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Kat-Tun Archive
Kat-Tun Part2 Archive
KAT-TUN (hepburn: katūn, sounding similar to "cartoon") is a J-pop group from Johnny & Associates, made up of six young Japanese men:
Kamenashi Kazuya, 亀梨和也, (born February 23, 1986)
Akanishi Jin, 赤西仁, (born July 4, 1984)
Taguchi Junnosuke, 田口淳之介, (born November 29, 1985)
Tanaka Koki, 田中聖, (born November 5, 1985)
Ueda Tatsuya, 上田竜也, (born October 4, 1983)
Nakamaru Yuichi, 中丸雄一, (born September 4, 1983)
The group's name is an acronym formed by the members' surname initials.
Like most of Johnny's other groups, KAT-TUN not only sings and dances, but the members also act and star in commercials. They are one of the most popular talent idol groups in Japan at the moment, and have released a debut CD, setting records in album sales
KAT-TUN is a unit of Johnny's Jr., a large group of boys which make up the Junior branch of the Johnny & Associates entertainment company. They made their professional debut with their single "Real Face", released in March 2006. They previously released a concert DVD which features approximately 10-15 of their songs.
Before joining KAT-TUN, each member belonged to different Junior units. In 2001, KinKi Kids member Koichi Domoto personally picked 6 Johnny's Jr. members to be his back dancers in the NHK music program, Pop Jam. He chose Kamenashi, Akanishi, Taguchi, Tanaka, Ueda and Nakamaru to be his back dancers and gave them the unit name KAT-TUN.
Initially, KAT-TUN was only meant to be a dancing unit to support Koichi Domoto. However, KAT-TUN gained a great deal of attention so the formation was kept and KAT-TUN remains a solid unit.
KAT-TUN's debut
Their debut was announced January 29, 2006. This was a long-awaited event for both the members and their fans. The debut is to be accompanied by a concert tour of Japan.
Release Date: March 22, 2006
Single: "Real Face"
Album: "Best of KAT-TUN"
DVD: "Real Face Film"
Debut Sales
With the release of their album, single and DVD, KAT-TUN broke numerous records. "Best of KAT-TUN" debuted with sales of 556 548 copies, "Real Face" debuted with 754 234 copies, and "Real Face Film" debuted with 374 202 copies. With these releases, KAT-TUN topped all three charts, only the second artist to do so in the history of the Oricon Charts (the first artist to do so was Ayumi Hamasaki). They hold the records for the highest single debut sales as well as the record for highest DVD debut sales. Their single "Real Face" topped the Oricon charts for 3 weeks, making them the first artist in the millennium to do so. Their single sold over one million copies in nine weeks.
Members
Kazuya Kamenashi (亀梨和也, Kamenashi Kazuya?), often called simply Kame, is a Japanese pop idol, singer and actor. He is a member of the J-Pop group KAT-TUN, under Johnny's Entertainment.
Kazuya has two older brothers and one younger brother. Kamenashi is the "K" of KAT-TUN and one of the two most popular members. Although he is the youngest member of KAT-TUN, he is considered the group's unofficial "leader". He is good at public speaking, and often speaks as MC for KAT-TUN on television programs and concerts. Kamenashi has starred in a Kinpachi-Sensei drama, a Kindaichi Special and Gokusen 2 with Jin Akanishi, for which he sang the song "Kizuna". He also starred in Nobuta wo Produce along with Tomohisa Yamashita from NEWS. The two of them have also released a single called "Seishun Amigo" under the unit name Shūji to Akira.
Jin Akanishi (赤西仁, Akanishi Jin?) (born July 4, 1984) is a Japanese pop idol and a member of the group KAT-TUN, owned by Johnny & Associates. He is a singer, dancer, and actor. Akanishi took time off to study English abroad in Los Angeles on October 12, 2006, and returned to Japan on April 19, 2007 to resume activities with KAT-TUN. He appeared with the group at their concert in Sendai to sing "Real Face", and has stated that he plans to continue touring through to the end of the tour.
Akanishi is the "A" of KAT-TUN and one of the two most popular members. He became a member of Johnny's Entertainment via audition on November 8, 1998, at the age of 14. He was voted as the best looking member in "KAT-TUN wo Abake". Koki Tanaka from KAT-TUN stated that Akanishi is suitable for female roles. Akanishi's weakness is his collarbone. His nickname Bakanishi was given to him by Tomohisa Yamashita (baka in Japanese means stupid or foolish; because he often acts childishly). He has written the lyrics to many songs for himself and KAT-TUN, including Care, Hesitate, Love or Like, and Murasaki (the last of which he also composed). He plays the guitar. He is good friends with Yamashita Tomohisa and Nishikido Ryo of NEWS; as well as actor/singer Shirota Yuu.
