J-Melo

J-Melo
Title card
GenreMusic show
Directed byHarada Nobuyuki
Presented byMay J.
Country of originJapan
Original languagesEnglish
Japanese
Production
ProducerHarada Nobuyuki
Camera setupMulticamera setup
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkNHK
Release7 October 2005 (2005-10-07) –
present

J-Melo is a weekly Japanese music television program broadcast by NHK. It is recorded entirely in the English language. It began broadcasting on October 7, 2005. The program is available on NHK's World Service television station, Radio Japan, Digital Educational TV and on its Domestic General Channel.

History and Programming

[edit]
melody. hosted the program from April 2007 until September 2008.

The program started broadcasting on October 7, 2005, and was hosted by Mai Takematsu, a Japanese harpist.[1] The name "J-Melo" comes from the words, "Japan", "Melody", and "Mellow". The show is the first Japanese music program produced by NHK to be recorded entirely in English, and presents various Japanese music and musicians to the rest of the world through its global television station, NHK World.[2] The show is also aired in Japan in English with Japanese subtitles.[1] In March 2007, Mai Takematsu left the show in order to pursue her medical career, and in April 2007, she was replaced by Japanese singer, melody.[1] She hosted the show until September 2008, when it was announced that May J. will host the succeeding episodes. The new J-Melo debuted in October 2008, with May J. along with Shanti presenting the program, with an updated set and website and a new opening billboard. It was the first time that the program had two permanent presenters. Shanti, however, left the show in 2010. Aside from music videos, the program features interviews and recorded performances.

In 2009, J-Melo started a music project, a fictitious band called Rough-T with manga characters fronted by Takekawa Ai, produced by Marty Friedman, and with additional production by international independent artists kevn, Kirby and Crazy Dragon.[3] J-Melo features comments from Dave Spector, who hosts most episodes together with May J.

Segments

[edit]

J-Melo has a weekly theme, where most of the video content of the show revolve around. These include topics such as "Summer Favorites", "Musicians from Okinawa" or "Summer Rock Festivals". Every other month, the show also has a request special, where viewers send requests through the J-Melo website. (In a June 2007 request special, it was revealed that the most requested Japanese musical act is L'Arc-en-Ciel.) In 2007, the show introduced the segment, "Japan Dance Music Adventure," a monthly dance special, where the host tours Japan in search of traditional and modern dance music.

Specials

[edit]

Every year since 2005, the show has an annual special, counting down the top singles of the year. Since 2007, however, J-Melo aired among others, aired a summer special, several "live to the world" specials (filmed in front of a live audience, not aired live), an Okinawa special and a Tokushima special. Occasionally, the show will also broadcast guest highlights every quarter.

E-mail Special

[edit]

In December 2007, the program started to air an E-mail special. It counted down the countries where the show received the most e-mail from, as well as the year's top requested artists.

2007

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Steady1  Philippines
Steady2  Peru
Steady3  United States
Steady4  Canada
Steady5  Brazil
 Mexico
 Indonesia
Steady6  Nepal
Steady7  Japan
Steady8  Malaysia
Steady9  Vietnam
Steady10  Portugal

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 L'Arc-en-Ciel
2 melody.
3 KAT-TUN
4 Hikaru Utada
5 NEWS
6 Morning Musume
7 DIR EN GREY
8 YUI
9 Ai Otsuka
10 Namie Amuro

2008

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Steady1  Philippines
Increase2  United States
Decrease3  Peru
Increase4  Japan
Steady5  Indonesia
Decrease6  Brazil
Decrease7  Canada
8  Vietnam (Steady)
 Nepal (Decrease)
9  Thailand (New)
10  United Arab Emirates (New)

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 L'Arc-en-Ciel
2 Arashi
3 Hey! Say! JUMP
4 melody.
5 KAT-TUN
6 NEWS
7 Tohoshinki
8 Hikaru Utada
9 Alice Nine
10 YUI

2009

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Steady1  Philippines
2  United Kingdom (New)
Decrease3  United States
Increase4  Indonesia
Decrease5  Peru
Steady6  Brazil
7  Saudi Arabia (New)
8  United Arab Emirates (Increase)
 Vietnam (Steady)
Decrease9  Nepal
10  Australia (New)
 Ireland (New)

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 L'Arc-en-Ciel
2 Tohoshinki
3 Arashi
4 NEWS
5 Hey! Say! JUMP
6 KAT-TUN
7 May J.
8 The Gazette
9 GACKT
10 Ayumi Hamasaki

2010

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Increase1  United Kingdom
Decrease2  Philippines
Increase3  Indonesia
Decrease4  United States
5  Germany (New)
6  Chile (New)
Decrease7  Brazil
Decrease8  Peru
Decrease9  Saudi Arabia
Increase10  Mexico

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 The Gazette
2 Hey! Say! JUMP
3 L'Arc-en-Ciel
4 Arashi
5 May J.
6 KAT-TUN
7 NEWS
8 YUI
9 SCANDAL
10 GACKT

2011

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Increase1  Indonesia
Increase2  United States
Decrease3  United Kingdom
Decrease4  Philippines
Increase5  Peru
6  France (New)
Increase7  Mexico
Decrease8  Chile
Steady9  Saudi Arabia
Decrease10  Brazil

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 L'Arc-en-Ciel
2 The Gazette
3 Morning Musume
4 SCANDAL
5 YUI
6 Hey! Say! JUMP
7 Alice Nine
8 Arashi
9 May J.
10 AKB48

2012

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Steady1  Indonesia
Steady2  United States
Increase3  Philippines
Decrease4  United Kingdom
Increase5  Brazil
Decrease6  Peru
Increase7  Saudi Arabia
Decrease8  Mexico
Decrease9  France
Increase10  Germany

