"Ue o Muite Arukō" (上を向いて歩こう, "I Look Up As I Walk" is a Japanese-language song that was performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, and written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. Ei wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting continued US Army presence, expressing his frustration at the failed efforts.[1][2]

In Anglophone countries, it is best known under the alternative title "Sukiyaki", a term with no relevance to the song's lyrics, as sukiyaki is a Japanese dish of cooked beef.

The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United States in 1963, one of the few non-Indo-European languages' songs to have done so.

It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 13 million copies worldwide.[3][4] The original Kyu Sakamoto recording also went to number eighteen on the R&B chart




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