The term J-pop, often written in all capital letters, is short for "Japanese popular music." It became a major part of Japan's music scene in the 1990s. In Japan, it is sometimes called "pops" (ポップス, poppusu). Modern J-pop has its beginnings in traditional Japanese music and global pop and rock music from the 1960s. J-pop took the place of kayōkyoku, a type of Japanese music that was popular from the 1920s to the 1980s.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese rock bands like Happy End combined the music styles of the Beatles and Beach Boys with Japanese music. Later, in the late 1970s, groups such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Southern All Stars helped define J-pop through new wave and crossover styles. Popular J-pop styles during the 1970s–1980s included city pop and technopop. In the 1990s and 2000s, styles like J-Euro (for example, by Namie Amuro) and Shibuya-kei became popular.
Japanese country music gained popularity in the 1960s–1970s when Western films were widely seen internationally. It remains popular today because of musicians like Charlie Nagatani and Tomi Fujiyama, as well as places like Little Texas in Tokyo. Japanese hip hop became mainstream in the 1990s–2000s, especially through the work of producer Nujabes, who created music for the anime Samurai Champloo. Japanese pop culture often connects with anime in hip hop. Additionally, Latin music, CCM, and gospel music have communities within J-pop.
Form and definition
The beginning of modern J-pop is linked to Japanese rock music inspired by groups like The Beatles. Unlike kayōkyoku, a traditional Japanese music style, J-pop uses pronunciation similar to English. For example, singer Keisuke Kuwata pronounced the Japanese word "karada" ("body") as "kyerada." Before rock music became popular in Japan, Japanese music rarely used the major second (the interval between sol and la), except in art music. When the Group Sounds genre, influenced by Western rock, gained popularity, Japanese pop music started using the major second, as seen in songs like The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Over time, Japanese pop music shifted from traditional scales like the pentatonic scale and distortional tetrachord to styles more similar to Western music. However, music rooted in traditional Japanese singing styles, such as that of Ringo Sheena, remained popular.
The term "J-pop" was first used to describe Western-style musicians in Japan, such as Pizzicato Five and Flipper's Guitar, after the radio station J-Wave was created. However, Mitsuhiro Hidaka of AAA from Avex Trax stated that J-pop originally came from the Eurobeat genre. Eventually, "J-pop" became a general term that included most Japanese rock music from the 1990s.
In 1990, the Japanese branch of Tower Records defined J-pop as all Japanese music from the Recording Industry Association of Japan, except for independent music (called "J-indie"). By 2008, they added classifications like J-club, J-punk, J-hip-hop, J-reggae, J-anime, and Visual kei. Ito Music City also expanded its categories to include Group Sounds, 1970s–1980s idol music, enka, folk, and established musicians from that era.
Many Japanese rock musicians dislike the term "pop," but Taro Kato of the pop punk band Beat Crusaders explained that pop music, like pop art, was more catchy than "J-pop." He also said that "J-pop" refers to music that is often played on the radio. When the band released their first album, P.O.A.: Pop on Arrival, in 2005, they focused on 1980s pop music from MTV instead of J-pop. Band member Toru Hidaka noted that 1990s music like that of Nirvana, Hi-Standard, and Flipper's Guitar was not widely listened to by fans of other genres at the time.
In the 1990s, many Japanese rock bands, such as Glay, began blending kayōkyoku into their music, even though many rock musicians had previously disliked it. After the late 1980s, breakbeat and samplers changed Japanese music, as traditional Japanese music did not have rhythms based on rock or blues.
Hide of Greeeen openly called his music J-pop. He said, "I love rock, hip hop, and breakbeats, but my music is consistently J-pop. Hip hop musicians learn the traditions of hip hop when they start their careers. We are different—we love music for its sounds. Some might say, 'What are you doing?' but I think our style is cool."
A newer term related to J-pop is "gacha pop," which connects J-pop to other popular Japanese cultures like city pop, anisong, Vocaloids, and VTubing.
History
Japanese popular music, called ryūkōka before being divided into enka and poppusu, began in the Meiji period. However, most Japanese scholars believe the Taishō period marks the true start of ryūkōka, as this was when the music became popular across the country. By the Taishō period, Western musical styles and instruments, introduced during the Meiji period, were widely used in Japan. Influenced by Western music like jazz and blues, ryūkōka included instruments such as the violin, harmonica, and guitar. However, the melodies often followed the traditional Japanese pentatonic scale. In the 1930s, Ichiro Fujiyama released popular songs using his tenor voice. He sang softly through a microphone, a technique sometimes called crooning.
