Last Updated on December 24, 2025 by Black Sunshine Media
From Buck Owens to The Flaming Lips, artists have been singing about Japan for decades—sometimes as wide-eyed tourists, sometimes as dreamers, and too many times as creepy reports of the Asian fetish. This list vaguely explores how musicians across genres have (mis)interpreted the country as both place and idea: a symbol of distance, fantasy, and modern life seen through a Western gaze.
Some of these tracks romanticize geishas and cherry blossoms; others find themselves lost in the bright loneliness of Tokyo nights. It’s a mix of reverence, misunderstanding, and genuine curiosity—a reminder of how Japan has long existed in Western pop culture as both muse and mirror.
And here’s a bonus Spotify playlist with all the tracks in one spot. You’re welcome!
Life in Tokyo – Japan
There’s always something left inside him
I’ve really nothing much to lose
It seems so sentimental
Why should I care?
Somewhere there’s a sound of distant living
Locked up in high society
It seems so artificial
Why should I care?
Oh ho ho
Life can be cruel
Life in Tokyo
Japan toured Japan several times before breaking up, so I believe in the authenticity of the songwriting, but man, that’s a lot of words to say nothing about life as a foreigner in a major city. I think a lot of these guys just liked the exotic appeal of name-checking faraway places, but it should also be noted that Japan’s main guy, David Sylvian, had a relationship with a Japanese photographer, Yuka Fujii.
Made in Japan – Buck Owens
The beauty of her face was beyond my wildest dreams
Like cherry blossoms blooming in the mountain in the early spring
As we walked by the river, and she softly took hold of my hand
That’s when I fell deep in love with the girl made in Japan
Touching country ode to a bit of the old yellow fever. Nothing wrong with it. Buck Owens and His Buckaroos toured Japan in 1967, resulting in a fantastic live album, In Japan!
Released as a single in 1972, “Made in Japan” was Owens’ last number one country record as a solo artist.
Kyoto Song – The Cure
A nightmare of you
Of death in the pool
Wakes me up at quarter to three
I’m lying on the floor of the night before
With a stranger lying next to me
Robert Smith has a sneaky link to Japan, leaving notable breadcrumbs in several songs (“The Walk”, “A Japanese Dream”) and the title of a compilation album, Japanese Whispers (1983). However, this jam from The Head on the Door (1985) supposedly has nothing to do with Japan aside from the obviously “oriental” pentatonic melody and atmosphere. Smith has said the lyrics were inspired by a dream his wife had about drowning in a swimming pool.
30 Seconds Over Tokyo – Pere Ubu
Toy city streets crawling through my sights
Sprouting clumps of mushrooms like a world surreal
This dream won’t ever seem to end
And time seems like it’ll never begin
Thirty seconds
And a one-way ride
Thirty seconds
And no place to hide
Thirty seconds over Tokyo
Pere Ubu didn’t make my list of 1970s rock bands you might have missed, and I realize now that was a mistake. Fixed it. When I make a list of 1970s rock bands that were light years ahead of their time, Pere Ubu will be in the top 3.
Let this entry stand as a hearty recommendation for their debut album, The Modern Dance (1978). Their second album, Dub Housing (1978), is not so great, but it’s included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (edited by Robert Dimery).
Back to the song and its relation to Japan. I couldn’t tell ya, but it’s an interesting listen.
Kyoto – Phoebe Bridgers
Day off in Kyoto
Got bored at the temple
Looked around at the 7-Eleven
The band took the speed train
Went to the arcade
I wanted to go, but I didn’t
You called me from a payphone
They still got payphones
It cost a dollar a minute
To tell me you’re getting sober
And you wrote me a letter
But I don’t have to read it
I didn’t know anything about this artist until five minutes ago, but I love the first minute of this song from her second album, Punisher (2020). Great lyrics. Her day off in Kyoto. Cool.
Burning Airlines Give You So Much More – Brian Eno
When you reach Kyoto, send a postcard, if you can
And, please, convey my fond regards to Chih-Hao’s girl, Yu-Lan
I heard a rumour they were getting married
But someone left the papers in Japan
Left them in Japan, left them in Japan
The title and concept of Brian Eno’s must-hear second solo album, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (1974), were directly inspired by China—and the Far East by association—filtered through Eno’s unpredictable aesthetic lens.
According to multiple sources, Eno was inspired by a set of postcards he found in San Francisco that depicted scenes from a Peking opera called Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy. This was one of the “model plays” permitted during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The influence of Japan is more subtle but still present in the lyrics.
Eno interpreted the full title as representing the dichotomy between the ancient and the modern, stating it referred to: “Half Taking Tiger Mountain—that Middle Ages physical feel of storming a military position—and half (By Strategy)—that very, very 20th-century mental concept of a tactical interaction of systems.”
