Uk 60s and 70s pop on Japanese TV

[Bob Savage (robstar)]

I've often thought about the archive status of Japanese pop tv. Lots of uk acts beatles Walker Brothers, Cliff, T.Rex etc were all popular and appeared on them. They were one of the first to have colour broadcasts aswell. Now we all know that The Beatles performances have survived and to some extent released on DVD too but what of the others? Is it hard to infiltrate the Japanese archive or is there nothing left other than the fab four - hard to believe!

[markdixon]

I had a look on YouTube for clips of Western pop acts performing on Japanese television. There were quite a lot of clips from the late Seventies onwards (ABBA, Kate Bush etc.) but there was very little from before then. I found a performance by The Shadows from 1967 and two performances by Scott Walker from 1970, but these were audio only. I’d be tempted to think that a lot of Sixties pop footage is missing from Japanese archives, but I don’t know enough about the history of Japanese television to know for sure.

On a related note, I wonder if Japanese pop programmes in the Sixties ever included clips from British music shows? British beat groups were very popular in Japan during the mid-Sixties and that style of music inspired a Japanese genre known as Group Sounds. A Japanese beat group called The Spiders toured Europe in 1966 and they performed their song "Sad Sunset" on an edition of “Ready, Steady Go!” Did a telerecording of this appearance ever get shown in Japan?

[petercheck]

Jun 30, 2018 15:35:53 GMT markdixon said:

I found a performance by The Shadows from 1967 and two performances by Scott Walker from 1970, but these were audio only.

Here's a video of Scott Walker from Japanese TV:

One group who definitely performed at least once on Japanese TV circa April 1968 are The Hollies, but any details are unknown. I do believe, following all the goodies from the '60s that have surfaced from French and Australian TV in recent years, that Japan and other far eastern countries are the last refuge for undocumented rarities.

Here's Cliff Richard live in Korea in October 1969:

[garyfreeman]

I know that a beach boys concert from 1966 was on Japanese TV , as the beach boys themselves have been searching for that one! no joy as of yet though!.

[Bob Savage (robstar)]

Jul 2, 2018 9:16:16 GMT garyfreeman said:

I know that a beach boys concert from 1966 was on Japanese TV , as the beach boys themselves have been searching for that one! no joy as of yet though!.

So what do we know as to the state of the Japanese archives it seems this could hold a lot of treasures especially as they did early colour broadcasts?

[Kev Hunter]

Brenda Lee (ok, she's American) on Japanese TV in 1967:

[Greg H]

Whilst I do not claim any expert knowledge of this, I do know for a fact that footage surfaces on youtube of 60s and 70s Japanese acts appearing on their own music shows, so at least some of their stuff presumably exists in the archives.

I Know for a fact that Japan has a thriving record collectors scene and people who are very into the rock and jazz output from the eras that a lot of people around here are interested in, it is not much of a reach to suppose that there is an existing network of people in Japan who could probably give us a very good idea of what is in the archives out there if they could be located and contacted. They might be a friendly bunch. Who knows?

For example, here is a couple from local boys, 'the golden cups' who were active in the late 60s:

[Greg H]

Oh, tenuously related to the original post, but if anyone finds any footage of 'the Jacks' performing, please share.