J-pop - Quiz
J pop
  • 1. Which album broke Globe's sales record in October 1997?
A) Review -The Best of Glay
B) B'z The Best "Pleasure"
C) First Love
D) Ja, Zoo
  • 2. What is the best-selling album in Oricon history?
A) Review -The Best of Glay
B) B'z The Best "Pleasure"
C) First Love
D) Arc and Ray
  • 3. In what year did the Japanese market for physical music sales peak?
A) 1997
B) 2008
C) 1999
D) 1998
  • 4. Which band's album sold 5.12 million copies in 1998?
A) L'Arc-en-Ciel
B) B'z
C) Luna Sea
D) Glay
  • 5. What movement were rock bands like Glay, Luna Sea, and L'Arc-en-Ciel related to in the late 1990s?
A) Kayōkyoku
B) Onyanko Club
C) Hello! Project
D) Visual kei
  • 6. How many people attended the concert Glay played at Makuhari Messe in July 1999?
A) 200,000
B) 100,000
C) 50,000
D) 42,000
  • 7. Which artist had a funeral with 50,000 attendees?
A) Tsunku
B) Tetsuya Komuro
C) Zeebra
D) hide
  • 8. Which production company produced groups like SMAP, Tokio, and Arashi?
A) Sharam Q
B) Johnny & Associates
C) Hello! Project
D) Oricon
  • 9. Who produced the girl group Morning Musume?
A) Tsunku
B) Takuya Kimura
C) Tetsuya Komuro
D) Zeebra
  • 10. Which artist introduced hip-hop to Japanese mainstream music?
A) Ayumi Hamasaki
B) Hikaru Utada
C) Zeebra
D) Ringo Sheena
  • 11. What is the nickname for Takuya Kimura?
A) Takuya
B) Kimu
C) Taku
D) Kimutaku
  • 12. Which girl group announced their disbandment in 1999 and returned in 2008?
A) Onyanko Club
B) Speed
C) Arashi
D) Morning Musume
  • 13. Who is the mother of Hikaru Utada?
A) Hibari Misora
B) Keiko Fuji
C) Ayumi Hamasaki
D) Ringo Sheena
  • 14. Which song by Dragon Ash featured Zeebra and topped the Oricon charts?
A) First Love
B) Grateful Days
C) Pink Spider
D) Pleasure
  • 15. How many copies did L'Arc-en-Ciel's albums Arc and Ray sell in their first week?
A) 5.12 million
B) 3.02 million
C) 7.65 million
D) 4.87 million
  • 16. What genre of music influenced Japanese music in the early 1960s?
A) British rock
B) American folk music
C) French pop
D) German classical
  • 17. Which band became famous in the late 1960s?
A) Southern All Stars
B) The Beatles
C) Yellow Magic Orchestra
D) The Folk Crusaders
  • 18. What shift occurred in music in the early 1970s?
A) From pop to classical
B) From simple folk to complex new music
C) From jazz to heavy metal
D) From electronic to acoustic
  • 19. Which song by Takuro Yoshida was a hit in 1972 despite lacking TV promotion?
A) Kekkon Shiyouyo
B) Sayonara
C) Onna no Michi
D) Jikan yo Tomare
  • 20. What was the highest-selling single of 1972?
A) Onna no Michi
B) Kekkon Shiyouyo
C) Ano Hi ni Kaeritai
D) Sayonara
  • 21. How long did Yōsui Inoue's album 'Kōri no Sekai' stay in the Top 10 on the Oricon charts?
A) 50 weeks
B) 35 weeks
C) 13 weeks
D) 113 weeks
  • 22. Who was Yumi Matsutoya formerly known as?
A) Yumi Arai
B) Amii Ozaki
C) Saki Kubota
D) Junko Yagami
  • 23. Which band released the hit song 'Sayonara' in 1979?
A) The Folk Crusaders
B) Southern All Stars
C) Off Course
D) Yellow Magic Orchestra
  • 24. Who was described as the standard bearer of 'new music'?
A) Yōsui Inoue
B) Takuro Yoshida
C) Saki Kubota
D) Kazumasa Oda
  • 25. Which band gained mainstream success by fusing rock with traditional Japanese music?
A) Yellow Magic Orchestra
B) Southern All Stars
C) Happy End
D) The Folk Crusaders
  • 26. Who released the 1972 album 'Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock'?
