Q 01/05

What is J-pop an abbreviation of?

A) Japan pop parade

B) Japanese popular music

C) Juvenile pop

D) Jazz-oriented pop

Answer · why

B) Japanese popular music

The term entered the mainstream in the 1990s, replacing kayokyoku as the label for Japanese pop, and was first used by the radio station J-Wave for We...

Q 02/05

Which 1961 Kyu Sakamoto song became the first Japanese number one in the US, under the title 'Sukiyaki'?

A) 'Furimukanaide'

B) 'Ue wo Muite Aruko'

C) 'Tokyo Boogie-Woogie'

D) 'Zundoko-Bushi'

Answer · why

B) 'Ue wo Muite Aruko'

It spent three weeks atop the Billboard chart in 1963 and earned a gold record for a million copies sold.

Q 03/05

At which Tokyo venue did the Beatles become the first rock band to perform in 1966?

A) Yoyogi National Gymnasium

B) The Nippon Budokan

C) Kabuki-za

D) Tokyo Dome

Answer · why

B) The Nippon Budokan

The public feared the band would cause juvenile delinquency; the visit inspired the home-grown 'group sounds' genre.

Q 04/05

Which band's proof that rock could be sung in Japanese is held to be one of the origins of modern J-pop?

A) The Peanuts

B) The Tigers

C) Happy End

D) The Drifters

Answer · why

C) Happy End

Their debate with Yuya Uchida over singing in Japanese or English is remembered as the 'Japanese-language rock controversy'; bassist Haruomi Hosono be...

Q 05/05

Which trio, formed in 1978 by Hosono, Takahashi and Sakamoto, pioneered technopop?

A) Yellow Magic Orchestra

B) Pizzicato Five

C) Southern All Stars

D) Sadistic Mika Band

Answer · why

A) Yellow Magic Orchestra

Their 1979 album Solid State Survivor topped the Oricon chart and sold two million copies worldwide.