J-pop panel

[Malakies]

Hello all! New forum member here, and this year will mark my first time as a visitor to San Japan. I have ideas swimming in my mind surrounding a J-pop panel (strictly the pop scene- not necessarily Visual Kei, but I could make some exceptions). If there is already a J-pop panel, is there a chance I could still pitch the idea from my side? I would love for people that are not sure where to begin with Japanese music to gain interest in it, or just want to chat amongst their fellow fans!

Here is what I would be looking to cover at the panel (Since there is quite a lot to cover I would try to condense it well):

- A general overview of the Japanese music industry
- Videos of past classics, and current hits
- A selection of videos that I think represent J-pop well (probably goes with above)
- A possible random giveaway of CDs and merchandise

For example, I'd love to play the videos of Namie Amuro (Facebook), w-inds., Daichi Miura, Koda Kumi, Matsu****a Yuuya, Ayumi Hamasaki, Arashi, DOUBLE, Meisa Kuroki (Facebook), Anna Tsuchiya, etc etc including even more artists that you guys would love to have highlighted and chat about. Of course, as long as it's in Japanese and was released in Japan, I'll definitely include non-Japanese artists releasing in Japan as well. What say you?

More detail: This is not so much a compilation of anime theme songs so much as it is a panel that will talk about the success of the artists in their native Japan, why we like them, and ones that are lesser covered as well. J-pop is pretty much a blanket term for a bunch of genres, but I'm wondering if you guys would like it categorized as follows: J-Urban, J-pop, J-Electronica, J-rock, Johnny's Entertainment, etc, for certain highlights of each to be mentioned?

Update: The panel is a go, but it is unsure whether it will make it to the final schedule. However, I DO have my suppliers for prizes. Confirmed coming: Namie Amuro UNCONTROLLED posters

[Proz]

No one has submitted a J-Pop panel yet.

[ThePlayboyBunny]

While I enjoy the thought of the panel, I'd honestly rather see J-(whatever) instead of J-Pop. Anime conventions are dominated by 2 groups: the anime people, and the J-Pop people. While I know there are definitely some people who are into, say, Japanese food, J-Rock, etc, I think having a J-Pop panel is kinda...it'd be like having an "intro to anime" panel. Basically, SOME people might be interested in an introduction, but I think you'd get more people if you did...idk, maybe a J-Alternative or something a bit more new yet still exciting.

Just my thoughts. That, and they typically have a music room playing J-Pop, and sometimes even K-Pop, which is also a deterrent.

[Malakies]

While I enjoy the thought of the panel, I'd honestly rather see J-(whatever) instead of J-Pop. Anime conventions are dominated by 2 groups: the anime people, and the J-Pop people. While I know there are definitely some people who are into, say, Japanese food, J-Rock, etc, I think having a J-Pop panel is kinda...it'd be like having an "intro to anime" panel. Basically, SOME people might be interested in an introduction, but I think you'd get more people if you did...idk, maybe a J-Alternative or something a bit more new yet still exciting.

Just my thoughts. That, and they typically have a music room playing J-Pop, and sometimes even K-Pop, which is also a deterrent.

I must respectfully disagree on the bold. I know a lot of people got into Japanese music through anime, but it does not guarantee that everyone will become a fan of that artist just because they happen to like one song that was in an anime. I think a lot of people fail to dig deeper than the anime songs and see the artist's individual color. A lot of the artists I listed are pretty well-known, for example, but I'm sure there are still tons of people nowadays that would appreciate the background and could become potential new fans, especially since a lot of stuff is harder to find on Youtube, what with strict copyright laws and all. So, if there is a K-pop panel, I definitely feel that there should be a J-pop panel.

Oh, of course I forgot to ask... what are your guys' favorite J-pop artists? You can even lean towards J-urban.

[Soikham]

Oh, of course I forgot to ask... what are your guys' favorite J-pop artists? You can even lean towards J-urban.

