was a popular

Japanese television Television in Japan was introduced in 1939. However, experiments date back to the 1920s, with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering experiments in electronic television. Television broadcasting was halted by World War II, after which regular television ...

show airing from April 2, 1983, to March 30, 1991, on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

. A total of 404 episodes were aired. The program's average rating was 3.5%, and its highest rating was 7.2% on March 25, 1989. The ratings were described as exceptional for a midnight program.

Program history

On April 2, 1983, Fuji TV launched ''All Night Fuji''. It aired every Saturday at midnight. Note that the closing time of the program was not determined, but was different for each episode. At times, the program would air until after 5:00 AM. The first hosts were female

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer

Naomi Akimoto is a Japanese actress and singer, who has been active since 1982. She is represented by Staff-up Group. Her real name is , but she is also known as after her marriage with actor Atsushi Harada in 2003.明石家さんまが「俺が結婚式や ...

and actress Mari Torigoe. Subsequently, comedian

Tsurutarō Kataoka is a Japanese television personality, actor, artist, and former professional boxer. For his role in the 1988 film '' The Discarnates'', he won the award for best supporting actor at the 31st Blue Ribbon Awards, at the 13th Hochi Film Award, and at ...

, idol Iyo Matsumoto, and actress

Yumi Asō , better known by the stage name , is a Japanese actress. She is a niece of singer Chiyo Okumura. Biography She was born in Osaka Prefecture but grew up in Nagasaki Prefecture. She graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. She appeared in Yōj ...

became hosts. The comedy duo

Tunnels A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

(

Takaaki Ishibashi is a Japanese comedian, singer and actor. He is best known as a member of Tunnels (owarai), Tunnels and Yaen with his partner Noritake Kinashi. Early life Born in Katsushika, Tokyo, Katsushika, Tokyo, Japan. When he was in the first grade o ...

and

Noritake Kinashi is a Japanese comedian, actor, singer and artist. He is the short member of the comedy duo Tunnels (owarai), Tunnels, with whom he was a member of the pop group Yaen. His partner is Takaaki Ishibashi. He is the executive vice president of the ent ...

) also made regular appearances. In addition, many female college students appeared on the program, and they were called . The program featured information on foreign music,

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

, and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

, as well as broadcasts of

Owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the Honorific speech in Japanese#Honorific prefixes, honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". '' ...

and mini-concerts. Famous musicians such as

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

, and

Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...

also performed on the program. Wham!'s

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

mentioned that the program was one of the most memorable events of his stay in Japan because he enjoyed it a lot. On the other hand, the program also had an obscene aspect, with female college students introducing pornographic videos and reporting

massage parlor A massage parlor (American English), or massage parlour (Canadian/British English), or massage salon is a place where massage services are provided. Some massage parlors are front organizations for prostitution and the term "massage parlor" has ...

No-pan kissa are Prostitution in Japan, Japanese sex establishments offering food and drinks served by waitresses wearing short skirts with no underwear. The floors, or sections of the floor, are sometimes mirrored. Shops generally operate under a "no-touch" ...

Sex shop A sex shop is a retailer that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, pornography, and other related products. An early precursor of the modern sex shop was a chain of stores set up in Par ...

, and the like. An arousing camera commercial featuring

Kumamoto University , abbreviated to ''Kumadai'' (熊大), is a Japanese national university located in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture in the Kyushu region of Japan. It was established on May 31, 1949, at which time the following institutions were subsumed into it; ...

female student Yoshiko Miyazaki ( 宮崎美子, Miyazaki Yoshiko) in 1980 and a radio program called , featuring female college students as DJs, which launched in 1981, led to the rise of the female college student craze in Japan. And it reached its zenith with the arrival of ''All Night Fuji''. According to the producer Hiroshi Ishida, the program was initiated with the intention of producing a silly show based on the school festival groove. In fact, not a few people made fun of ''All Night Fuji'' owing to the inauthenticity and obscenity of the female college students. When comedian

Beat Takeshi , also known as in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. During hi ...

appeared on the program in September 1983, he abused female college students to their faces.

