Joey Carbone strikes a chord in the Japanese music industry with catchy pop melodies.

It’s mimi ni nokoru, he says, the idea of a tune latching onto your ear, compelling you to sing in the shower and skip to the office. And as a longtime composer for Japan’s top music labels, Carbone is an expert at it.

He’s the author of over 100 hit songs, and in August was selected by Oricon—Japan’s Billboard Magazine—as the month’s top-ranked composer when his track “Signal,” sung by 2005 Nisei Week parade-goers KAT-TUN, went to number one.  

KAT-TUN's hit track "Signal" and a recent album

But ask him how he does it and he’ll attest it’s not easy. Coming up with a melody is only part of it. The other part being the undeterred salesman, pitching your song and returning with 50 more even after being told “No thanks.” “I don’t take it personally,” says Carbone. “When I first got into this, if people didn’t take my songs my feelings were really hurt. But now it’s like, ‘Okay you don’t like this? Then how bout this one?’” Being an American with little prior knowledge of Japan didn’t help either. Carbone worked at the language for years, taking classes at UCLA Extension, private lessons at Berlitz, and practicing with friends he’s met along the way. He also learned the intimate nature of Japanese business deals. “It’s much different from the U.S.,” he says. “If you introduce an attorney and a manager to the Japanese they’d freak out. In America, everything has to be contracted before the song is released.

Courtesy of Joey Carbone Carbone sits with Nozomi Tsuji, an unidentified girl and Ai Kago of the Morning Musume.

In Japan, once a song is released, I’ll get the contract in the mail four months later. If I don’t sign it, they’ve got a big problem. But of course I do sign it because we have a relationship. They trust me.”

A Brooklyn-native of Italian roots, Carbone grew up with the sounds of the Beach Boys, Motown and the Beatles all around him. When he first visited Japan in 1982 as a producer, he realized J-pop fell naturally in line with his music sensibilities.

“Japan and I are a good match from a composing point of view,” he says.

In 1985, Carbone composed a song for a Honda scooter commercial which was later used in a movie produced by legendary but elusive boy band mogul Johnny Kitagawa, reportedly a Japanese American from Southern California. The two became friends and to this day, Kitagawa calls the music producer for song ideas.

Aside from KAT-TUN, Carbone has composed for Arashi, Shonentai, Tacky and Tsubasa, SMAP, Shibugakitai and several others over a two-decade span. Though not just boy bands—Morning Musume offshoots W (Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji) and Aya Matsuura, and R&B vocalist Yuki Koyanagi also top the list.

He’s also fueled songs for the C.C. Girls, a short-lived female pop group whose sexy image may have proved too much for the burikko (cutesy)-loving Japanese audience to handle in the early ‘90s, he says.

(“C.C.” stands for C-cup.) Though that started to change once Okinawa-native Amuro Namie stepped onto the scene in 1995.

“She came out with long hair, a mini-skirt and high boots, and everyone started copying her. And it started getting sexier ... And now you have Koda Kumi, who is super sexy.”

And though most of these artists certainly may not have the vocal range of Beyonce Knowles, what they do have is a physical presence that can make all of Japan blush.

“Artists in Japan have got to be young, and they’ve got to be good looking,” Carbone says. “The most important thing is the look.”

It’s an industry standard that brews unlikely talent. Though hand them one of Carbone’s catchy melodies and you’ll have yourself a star.

So the next time you’re in Japan, stop and listen carefully to the music around you—on TV, in the karaoke room, even at the convenience store. More often than not, they’re Southern California homegrown tunes. Be warned though, these songs are infectious. Listen too carefully and they’re likely to stick in your head—even make you sing aloud.

Joey Carbone is currently looking for Japanese or Japanese American singers and rappers to introduce to the Japanese market. You can contact him at: joeyc123@earthlink.net