JOCX-DTV (Fuji TV)

Background

The Fuji Television Network, Inc. (callsigns JOCX-DTV), branded as Fuji Television (フジテレビ, Fuji Terebi) and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by Fuji Media Holdings, it is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). It is also known for its long-time slogan, "If it's not fun, it's not TV!". It was founded on November 18, 1948, but didn't sign-on until March 1, 1959 by a number of investors, including Nippon Broadcasting System and Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. By 2005, LF joined the Fuji TV group, leaving Cultural Broadcasting as its remaining independent major shareholder.

1st ID (March 1, 1959-September 22, 1969)

Visuals: The screen fades in to Mount Fuji being covered by a set of clouds. The clouds the move away from the screen as the mountain is shown more clearly. Then, the channel name フジテレビ (Fuji Television in English) appears on the center of the screen. After that, the mountain is sending out signals (similar to the 2nd RKO Radio Pictures logo) with channel name zooming to the bottom of the screen. After the final signal, a numeral "8" comes out of the mountain, and text reading "チャンネル 8 (Channel 8 in English)" appears below the "8". The logo stands still for a few seconds the text and the "8" closing out. All that is left is just Mount Fuji as seen on a sky background with a few clouds behind the mountain. After seeing the clear view one more time, the logo fades to black.

Technique: Traditional cel animation, with Mount Fuji represented as a live-action photo.

Audio: A happy sounding majestic fanfare.

2nd ID (September 23, 1969-March 31, 1976)

Visuals:

Startup: On a pink background, there is the Fuji mountain from the previous logo, but darkened, with a few clouds behind it. A sun can be be seen rising on the mountain, which makes it brighter. The sequence then fades into a model of the Fuji Television headquarters from the time (located in Kawadacho, Shinjuku). The mountain fades out after. The sun continues to rise. When it stops, the eight from the previous logo pops out of the headquarters and zooms to the viewer. As the bottom of the eight goes through the screen, the name of the channel appears at the bottom and turns from the top.
Closedown: The model of the headquarters from that time appears, this time over a black background. The camera rotates around the model and it zooms out. It is revealed that it was zooming out from planet Earth. The eight from the previous logo pops out of planet Earth. When the bottom of the eight goes through the screen, there is the moon's surface, the channel's name appears just like in the opening version.

Technique: Both the startup and closedown used live-action footage of models with some cel animation. The closedown also used camera-controlled animation. This was produced by Tsuburaya Productions.

Audio:

Startup: A triumphant fanfare which would build up to becoming more orchestral and majestic, a flute is heard when the 8 got up close to the viewer.
Closedown: A dreamy synth jingle, with an ominous synthesized noise when the 8 got up close to the viewer.

Availability: The closing variant also appeared in a montage that played when Fuji TV was moving from Kawadacho to Odaiba in 1997.

3rd ID (April 1, 1976-March 31, 1978)

Visuals:

Startup: The sequence starts out in complete darkness. Dark purple hues then begin to appear in the background, and the silhouette of Mount Fuji becomes discernible in the foreground. As dawn progresses, the purple sky begins to become pinker in tone. Soon, the first rays of the sun begin to glow behind the mountain. When the sun itself makes its appearance, its bright light engulfs much of the screen and causes rotating lens flares to appear in front of the mountain. The sun slowly rises out of view, brightening the sky and lighting up Mount Fuji. The screen cuts to a wider shot of the mountain, which has clouds floating by behind it. The "8" and the channel name fade in front of the footage.

Closedown: There is Mount Fuji as it briefly erupts from a night sky. Then, the night shadow fades as the mountain turns dark before panning down to a skyline of Tokyo. After that, the Fuji TV logo is shown in white before fading to black.

Technique: A mix of live-action footage with a superimposed printed image.

Audio: Both variants use ominous pieces of synth music, they sound different depending on the variant. They are excerpts from Isao Tomita's "Reverie".

Availability: The opening variant appeared when Fuji TV moved from its old headquarters in Kawadacho to the current one in Odaiba in March 1997.

4th ID (April 1, 1978-March 1, 1984)

The closedown ID.

Visuals:

Startup (used until 1981): On a background with the sun rising and Mount Fuji, the text "愛のメッセージ" ("Love Message") appear at the bottom of the screen. The lyrics then appear on the screen two lines at once. Meanwhile, there is a video of children running across a meadow. At the end the 1957 Fuji TV logo, in white rises from above Mount Fuji.
Closedown: There are shots of monuments installed at the Hakone Open-Air Museum at night. The Japanese text "愛のメッセージ" ("Love Message") appears over the glass monument, and the Japanese text "彫刻の森美術館" ("Hakone Open-Air Museum") appears over the image of a monument. After that, the 1957 Fuji TV logo, in white zooms into the screen over the image of another glass monument.

Variant: The opening plays the short version of the song. To hear the longer version see here.

Technique: Live-action footage combined with Scanimate.

Audio: The station's song "Love Message". For the closing variant, the instrumental version of the song was used.

Availability: A snippet of the instrumental version of "Love Message" can be heard when Fuji TV was moving from its old headquarters in Kawadacho to the current one in Odaiba in March 1997.