A) Haruomi Hosono
B) Ryuichi Sakamoto
C) Eikichi Yazawa
D) Isao Tomita
  • 27. Who was the founder of the Yellow Magic Band?
A) Osamu Kitajima
B) Haruomi Hosono
C) Isao Tomita
D) Eikichi Yazawa
  • 28. Which Eikichi Yazawa single became a smash hit in 1978?
A) Jikan yo Tomare
B) Sayonara
C) Kekkon Shiyouyo
D) Onna no Michi
  • 29. Which band was formed by Keisuke Kuwata in 1978?
A) The Folk Crusaders
B) Southern All Stars
C) Yellow Magic Orchestra
D) Off Course
  • 30. Who were the members of Yellow Magic Orchestra?
A) Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto
B) Takuro Yoshida, Yōsui Inoue, and Yumi Matsutoya
C) Eikichi Yazawa, Keisuke Kuwata, and Kazumasa Oda
D) Saki Kubota, Amii Ozaki, and Junko Yagami
  • 31. What term is used for electropop in Japan?
A) Fōku
B) Technopop
C) New music
D) Enka
  • 32. How many consecutive weeks did two YMO albums hold the top two spots on the Oricon charts?
A) Thirty-five weeks
B) Thirteen weeks
C) 113 weeks
D) Seven weeks
  • 33. What were the young fans of YMO known as?
A) Rock Pioneers
B) Folk Crusaders
C) New Music Fans
D) YMO Generation
  • 34. Which two bands symbolized the end of New Music and paved the way for J-pop?
A) Southern All Stars and Yellow Magic Orchestra
B) Pinkara Trio and Happy End
C) Happy End and Yellow Magic Band
D) The Folk Crusaders and Off Course
  • 35. In what year did the Beatles perform at the Nippon Budokan?
A) 1973
B) 1966
C) 1962
D) 1960
  • 36. How did the Japanese government react to the Beatles' performance at the Nippon Budokan?
A) They invited the band to a dinner
B) They declared a national holiday
C) They banned rock music entirely
D) They deployed riot police
  • 37. What music genre was created in Japan due to the influence of the Beatles?
A) Modern J-pop
B) Ereki boom
C) Electronic folk
D) Group sounds
  • 38. Who was the main opponent of Happy End in the Japanese-language rock controversy?
A) Yōsui Inoue
B) Eikichi Yazawa
C) Yuya Uchida
D) Haruomi Hosono
  • 39. Which musician grew up in an underprivileged family after his father died in childhood?
A) Keisuke Kuwata
B) Yōsui Inoue
C) Haruomi Hosono
D) Eikichi Yazawa
  • 40. Who was influenced by the Beatles through his sister's interest in the band?
A) Eikichi Yazawa
B) Yōsui Inoue
C) Keisuke Kuwata
D) Takeshi Terauchi
  • 41. Which musician was a fan of the Beatles but claimed his style was not directly related to them?
A) Haruomi Hosono
B) Happy End
C) Yūzō Kayama
D) Yōsui Inoue
  • 42. In what year did Happy End disband?
A) 1962
B) 1980
C) 1973
D) 1966
  • 43. Who reorganized the concert touring industry during the 1950s and 60s?
A) Keiko Fuji
B) Chosuke Ikariya
C) Kazuo Taoka
D) Kyu Sakamoto
  • 44. Which Elvis Presley song helped fuel the rockabilly trend in Japan?
A) Blue Suede Shoes
B) Heartbreak Hotel
C) Jailhouse Rock
D) Hound Dog
  • 45. What term was used to describe Japanese performers translating lyrics of popular American songs?
A) Enka
B) Cover Pops
C) Wasei Pops
D) Rokabirī
  • 46. Which band did Kyu Sakamoto make his stage debut with in 1958?
A) The Wagon Masters
B) Candies
C) The Drifters
D) The Peanuts
  • 47. What is the English title for Kyu Sakamoto's 'Ue wo Muite Arukō'?
A) Sukiyaki
B) Woman in Shinjuku
C) Echoic word tune
D) Don't Turn Around
  • 48. In what year was 'Sukiyaki' released in the United States?
A) 1963
B) 1970
C) 1961
D) 1966
  • 49. Which female duo became popular singing a song in the movie Mothra?
