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is a Japanese singer, actor, host, producer, magazine model and a member of KAT-TUN. Born and raised in
Edogawa, Tokyo is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It takes its name from the Edo River that runs from north to south along the eastern edge of the ward. In English, it uses the name Edogawa City. The easternmost of the wards, it shares b ...
, he joined the Japanese talent agency,
Johnny & Associates is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...
, at the age of 12. He was drafted as a member and co-lead vocalist of the popular J-pop group
KAT-TUN is a Japanese boy band formed under Johnny & Associates (Johnny's) in 2001. The group's name was originally an acronym based on the first letter of each member's family name: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, ...
in 2001. He is also one half of the temporary group,
Shūji to Akira was a special temporary unit formed by KAT-TUN member Kazuya Kamenashi and NEWS member Tomohisa Yamashita for their 2005 drama '' Nobuta o Produce''. and are the names of the characters Kamenashi and Yamashita play in the drama respectively. A ...
, whose only single "Seishun Amigo" became the best-selling single of 2005 in Japan. Individually, he is a popular actor who has played the lead role in several television dramas.


Early life

Born in
Edogawa, Tokyo is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It takes its name from the Edo River that runs from north to south along the eastern edge of the ward. In English, it uses the name Edogawa City. The easternmost of the wards, it shares b ...
on February 23, 1986, Kamenashi is the third child of his parents. He has two older brothers, Yūichirō and Kōji, and one younger brother, Yūya. He also has two sisters-in-law and a niece from his second brother's marriage and a nephew from his first brother's marriage. His given name comes from a character from the manga, ''
Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...
'', written by a Japanese
manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...
,
Mitsuru Adachi is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with ''Kieta Bakuon'', based on a manga originally crea ...
. Coincidentally, bandmate
Tatsuya Ueda , is a Japanese idol, singer, and actor from the Japanese idol group KAT-TUN. Born in Kanagawa in Japan, he joined the Japanese talent agency, Johnny & Associates in 1998. In March 2006 he debuted as a member of the Japanese boy band KAT-TUN an ...
was also named after the twin brother of Kamenashi's namesake.''
Cartoon KAT-TUN was a Japanese variety show hosted by KAT-TUN, a Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates. The show began airing on April 4, 2007, and ended on March 24, 2010. It aired every Wednesday from 11:55 pm to 12:26 am on NTV for 3 years. ...
Episode 43''. aired on
NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televis ...
on 2008-01-30.
An avid baseball fan and player like the character he was named after, Kamenashi once represented his country in the junior world league as
shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...
though he had to give up the sport professionally due to lack of spare time after he was accepted into
Johnny's Entertainment is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rent ...
despite having the support of
Johnny Kitagawa John Hiromu Kitagawa (Japanese name ; October 23, 1931 – July 9, 2019), known professionally as , was an American-born Japanese businessman and talent manager. He was the founder and president of Johnny & Associates, a production agency for nu ...
, the agency's president, to pursue both careers.''
Shounen Club is a Japanese music variety show that airs on NHK BS Premium. The show premiered on NHK BS 2 on April 9, 2000 and continues to this day. Worldwide, it airs on NHK World Premium and TV Japan (US) as Pop Music Club It features the juniors of Joh ...
interview: Kazuya Kamenashi''