Science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer Takeshi Kamewada ( 亀和田武, Kamewada Takeshi) also made similar criticisms of them. Even Tsurutarō Kataoka, one of the hosts of the program, remarked in a weekly magazine that he hated female college students on the program because they were all idiots. In response, they fought back by publishing a book titled . In October 1984, similar programs such as ' on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

, ' on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

and ' on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network. Only ' on TBS TV, hosted by singer-songwriter

Chiharu Matsuyama Chiharu Matsuyama (松山千春, born December 16, 1955) is a Japanese folk singer and songwriter. He made his debut with the single ''Tabidachi'' in 1977, and success soon followed with the two hits ''Toki no Itazura'' and ''Kisetsu no Nakade. ...

, turned its back on this line and was a strait-laced program talking about

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

instead of showing naked women. In early 1985, the obscene and extreme contents of these midnight programs became a problem in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (now the

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications The is a Cabinet (government), cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Centr ...

) demanded that all programs refrain from airing such material. At about the same time, the revised

Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act The , also known as or , is a law that regulates entertainment places in Japan. History * 1948: Creation of the law. * April 1, 1959: Name change. * August 14, 1984: Extension to some businesses before midnight. * April 1998: Extension to so ...

came into effect, which tightened regulation of the

sex industry The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...

. Thus, starting in April 1985, ''All Night Fuji'' was forced to change direction to a variety program that did not include a lot of overt sexually explicit material. The program continued until March 1991, with several changes of hosts. In April 2023, after 40 years since its first broadcast, All Night Fuji was revived under the name . Kōichi Minato, the program's iconic director, became president of Fuji TV, and he decided to revive the program after consulting with

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, ma ...

, who had once been the program's scriptwriter. They felt the need to revive the heat of that era in the present day. Akimoto is the general producer of the program, and TV personality Nobuyuki Sakuma( 佐久間宣行, Sakuma Nobuyuki) serves as the host. The program airs for two hours every Friday midnight. In January 2025, Minato resigned due to

Fuji Television sexual harassment scandal In December 2024, Japanese magazines such as ''Josei Seven'' and ''Shūkan Bunshun'' reported on sexual harassment and assault allegations against former television personality Masahiro Nakai, and also alleged that executives at the television s ...

. Therefore, the program was terminated in March 2025.

All Nighters

An idol group called All Nighters was formed by a large number of female college students who appeared on ''All Night Fuji''. Their song, "" became the theme song for the program. Its first subgroup, (Miki Yamazaki ( 山崎美貴, Yamazaki Miki), , and ), made their record debut in February 1984 with the song . Of the three, Yamazaki and Matsuo were originally in charge of introducing pornographic videos. Whenever they introduced a video, host Tsurutarō Kataoka, would say (meaning "Introduce more videos!"), which led to the name of the subgroup. The second subgroup, (Seiko Kataoka ( 片岡聖子, Kataoka Seiko) and ), also debuted in May with the song . All Nighters released two albums in 1984, which included songs by subgroups such as , , and . On August 8, 1984, at their concert held at Yomiuriland East, Hasumi Matsuo of Okawari Sisters shouted, is considered to be one of the most quotable phrases in the history of idols. On March 30, 1985, almost all the early members of All Nighters graduated from the program, and along with them, the most popular subgroup, Okawari Sisters, also disbanded. Among them, only Miki Yamazaki remained with the program and was promoted to one of the hosts. All Nighters is considered the origin of the Idol groups formed by a large number of girls.

Onyanko Club was a large all-girl Japanese pop idol group in the 1980s. Some members of the group participated in spin-off groups, such as Nyangilas, Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi and Ushirogami Hikaretai. Many of the latter two groups' songs were used as theme ...

, which became the biggest female idol group of the 1980s, followed the methodology of All Nighters. This was due to the fact that both groups were produced by Hiroshi Ishida, Kazuji Kasai and Kōichi Minato.

