Before the term J-POP emerged in the late 1980s, Japanese popular music had long been associated with another name: 歌謡曲 (kayōkyoku).
The word covered an extraordinary range of music. Romantic ballads, theatrical performances, idol songs, enka and Western-influenced pop could all find a place within its boundaries. What connected them was their presence in Japan's mainstream musical culture, carried by records, radio and television.
Kayōkyoku had grown from the popular songs of pre-war Japan. After 1945, jazz, boogie-woogie and other international influences continued to reshape the country's music. The development of television, stereo recordings and new generations of professional songwriters accelerated that transformation throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
There was never a single, definitive kayōkyoku sound.
The art of making a popular song
One defining characteristic of kayōkyoku was the collaboration between lyricists, composers, arrangers and performers. A song could bring together musicians from very different backgrounds, each contributing to its identity.
太田裕美 (Hiromi Ohta) offered a memorable example with **「木綿のハンカチーフ」 (Momen no Handkerchief)**, released in 1975.
Written by 松本隆 (Takashi Matsumoto) and composed by 筒美京平 (Kyōhei Tsutsumi), the song follows two lovers separated by distance. Its lyrics unfold as an exchange of letters, with Ohta singing both sides of the conversation. The structure turns a familiar romantic subject into a miniature drama, allowing the relationship to change with each verse.
The song also illustrates how kayōkyoku could move between established categories. Ohta's music drew from both folk and mainstream pop, and her success helped connect traditions often treated as separate.
A sound that kept changing
By the late 1970s, kayōkyoku could embrace spectacular entertainment as readily as intimate storytelling.
ピンク・レディー (Pink Lady) brought a different energy to the charts with “UFO”, released in 1977. Its upbeat production and carefully choreographed performance made the song inseparable from the duo's visual identity. The record became a major hit, winning the Japan Record Award in 1978.
In the following decade, 松田聖子 (Seiko Matsuda) demonstrated how sophisticated arrangements could coexist with idol pop.
Her “SWEET MEMORIES”, released in 1983, was written by Matsumoto and composed and arranged by 大村雅朗 (Masaaki Ōmura). Originally the B-side of “Garasu no Ringo”, it gained wider attention through a television commercial.
Music producer Gota Nishidera has highlighted the recording's combination of live instrumentation and synthesizer textures. Its restrained arrangement and mature emotional perspective offered another dimension to Matsuda's musical identity.
These records belonged to the same broad popular music culture, yet their approaches to songwriting, performance and production were strikingly different.
When J-POP entered the vocabulary
The expression J-POP emerged around the launch of Tokyo radio station J-WAVE in 1988.
Initially, it helped identify Japanese recordings that fitted the station's predominantly Western-oriented programming. Contemporary accounts describe a preference for arrangements that did not resemble conventional kayōkyoku.
The distinction gradually spread beyond the station, becoming associated with a changing Japanese music industry and a new generation of artists.
Kayōkyoku did not disappear overnight. Its traditions continued through idol music, mainstream pop and the work of composers and arrangers whose influence extended well beyond the Shōwa era.
Today, the renewed international interest in older Japanese recordings offers another opportunity to explore that history. Familiar labels such as City Pop reveal only part of a much larger musical landscape.
Start with Hiromi Ohta's carefully unfolding conversation, follow it with Pink Lady's exuberant spectacle, then turn to the measured atmosphere of Seiko Matsuda's “SWEET MEMORIES”. Each record opens a different door into kayōkyoku.