In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in what’s new in J-pop.

With that in mind, here’s where you come in: I’m one person with one set of musical preferences, so please embed any other new J-pop tracks you’ve enjoyed in the comments so we can get a fuller spectrum each week.

2023-2024 Index

2025 Index: Dec 29 – Jan 11 // Jan 12 – Jan 18 // Jan 19 – Jan 25 // Jan 26 – Feb 1 // Feb 2 – Feb 8 // Feb 9 – Feb 15 // Feb 16 – Feb 22 // Feb 23 – Mar 1 // Mar 2 – Mar 8 // Mar 9 – Mar 15 // Mar 16 – Mar 22 // Mar 23 – Mar 29 // Mar 30 – Apr 5 // Apr 6 – Apr 12 // Apr 13 – Apr 19 // Apr 20 – Apr 26 // Apr 27 – May 3 // May 4 – May 10 // May 11 – May 16 // May 17 – May 24 // May 25 – May 31 // Jun 1 – Jun 7 // Jun 8 – Jun 14 // Jun 15 – Jun 21 // Jun 22 – Jun 28 // Jun 29 – Jul 5 // Jul 6 – Jul 12 // Jul 13 – Jul 19 // Jul 20 – Jul 26 // Jul 27 – Aug 2 // Aug 3 – Aug 9 // Aug 10 – Aug 16 // Aug 17 – Aug 23 // Aug 24 – Aug 30 // Aug 31 – Sep 6 // Sep 7 – Sep 13 // Sep 14 – Sep 20 // Sep 21 – Sep 27 // Sep 28 – Oct 4 // Oct 5 – Oct 11 // Oct 12 – Oct 18 // Oct 19 – Oct 25 // Oct 26 – Nov 1 // Nov 2 – Nov 8 // Nov 9 – Nov 15 // Nov 16 – Nov 22 // Nov 23 – Nov 29

THIS WEEK: November 30 – December 6

AKB48 – Oh My Pumpkin!

“Oh My Pumpkin!” is a very funny thing to say and I’m not sure what context I would ever use it in, but the phrase fits the upbeat nature of this track. It’s cute, if a bit cloying.

Charisma.com x Maeshima Soshi – Christmas.com

A Christmas song in Charisma.com’s ultra-quirky style.

Domoto – Ai No Katamari (song of the week!)

This is a remake of their own 2001 hit with updated production. The original is a fantastic song, so of course this is as well. I’m not sure it was needed, but if it gets people to check out KinKi Kids’ early material I guess that’s a positive!

Fantastics – Zutto Zutto

I’m really not interested in ballads from them, sadly. This one’s fine.

GLAY – Dead Or Alive

A new track by this classic rock band. I really like the guitar riffs.

HANA – Non Stop

Sigh. I wish I liked this group but I haven’t enjoyed anything they’ve released. I just really don’t enjoy this sound.

HIM – Heartbeat Snow ~Silent Winter

The 90s dance troupe deliver a wintry synth banger.

Miss Mercy – Boogie Boogie Lovely Buddy (song of the week!)

This is very fun and upbeat! I hope it gets a music video.

Number_i – LAVALAVA

I find the performance super affected and that keeps me from enjoying this.

OCTPATH – Starlight Rendezvous

This follows the super-busy, swing-adjacent production style J-pop is currently obsessed with and does very little for me.

Official HIGE DANdism – Sanitizer

A mellow track from them. It’s fine.

SixTONES – Amazing!!!!!!

This song is almost a decade old now but the guys have filmed a special mv for their sixth anniversary. It’s a fun time capsule.

Takane No Nadeshiko – Hana wa Chikai o Wasurenai

I like this style of surging girl group track and this is a very solid example.

Travis Japan – Welcome To Our Show

This is them doing their razzle dazzle musical thing. I love musicals, but find this too cheesy.

2 thoughts on “New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 7, 2025)”

i have a theory that a majority of big name artists from any industry will have at least one 9+ rated song in their discography, especially if they have a sound that appeals to the listener, and if they dont have a 9+ rated song atm they will have one in the future

basically for all these artists listed here in the roundup whose discographies i havent dived into yet, there will be a 9+ rated song to find eventually

LikeLiked by 1 person

hey nick! longtime lurker here, i commented once on an earlier jpop roundup (about =love). this roundup hit me in the middle of a massive takane no nadeshiko obsession so i just had to comment again. looking through older roundups, you’ve actually written about them a lot before, i just wasn’t into them then, so idk how much you know about them (feel free to ignore if this is old news to you!).

all of takaneko’s music is produced by honeyworks, which is why it’s generally very consistent style-wise. even the tracks that deviate a little more have what i’d consider to be honeyworks’s trademarks. if you liked the sound on the new track, then i’d recommend checking out their sister group karen na ivory, whose music is also all produced by honeyworks.

since honeyworks got their start in the vocaloid scene, they have a huge backlog of older music – a fair portion of takaneko + kareai’s discography is just covers of those songs! if you don’t like the kind-of-robotic sound that vocaloids can have, a lot of their older songs using vocaloids have plenty of covers featuring humans. in recent years, you may have heard their hugely viral hit kawaikute gomen, which is on the cuter side of their sound. if you liked the surging, more powerful sound, then i’d recommend kessen spirit (which takaneko have also covered), as well as hokori takaki idol (which both groups have covered, although only kareai’s is on streaming). romeo is another popular one that i think is really unique and well-composed.

again feel free to ignore if this is all old news to you! i just love takaneko; honeyworks’s music perfectly fits my specific tastes so a group with music produced only by them is a dream come true. if you still want to know more after that info-dump, i’m always happy to share more!

LikeLike

EijiDoesThings says:

December 7, 2025 at 12:18 pm

i have a theory that a majority of big name artists from any industry will have at least one 9+ rated song in their discography, especially if they have a sound that appeals to the listener, and if they dont have a 9+ rated song atm they will have one in the future

basically for all these artists listed here in the roundup whose discographies i havent dived into yet, there will be a 9+ rated song to find eventually

LikeLiked by 1 person

mintcense says:

December 10, 2025 at 4:38 pm

hey nick! longtime lurker here, i commented once on an earlier jpop roundup (about =love). this roundup hit me in the middle of a massive takane no nadeshiko obsession so i just had to comment again. looking through older roundups, you’ve actually written about them a lot before, i just wasn’t into them then, so idk how much you know about them (feel free to ignore if this is old news to you!).

all of takaneko’s music is produced by honeyworks, which is why it’s generally very consistent style-wise. even the tracks that deviate a little more have what i’d consider to be honeyworks’s trademarks. if you liked the sound on the new track, then i’d recommend checking out their sister group karen na ivory, whose music is also all produced by honeyworks.

since honeyworks got their start in the vocaloid scene, they have a huge backlog of older music – a fair portion of takaneko + kareai’s discography is just covers of those songs! if you don’t like the kind-of-robotic sound that vocaloids can have, a lot of their older songs using vocaloids have plenty of covers featuring humans. in recent years, you may have heard their hugely viral hit kawaikute gomen, which is on the cuter side of their sound. if you liked the surging, more powerful sound, then i’d recommend kessen spirit (which takaneko have also covered), as well as hokori takaki idol (which both groups have covered, although only kareai’s is on streaming). romeo is another popular one that i think is really unique and well-composed.

again feel free to ignore if this is all old news to you! i just love takaneko; honeyworks’s music perfectly fits my specific tastes so a group with music produced only by them is a dream come true. if you still want to know more after that info-dump, i’m always happy to share more!

LikeLike