Oshi-Katsu Chronicle 1998: Music Sales Peak, Morning Musume and Hikaru Utada Debut, and Fans Mourn hide

In 1998, the CD was Japan’s everyday way to listen to music. Blockbuster albums and singles by B’z, GLAY and L’Arc-en-Ciel piled up record sales, and production of CDs and other music software reached its all-time statistical peak.

Morning Musume made their major debut in January, and from spring through winter MISIA, Ayumi Hamasaki, Ringo Sheena, aiko and a 15-year-old Hikaru Utada debuted one after another. In May, however, hide, beloved as the guitarist of X JAPAN, passed away suddenly.

CD Production Value Hits About ¥607.5 Billion: L’Arc-en-Ciel’s Three Simultaneous Singles and B’z’s Best Albums

According to Recording Industry Association of Japan statistics, audio records produced that year totaled about ¥607.5 billion. Counting CDs, cassettes and vinyl together, it remains the highest annual production value in Japanese music history. CDs accounted for about ¥587.9 billion of that total, with 12-centimeter CDs rising while narrow-case 8-centimeter singles began to decline. Recording Industry Association of Japan (in Japanese)

¥607.5B

All audio records

¥587.9B

CDs alone

Source: Recording Industry Association of Japan

Competition among rock bands reached a fever pitch. L’Arc-en-Ciel hit No. 1 on Oricon’s weekly album chart with HEART on February 25, then released three singles simultaneously on July 8—“HONEY,” “Kasou” and “Shinshoku lose control”—with both “HONEY” and “Kasou” topping a million copies. ORICON NEWS: L’Arc-en-Ciel (in Japanese) / L’Arc-en-Ciel official site (in Japanese)

GLAY likewise released two singles simultaneously on April 29—“Yuuwaku” and “SOUL LOVE”—taking No. 1 and No. 2 on the chart, followed by their No. 1 album pure soul on July 29. Marking their 10th anniversary, B’z released their first best-of albums, B’z The Best “Pleasure” on May 20 and the fan-voted B’z The Best “Treasure” on September 20, selling over 9.5 million copies combined across the two releases. GLAY (in Japanese) / B’z official site (in Japanese)

hide Dies: Fans Keep Listening to the Music He Left

On May 2, former X JAPAN guitarist hide (Hideto Matsumoto) died at age 33. Following X JAPAN’s breakup at the end of 1997, he had been actively recording and touring with his project “hide with Spread Beaver” and the international band “zilch.” Roughly 52,000 fans from across Japan lined the streets outside Tsukiji Hongwanji temple in Tokyo to attend his funeral and farewell service. ORICON NEWS (in Japanese)

Two singles recorded before his passing—“Pink Spider” (May 13) and “ever free” (May 27)—were released later that month, with “Pink Spider” becoming a million seller, and the album Ja,Zoo was completed in November. On May 2, 2018, the 20th anniversary of his passing, more than 5,500 fans visited a weekday flower-laying memorial at Club Citta in Kawasaki. ORICON NEWS: flower-laying ceremony on the 20th anniversary (in Japanese)

Morning Musume Expands to Eight, and the “Class of 1998” Solo Singers Debut

Having completed their 50,000-copy hand-selling challenge the previous autumn, Morning Musume made their major debut on January 28 with “Morning Coffee,” entering Oricon at No. 6. On May 3, second-generation members Kei Yasuda, Mari Yaguchi and Sayaka Ichii joined to form an eight-member lineup. Their third single, “Daite HOLD ON ME!” (September 9), gave the group its first Oricon weekly No. 1, and they formed their first subgroup, Tanpopo, before winning Best New Artist at the 40th Japan Record Awards and making their Kohaku Uta Gassen debut. Hello! Project official site (in Japanese) / Japan Composers Association (in Japanese)

1. 01Hand-selling"Ai no Tane" the year before
2. 02Major debut"Morning Coffee" on January 28
3. 03Three joinEight members from May
4. 04Best New ArtistJapan Record Awards at year's end

Fans who followed the challenge from the start saw it reach the awards stage.

