Kayou Kyoku X'Mas Live SP 2012 review

This is the final music program special before the ones for the New Year and it aired on Christmas day.

Kayou Kyoku X'Mas Live SP is a four hour special for the weekly Kayou Kyoku program that airs on TBS. It is basically a special version of the usual program that runs much longer and with a Christmas theme but as the show is usually fun to watch you know there are going to be fun moments mixed in with the usual performances.

You know that this is going to be a fun program to watch as it opens not with the usual list of acts that will be appearing but the host of the weekly version of the program, Nakai Masahiro. He sets up the story that they begin with.

The acting portion of it is done by popular child actors Ashida Mana and Suzuki Fuku as well as the other regular host of the program Esumi Makiko. They ask their "mama" about Santa Claus coming and she gives the typical answer about being good children so he will come. They pray for him to show up and we get the opening act for the special.

Of course this is probably not the Santa Claus the kids had in mind. I mean they did not even bring presents with them. But at least AKB48 with SKE48 and NMB48 start the holiday themed show off right with a Christmas song, the Japanese version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

My highlight is the fact that NMB48 have their own section that gets some screen time during the song. And how cannot I help but smile to see the girls so happy?

After the song is done Ashida Mana joins AKB48 to sing a X'Mas version of Heavy Rotation. Mana looks so happy performing that even though I am getting tired of hearing the song I cannot help but love the performance anyway.

We get some opening talk as the MCs introduce the program and talk about some of the things that will be coming up in it.

During the program we get a satellite feed to new mother Higashio Riko (a Japanese pro golfer and wife of Japanese actor Ishida Junichi) and her father, Higashio Osamu (an ex-baseball player). I am not familiar with them, had to look them up, but I guess they are people that the average Japanese TV viewer would recognize. The baby does not seem to be so happy about making his TV debut.

When we start the performances it is with Sexy Zone, most likely because with the length of the program they need to make sure the younger artists go first as they will not be able to stay for all of it. They perform a medley of their singles, and I cannot help but notice that it looks like Yo Marius's sleeves look to be coming up short on him. He is going to be a giant compared to the others if he does not slow down with his growth spurt.

We keep on with Johnny's performances as SZ is followed up by Hey! Say! JUMP performing Super Delicate like usual. I have found it interesting how conservative Yamada Ryosuke and Nakajima Yuto are in the fanservice part of the song on these songs, especially compared to how much they play it up on Shounen Club and concerts.

During the show there are special corners that are done. The first of these is lead by the comedian Chris Matsumura and is is Johnny'scise (Johnny's x exercise). We see some VTR to see that Katori Shingo and Yamashita Tomohisa have already done this with Chris.

He invites them to join him to do it on the show as well as all of Sexy Zone. So with them and the little Juniors that were back dancing for SZ they do the Johnny'scise. SZ look to have a blast and Yamapi is a trooper. Shingo makes this segment with going between a beaming face to looking like he has no idea why he is doing this.

Nakai afterwards go on stage to talk to them all. Near the end he goes up to one of the little Juniors to say something and gets him to say "Merry Christmas", though you could tell the Junior was just all kinds of awkwardly nervous at being put on the spot.

Then after some other acts we what is my personal highlight of the program, a Johnny's Hit Medley. We get to see some of the original footage from the older Johnny's groups whose songs will be covered. I love seeing these as I find it interesting to see what idol style was like in decades past.

And here are a bunch of screen caps from the performance because I love it so. And to note the three oldest members of SZ are the only ones in the medley as it was too late for the younger two to work according to Japanese law.

We get a bit of a Ikemen Desu Ne reunion plus Yamapi.

And that is S-My-2 not being stuck in the very back of the formation and getting seen singing with the KiFt.

Miyata Toshiya gets used as an anchor again, this time by Kitayama Hiromitsu to steady himself when they move to a different part of the stage.

The Otokogumi song cover gave Okamoto Keito some time to shine as he got to get a good deal of focus of course because the group was the one his father was in.

The stand out performance of the medley was of course the cover of the song NAI NAI 16. It was hilarious as the guys really played up the awkwardness of it with Nakai not holding back with his singing at all.

Arioka Daiki had to be one of the worst when it came to keeping a straight face during this performance. I swear it looked like he was cracking up all the way through it.

At the end all the Johnny's groups sing together and we get some fun group mixing.

After the medley is done SMAP leads an MC break with everyone. They do most of the talking as it is mainly about how "perfect" Nakai's singing was and I really wish I knew what exactly Inagaki Goro said to them when he was sounding annoyed.

Another break and it is another Johnny's related special segment that interests me next. This time it is a drama based one for the drama series Ataru that Nakai Masahiro starred in and Tamamori Yuta had a supporting role in. Nakai comes out in character and sings a song.

