I've been listening to a lot of Japanese music, but most of it is soulless and hollow pop.
I like Utada's music because it is artistic and creative and has emotion and a spirit to it. She independent writes her own songs, instead of just writing the lyrics or getting help in writing the music.
So, like, the only other one I can think of is Shiina Ringo who is creative like Utada.
What are some singer-songwriters? They don't even necessarily have to be Japanese.

I dont really listen to Japanese music other than Utada. I listen to her everyday... If I'm not, I usually listen to rock, techno and the like. But I really like Ayaka. She has a strong and beautiful voice but currently taking a break from her singing career due to an illness.

Whisper
Hope for the Hopeless
Stood Up
- A Fine Frenzy

this is my top 3 song form her
but try all of her song... she has 2 ablums

Rie fu you might also wanna try Shiina Ringo, Onitsuka Chihiro, YUKI and Salyu

Those are some great recommendations!
I've already started listening to Shiina Ringo and Ayaka, and I like what I hear.
I'm going to check out Onitsuka Chihiro, because both Hikki and Shiina Ringo seem to like her.

They're all female though, which is great, but I bet there are some male singer-songwriters out there too.

hm male... I like some songs from Kobukuro.
Mr. Children & Hirai Ken are pretty popular too.

Remioromen & B'z :D

I can't think of any male as to they tend to focus strongly on the instrumentals.Which isn't bad though.

Anyways,I say try Chitose Hajime as well.

Quote:

I can't get into B'z.It may be because It's something I found through it's popularity rather than discovered myself.

I've found that most female singer-songwriters tend to be more "poppish" while males are generally writers for rock.

Even YUI, who's very rock, is still not as rock as B'z or Mr. Children.

And it's like, there is nothing wrong with pop music, but sometimes you just sorta want music that "feeds the soul" so to speak.
Music that is artistic (and I believe there is a big different between a singer-songwriter and a music artist)