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 The Gazette
2 Arashi
3 L'Arc-en-Ciel
4 Morning Musume
5 Alice Nine
6 AKB48
7 KAT-TUN
8 Hey! Say! JUMP
9 SCANDAL
10 GACKT

2013

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Increase1  United States
Increase2  Philippines
Decrease3  Indonesia
Steady4  United Kingdom
Increase5  Peru
Increase6  France
Decrease7  Brazil
Steady8  Mexico
9  Singapore (New)
Steady10  Germany

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 The Gazette
2 Arashi
3 Alice Nine
4 Morning Musume '14
5 Hey! Say! JUMP
6 L'Arc-en-Ciel
7 SCANDAL
8 AKB48
9 ONE OK ROCK
10 KAT-TUN

2014

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Increase1  Indonesia
Decrease2  United States
Decrease3  Philippines
Steady4  United Kingdom
Increase5  Brazil
Increase6  Mexico
Decrease7  France
Increase8  Malaysia
Increase9  Australia
Steady10  Germany

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 SCANDAL
2 The Gazette
3 Morning Musume '14
4 Alice Nine
5 Arashi
6 Hey! Say! JUMP
7 ONE OK ROCK
8 AKB48
9 L'Arc-en-Ciel
10 Diaura

2015

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Increase1  United States
Decrease2  Indonesia
Increase3  United Kingdom
Increase4  Mexico
Decrease5  Philippines
Increase6  France
7  China (New)
Decrease8  Brazil
Increase9  Singapore
Steady10  Germany

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 The Gazette
2 Scandal
3 Morning Musume '15
4 Arashi
5 L'Arc-en-Ciel
6 One Ok Rock
7 KAT-TUN
8 Vamps
9 AKB48
10 Babymetal

2016

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Steady1  United States
Steady2  Indonesia
Steady3  United Kingdom
Increase4  Philippines
Decrease5  Mexico
Increase6  China
Increase7  Singapore
Steady8  Brazil
Increase9  Chile
Decrease10  France

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 The Gazette
2 Scandal
3 Morning Musume '16
4 Arashi
5 L'Arc-en-Ciel
6 Babymetal
7 AKB48
8 One Ok Rock
9 Band-Maid
10 Silent Siren

2017

[edit]

E-Mail Countdown (by country)

Rank Country
Steady1  United States
Increase2  United Kingdom
Decrease3  Indonesia
Steady4  Philippines
Increase5  Brazil
6  Algeria (New)
7  India (New)
Increase8  France
9  Turkey (New)
Increase10  Peru

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 Babymetal
2 Morning Musume '17
3 Scandal
4 The Gazette
5 Arashi
6 One Ok Rock
7 L'Arc-en'Ciel
8 Hey! Say! JUMP
9 AKB48
10 Silent Siren

2018

[edit]

Most Requested Artists

Rank Artist
1 The Gazette
2 Scandal
3 Morning Musume '18
4 May J.
5 Arashi
6 L'Arc-en'Ciel
7 One Ok Rock
8 Hey! Say! JUMP
9 AKB48
10 Diaura

Guests

[edit]

Aside from a weekly theme, J-Melo also has a guest at least once a month. Most of the time, guest greetings are recorded on video to thank their supporters from outside Japan. There are also some episodes where the guests will sit down on set for an interview and sometimes, a performance. The theme for these shows will usually be the works of the guest musician. These appearances are rather significant, as the show is primarily recorded for foreign viewers. Interviews and messages are also subtitled in English whenever needed.

Notable Guests

[edit]

The following are notable guests who appeared in the show. Those with dates in light blue are guests who appeared on set, while those in light yellow are guests who appeared on video.

2006

[edit]
Title Date
Bonnie Pink July 2006
Demon Kogure August 2006
melody. November 2006

2007

[edit]
Title Date
Dir En Grey March 2007
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR March 2007
Angela Aki April 2007
Sowelu April 2007
M-Flo April 2007
Akikawa Masafumi June 2007
December 2007
L'Arc-en-Ciel June 2007
December 2007
Crystal Kay July 2007
Nora (Orquesta de la Luz) August 2007
Morning Musume August 2007
Monkey Majik August 2007
Terumasa Hino August 2007
Kazumi Watanabe August 2007
Emyli August 2007
Jyongri August 2007
Akira Jimbo September 2007
Soichi Muraji September 2007
Kousuke Atari October 2007
Jesse (RIZE) September 2007
Makoto Ozone November 2007
WISE November 2007
May J. November 2007

2008

[edit]
Title Date
Shonen Knife January 2008
indigo blue January 2008
Polysics February 2008
Zeebra February 2008
Tanaka Roma March 2008
M-Flo March 2008
April 2008
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra April 2008
Hiromi Uehara April 2008
Miyavi May 2008
Yasuji Ohagi May 2008
The Gazette May 2008
GO! GO! 7188 May 2008
Tanaka Roma May 2008
JYONGRI May 2008
Spontania May 2008
Leo Imai May 2008
SoulJa May 2008
Tiana Xiao May 2008
jammin’Zeb May 2008
Yosuke Yamashita June 2008
INFINITY16 June 2008
MONKEY MAJIK June 2008
Leah Dizon June 2008
Maki Ohguro July 2008
Crystal Kay July 2008
Perfume July 2008
Hiromi Go July 2008
RANKIN TAXI August 2008
Ryohei August 2008
JUJU August 2008
[edit]
  1. ^ a b c J-Melo, Japanese Language Wikipedia. Retrieved on July 22, 2007.
  2. ^ J-Melo Official Website, NHK World Service Website. Retrieved on July 22, 2007.
  3. ^ "J-Melo Band, Manga Stripes". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-01-05.