Songs that hit home when you're feeling blue: masterpieces of Japanese music
“I feel a vague sense of anxiety and can’t find any energy.” “I’m struggling with my relationships.” Don’t you have times when you feel so down that you don’t know what to do?
All you want is to live immersed in simple happiness… but it’s so hard.
At times like that, rather than forcing yourself to grit your teeth and endure, it might actually be easier to stop pushing and let yourself cry it all out.
Here, I’ve put together a selection of classic Japanese songs that will stay close to your heart when you’re feeling unbearably blue.
I hope this article can be of help to you.
- [Melancholy] For when you want to sink all the way. Masterpieces that depict various kinds of gloom.
- [Dark Songs] A carefully curated selection of deeply dark tracks and heartbreaking songs that accompany you in tough times
- [Yami Song] Fight darkness with darkness!? Deep tracks that stay close to your pain
- [Yami Song] A mental breakdown track that sings the true feelings of a melancholic heart
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- [For High School Students] Melancholy Songs That Stay Close to Your Feelings [Tough Times]
- Masterpieces that sing of despair. Recommended popular songs.
- [For when you want to cry or feel sad] Tear-jerking masterpieces that make you cry when you listen
- [When You're Lonely] A Collection of Songs That Resonate With Those All Alone
- [Songs of Worries] Listening will gently lighten your heart. Masterpieces that speak for your feelings
- A masterpiece that sings of loneliness. Recommended popular songs.
- Masterpieces that sing about loneliness: J-pop to listen to when you're alone
- [Cheering Songs] Japanese tracks to listen to when you’re troubled, lost, or feeling anxious
Songs that hit hard when you're feeling blue: Classic J‑Pop gems (41–50)
A water tank without waterYamazaki Masayoshi
A song with a melancholic atmosphere and a distinctive melody line that makes you feel as if you’re with your lover inside a “waterless aquarium.” It’s neither joyful nor painful—like being in a drowsy haze where the lines between light and darkness blur.
AkariMy Hair is Bad
It’s a heartwarming song that portrays the feeling of trying to move forward despite everyday fatigue and inner conflicts.
It’s one of the tracks on My Hair is Bad’s album “ghosts,” released in July 2024, a noteworthy work that also includes the theme song for the film “Crayon Shin-chan: Our Dinosaur Diary.” With an alternative rock sound and a husky vocal timbre, it expresses the fragility and anxiety deep within the heart, along with the strong will to keep going anyway.
It’s a song you’ll want to listen to when you feel worn out by work or relationships, or when you’re on the verge of breaking.
It will surely stay close to your heart and give you strength for tomorrow.
Surely this life had no meaning.Kitanitatsuya
This is a song by Tatsuya Kitani that portrays thoughts about how small one is and the suffering of a miserable way of life.
The intensely strummed sound of various instruments conveys a restless mind and unstable emotions directly.
The vocals also seem to emphasize a rough, raw image, giving the impression of unadorned outpourings of pain.
The lyrics, which convey the struggle of living on while suffering in a world without salvation, may resonate with and support you when you’re feeling down.
It should be a little better when the moon gets closer.ASKA
It’s a bit old, but here’s a song from ASKA’s album “NEVER END.” Even within its melancholy, the lyrics and melody convey a serious masculinity and a sense of artistry.
Like Chihiro Onitsuka’s “Gekkou” (Moonlight), it’s definitely one of those tracks you’ll want to listen to at night.
Anytime smokin’ cigaretteglobe
A song from one of the three-member units produced by Tetsuya Komuro (TK) that dominated the Japanese music scene in the ’90s.
It’s not exactly a bright track, but you can clearly feel the determination of a woman striving to live strongly in the lyrics.
It’s one of globe’s relatively calm masterpieces.
New WorldThe Back Horn
From THE BACK HORN’s albums prior to their 1st album.
If you listen closely to the lyrics, I think you’ll notice a powerful sense of standing up and trying to grasp something out of despair.
Their 1st album, “Ningen Program,” is also recommended.
Can you be alone?dauntaun
He puts on a brave face, but deep down he wants someone by his side.
Isn’t this a song that captures that kind of complicated male heart? Sung by the duo Downtown—better known for their comedy—it conveys a human, deeply poignant melancholy that’s different from straightforward humor.
The track was the B-side to the single “Yūhi Kazoku,” released in October 1989, and was later included on the 1991 album “Manriki no Kuni.” Composed by Ryūdō Uzaki, the melody carries a hint of the blues, highlighting the protagonist’s clumsy kindness.
If you listen to it on a quiet night while drinking alone, it might make that tough exterior soften—just a little.