Jin Akanishi’s US debut roars along with the fancy cars decorating the accompanying video.
I don’t want to compare to other Asian artists who debuted in the US (and failed) but seems to me that his foray seemed to be off to a good start. The song “Test Drive” (feat. Jason Derulo) currently ranked first for the iTunes Dance Music charts.
Truth is, the music is danceable and I can imagine crews from America’s Best Dance Crew sampling it on the floor. It’s catchy, the beats are nice plus and polished-sounding.
Well, I wish Akanishi success — after all, he sacrificed his teen idol status for a shot of international stardom.
Johnny Kitagawa and the Jimusho is one rich enterprise.
Based from reports posted at Tokyo Hive, the Jimusho earned 113Million dollars–and this, for only eight months in 2010.
Taking the top spot is the SENPAI of all senpais: SMAP!
Incidentally, I am so in love of this SMAP commercial:
I don’t know what was I thinking–but each time I see Takuya Kimura, a light goes off my head and this message kept on flashing “MatsuJun in 10 years! MatsuJun in 10 years!” You have to give it to KimuTaku as he morphed from reed-thin idol to a deliciously talented man in his later years. And much, much respect should be accorded to these guys for still being up for it when it comes to really corny choreography.
The great thing with SMAP is that they’re really great friends. I mean, they spend almost half of their lives together! I remembered seeing an old clip where their 6th member Katsuyuki Mori bade farewell to SMAP to be a motocross racer. They were really crying and at loss for words. And even to this day–in some of their shows or guesting–they still refer affectionally to Mori.
It was also SMAP who made the Jimusho rich when they finally hit gold in 1993 following a lackluster debut. SMAP never looked back ever since–hitting it big not only in Japan but also the rest of Asia.
Here are the rest of total Album/Single Sales, by Group (as of September 2010), in order. My Stormy boys ranked third (yey!!!).
1. SMAP: 32,286,502 Total Sales (21,833,294 singles, 10,453,208 albums)
Debuted 1991 (19 years) : 45 Singles & 25 Albums Released
2. KinKi Kids: 24,675,385 Total Sales (16,911,103 singles, 7,764,282 albums)
Debuted 1997 (13 years) : 29 Singles & 14 Albums Released
3. Arashi: 16,642,487 Total Sales (11,933,216 singles, 4,709,271 albums)
Debuted 1999 (11 years) : 31 Singles & 12 Albums Released
4. V6: 12,059,970 Total Sales (8,747,984 singles, 3,311,986 albums)
Debuted 1995 (15 years) : 36 Singles & 15 Albums Released
5. TOKIO: 8,190,922 Total Sales (6,679,131 singles, 1,511,791 albums)
Debuted 1994 (16 years) : 43 Singles & 16 Albums Released
6. KAT-TUN: 7,413,518 Total Sales (5,600,066 singles, 1,813,452 albums)
Debuted 2006 (4 years) : 12 Singles & 5 Albums Released
7. Kanjani8: 4,264,517 Total Sales (3,429,865 singles, 834,652 albums)
Debuted 2004 (6 years) : 15 Singles & 4 Albums Released
8. NEWS: 4,141,318 Total Sales (3,376,496 singles, 764,822 albums)
Debuted 2003 (7 years) : 12 Singles & 3 Albums Released
9. Tackey & Tsubasa: 1,956,238 Total Sales (344,913 singles, 611,325 albums)
Debuted 2003 (7 years) : 10 Singles & 4 Albums Released
10. Hey! Say! JUMP!: 1,369,052 Total Sales (1,371,200 singles, 186,501 albums)
Debuted 2007 (3 years) : 5 Singles & 1 Album Released
Just when I thought that I have seen everything there is to see when it comes to Japan’s penchant for idol groups and stupid names and groups with ten thousand members, here comes another idol group for girls who can’t seem to get tired of ogling ikemens…
Presenting (TA-DAH!)
NAKED GUYZ!
O___O ???? (Eh?)
