When an artist releases a new single in Japan, s/he usually gets invited to various music programs for an interview and performance. There will normally be a talk portion before the artist performs, and usually the hosts will ask about the artist's current projects and future plans, etc. The length of the talk portion, as well as the style and content of the interview, differ according to the tv show. Here are some of the music programs that Gackt often appears on. You can also view screencaps of the episodes from all of these shows in our Clips section.

Hey!Hey!Hey (Hey!x3)

Hey!x3 is hosted by the comedy duo "Downtown", which consists of Hitoshi Matsumoto (松本人志)and Masatoshi Hamada (浜田 雅功). What sets Hey!x3 apart from other Japanese variety shows is its two hilarious hosts, who often pick on their guests, and sometimes each other, if they run out of topics. Hamada is the cool one, while Matsumoto takes on the goofy role. Unlike other tv shows, which treat the celebrities with respect and reverence, the hosts of Hey!x3 have no qualms about poking and making fun of the artists, all in good fun of course, and this makes the artists seem more "human" to their fans. However, that also makes Gackt a prime target for the Hey!x3 hosts, since he has so many weird habits for them to pick on. Of course, Gackt won't let just anyone bully him around and comes up with his fair share of amusing comebacks too.

Hey!x3 is aired every Monday at 8 pm for an hour and the talk portion is usually pretty long. However, they changed the style of the program recently. In the past, there would only be the two hosts and the artist on the set, but now they have added a corner where guest artists are invited to join the conversation. The guests are usually people who the guest artists have worked with, or people they admire, etc.

They also celebrate their annual anniversary as well as their 300th, 400th episodes, and so forth, by holding special live events. They invite a lot of popular Japanese artists and the artists will perform in front of a large audience. Every now and then, they will also have games and quizzes. Gackt has played billiard with Matsumoto on the show before and has participated in various music quizzes organized by Hey!x3.

Utaban

Utaban is another music program that has plenty of games and interactions with the artist. The two hosts are Ishibashi Takaaki (石橋貴明) and Nakai Masahiro (中居 正広). Nakai is younger, and the one who gets "bullied" often by Ishibashi and the guest. They often discuss the lifestyle of the artist by asking them various questions and Gackt likes to elaborate on his answer with personal stories. The reason why Gackt is so amusing and entertaining to watch is because he uses a lot of body movements and gestures, complete with sound effects, to describe his stories. Utaban usually decorates the stage set to fit Gackt's current mood or lifestyle. The tv show is also well known for adding special effects to the hosts and artists' reactions, which makes it doubly funny. In the first few episodes that Gackt appeared in, he wrote calligraphy and they then talked about whatever he wrote on the paper.

After a brief talk portion, they will usually move on to games. There was a period of time when Gackt and the hosts played the shiritori game every time he appeared on Utaban. It's a game where you have to form a word with the last letter used by the person before you. For example, Apple - England - Drum - Man, and so forth. Gackt and the hosts ended up creating their own shiritori versions on Utaban, such as conversation shiritori (where you have to form phrases instead of words), acting shiritori (where they play the game using props and act out a scene using one of the props provided), and so forth.

In 2005, the show started bringing in remote controlled robots modeled after Gackt and the hosts. The three had to fight against each other after a quick lesson on how to control the robots. When Gackt next appeared on Utaban, they brought in new upgraded versions of the robots, but this time they had to join forces to beat a bigger robot! Since then, Utaban has introduced other games such as the billibowl, where you hit a billiard ball with a cue and knock down the pins. It will definitely be interesting to see what Utaban comes up with the next time Gackt appears on the show!

Domoto Kyoudai

The two main hosts of Domoto Kyoudai are Tsuyoshi Domoto and Koichi Domoto and they appear together with the rest of the Domoto Brothers Band on the show. Domoto Brothers Band is made up of various artists and each of them are in charge of a different musical instrument. The members have undergone many changes, and though there were only six members when the show first started, the number has since grown to fourteen. The name of this tv program was taken from the surname of the two main hosts. Kyoudai means brother in Japanese. However, the two are in fact completely unrelated, despite having the same surname, and come from different prefectures in the Kinki region. The duo also go by the name KinKi Kids for their music work.

