For When You Want to Get Sentimental: Classic Japanese Songs Overflowing with a Melancholic Atmosphere
There are times when you suddenly find yourself feeling sentimental, aren’t there?
Cheering yourself up is one way to go, but it might also be nice to just let yourself be as you are in those moments.
In this article, we’ve picked out songs you can sink into on a sentimental day.
Letting yourself go with the flow and listening to classics like these can be surprisingly soothing.
These tracks aren’t just for autumn nights—you can enjoy them in all sorts of seasons and situations.
Hopefully you’ll find a song that fits your sentimental mood.
- Emotional songs that resonate in a sentimental autumn. A collection of autumn tunes.
- A nostalgic song—a timeless classic that somehow feels familiar and touches the heart.
- [For when you want to cry or feel sad] Tear-jerking masterpieces that make you cry when you listen
- [Unrequited Love] Heart-wrenching Love Songs | A Roundup of Tear-Inducing Crush and Breakup Tracks
- Songs that hit home when you're feeling blue: masterpieces of Japanese music
- [Touching the Heart] Timeless Ballad Masterpieces. A Collection of Unfading Classics and the Latest Songs [2026]
- The nostalgic atmosphere tugs at your heartstrings. Tear-jerker songs from the Showa era.
- [I Want Healing] Songs That Bring a Sense of Calm: Heartwarming Masterpieces of Japanese Music
- [Tearjerker] Songs that make your heart tremble with tears & moving tracks with lyrics that touch the soul
- Gently soaking into a weary heart... Healing songs released in the Reiwa era
- [Classic and Contemporary Hits] Emotionally Stirring, Heart-Touching Songs
- [Cheering Songs] Japanese tracks to listen to when you’re troubled, lost, or feeling anxious
- Tears won’t stop with these sentimental lyrics! Heisei-era tearjerker songs
[For When You Want to Get Sentimental] Classic Japanese Songs Overflowing with Melancholic Atmosphere (21–30)
What is happiness?Chiba Yūki
Released in October 2025, “What Is Happiness?” was selected as the theme song for the Kansai TV/Fuji TV Monday 10 p.m.
drama The Final Rondo — To You Whom I Can Never Meet Again.
With this track, Chiba ventured into a style reminiscent of kayōkyoku, emphasizing the melody line.
The lyrics, written in plain language about everyday struggles and ordinary views of happiness, speak to the universal question, “What is happiness?” It’s a moving song that gently comforts those who have experienced parting or loss of someone dear.
Sentimental KissShio Reira
This work depicts an unbreakable lingering attachment—the kind where you can’t cut off an ambiguous relationship with a former lover.
It’s a song by Rei La Ushio, released in May 2022 as her third digital single.
Chosen as background music for ABEMA’s dating show “He and the Wolf-chan Are Not to Be Deceived,” it topped Spotify’s Viral Chart and has surpassed 50 million streams worldwide.
Its gentle sound, centered on acoustic guitar and piano, embraces the complex emotions that arise as the distance between hearts and bodies grows inversely proportional.
Many listeners may find themselves relating to the experience of being unable to fully end a relationship and letting it drag on.
rendezvousshaitoopu
The rock band Shytone, which rose to prominence after a viral hit on social media, released a signature track in April 2023 that sings of a man’s searing emotions after a breakup.
Unable to accept parting from someone he loved deeply, he longs for an impossible reunion; the loneliness of his lover’s traces fading from everyday life is expressed through vocalist So Sasaki’s superb word choices—so moving you might be brought to tears.
The song is also known for surpassing 100 million total streams in November 2023 and is included on the album “Hors d’œuvre.” Why not entrust your heart to its somehow comforting melody that stirs up those bittersweet feelings?
hydrangeaPEOPLE 1
A poignant ballad you’ll want to listen to on a rainy day.
This song, performed by PEOPLE 1, is a masterpiece in which vocalist Ito’s richly expressive voice gently sinks into your heart.
Released in June 2022, it colored the drama Kanakana’s most heartrending scenes as an insert song.
It was later included on the album Hoshimeguri, Kimi ni Kinsei.
The lyrics, which liken shifting romantic feelings to the seasons and hydrangeas, are lyrical and squeeze your heart even just to read them.
366 daysHY
This is a ballad that delicately portrays the bittersweet feeling of a love once deeply cherished that never fades from the heart, even as time passes.
The protagonist, unable to stop thinking about the person they parted with all day long, is gently and vividly depicted through Izumi Nakasone’s powerful yet tender vocals.
Included on the 2008 album “HeartY,” it was also used as the theme song for the film “Thread of Red (Akai Ito).” There’s also a well-known anecdote that the songwriter temporarily broke up with their partner at the time in order to write the lyrics.
It’s a song that quietly sits beside those whose heartbreak hasn’t healed, or on nights when you find yourself reminiscing about a past love.
Night of Osmanthuskinoko teikoku
A rock band that captivates fans with a one-of-a-kind worldview, Kinoko Teikoku delivers this track featured on their September 2018 album Time Lapse.
It opens with an intro of dreamy guitars, and vocalist Chiaki Sato’s nostalgic singing really resonates.
On a night when the scent of fragrant olive drifts softly through the air, the lyrics paint a poignant scene in which memories of a past love resurface—evoking a sentimentality unique to autumn.
The song is also known for being used in Recruit’s SUUMO commercial.
Its beautiful yet wistful ensemble makes it the perfect melancholy rock tune to sink into as the weather turns chilly.
LemonYonezu Kenshi
The theme song for the TBS Friday drama “Unnatural,” which aired in March 2018, is one of Kenshi Yonezu’s signature works, depicting profound grief for someone lost and unwavering feelings that remain.
It reflects his personal experience of losing his grandfather during production, and carefully portrays a protagonist who faces death while living on with cherished memories of a loved one.
The bitterness and tartness of a lemon symbolize complex emotions that resonate deeply, and the song became a massive hit with over 900 million views on YouTube.
It’s a perfect track for times when you want to share sorrow or quietly heighten your emotions.
If you watched the drama, it will surely spark fond reminiscences in conversation.