The 54-year Scatman, who was born John Larkin in California, was a starving scat-singing jazz pianist who lit out for Europe several years ago. Larkin stutters, and one day somebody suggested to him that, hey, rap isn't too far from what you do. With a couple of European dance music producers behind him, the Scatman was born, turning, Larkin likes to say, his greatest problem into his biggest asset. His singles last year "Scatman" and "Scatman's World" were huge hits in the charts and dance clubs of Europe (In the Netherlands, they outsold Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi) and Asia, though the Scatman has yet to cause a stir with his fellow Americans.

But Japanese fans, who accord the Scatman the sort of popularity Henry Kissinger has with their newspapers, have been the kindest. His album Scatman's World has sold two million copies in Japan, and he was performing here even before it came out. His homepage on the Internet gets far and away more hits from Japan than anywhere else. Thanks to a TV commercial, there's darn near no escaping his trademark "ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop!," and while the world awaits his second album, he's been dropping singles (including some Japan-only releases, such as the inevitable karaoke version) like so many kits from a fecund rabbit. In March he was in town to pick up the new artist award from JASRAC, Japan's recording industry association. No doubt he'll be back soon, playing the country's music halls as long as he can ride this wave.

For those of us who like our music laced with subtlety, the Scatman's popularity makes about as much sense as Boredoms do to a Garth Brooks fan. With his `40s hipster fedora and bushy mustache, he looks more like an extra from the `70s sitcom "Chico and the Man" than a photogenic J-Pop idol, and he's way too old by that standard as well. But if his Eurobeat backing gives his music a generic quality, his scatting makes it stand out. He's no Ella Fitzgerald, but you'd have no trouble picking him out of an AOR/DOR lineup.

Clearly much of the appeal, at least to listeners for whom English is not a native language, is the nonverbal aspect of the Scatman's songs. As with the success of Sony Records' Mariah Carey, or Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" (which, Elvis Costello once observed, a Martian could understand), the Scatman's inspirational message is easily conveyed. It's kind of along the lines of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" crossed with Norman Vincent Peale. To wit: "If the Scatman can do it brother so can you."

Accentuate the positive, the old song goes. As Scatman John, Larkin has, and become a global phenomenon in the bargain. Maybe he'll never win the respect of the jazz snobs that wouldn't give him the time of day back in Los Angeles. But in Japan, he can't hear himself stutter for the loving fanfare of his sold-out crowds.