Not to be confused with Fly Me Away.
"Fly Away" (also known as "The Akiba Tape") is an unidentified city pop song that was originally discovered to be from a cassette tape that someone had purchased from a bargain bin in a thrift store in Akihabara, Japan. The song has been regarded as the “Most Mysterious Song in Japan”.
Search History
2000s-2010s
The song was first posted to the internet on August 5th, 2000, on the occult board of 2chan by user 渡る世間は敵ばかりin a thread dedicated to posting scary songs. The post read:
"About a few years ago I was walking in the famous Akihabara neighborhood in Tokyo. I am a big fan of J-Pop and most of the times when I went to Akihabara I took the opportunity to buy a few cassettes and then come home and listen to them quietly. On one occasion, however, I came across a strange cassette without a label or anything and just in case I took it. At home I reproduced it. It was about 20 minutes long and only this song was heard. The rest was silence. I went back to the store with the cassette to see if they had information about it but to no avail. Please help me identify this song."
On March 18th, 2011, the OP uploaded the full song was uploaded to the Japanese video streaming site, niconico.jp, titled "Sadness of Dead Leaves, Lost in the Sea of Trees".[1]
This was followed by a blog post on May 12th, 2013, where they explain that they purchased the cassette at Radio Kaikan, a multi-level complex of independent shops, and that they bought the tape in the early 1990s.[2][3]
2020s
Over time, the song was reuploaded to YouTube by multiple users, such as n30kitty, SPS, Zumi, Revolutionary_War, MistaEgg, Q, AlianTheObscure, LostwaveFinder, S2h, SpikeytheCactus, Rocketballboi, and multiple others, amassing over one million views.
It was discovered that the song uses the Yamaha RX11 drum machine and possibly the Yamaha DX7, which were both released in 1984.[4][5]
It is also noted that the tape has an "ARA" logo scribbled out with a marker, which stands for Audio Representative Associates and could be a potential distribution company for the song.[6]
On September 8th, 2022, the OP discovered another tape with the same "ARA" label,[7] which was discovered on April 28th, 2024 to be Even If It's Just a Dream by Sara Mizuse, and was found on the website recordcity.jp.[8][9]
On March 3rd, 2024, a channel for the song was created in the Fond My Mind Discord server after winning a channel poll, along with The Things We Never Do, Thought So At The Time, Uptown People, Just Make It Louder, Somewhere In The Night, Rubia, Red Light, Jenny, and Take Us To Dreamland.
On September 20th, 2025, the channel of the FMM Discord Server for this song was archived and moved to a thread instead, with the reason given that the song already has a more active search on its own dedicated server, and it wasn't necessary to have the channel on the Discord server because of that.
Leads, and theories
After the full song was suddenly provided, the song was associated with an actress who had wanted to record and make her own album. Fortunately, her album was discovered but it didn't contain the actual song.
An infamous theory about the song is said that due to the possible meaning of the lyrics of the song, it could describe a woman who wishes to end herself. The song was attributed to Yukiko Okada, who was a famous singer and idol in Japan until she committed suicide on April 8th, 1986 as she was constantly suffering from work pressure and people treated her poorly. It was commonly believed that this song could've been a demo by her but it is likely not the case due to the difference in their voices.
The song was theorized to have been by "Yui Saito" but it has been unconfirmed. Another theory is that the song was just simply a homemade recording.
Presumed lyrics
風を追って何処へ行くの夕陽色の枯れ葉たちよ
扉を叩く音も無い
壊れかけた椅子で眠る窓の外は灯る明かり
見知らぬ町の夢を見る
さよならあなたはNO SAY
悲しい笑顔でFAR AWAY
FLY AWAY 遠い国へ
旅立つ空にはああ星がかかる
青い鳥を逃がす前に指でそっと羽根に触れて
空を見上げ鳥が飛んでいる
さよならあなたはGO AWAY
やさしい瞳がFAR AWAY
FLY AWAY 遠い国へ
旅立つ夜には AH
FLY AWAY 遠い国へ・・・・
Chasing the wind, where are you going? Sunset-colored dead leaves
There is no sound of a knock at the door
I sleep in a broken chair, outside the window, the light is on
I dream of a strange city
Goodbye, you don’t say
Went far away with a sad smile
Fly away to a faraway land
In the departing sky, ah
Before the blue bird escapes, gently with my fingers in the wings
Look up at the sky, birds are flying
Goodbye, you go away
Gentle eyes are far away
Fly away to a faraway land
On the night of your departure
Fly away to a faraway land…
Gallery
External Links
- Original Post.
- Reupload of the song.
- Video by Sakura Stardust, talking about the song.
- Ziro's Upload of the song.
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190516051703/https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm13890090
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara_Radio_Kaikan
- ↑ http://tekibaka.asks.jp/2988.html
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/JapansMysterySong/comments/satxjx/the_song_wasnt_made_before_1984/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_RX-11
- ↑ https://x.com/tekibaka/status/1567877207783280648
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/JapansMysterySong/comments/xooh4a/another_song_on_a_tape_with_ara_has_been/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/JapansMysterySong/comments/1cf8lwl/%E3%82%8F%E3%81%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%BE_wagamama_the_second_akiba_tape_song_has_been/
- ↑ https://www.recordcity.jp/player/?master_id=26876