After the song he goes over to where the guests/MCs are sitting and remains in character so he pretends that he has no idea who Nakai is and walks off stage in search for curry soup.

Next up are AKB48's sister groups, SKE48 and NMB48, who have been sent outside the studio building they are filming at. They have an over sized thermostat just to let you know how cold it is outside (6C or about 43F for those curious).

NMB48 perform Kitagawa Kenji and are a wonderful splash of color where they perform. I love this song, it is just a lot of fun and easy to want to sing along to.

Next performance that I was interested in was of course SMAP's. They perform Lion Heart, which I am quite happy to hear as it is a favorite SMAP song of mine and it is nice that they are pulling out a good variety of songs to perform on these year end programs.

I am quite glad that World Order is on this program. I am really impressed with how creative their dance routines are. Screen caps do not justice to it and I would highly recommend searching youtube for them to check them out.

Later we get Kis-My-Ft2 and The Monsters (the temporary unit of Yamapi and Shingo) getting to spend some time talking in the guest section. The main topic is the relations of Yamapi to members of Kisumai, which is mainly Kitayama and Fujigaya Taisuke.

In this Nakai wonders about why only the front three of Kisumai are in white and the back four are not. This is notable more because this will not be the only program he brings this up in.

Kisumai is up first to perform. They do Ai no Beat -Dance ver.- which has grown on me over repeated performances. I still have my usual misgivings with the whole split thing but there is only so many times I can go over it without feeling like a broken record.

They are followed by The Monsters doing the remix version of the title track of their single, MONSTERS. Do not think that I care much for this remix and the performance does not come off as solid as their other ones.

AKB48 perform their usual mix of songs as a 2012 single medley. Real highlight for me is to see Akimoto Sayaka performing with the group. Honestly though I think she is one of the girls that should be seriously thinking of graduating from the group as I do not see her going much further with her career with them as she keeps further and further back in the group for newer girls.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu performs next and does a medley with her two songs Tsukematsukeru and Fashion Monster. She has the choreography down for these songs well enough but I would love to see a bit more emotion from her.

As we move towards the end of the program we get more of the senior acts, including one of the few Johnny's that is the senpai to SMAP, Kondo Masahiko.

For the talk segment with him they have brought all the Johnny's, minus SZ as it was probably deemed too late to keep them around, out into the guest area.

Nakai ends up asking who he knows of the younger Johnny's and Matchy answers with Tanaka. Yabu Kota goes ahead and says he is Tanaka as it is easy to tell that Matchy just through the name out because it is a common last name and there was a chance that it could have been a last name. Unfortunately the one group with a Tanaka was not on the show.

Matchy performs one of his older songs, Sneaker Blues. He still has an old fashioned style to the way he performs with some very overly dramatic moves. Though they do seem a bit toned down when he performs his new song Let's Go!

SMAP then gets to perform again, this time singing one of their new songs, Moment. It sounded like Nakai forgot how to get himself to sound somewhat in tune for this performance. Either that or just decided not to try too hard as he had already proven his extreme lack of singing ability already in the program.

During the song the members of SMAP bring over the Olympians that were in the audience up on the stage and then over to the guest section.

Things then wrap up with final words from various people on the stage. And that brings this music program to an end.


I would probably only recommend this special to fans of Johnny's and/or AKS groups as they are the main artists of this special. While there are some other artists that perform the selection is not as great as other year end music programs and this one seems to have a lighter tone to it as well.

FNS Music Festival 2012 review

Next up for the year end programs is FNS Music Festival (Fuji Network System Music Festival) that is the first to have aired in December. It aired on December 5th on Fuji TV and was filmed in the Grand Prince Hotel.

FNS Music Festival is a bit different than the other music programs as its main focus is on collaborations between different artists and their is no live audience outside of the artists themselves at the hotel this is all filmed at. It also features a live band, though not all artists use it. This is also one of the longer programs running for around three and a half hours.

The show kicks off with SMAP performing their fan favorite song, SHAKE. A great way to start anything as it is a great song to liven anything up with and it is easy to see why it is such a favorite at concerts.

We also get to see a bit of the collaboration element of the program as on the other stage, as the place is set up to have two stages with a seating area in between them, is a gathering of a good chunk of the artists that will be in the program singing and dancing along.

After a couple of performances we get to meet the hosts of the program, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi and Takashima Aya.

TOKIO collaborates with Yokoyama Ken to sing their song Haneda Kuukou no Kibou. Yokoyama Ken has that gravely tone to his voice, which does work with rock songs but can be off putting for some.

