5 Great Japanese Worship Songs

Since coming to Japan, I’ve visited many different churches, and seen many different service and worship styles. Even though there are a lot fewer Christians in Japan than in the US, there are quite a few Japanese contemporary worship songs. The hard part is finding good-quality recordings of them to listen to outside of church.

So, for my 200th post (!!!), I thought I’d share five worship songs that I like. Four of them I’ve actually heard, either at church or a worship gathering, and one I found on YouTube all by myself. I’m not including hymns here, or Japanese translations of English songs. I’m on the lookout for original Japanese songs that are more recent.

1. 慕い求めます (Shitai motomemasu, “I yearn for/seek You”)

This is one of my favorites!

2. その日全世界が (Sono hi zen sekai ga, “On that day, the whole world will…”)

I’ve heard this in church a few times. It sounds calm when you have one person singing like this, but it’s powerful when sung in a large group.

3. 花も (Hana mo, “And the flowers”) – also sung by Denta.

We sang this one at church, too! By the way, I’ve talked to someone here who knows him. (My claim to fame…?)

4. 変えられたソング (Kaerareta Song、”Song of the Changed”)

I rediscovered this song recently when making this list! We sang it at a youth event in Hiroshima. I didn’t remember it, but I remember that singing upbeat, faster praise songs in Japanese was a lot of fun!

5. Grateful – Lifehouse Music. (Bilingual)

This is the one I found on my own. I’ve never heard it sung at a church, probably because it was produced uniquely by Lifehouse Tokyo. Because of that, I don’t think most people outside that church know about it, unless they found it online like I did. I haven’t found many on YouTube that were actually recorded in a studio like this. I would be happy to see more like it :)

If you enjoyed any of these songs, let me know in the comments which one was your favorite, or if you have a favorite that’s not on this list!