Tatsuro Yamashita will release his live album ‘JOY2’ on October 14th, his first live album in 37 years and a centrepiece of the milestone year marking the 50th anniversary of his solo debut. It’s his third live album overall, following ‘IT’S A POPPIN’ TIME’ in 1978 and ‘JOY’ in 1989. Yamashita confirmed the completion on the August 9th broadcast of his TOKYO FM programme Sunday Song Book, telling listeners the record was finished the previous week.
For the release, Yamashita personally selected the best of the best takes from more than 600 performances across 13 nationwide tours held over the 18 years from 2008 to 2025. The result is a three-disc set collecting 38 tracks.
Across its three discs, ‘JOY2’ spans Yamashita’s career from early material such as ‘CIRCUS TOWN’ to long-standing favourites including ‘SPARKLE’, ‘WINDY LADY’, and ‘RIDE ON TIME’. The collection also reaches into his more recent catalogue with ‘Sync Of Summer’ and ‘MOVE ON’, bringing together 38 tracks drawn from performances between 2008 and 2025.
The first edition adds a fourth bonus disc of nine tracks. Six are newly mixed versions of live recordings previously issued as single bonus tracks, and three are edits of only the medley section of the tour staple ‘LET’S DANCE BABY’, taken from 2010, 2012, and 2014.
‘JOY 2’ releases in two formats: a first-edition four-disc set, and a regular three-disc edition. First pressings of both editions include a serial code for a lottery giving 200 winners an aluminium plate in the ‘JOY2’ design.
Tatsuro Yamashita
JOY2
Release Date: 14/10/2026
Label: Warner Music Japan
Pre-order: Limited edition 4CD | Regular edition 3CD
About Tatsuro Yamashita
Tatsuro Yamashita is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, and producer widely regarded as one of the foundational figures of city pop. He debuted in 1975 as a member of Sugar Babe, whose album ‘SONGS’ and single ‘DOWN TOWN’ became important early works in the development of the sound. He then went solo with ‘CIRCUS TOWN’ in 1976, broke through with ‘RIDE ON TIME’ in 1980, and released ‘FOR YOU’ in 1982, which has since become regarded as one of the definitive city pop records.
Across five decades, Yamashita has drawn on pop, soul, funk, rock, doo-wop, and American vocal-group traditions, while also working extensively as an arranger and producer. Among his best-known songs is ‘Christmas Eve’, from 1983’s ‘MELODIES’, a long-running Christmas standard in Japan. In 2025, it extended its Guinness World Record after appearing in Oricon’s weekly singles Top 100 for 40 consecutive years.
