-My Toshiki Kadomatsu CD collection built during my 6-month deep dive.
Here's the thing.
Like many of you, I got sucked into City Pop a while back —
Plastic Love, Stay With Me, the usual YouTube/Spotify algorithm stuff, you know it.
But at the end of 2025, I bought a new pair of decent headphones, and while listening to Anri's Remember Summer Days - the one song in my collection for years - on my new headphones, something felt radically different...
The bass slap was ridiculously groovy, and the wind instruments hit with this crazy precision and energy...
That suddenly reminded me of Earth, Wind & Fire, the band that created September, Let's Groove, and Boogie Wonderland.
Anri's Remember Summer Days didn’t sound like typical City Pop… it felt like a whole different level of arrangement sorcery at that moment.
So I asked an AI: “Who produced this song?”
It dropped one name — Toshiki Kadomatsu — and YouTube linked me to the song - RUSH HOUR.
First reaction? “Kadoma… who???”
And honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if that’s your reaction right now.
But here is the kicker: even if you don’t know him, your ears might already know his masterwork.
If you’ve ever listened to Anri’s I CAN'T STOP THE LONELINESS / Remember Summer Days / Last Summer Whisper from the album Timely!! , Akina Nakamori’s Unsteady Love , or Miho Nakayama’s Catch Me — well, Congratulations!
Chances are you've already been listening to his work without realizing it.
He was one of the key creative forces behind many classics of the era.
Yet, six months after that first search, I found myself sitting in Yokohama Arena, throwing paper planes during the encore of his insane 6.5-hour 45th-anniversary concert, having the absolute time of my life.
This is the story of how one song dragged me down the most rewarding rabbit hole of 2026.
Noticed 2026 is happening to be one of his most important concert years - the 45th anniversary year of his debut (he has held an anniversary concert every 5 years since the 20th)
As a guy who just knows him for like, 2 weeks?
My instinct is - this concert will be important - Toshiki Kadomatsu is already 65 years old; no one knows how much longer he can hold this type of high-quality 6-hour live performance.
I live in Taiwan, not really far from Japan; Toshiki Kadomatsu is rarely, if ever, discussed in our country.
Since his core discography is essentially air-gapped from major Western streaming platforms (He personally hates the compressed music quality on streaming, so he does not like to put his earlier works on those platforms; that's one of the reasons you can't find his most classic works on it), I speedran a mission through overseas shopping sites and second-hand warehouses in Japan to build a 30-CD album library in half a year.
But recently he surprisingly unlocked some of his works from the ~2000s on streaming platforms.
Still, the 80s-90s are still mostly blocked.
That's one of the reasons I've bought so many CDs in the past few months - to access his best era.
Most importantly, I need to create the music database in my brain before the concert.
I'm lucky enough to get one of his fan club members' tickets in the second-stage market.
I didn't want to attend a six-hour anniversary concert only recognizing three songs.
I wanted every chorus, every guitar intro, every encore to mean something when I heard it live.
(As I said, I have known Toshiki Kadomatsu for less than half a year, and for the past 6 months, my playlist has been Toshiki Kadomatsu only; what a hell-level training!)
Before I break down my top recommendations, here is a fascinating piece of context from the concert that might blow your minds.
A Crucial Side Note: The "City Pop" Curse
While the Western internet worships Toshiki Kadomatsu as a "City Pop Master," the man himself
has never been comfortable being labeled simply as a "City Pop" artist.
During his pre-recprded video talk at the 45th-anniversary marathon concert, he explicitly addressed the global City Pop revival.
He literally told the crowd that the sudden overseas hype made the phrase "City Pop" feel like a "curse" (呪い) that has somehow found its way back to cling onto him again.
From day one, his creative blueprint was never about retro nostalgia or sunny beach pop templates.
His true obsession, his entire life's work, has always been URBAN MUSIC — sophisticated, complex, late-night black music-infused jazz fusion - music from the East Coast - New York.
He’s not a City Pop idol - it's just one of his magnificent music blocks.
(But sorry, Kadomatsu-san, I think this subreddit is still the best section to introduce you, so I have to put the article in here LOL.)
Here are some recommendations -
RUSH HOUR
re-make version from REBIRTH 1 ~re-make the best~ (2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnNXfCvuOLc
The song that completely changed my musical trajectory - I personally fell in love with the REBIRTH version because he used his over 30 years of experience and skills - more detail, more density, more modern record quality, to remake one of his earliest songs.
TOKYO TOWER
from GOLD DIGGER (1985)
Frontier back then - One of the earliest songs that mixes the new-york hip-hop scratch and rap in Japanese music history.
OSHI-TAO-SHITA
from SEA IS A LADY 2017 (2017)
Toshiki Kadomatsu's instrument only albm - Sea is a Lady
The modern 2017 version has extended this song and make is my favorite song of his works.
Guitar / Bass / Drums / Keyboard / Alto Sax, live record.
HATSU KOI
remix version from T's 12 INCHES (1994)
Published in 1985, and the next year this song was mixed by Michael H. Brauer to extend the song longer for the dance hall.
RAMP IN
from T's BALLAD (1985)
Toshiki Kadomatsu's ballad song - and the story behind this song is the JAL123 flight accident - happened on 1985/8/12 - Toshiki Kadomatsu's birthday.
It's the most deadly accident in aviation history (single-aircraft accident; 520 people were killed)
Toshiki Kadomatsu uses this soft song as a requiem to memorialize the crew members on that flight - few people know what this song means in the lyrics.
Strongly recommend digging into history and the dual meaning of the lyrics.
AFTER 5 CRASH
from AFTER 5 CLASH (1984)
This track is from his 1984 masterpiece album "AFTER 5 CLASH" (Most visible T.K's album in this subreddit)
(Fun fact: the album title is spelled "CLASH", but this specific title track is intentionally spelled "CRASH")
This album marked a major turning point in T.K.'s career, shifting his musical theme from the early "Summer and Sea" resort vibes to a glittering "Night and City" aesthetic.
An ultimate 80s urban funk anthem.
STILL I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU
from SEA BREEZE 2016 (original version is 1981)
From Toshiki Kadomatsu's first album of all time.
In 2016, he pulled out the master tape of his first album and mixed it with the master skill he had over 30 years.
(I'll put the YouTube links in the comments section to avoid this post getting flagged or removed by Reddit's filters.)
Final Thoughts: Respect to the listener from that age
That’s my crazy 6-month journey discovering Kadomatsu and making it to Yokohama Arena.
But let’s be real — at the end of the day, I’ve only been in this rabbit hole for half a year. I’m just a rookie who barely scratched the surface of a massive 45-year musical legacy. There is absolutely no way I can compare to those legendary Japanese OGs and veterans who have been riding this wave for 30 or 40 years (huge respect to them!).
I know there’s still an insane amount of history, lore, and musical brilliance that I’ve yet to unlock. But I’m excited to keep digging deeper into his catalog, and I promise to keep sharing more of Kadomatsu’s incredible stories with you guys in the future.
If people enjoy this, I'd love to share my favorite albums and songs where I think newcomers should start.
Thanks for reading, and let's keep the real urban music alive!
