page_title: J-Melo
section_title: History and Programming
hierarchical_section_title: J-Melo / History and Programming
caption_attribution_description: English: Melody, doing a peace sign
context_page_description: J-Melo is a weekly Japanese music television program broadcast by NHK. It is recorded entirely in the English language. It began broadcasting on October 7, 2005. The program is available on NHK's World Service television station, Radio Japan, Digital Educational TV and on its Domestic General Channel.
context_section_description: The program started broadcasting on October 7, 2005 and was hosted by Mai Takematsu, a Japanese harpist. The name "J-Melo" comes from the words, "Japan", "Melody", and "Mellow". The show is the first Japanese music program produced by NHK to be recorded entirely in English, and presents various Japanese music and musicians to the rest of the world through its global television station, NHK World. The show is also aired in Japan in English with Japanese subtitles. On March 2007, Mai Takematsu left the show in order to pursue her medical career, and on April 2007, she was replaced by Japanese singer, melody. She hosted the show until September 2008, when it was announced that May J. will host the succeeding episodes. The new J-Melo debuted on October 2008, with May J. along with Shanti presenting the program, with an updated set and website and a new opening billboard. It was the first time that the program had two permanent presenters. Shanti, however, left the show in 2010. Aside from music videos, the program features interviews and recorded performances.
  In 2009, J-Melo started a music project, a fictitious band called Rough-T with manga characters fronted by Takekawa Ai, produced by Marty Friedman, and with additional production by international independent artists kevn, Kirby and Crazy Dragon.
  J-Melo features comments from Dave Spector, who hosts most episodes together with May J.
caption: melody. hosted the program from April 2007 until September 2008.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Image7641", "Image Make": "DoCoMo", "Image Model": "N903i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:03:27 12:01:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:03:27 11:52:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:03:27 11:52:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "480", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "640", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "476"}