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Beginner (song)
"Beginner" is Japanese idol girl group AKB48's 18th single, released on October 27, 2010. Release Information Much like AKB48's previous singles such as "Heavy Rotation", "Beginner" was released in three different versions with five cover variations, with the theater version being exclusively sold in the AKB48 theater in Akihabara, Tokyo. Each version contained a different set list aside from the title track and "Boku Dake no Value". The third track on type A, "Kimi ni Tsuite" performed by Mint, was selected via a fan vote held on Ameba Pigg. In addition, the DVDs attached to all versions except for the theater version each contains three out of the possible six different music videos made for the single: Type A contained formations led by Yuko Oshima, Mariko Shinoda, and the duo of Mayu Watanabe and Jurina Matsui (SKE48), while type B featured formations led by Atsuko Maeda, Tomomi Itano, and Minami Takahashi. The original music video, directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, was found to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tomomi Itano
is a Japanese recording artist, songwriter, dancer, model, and actress. She is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2011 she debuted solo with a single titled " Dear J", which was followed the same year by "Fui ni" (number 1 in Japan), and later by " 10nen Go no Kimi e" (2012) and " 1%" (2013). Life and career 2005–2013: Early career beginnings and AKB48 In 2005, Itano joined the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 as part of the first team, Team A. She also modeled for the women's fashion magazine ''Cawaii!'', and released her first photo book titled ''T.O.M.O.row'' in April 2009. In early 2010, she played Shibuya in AKB48's TV Tokyo drama ''Majisuka Gakuen''. She had a recurring role on ''Kamen Rider W'' as Queen, alongside fellow AKB48 performer Tomomi Kasai, until the show ended in late 2010. Together, they made up the sub-unit Queen & Elizabeth. In AKB48's 2010 general election, she placed fourth overall. 2010 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ameba (website)
is a Japanese blogging and social networking website. In December 2009, Ameba launched Ameba Now, a micro-blogging platform competing with Twitter. In March 2009 Ameba launched Ameba Pico, a Facebook app for the English market based on the virtual community Ameba Pigg. Ameba Pigg (PC version) Pigg is a Japanese blog virtual community in which users can customize an avatar, socialize with people around the world using replicas of landmarks around the world like Shibuya 109 and the Statue of Liberty. Users can also decorate their own rooms with different types of furniture, bought with virtual currencies called "Gummies", "Tokens", and "Silver Coin". Users can and invite other players to their rooms and leave them messages. For the English version, Gummies and Tokens are game currencies that are earned by doing in-game tasks such as ringing other people's rooms and giving the props, while "Candy Gold" is a currency in the game which users can only acquire by paying real mon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariko Shinoda
is a Japanese singer, actress, fashion model, and former member of the Japanese idol group AKB48, in which she was the captain of Team A. Career In October 2005, she auditioned for AKB48's first generation roster but failed the audition. Shortly after her audition, Shinoda began working AKB48's theater café – then known as Akihabara 48 – as a café attendant serving customers and handing out promotional flyers on the street. Shinoda became quite popular among patrons who soon learned of her failing her audition. To show their support, patrons began submitting her name on hand-written ballots for the weekly performer polls. Yasushi Akimoto, general producer of AKB48, took notice of her popularity and gave her a chance to join AKB48 on the condition that she learn the group's 12 songs and dances in four days. She became AKB48's first non-generation, or "1.5 generation", member with her debut on Team A on 22 January 2006. Her first single as part of the main group was on "Ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rino Sashihara
is a Japanese tarento, singer, producer and actress. She is best known as a former member of idol groups HKT48, AKB48 and STU48, and was the theater manager for HKT48 and STU48. She was also a member of AKB48's unit Not Yet (band), Not Yet and is the producer of the idol groups =Love, ≠Me and . Career 2007–2012: AKB48 In October 2007, she auditioned and was chosen as a trainee for the 5th generation of AKB48. She was promoted to a regular member of Team B in August 2008. Her first title track single was "Ōgoe Diamond", in October of that year. She placed 27th in the popularity-driven 2009 General Election, where she was grouped with the "Under Girls", the ones who would perform on the first B-side singles. She remained in that position on the follow-up single releases until the following year, the 2010 General Election, where she placed 19th and was grouped with the main girls who sing on the title track. In August 2009, AKB48 announced that she would transfer to Team A, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haruna Kojima
is a Japanese actress, model, and former singer. From 2005 to 2017, she was a member of idol group AKB48 under Team A. Career Kojima was born in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, and started her career as a member of Angel Eyes, an idol group. After Angel Eyes disbanded in 2001, she remained in contract with Stardust, but later switched to Ogi Production. Kojima participated in the first AKB48 audition in July 2005, which she passed along with 23 other participants, because the application was just taking a self-image by a mobile phone and e-mail it, and assuming that she "could take 10-time prettier one, and just sent". Although she voluntarily applied for the audition and passed, she was still looking at then-AKB48 project in a suspicious way, and tried to skip the very first dancing lesson because of her then-part-time job, but eventually participated it in response to the persuasion by Tomonobu Togasaki, Manager of AKB48 Theater. The group made their debut in Decem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Can You Celebrate?