This is how Domoto Kyoudai works. Normally, the guest will bring "omiyage" (souvenirs) to the studio, usually their favourite food, and the guest artist will eat it with the band members. The show will then move on to the "Gossip corner", where they ask the artist to confirm the top five rumors of the artist circulated amongst the fans. They will also discuss the guest artist's top five favourite songs in the show. The last section, the Domoto Koibito (Lover) Selection, is only for the female artists. The male band members line up in a row and the artist has to choose one person who she thinks will make the best boyfriend. After that, the artist performs his/her latest single with the band providing the background music.

Gackt was in the first Domoto Brothers Band and played the piano. It can be said that Gackt owes his current popularity to Domoto Kyoudai, as the show was the first to introduce Gackt to the general public. This in turn led to the sudden increase of interest in this mysterious, and rather eccentric, character and boosted his popularity in Japan. Gackt left the show in 2003, when Domoto Kyoudai changed their band members in April. (There isn't much information left on the internet about Gackt and Domoto Kyoudai now, so it is difficult to say for sure what the reasons for him leaving Domoto Kyoudai were. Please contact us if you have any information on this and would like to share it with us.)

Music Station

Music Station is a music television program. Usually, the artists who have released a new single that week will be invited to Music Station to perform their single. The show runs for an hour, and invites about six to seven artists every week. They usually start the show by bringing in the artists one by one on to the stage, and they will then move on to their seats. There will be a short talk portion before the artists perform their latest single. The show will also reveal the weekly single ranking and album ranking and the artists can see how their new singles fared. This chart is different from the Oricon charts in that the Music Station's chart is based on the sales from Friday to Thursday, whereas Oricon's is from Monday to Sunday. Gackt's singles usually make it to the top five during the opening week, and he hit number one for the first time in 2007 with the single RETURNER ~yami no shuuen~. This show is also one of the few music programs that bring in foreign artists, such as Beyonce, Maroon 5 and others. Another unique feature of the show is the "Mini Music Station", which is aired a few minutes before the show starts. It is usually very short, perhaps even less than five minutes, and the host interviews a few of the artists appearing on the episode. You also see a line up of the artists performing that night before it cuts to a short commercial break.

The show is currently hosted by two people, Tamori and Mariko Do. The female host is changed every few years but Tamori has been hosting the show for a fairly long time. His celebrity name, Ta-mo-ri, is the reverse of his real name, Mo-ri-ta. He is never seen without his black sunglasses. As he has been hosting Music Station for a long time, he knows a lot of Japanese artists and is on familiar terms with most of them. Gackt is no exception. He is surprisingly casual with Tamori (given the difference in age) and has even teased Tamori on the show a few times before.

Music Station also organizes a special live event every year. Music Station Super Live is usually held in late December and runs for close to four hours. Gackt appeared in Super Live 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Music Fighter

Music Fighter is a fairly new music program which started in 2004. Though they do have a guest talk corner, Gackt usually only appears in the performance section. Music Fighter always has interesting stage sets and often adds in special effects during Gackt's performance, such as adding in the wind effect when he performed the song Todokonai ai to shitteita noni osaekirezuni aishitsuzuketa..., giving a nice dramatic effect to the performance.

MusicFair 21

MusicFair 21 differs from other music programs in that the guest artists sit side by side and interact with each other, and not just with the hosts. There seems to be an intense rivalry between the male host and Gackt though, as the two seem unable to find any common ground for any topics they discuss. ^^;; They discuss a variety of topics, ranging from the artists' daily habits to dating habits. Gackt usually performs two songs on this program.

Pop Jam

Pop Jam has gone through many changes ever since it was established in 1993. They have changed hosts many times as well, which makes it interesting to watch as we get to see how other artists interact with Gackt. Gackt mainly appeared during the show's sixth and seventh season (2002~2005), when the show was hosted by Yuka and other artists. Pop Jam aired its final episode in March 2007 and it has been replaced by Music Japan.

CDTV

Gackt appears on this program every now and then. He usually comments on his new single before performing the song. Other than promoting his new singles, Gackt also appeared on CDTV during their New Years Eve special for the year 2003 and 2004, as well as during their 10th anniversary special live event.

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