A spring song with great lyrics. A lovely message that touches the heart.

Daphne (winter daphne)NEW!DISH//

DISH// – Sweet Daphne [Official Video]

Spring is a season where excitement and anxiety about a new environment mingle.

In such times, this heartwarming mid-tempo ballad gently gives you a push.

Its message—“there’s a place to come home to”—gives you the courage to move forward.

Released by DISH// as a single in 2021, the song was chosen as the theme for the drama “The Winner in February: The Classroom of Guaranteed Success.” It drew attention for being co-written by member Takumi Kitamura and Hattori from Macaroni Empitsu, and it’s also included on the album TRIANGLE.

Brimming with the frustration of not being able to express gratitude straightforwardly and with love for those who watch over you, this is a song you’ll want anyone standing at a life crossroads—like exams or job hunting—to hear.

proofNEW!flumpool

flumpool “Proof” Music Video (Full Chorus ver.)

A warm ballad by flumpool that teaches us about the bonds with our companions and the importance of the days we spent together.

Released as a single in September 2011, it was created as the required piece for the junior high school division of the 78th NHK All-Japan School Music Competition.

It was also broadcast on NHK’s Minna no Uta, so many people may have heard it at the time.

The lyrics resonate in the heart, offering the courage to move toward the future even while carrying the sadness of parting.

With certain memories in your heart, why not listen to this classic that gently gives a push to those stepping into a new world, especially in the spring season?

CorrectNEW!RADWIMPS

RADWIMPS – The Answer [Official Music Video]

A song that stays close to hearts grappling with the fragility of youth and anxieties about the future.

Written for NHK’s event “RADWIMPS 18-sai Matsuri,” which RADWIMPS created together with 18-year-olds, it was released as a studio recording in January 2024.

It’s moving to hear the message that, unlike a school test, there are no fixed answers—each of us must find our own through our lives.

Let’s spend all the days ahead searching for our own answers—these words, both tough and warm, feel like a push on the back.

The grand arrangement incorporating a chorus is also deeply moving—you can’t listen without tears.

How about listening to it with your dearest friends at graduation or in the spring as you take a new step forward?

Graduation PhotoNEW!Arai Yumi

Graduation Photograph / Sotsugyou Shashin

A timeless classic that fills you with a tender, bittersweet feeling as spring arrives.

Included on the album COBALT HOUR released in June 1975, this piece first appeared that February as a song provided to Hi-Fi Set, and was later self-covered by Yumi Arai—who would become Yumi Matsutoya—in her own voice.

The changing self, and the gentle gaze captured in an unchanging photograph—the contrast is deeply moving.

In 2007, it was featured in a commercial for Kirin Lager Beer, showing how it continues to be loved across generations.

It’s a song like a charm for the heart, one that helps you reaffirm your unwavering feelings for someone dear.

budNEW!Kobukuro

Kobukuro – Tsubomi

It’s a celebrated ballad whose warm guitar tones and the duo’s interwoven harmonies resonate in the heart, with lyrics that evoke tears as they express deep love and gratitude for a late mother.

Released in March 2007 as their 14th single, it was written as the theme song for the drama “Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad.” It’s also known for winning the Japan Record Award that same year.

The song was created from Kobuchi’s memories of his mother, whom he lost at eighteen, and the image of striving to bloom after enduring the winter, even while carrying sorrow, is profoundly moving.

It carries a gentle warmth that seems to softly nudge you forward in spring, when you want to overcome loneliness and take a new step.

Sing of springNEW!back number

Sing of spring

With their sentimental lyrics and melodies, back number captures countless hearts and never lets go.

This work is an early masterpiece included in their indie-era mini-album “Nogashita Sakana,” released in February 2009.

Spring brings gentle breezes, but it’s also a season of parting.

Feelings left unspoken and memories that resurface in quiet moments are tenderly embraced by a guitar-centered band sound.

It was also included on their 2016 best-of album “Encore,” and the fact that a music video was produced conveys that this song is especially important to them.

It’s sure to gently stay close to the hearts of those who carry words they couldn’t say.

Far, far awayNEW!Makihara Noriyuki

Toku Toku (2012 Remaster)

A timeless hit by Noriyuki Makihara that strikes deep in the hearts of those living away from their hometowns.

The lyrics, filled with the resolve to build a new life in a new city to fulfill one’s dreams and a warm message for friends far away, will gently give listeners a push forward.

In fact, this piece wasn’t a single; it was a track included on the album “Kimi wa Boku no Takaramono,” released in June 1992.

Later, when Makihara’s self-cover was used as an NTT East Japan commercial song in 2006, it became a beloved standard known to even more people.

It’s an essential springtime cheer song with a warm power that makes the heart feel close even across great distances.