7 Rings Japanese kanji tattoo, but it still says tiny charcoal grill

Throwing another kanji character into the mix doesn’t exactly fix the mistake.

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Visit Tokyo sites and learn about Japanese sushi with Pikotaro and “Can You See? I’m Sushi”

The famous performer even takes a walk on the sexy side by feasting on sushi with a crew of female dancers.

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Elementary schoolgirl’s Frozen “Let It Go” lip-synch performance is like nothing you’ve ever seen

This girl and her friends put on an unforgettable performance that’s making people smile around the world.

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New Pokémon Mimikyu gets social media campaign, official song to help it make friends 【Video】

Chilling-looking Pokémon Sun and Moon character sings heartwarming lyrics.

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An English cover of the title song from Your Name hits all the right notes【Video】

The original Radwimps song is great, but the cover is giving Japanese people goosebumps.

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Your spirits will soar when you hear this version of “Always with Me” from Spirited Away【Video】

A wonderful video from days past takes us on a magical musical journey that will spirit you away.

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Japanese national anthem delights foreigners, Japanese commenters have no idea why

Depending on your travel and Olympic games viewing habits, you may not get the chance to hear national anthems that aren’t from your own country very often. Which is kind of understandable…the songs are supposed to be inspiring, but it seems like at lot of them are either about killing everyone or marching. Marching might be a great way to burn calories, but we could do without songs about it.

However, it turns out that Japan’s national anthem, the incredibly short “Kimi ga Yo,” is a bit of a hit with folks from everywhere but Japan…a fact that’s left quite a few Japanese Internet commenters thoroughly confused.

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An ode to Japan’s musical trucks and the wondrous things they sell

The next time someone asks, “What’s your favourite thing about Japan?”, I know what I’m going to say.

When I was growing up in England, the only thing you could buy from a cute little musical van that drove around the neighbourhood was ice cream, and for the approximately eleven-and-a-half months of the year when it was too cold to eat an ice cream, you had to make do with a “mix-up bag” (like pick ‘n’ mix, but without the “pick” part – that is to say, without the element of choice) which consisted of ten gummy sweets no one ever liked anyway.

Sure, in city centres and at events in England we have vendors selling fast food. But our burger and falafel trucks don’t drive door-to-door playing old-fashioned jingles like an ice cream van does. In Japan, however, there are a bunch of tiny vans, privately owned, that each specialise in one product and each have their own song. And it’s not just food, either. The things you can buy off the back of those little musical trucks are amazing.

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