Eno later clarified that his interest was more in the aesthetic and conceptual material, and the song was inspired by the 1974 crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 from Istanbul to Paris.
Either way, Kyoto gets namechecked yet again.
Kamakura – Ash
Tearing it up in Tokyo
Feel like I’m home, arigato
Taking a ride to Sapporo
You’re on my mind, oh Kyoto
Coming alive in Osaka
People unite in Niigata
End of the world, Yokohama
Thank you goodnight, sayonara
Warm and likeable power pop from an underrated band.
Turning Japanese – The Vapors
I’m turning Japanese
I think I’m turning Japanese
I really think so
Another song with that dopey “oriental” guitar riff and lyrics not even vaguely related to Japan—it’s about youthful rejection, but boy, it sure sounds cool. If you were alive when MTV first aired, you saw this video every other day. It’s the “Hotel California” of new wave.
The song first appeared on the Vapors’ debut album, New Clear Days (1980), which is packed with overlooked new wave power pop classics and contains a second song about Japan. “Letter from Hiro”, the album’s finale, is about a friendship with a Japanese pen pal (“And when the sun was rising somewhere in the East, and when a flag meant more to Hiro than to me”).
Woman from Tokyo – Deep Purple
Fly into the rising sun
Faces, smiling every one
Yeah, she is a whole new tradition, oh
I feel it in my heart
My woman from Tokyo
She makes me see
My woman from Tokyo
She’s so good to me
Talk about her like a queen
Dancing in an Eastern dream
Yeah, she makes me feel like a river, oh
That carries me away
My woman from Tokyo
She makes me see
My woman from Tokyo
She’s so good to me
I have always despised Deep Purple and scoffed at anybody who cited the band as an influence. It’s a litmus test in conversations about rock music.
Nobody: “Deep Purple is the shit.”
Me: “Oh, you like Deep Purple? Right on. Let’s talk about something else. Is there a good taco truck nearby?”
I still feel that way, but now I can articulate why—again.
It’s the Spinal Tap cock rock bravado. They’re the British version of Ted Nugent. Zero subtlety. “We toured in Japan and banged some local groupies. A life-changing experience. Huzzah!” shit doesn’t age well, but you’ll still hear this crap on classic rock radio.
Deep Purple, “Woman from Tokyo”, and the album Who Do We Think We Are? (1973) are just openly stupid, which I forgive but never forget.
Tokyo Joe – Bryan Ferry
My girl Friday she no square
She like lotus blossom in her hair
Be-bop records and something new
Sometimes borrowed but she’s never blue
Oh no, not Tokyo Joe
Way past midnight, she not home
She cut the ice down the danger zone
Water-tight dresses, she don’t care
A trifle risqué, a tart, no sir
Oh no, sounds like Tokyo Joe
Geisha girl show you she adore you
Two oriental eyes implore you
Femme fatale or ingénue?
She very cunning, fiendish clever
Geisha girl suffer many times a fool
Sayonara moon
When all the world’s a stage, oh where are you?
I can think of several reasons Bryan Ferry might be ashamed of himself, but “Tokyo Joe” has to be at the top of the list.
Yuko and Hiro – Blur
From Monday to Saturday
I go to my workplace
But on Sunday we’re together
Yuko and Hiro
I never see you
(I never see you)
We’re never together
(We’re never together)
I’ll love you forever
(forever… forever… forever)
wareware wa kaisha de hataraiteiru
istsumo karera ga mamotte kureru
issho ni hataraku mirai no tame ni
As insufferable as some people may find Damon Albarn and Blur, I kinda like their quirky Britishness aka Britpop. The Japanese lyrics translate to: We work for a company. They always protect us. We work together for the future.
Harajuku Girls – Gwen Stefani
I’m fascinated by the Japanese fashion scene
Just an American girl in the Tokyo streets
My boyfriend bought me a Hysteric Glamour shirt
They’re hard to find in the States, got me feeling couture (it’s really cool)
I put this here as an example of wanting to say something truly awful about an artist, but meh. Who cares? I can’t listen to this type of music, but I can see why some people might like it. Fair enough. I don’t have to stick around for it.
Across the Sea – Weezer
You are eighteen year-old girl, who live in small city of Japan
You heard me on the radio about one year ago
And you wanted to know all about me
And my hobbies
My favorite food and my birthday
Why are you so far away from me?
I need help and you’re way across the sea
I could never touch you
I think it would be wrong
I’ve got your letter
You’ve got my song
I’m not about to shit on Weezer’s second album, Pinkerton (1996), but this kind of stuff makes me queasy.
Tokyo Nights – Bee Gees
You’re crossing the water for eastern delights
‘Cause now that you’re gone
I feel like a stranger in New York tonight
And the rhythm was new to me, Tokyo nights
Well, she came in the night and she came in the night
And the vision was true to me, Tokyo nights
Well, she came for the moment and stayed till the end
Yuck.
