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木村拓哉
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. In the media, he is known as a huge heartthrob in Japan, and a sex symbol, having been voted Japan's sexiest man for 15 years in a row by readers of one magazine. A 1996 television drama series, ''Long Vacation'', in which he landed his first lead role, became a massive success, creating a phrase called the "Lon-bake phenomenon". He was given the title, "The King of Ratings", as his subsequent television series continued to generate high ratings and each show became a social phenomenon as it aired. Five of his most successful television series, ''Hero (2001 TV series), Hero'' (2001), ''Beautiful Life (Japanese TV series), Beautiful Life'' (2000), ''Love Generation (TV series), Love Generation'' (1997), ''Good Luck!!'' (2003), and ''Long Vacation'' (1996) are ranked in the top t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kōki (model)
, known professionally as Kōki (stylized as Kōki,), is a Japanese model, songwriter and actress. Early life Mitsuki Kimura was born on February 5, 2003, in Tokyo, Japan to actor Takuya Kimura and singer Shizuka Kudo. She had taken lessons in piano and flute, and won the Excellence Award at the 23rd Yamano Junior Flute Contest. She attended The British School in Tokyo and is fluent in English. Career Prior to debuting professionally, Kōki had written three songs for her mother Shizuka Kudo's album, ''Rin (album), Rin'', in 2017, as well as for Mika Nakashima. In May 2018, Kōki debuted as a model, appearing in the July 2018 issue of ''Elle (magazine), Elle Japon''. Kōki has also appeared on covers for fashion magazines such as ''Numéro, Numéro Tokyo'', ''Grazia, Grazia China'', ''Nylon (magazine), Nylon Japan'', and ''Vivi (magazine), Vivi''. In August 2018, she became Japan's youngest ambassador for the luxury brand Bulgari. In October 2018, Kōki appeared in her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judgment (video Game)
''Judgment'' is a 2018 action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. A spin-off to the ''Yakuza (series), Yakuza'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 in December 2018 in Japan and June 2019, worldwide. A remastered version of the game, with the subtitle ''Remastered'' in Japan and Asia, was released for the PlayStation 5, Google Stadia, Stadia, and Xbox Series X and Series S in April 2021. A port for Amazon Luna was made available on December 16, 2021. A Windows port was released on 14 September 2022 through Steam (service), Steam. ''Judgment'' follows lawyer-turned-detective Takayuki Yagami and his allies as they explore a case involving corpses whose eyes have been removed. The player controls Yagami in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurocho, where he fights thugs and ''yakuza'' while carrying out missions involving chasing, stealth, and searching for clues. The game began its initial development in 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lost Judgment
''Lost Judgment'' is a 2021 action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 24, 2021, for Amazon Luna on March 31, 2022, and for Windows on September 14, 2022. A sequel to the 2018 game ''Judgment (video game), Judgment'' (a spin-off of the ''Yakuza (franchise), Yakuza'' series), the game focuses on private detective Takayuki Yagami as he investigates a criminal accused of both sexual harassment and murder. Yagami manages to see the connection between the suspect Akihiro Ehara and his links with a series of murders committed against bullies in Kamurochō and Isezaki Ijincho. The game builds on the action sequences from the first game while revising its stealth elements. Yagami uses two returning fighting styles plus the new aikido-based Snake and, if the player buys a particular DLC, the Boxer style. Major Japanese voice actors i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takayuki Yagami
, for short, is a character in Sega's 2018 action-adventure video game ''Judgment'', which is a spin-off from the ''Yakuza'' game series. Yagami is a former defense attorney who resigns after a client he successfully defended kills their partner. Three years later, Yagami is a private detective in his own and investigates a serial killer who gouges out their victims' eyes. The character returns in ''Lost Judgment'' as he investigates a criminal accused of both sexual harassment and murder. Yagami is voiced by Takuya Kimura in Japanese and by Greg Chun in English. Yagami's physical appearance is also based on Kimura. When developing Yagami, the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio team wanted to create a new type of main character following the release of '' Yakuza 6: The Song of Life'', which concludes the story of series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Contrasting Kiryu's strong, heroic presence, Yagami is meant to be a more relatable character due to his troubled life. To differentiate between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SMAP
was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-piece with Katsuyuki Mori, until his departure from the band in 1996. The name stands for "Sports Music Assemble People". After making their debut in 1991, the group took the Japanese entertainment industry by storm, becoming one of the most successful boy bands in Asia. The group is often referred to as a "national treasure" and a "fortune and property of the country" in Japan. SMAP was regarded as an iconic group in Japan, after achieving an unprecedented level of success in numerous genres in the entertainment industry, including music, television, film, radio, and theater, as a group and individually. SMAP was credited for changing the Japanese entertainment and music industry, in terms of prolonging longevity of boy bands and broadenin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Kitagawa
