Mayo Okamoto’s classic and popular songs
You feel healed when you listen to Mayo Okamoto’s beautiful, clear voice, don’t you?
I’ve put together a song list of her hit and popular tracks.
There are many songs with gentle melodies and encouraging lyrics, so listening to them when you need a push might lift your spirits.
Mayo Okamoto’s Famous and Popular Songs (1–10)
ANNIVERSARYMayo Okamoto
It’s a song included on the first best-of album, “RISE 1,” released in 2000.
It appears as a self-cover of a track originally provided to Seiko Ishii.
The song charmingly conveys a woman’s wish to always remember her wedding anniversary, to cherish various events and the changing seasons, and to remain that way no matter how many years go by.
TOMORROWMayo Okamoto
It was released in 1995 as their debut single.
The song was chosen as the theme for the TBS drama “Second Chance” and was created to encourage friends back home.
It was a huge hit, reaching No.
1 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and selling over two million copies.
With this song, they made their first appearance at the 46th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, marking their television debut.
BLUE STARMayo Okamoto
It was released in 1995 as the coupling track to the first single “TOMORROW.” The lyrics are filled with joyful memories of summer days at the beach spent with him.
Precisely because the time together was so happy, the song earnestly expresses a wish for that happiness to continue next year and forever.
I can’t turn it into a memory.Mayo Okamoto
It was released in 1998 as the eighth single.
The song was used as the ending theme for TBS Television’s “Uwasa no! Tokyo Magazine,” and it’s a poignant track that captures the lingering feelings after a breakup.
It conveys the loneliness of knowing his birthday but being unable to celebrate it directly, and the desire to call him—sentiments that many women who have experienced heartbreak can relate to.
Beyond this starry skyMayo Okamoto
It was released in 1999 as the 11th single.
After reading fan letters from women who had lost their loved ones, Okamoto wrote a song that gives voice to their feelings.
Though the sorrow of losing someone precious never fully heals, the lyrics gently encourage turning him, little by little, into a cherished memory—making it a deeply moving song.
It’s so heartbreaking it makes me cry.Mayo Okamoto
It was released in 1997 as the fifth single.
It was used as the ending theme for the TV Asahi anime series Cutie Honey F.
The song is about a long-distance relationship; while she tries to keep faith in him, her longing to see him overflows and turns into heartache—the lyrics express the complex feelings of a woman.
DestinyMayo Okamoto
It was released in 2008 as the 20th single.
The single also includes a “piano version” in collaboration with pianist Yuhki Kuramoto, and the song was used as the theme for the Japanese-dubbed version of the TV Tokyo drama “New Shanghai Grand.” It’s a song notable for its heartrending lyrics.
EverlastingMayo Okamoto
Released in 1998 as the ninth single.
This song was used in a commercial for Kraft’s “6P Cheese with Camembert,” and it captures the feelings of a woman who is hopelessly in love.
She’s happy when she’s with him, but when they can’t meet, she becomes anxious—something many women can relate to.
Stay just the way you are.Mayo Okamoto
It was released in 1997 as the fourth single.
The song recounts memories of a high school classmate and best friend who passed away at the young age of 26, and it is sung as a cherished memory for both the friend and Mayo Okamoto herself.
It was used as the image song for Shinkin Bank and also featured as an insert song on TBS’s “Kaettekita Second Chance.”
GoodbyeMayo Okamoto
Released in 1997 as the sixth single.
It reached No.
5 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart.
The song is a bittersweet tale in which a woman unilaterally tells her boyfriend goodbye.
She decides to pursue her own dreams, but knowing she couldn’t break up if she saw his face, she leaves without saying a word—a deeply sad portrayal.