{"id":42444,"date":"2026-06-17T09:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/42444\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:33:06","slug":"music-awards-japan-levels-up-and-looks-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/42444\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Awards Japan levels up and looks ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps the biggest indicator that the Music Awards Japan (MAJ) had leveled up for its second edition was the surprise appearance of one of the country\u2019s most recognizable faces.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the two awards ceremonies on June 13, MAJ organizers held a gala in the ballroom of Shibuya\u2019s Cerulean Tower. The room was filled to the brim with industry types, media and a smattering of entertainers. Everyone snapped to attention, however, when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us work together to raise Japanese music to the highest levels of the world stage,\u201d said the premier (and avid heavy metal fan<\/a>), emphasizing the government\u2019s strategic support of the music industry\u2019s international expansion. \u201cLet us do everything we can to secure a place in the global market.\u201c\u00a0<\/p>\n

Takaichi was then whisked away to fly abroad for the G7 Summit<\/a>, but her message underscored MAJ\u2019s goal: to not just celebrate Japanese music but export it.<\/p>\n

MAJ, launched in Kyoto last year<\/a> by the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association and billed as Japan\u2019s answer to the Grammys, moved to Toyota Arena Tokyo for its second edition, reflecting its growing scale and international ambitions.<\/p>\n

As for the awards themselves,\u00a0red glass statuettes dubbed \u201cRubies,\u201d several of last year\u2019s major honorees successfully defended their titles.<\/p>\n

Trio Mrs. Green Apple was named artist of the year for the second time, while singer-songwriter Kaze Fujii received another Ruby for album of the year, this time for \u201cPrema,\u201d his English-language debut. Both acts performed during the grand ceremony.<\/p>\n

Sakanaction provided one of the evening\u2019s most emotional moments. Accepting the song of the year award for \u201cKaiju\u201d (\u201cMonster\u201c), front man Ichiro Yamaguchi reflected on the song\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSakanaction went on hiatus three years ago because I was suffering from depression,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cDuring that time, I was supported by the other members, the fans and Team Sakanaction, and I managed to persevere and make a comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first song I wrote after the break was \u2019Kaiju.\u2019 The fact that this song has received such positive feedback has given me courage and made me feel like I can still keep going. Thank you so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rock six-piece opened the grand ceremony with a performance of \u201cKaiju\u201d and left as the most decorated act, collecting eight awards across MAJ\u2019s expanded 78-category program<\/a>, voted on by roughly 5,000 musicians, producers and industry experts.<\/p>\n

Other standouts of the evening included Kenshi Yonezu, who topped the nominations with 18 nods \u2014 nine of them for his single \u201cIris Out.\u201d He went on to win five awards, including best J-pop song. The singer also appeared in a pretaped performance reminiscent of his \u201cKohaku\u201d segment earlier this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perhaps the biggest indicator that the Music Awards Japan (MAJ) had leveled up for its second edition was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14924,30302,19169,8,30300,8093,14925,33,30301,358],"class_list":["post-42444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-awards","tag-fruits-zipper","tag-j-pop","tag-japan","tag-kaze-fujii","tag-mrs-green-apple","tag-music-awards-japan","tag-nihon","tag-sakanaction","tag-sanae-takaichi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}