Tear-jerking songs recommended for women in their 50s: classic and popular Japanese hits
Every listener has their own memories and personal connections to musical works.
This time, we’ve put together a selection of “tear-jerker” songs that are likely to be especially memorable for women in their 50s.
The focus is on hit songs from the 1980s to the 1990s and the popular ballads of the time.
As you read this article, we hope it helps you recall your own “good old days,” and that just hearing a melody or a line of lyrics will instantly bring back the atmosphere of that nostalgic era—letting you feel the power of music.
- Favorite Songs for Women in Their 50s: A Curated Selection of Sweet and Bittersweet Love Ballads!
- Energizing songs recommended for women in their 50s
- Tear-jerking songs recommended for men in their 50s: classic and popular Japanese hits
- Famous songs we’d like women in their 50s to sing (by age group)
- Tear-jerking songs recommended for women in their 40s: classic and popular Japanese tracks
- Recommended breakup songs for women in their 50s: classic and popular Japanese tracks
- Popular Japanese songs among women in their 50s: recommended classics and staple tracks
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- Good songs recommended for people in their 50s: classic and popular J-pop tracks.
- [So touching it makes you cry] A heartbreakingly wistful and sad song that tightens your chest
- Tear-jerking songs recommended for men in their 60s: classic and popular Japanese hits
- Tear-jerking J-pop from the ’90s. Hit songs and real tearjerkers.
- Recommended for the Yutori generation! Tear-jerking masterpieces from the J-pop scene
Tear-jerking songs recommended for women in their 50s: Japanese classics and popular tracks (21–30)
A Good Day to Set Out on a JourneyYamaguchi Momoe
This was Momoe Yamaguchi’s 24th single in total, released on November 21, 1978.
It was created as the theme song for a travel promotion campaign by the then–Japanese National Railways (now JR) with the same title.
The lyrics and composition were by Shinji Tanimura, a member of Alice, which was one of the leading New Music groups at the time, and the single sold over one million copies.
When it was released, the JNR campaign TV commercials were aired frequently, so there are probably very few Japanese people in their 50s today who haven’t heard this song.
Although it has a melancholy melody that evokes the season in which it was released—autumn—the lyrics layered over it convey a sense of “anticipation” for encounters yet to come.
Listening to it again like this, the song seems to possess a mysterious charm.
MPRINCESS PRINCESS
Back before we had cell phones, we kept everyone’s numbers in a phone book—even our crushes.
This song is about that classic old experience of not being able to open to the section with the initial of the guy you were heartbroken over.
It’s a ballad that brings back those youthful feelings of love and can move you to tears.
First loveMurashita Kōzō
Released in 1983, it became one of Kozo Murashita’s signature works.
Even today, it invariably appears on nostalgic music programs as a quintessentially poignant love song of the 1980s.
It brings back memories of those bittersweet days of a first love, when you couldn’t even bring yourself to confess your feelings.
The Bridge of PromiseSano Motoharu
Released in 1989 and reissued in 1992 when it became the theme song for the TV drama “A Promise at Twenty,” it went on to sell over 700,000 copies, becoming Motoharu Sano’s biggest hit.
It’s an uplifting song that brings tears to your eyes—one that affirms who you’ve been and that I’d like you to listen to when you’re worn out by life.
ShipwreckNakamori Akina
A dramatic heartbreak song with the fervent passion and lingering grudge one feels in enka.
When you’ve lost love, won’t listening to “Nampasen” leave you in tears? Akina Nakamori’s emotionally rich voice, quivering in a soft register, is impossible to hear without crying.
Just by you being herekome kome CLUB
Released in 1992, it was used as the theme song for the Fuji TV drama “Sugao no Mama de.” It became a hit with over 2.8 million copies sold and won the Grand Prize in the Pops/Rock category at the 34th Japan Record Awards.
It’s a positive love song about mutual feelings and a tear-jerking masterpiece.
Wandering Love SongNagabuchi Tsuyoshi
Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi’s debut single, released in 1978.
Back then, he was still a slender, handsome folk singer.
It’s a love song about a helpless unrequited crush.
Something like a woman’s fervent passion brings tears to your eyes.
The distinctly Showa-era portrayal of the man seems to make the heartache even more poignant.