J-Melo is a weekly Japanese music television program broadcast by NHK. It is recorded almost 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
The program started broadcasting on October 7, 2005, and was hosted by Mai Takematsu, a Japanese harpist.J-Melo, Japanese Language Wikipedia. Retrieved on July 22, 2007. 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.J-Melo Official Website, NHK World Service Website. Retrieved on July 22, 2007. The show is also aired in Japan in English with Japanese subtitles. 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. She hosted the show until September 2008, when it was announced that May J. would 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. J-Melo features comments from Dave Spector, who hosts most episodes together with May J.
In March 2026, May J. announced that she has hosted her last J-Melo episode.
Starting in April 2026, Kayna & Sascha were announced as the new co-hosts.
Segments 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.
Currently, J-Melo features normally two acts, either a Japanese singer, band or idol group, and they perform one or two of their songs in studio. The show will also feature the guest's latest music video, but limited showing for broadcast time.
Specials
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 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 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country12345678910Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1L'Arc-en-Ciel2melody.3KAT-TUN4Hikaru Utada5NEWS6Morning Musume7DIR EN GREY8YUI9Ai Otsuka10Namie Amuro
2008 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country12345678 () ()9 (New) 10 (New)Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1L'Arc-en-Ciel2Arashi3Hey! Say! JUMP4melody.5KAT-TUN6NEWS7Tohoshinki8Hikaru Utada9Alice Nine10YUI
2009 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country12 (New)34567 (New)8 () ()9 10 (New) (New)Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1L'Arc-en-Ciel2Tohoshinki3Arashi4NEWS5Hey! Say! JUMP6KAT-TUN7May J.8The Gazette9GACKT10Ayumi Hamasaki
2010 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country12345 (New)6 (New)789 10Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1The Gazette2Hey! Say! JUMP3L'Arc-en-Ciel4Arashi5May J.6KAT-TUN7NEWS8YUI9SCANDAL10GACKT
2011 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country123456 (New)789 10Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1L'Arc-en-Ciel2The Gazette3Morning Musume4SCANDAL5YUI6Hey! Say! JUMP7Alice Nine8Arashi9May J.10AKB48
2012 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country123456789 10Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1The Gazette2Arashi3L'Arc-en-Ciel4Morning Musume5Alice Nine6AKB487KAT-TUN8Hey! Say! JUMP9SCANDAL10GACKT
2013 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country123456789 (New)10 Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1The Gazette2Arashi3Alice Nine4Morning Musume '145Hey! Say! JUMP6L'Arc-en-Ciel7SCANDAL8AKB489ONE OK ROCK10KAT-TUN
2014 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country123456789 10 Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1SCANDAL2The Gazette3Morning Musume '144Alice Nine5Arashi6Hey! Say! JUMP7ONE OK ROCK8AKB489L'Arc-en-Ciel10Diaura
2015 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country1234567 (New)89 10 Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1The Gazette2Scandal3Morning Musume '154Arashi5L'Arc-en-Ciel6One Ok Rock7KAT-TUN8Vamps9AKB4810Babymetal
2016 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country123456789 10 Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1The Gazette2Scandal3Morning Musume '164Arashi5L'Arc-en-Ciel6Babymetal7AKB488One Ok Rock9Band-Maid10Silent Siren
2017 E-Mail Countdown (by country) Rank Country123456 (New)7 (New)89 (New)10 Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1Babymetal2Morning Musume '173Scandal4The Gazette5Arashi6One Ok Rock7L'Arc-en'Ciel8Hey! Say! JUMP9AKB4810Silent Siren
2018 Most Requested Artists Rank Artist1The Gazette2Scandal3Morning Musume '184May J.5Arashi6L'Arc-en'Ciel7One Ok Rock8Hey! Say! JUMP9AKB4810Diaura
Guests 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 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 Title DateBonnie PinkJuly 2006Demon KogureAugust 2006melody.November 2006
2007 Title DateDir En GreyMarch 2007HIGH and MIGHTY COLORMarch 2007Angela AkiApril 2007SoweluApril 2007M-FloApril 2007Akikawa MasafumiJune 2007December 2007L'Arc-en-CielJune 2007December 2007Crystal KayJuly 2007Nora (Orquesta de la Luz)August 2007Morning MusumeAugust 2007Monkey MajikAugust 2007Terumasa HinoAugust 2007Kazumi WatanabeAugust 2007EmyliAugust 2007JyongriAugust 2007Akira JimboSeptember 2007Soichi MurajiSeptember 2007Kousuke AtariOctober 2007Jesse (RIZE)September 2007Makoto OzoneNovember 2007WISENovember 2007May J.November 2007 2008 Title DateShonen KnifeJanuary 2008indigo blueJanuary 2008PolysicsFebruary 2008ZeebraFebruary 2008Tanaka RomaMarch 2008M-FloMarch 2008April 2008Tokyo Ska Paradise OrchestraApril 2008Hiromi UeharaApril 2008MiyaviMay 2008Yasuji OhagiMay 2008The GazetteMay 2008GO! GO! 7188May 2008Tanaka RomaMay 2008JYONGRIMay 2008SpontaniaMay 2008Leo ImaiMay 2008SoulJaMay 2008Tiana XiaoMay 2008jammin’ZebMay 2008Yosuke YamashitaJune 2008INFINITY16June 2008MONKEY MAJIKJune 2008Leah DizonJune 2008Maki OhguroJuly 2008Crystal KayJuly 2008PerfumeJuly 2008Hiromi GoJuly 2008RANKIN TAXIAugust 2008RyoheiAugust 2008JUJUAugust 2008
Notes and External links