The startup is considered by the Japanese TV ID community to be one of the most elusive IDs, with not even a screenshot of it available online. There is a chance that it was preserved on Japanese home recordings, however.

5th ID (April 1, 1979-March 31, 1986)

Visuals: On a starry sky there are two lights, one red and one blue. Then, some yellow lines come out forming the 1957 Fuji TV symbol, the symbol turns into silver before zooming in as a multicolored symbol. Then, a picture of a sky appears before the Fuji TV symbol appears zooming in constantly on different backgrounds with different settings. After that the Fuji TV symbol appears on a black background with the symbol turning into the words "eye" with the RGB (red, blue and green) colors. Then, a silhouette of a blue eye can be seen before zooming in to reveal a black background with a blue light. Then, the Fuji TV symbol forms from the star lights before zooming in on a multicolored wormhole. After that, the Fuji TV wordmark in blue is placed on a black background with the symbol being in white before fading to black.

Variant: A shorter version exists where it cuts to the final part of the logo, but there is a difference, a rainbow trail comes out of the text, the trail zooms in until the eight appears. The trail fades out as eight shines. Used as a station ID.

Technique: A combination of motion-controlled, scanimate and traditional cel animation from Tatsunoko Production.

Audio: A catchy fanfare with a choir performing the lyrics, "Eye", "Channel 8" and "Fuji TV".

6th ID (April 1-August 19, 1986)

Original 1957 logo (Before Transition)
Current 1986 logo (after Transition)

Visuals: There is the 1957 Fuji TV symbol as it zooms out from a wormhole. Then, a white light appears, revealing the Fujisankei eye symbol consisting of a red dot within a drawing of a ring with three eyebrows. After that, planet Earth appears as it spins around. The symbol moves right and turns into a comet which traverses around it, while the comet hits the screen, revealing a white background with the Fujisankei eye symbol alongside its tagline above. The tagline disappears while the words "Fuji Television" appear at the bottom.

Trivia: The logo was originally designed by Katsu Yoshida, while the wordmark was designed by Yuji Baba. The eye is meant to represent the feeling of warmth and familiarity.

Technique: A combination of motion-controlled, Scanimate and CGI.

Audio: A bombastic fanfare combining xylophone and operatic noises accompanied with an announcer.

7th ID (August 30, 1986-September 30, 2001)

Visuals:

Startup: On a pink background, there are multiple flower models spinning around as they bloom to form butterflies. The butterflies later fly while the last one turns into a square, which later fades into a palace. The camera later moves into the cube and into the castle grounds. After that, it cuts into a town with a ferris wheel and a lagoon surrounding it. After that it zooms back to the Fujisankei symbol as it turns into white, while the words "フジテレビ" appear at the bottom with the tagline atop of it.

Closedown: After the Fujisankei eye garden appears as it zooms out, the background changes to black while all of the town's lights turn black and a flower, a bird & a cat start resting for the night. After that, a shot of the town can be seen before the Fuji TV logo and its tagline fade in before fading to black.

Technique: CGI by Fuji TV title designer Zeno Kaneda at IMAGICA.

Audio: A calm and peaceful synth theme composed by Takanori Arisawa. The closedown variant gives the theme an alternative closure consisting of a twilight piano theme.

8th ID (October 1, 2001-)

2001-03 version
2003-2011 version (2011 analog shoutdown variant)
2003 version (digital)

Visuals: On a sunny sky, there is the Fuji Broadcasting Center being surrounded by a futuristic city as it starts to be built. After that, the camera pans up to the sky where a flying piece of land could be seen. Inside of it a man wakes up from his bubble before falling down into a grass floor that turns into a chair. He is later rinsed via a steam machine. The camera later cuts into a woman as she gets dressed. After getting dressed she gets her hair done through a hair machine and heads outside to get her parasol. After that, a shot of the futuristic city can be seen before an elevator appears which takes the people up to a space station resembling the FBC where a holographic man is entertaining the people in the station. Two people later look at the man before zooming out of the center. After zooming out of the station, the man later transforms into the words "Fuji TV" while the words "フジテレビ" and "JOCX-TV" appear in red on the left alongside the station information in white at the bottom.

Variants:

A short version exists, only used for sign-offs.
Beginning on December 1, 2003, the final shot of the startup was changed to have the words "JOCX-TV" (analog) or "JOCX-DTV" (digital) alongside the 1986 Fuji TV logo (with the digital feed using the words "フジデジタルテレビジョン" (Fuji Digital TV) instead of the logo used on the analog feed) in gray. The animation was also shortened with the digital feed having it zoomed to fit the 16:9 ratio and its length being cut to 60 seconds.

Technique: A combination of CGI and live-action by ITP Communications in Osaka.

Audio: A triumphant and orchestrated space-age fanfare, accompanied by an announcer (Yusuke Kondo) saying, "Channel 8, Fuji TV".

Audio Variant: In 2003, the announcer was changed to Tatsuoki Sasaika with him saying "JOCX-TV, Fuji TV" (analog) or "JOCX-DTV, Fuji Digital TV" (digital).

External Links

Official website