Junnosuke Taguchi (田口淳之介, Taguchi Junnosuke?), called Junno, is a member of the Japanese pop group KAT-TUN, under Johnny's Entertainment
Junnosuke Taguchi is the first T of KAT-TUN.
In 2004, Taguchi injured his knee and had to take a long hiatus from group activities after surgery. While KAT-TUN was performing in the theatre production "Dream Boy", Taguchi sustained a serious back injury in rehearsals. He was in the hospital for months and became very lonely. During his stay in the hospital, he became less confident in himself because the other KAT-TUN members didn't visit him much; he thought no one liked him. But then they came and brought gifts, and soon Taguchi was recovering well. He managed to overcome his back injury and return to dancing and acrobatics with the same vigor and dedication as before, which impressed his band mates.
Koki Tanaka (田中聖, Tanaka Koki?), just called Koki, is a member of the Japanese pop group KAT-TUN, under Johnny's Entertainment.
Koki Tanaka is the second T of KAT-TUN. He acts as the main rapper of the group, and writes most of the rap lyrics in their recent original songs and has started to write his own solo rap songs.
With Yuichi Nakamaru, they make up a comedic unit called TaNaka (Tanaka; Nakamaru).
He starred in a drama special called Byakkotai with Tomohisa Yamashita that aired at the beginning of 2007. He was voted as the most father-like member ("He looks like he'll protect me from the bad guys", "He probably won't get mad at me even if I get 0 marks for a test" etc.). Recently, he acted lead in his new series Tokkyu Tanaka 3 go and theme song of the series is sang by his grp Kat-Tun titled Yorokobi No Uta which happens their 4th single too.
Tatsuya Ueda (上田竜也, Ueda Tatsuya?), called Tat-chan, is a member of the Japanese pop group KAT-TUN, under Johnny's Entertainment.
Tatsuya Ueda is the U of KAT-TUN, and was the official leader of the group until he stepped down shortly after it's formation. He tends to change his image a lot.
It is rumored among his fans that it is highly possible that Ueda could be the mysterious SPIN who has written countless KAT-TUN songs such as "Le Ciel" and "GOLD", because he is learning French as well as English, and therefore could well have written the French lyrics in "Le Ciel". However, no other concrete evidence has surfaced to support this rumor.
He is most famous for his solo performance "Love in Snow," as well as his piano and guitar skills, among KAT-TUN fans. So far, he is the only member of KAT-TUN who hasn't starred in a drama yet. Recently he is doing kintore (muscle training) for boxing which seems to be an influence from Dream Boys. He was voted No. 1 for "Who is the most suspicious?" ("KAT-TUN wo Abake," a segment shown in the April 16, 2006 episode of Shōnen Club, a Johnny's Entertainment variety show), because he always seems to be in his own world.
Yuichi Nakamaru (中丸 雄一, Nakamaru Yuichi?), called Yucchi, Nakama, or Maru, is a member of the Japanese pop group KAT-TUN, under Johnny's Entertainment.
Yuichi Nakamaru is the N of KAT-TUN, and the oldest member. He is known for his good sense of humour, and is the peace-maker of the group (the other members stated that talking to him calms them down). He was also voted "the most loved idiot of KAT-TUN", and didn't seem to mind (everyone voted for him, though someone gave up their vote). Nakamaru is often described as "normal" (even including his height, weight, age etc), and to prove that he's not normal, he beatboxed on a roller coaster ride on the show "YOU tachi!".
With Koki Tanaka, they make up a comedic unit, TaNaka (Tanaka; Nakamaru).
Nakamaru's trademark skill is his beatboxing, which is incorporated into many of KAT-TUN's songs. It seems that he has been learning this skill for many years and he spends much of his free time practicing. His ability to beatbox has made him stand out recently, earning him more fans and popularity.
To add to his growing popularity, he has recently begun writing songs for KAT-TUN (such as "Understandable"), incorporating his beatboxing whenever possible.
Releases
They will soon be releasing their 4th single - "Yorokobi No Uta" on 6 June 2007. This single includes the theme song from Tokkyu Tanaka 3go starred by Tanaka Koki.
CD Single
Real Face (22nd March, 2006) - Weekly/Monthly #1 1,026,372 copies sold
Signal (19th July, 2006)- Weekly/Monthly #1 546,392 copies sold (as of August 22, 2006)
Bokura no Machi de (7th December, 2006)-Oricon Top 200 Weekly Peak: #1-Sales: 558,481
Yorokobi No Uta (06 June 2007)- Oricon Top 200 Weekly Peak: 'TBA'
CD Album
Best of KAT-TUN (22nd March, 2006), Weekly/Monthly #1 726,882 copies sold
cartoon KAT-TUN II You- Released: April 18, 2007- Sales: 336,531
DVD/VHS
KAT-TUN has been featured in other DVD/VHS releases of Johnny's debuted groups' concerts and musicals (SHOCK Digest and DREAM BOY) in the past.