Jazz musician Ryoichi Hattori tried to create Japanese music with a "flavor" of blues. He composed Noriko Awaya's hit song "Wakare no Blues" (meaning "Farewell Blues"). Awaya became a famous singer and was known as "Queen of Blues" in Japan. During the war, the Imperial Army temporarily stopped jazz performances in Japan. Hattori, who stayed in Shanghai after the war, created hit songs like Shizuko Kasagi's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" and Ichiro Fujiyama's "Aoi Sanmyaku" (meaning "Blue Mountain Range"). Hattori later became known as the "Father of Japanese poppusu." Japanese musicians also performed genres like boogie-woogie, mambo, blues, and country music for American troops. Songs such as Chiemi Eri's "Tennessee Waltz" (1952), Hibari Misora's "Omatsuri Mambo" (1952), and Izumi Yukimura's "Till I Waltz Again with You" (1953) became popular. Foreign musicians, including JATP and Louis Armstrong, visited Japan to perform. In the mid-1950s, jazz cafes (Jazz kissa) became popular places for live jazz. Though jazz influenced Japanese poppusu, authentic jazz did not become the main music style in Japan. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Japanese pop music split into two styles: urban kayō and modern enka.
Modern J-pop is sometimes linked to Chinese immigrant jazz musicians who fled Shanghai after the communist takeover. These musicians worked with American soldiers to introduce new music genres to Japan. In 1949, after communists took control of mainland China and formed the People's Republic of China, the government criticized popular music, including Chinese pop (Mandopop) and Western pop, as "decadent." For decades, the Communist Party promoted revolutionary songs while suppressing folk, pop, and Western music. Some Shanghainese jazz musicians moved to Hong Kong, where they helped create Cantopop (pop music in Cantonese). Others went to Japan, joining the Far East Network and sharing Western music with the public. This helped shape modern Japanese pop music, called kayōkyoku.
In the 1950s and 1960s, yakuza manager Kazuo Taoka changed the concert industry by treating performers as professionals. Many of these performers later became important in the J-pop genre. In 1956, Japan's rock and roll craze began with the country music group Kosaka Kazuya and the Wagon Masters. Their version of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" helped start the trend. Japanese media called this style "rockabilly" (rokuhabirī). Performers learned to play the music and translate lyrics of American songs, leading to the creation of Cover Pops. The rockabilly movement reached its peak when 45,000 people attended performances by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival in February 1958.
Kyu Sakamoto, a fan of Elvis, made his stage debut as a member of the band The Drifters at the Nichigeki Western Carnival in 1958. His 1961 song "Ue wo Muite Arukō" ("Let's Look Up and Walk"), known internationally as "Sukiyaki," was released in the United States in 1963. It became the first Japanese song to reach number one in the U.S., spending four weeks on Cash Box and three weeks on Billboard. It also earned a gold record for selling one million copies. During this time, the female duo The Peanuts gained popularity for singing in the movie Mothra. Their song "Furimukanaide" ("Don't Turn Around") was later covered by Candies on their album Candy Label. Artists like Kyu Sakamoto and The Peanuts were called "Wasei Pops" ("Japan-made pop").
After many member changes, Chosuke Ikariya re-formed The Drifters in 1964 under the same name. At a Beatles concert in 1966, they performed as openers, but the audience was not pleased. Eventually, The Drifters became popular in Japan, releasing "Zundoko-Bushi" ("Echoic Word Tune") in 1969. Along with enka singer Keiko Fuji, they won "the award for mass popularity" at the 12th Japan Record Awards in 1970. Keiko Fuji's 1970 album Shinjuku no Onna/'Enka no Hoshi' Fuji Keiko no Subete ("Woman in Shinjuku/'Star of Enka' All of Keiko Fuji") set a record on the Japanese Oricon chart by staying at number one for 20 weeks. Later, The Drifters became television personalities and invited idols like Momoe Yamaguchi and Candies to their shows.
The Ventures visited Japan in 1962, leading to the widespread use of the electric guitar, called the "Ereki boom." Yūzō Kayama and Takeshi Terauchi became famous electric guitar players. In 1966, the Beatles performed in Japan at the Nippon Budokan, becoming the first rock band to play there. Some people believed the Beatles would cause juvenile delinquency, so the Japanese government sent riot police to control crowds. John Lennon felt the Japanese did not like him, but Beatlemania never truly ended in Japan. The Beatles inspired Japanese bands, leading to the creation of the "group sounds" genre.
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Artists
Some Japanese pop artists are very popular in Japan, and some have groups of fans in other countries—especially in Asia, but also in Western countries. These artists affect both music and fashion. In 2016, the top five best-selling artists in the history of the Japanese Oricon charts were B'z, Mr. Children, Ayumi Hamasaki, Southern All Stars, and Dreams Come True. Among these five, Hamasaki is the only solo artist.