[J-Pop] A Collection of Unrequited Love Songs That Stay Close to Your Heart

The town where you liveShimizu Shota

Shota Shimizu “The Town Where You Live” MV

This is a ballad that paints the feelings of someone who, in unguarded moments, finds themselves searching for traces of a lover who should no longer be there.

It’s a song by singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu, released in October 2010 as his eighth single.

The track is also included on the album COLORS.

You can almost picture the protagonist overlaying the face of the one they can no longer meet onto a lookalike spotted on a station platform or onto familiar cityscapes.

Imagining the city where that person lives and simply wishing to see them—those one-sided feelings are, in a way, the very essence of a lingering “unrequited love” that follows a finished romance.

The melody, like an autumn dusk—lonely yet warm—soaks into the heart.

If there’s someone you can’t forget, listening to this will surely resonate deeply.

What is love?Ryokushokushakai

Ryokuoushoku Shakai – “What Is Love?” / Koitte

A number by Ryokuoushoku Shakai that vividly captures the pounding excitement when love begins.

Composed by the keyboardist peppe, the song is striking for its buoyant piano melody and an exhilarating beat that makes you want to clap along.

The lyrics portray the confusion and flutter of liking someone for the first time, and the bittersweet image of hiding your true feelings with a casual “Just kidding,” which may make you reflect on your own experiences.

After being included on the mini-album ADORE released in August 2017, the track was later chosen as the theme song for ABEMA’s dating show “Love’s Coach Is My Ex” in 2021.

It’s a song that gently gives a push to anyone carrying the sweet-and-sour ache of unrequited love.

Last Love Lettermoon drop

moon drop [Last Love Letter] Music Video

From an intro that bursts with the sweet tang of youth and sets your heart dancing, this is the quintessential popular number by moon drop.

Many listeners are sure to feel their chests tighten at the lyrics’ worldview, where the frustration of unrequited love and unspoken feelings intersect.

The track is included on their first full-length album, “Kono Tenohira ga Mada Kimi o Oboete Iru,” released in January 2022.

It was also used as a CM song for Honda Cars, broadcast across seven prefectures in the Chubu region, including Aichi and Mie, so plenty of people have likely heard its refreshing melody on TV.

This song sets indecisive feelings toward someone you love and a premonition of love’s end to an easygoing beat.

It’s perfect not only for students swaying with tender crushes, but also for anyone who wants to bask in bittersweet memories from the past.

Heroineback number

back number “Heroine” Music Video

Back Number, hugely popular among young people for their relatable lyrics.

This is one of their many unrequited love songs.

Since it was also used in a commercial, some of you may have heard it.

A love song where the slightly timid “I,” while feeling restless, thinks of you with unwavering sincerity.

Faint fragrancePerfume

[Official Music Video] Perfume “A Faint Scent”

It’s a cute song that captures the fluttery feeling of a one-sided crush.

Their music is charming for its pure, transparent vocals, and this track brings out the best of the trio’s appeal, packing in the joy and beauty of unrequited love by likening romance to a fragrance.

A world without youto shiki

A world without you

This is a work by Toshiki, a singer-songwriter from Hyogo Prefecture, singing about overflowing feelings for someone precious who has disappeared from right before your eyes.

Released in August 2022, the song spread on social media after a post sparked buzz as a “heart-wrenchingly divine track,” inspiring over 4,000 fan-made videos.

It depicts the painful realization, only after losing them, that the ordinary days spent with someone you can no longer meet were the true happiness.

Perhaps everyone has experienced the torment of secretly holding on to love—still being in love even after a breakup.

A masterful ballad sung from a male perspective that gently embraces such sentimental feelings.

Please take your time and listen closely to his warm yet heartrending voice.

scale (as of a fish or reptile)Hata Motohiro

Motohiro Hata / Uroko (Short Ver.)

Motohiro Hata’s songs have profound lyrics and a very dreamlike quality, and while Uroko preserves that atmosphere, it also conveys pure feelings of love in a straightforward way.

It portrays the theme of unrequited love through an artistic worldview, resulting in a very captivating track.