And what is J-urban? is it like rap or linkin park kinda stuff?

Mosaic.wav is pretty sweet j pop i think

[Malakies]

And what is J-urban? is it like rap or linkin park kinda stuff?

Mosaic.wav is pretty sweet j pop i think

J-urban: Artists like m-flo, DOUBLE, AI (Facebook), Thelma Aoyama, Shimizu Shota, mocha, ZEEBRA... artists that are primarily focused on R&B, but a lot of their music can be categorized as pop too.

Mosaic.wav seems to be an anime band, right? I guess I should say that I'd rather focus less on anime/Vocaloid so that people can discover something more varied, like PLB alluded to.

[Soikham]

Mosaic.wav is a great band. It shouldn't matter if the band is an "anime band" or not. as long as they're good, then i think they should be given a chance to be shown at the panel.
But i suppose i dont know too much about pop in general. I'd love to see Galneryus, Ark Storm, Arcadia, and other Jap metal acts become more popular.

[Yuuto]

It shouldn't matter if the band is an "anime band" or not. As long as they're good, then I think they should be given a chance to be shown at the panel.

Agreed.
And if you get rid of bands simply because they might be tied with an anime because of it's theme song, that is severely going to cut into the list of ones known. I for one would not want to research every single band to make sure they don't have an association with an anime. Bands that you know of are what help you branch off to other bands with similar sounds. There should be a good mix of what is more widely known and what is not.

BTW, LM.C needs to be on there. lol j/k

[Malakies]

Just wanted to clear something up here-- by "anime bands" and such I had things like Vocaloid in mind, where the singer is not really real and all. I do recognize that there is a lot of interest for it though and maybe will have to consider covering it. Singers being associated with anime is not a problem, anyone who is well-known in that industry has pretty much has at least one song associated with an anime.

I thought a little bit about the categories and fitting everything under the umbrella of "J-pop" has connotations some singers/bands may not like, but popular music in Japan has always been so varied still. How about this - Categorizing things like soloist dancers/soloist ballad singers/Johnny's/other idol groups/rock/etc! I feel like that is a pretty good and realistic way to split them all up in the context of the industry.

I would love to hear what you guys think about picking somebody out from random and handing them a CD or other merchandise. Going a bit farther, what about playing a certain amount of a hit song and having someone guess the name of it? That gives us some time to look back at some old hits.

Ok, and because I love her... a song from the most recent single release of Amuro Namie, "YEAH-OH":
http://www.yinyuetai.com/video/372838

And I'm stretching a little here, but he's making inroads in Japan.. Show Luo with his new song "Wo You Zai": (Yes, it is in Mandarin.)

[YaoixYuri18]

I do agree that anime muisc should not be excluded, even do my Japanese music background has expaned beyond anime muisc/themes, I still enjoy listening to them. Now, to begin with I am more of Jrock/Visual Kei person, though I do like some Jpop artists. It seems to me that you know more about Jpop music than maybe Jrock, so I say "do what you know". If it wasn't for you hammering Namie Amuro songs at me I probably wouldn't like her very much expected for "Come " and Four Seasons which were ending songs for InuYasha or Mesia Kuroki.

No, I don't think you should have Show Luo in your panel, yet.

[Malakies]

Lol, but like I said, "anime music" is not what I referred to as anime theme songs, but things like Vocaloid and of that nature. I should have worded it better.

"Come On"

What is "Come On"? Gurl, I only know Come.

No, I don't think you should have Show Luo in your panel, yet.

いいえ! But... DANTE:



In Nihongo!

[YaoixYuri18]

What is "Come On"? Gurl, I only know Come.

Haha I meant "Come" and Show Luo is only for my eyes to see.

LOL

[Malakies]

The splendor of SHOW must be shared with all!

Here's some of my other faves...

EhXMus8w
I know, I know. Johnny's. But this is a pretty good song!


No actual music video since it was taken down but the production on this song is very good.


