Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: 1981 — YMO and Dr. Slump, the Rise of Radio's Postcard Regulars, and Donkey Kong

In 1981, YMO, a group known for its electronic instruments, released two albums. On TV, Dr. Slump Arale-chan, based on Akira Toriyama’s manga, began airing.

On late-night radio there was the pleasure of hearing your own contribution, written on a postcard, read out on air.

1. January 1Beat Takeshi's All Night NipponA Thursday late-night radio program begins
2. March 21YMO releases BGMThe first of two albums that year
3. AprilDr. Slump Arale-chanThe anime begins broadcasting
4. AugustMTV launchesThe US music video channel
5. November 21TechnodelicYMO's second album of the year
6. Year-endJapan Record AwardsKondo wins Best Newcomer

The same year connected stage, screen, studio and mailbox.

Masahiko Kondo’s Newcomer Award, and Akira Terao’s Grand Prix for “Ruby no Yubiwa”

At the year-end Japan Record Awards, Masahiko Kondo won the Best Newcomer award for “Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku” (Casually, Glittering). Following Toshihiko Tahara the year before, a singer from the “Tanokin Trio” took the prize for the second year running. (Japan Composers Association, in Japanese)

The Grand Prix went to “Ruby no Yubiwa” (Ruby Ring) by Akira Terao, who was also known as an actor.

The people behind the songs had something in common too. Takashi Matsumoto, who wrote the lyrics for “Ruby no Yubiwa,” also wrote Seiko Matsuda’s “Shiroi Parasol” (White Parasol) that year, the first Seiko single he had written lyrics for. (Seiko Matsuda official site, in Japanese)

Grand Prix

Akira Terao

• Ruby no Yubiwa
• Known as an actor as well

Best Newcomer

Masahiko Kondo

• Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku
• Following Tahara, the second Tanokin Trio member to win

Best Vocal Performance

Hiromi Iwasaki

• Sumire-iro no Namida
• Lyricist Takashi Matsumoto was active that year

Matsumoto wrote "Ruby no Yubiwa" and Seiko Matsuda's "Shiroi Parasol."

YMO Releases BGM and Technodelic

YMO is a trio of Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Known for music made with electronic instruments, they released two albums in 1981.

March 21BGM

Even after the huge hit Solid State Survivor, they took on new ways of building sound.

November 21Technodelic

The next album, worked on in the same year. The members themselves thought highly of it.

(Article looking back on the making of the two albums, in Japanese)

In the US, the music channel MTV launched in August. It was a channel that broadcast music videos. (Record of MTV’s launch)

Arale-chan on TV and in Merchandise, and Donkey Kong in Games

Dr. Slump Arale-chan, which began broadcasting in April, is an anime starring Arale-chan, a robot in the form of a human girl. Toei Animation’s company history notes that the show ran for five years and that its character merchandise was a huge hit. (Toei Animation, in Japanese)

That same year, Nintendo released Donkey Kong, a game played on arcade machines. Nintendo’s home console, the Family Computer, would appear two years later, in 1983. (Nintendo history)

Magazines about anime multiplied as well, with the launch of My Anime and Animedia. Like the existing Animage and Monthly OUT, the new magazines covered a work’s character designs, director interviews, voice actors and reader illustration corners, giving fans across the country a monthly forum to read about their favorite series and see fellow fans’ messages in print. (Agency for Cultural Affairs: explainer on anime magazines, in Japanese)

Contributing to Late-Night Radio, and Regulars Called “Hagaki Shokunin”

On January 1, Nippon Broadcasting began Beat Takeshi’s All Night Nippon. It was a Thursday late-night program broadcast from 1:00 a.m., and the humorous contributions listeners sent in on postcards drew a devoted following among junior high, high school and college students staying up late in their rooms. (Gendai Business, in Japanese)

Regular contributors became famous among listeners by their pen names, and the term hagaki shokunin (“postcard artisans”) came into use for people who honed the craft of getting their jokes read on the air each week. The activity of that show’s contributors is cited as the origin of the word, turning listeners from passive audience members into named participants in the broadcast.

1. 01WriteCompose it on a postcard
2. 02MailSend it by post
3. 03ListenTune in to see if it was chosen
4. 04Hear it readThe host reads it on air
5. 05Become a regularKnown by your pen name

Regulars were known by pen names; some later became radio writers.

Unlike today, when you can post a comment to social media and get a reaction in seconds, back then you bought a postcard, wrote your gag or message by hand, dropped it in a postbox, and waited until the following Thursday night’s broadcast with your finger on the cassette recorder’s pause button to find out whether your pen name would be called on the air.

Record Output Falls, but TV Song Shows Were Still Being Watched

Analog disc production in 1981 was about ¥172.4 billion, down about 4.9% from the all-time peak the year before. Unit output was about 168.53 million discs, down about 13.5% as cassette tapes and rental record shops spread among young listeners. (Recording Industry Association of Japan, in Japanese)

Meanwhile, that year’s 32nd Kohaku Uta Gassen, NHK’s New Year’s Eve song contest, recorded a household rating of 74.9% in the Kanto region, showing how families across generations still gathered around the living-room television to watch pop idols, enka stars and hit bands on the same stage. (Video Research, in Japanese)

Record production figures and home television ratings measure two different sides of how people enjoyed music at the time.

-4.9%

Change in analog disc production value from 1980, to about ¥172.4 billion

-13.5%

Change in unit output, to about 168.53 million discs

74.9%

Household rating of the Kohaku Uta Gassen in the Kanto region

Sources: Recording Industry Association of Japan (discs, in Japanese); Video Research (Kohaku rating, in Japanese)

Key Events of the Year

1. Jan. 1"Beat Takeshi's All Night Nippon" begins broadcastingMedia
2. Mar. 21YMO releases the album "BGM"Music
3. Apr."Dr. Slump Arale-chan" begins airingAnime
4. MayPia renames its independent film festival the "Pia Film Festival"Media
5. May"The Elephant Man" is released, the top foreign film at 2.45 billion yenFilm
6. JulyTakashi Matsumoto works on a Seiko Matsuda song for the first time, "Shiroi Parasol"Idols
7. Aug."Rengo Kantai" is released, the top Japanese film at 1.9 billion yenFilm
8. Aug.MTV launches in the United States (Aug. 1 local time)Music
9. Oct.Seiko Matsuda's "Kaze Tachinu" is releasedIdols
10. Nov. 21YMO releases the album "Technodelic"Music
11. Dec. 31The 23rd Japan Record Awards. The Grand Prize goes to Akira Terao's "Ruby no Yubiwa"Music
12. Dec. 31The 32nd NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen reaches a viewer rating of 74.9% (Kanto region)Media
13. Full yearNintendo releases the arcade version of "Donkey Kong"Games
14. Full yearRecord production value reaches 172.407 billion yen, the first year-on-year decline in the statisticsBusiness
15. Full yearThe Nippon-Ham Fighters win the Pacific League, and the Giants win the Central LeagueSports

Words of the Year

PFF (Pia Film Festival)

An independent film festival run by the information magazine Pia. It took this name in May 1981

Donkey Kong

An arcade video game released by Nintendo. It popularized the experience of meeting the same character again and again at the arcade

“PFF” in the chart stands for the Pia Film Festival. The screening festival for independently made 8mm and 16mm films that the listings magazine Pia had held since 1977 took on the name “Pia Film Festival (PFF)” in 1981, becoming a gateway for young indie film directors and cinephiles. (Pia history, in Japanese)

In 1982, Akina Nakamori, Kyoko Koizumi and others make their debuts. The CD and the CD player, new products for playing music, arrive that year too.