5 Great Japanese Songs to Enjoy on Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so it is time to start preparing to make sure this day is super sweet and romantic! To start, did you make sure to ensure you have the best of luck for Valentine's Day (and this year)? If not, no worries! Just grab some awesome Japanese Valentine's Day snacks and relax to these awesome Japanese tunes that our staff think would be a great mood setter for a Valentine's Day date!

1. Utada Hikaru – First Love

Utada Hikaru is a household name across the world nowadays. She has had many popular hits throughout her career, and she gained incredible popularity through her theme songs for the game series Kingdom Hearts. She is fluent in both English and Japanese which helps her when she goes on tour around the world and spreads the word about her music! This song, First Love, was announced as Utada Hikaru's third Japanese single in April 1999 and eventually become a certified double platinum hit!

2. DAOKO × 米津玄師 – 打上花火 (Fireworks)

DAOKO is a now famous singer in Japan who was originally discovered online! She is still fairly new to the music industry as her first tour was only in 2016, but she has already collaborated with many other famous Japanese music artists and made music for blockbuster films — such as this song, Fireworks. Not only that, but she even made the theme music for popular Nintendo mobile game Dragalia Lost!

3. Mariya Takeuchi – Plastic Love

Now this is a throwback! Mariya Takeuchi is an artist who was mainly popular in the late 1970's to 1980's. However, due to recent music trends on Youtube, her 1984 track Plastic Love was thrown back into the spotlight and was viewed millions of times across the world. Remixes were even inspired by a new retrowave style of music!

4. Ken Hirai – Aishiteru (I Love You)

Ken Hirai is a famous Japanese Pop and R&B singer. He started his career in 1995 and steadily grew in popularity from there. One of his songs, Close Your Eyes, was even the best selling single of 2004! This song goes perfectly with Valentine's Day as it is about love and how it can create a sense of longing in a person!

5. YUI – Please Stay With Me

YUI was picked up by Sony Records when she was 17 years old and struggled with gaining recognition until her song Good-Bye Days was released. From there many of her songs become best sellers and she become famous not only in Japan, but also in many surrounding countries.

So, which of these songs do you love? Do you have any that you songs that you would recommend someone add to their Valentine's Day playlist? Let us know in the comments below!

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