This team research project explores the pulse of the Japanese masses during the latter half of the 1960s through research on the career of the Tigers (Sawada Kenji, Kishibe Osami, Morimoto Taro, Kahashi Katsumi, Hitomi Minoru and Kishibe Shiro), leaders in the popular music trend known as “Group Sounds,” who were active from that period until the beginning of the 1970s. The study seeks to discover the secret of the group's popularity and why the electricguitar sound influenced by the Ventures and the Beatles held so much appeal. The research also probes the significance of this group amid, on one hand, the expansion of the economy as seen in the growth of the mass consumption society, as represented by the spread of television, and, on the other, political movements from the student activism beginning in 1968 to the “Ampo” struggles over the Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1970.
　By choosing a research topic like popular music, the academic focus is no longer merely on an abstract concept, but on something akin to what Gilles Deleuze refers to as the problem of “affections.” The Tigers was managed by a major entertainment production company called Watanabe Productions, and while they were able to achieve tremendous success and popularity in Japan, the activities of the members both as musicians and as celebrities were complex, and splits crept into their relationships with each other. Eventually some members withdrew, and in the end the group was disbanded. Considering this, the problems of popular music cannot simply be reduced to the quality of the music itself. Within the logic of capitalism, how can one attain popularity? Questions like these fit well within the frame of social and cultural research. Interestingly enough, Watanabe Productions began its business as managers of jazz music productions for the U.S. Occupation forces during the Occupation period. When the occupation forces left Tokyo, Watanabe Productions shifted its target to a new audience—the young Japanese generation. Its marketing strategy persisted beyond the 1960s, leaving its mark on Japanese popular culture throughout changes of the postwar period. As such, by examining the career of the Tigers from viewpoint of “affections” (of the masses and the musicians), the logic of capitalism and the issues of the music (the relationships of the musicians with each other and with their producers), this project hopes to open up a new approach to the study of the popular history of the postwar period.

Research Representative	磯前順一	国際日本文化研究センター・准教授
Organizer	井上章一	国際日本文化研究センター・教授
Team Researcher	浅尾雅俊	音楽家
〃	飯田健一郎	同志社大学大学院神学研究科・博士後期課程
〃	小野善太郎	えとせとらレコード・店主
〃	黒﨑浩行	國學院大學神道文化学部・准教授
〃	永岡　崇	南山大学南山宗教文化研究所・研究員
〃	中村俊夫	有限会社トシ・コミュニケーションズ・プロデューサー
〃	藤本憲正	同志社大学大学院神学研究科・博士後期課程
〃	松本　清	音楽評論家
〃	水内勇太	同志社大学大学院文学研究科・博士後期課程
〃	倉本一宏	国際日本文化研究センター・教授
〃	細川周平	国際日本文化研究センター・教授
〃	北浦寛之	国際日本文化研究センター・助教
〃	光平有希	総合研究大学院大学文化科学研究科・博士後期課程