was a Japanese music variety show, broadcast weekly from October 15, 1996 until March 23, 2010 on TBS. The name of the show is an abbreviation of , meaning "music program". A special version of the show, running for two hours, was occasionally aired under the name , an abbreviation of , meaning "special program". The show's theme song, played during the opening sequence and closing credits, was "

These Boots Are Made for Walkin' "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No.1 in the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart. ...

" by

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History

The show was first broadcast on October 16, 1996. Originally supposed to be called "J-Pop Hour", it was hosted by

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 ...

, of comedy duo

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, and Masahiro Nakai, leader of boy band

SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-p ...

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idol group

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were frequent guests on the show, at one point appearing almost weekly. Nakai was briefly replaced by TBS announcer Shin'ichirō Azumi in late June 2006, due to

conjunctivitis Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye or Madras eye, is inflammation of the conjunctiva, the thin, clear layer that covers the white surface of the eye and the inner eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness ...

. After 13 and a half years on air, the show made its final broadcast on March 23, 2010. It was reformatted into a new show called , also hosted by Ishibashi and Nakai, which aired on TBS from April 20 to September 14, 2010.

Performers

Moderators (MC)

* Masahiro Nakai

Others

* * *

References

External links

Official Site
(Japanese) Japanese variety television shows Japanese music television series TBS Television (Japan) original programming 1990s Japanese television series 2000s Japanese television series 2010s Japanese television series 1996 Japanese television series debuts 2010 Japanese television series endings Masahiro Nakai {{Japan-tv-prog-stub