John Hiromu Kitagawa (Japanese name ; October 23, 1931 – July 9, 2019), known professionally as , was a Japanese business magnate, promoter, record producer. He was best known as the founder of Johnny & Associates, a talent agency for numerous popular boy bands in Japan. In 2023, after his death, a BBC documentary, ''Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop'', reignited discussion of allegations that he had taken advantage of his position to engage in improper sexual relationships with boys under contract to his talent agency. This led to an independent probe which concluded that Kitagawa had "repeated and widely" abused boys in his organizations since the 1970s. Kitagawa assembled, produced and managed more than a dozen popular bands, including Tanokin Trio, Hey! Say! JUMP, SMAP, Arashi, Kanjani8, V6, NEWS and KAT-TUN. Kitagawa's influence spread beyond music to the realms of theatre and television. Regarded as one of the most powerful figures in the Japanese entertainment in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cocomi
, known professionally as Cocomi, is a Japanese model and flutist. Personal life Cocomi Kimura was born on May 1, 2001, in Tokyo, Japan. She is the elder daughter of actor Takuya Kimura and singer Shizuka Kudo. Her younger sister, Kōki, is a model and songwriter. She speaks Japanese, French, and English. She has spoken fluent English since she was a child, having attended international schools (Aoba Japan International School and British School, Tokyo Showa). She started playing the violin at the age of three before switching to the flute at the age of eleven. She studied under Kanda Hiroaki, a professor at Toho Gakuen School of Music and principal flutist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She completed a masterclass under the tutelage of Vladimir Ashkenazy and Emmanuel Pahud. She won in the Wind Instrument High School Division during the 2nd Japan Music Competition in Tokyo, though she could not attend the national competition. In March 2020, she graduated from Toho Girls' Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starto Entertainment
is a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services established on October 17, 2023. The president is Atsushi Fukuda. Many of the groups and artists formerly affiliated with Johnny & Associates belong to this company. It began full operations in April 2024. Company formation After he died in 2019, Johnny & Associates' founder Johnny Kitagawa's sexual abuse was revealed in 2023, on October 2, Julie Keiko Fujishima, Kitagawa's niece and successor, decided to compensate the victims and close the business. The name “Johnny” was erased from the company name because of Fujishima's desire to "erase all traces of Johnny Kitagawa from this world". Johnny & Associates changed its name to Smile-Up and concentrated on compensating the victims. Together with the change of activities of what was now Smile-Up, the establishment of a new company was being sought to ensure the continued activities of celebrities belonging to Johnnys & Associates, and Atsushi Fukud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Vacation
''Long Vacation'' (, also known as ) is a Japanese television drama series from Fuji Television, first shown in Japan from 15 April to 24 June 1996. The show's high ratings in Japan made Takuya Kimura popular in the Asia-Pacific region and is known as "The King of Ratings". It also made Tomoko Yamaguchi a known actress in Japan. The characters in the series have something in common: if not jobless, they can do no better than secure a temporary job. This is a portrayal of a time when Japan was plagued by deep recession, when its people suffered profound depression from constant failure to earn a stable income. The series also portrays how relationships are made and broken, and explores how people come to depend on each other for solace. Plot Minami and Sena meet when Sena's apartment-mate, Asakura, jilts Minami on their wedding day. Minami learns from Sena that Asakura has left, whereabouts unknown. Sena allows Minami to move into the apartment, since she is penniless, having g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny & Associates
was a Japanese talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which managed groups of male idols known as The company had a significant impact on pop culture with male idols and boy bands in Japan since the 1980s. Until 2019, the company was known for its strict policies regarding music distribution abroad and its strict control over the right of publicity to using the likeness of idols under its management. In the wake of continuing sexual abuse allegations directed against Kitagawa, who died in 2019, his niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima, stepped down as president in September 2023. On October 2, 2023, Johnny & Associates announced that they would be splitting into two entities: Smile-Up, a firm focused on reparations for Kitagawa's sexual abuse cases, and Starto Entertainment, a talent agency managing the acts that had been managed under Johnny & Associates. History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hikaru Genji (band)
was a Japanese pop music idol group named after the character Hikaru Genji of ''The Tale of Genji''. They were managed by Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates from 1987 to 1995. History Until the appearance of another pop group represented by Johnny & Associates ( Hey! Say! 7) in 2007, Hikaru Genji held the record for the youngest male group to top the Oricon singles charts. In 1988, Hikaru Genji became the second artist in history to monopolize the top three spots on the Oricon singles chart and the third artist in history to dominate the top two spots on the charts. They also won the Japan Record Award in the 30th Japan Record Awards for their song "Paradise Ginga" that same year, making them the second Johnny's artist to win the award after Masahiko Kondo and the last before Johnny & Associates established a policy that would decline all future nominations of awards from organizations such as the Japan Record Awards and the Japan Academy Awards. In 1994, Mikio Osawa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring Prefectures of Japan, prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central Special wards of Tokyo, 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo, its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
