Japan is a country with a unique culture and customs, so it\u2019s no surprise that it\u2019s provided the inspiration for numerous songs over the years. But how many artists zone in on specific regions or cities? Well, the Kansai region has featured in many tracks spanning across the genres over the years. From international acts writing about places in Kansai to local artists singing about what they know best, here\u2019s a selection of Kansai-inspired tunes worth checking out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We start with a track from a western outsider perception. Phoebe Bridgers, American singer-songwriter and member of indie band Boygenius, wrote \u201cKyoto\u201d in 2019. While clearly taking inspiration from the city, it\u2019s more the starting point for a kind of millennial apathy and dissociation. The opening lyrics are \u201cDay off in Kyoto\/got bored at a temple\u201d. She has since stated that the song is about \u201cimpostor syndrome\u201d and \u201cbeing in Japan for the first time\u201d. It certainly sounds like an artist killing time between gigs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The track received much critical acclaim and was a standout on her 2020 \u201cPunisher\u201d album. It was released as a single in 2020 but plans to record a video in the city were shelved due to COVID-19. Instead, it was filmed in front of a green screen in Los Angeles, with background shots inserted later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dreams Come True<\/a> are one of the early J-Pop bands, formed back in 1988. They had their heyday in the 1990s, when they enjoyed a stream of number one singles on the Japanese charts. They remained popular until the mid-2010s. \u201cOsaka Lover\u201d peaked at number 7 in 2007, centering around a long-distance love affair from the point of view of someone traveling between Osaka and Tokyo.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This track is by local singer and actor Oe Yutaka, performed in the enka style. This is a traditional Japanese ballad style that has produced numerous hits over the years. Yutaka released the song to mark the 15th<\/sup> anniversary of his debut release. It\u2019s set in Kinosaki<\/a>, Hyogo\u2019s well-known onsen town, and evokes images of hot spring steam rising from the rows of willow trees lining the streets. The video to the track was filmed in the town.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Popular English goth\/new wave band The Cure<\/a> no doubt had many young music fans wondering about Japan\u2019s former capital when they released this track on their 1985 \u201cThe Head On The Door\u201d album. Lead singer Robert Smith had already hinted at an interest in the far east when he titled the band\u2019s 1983 compilation album \u201cJapanese Whispers\u201d. However, despite Kyoto inspiring the title, the city is barely referenced in the song itself, which is reportedly about a dream of a swimming pool drowning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the more soulful and evocative tracks about Osaka, this was a minor hit in 1983 for Kansai R&B\/soul performer Masaki Ueda. The song has a wistful feel to it and could be considered as an Osaka-based version of the Otis Redding classic \u201cSitting On The Dock Of The Bay\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TAKA@P.P.R.S<\/a>, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Japan is a country with a unique culture and customs, so it\u2019s no surprise that it\u2019s provided the inspiration f […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":51866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,85],"tags":[223,550,433,819],"class_list":["post-51865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansai-2","category-miscellaneous","tag-kansai","tag-kyoto","tag-music","tag-pop-culture"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51865"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51889,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51865\/revisions\/51889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Oe Yutaka \u201cShigure Moon in Kinosaki\u201d (2023)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Cure \u201cKyoto Song\u201d (1985)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Masaki Ueda \u201cOsaka Bay Blues\u201d (1983) <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n