Japanese Television Dramas - Theme Music and Background Music

Theme Music and Background Music

Theme music and background music sets the overall tone of the Japanese drama series. Most dramas will start off with one or two minutes of opening theme music during the opening credits. Other dramas will have at the very least a catchy melody in the beginning, displaying the drama's name that lasts a few seconds, and then one to two minutes of ending theme music during the closing credits. Background music is placed and used at strategic points of the episode in order to set the mood of that particular scene.

There is a sub-genre of Japanese drama fans that are also huge fans of the drama's original soundtrack. Most television networks work with music companies to produce original soundtracks. Most opening and closing theme music is written especially for the drama series, while other theme music is licensed from other sources that previously existed. Once the library is put together, the television network will release the original soundtrack compact disc, usually a few weeks after the start of the drama. Closing themes are often sung by a popular J-pop singer or band.

NHK produces its own theme music and is one of the only Japanese television networks that has its own orchestra. Most of the theme music heard in their taiga and asadora dramas were written and produced in-house.

In recent years, many theme songs have been licensed from sources outside of Japan. In some instances, theme songs have been licensed from some of the biggest names in the Western recording industry. This practice has disadvantages. When the Japanese drama is licensed outside of Japan, theme music licensing becomes very costly. For example, in the Fuji TV drama Densha Otoko, the opening song and some of the background music had to be replaced in the release that aired on the Nippon Golden Network because they couldn't get the rights to use the music.