The Origin of the Japanese Olympic Songs

The Olympic theme songs (TOTS) play an essential role in providing dramatic effects for TV programs, as well as a legacy transmission to hand on to the new generation the excitement that sweeps through the nation during the worlds’greatest sports event. We investigated the origin of the Japanese Olympic theme music. In our study, three official theme musical compositions and the Olympic theme music employed by the Olympic broadcasters during the three Olympics held in Japan (Tokyo, Sapporo, Nagano) were included. We reviewed papers regarding the theme music for the Olympics and interviewed the composers of the official Olympic theme songs and the program producers of Olympic broadcasting channels. We found several common points between each TOTS. Firstly, all of the official theme songs were released more than a half a year before the Olympics opening ceremony. Furthermore, these songs were broadcast on the music programs of the Japanese national broadcasting station (NHK) of the games, such as “Minna no Uta (English title : Songs for Everyone)” and “NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen (English title : NHK Red and White Song Battle)”. Additionally, during these times the composition competitions of the theme compositions were held, and multiple artists participated in this competition and covered the theme compositions. On the other hand, TOTS of the news broadcasting was first introduced in 1988. In a quarter of the cases, the implementation of TOTS was linked to the employment of news casters, as they employed publicly well-known and experienced celebrities as both casters and performers of TOTS. It has been speculated that, since the private news broadcasters have fewer slots available to cover Olympic games compared to NHK, this was a measure taken to enhance the opportunity for TV appearances by engaging theme songs with Olympic coverage.