A) Candies
B) The Peanuts
C) The Drifters
D) The Wagon Masters
  • 50. Which group covered The Peanuts' song 'Furimukanaide'?
A) The Drifters
B) Candies
C) Kosaka Kazuya and the Wagon Masters
D) Momoe Yamaguchi
  • 51. What does the term 'Wasei Pops' mean?
A) American style pop
B) Enka pop
C) Rockabilly pop
D) Japan-made pop
  • 52. Who re-formed The Drifters in 1964?
A) Keiko Fuji
B) Kyu Sakamoto
C) Chosuke Ikariya
D) Kazuo Taoka
  • 53. The Drifters acted as curtain raisers at a concert for which band in 1966?
A) The Rolling Stones
B) The Beatles
C) The Beach Boys
D) The Monkees
  • 54. Which song did The Drifters release in 1969?
A) Ue wo Muite Arukō
B) Furimukanaide
C) Zundoko-Bushi
D) Sukiyaki
  • 55. For how many consecutive weeks did Keiko Fuji's 1970 album stay at Number One on the Oricon chart?
A) 20
B) 3
C) 4
D) 10
  • 56. What was Japanese popular music called before it split into enka and poppusu?
A) Kayōkyoku
B) Ryūkōka
C) Cantopop
D) Mandopop
  • 57. Which period do most Japanese scholars consider the actual starting point of ryūkōka?
A) Taishō period
B) Meiji period
C) Edo period
D) Shōwa period
  • 58. Which instrument was NOT mentioned as being incorporated into ryūkōka?
A) Guitar
B) Harmonica
C) Violin
D) Piano
  • 59. Ichiro Fujiyama used a singing technique sometimes referred to by what name?
A) Crooning
B) Falsetto
C) Opera
D) Belting
  • 60. Who was known as the 'Queen of Blues' in Japan?
A) Noriko Awaya
B) Hibari Misora
C) Izumi Yukimura
D) Chiemi Eri
  • 61. Who is known as the 'Father of Japanese poppusu'?
A) Ichiro Fujiyama
B) Louis Armstrong
C) Ryoichi Hattori
D) Mao Zedong
  • 62. What venue became a popular place for live jazz music in the mid-1950s?
A) Jazz club
B) Jazz bar
C) Jazz theater
D) Jazz kissa
  • 63. What song was performed by Chiemi Eri in 1952?
A) Tennessee Waltz
B) Aoi Sanmyaku
C) Omatsuri Mambo
D) Tokyo Boogie-Woogie
  • 64. Which genre was NOT mentioned as being performed for American troops?
A) Boogie-woogie
B) Country
C) Mambo
D) Classical
  • 65. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Japanese pop was polarized between urban kayō and what else?
A) Revolutionary songs
B) Traditional folk
C) Modern enka
D) Classical music
  • 66. What was the name of the music that preceded modern Japanese pop music?
A) Ryūkōka
B) Cantopop
C) Mandopop
D) Kayōkyoku
  • 67. Shanghainese jazz musicians who fled to Hong Kong helped establish which genre?
A) Cantopop
B) Kayōkyoku
C) Ryūkōka
D) Mandopop
  • 68. What traditional element did ryūkōka melodies often utilize?
A) Pentatonic scale
B) Diatonic scale
C) Chromatic scale
D) Whole tone scale
  • 69. When did J-pop enter the musical mainstream of Japan?
A) 1990s
B) 1960s
C) 1980s
D) 2000s
  • 70. Which producer is credited with making Japanese hip-hop mainstream in the 1990s-2000s?
A) Toru Hidaka
B) Nujabes
C) Mitsuhiro Hidaka
D) Keisuke Kuwata
  • 71. What is the Japanese word for 'body' that Keisuke Kuwata famously pronounced as 'kyerada'?
A) kokoro
B) kami
C) kage
D) karada
  • 72. Which organization defined J-pop in 1990 as all Japanese music belonging to the Recording Industry Association of Japan except independent music?
A) J-Wave
B) Ito Music City
C) Tower Records
D) Avex Trax
  • 73. Which genre is associated with Namie Amuro in the 1990s and 2000s?
A) City pop
B) J-Euro
C) Technopop
D) Shibuya-kei
  • 74. What is the Japanese term used for J-pop in Japan?
A) kayōkyoku
B) enka
C) poppusu
D) gachapoppu
  • 75. What technological advancement in the early 1980s contributed to the spread of city pop?
