With a long rousing cry of "Goooooooood Mooooorning Tooookyoooooooooooo!" Jon Kabira launches into his weekly radio show "JK Radio — Tokyo United" every Friday at 6 a.m. on J-Wave, a Tokyo-based FM station popular across the Kanto region.
Delivering cheer with his timechecks on even the grimmest winter morning, the veteran bilingual DJ (or "navigator" in J-Wave parlance) has long been part of life for his many listeners — boosting their spirits as they wake up, get dressed, prepare breakfast and set off on their daily adventures.
And the Okinawa native's radio career synchronizes precisely with that of J-Wave — Tokyo's second-oldest commercial FM station (after Tokyo FM), which hit the airwaves 25 years ago with its slogan, "The Best Music On The Planet." At 5 a.m. on Oct. 1, 1988, it was Kabira's voice that listeners first heard in English delivering an official statement to launch the station after a few months of test broadcasts.