Acting career

In 2009, Kamenashi was cast in a live-action adaptation of a
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
-themed manga, '' Kami no Shizuku'', as the leading actor. Voters awarded him, his co-stars (
Riisa Naka is a Japanese actress. She was given a Best New Talent award at the 2009 Yokohama Film Festival. Naka became famous by appearing in ''Hachi One Diver'' (2008) and played the lead, Hana Adachi, in ''Yankee-kun to Megane-chan'' (2010). Personal li ...
and
Seiichi Tanabe is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 24th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Hush!'' and at the 27th Hochi Film Award for ''Hush!'' and ''Harmful Insect''. Filmography Film * ''Atashi wa juice'' (1996) * ''April Story'' (1998 ...
) and the drama a near clean sweep of the winter edition of the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Awards in March 2009.Drama Grand Prix: "Kami no Shizuku" wins winter
Tokyograph. 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
He made a guest appearance as a doctor on the third episode of TBS drama series, ''Mr. Brain'', opposite his talent agency senior
Takuya Kimura is a Japanese actor, singer, and radio personality. He is regarded as a Japanese icon after achieving success as an actor. He was also a popular member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in Asia. A 1996 television drama series, ''Long ...
. Kamenashi also made his film debut on July 11, 2009, reprising his role of Ryū Odagiri, now a trainee teacher in '' Gokusen The Movie''. The movie earned half a billion yen in its opening weekend landing at the top spot of the box office and stayed in the top ten for six consecutive weeks. It later ranked at number 16 on Japan's 2009 yearly box office results raking in US$33,963,369 at the end of its run. In 2010, he was cast in the leading role of Kyohei Takano for a live-action adaptation of popular manga, ''
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is a manga series written by Tomoko Hayakawa. The individual chapters have been serialized in Bessatsu Friend since 2000, and in 36 tankōbon volumes in Japan by Kodansha. The series was licensed for an English language release in North Ame ...
'', which aired on NTV. It was named Best Drama by voters of the 13th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Awards in March 2010 while Kamenashi and his co-star, Aya Omasa, were also awarded Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively. In 2011, he took on a role as Bem from the adaptation of anime ''Yōkai Ningen Bem''. He received Best Actor award from Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix and Television Drama Academy Awards that year. Following the success of the drama, ''Yōkai Ningen Bem'' was made into film in 2012. At the end of its run, the film had grossed US$12,628,578 gross. In 2013, Kamenashi starred in the movie ''It's Me, It's Me''. The movie premiered in 15th Udine Far East Film Festival Italy in April, and Kamenashi won the My Movie Audience Award. In 2016, Kamenashi was cast in the drama, '' The Mysterious Thief Yamaneko,'' which was based on the novel "Kaito Tantei Yamaneko Series" by Manabu Kaminaga as Yamaneko. In 2017, he appeared in the drama ''Boku unmei no hito desu'' alongside his former co-star from Nobuta wo produce,
Tomohisa Yamashita , also widely known as , or Tomo, is a Japanese singer, actor, and TV host. Yamashita joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates as a trainee in 1996 (age 11) and made his small acting debut for NHK's ''Shonentachi'' (1998) and has be ...
. In March 2017 Kamenashi together with
Tao Tsuchiya is a Japanese actress, model, dancer, lyricist and singer. She is best known for her memorable role of Makimachi Misao in the movie series ''Rurouni Kenshin'', Mai Nakahara in '' The 8-Year Engagement'', Koharu in '' The Cinderella Addiction'' a ...
in Live Action Film popular japanese shojo manga PとJK, Also in May 2017 he co-starring
Lily Franky is a Japanese illustrator, writer and actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films since 2001. Career In 2016, Franky received the Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film at Japan Cuts JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film is a ...
as supporting actor, in an independent film A Beautiful Star (美しい). In 2018, he was back in filming drama series, taking the lead of Final Cut, (Fuji TV), He also appeared in TV Movie Tegami: Keigo Higashino (東野圭吾 手紙) Based on the popular novel Tegami by
Keigo Higashino is a Japanese author chiefly known for his mystery novels. He served as the 13th President of Mystery Writers of Japan from 2009 to 2013. Higashino has won major Japanese awards for his books, almost twenty of which have been turned into films a ...
. In 2019, He was cast alongside
Fumi Nikaido is a Japanese actress and fashion model. Career Starting as a model in Naha, Okinawa, Nikaidō made her film debut in 2009 in ''Toad's Oil'', directed by Kōji Yakusho. She and Shota Sometani received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best You ...
as main in a re-make of a masterpiece Strawberry Night into Strawberry Night Saga (Fuji TV).


Other endeavors


Modeling and fashion

Kamenashi walked the runway in 2008 for
Hermès Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès ( , ), is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its logo, since ...
' men's autumn/winter 2008 collection in Tokyo. In 2010, Kamenashi won the annual Best Jeanist award with more than 29,000 votes in the men's category, almost triple that of the second runner-up,
Masaki Aiba (born December 24, 1982) is a Japanese singer, actor, television personality, radio host and dancer. He is a member of the boy band Arashi. Aiba began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & ...
. This is his fifth consecutive win and is thus promoted into the hall of fame, making him Eternal Best Jeanist and ineligible for future runs.


Baseball

Kamenashi threw the first pitch at the
Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...
opening ceremony for the 2009 baseball season at a match in
Chiba City is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It sits about east of the centre of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. The city became a government-designated city in 1992. In June 2019, its population was 979,768, with a population density of 3,605 people p ...
featuring the
Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...
against the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...
on July 19, 2009. Kamenashi participated in the
Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...
's Yomiuri Giants 23rd FanFiesta 2009 on November 23, 2009 and led his team to victory. He participated during the 1st inning as shortstop and for the 2nd and 3rd innings as pitcher. He belonged to the Black Rose Variety Team led by SMAP's Nakai Masahiro against the Giants Select Members Team. In 2012, he was given the opportunity to do live coverage of Major League Baseball between
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
and
Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...
. He also threw the ceremonial pitch against
Jemile Weeks Jemile Nykiwa Weeks ( ; born January 26, 1987) is an American former professional baseball second baseman and outfielder. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and San Diego P ...
. Kamenashi is a commentator and host on the sports shows ''Going! Sports&News'' and ''Dramatic Game''.


Discography


Singles


Solo songs


Filmography


Film


TV dramas


TV programs


Live performances


Stage shows


Concerts


Awards


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kamenashi, Kazuya Johnny & Associates KAT-TUN members Japanese male pop singers Japanese idols Japanese television personalities Living people 1986 births People from Edogawa, Tokyo Singers from Tokyo 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese male singers Japanese male actors