https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/City+Pop/
been discovering the classics of the genre thanks to r/listentothis
sort of a combination of lounge jazz, funk and synthwave. it's like their answer to george michael except way more appealing to me for whatever reason.
here's an album i have on right now:
here's the song i heard which made me realize i needed to do some research:
here's something to look at: 
Hey, happy to see this thread. Been listening to a lot of 70's 80's Japanese lounge and rock n roll kinda stuff. This guy Starfunkel does these killer mixtapes from all over the world, his "Japan" one is funkier than hell though. I'd recommend "Brazil" as well. Lots of funk and bossa nova. Here's some other Japanese artist I've been listening to. Jazz Fusion Ambient Jazz Lounge Rock n' Roll More Rock n Roll The last two are a bit old for this thread but they shred so well. I'm generally never disappointed by the musicianship of Japanese exports. Excited to go through that chart and find some new tunes.
No problem, I thought so too. I highly recommend his other ones. "Brazil" especially but I also like "Ghana" a lot. The dude definitely brings back the old DJ m.o. of digging deep for rare tunes. I showed "Brazil" to a friend of mine born and raised there and she recognized a few classics and a few tunes she hadn't heard before.
Yes! I wonder how and why this became popular in the last couple of years. Maybe it’s because most of these albums are all up on YouTube, and because it’s good music of course. I already plugged this blog in the last weekly music thread but it’s especially relevant here so I’ll plug it again. www.listentothis.org. There’s some other genres/styles on there as well (also awesome!) but there’s a load of Japanse pop and ambient with some nice background info and handy download links. The author of that blog made this 80’s Japanese pop mix which I really enjoyed and maybe have listened to too many times. She also does weekly(?) mixes on NTS which are always interesting. I see a few Haruami Hosono albums in the image but do check his later albums as well. He’s really varied in style but all have that typical Hosono wonkyness. It might be hard to pick one favourite album out of the wormhole that is his discography but can heartily recommend his album “N.D.E.”. It’s a little more electronic/ambient/techno-y than pop though.
this kind of music is fertile ground for semi-mediocre vaporwave remixes so i'm assuming that's part of it that's how i learned about it, anyway
This has been me the past week! Currently listening to Hiroshi Sato's Awakening. This slowed down version is particularly amazing.
My gateway to the genera was definitely Yellow Magic Orchestra. They are billed as the Japanese Kraftwerk, it was a road I had to travel when I heard about it. I find it pretty hit or miss as a genera but there are a few things that have really caught me. I can't listen to this too many times.