- Okyakusama wa Kami Sama- Concert 55Nin Ai no Request Kotaete!! (2003) - 172,115 sold.
- KAT-TUN Live Kaizokuban (2005) - 395,701 sold.
A DVD of their musical with another Johnny's group NEWS, SUMMARY, was released in 2005.
- Real Face Film (2006) - 475,507 sold.
- DREAM BOYS 2006 (2006) - 178,350 sold.
- Live of KAT-TUN Real Face(2007) - 224,572 sold.
A DVD of their musical with another Johnny's group NewS, SUMMARY, was also released in 2005.
Pictorial Book
KAT-TUN's first pictorial book, entitled KAT-TUN 1st in New York (photographer Harumi Yoshimura) was published in December 2003 by Wani Books.
TV Shows
In 2005, KAT-TUN became a regular participant in the variety show Utawara HOT Hit 10 formerly known as Minna no Terebi, with another Johnny's member, Jun Matsumoto from ARASHI. Other TV shows they have appeared on include Yoru mo Hippare and Hadaka no Shōnen. In 2006, Nakamaru Yuichi and Tanaka Koki pioneered the show YOU!tachi and continue to host the show every Sunday. Since April 4, 2007, KAT-TUN has been hosting their own talk show called Cartoon KAT-TUN.
Radios
KAT-TUN Style
Host: Tanaka Koki and Taguchi Junnosuke
R-One KAT-TUN
Wednesday 24:00 - 24:30 Ueda Tatsuya + Nakamaru Yuichi
Musicals
KAT-TUN has appeared in numerous musicals. The most famous one is perhaps SHOCK (lead star Koichi Domoto). In 2004, they backed up Hideaki Takizawa in his first solo musical, DREAM BOY. The musical's lead was given to Kamenashi Kazuya in 2005, as Takizawa was busy shooting the Taiga drama Yoshitsune. SUMMARY is yet another musical in which KAT-TUN performed with other groups including NewS.
KAT-TUN's latest musical was called "DREAM BOYS 2006" which was co-starred by Kanjani8 (関ジャニ∞). Kamenashi played the lead role in Dream Boy 2006, with major supporting roles by Subaru, Nikishido Ryo and Akanishi Jin.
Concerts
Since getting the opportunity to perform their own concert for the first time 2002, KAT-TUN regularly held concerts during almost every season of the year in Japan. This helped them gain more popularity with the fans. It was considered remarkable for a non-debuted Johnny's group to be able to hold its own concerts. Their first major concert was called LIVE KAIZOKUBAN, held in early 2005, which was followed by their debut concert tour called REAL FACE CONCERT TOUR in spring 2006. Recently, they are doing spring concert tour "Cartoom Kat-Tun" and that includes the 4 day Tokyo Dome concert.
Commercials
KAT-TUN regularly starred in TV commercials of two brands, Crunky (chocolate wafer/cookie snack) and +X (flavored chewing gum) by Lotte.
Kamenashi and Akanishi also starred in the Nintendo commercial for "Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix," a game based loosely on the hit arcade series, created for the Nintendo GameCube game console, as well as an Oronamin C commercial with Ueto Aya and various DoCoMo cellphone ads.
KAT-TUN have also appeared in commercials for a line of lipgloss and contact solutions by Rohto.
Akanishi and Tanaka starred in commercials for Rohto "OXY".
Kamenashi starred in a commercial for Rohto "Zi".
Latest DoCoMo 9 Series CM with new single 'Signal'.
Ueda starred the commercial for Rohto Fruits.
Photo shoots
Every month, KAT-TUN is featured in various Japanese idol magazines (usually targeted for girls), such as Wink up, Potato, Duet, Popolo, Myojo and Non-No. Recently, individual members and the whole group have also started to appear in male fashion and television-related magazines as well.
Popularity
KAT-TUN are not only famous in Japan, but also in other parts of Asia and they are known to J-pop enthusiasts in Europe and the USA, thanks to technology (particularly the Internet, there are various websites, fanlistings and forums dedicated to KAT-TUN). Despite the fact that a professional debut was missing from their career, KAT-TUN's popularity was huge. Their first concert tickets were immediately sold out and they continued to hold concerts every year. Before they debuted, the media attention on them was equal to a senior Johnny's group, which was practically unheard of.
CREDIT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAT-TUN
News:
credit to ninefly of lj
tanaka3go
episode 9 (episode with 5 minutes of kame in it) has viewership rating of 9.7%, ranking second highest rating in the Kantou area~
KAT-TUN on music shows
June 16 (6:30~7:00PM) Ya-ya-yah
+
June 22 (8:00~8:54PM) Music Station
its good compared to NEWS who did around 244,000 first week and YnU didn't have...THAT much promotion anyways XD
