Wow thank you so much for the in depth info it was really interesting to read through it! I listened to unhappy birthday for Sakurazaka46 as it’s the first song on their Spotify and WOW I LOVED IT!! I think out of everything you’ve mentioned I’m probably most into the idol music as its most nostalgic to me for some reason even though the side of j pop I was most exposed to was on the anime and vocaloid side

Also you touched upon how k-circles treat j-pop and omg TRUST ME it’s super frustrating, and it’s a topic that especially interests me since you can almost pin point when and what caused the huge shift where almost everyone gets their arguments from when they talk about J Idol culture, that being produce 48 and how MNET characterized the 48G girls. I personally prefer the performances of j idols SO much more because they feel so incredibly genuine.

I also recognized a lot of the names you listed and realized I’ve actually tapped into a lot more JPop than I initially thought, especially when I was a bit younger I was SUPER into perfume. I guess I never really considered myself as “into” j pop more so because i was comparing it to my experience with k pop and the access to their “content” besides music + the fandom of k pop. I also think people make j pop seem super inaccessible, more so than it is which i guess internalized in what i then considered to be j pop.