In November 2022, Netflix released a Japanese dorama inspired by the famous song First Love by Hikaru Utada. It is one of those rare cases where a song and a drama feel like two parts of the same memory.
First Love is one of the most iconic love songs in Japanese pop music. It is soft, bittersweet, and full of the kind of nostalgia people only understand after they have lived through it.
The song was released in 1999 on Utada’s debut album, which became the best-selling album in Japanese history. That alone explains why the title still carries so much weight today.
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About Hikaru Utada
Hikaru Utada was born in New York in 1983 and is widely known as Hikki by her fans. Music was part of her life from the beginning: her father worked as a producer and her mother was an Enka singer, so the artistic environment around her was already very strong.
She works as a singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. One of the reasons her music stands out is the way she moves naturally between Japanese and English, which gives her songs a very personal identity.
Her debut album First Love became a huge success immediately. It sold millions of copies, dominated the charts, and helped shape the Japanese music scene. Later on, she also became known for theme songs from doramas, anime films, and games.
The song First Love
First Love is a timeless song about longing, memory, and the vulnerability of first love. The melody is gentle, but it never feels empty. It carries that mix of sweetness and pain that people remember for years.
Utada’s voice is a big part of the impact. It sounds clear, emotional, and calm, almost as if she is holding a memory carefully instead of shouting it out. That is a big reason why the song still touches people so deeply.
The song is not just about romance. It also reminds us that first love often matters less because it lasts forever and more because it leaves a mark that never quite disappears.
About the dorama First Love
Netflix also released Hatsukoi, a Japanese series directed by Yuri Kanchiku and strongly inspired by First Love. The drama follows Yae Noguchi and Harumichi Namiki, two students from Hokkaido who begin a relationship in high school.
The story moves across different time periods, which can feel a little confusing at first. But once the pieces start fitting together, the series becomes an emotional and very satisfying experience.
What makes the series stand out is that it does not just use the song as a background reference. It builds many of its scenes around the same ideas found in the lyrics: distance, wrong choices, missed chances, memory, and the question of what first love leaves behind.
For more Japanese music and drama context, you can also check our article about Japanese dramas on Netflix or our list of Japanese dramas worth watching.
Lyrics of First Love with translation
Below is a short excerpt from Hikaru Utada’s First Love with Japanese, romanization, and English translation. There is also a Japanese lesson video that studies the song.
最後のキスはタバコの flavor がした Saigo no kisu wa tabako no flavor ga shita
The last kiss tasted like cigarette flavor.
ニガくてせつない香り Nigakute setsunai kaori
A bitter and painful scent.
明日の今頃には Ashita no imagoro ni wa
At this time tomorrow
あなたはどこにいるんだろう Anata wa doko ni irundarou
where will you be?
誰を思ってるんだろう Dare wo omotterundarou
Who will you be thinking about?
You are always gonna be my love
You will always be my love.
いつか誰かとまた恋に落ちても Itsuka dareka to mata koi ni ochitemo
Even if I fall in love with someone again someday,
I'll remember to love
I will remember to love.
You taught me how
You taught me how.
You are always gonna be the one
You will always be the one.
The words are simple, but that is part of the power. The song says very little and still lands very deeply.
Why First Love still works
The beauty of the song is its universality. Almost anyone can connect with it, even if their own first love looked completely different. It is not only about romance, but also about memory, growing up, and loss.
The drama strengthens that feeling by turning the song into a full story. Because of that, memory and music become almost impossible to separate.
If you like Japanese music in general, the Hirajoshi scale is another good topic to explore. It helps explain why many Japanese songs feel so emotional and distinctive.
Final thoughts
First Love is more than just a song and more than just a dorama. It is a piece of Japanese pop culture that has stayed with people for years because it touches something very human: first love and everything we never fully forget.
Hikaru Utada created something deeply personal and still universal at the same time. That is why First Love remains so easy to remember, and so hard to let go of.
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