I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Space Shower TV, the Japanese homegrown equivalent of MTV. With its unpretentious presenters, high quotient of decidedly unslick, locally made music videos and low-key artist interviews, Space Shower has a strong "street" feel.
Despite its almost amateurish (in the best sense of the word) vibe, Space Shower presented an object lesson in how to run an awards show at its 7th annual Music Video Awards ceremony March 8, held for the first time at the Budokan.
The show, which started at 6 p.m. and was scheduled to wind up at 8:30, ran just 15 minutes over time, in contrast with last year's inaugural MTV Video Music Awards Japan gong-fest, which ended 90 minutes later than scheduled. MTV made the classic mistake of trying to do too much too soon, whereas Space Shower has gradually fine-tuned its awards ceremony over the years into the smoothly run operation we saw on March 8.