Japanese Choirs: Tokyo FM Choir

One of the most important Tokyo choir is now the Tokyo FM Choir. FM Tokyo is a music radio station in Tokyo. I think the old Victor choir was their predecessor; the one was merged into theother. The choir served as backup to the Southern All Stars, for a decade or more, Japan's most popular mainstream rock band). The choir's promters clain in 1999 the "Japan's easiest to love boy's choir is now Japan's easiest to listen to." I'm not entirely sure what they mean by that.

Foundation

Tokyo FM Broadcasting purchased the Victor Boys Club, Japan on April 1, 1985. The choir was renamed the Tokyo FM Choir. Tokyo FM informs HBC that, "All the VBC choristers continued their lives as littlesingers with Tokyo FM."

Music

I'm not sure what type of music the choir performs. It appears to be mostly popular music and children's songs. Christmas music is a popular annual staple of the choir.

Recording Sessions

The Tokyo FM Choir not only gives public performances, but they also make recordings which are marketed by Tokyo FM. The choir uniform is not required at these recording sessions, but many boys wear them anyway.

Uniforms

The Tokyo FM Choir uniform in the 1990s is a typical Japanese public elementry school boy's uniform. Boys wear colored "T" shirts, black shorts and white kneesocks. These informal uniforms are quite common at public schools. The boys at private schools normally wear more formal uniforms with blazers and ties.

The choir currently performs in different costumes, including:
Green sweaters: One costume is a green shirt or sweatshirt, black short pants, and white kneesocks.
Yellow sweaters: One costume is a green shirt or sweatshirt, black short pants, and white kneesocks.

Figure 3.--The boys appear in both formal and informal costumes. This costume is more informal than many European choirs. This is the regular concert of Tokyo FM Choir in 1989.

Blue shirts: Another uniform is light blue shirts, dark blue sweaters, blue shorts, and white kneesocks. As mentioned aove, this costume is very similar to the uniform adopted by many Japanese elementary schools, although white shirts are more common.
Double breasted blazers: A more formal uniform is rather modern looking European blue double breasted blazer and grey long trousers. I’m not sure when the choir started wearing long trousers.

I am not sure just which costumes are worn for what occassions. They seem to wear their informal colorful jumpers for rather formal performances, which differs from the general practice with European choirs. One Japanese source reports that, "In Japan, most people think that it is natural (and suitable) for children to wear casual clothes." The Japanese sppear to believe that it is natural that chidren wear chidren-like clothes. Japanese parents like the image of "Active boys". This impression is important even for choirs. Thus while some Japanese choirs have formal uniforms, some have both formal and informal uniforms.