J-Pop music is starting to become somewhat popular, though I'd say most Americans' main exposure to J-Pop is through anime theme music... this past year, we had Hikaru Utada release a CD on a major record label (though it didn't sell particularly well) and the Tofu Records label was launched which has been releasing a few Sony artist albums in their original Japanese forms (though with English liner notes)... but again, the primary Tofu Records releases had some connection to anime:
TM Revolution -- "coordinate" and "Seventh Heaven" [Gundam Seed]
L'arc~en~ciel -- "SMILE" [Fullmetal Alchemist]
There aren't any TV programs which feature J-Pop artists as a music program... the closest we have right now might be "Hi Hi PuffyAmiYumi!", which is a cartoon program featuring the group Puffy and their music that airs on a station available to most of North America via cable (Cartoon Network). I've even heard some of their earliest work, like "Asia no junshin", featured in this show.
In rarer cases, people might have access to a cable network called the International Channel... this station does broadcast some of the Japanese TV programs, some with English subtitles, and this includes at least one music program (Pop Japan TV).
So there are some beginnings, but nothing major to date... there are some Internet radio streams and a few small college radio shows playing J-Pop right now, so there are some sources for international audiences who know where to find it...
Welcome to the Forum, by the way!
