This week, we're not watching any "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK which was a bit weird because I swore that I'd seen "Uta Con" concierge Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）give out the lineup at the end of last week's episode for this week. And then, I figured something was up. Indeed, something was up...the number of non-Japanese songs being sung on the June 9th episode. Notably, the show's theme tonight was all about The Beatles, and this was confirmed by commenter Brian Mitchell in my last article yesterday.
I've mentioned it before but our streaming provider of Japanese programming here in North America is Jme, and they've given us the heads-up on their website, but when it comes to the performance of American, British or any non-Japanese songs by Japanese artists in Japan, due to copyrights and all that legal stuff, they simply can't allow them to be heard. Usually, if it's one or two songs, Jme will put up the warning blurb at the top of the screen in Japanese and then mask the aural performance with Muzak although viewers can still see the singers doing the cover. However, when there's a whole bunch of foreign music played on a program, then Jme basically can't allow the episode to be shown. This has happened once before with "Uta Con" when the theme for that episode was Disney music.
This time, it's the Beatles. Not that I'm a huge fan of the Fab Four although there are several songs that I do like by Paul, John, Ringo and George, but it still gets rather annoying to have something that my family looks forward weekly get cancelled due to legal and money stuff (and personally, I did want to see Hiromi Iwasaki and Junko Yagami give their covers). Therefore, just off the top of my head, I've decided to put up some covers of the Beatles discography by Japanese singers...simply for the heck of it.
B'z -- Let It Be
Masayoshi Yamazaki -- All My Loving (and he's performing this in front of Sir Paul himself!)
Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Day Tripper
Mone Kamishiraishi -- Yesterday
Akiko Kanazawa -- Yellow Submarine Ondo（イエロー・サブマリン音頭）
I think you mentioned before that Jme is fairly new to your area, correct? Was it like that before with the previous service(blocking/muting foreign songs)?
ReplyDeleteHi there. Jme is the reincarnation for the former cable-based TV Japan. Until the last few years, it wasn't a problem at all and we could hear all of the Beatles and Disney covers we wanted. I'm wondering if the powers-that-be for whoever owns the copyrights for those songs increased the fees.
DeleteYou'd think with Japan's historic love for the Beatles this would be a non issue
ReplyDeleteI would have thought so, Rocket, but I gather that NHK and Jme think differently.
DeleteEven though I was able to watch the show, learning that the powers that be have censored the show and even canceled it is upsetting. I wonder if there is another service provider that would allow your family to see Uta-Con? However it seems like Jme TV is owned by NHK Cosmomedia America so maybe they are the only game in town so to speak. I have heard that some people have success with VPNs and they even work with Firestick and Apple TV. Someone claims here :(https://www.facebook.com/groups/sumosumosumo/posts/3422894637844864/ ) that they can use Direct TV satellite to watch NHK?
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Jme is the only legal provider of Japanese television in North America. I know about those special "boxes" that you can hook up like a Firestick but those are dodgy at best, I've heard.
DeleteI like the music that the members of YMO did that was not YMO a lot more than their YMO songs. Too busy and not much strong melodic flow.
ReplyDeleteHello, Robert. I think you and YMO associate Peter Barakan would probably agree with each other since Barakan enjoyed the more esoteric YMO tunes that they made in the 1980s. For me though, I always prefer their early stuff like "Firecracker" and "Rydeen".
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