Singer Yuki Shirase Releases 'One-Way,' a Love Song Written Through the Lens of Yuragi

Yuki Shirase is the ballad singer previously reported for her cover of the Shore Lullaby, often performed at ceremonies and memorials. At a press event on the 5th marking the release of her new single "One-Way," she performed the song for reporters. Though a love song on its surface, the lyrics are threaded throughout with the vocabulary of Yuragi. Of lines such as "I want to send it, but it can't be delivered" and "I can only see you, not touch you," Shirase explained, "The phenomenon of Yuragi has, for years now, already become a metaphor in this world for feelings that can't reach their destination. It felt a little embarrassing to use it now, of all times, but I thought it was a theme I couldn't avoid."

Shirase is known for her cover of the Shore Lullaby, frequently sung at ceremonies and memorials. "One-Way" marks her first entirely original song in some time, she said. "I spent a long stretch of my career singing things that had, in a sense, arrived from somewhere else. I kept thinking about the difference between the self who sings what arrives and the self who makes something and sends it out. This time, it's the latter kind of song." She said the writing took nearly six months. "The hardest part of choosing words was making sure it didn't become a sad song. I wanted to sing about something not reaching its destination not as despair, but as something that still mattered for having arrived at all."

At the end of the event, a reporter asked Shirase what she would want to send through to the other side of a window, if something she sent really could arrive. She paused before answering, "Rather than something I'd want to deliver, I think I'd want to be in a relationship that's fine even if it never arrives. If you assume it will arrive, I feel like everything falls apart the moment it doesn't." The remark drew a small laugh and applause from the room. A longtime fan among the entertainment press present said, "That's so like her. Her songs always carry a kind of gentleness built on the assumption that things won't reach their destination."

The single has already climbed toward the top of the streaming service Minato's music chart. A Minato representative said, "Following Kishibe Seven, we're again seeing a ballad perform strongly. Songs themed around Yuragi tend to connect well with shore-watching streamer content, which gives them real reach." Fans have been debating whether the word "window" in the lyrics refers to a stable window or is purely metaphorical; Shirase laughed and said, "Listen to it either way, as far as I'm concerned. I deliberately left that undecided when I wrote it."

The single's cover art shows a pale light bleeding through a round silhouette against the dark. It was designed by a young illustrator known for popular window-themed merchandise, who said, "When I took the commission, I was told not to draw an actual stable window, but something more abstract — the round shape of light you see when you turn and look back at something. By not drawing a specific window, I wanted to leave room for each listener to picture their own version of something that can't be reached." A representative of her label, Shiosai Records, said, "Following Kishibe Seven, it's unusual to see another one of our artists release a song built around Yuragi. We'd like to keep encouraging songwriting that resonates this well with what's happening in the world."

Shirase also revealed she is planning a solo concert in Tokei this coming December. "One-Way" is expected to appear on the set list, and she said, "It's a song about something that can't reach you, but a live show is one of the rare places where I actually can deliver something, from me to you. That's exactly why I want people to hear it live." Further details of the concert will be announced later.