Cultural Agency Contemplates Asian Version of Grammy Awards; Ceremony Would be Held in Kyoto, the Agency’s Home Base

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:46 JST, September 27, 2023

The Cultural Affairs Agency is considering creating music awards to honor Asian artists as early as 2025, Commissioner Shunichi Tokura told The Yomiuri Shimbun in a recent interview.

The agency plans to hold the ceremony for an Asian version of the Grammy Awards in Kyoto, where it relocated its headquarters in March, and hopes to take advantage of the event to help Japanese artists enter the global market, Tokura said in the interview.

The agency aims to accelerate cultural promotion in line with its relocation to Kyoto, and has set the goal of developing music and video into an industry that Japan exports to the world. Establishing the music awards would be part of this effort.

The Asian pop music that has been penetrating the global market is mainly Korean pop music, from groups such as BTS and NewJeans.

“Japan has a relatively large domestic market, so [success in] the domestic market has been considered sufficient,” said Tokura, who is also a well-known composer. “South Korea has more energy to go overseas.”

“In order to promote J-pop music overseas, we would like to hold a music awards ceremony in Kyoto that will attract worldwide attention,” he said.

The Grammy Awards began in 1959, and the awards ceremony is held every year around February in Los Angeles. It is televised around the world and attracts a great deal of attention.