The ad breaks give us some shots of the audience, which as mentioned earlier are just the artists participating in the show. So there are some fun little moments to be found in them with those that know to make any screen time count.

We do break away from the hotel to in front of the Fuji TV studio in Odaiba for a performance by Sexy Zone. I am assuming this is partly because they all would not have been able to stay for the full show at the hotel because of the age restrictions. Of course we have Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu being performed. I do not think I will ever like this song but at least it is being performed during the right season for it.

One thing I love about this program is that we get to see more than just the usual songs selected to be performed by groups at the other year end shows. EXILE actually gets to prove they know more than one song as they perform one of their older hits, Choo Choo TRAIN in a collaboration.

Also to finally note during the performances they do quick cuts away to the audience so even if you do not like the artist performing you can still catch glimpses of artists you may like. Or just see other acts enjoy watching someone else perform for a change.

It was nice to see Kondo Masahiko show up on one of these year end programs other than Johnny's Countdown. It is probably easy to forget that he was really a big thing during his day and as such still has a place on these shows with the rest of the nostalgia acts.

I really do not care for Golden Bomber but Go Hiromi is always worth watching. Especially when you take into account that he is 57 years old. Go is also an ex-Johnny's and easily the most successful one to have left the agency.

One of my personal nostalgia acts, being one of the first J-pop acts I discovered and enjoy/enjoyed in T.M.Revolution. So I loved this performance because not only was it him but the AKB48 members being used as his dancers include NMB48 members Yamamoto Sayaka and Watanabe Miyuki. It is amazing to see an old love mixed in with a new one so this is easily one of my favorite performances of the show.

Arashi is one of the few acts that get to perform one of their songs without any kind of collaboration, but that is probably more for the fact that I doubt they were actually there. This guess is based off of the fact that they have not been since once in the crowd of artists and there are no cut scenes to show an audience even there for them. I guess they could not fit this around their schedule or something. But not having them actually there with everyone else and obviously so makes it a bit of a let down seeing as the big thing with FNS Music Festival is seeing all these artists together.

I was initially disappointed that it was Tegomass on this program and not NEWS but honestly I think it worked out for the best. Tegomass work well as a duo and fit in well with their collaborations like this one with Sukima Switch and Teppei Koike singing Zenryoku Shounen. And the fact that they have more than just this is probably because they are there as a duo, as with the other Johnny's they mostly remain with their group and not do collaborations. So they were probably picked so Johnny's had another act that could do collabs with the other artists there.

Sadly even here there is no escape of Rising Sun. I wonder if the members of EXILE are as tired of performing the song as people are of hearing it.

And of course we have a AKB48 medley, which I spend most of my time looking at the NMB48 members mixed in with them, especially Sayaka. Though to note they seem to be singing without a backing track so it is interesting to hear what these girls sound like actually live.

Hey, we get an audience cut scene with Kis-My-Ft2 here. Senga Kento actually looks like somebody in it too even with KiFt there as well. So he has much to look proud about.

Back with AKB48 we have the new overlord (Shimazaki Haruka) performing her song, Eien Pressure. I think fans are just going to have to come to terms that this era of AKB48 will be ruled by dead fish eyes v.02 and the android (Watanabe Mayu).

And if it was not bad enough having to sit through one of these pre-recorded performances by Arashi we have another. Still have the same issue I had with the first except I like Wild at Heart less than Face Down so this is just a little extra boring for me on that front.

Nice to see Hirai Ken here, even if he seems to be wearing pajamas. But he and his label mate, YUI, get to sing a duet together. I do not think I will be able to get over Hirai's outfit here. I really do not get Japanese fashion sometimes.

Mr. Children continue to show up on these programs as well, though I really hope they skip one or two eventually. Normally I would be excited to see them perform so much but with Sakurai's voice sounding as worn as it is I would rather he relax and let it recover some. But on the plus side they perform Marshmallow Day, which is not as vocally taxing as the other songs they have performed on the other shows. I am disappointed that they seem to also be pre-recorded, but for them it is not as surprising as all these music show performances are out of the norm for them to begin with.

Back when I was trying to expand my J-pop horizons I picked up the Japan Gold Disc Award 2002 CD collection to sample new artists with. One of the tracks on it was Hitori by The Gospellers. I never got into that group but I liked the track, so seeing The Gospellers collab with Tegomass for that song on this program is another personal highlight for me. The standout thing about this song is that it is all in a cappella. This means lots of beautiful harmonizing and no shouty Tegoshi Yuya.

Love the little Shin Domoto Kyoudai regular cast member love here with Nishikawa Takanori and Takahashi Minami watching fellow regular and Takamizawa Toshihiko, guitarist/leader of THE ALFEE, here. These kinds of interactions are probably one of the biggest draws for me for this year end special.

