J-pop

J-pop (Japanese: ジェイポップ, jeipoppu; often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as pops (ポップス, poppusu), is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced kayōkyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese popular music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene.^[2]

Japanese rock bands such as Happy End fused the Beatles and Beach Boys-style rock with Japanese music in the 1960s–1970s.^[3] Japanese country had popularity during the international popularity of Westerns in the 1960s–1970s as well, and it still has appeal due to the work of musicians like Charlie Nagatani, Tomi Fujiyama, along with venues like Little Texas in Tokyo.^[4][5] Japanese hip hop became mainstream with producer Nujabes and his work on Samurai Champloo,^[6] Japanese pop culture is often seen with anime in hip hop.^[7] Other trends in Japanese music include J-Euro in the early 1990s, namely Namie Amuro,^[8] as well, Latin music, CCM, and gospel music have scenes within J-pop.^[9][10]

J-pop is further defined by new wave and crossover fusion acts of the late 1970s such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Southern All Stars.^[11] Popular styles of Japanese pop music include technopop during the 1970s–1980s, city pop in the 1980s, and Shibuya-kei in the 1990s.