The newest one from w-inds., an underrated group in Japan.


What's not to love about Matsu****a Yuya?

[Soikham]

Galneryus cover of Masatoshi Ono's "You're the Only". SHO is officially there new singer as of 2009, with the departure of Yama-B. Masatoshi Ono is originally a pop singer from the 80's/90's but now he has joined the ranks of Power Metal singers. Check it out!


He really shows off his "Poppy" influence in "Still Loving You" from his first album with Galneryus, Revelations from 2010. He really does show how versatile a singer he has become, and how he can blend the two styles together seamlessly.


And again off of their most recent album, Phoenix Rising from 2011 with "Bash Out". Galneryus' heavy-metal roots combined with SHO's melodic, and poppy choruses has revived the faith of the fans after Yama-B's departure. Galneryus is still the greatest Power Metal act of Japan.

[malemocynt]

Hey y'all. I just wanted to come in and see if there is a potential for my contribution for the convention.

Although I'm not much on running a panel as I'm terrible at explaining things at lengths, I'm more of a demonstrator.

Also, my scope of interest in J-Pop is primarily from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. So I think I can offer something that probably not many others can.

I've been collecting vinyl records for a few years and one of the areas of specialty I've been collecting along is Japanese music on vinyl. I would be interested in running an exhibition throughout the convention showing and playing my collection. So I was wondering if it is something that people attending San Japan would like to see/hear. As you can see, the scope of my collection is pretty broad and will likely have more artists and songs by the time San Japan rolls around since I still am collecting records.

I have run an exhibit once before and that was at Anime Matsuri last weekend. Although my placement there wasn't the most favorable, I still had a number of visitors who were happy to have been exposed to an era of music that wasn't really talked about in the fandom. I've also was an attendee at A-Kon in 2004, so I have some experience with conventions and how they go about.

So if this seems like an idea and there's room to fit me in (I don't need a dedicated room, a table somewhere is the least I require), let me know and I can start filling in the paperwork for it. Otherwise I am cool with coming in for 2013.

I believe some of San Japan's reps had a booth at Matsuri, but given I was planted in my exhibition room for nearly all day, I probably didn't get a chance to check out more of what San Japan is about.

[Proz]

This is an interesting proposal. We would be interested as we do have plenty of rooms available as we're moving to a new location. You can e-mail events@san-japan.org and conchair@san-japan.org with a proposal and what you would need from us.

If you're unsure, we'll be in the same place in 2013 in the same location.

[malemocynt]

Well I sent an email out to both emails a few days ago. Hopefully it was received properly.

I seem to have had some bad luck with emails to convention organizers in the past for some reason.

Edit: Looks like it came through. So it's all good now.

I hope to get more records next month, one of my main suppliers seems to have disappeared from the internet, so I'm definitely going to have to branch out to other sources, but I think it may be cool since I can probably get a better deal and sometimes random bulk records can yield interesting surprises.

[Malakies]

Hey guys. Sorry about not adding anything to the discussion here, but does anyone have any preferred singers that they'd like to see merchandise of? Whether it be CDs, posters, or anything of the sort. I can definitely get them. Second: I submitted my panel idea in late May, so I'm eager to see where I stand with this. I promise that I'll make it fun and I'll also help anyone out who is wondering where to get their J-pop fix.

[malemocynt]

My shipment of records from Japan arrived earlier today.

175 (well, 174 now because one of them somehow cracked in transit, which kinda sucks) 45 RPM 7" vinyl singles. About half of them round out some of the discographies of several artists I'm already collecting, and about half are of artists I haven't started collecting yet. This brings the total number of records I'll have in the exhibit to over 800. There is no way I can play every single one of them, but at least I have more room to make some more interesting playlists.

However, one thing is for sure, the new shipment means San Japan 5 will be the first convention these discs will be heard in the public, so there's that to look forward to!

[EvilPopKorn]

wow... I do believe I will have to go see this Panel now!