I've been listening to Japanese music a bit lately and, while I do not
understand any of it and even have trouble even making out what syllables are
being used, I sometimes get the impression, that it doesn't really rhyme all
that much.

Is that true, or does the very different nature of the language fool my ears?
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2017-08-03T12:34:19.323
51994
2018-08-24T07:10:42.957
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question
song-lyrics music
Do song lyrics in Japanese typically rhyme?
Lyrics in most Japanese songs do not rhyme at the end of each line. Only some
J-pop songs influenced by the western culture actively use rhymes. Japanese
hip hop songs tend to use rhymes often. For example, lyrics written by
[Rhymester](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhymester_\(group\)) usually contain
a lot of rhymes, as the name suggests :) Listen to [this
song](http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm9985291), and I believe you can easily
feel the rhymes even if you don't understand Japanese.

Some Japanese songs use other methods to make the lyrics sound nice. One
example is 七五調 ("7-5 rhythm"), which is the rhythm heard in _haiku_ poems.
See: [Is the layout of this text supposed to resemble a style of
poem?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30106/5010)

**EDIT** : [Classical Chinese
poems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Chinese_poetry) typically used
line-end rhymes, and Japanese people have understood them. But according to
Wikipedia, Western-style rhymes have never been popular among Japanese
poets/lyricists.
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2017-08-03T18:22:43.133
52001
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answer
No. There are only five, six, seven or so vowels in Japanese and most
syllables are open. There's little point in rhyming. Imagine a person every
sentence with あ. That sounds a bit funny, actually. Therefore, most popular
music in Japanese (be it enka, kayokyoku or J-Pop) don't rhyme.

I should mention that many languages do have very few vowels, but Japanese has
much more open syllables, i.e. syllables end in vowels. Also, Japanese
syllables are rather scarce. A combination of these factors - not just having
few vowels - contribute to the lack of rhyming.

The 5-7 rhyme, reminiscent of haiku and tanka, is prevalent, thought.
Perfume's song "575" does its lyrics in haiku. I have not paid much attention
to alliteration, but I remember of seeing some.
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2017-08-03T18:29:30.573
52002
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answer