The tragic nostalgia of Citypop and its legacy of melancholia

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On the anniversary of Miki Matsubara’s death, we revisit the lush, metropolitan sound of 1980s Japan; tracing the tragedy of its rise during the bubble economy, iconic artists like Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi, and its modern resurgence as a nostalgic soundtrack for a generation longing for lost optimism