Useful techniques you need to know when you sing Japanese songs.

Hello, J-pop lovers! Welcome to Honey Music School.

If you are interested in singing Japanese songs, this is the best place to join because today we are going to sing “Sukiyaki song” by Kyu Sakamoto which has such an iconic and catchy melody.

This song is from 60 years ago and hit number one in the American billboard hot 100 in 1963.

We are going to go through the construct of the song first and then we’ll look at the lyrics.

Point.1

If you have a look at the Lyrics below, you can see the verse sections are divided into four lines.

The first line starts off with the description of the situation saying : “I’m looking up as I walk.”.

The second line sort of describes why I am looking up as I walk so that my tears don’t fall.

The third line says that I remember the spring and the fourth line says that I’m all alone at night.

Point.2

It is important to know that there are a couple of contrasting events happening in the song and the most obvious one is on the third and fourth lines.

While line three is talking about the happy times from spring probably before the tears were shed, the fourth line about the situation that you are all alone at night. 

According to the messages conveyed in the verse section, it is possible to say that this is a sad love song or at least it’s a sad song because you lost something that is dare to your heart but the song itself (rhythm and melody) is upbeat and cheerful so that is another contrast that adds the real sadness behind.

The third contrast is that you are actually crying but trying to hold back the tears so that they don’t fall.

Remember those contrasting events when you sing “Sukiyaki song” so it may add to the additional emotion of the song.

Point.3

The most important thing I like you to take away from this video is the key concept of Japanese pronunciation.

Japanese has five different vowels (a,e,i,o,u) and those vowels are combined with consonants to make syllables.

a,e,i,o,u are the most basic and most likely used vowel sounds in Japanese.

If you put the ‘k’ sound in front of the vowel ‘a’ sound, for example, it sounds like ‘ka’.

The same rule is applied when you put ‘m’ sound in front of ‘a’ sound and it sounds like ‘ma’.

Point.4

Now we’re looking into the lyrics. For the first three sounds (syllables); “Uhh-Ehh-oh Muh-uh-ihh-teh” which means “I’m looking up as I walk.”, let’s try to make a silent ‘h’ sound as you get used to it.

However, when it comes to the ‘hu’ sound coming right after ‘Muh’, you can pronounce this ‘h’ sound since it’s coming at the front of the syllable.

Let’s move on to the next line which sounds; “Ahh-lu-koh-woh-woh-woh” which goes with exactly the same rule we’ve just learnt (When the ‘h’ sound comes at the last of the syllable, you need to make a silent ‘h’ sound.).

Another important technique used here is that you need to put “woh-woh-woh” after ‘koh’ since that’s the way Kyu Sakamoto sings.

When you have a look at the third line, you’ll find the combination of ‘g’ and ‘a’. Please make sure that you need to make more of a nasal ‘g’ sound instead of an exploding ‘g’ sound.

Pretty much the same rules about pronunciation are applied to the rest of the lyrics.

Learn More About How to Sing Japanese Songs at Honey Music School!

We’ve learnt how to sing “Sukiyaki song” by Kyu Sakamoto by looking at the basic Japanese pronunciation rules and a couple of elements and lyrics which convey the important meanings. 

 We offer online lessons at Honey Music School by native Japanese vocal teacher who can teach you many useful techniques and tips to sing your favorite Japanese songs.

If you feel like singing more of the rest of ‘Sukiyaki song’ by Kyu Sakamoto or if you have any other Japanese songs you want to sing, please join us at Honey Music School. Until then, see you soon!

Information

• Sakamoto Kyu Official Web Site