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Big in Japan is an expression historically used to describe western based musical groups who achieve success in Japan but not necessarily in other parts of the world. ==Original usage== The phrase began to appear on several major Japanese foreign-rock magazines, especially the ''Music Life'' magazine, in the late 1970s, and in most cases, the "big in Japan" artists became popular in Japan due to being featured by ''Music Life''. The concept predated the phrase; Neil Sedaka made it big in Japan with "One Way Ticket" before breaking through in his native United States, while Jimmy Osmond, typically a side show to his older brothers The Osmonds in North America and Europe, cut several tracks in Japanese and received several gold records for his recordings. In the late 20th century, notable "big in Japan" artists included several stadium rock bands from the United States, metal artists from Northern European countries such as Norway, Denmark, and especially Sweden and Finland (e.g. the rock band Hanoi Rocks), eurobeat artists from Austria, Germany and especially Italy, and UK rock〔The term "UK rock" is an only-in-Japan term used for every rock music artist from the United Kingdom.(UK rock / Britpop )All About 〕 artists. Some bands have used their popularity in Japan as a springboard to break into other audiences. Notably, the power pop group Cheap Trick, which had been known as the "American Beatles" in Japan for their appeal, achieved widespread success with their multi-platinum live album ''Cheap Trick at Budokan''. The band had previously struggled to break into the mainstream American market with their earlier albums. Furthermore, like Cheap Trick, some bands have lost their "big in Japan" titles after gaining popularity in their respective homelands. The most notable example is Queen, along with Bon Jovi.〔 For example, Scorpions initially had only mediocre success in Europe and the United States, yet were "Big in Japan", as evidenced by their 1978 tour of the country and the double live album ''Tokyo Tapes''.〔 Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-105-4, ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0. p. 909〕 Another example is The Ventures, a band formed in 1959 and touring Japan each year since 1965, having logged over 2,000 concerts there by 2006.〔 McGraw-Hill International. ISBN 0-335-21690-0, ISBN 978-0-335-21690-1. pp. 152-154〕 "Being 'Big in Japan' turned into a positive sign of their closeness to the hearts of Japanese people, with the band embedded in national and local rock cultures."〔 The phrase was used as the name of a UK punk band in 1977-82 (whose name inspired the title of a 1984 hit single by pop band Alphaville) and was the name of the lead track on the Grammy-winning 1999 album ''Mule Variations'' by Tom Waits. The mockumentary ''This is Spinal Tap'' parodies this phenomenon when the band schedules a Japanese tour after discovering that their single "Sex Farm" is inexplicably selling very well there. Avril Lavigne has remained immensely popular in Japan, years after her popularity waned in North America, and in April 2014 released the single and music video "Hello Kitty" as a thank you to her Japanese fans. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Big in Japan (phrase)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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