This is a page that I'm making for myself...please disregard.
(Background Music= Kis-My-Ft2 - Kis-My-Me-Mine)
Johnny's Jimusho is a talent agency that was established by Kitagawa Johnny and his sister Mary back in the early 60's. It has dominated the Japanese boy band market ever since. Just about all the top male groups on Japanese television today are members of this stable. Most of them not only dominated the music industry, they are also known for appearing everywhere from doramas to TV commercials.
Johnny's Jr. consists of young boys, probably around early teens, being "trained" to sing and dance. When they reach a certain age they move on to debut as part of a group, duo, trio or even solo. Most "juniors-in-training" end up being back up dancers for their seniors who already debuted. The Juniors are divided into groups with leaders. Takizawa Hideaki, Imai Tsubasa and Kimura Takuya are some examples of past Johnny's Jr. leaders. The current junior leader is Yabu Kota.
This website will slightly touch on each member of these groups:
The original nine members of NEWS were handpicked from the larger group of Johnny's Jr. and several smaller groups in September of 2003. Their first single, NEWS Nippon, was released in 2003, but was a limited edition that was only available at Seven Eleven stores and is therefore not counted as their official debut. Instead, their second single Kibou ~Yell~, released in 2004, became known as their debut single. It debuted at number 1 on the Oricon charts and finished the year in the number 13 position. Before this single was released, however, Moriuchi Takahiro left the group and Johnny's Entertainment entirely, bringing the member count down to eight.
In May 2006 the group was temporarily disbanded, so that they could reflect on the misdeeds done by some of its members. In late 2005, Uchi Hiroki, 19 at the time, was suspended for drinking in public while underage (the minimum age for drinking in Japan is 20). In early 2006 Kusano Hironori, 17 at the time, was also accused of drinking but when questioned about it, he denied the accusation but still decided to withdraw out of his own accord. For a short term NEWS performed with only six members and they released the single Sayaendou / Hadashi no Cinderella Boy in 2006, however ultimately it was announced that the group would be temporarily suspended and not allowed to do any group activities. The group was expected to return in 2007 with all 8 members. [1]
On December 30th, 2006 it was announced that NEWS would be returning as a 6 member group, and would be appearing on Johnny's Countdown 2006-2007. Uchi Hiroki and Kusano Hironori would be returning as 'trainees'. According to fans and websites, the rank 'trainee' is lower than the position of a junior. After almost a year long hiatus, NEWS released a single, Hoshi wo Mezashite, as the theme song for the Japanese release of Happy Feet in which Tegoshi Yuya was the voice of the main character, 'Mumble'. Later on it was announced that Hiroki Uchi and Kusano Hironori would be appearing alongside MAD and Chinen Yuri in Shounentai's PLAYZONE 2007. Handwritten letters were sent to their fans announcing their return to the stage. Shounentai said in a message on the official website for the play that they hope that both Uchi and Kusano would be able to leave the trainee title in the end of September, when the play ends.
It was stated at the end of PLAYZONE that the current schedule for both boys were empty and that they do not know what the upcoming months have in store for the boys. Though Hiroki Uchi was last seen in Kanjani8's latest concert where the Kanjani members welcomed Hiroki back as a member of their unit and mentioned that now their group was complete.
In August 2005, two Johnny's Jr. units, Kis-My-Ft and ABC Jr, combined to form Kis-My-Ft2. The name comes from the first letter from each of their last names; Kitayama Hiromitsu, Iida Kyohei, Senga Kento, Miyata Toshiya, Yokoo Wataru, Fujigaya Taisuke, Tamamori Yuta and Nikaido Takashi ("ni" in Kanji is the number 2). They performed as a 8 member group until end of March 2006 when Iida Kyohei left Johnny's due to his studies, leaving Kis-My-Ft2 without its "I".