Tokyo Nights – Krokus
Last night when I was laying in my bed
Had a dream of a flag in white & red
Swiss cross turned into the Japan dot
A yellow girl appeared and made me hot
She took me to her place—a Geisha house
There was tea rice-booze & ceremony
I got undressed she had me washed
I felt her body and I was lost
Tokyo nights hot burning lights
Tokyo nights you took my mind away
Made me obsessed by loving fights
Starting to see a pattern here?
Outside Tokyo – The Stranglers
Somewhere outside Tokyo
Invented time
Someone in a factory
Invented time
If people wanted proof to carry on
They’d like to buy one
Fifty million watches
With a strap to sell
Fifty million watches
With a strap to sell
If people wanted proof to carry on
They’d like to buy one
If they should ever sell out
That would be the end of time
This cut is not the Stranglers’ best moment, but it’s a quick primer for the uninitiated. Most of their stuff sounds like this, only better.
Somewhere Near Japan – The Beach Boys
Late last night I got an S.O.S.
The fairy tale girl’s in deep in distress
She says I don’t know where I am
But it’s near Japan
My engine’s all burned out
My crew has all bailed out
I don’t know where I am
But it’s somewhere near Japan
From the 1989 album Still Cruisin’, this song makes “Kokomo” sound like “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
The track was co-written by John Phillips (Mamas and the Papas), and the “fairy tale girl in deep distress” is supposedly his daughter, Mackenzie.
Big in Japan – Tom Waits
I got the style but not the grace
I got the clothes but not the face
I got the bread but not the butter
I got the window but not the shutter
But I’m big in Japan
I’m big in Japan, hey, but I’m big in Japan
I’m big in Japan
There are at least a dozen songs called “Big in Japan”, including tracks from Alphaville, Martin Solveig, Ane Brun, Guano Apes, Sandra, Laid Back, The Flirts, The Nolans, and The Presidents of the United States of America. Tom Waits’ version is the only one that really matters.
Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) – The Wombats
If you love me, let me go back to that bar in Tokyo
Where the demons from my past leave me in peace
(Ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah)
I’ll be animated every night
The grass’ll be greener on the other side
And the vampires and wolves won’t sink their teeth
(Ah, ah-ah, ah-ah, ah, ah-ah, ah-ah-ah)
I’m sick of dancing with the beast
I kinda like this indie pop punk band from Liverpool. They’ve grown on me.
Welcome to Japan – The Strokes
Come here and go get with me
I wanna see you Wednesday
Come on, come on, come over
Take it off your shoulder
Come on and pull me over
We gotta get to work now
Sliding it off your shoulder
As we’re falling over
Oh, welcome to Japan
Scuba-dancing, touchdown
(I Miss the) Tokyo Skyline – Manic Street Preachers
Lost on my own in the blazing sun
Down through the streets of Tokyo
Feeling like an alien is so much fun
This place somehow feels like a second home
I dream of the Tokyo skyline
I miss the emptiness and the silence
I long for the non-communication
Everything is happily lost in translation
One of the truly unsung rock bands of the 1990s.
Tokyo Eye – Sonic Youth
Tokyo eye, Tokyo crying somewhere
Seeking inside, supermen sighing nowhere
Seven to nine, luck is around this sun bear
Fur in the night, Kansai woman goes out
Soak in the eye, Osaka crying for you
Ship in the light, sing in the water sun dew
Ticket to die, ticket to ride the junk star
Shielded in white, Kansai girl in black dew
Love in Tokyo – The Honeycombs
Love in Tokyo
It won’t let me go
Now I’ve got to know
Love in Tokyo
I’ve travelled far and wide
No one could keep me on side
But when I first met you
I know it was
Love in Tokyo
It won’t let me go
Now I’ve got to know
Love in Tokyo
The Honeycombs had one minor hit in the 1960s. Honestly, I just needed a track to fill the space. But John and Honey Lantree are one of the first brother/sister combos in rock music.
Tokyo Storm Warning – Elvis Costello
Japanese god, Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care, they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They’re so tired of shooting protest singers
That they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume and sodden trading stamps
They’ll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day
It’s not a hill I’m ready to die on, but aside from his first three records, Elvis Costello is one of the most overrated musicians this side of Eric Clapton. You could pay me to sit through Blood & Chocolate (1986), but the price would be steep, and hardly worth the amusement of watching me squirm.
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1 – The Flaming Lips
Her name is Yoshimi
She’s a black belt in karate
Working for the city
She has to discipline her body‘Cause she knows that it’s demanding
To defeat those evil machines
I know she can beat them
Oh Yoshimi they don’t believe me
But you won’t let those robots defeat me
Yoshimi they don’t believe me
But you won’t let those robots defeat me
Wayne Coyne says the title was inspired by Yoshimi Yokota, drummer of the Boredoms, who also sings on the album.
