Kayōkyoku

Kayoukyoku started as "western styled" songs in the 1920s. Kayōkyoku simple means "popular songs" and replaced the earlier term Ryūkōka in the 1930s. After the war, kayoukyoku became the dominant form of popular music. The term was still used as the generic term for Japanese based popular music until it was replaced by J-pop in 1990, but became less used as a descriptor after the late 1970s, as other terms came to be used.