is a Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, formed in 2006. They made their major label debut on May 26, 2010, and were signed by

Ariola Japan , is a Japanese record label that is part of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It is the successor of BMG Japan. History *2008 – Ariola Japan becomes a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. *2009 – Ariola Japan becomes a full-on record label ...

Career

Okamoto's was formed by four junior high school students. Fans of influential Japanese

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

artist

Tarō Okamoto was a Japanese artist, art theorist, and writer. He is particularly well known for his avant-garde paintings and public sculptures and murals, and for his theorization of traditional Japanese culture and avant-garde artistic practices. Biograph ...

, the members took a cue from

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

and each adopted

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

s with the surname

Okamoto Okamoto (written: 岡本 literally "hill base") is the 48th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Anri Okamoto (born 1994), fashion model and an actress in Japan *Atsushi Okamoto (born 1981), professional Nippon ...

. Okamoto's made their recording debut with an appearance on the Columbia compilation "Here Come the Modernity" in February 2009, then followed it up in June with their debut album, ''Here Are Okamoto's''. Soon after, Masaru Okamoto left the band and was replaced by

Hama Okamoto is a bass guitarist and member of the rock band Okamoto's from Tokyo. He is represented with the agency Sony Music Artists. He is the eldest son of Downtown's Masatoshi Hamada and actress Natsumi Ogawa. His real name is . Equipment used * Fender ...

. In support of the album, they gave a sold-out solo performance to commemorate its release. Playing over ten shows a month, they managed to perform over one hundred times in 2009."OKAMOTO'S Myspace"
In March 2010, they performed at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

music festival in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, and also performed in 6 other cities around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as part of the

Japan Nite Japan Nite is an annual music event in North America which began in 1996, featuring Japanese rock, pop, and alternative music artists. Originally centered around South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, the event expanded in later years to include mu ...

tour. On May 26, 2010, they made their major label debut under the

record label, an affiliate of

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

. It was announced that Okamoto's major debut single, was chosen as the 18th ending theme of the anime series '' Naruto: Shippuden''. On February 4, 2015, Okamoto's 6th single "Headhunt" was chosen as the opening theme for the anime series

Durarara!! , often shortened to ''DRRR!!'', is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita, with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda. ''Durarara!!'' tells the story of a dullahan working as an underworld courier in Ikebukuro, an internet ...

x2 Shou. In 2016, Okamoto's released their 9th single "Brother" as the ending theme for the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' Hibana: Spark''. In 2020, the Okamoto's song "Welcome My Friend" was used as the ending theme for the anime series '' Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited''.

Members

* – vocals : Real name . Born October 19, 1990 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Former member of and the children's performance group Precoci. Eldest son of American jazz saxophonist Scott Hamilton. * – guitar : Real name . Born November 5, 1990 in Nerima City, Tokyo, Japan. * – drums : Real name . Born January 9, 1991 in

Futako-Tamagawa is located in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, on the north-east bank of the Tama River. The area surrounding the station is commonly called Futako-Tamagawa, and often refers to the Tamagawa and Seta districts of Setagaya, but there is no precise definiti ...

, Setagaya, Tokyo. Former Zutto Zuletellz member. He is the eldest son of

The Privates ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

lead singer . In his childhood he was a child actor in TV dramas. * – bass (2009–present) : Real name . Born March 12, 1991 in Tokyo. Former Zutto Zuletellz member. He is the eldest son of

Masatoshi Hamada is a Japanese comedian best known as the ''tsukkomi'' half of the popular owarai duo Downtown alongside Hitoshi Matsumoto. His nickname is . Hamada is married to Natsumi Ogawa, with whom he has two children. Early life Hamada was born near Da ...

and

Natsumi Ogawa , better known as , is a Japanese actress and entertainer who is represented by Yoshimoto Creative Agency. Her aunt is actress Megumi Tama. Filmography Films TV series References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogawa, Natsumi Japanese ...

. ;Former members * – bass (2006–2009)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Here Are Okamoto's'' (June 3, 2009) * ''10's'' (May 26, 2010)

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 Nov ...

Albums Chart Peak Position: No. 63 * No. 55 * No. 44 * ''Okamoto's'' (January 23, 2013) No. 30 * ''Let It V'' (January 15, 2014) No. 14 * ''VXV'' (August 27, 2014) No. 27 * ''Opera'' (September 30, 2015) No. 27 * ''No More Music'' (August 02, 2017) No. 21 * ''Boy'' (January 9, 2019) No. 13 * ''Kno Where'' (September 29, 2021)

Extended plays

* ''Count 1000 EP'' (December 22, 2009) * ''BL-EP'' (December 21, 2016) No. 139 * ''Welcome My Friend'' (August 26, 2020)

Live albums

* ''Live Rare Trax'' (July 24, 2017) * ''Live'' (May 31, 2017) No. 46

Singles

* Oricon Singles Chart Peak Position: No. 79 * No. 64 * No. 54 * "Joy Joy Joy"/ No. 79 * "Sexy Body" (November 6, 2013) No. 78 * "Headhunt" (February 4, 2015) No. 26 * "Dance With Me"/"Dance With You" (June 17, 2015) No. 36 * "Beautiful Days" (November 25, 2015) No. 55 * "Brother" (June 1, 2016) No. 44

Limited singles

* "Zeroman (Movie Ver.)" (March 1, 2015) * "Burning Love" (September 9, 2016) * "Rocky" (October 14, 2016) * "90's Tokyo Boys" (July 14, 2017) * "Dreaming Man" (December 14, 2019) * "Higher" (December 14, 2019)

Home videos

* ''Okamoto's 5th Anniversary Happy! Birthday! Party! Tour! Final @ Hibiya Open-air Music Hall'' (March 18, 2015) Oricon DVDs Chart Peak Position: No. 58

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okamotos Japanese alternative rock groups Japanese garage rock groups Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from Tokyo