But wait, as the description implies, I was expecting to see handsome guys, pretty guys even! But close inspection reveals a maximum of five cute guys (THAT’s THE MAXIMUM) while the rest looks like rejects from Hana Kimi and Gokusen! (oh, they are?) On the upper leftmost part, the guy looked suspiciously like a serious family man in need of a good source of income to feed his four kids. While the kid in the rightmost side in the third row seemed to be barely out of primary school! Oh, I could go on and on…
And what’s up with the name? Do we seriously expect you guys to be prancing around naked? Cos if you guys don’t have any serious abs, I strongly suggest you put on a shirt or something…(yes, this is coming from the snobbish tub of lard who pines after Mr. Matsumoto–he who is waifishly thin). And if you do perform naked–wowzah!–can we expect this to be in public. Though I am not particularly looking forward to any future flesh display.
And just imagine the possible diva scenarios arising out of the need to succeed among 43 other aspiring idols. Oh, my beloved Nihon–your taste in your idol groups really doesn’t fail to astound me.
While I would have loved to translate the article myself, my non-existent proficiency for Kanji won’t be of any help this time.
As a true-blue (embarrassingly hysterical) Jun-kun fan, I’d say we give the boy the chance to date and find someone who’ll really take care of him. Jun’s not getting any younger, and while Shibasaki Kou is older than Jun by 2 years (hmmmn…so he likes older girls? :-)) news reports state that the two has been getting along really well during the promotional activities for their recent drama–though it doesn’t look like anything’s romantic between them. Who ever our Jun may be dating, it’s about time that fans realize that they should not meddle with the romantic relationships of their favorite idols. (Oh come on, you do think that he’d suddenly pick you out from the sea of screaming girls and declare that you’re his destiny? If you really think that, you have to stop yourself from watching too many romantic doramas).
In one way or the other, we have to accept and realize that these Idols, no matter how heavenly-looking they are, are still human: who gets tired, cranky, happy, delirious and also has raging hormones that needs to be addressed.
If you ask me, I’d rather that Jun-kun ends up with Mao-chan. They look so good together and they are very, very close. If these two pairs up, I’d be one of the happiest fan girls ever! (Wow, spoken like a true-blue onesan)
Jun Matsumoto and Shun Oguri are two of my favorite Japanese actors. Incidentally, these two are also the best of friends and have appeared on some of the best doramas: Gokusen I, the Hana Yori Dango installment and Smile (Jun was the lead, Shun was a guest).
Recently, Jun was on Shun’s All Night Nippon radio program as special guest. They were celebrating the end of Shun’s stint at the popular radio program and to commemorate it, Jun agreed to guest as a favor to his friend. These two never run out of favors for each other and it is us who greatly benefit of this good relationship.
I for one does not object to seeing these two lovely, lovely people in one program!
My personal favorite of course is Hana Yori Dango. Shun and Jun (wow, even their names rhyme) made it difficult for me to choose between Domyouji Tsukasa and Hanazawa Rui.
What I wouldn’t give to be Inoue Mao/Makino Tsukushi each time I see these opening BBs from the two seasons of Hana Yori Dango
Theme: Wish (Arashi)
Theme: Love So Sweet (Arashi)
Here’s looking forward to more Jun and Shun partnerships!
I was a big fan of F4 back in the day (was it ten years ago)?
My fave then was Jerry and Vic, the least would be Vaness cos he was damn too annoying for me (his Meteor Garden lines were just annoying — “Yo!”, “Oh hey”) and what’s up with the constant flipping of hair?
Fast forward nine years later, Vaness Wu is my favorite. He is my Spiritual idol and his faith in God became my inspiration.
Here he is during the Festival of God event in Taiwan:
Goes to show that there is substance beyond Idol Life. Vaness is so blessed right now, yet still so humble. He never forgets to thank God for all the blessings that come his way. He is not one to be afraid in professing his beliefs and he never shies away from expounding about the changes he had to go through just to maintain his new life, based on his new beliefs.
In a world where being an idol means flashy, new clothes and guarding a pre-fabricated image, here is an Idol that remains to succeed and remains blessed. He neither credits this to his talent nor his management alone, for Vaness Wu–what he is now he lifts it up to God.
