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.

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

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
 1   Philippines
 2   Peru
 3   United States
 4   Canada
 5   Brazil
  Mexico
  Indonesia
 6   Nepal
 7   Japan
 8   Malaysia
 9   Vietnam
 10   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
 1   Philippines
 2   United States
 3   Peru
 4   Japan
 5   Indonesia
 6   Brazil
 7   Canada
8   Vietnam ( )
  Nepal ( )
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
 1   Philippines
2   United Kingdom (New)
 3   United States
 4   Indonesia
 5   Peru
 6   Brazil
7   Saudi Arabia (New)
8   United Arab Emirates ( )
  Vietnam ( )
 9   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
 1   United Kingdom
 2   Philippines
 3   Indonesia
 4   United States
5   Germany (New)
6   Chile (New)
 7   Brazil
 8   Peru
 9   Saudi Arabia
 10   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
 1   Indonesia
 2   United States
 3   United Kingdom
 4   Philippines
 5   Peru
6   France (New)
 7   Mexico
 8   Chile
 9   Saudi Arabia
 10   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
 1   Indonesia
 2   United States
 3   Philippines
 4   United Kingdom
 5   Brazil
 6   Peru
 7   Saudi Arabia
 8   Mexico
 9   France
 10   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
 1   United States
 2   Philippines
 3   Indonesia
 4   United Kingdom
 5   Peru
 6   France
 7   Brazil
 8   Mexico
9   Singapore (New)
 10   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
 1   Indonesia
 2   United States
 3   Philippines
 4   United Kingdom
 5   Brazil
 6   Mexico
 7   France
 8   Malaysia
 9   Australia
 10   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
 1   United States
 2   Indonesia
 3   United Kingdom
 4   Mexico
 5   Philippines
 6   France
7   China (New)
 8   Brazil
 9   Singapore
 10   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
 1   United States
 2   Indonesia
 3   United Kingdom
 4   Philippines
 5   Mexico
 6   China
 7   Singapore
 8   Brazil
 9   Chile
 10   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
 1   United States
 2   United Kingdom
 3   Indonesia
 4   Philippines
 5   Brazil
6   Algeria (New)
7   India (New)
 8   France
9   Turkey (New)
 10   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.