What is Jpop? J-pop is a musical genre that became popular during the 1990’s. J-pop derived from 1960’s Japanese pop and rock music. Enka is a Japanese music genre that is similar to traditional Japanese dance and music. J-pop dances are most like hip hop accompanies by modern day music. It can be found in anime, video games, and dramas. The dance can express cuteness, happiness, love, etc. History of Jpop After World War II, Japanese dancing came under the influence of ballet, opera, and other western arts. During the 1970’s, the emphasis changed from simple songs to more complex songs. Then in the 1980’s, people started playing hip hop records. In the 1990’s, J-pop was developed. Today, Japanese dance continues to evolve with the creation of different new works. Dance of Japan http://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat20/sub130/item699.html Jpop Artists 1. AKB48 AKB is an abbreviation for the mecca of Japanese pop culture Akihabara where AKB48 is based and has their own theater to perform. Akihabara is one of the most famous towns in Tokyo for Japanese pop culture where a great number of foreign visitors travel seeking for manga and anime and other cool and geeky items. The girl group AKB48 is the symbol of the town. AKB48 is the first group that Yasushi Akimoto, the producer and lyricist, has produced as “48 group”, and there are many 48 groups all around Japan and even in other Asian countries: SKE48 (Sakae, Aichi), NMB48 (Namba, Osaka), HKT48 (Hakata, Fukuoka), STU48 (Setouchi), NGT48 (Niigata), JKT48 (Jakarta, Indonesia), BNK48 (Bangkok, Thailand), TPE48 (Taipei, Taiwan), MNL48 (Manila, Philippines), MUM48 (Mumbai, India) The first 48 group has made the 48 groups even more famous internally and internationally as an undoubted fact since the first group was founded in 2005. In 2017, AKB48 has become the number one female singer with over 51 million CDs in sales totally. TOP 3 SONGS OF AKB48 - Heavy Rotation, Beginner, and Koi Suru Fortune Cookie Pioneer of Handshake Events Why has AKB48 gained such great popularity in the recent days when CD sales have been decreasing? One of the reasons is that they have an unique concept “idols you can meet” while Japanese girl groups can be seen on TV or far stages of concerts before than that. They performs on the smaller stage of their own theater which is very close to audiences, and they also hold “Handshake events” where you can actually shake hands with your favorite member. A admission ticket for the handshake events comes with their CDs, so this is one of the reasons why they have won a big market. 2. Nogizaka 46 Nogizaka 46 (乃木坂46) is one of the hottest and most popular girl groups in Japan. It was founded in 2011 by Yasushi Akimoto as the official rival of AKB48, but it doesn’t belong to the “48 group”. Do you notice something odd about the group name? Yes, Nogizaka is not represented by 3 letters like AKB but Japanese Kanji like “乃木坂 ” for the name of the rival group to have a clear distinction from AKB48. It’s also followed by 46 instead of 48, which means Nogizaka 46 can beat AKB48 with 2 less members. In 2017, Nogizaka46 reached the top of Japanese girl groups since they generated the most in sales. Moreover, their successful number “Influencer (インフルエンサー)” won the Japan Record Award (日本レコード大賞), the major music award which is similar to the American Grammy Award. 3. Babymetal Babymetal (stylized as BABYMETAL) is a Japanese metal idol band. Their line-up consists of Nakamoto Suzuka as "Su-metal" and Kikuchi Moa as "Moametal". The live line-up also consists of two backup dancers known as MUSCLE-METAL. The concept of the group is a fusion of the metal and idol genres. The two girls and their band are managed by the Amuse talent agency. They released their de but album of the same name in February 2014. The group was initially formed in 2010 as a subunit of the female idol group Sakura Gakuin, aiming to realize a "fusion of metal and idol [music]". "The first time we heard the idea for Babymetal, we were like 'What the?!'". Live Performances As well as dancing, the trio all perform vocals. Su-metal is the main vocalist, credited on Babymetal's official site with vocals and dancing, while Moametal and Yuimetal are credited with scream and dance. Babymetal's costumes take a variety of cues from the popular Japanese Gothic and Punk Lolita styles, with an emphasis on red and black. Since 2014, the trio has usually worn a variation of their now trademark costumes, first introduced in their Ijime, Dame, Zettai music video. They occasionally break from this for specific events (for example, white hooded cloaks in their Legend 1997 concert; matching kimonos for the Megitsune music video.) 4. Hatsune Miku Hatsune Miku is a Japanese music sensation, a 16 year-old blue-haired girl with a unique voice and prodigious energy. What makes her special is that she is not a human singer, but a virtual persona who uses a computer-generated voice and 3D graphics to perform on stage. With a repertoire entirely provided by individual creators, she is the first truly crowd-created virtual talent. But being virtual doesn't stop her from filling up concert halls, or teaming up with major artists like Lady Gaga and Pharrell Williams! Internationally popular, with over 2.5 million followers on Facebook, the increasing demand for concerts overseas paved the way to Miku Expo, a world tour that has so far taken her from Indonesia to Los Angeles, New York and Shanghai, with a memorable TV stop at the David Letterman show. MIKU EXPO HATSUNE MIKU EXPO is a world concert tour, organized by Crypton Future Media, that brings along a variety of sub-events (exhibitions, workshops, club events ...) where fans of all backgrounds can meet up and share various aspects of the creative culture surrounding Hatsune Miku. 5. Arashi A Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and made their debut CD on November 3, 1999. The group was initially signed to Pony Canyon and released one studio album and six singles— beginning with their 1999 eponymous debut single before moving to the Johnny's subsidiary label J Storm in 2001, which was initially set up for their succeeding releases.[2] While their debut single sold close to a million copies, the group took a mixture of pop and alternate/contemporary approach to its music which attracted core followers, but subsequently faced commercially slow sales. 6. Utada Hikaru Popular and well-known worldwide, Utada Hikaru has dominated the Japanese music charts since 1997. Many of her songs are slow-paced and clearly sung, so they’re excellent for beginner learners. “First Love” This was one of Utada Hikaru’s first popular songs, and is still played in restaurants and shops 17 years after its initial release. It’s an emotional classic that can teach you lots of romantic vocabulary. 8. Hatsune Miku What makes Hatsune Miku special? Only the fact that she isn’t real. Not in our world, anyway. Hatsune Miku is best described by Wikipedia as a “humanoid persona voiced by a singing synthesizer application developed by Crypton Future Media.” In other words, Miku is a 16-year-old, turquoise-haired cartoon with a voice created by a computer. And the good people of Japan love her for it. And yes, she holds live concerts. To be fair, if you closed her eyes, would you be able to tell that wasn’t a human’s voice?
