US singer brings hip-hop cool to Japanese folk songs
Kimiko de Freytas

TOKYO—With a do-rag, some bling and hip-hop moves, a young American singer is spreading a craze in Japan for the country’s traditional folk songs which until recently had been considered a dying art. Jerome White Junior, better known in Japan as “Jero,” has smashed through the benchmark Oricon music charts, hitting fourth place with his debut single released last month and setting a sales record for a debut “enka” folk song.
Wearing a matching baseball cap, hooded top and baggie pants, the 26-year-old African-American — whose grandmother was Japanese — has impressed old and young alike with his soulful singing in perfect Japanese combined with hip-hop style. “His voice is really smooth, and he gives so much feeling when he sings. I’m moved. His voice, his looks, he’s so cool!” exclaimed Yuki Kato, 27, who skipped work to hear him sing at a promotional concert in Tokyo.
“I’ve never listened to enka before, but ever since I’ve listened to him I’ve wanted to listen to enka more,” said Kato, wearing a bright yellow minidress and hoop earrings. Enka are slow, mournful and often melodramatic ballads about love, death, loneliness, perseverance and, occasionally, suicide.
The music, which developed in post-war Japan, has struggled in recent years to attract younger listeners who are more tuned in to fast and glitzy pop songs with more upbeat lyrics widely heard on television commercials. Jero’s debut song, “Umiyuki,” or “Ocean Snow,” is anything but giddy J-pop. Written by famous songwriter Yasushi Akimoto and musician Ryudo Uzaki, the song is about a person contemplating suicide because of unrequited love.
“The snow that falls from the frozen sky leaves without a trace when it hits the waves. If my love for you doesn’t reach you, shall I throw myself (into the ocean)?” Jero croons. “One of my main goals is to get more young people to listen to enka. If I can inspire and be a starting step for young people to start listening to it, I think it would be great,” Jero said in an interview.
“I think there will be a little bit of experimenting here and there which I would love to do. But I want to keep the enka roots because if you change it, it will turn into another Japanese pop song. And I don’t want that.” Instead of putting off listeners with the song’s melodrama, Jero has instead inspired his audiences to appreciate their roots.
“He has reawakened Japanese to the beauty of enka music and the Japanese language — and the soul that lies in Japanese that we had forgotten,” said 34-year-old housewife Yumi Kuroda, who was singing along at Jero’s performance and watching him rapturously. “Most of all, that a foreigner is teaching us... is simply amazing. He is electrifying,” she added. Singing enka is also a tribute to the singer’s roots. Jero was first introduced to enka by his grandmother who moved to Pittsburgh from Japan with his grandfather, a US serviceman who had been stationed near Tokyo. Jero says that enka remains a link with his grandmother, who died three years ago. “Whenever I’d sing enka in front of my grandmother she would be very, very pleased and happy. I love her to death so I kept singing. I got hooked on it and thought, ‘I would love to be an enka singer’,” Jero said.