海の音：リラックスのための穏やかな海の音

Neru (寝る—“to sleep” in Japanese) is a Japanese-born microgenre of sleep and relaxation music that coalesced online in the 2010s. It blends ultra-soft ambient textures, hush‑toned lo‑fi beats, and environmental soundscapes (rain, night insects, room tone) designed to lull the listener toward rest, study focus, or meditative calm. Musically, neru favors slow tempos (or no pulse at all), warm tape‑like coloration, soft piano or electric piano, airy synth pads, and field recordings, with frequent use of gentle modal or pentatonic figures and extended jazz‑pop chords (maj7, add9). Producers often incorporate binaural/isochronic elements, very wide stereo fields, and long reverbs to evoke a cocoon of sound. Aesthetically and in platform culture, neru sits at the intersection of Japanese kankyō ongaku (environmental music), modern ambient/new age, lo‑fi hip hop’s cozy visual world, and the streaming era’s “sleep/focus” ecosystem (YouTube, NicoNico, Spotify, Apple Music), where it appears in bedtime and overnight playlists, frequently labeled with Japanese tags such as 寝る or おやすみ.