A Far Cry From Home

In January, the record company offered him a chance to record a new ballad, "Umiyuki," or "Ocean Snow." It's slightly upbeat, but, in the mournful enka mainstream, has a tight focus on love gone wrong and suicidal torment.

Since the record was released in February, Jero has not slept much. His life is a blur of newspaper, radio and television interviews.

Japanese entertainment television can be silly in the extreme. (Think of Bill Murray's goofy interviewer in "Lost in Translation.") But Jero, with his excellent Japanese, has managed to come across as hip, dignified and sweet. A television critic in Japan's largest-circulation newspaper, the Daily Yomiuri, recently wrote: "This guy has definitely got a career ahead of him on Japanese TV."

When he is not talking to the media, Jero travels to in-store events and performs in shopping malls. The Washington Post waited about six weeks before his record label could schedule a 30-minute interview.

"They give me one day off a month," Jero said of his handlers. "I usually take the first flight out of Tokyo at 7 and finish the day in my hotel at 11. They want me to sell records, to get myself out there."

Jero said he intends to stay in Japan for the long term and has no plans to sing any music other than enka. He wants to expand the genre's audience and keep it from "getting grayed out."

That's a tall order. Japan has the world's oldest population, with the largest proportion of people over 65 and the smallest proportion of children under 15.

Still, if Jero could become accustomed to an audience of mostly geezers, he has a captive and growing fan base. By 2040, the old will outnumber the young in Japan by four to one. These demographics may prove to be the salvation of enka.

As for his rapper look, Jero wants it known that it was his idea -- not the record company's.

"I have been wearing hip-hop clothes since high school," he said. "It is not something that has been pushed on me."

He said fans always ask him why he doesn't wear a kimono onstage, like all the other enka singers.

"If I did, it wouldn't be me," he said. "It would be perceived as something that was made up."