"Can You Celebrate?" is Namie Amuro's seventh solo single under the Avex Trax label. Released on February 19, 1997, "Can You Celebrate" is the best-selling single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history, with sales of 2,296,200 copies. It is also the theme song for Japanese drama ' in 1997, which starred Emi Wakui, Tetsuya Takeda and Takashi Sorimachi. Namie Amuro herself appears in the opening sequence of the drama, along with Tetsuya Komuro on the piano. Release Unique to Amuro's singles, the re-release was released in a hardpaper slipcase and pressed on a full-sized 5" disc instead of the then industry standard 3" disc. The cover utilizes images from her ''Concentration 20'' (1997) album as well as images from her original "Can You Celebrate?" and "Dreaming I was dreaming" singles. Closeup shoots of Amuro clasping her hands together exposing her engagement ring are some of the only professional photographs of it that exist. The single was re-released on December 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of the Japanese entertainment industry since the early 1990s, Amuro is known for breaking the youthful idol stereotype of J-Pop, changing the fashion trends and lifestyle of women in Japan, her experimentation across music styles, and for her visual imagery in music videos and live performances. Due to her career longevity, resilience, professionalism, efforts behind-the-scenes in the music industry, and her way of life, she is considered a pop culture icon in Japan and Asia. She has been referred to as "Diva of Heisei Era" and the " Queen of Japanese Pop", and has been recognized as having the influence and career impact domestically equivalent to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western music and pop culture. Born in Naha, Oki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Addicted To You (Hikaru Utada Song)
"Addicted to You" is a song by Japanese-American recording artist Hikaru Utada from her second studio album ''Distance'' (2001). It was released as the album's lead single on September 6, 1999 by EMI Music Japan. "Addicted to You" was written by Utada and produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis; this is Utada's first collaboration with American producers and composers. The single artwork was shot by American photographer Richard Avedon and features two black-and-white figures of Utada. Musically, "Addicted to You" is an R&B song. "Addicted to You" received positive reviews from music critics, many who highlighted it from the parent album; one music critic viewed the single as "nostalgic". It achieved commercial success in Japan, with a peak position of number one on the Oricon Singles Chart and a Million certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). The single remains the fourth highest selling single in first week sales, and the thirty-ninth best selling single ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hikaru Utada
, who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parents, record producer Teruzane Utada and singer Keiko Fuji, Utada began to write music and lyrics at an early age and often traveled to Tokyo as a result of her father's job. Eventually, a recording contract with Toshiba-EMI was signed. Under the stage name Cubic U, she released an English-language debut album '' Precious'' in early 1998, but it was a commercial failure. In the following year, heavily influenced by R&B and dance-pop, a Japanese-language debut ''First Love'' was released and became an immediate success. Backed by the success of singles " Automatic", "Time Will Tell", and " Movin' On Without You", the album sold two million copies in its first week in Japan, topped the Oricon charts for six non-consecutive weeks and went ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speed (Japanese Band)
Speed (stylized as SPEED) were a Japanese female vocal/dance group comprising Hiroko Shimabukuro, Eriko Imai, Takako Uehara and Hitoe Arakaki. All four members are former students of the Okinawa Actors School which also trained popular artists Namie Amuro and MAX. Speed made their major label debut on August 5, 1996, and became an immediate success. They would eventually become the most successful girl group anywhere in Asia with sales of over 20 million singles and albums in just three years and eight months. They disbanded on March 31, 2000, to pursue solo careers and to study. Following their disbandment, the group reunited several times for charity, but on August 20, 2008, they officially announced plans to reunite permanently. They made their comeback on November 12, 2008, with the single "Ashita no Sora." History 1995–1997: Early success The girls that would become Speed met at the Okinawa Actors School and originally formed a group containing seven to nine rotating me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc. was originally set up as a subsidiary of Original Confidence and took over the latter's Oricon record charts in April 2002. The charts are compiled from data drawn from some 39,700 retail outlets (as of April 2011) and provide sales rankings of music CDs, DVDs, electronic games, and other entertainment products based on weekly tabulations. Results are announced every Tuesday and published in ''Oricon Style'' by subsidiary Oricon Entertainment Inc. The group also lists panel survey-based popularity ratings for television commercials on its official website. Oricon started publishing Combined Chart, which includes CD sales, digital sales, and streaming together, on December 19, 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shibuya
Shibuya ( 渋谷 区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1, 2022, it has an estimated population of 228,906 and a population density of 15,149.30 people per km2 (39,263.4/sq mi). The total area is 15.11 km2 (5.83 sq mi). The name "Shibuya" is also used to refer to the shopping district which surrounds Shibuya Station. This area is known as one of the fashion centers of Japan, particularly for young people, and as a major nightlife area. History Heian to Edo period Shibuya was historically the site of a castle in which the Shibuya family resided from the 11th century through the Edo period. Following the opening of the Yamanote Line in 1885, Shibuya began to emerge as a railway terminal for southwestern Tokyo and eventually as a major commercial and entertainment center. Meiji to Showa peri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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