Oshi-Katsu Chronicle, the 1970s: Star Tanjo! and the Shineitai, Music on Cassette, and Yamato's Anime Fever

In 1970s Japan, idols were born on a TV audition show. It was also the era of the shineitai, or “guard corps,” fan groups that backed idols at venues and coordinated things like how and when to call out their cheers.

Events also began where anime and manga fans brought books they had made themselves. At the end of the decade came the Walkman, which let you carry your music around on cassette.

1. Oct 1971Star Tanjo! beginsA viewer-participation singer audition
2. Oct 1975Candies 10,000-Person CarnivalThe base of Zenkyanren
3. Dec 1975First Comiket32 circles, about 700 people
4. 1977Yamato film releasedLines formed at cinemas
5. Jan 1978The Best Ten beginsA live Thursday ranking show
6. Jul 1979First WalkmanPriced at 33,000 yen

Fans organized themselves, then took their music outdoors.

Watching Singers Debut on Star Tanjo!

On October 3, 1971, Star Tanjo! (Star Is Born!) began on Nippon Television. It was a viewer-participation singer audition show planned by the lyricist Yu Aku (article on the show’s 50th anniversary, in Japanese).

The show broadcast contestants singing and being judged before their debut. That was the novelty of programs like it: you could cheer for someone from the audition stage on.

July 1972Masako Mori

Debuted with "Sensei" (Teacher).

February 1973Junko Sakurada

Debuted with "Tenshi mo Yumemiru" (Even Angels Dream).

May 1973Momoe Yamaguchi

Debuted with "Toshigoro" (Coming of Age).

The three were in the same school year, and the show’s 100th-episode special in 1973 named them the “Hana no Chusan Trio.” Magazine features spread the name (Josei Jishin Prime, in Japanese).

1. 01Audition showStar Tanjo! begins in October 1971
2. 02Mori debutsWith Sensei, July 1972
3. 03Sakurada debutsFebruary 1973
4. 04Yamaguchi debutsMay 1973
5. 05Named a trioThe 100th-episode special, 1973

The three shared a school year, and the name caught on with fans.

Among male singers, Hiromi Go, Hideki Saijo and Goro Noguchi drew crowds as the “Shin Gosanke” (the New Big Three). It sounds like the name of a group, but the three were each solo singers (records on the Shin Gosanke, in Japanese).

Playing Albums Over and Over, and Folk and Bands Take Off

In January 1971, the Tigers disbanded after a final show at the Nippon Budokan. Their member Kenji Sawada made his solo debut that year and won the 1977 Japan Record Awards with “Katte ni Shiyagare” (Do as You Please). He was known by the nickname “Julie” (The Tigers, in Japanese; Kenji Sawada, both in Japanese).

Singers who wrote and sang their own songs drew attention too. Yosui Inoue’s Koori no Sekai (Ice World), released in 1973, became the first Japanese LP, a record collecting multiple songs, to pass one million copies, in 1975 (records on Koori no Sekai, in Japanese).

1 million

Copies of Koori no Sekai, the first Japanese LP to pass that mark, in 1975

1.75 million

Copies of Myojo's November 1975 issue

1.53 million

Copies of Heibon's February 1974 issue

Magazine figures are copies printed, not numbers of fans.

Source: Wikipedia on Myojo (in Japanese)

Yumi Arai debuted in 1972, had a hit in 1975 with “Ano Hi ni Kaeritai” (I Want to Go Back to That Day), and changed her surname to Matsutoya in 1976. In 1978 Southern All Stars debuted with “Katte ni Shinbad,” and YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra), who use electronic instruments, formed. (Yumi Arai, in Japanese; Southern All Stars, in Japanese; YMO, all in Japanese).

Zenkyanren and the Shineitai: Fans Organize Their Own Support

The idol trio Candies made their record debut in 1973 with “Anata ni Muchu” (Crazy About You). In October 1975, the “Candies 10,000-Person Carnival” was held at the Kuramae Kokugikan sumo hall. The organization that grew out of its organizing committee was the National Candies Federation, known as “Zenkyanren” (records on Zenkyanren, in Japanese).

It linked fans in different regions, put out a newsletter and organized trips to see the group. An interview with Kengo Ishiguro, who belonged to its Hokuriku branch at the time, preserves his memories of exchanges across regions and of traveling to shows (testimony from a participant at the time, in Japanese).

Around the same time, private cheering squads called shineitai were active at idol shows, known for matching outfits and calls timed in unison (records on the shineitai, in Japanese).

With no social media then, newsletters and real-life gatherings were how you kept in touch with your friends.