I am loving these sponsor breaks as they are giving some good chances for those who are not going to get a lot of stage time a chance to be seen.

Hey! Say! JUMP finally take the stage to perform their lone single of 2012, Super Delicate. Not much to say here as there was nothing that really stood out about it from all the other times they performed the song.

The MONSTERS are live though, we get the crowd shots to confirm it, and the song seems to be growing on me. Not to the point where I will buy the single, but it is getting to the point where it is tempting.

As if Go Hiromi needed a reason to look even more boss he has AKB48 back dance for him for his second performance of the night.

Then he has E-Girls (which includes Fujii Ryusei's sister SHUUKA here) be his back dancers for another song.

It must be the part of the program that all the old men get to show their stuff as Matchy resurfaces to perform again.

Joshima Shigeru seems to be enjoying it, and he looks like he would be able to fit right in with them.

And Go is still on a roll as he is performing again, this time the Japanese version of Livin' La Vida Loca, Goldfinger '99. Not sure how the song changed so much for the name change to that, but hey more Go and we get to see that some of the EXILE dancers can do more than just dance with NESMITH and SHOKICHI joining him on this.

And you know someone is legendary when you have Kimura Takuya singing and doing the hand movements along with you.

If there was one collaboration that surprised me the most it would be Wada Akiko with Miyavi. I have been a long time Miyavi fan and I was really happy to hear that he would be on the program though I was really curious what he would do as he is not exactly mainstream. But it looks like the wisely chose to use him as a guitarist, his strength as a musician. But I would not have thought he would collab with someone like Wada Akiko. I guess their images just did not seem like they would work and yet somehow it did.

I sometimes wonder how many of the international J-pop community would know of acts like Aikawa Nanase. She was a part of the rock boom of the 90s and helped pave the way for female J-rock acts after her but I feel that if I bring her up to other international fans most will have no clue who she is. I would recommend giving her songs a listen at least, she has some great hits, like the one she sings with Mizuki Nana here, Yumemiru Shoujo ja Irarenai.

Still loving these audience shots as you can tell which groups know how to into things. Though I am not sure the banana in the jacket pocket is the way to go there for Nagase Tomoya. It is bound to leave a bit of a mess.

V6 takes to the stage to perform and get to do a collaboration. While I am more than familiar with Miyavi I sadly do not know who the other guy is. I feel like I should as he has been in several other collaborations in the program and has the air about him of being a long time veteran of the J-music scene. In any case we get an acoustic version of Ai Nanda which sounds great.

Oh, Hirai Ken, you are just going to be a fashion disaster for this program aren't you? And even though I thought you could not top the pajamas you do so effortlessly with the Harry Potter glasses, over the shoulder rug with fake parrot. At least you sound good.

Kis-My-Ft2 do their usual performance of Ai no Beat -dance version-, and really there is nothing much to say as they really do not change anything up. I wonder though if there is more or less pressure felt to perform in front of other artists in the industry instead of fans though. Especially if you are a newly debuted group like Kisumai and have nothing compared to the records of the legendary artists that have performed already.

When Kinki Kids perform they have the Domoto Brothers Band, that is made from the regular cast of their Shin Domoto Kyoudai program, perform with them.

Next Johnny's is Yamashita Tomohisa performing Ai, Texas. I honestly had not heard the song until this performance and I can see why people did not care for it. It is not the kind of song I would care to listen to again.

There is another pre-recorded performance for Mr. Children. It is one of the songs sung on the other music programs and runs into the same issue that it did before where Sakurai's voice is too worn to really do the power notes of the song and sounds like it is disappearing on him if he tries to go for them.

We then get a large group piece as Happy Xmas (War Is Over) is covered. We get an interesting grouping here and I wonder how many of them understand the meaning behind the lyrics of this song, as it is song all in English.

We get a Johnny's collab on the show as Matchy has TOKIO, Kinki Kids and Tegomass back him in performing his song Let's Go. It sounded like Tegoshi forgot he did not have lead vocals during his parts as he sounded almost as loud as Matchy during them.

SMAP end up closing the show with their song gift. Nakai Masahiro steals the show with his over exaggerated dancing.


FNS Music Festival helps bring in something a bit different from the other special music programs during this time of year with its performances. It is probably a special though that may not be the most enjoyable for those who do not know who a good chunk of the artists are though, as it is a bit of a who's who of the J-music industry.

But it has its moments throughout with the interactions of the artists that just typically is not seen all that often, or at least with the mix that you get for this program. And some of the collaborations are just excellent and worth a watch so if you feel you have a good handle of the J-music scene go ahead and watch the full thing. If not then just watching the clips of the artists you do know would be fine.