What’s “J-Pop”?

I will explain a little bit about the term J-Pop.

The old and new music category called J-Pop

“J-Pop” is a term coined by Tokyo FM radio station J-WAVE in 1989. J-WAVE, which opened in October 1988, started out as a radio station specializing in playing foreign popular music, and I remember that many of the DJs were foreigners who spoke only in English.
The style of J-WAVE, which was like an American radio station coming directly to Tokyo, was innovative and cool compared to existing FM stations that consisted mainly of Japanese talk and Japanese music.
However, a program on J-WAVE started a project to play Japanese music that would not be out of place if played together with Western music. The term “J-Pop” was coined as a new name to clearly distinguish it from older Japanese popular music such as “Kayo-kyoku”.

At first they called it “New Music.”

Of course, even before 1989, there was Japanese music that could be played along with Western music. They were called “New Music” from the mid-70s to the mid-80s.
I first saw the term when Yuming (Yumi Arai / Yumi Matsutoya) released her third album, COBALT HOUR, in June 1975. The promotional strip over the jacket of the 30cm LP record said “New Music.”
Furthermore, what was “J-Pop” called in the 1960s, before “New Music”? I remember that at that time, music was called by different category names, such as folk, rock, and blues.

Definition and Characteristics of “J-Pop”

I would say the following are the definitions and characteristics of “J-Pop”. I know there will be a lot of debate about this, and I think different people will have different views.
*BPM (Beat Per Minute) speed and Western influenced melodies, chord progressions and rhythms.
*The groove was refined and the lyrical structure changed accordingly.
*The whole song, including not only the singing but also the playing of the instrument, is regarded as a single expression.
*It is not the product of an industrialized creative process like “Kayo-Kyoku(old popular songs).”

Looking back, there was J-Pop

To be honest, I don’t really care what category of music I listen to. Likewise, I have not limited my music listening to the framework of J-Pop from the 1960s to the present.
Instead, I enjoyed each artist’s view of the world: Yuming’s music, Char’s music, Ms. Minako Yoshida’s music, and so on. However, I have been enjoying it for more than 50 years, and looking back at the history, I have come to believe that the music genre of “J-Pop” now has meaning.
Through the posts on this site, I will convey what I feel are the common musical views and various cultural characteristics in “J-Pop,” and what values connected the songs and listeners in each decade.