Reporting from Tokyo — — Looking back, says the pop singer called Jero, the songs were a soundtrack to his childhood, the strange and sorrowful melodies enjoyed by his Japanese-born grandmother — ...

A windy night, the whistle of the midnight train, and a bad breakup. Welcome to the world of "enka" (ballads), the music of suffering and lost love, jealousy and loneliness. Unchanging in an ...

The musical style enka usually gets referred to as Japan’s equivalent of country western music. The two do have a lot in common thematically, as the biggest hits of both genres are often centered on ...

Hideo Murata, a popular singer of "enka" ballads, died of pneumonia Thursday morning in Osaka, his office said. He was 73. Hailing from Saga Prefecture, Murata, whose real name was Isamu Kajiyama, ...

WASHINGTONWASHINGTON — As a boy, Jerome White Jr. often spent weekends at his grandparents’ house, where a melodramatic genre of Japanese music called enka would waft in the background. White’s ...

Singer Aki Yashiro, the grand dame of Japanese enka ballads who had many big hits during her career spanning five decades, died Dec 30 of lung disease, her office said Wednesday. She was 73. Yashiro, ...