SPEED scored hits with “my graduation” and “ALIVE” and concluded their first national tour at Tokyo Dome on October 10, while globe won the Japan Record Award with “wanna Be A Dreammaker.” SPEED official site (in Japanese) / Japan Composers Association (in Japanese)

Above all, 1998 saw the simultaneous debuts of a generation of female soloists later dubbed the “Class of 1998”: MISIA on February 21 (“Tsutsumikomu You ni…”), Ayumi Hamasaki on April 8 (“poker face”), Ringo Sheena on May 27 (“Koufukuron”) and aiko on July 17 (“Ashita”). Then on December 9, 15-year-old singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada debuted with “Automatic / time will tell” in both 8 cm and 12 cm CD formats, rocketing from radio airplay to double-million sales. Avex corporate history (in Japanese) / Universal Music: Ringo Sheena (in Japanese) / Billboard JAPAN (in Japanese) / Universal Music: Hikaru Utada (in Japanese)

Bayside Shakedown and Pokémon, Titanic and Cardcaptor Sakura

In movie theaters, James Cameron’s Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet earned ¥16.0 billion in distribution revenue (¥26.2 billion at the box office), drawing waves of repeat theatergoers across Japan and surpassing Princess Mononoke as the all-time box-office champion. On January 31, Hideo Nakata’s horror film Ring, adapted from Koji Suzuki’s novel and paired in a double bill with Spiral (Rasen), opened and sparked the J-Horror boom through word of mouth about the cursed videotape and Sadako crawling out of a television screen. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (in Japanese)

Among domestic films in 1998, Bayside Shakedown: The Movie (Odoru Daisosasen THE MOVIE, opened October 31) ranked No. 1 with ¥5.0 billion in distribution revenue (¥10.1 billion box office), followed at No. 2 by the first Pokémon theatrical feature Mewtwo Strikes Back (paired with Pikachu’s Vacation, ¥4.15 billion), No. 3 Doraemon: Nobita’s Great Adventure in the South Seas, and No. 4 The Kindaichi Case Files—making all top four domestic hits theatrical spin-offs of television shows, while on TV Takashi Sorimachi’s GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) and Takuya Kimura’s Nemureru Mori (A Sleeping Forest) drew huge ratings. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (in Japanese)

No. 1Bayside Shakedown: The Movie

¥5 billion. A film continuing a TV drama.

No. 2The first Pokémon film

¥4.15 billion. Mewtwo Strikes Back, shown with a short.

Nos. 3 and 4Doraemon and Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo

Both were film versions of TV series.

On television, the Pocket Monsters anime resumed broadcasting on April 16 after its four-month hiatus from the previous December, greeted by emotional viewers as Pikachu appeared on screen. That same April, CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura, directed by Morio Asaka at Madhouse, premiered on NHK BS2, while Shinichiro Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop, Initial D and Toei Animation’s Yu-Gi-Oh! also began airing that spring. Chugoku Broadcasting’s announcement from the time (in Japanese) / NHK Archives (in Japanese) / Toei Animation (in Japanese)

Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

On November 27, Sega Enterprises released the Dreamcast home console, equipped out of the box with a built-in dial-up modem for browsing the web and exchanging email on a television screen. Sega (in Japanese)

Launch

Released by Sega on November 27 as a home game console.

Modem

A device for connecting to a phone line came with the console, so players could look up game information and write email.

Later

Network games played with people far away followed.

In handhelds, Nintendo released the color-screen “Game Boy Color” on October 21, following September’s Pocket Monsters Pikachu (Pokémon Yellow). On November 21, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the NINTENDO64, whose “Z-targeting” camera lock-on system set the template for 3D action games worldwide. Nintendo: Game Boy Color (in Japanese) / Nintendo: Ocarina of Time (in Japanese)

Summer’s Comic Market 54 drew a combined 380,000 attendees over three days (with 51 corporate exhibitors), and winter’s Comiket 55 drew 300,000 over two days. Comic Market Preparation Committee (in Japanese)

380,000

Summer 54th

300,000

Winter 55th

Source: Comic Market Preparation Committee

Nagano Olympics, the First World Cup, and Yokohama’s Title: A Year of Watching Athletes to the End

In February, the Nagano Winter Olympics were held in Japan, with the host nation winning 10 medals (5 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze). The men’s ski jumping team (Takanobu Okabe, Hiroya Saito, Masahiko Harada and Kazuyoshi Funaki) won a dramatic comeback gold in driving snow, alongside gold medals from speed skater Hiroyasu Shimizu and women’s moguls skier Tae Satoya. Japanese Olympic Committee (in Japanese)

February: Nagano Olympics

A Winter Games held in Japan, where you watch athletes' challenges event by event.

June: World Cup

The national team plays in the finals for the first time. Cheer on the matches in France.

October: Japan Series

The Yokohama BayStars beat Seibu to become national champions for the first time in 38 years.