''All Night Fuji High School Girl Special''

On February 23 and March 16, 1985, ''All Night Fuji High School Girl Special We, too, ain't idiots'' was aired in the evening on two separate occasions. These special episodes were hosted by Tsurutarō Kataoka and novice idols Yuki Saitō and Mariko ( 真璃子, Mariko). Many high school girls gathered in the studio to answer obscene quizzes and engage in

Puroresu is a Japanese term used for professional wrestling in Japan, professional wrestling in and outside of Japan. The term comes from the Gairaigo, Japanese pronunciation of , which in Japanese is abbreviated to “puro” ( - “pro”) & “resu” ...

. Some of them went out on the town and forced male passersby to wear sailor suits. They also repeatedly committed shameless acts, such as taking off the underwear of male passersby and stamping a seal on their buttocks, and forcibly kissing them. Of the five who were subsequently dismissed for the Shūkan bunshun smoking scandal, and revealed the existence of their boyfriends. Yoshino even called herself " Fashion Massage". Yuki Saitō claimed that the high school girls who appeared on the program were a completely different race from her, that they and she were like oil and water, and that she could not understand their excessive fuss at all. Additionally,

Bishōjo In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computerized games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre), and al ...

Contest was held and

Sayuri Kokushō is a Japanese actress, singer, and tarento. She was an original member of Onyanko Club. She works for the talent management firm Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Sony Music Artists. Her debut single, "Valentine Kiss", is the most popular Valenti ...

was named the grand prix winner. Onyanko Club was then formed by 11 girls, including Kokushō, who were selected from among many high school girls who appeared on the program. They became the exclusive idol group for , which started airing on April 1, 1985.

Rika Tatsumi better known by her ring name is a Japanese professional wrestler working for the Japanese promotions Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW) and DDT Pro Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (2014–present) Ishizawa ma ...

, who was accepted into Onyanko Club at the audition in mid-April 1985, was one of All Nighters. Likewise, Kazuko Utsumi( 内海和子, Utsumi Kazuko) was a student at Toita Women's College at the time she was accepted into Onyanko Club in early April, which led to her appearing on ''All Night Fuji'' for a while as well. In 1988, The New High School Girl Special was aired three times during the daytime on July 30, August 27, and September 24. However, this special program did not lead to the derivation of an idol group like Onyanko Club. Still,

Hiromi Nagasaku is a Japanese actress and singer. She was a member of the J-pop group Ribbon. Mark Schilling of ''The Japan Times'' described her as "the best comic actress working in Japan today". Career Nagasaku appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2003 film '' ...

, one of the high school girls who appeared on the program, subsequently became a member of the popular idol group

Ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

Unexpected happenings

On April 1, 1984, Akiko Matsumoto, a female idol at the time, shouted the broadcast-prohibited term . The reason was that host Tsurutarō Kataoka and

rakugo is a form of Japanese verbal comedy, traditionally performed in '' yose'' theatres. (Bibliographyvolume 38(1)article
T ...

storyteller Tsurukō Shōfukutei ( 笑福亭鶴光, Shōfukutei Tsurukō) threatened to reveal that her boyfriend was a

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

male celebrity if she did not utter the term. This remark led to Matsumoto getting very little work in the entertainment industry for two years. On January 19, 1985, Tunnels performed their new song, . During the performance, Takaaki Ishibashi toppled one of the TV cameras, causing it to break. The TV camera was an expensive one, costing 15 million yen (approximately US$300,000 at the time), but was covered by the insurance company. A woman by the name of , who works at a massage parlor in

Kabukichō is an entertainment district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabukichō is considered a red-light district with a high concentration of host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the . Shinjuku Golde ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, applied for the program under the false name of , pretending to be a female student at

Aoyama Gakuin University is a private Christian university in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Originally established in 1874 by missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church, it was reconfigured in its current form in 1949 as tertiary component of the Aoyama Gakuin. The u ...

. The program's officials, however, could not see through it and hired her as a member of All Nighters. In June 1985, she was dismissed from All Nighters after her true identity was exposed by the weekly magazine ''

Shūkan Bunshun is a Japanese weekly tabloid ( shūkanshi) based in Tokyo, Japan, known for its investigative journalism and frequent clashes with the Japanese government. This has led to it being considered one of the most influential weekly magazines in the ...

''.

References

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External links