The unique feature about the group is that all its members do tricks and acrobatic moves with rollerskates. The unit is modelled after one of Johnny's Entertainment older groups Hikaru Genji and are known to perform their songs such as Sayonara no Jounetsu, Areno no Megapolis, Paradise Ginga, StarLight, Kaze no Naka no Shounen, Winning Run, and Garasu no Juudai.
Sennen no Love Song (千年のLove Song) This song originally belonged to K.K.Kity but after the unit disbanded, Private Hearts became a NEWS song while Sennen no Love Song became a Kisumai song.
Originals: Endless Road, TRY AGAIN, Inori (祈り), Ready?, Kis-My-Me-Mine, Good-bye Thank You
Solos: Maria (Fujigaya's solo), Exit (Senga's solo) and Chikara (チカラ) (Kitayama's solo)
The group name came from the first letter of each of the members names and the boys often seat themselves accordingly during interviews. The pronunciation is supposedly close to the English word "cartoon" (or kah-toon). The youngest member of KAT-TUN, Kamenashi Kazuya is considered the group's unofficial "leader".
The group was formed in 2001 by Kinki Kids member Domoto Koichi and they worked as his backup dancers before moving on to singing and performing on their own. For five years they performed during concerts and on TV, gaining many fans, yet strangely did not have an official debut. However, in February 2006 it was announced that the group would debut on March 22nd with their single Real Face and album Best of KAT-TUN. Real Face sold 754,234 copies in its first week, surpassing the record held by ARASHI for most copies of a debut single sold in the first week and giving it the #1 position in the yearly charts. As of May 22nd, 2006, it has sold over a million copies.
Later in August of 2006, KAT-TUN hosted the 24 Jikan Terebi (24 Hour TV) charity event. This program was the second most watched 24 Jikan Terebi program in the charity's history, with a peak viewer ship of 32.8% and an average of 17.7% in the Kantou Region of Japan. The program raised ¥300 million for charity ($2.6 Million USD). The shirts worn by all participants in the program were designed by Nakamaru, himself.
In early October 2006 rumors spread that Akanishi Jin was going to go on Hiatus from the band to study English in the US. On Friday 13th of that month there was a press conference confirming that the rumors were in-fact true. It was revealed that member Akanishi Jin would be taking a hiatus in order to study abroad for a minimum of six months, therefore he would not be included in the next single's release as he did not record on the single and would not be on the cover.
In November of 2006, the group would have released their third single PURE ONE including the theme songs of the drama Tatta Hitotsu no Koi as well as the theme song of Sapuri "your smile", which had previously only been named "Opening Theme". They did release a "music box" collection album with their popular songs redone in a relaxing music box style. However the single's date was pushed back to December and the track listing changed. KAT-TUN officially announced that they will continue as a five person group for the time being. KAT-TUN's 3rd Single Bokura no Machi de was released December 7, 2006.
On April 18th of 2007, KAT-TUN released their second album. The First Press Limited Edition includes a CD containing 7 of their pre-debut songs and the Normal Edition includes the unreleased theme song used for the J-drama Sapuri, now titled "YOU". The album artwork did not feature Akanishi Jin but he does feature on some of the audio of the album.
On April 19th it was announced that Akanishi Jin would be returning to KAT-TUN and this was further described in a press conference on the 20th. Jin soon joined the KAT-TUN concert series and began working as an active member again. KAT-TUN's newest single, Yorokobi no Uta was released on June 6th and is the theme to the J-drama Tokkyu Tanaka 3 go, which stars Tanaka Koki of the group.
Ikuta Toma is a Japanese talent artist, part of Johnny's Jr. from Johnny's Entertainment Inc.
His family consists of a father, a mother named Hiromi, a younger brother named Ryuusei, and a dog named JAM-chan. His father wanted to name him Ikuta Tamegorou, but his mother changed it to Toma because it was easier to say. He used to be called Toma, Touma, or Toma-chan by his family and friends. His younger brother used to call him Toma-san and that morphed to Tomasu. This name was used to be his “trademark” as he hosted a show named Meitantei Tomasu in the Shounen Club program.