In June, Japan’s national soccer team competed at the World Cup finals in France for the first time. After a pre-tournament shock when veterans Kazuyoshi Miura and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa were cut from the final squad, Japan lost all three group-stage matches against Argentina, Croatia and Jamaica, but Masashi Nakayama scored Japan’s first-ever World Cup goal against Jamaica, and fans cheering in blue replica jerseys established the modern match-viewing culture. Japan Football Association (in Japanese)

In baseball, Daisuke Matsuzaka led Yokohama High School to consecutive spring and summer Koshien championships, highlighted by a 17-inning, 250-pitch complete-game victory over PL Gakuen in the summer quarterfinals and a no-hitter in the final. In pro baseball, manager Hiroshi Gondo’s Yokohama BayStars—powered by the “Machine Gun Batting Line” of Takuro Ishii, Robert Rose and Takanori Suzuki and closer Kazuhiro Sasaki (“Hama no Daimajin”)—defeated Seibu 4 games to 2 to win their first Central League pennant and Japan Series in 38 years, since 1960. Club’s official history (in Japanese) / Jiyu Kokuminsha (in Japanese)

Key Events of the Year

1. Jan. 28Morning Musume. debuts with "Morning Coffee"Idols
2. Feb.FM Tokyo launches the "Listeners Club"Media
3. Feb. 7–22The Nagano Olympics are held (5 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze)Sports
4. Feb. 25L'Arc~en~Ciel releases "HEART"Music
5. Apr. 4The Toei version of Yu-Gi-Oh! begins broadcasting (TV Asahi network)Anime
6. Apr. 16Pocket Monsters returns to the airAnime
7. May 2hide of X JAPAN diesMusic
8. Jun.Japan's national soccer team plays in the World Cup finals for the first timeSports
9. Jul. 1SPEED releases "ALIVE"Music
10. Jul.The film Mewtwo Strikes Back opens (distribution revenue of 4.15 billion yen)Anime
11. Jul. 29GLAY releases "pure soul"Music
12. Aug. 14–16Comic Market 54 (380,000 total visits over 3 days)Fan works
13. Oct. 26In the Japan Series, the Yokohama BayStars win their first title in 38 yearsSports
14. Oct. 31Bayside Shakedown: The Movie opens (distribution revenue of 5 billion yen)Media
15. Nov. 27Sega releases the DreamcastGames
16. Dec. 9Hikaru Utada debuts with "Automatic / time will tell"Music
17. Dec. 31At the 40th Japan Record Awards, Morning Musume. wins Best New ArtistMusic

1. Jan 28Morning Musume debut"Morning Coffee"
2. FebNagano Olympics5 golds for Japan
3. May 2hide diesFans keep his music alive
4. Jul 8L'Arc-en-Ciel's 3 singlesReleased simultaneously
5. OctBayStars winFirst title in 38 years
6. Nov 27DreamcastA console with a modem
7. Dec 9Hikaru Utada debutsAt 15 years old

A year of peak CD production and shared moments in front of the TV.

The Year’s Buzzword Awards

Grand PrizeHama no Daimajin ("the Great Demon God of Hama," Yokohama's closer)

Kazuhiro Sasaki (Yokohama BayStars)

Grand PrizeBonjin, gunjin, henjin ("an ordinary person, a soldier, a weirdo," Tanaka's description of LDP rivals)

Makiko Tanaka (member of the House of Representatives)

Grand PrizeDacchu-no (the Pirates' comic catchphrase and pose)

Yoshimi Asada, Haruka Nishimoto (Pirates)

Top 10Kankyo hormone ("environmental hormones," endocrine disruptors)

Taisen Iguchi

Top 10Kashi-shiburi (banks' "reluctance to lend")

—

Top 10Rojinryoku ("senior power")

Genpei Akasegawa

Top 10Shomuni (comedy manga and TV drama about office ladies)

Hiroyuki Yasuda and others

Top 10Moral hazard (moraru hazaado)

Kohei Nakabo

Top 10Cold pizza (a metaphor for the neglected Japanese economy)

John Neufer

Top 10Nihon retto so-fukyo ("a recession across the whole Japanese archipelago")

Taichi Sakaiya

Special AwardSmiling Communist

Tetsuzo Fuwa

Special AwardBokyabin ("poor vocabulary")

Keizo Obuchi

The grand prizes went to Kazuhiro Sasaki’s “Hama no Daimajin,” the comedy duo Pirates’ “Dacchuuno” and Makiko Tanaka’s “Bonjin, Gunjin, Henjin.” The top ten also included Titanic, “Kankyohormone” (endocrine disruptors), “Modaru” (drawn from Viagra coverage), “Camellia Diamond” and “Kireru” (“snapping”), reflecting a year of stark contrasts between record entertainment sales and economic anxiety. Jiyu Kokuminsha (in Japanese)

In 1999, Hikaru Utada’s debut album First Love sells over 7.67 million copies, GLAY plays a historic outdoor concert for 200,000 fans in Makuhari, Arashi debuts, and NTT Docomo launches its “i-mode” mobile internet service.