A) Internet streaming
B) Car stereos
C) Portable cassette players
D) Television broadcasts
  • 76. What is the primary theme associated with city pop music?
A) Nature
B) Traditional festivals
C) Big city
D) Rural life
  • 77. Which city served as a primary inspiration for many city pop songs?
A) Sapporo
B) Kyoto
C) Osaka
D) Tokyo
  • 78. Which genre heavily influenced Japanese music fans and artists during the early 1980s?
A) Album-oriented rock
B) Classical opera
C) Traditional folk
D) Heavy metal
  • 79. To which decade can the origins of city pop be traced?
A) Mid-1970s
B) Late 1980s
C) Early 1990s
D) Early 1960s
  • 80. What event caused the popularity of city pop to plummet?
A) The end of the Cold War
B) A change in radio regulations
C) The Japanese asset price bubble burst
D) The emergence of visual kei
  • 81. When did the popularity of city pop plummet?
A) 1995
B) 1990
C) 1980
D) 1985
  • 82. Which 1990s music genre inherited the musical characteristics of city pop?
A) J-rock
B) Enka
C) Shibuya-kei
D) Kayōkyoku
  • 83. Which band is cited as a Shibuya-kei musician?
A) The Tigers
B) Pizzicato Five
C) Happy End
D) Yellow Magic Orchestra
  • 84. Which of these artists is linked to the early roots of city pop?
A) Flipper's Guitar
B) Haruomi Hosono
C) Pizzicato Five
D) Tatsuro Yamashita
  • 85. What did Shibuya-kei musicians inherit from city pop?
A) Musical characteristics
B) The cultural background
C) The car stereo marketing strategy
D) The specific recording studios
  • 86. Which band was formed from Yosui Inoue's backup band?
A) The Blue Hearts
B) Anzen Chitai
C) The Alfee
D) The Checkers
  • 87. At what age did Yutaka Ozaki make his debut?
A) 19
B) 17
C) 20
D) 18
  • 88. Which band was the first to play to an audience of 100,000 people in Japan?
A) X Japan
B) Boøwy
C) The Alfee
D) TM Network
  • 89. Which of these bands was influenced by New Romanticism?
A) Onyanko Club
B) The Blue Hearts
C) Boøwy
D) Pink Lady
  • 90. Who formed the rock duo B'z with Koshi Inaba?
A) Kyosuke Himuro
B) Ryuichi Sakamoto
C) Tomoyasu Hotei
D) Tak Matsumoto
  • 91. Which 1989 song by Princess Princess reached number one on the Oricon Yearly Single Charts?
A) Paradise Ginga
B) Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu
C) Samishii Nettaigyo
D) Diamonds
  • 92. Which female singer was one of the first to use the special pronunciation characteristic of J-pop?
A) Saori Minami
B) Momoe Yamaguchi
C) Mari Amachi
D) Seiko Matsuda
  • 93. Which debut single was released by Hiromi Go in 1972?
A) Kaze wa Aki Iro
B) Kuchibiru Network
C) Pepper Keibu
D) Otokonoko Onnanoko
  • 94. How many consecutive number-one singles did Pink Lady release?
A) Twenty-four
B) Ten
C) Eight
D) Nine
  • 95. Who became the first artist to make 24 consecutive number-one singles?
A) Pink Lady
B) Seiko Matsuda
C) Akina Nakamori
D) Shizuka Kudō
  • 96. Who won the Japan Record Awards Grand Prix in 1985 and 1986?
A) Seiko Matsuda
B) Yukiko Okada
C) Akina Nakamori
D) Chisato Moritaka
  • 97. Which boy band was known for rollerskating?
A) SMAP
B) TM Network
C) The Checkers
D) Hikaru Genji
  • 98. Which female duo was known for not smiling during performances?
A) Pink Lady
B) CoCo
C) Wink
D) BaBe
  • 99. Which song won the grand prix at the 31st Japan Record Awards in 1989?
A) Equal Romance
B) Diamonds
C) Samishii Nettaigyo
D) Paradise Ginga
  • 100. Which member of TM Network broke Seiko Matsuda's streak of consecutive number-ones?
A) Haruomi Hosono
B) Tetsuya Komuro
C) Koshi Inaba
D) Tak Matsumoto
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