Fans organizeSupport built by fans themselves

• Regional branchesFan clubs linked across areas
• NewslettersKept members in touch
• Trips to showsEnsei to see the group
• Matching outfitsThe shineitai's look
• Timed callsCheers in unison at shows

Before social media, printed newsletters and meetups did the work.

Requests to Song Shows, and Lyric Supplements in Magazines

In January 1978, the network TBS launched The Best Ten, a music show that announced song rankings live every Thursday and linked up singers in different places by remote feed. Postcard requests from viewers counted toward the rankings (records on the show, in Japanese).

On the late-night radio show All Night Nippon, the 1970s saw hosts including Takuro Yoshida, Tamori, Chiharu Matsuyama and Miyuki Nakajima. (records on the hosts, in Japanese).

Among magazines, the November 1975 issue of Myojo hit the title’s all-time high of 1.75 million copies, and the February 1974 issue of Heibon hit its highest since launch, 1.53 million. These are magazine circulation figures, not numbers of fans (records on Myojo and on Heibon, both in Japanese).

The Space Battleship Yamato Film, and Comiket, Where Fans Bring Their Own Books

The anime Space Battleship Yamato, broadcast on TV in 1974, got a theatrical release in 1977 and was popular enough to form lines at cinemas. The following year, 1978, the sequel Saraba Uchu Senkan Yamato: Ai no Senshi-tachi (Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato: In the Name of Love) followed (Bandai Namco Filmworks, in Japanese).

Beyond watching the works, fans were growing a place to make and present books of their own: Comic Market, or “Comiket,” which began in December 1975. Doujinshi are books that individuals or groups of friends make and publish themselves.

December 1975, 1st32 circles

An estimated 700 participants. Many fans of shojo manga took part.

1977Anime doujinshi increase

The preparatory committee's records also note the influence of the Space Battleship Yamato boom.

December 1979, 13th290 circles

About 4,000 participants. The Gundam corner was crowded too.

(Comic Market Preparatory Committee chronology, in Japanese)

The Walkman Goes on Sale, and Cassette Music Goes Outdoors

On July 1, 1979, Sony released the first Walkman, the “TPS-L2,” for 33,000 yen. It was a small music player that used a cassette tape and headphones (Sony: record of the 20th anniversary of release, in Japanese).

Portable radios and the like had existed before, but with the Walkman you could play the songs you wanted to hear, recorded on a cassette, wherever you went.

The game that took the streets was Space Invaders, which Taito released in 1978. People played it on machines in arcades and coffee shops (explainer on Space Invaders, in Japanese).

Key Events of the Decade

1. 1971The Tigers disband after their final Budokan concertMusic
2. 1971"Star Tanjo!" begins airing (Nippon Television)Media
3. 1972Masako Mori debuts with "Sensei." Candies gets its nameIdols
4. 1973Junko Sakurada and Momoe Yamaguchi debut, and are named the Hana no Chu-san TrioIdols
5. 1973Yosui Inoue's "Koori no Sekai" is released and heads toward becoming the first LP to sell 1 million copiesMusic
6. 1974"Space Battleship Yamato" begins airing on televisionAnime
7. 1975The "Candies 10,000-Person Carnival" is held, and the 1st Comiket takes placeFans
8. 1976Pink Lady debuts with "Pepper Keibu"Idols
9. 1977Candies announce their breakup, and the "Yamato" film is releasedIdols / Anime
10. 1978"The Best Ten" begins airing, with a pre-launch special rated 21.4%Media
11. 1978Southern All Stars make their major debutMusic
12. 1978Pink Lady's "UFO" wins the Japan Record AwardMusic
13. 1979"Mobile Suit Gundam" begins airing, and the Walkman is releasedAnime / Business

Words of the Era

Zen-Kyan-ren (All-Japan Candies Federation)

The name of the National Candies Federation, an organization that cut across individual fan clubs

Futsu no onnanoko ni modoritai ("I want to go back to being an ordinary girl")

The words of Candies' 1977 breakup announcement. It is said to have become a buzzword of the time

Julie

Nickname of Kenji Sawada. It was used from his Tigers days and stuck through his solo years

Comiket/doujinshi (Comic Market/fanzines)

The short name of the Comic Market, and the word for books that participants make themselves and distribute

The chart lists singers’ nicknames and the abbreviations of fan organizations. Doujinshi is not a word born in the 1970s, but it has been used ever since at Comiket, which began in this period.

Next comes 1980, when Seiko Matsuda and Toshihiko Tahara debut and new idols drew attention on TV song shows. The Gundam plastic models, “Gunpla,” also went on sale that year.