, formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of wh ...

, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the

Oricon charts , 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 Nove ...

as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an amount of 64. Morning Musume was formed in 1997 by rock singer-songwriter turned record producer Tsunku, who later composed the vast majority of the group's songs over the decade. They are the lead group of

Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but ha ...

that specialises in upbeat, pop-oriented music coupled with dance performance. The group produced several splinter groups, and often collaborates with other Hello! Project acts, including

Country Musume was a Japanese female idol music group that is a part of Hello! Project. On November 5, 2014, Country Musume was renamed .Berryz Kobo was a Japanese girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2004 and associated with Hello! Project. The group's members consisted of Hello! Project Kids members Saki Shimizu, Momoko Tsugunaga, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Chinami Tokunaga, Maasa Sudo, Y ...

, Cute,

Melon Kinenbi were an all-girl Japanese pop group within Hello! Project. They were formed after they successfully passed the 2nd Morning Musume & Michiyo Heike Imotobun Audition. Melon Kinenbi is the oldest group in the history of Hello! Project not to have ...

, and

v-u-den was a Japanese idol girl group associated with Hello! Project. The group was formed in August 2004 and consists of members Rika Ishikawa ( Morning Musume), Erika Miyoshi, and Yui Okada, with Ishikawa being the leader. The group officially dis ...

. The group's name can be translated as "Morning Girls" or "Morning Daughters"; as the name suggests, it consists of members mostly in their late adolescence and early 20s.

History

1997-1998: Formation and beginnings

Japanese producer Tsunku started the group in 1997 through an audition for a female rock vocalist for his band

Sharam Q was a Japanese rock band composed of lead singer , on guitar, on drums and on keyboards. Biography They debuted with in 1992. They were not an instant hit initially, but their fourth single broke the top 50 of the Oricon charts. Eve ...

. The audition was held on the Japanese TV show ''

Asayan ''Asayan'', originally known as was a talent search variety show that aired on TV Tokyo from 1995 to 2002. Some idols that were originally discovered through Asayan auditions produced by Tsunku, formed groups that worked under the umbrella gro ...

''. The winner was Michiyo Heike, later to become a soloist under what would eventually become known as

. Tsunku decided to form a girl group consisting of five of the runners-up: Natsumi Abe,

Yuko Nakazawa is a Japanese pop and enka singer, and actress, best known as one of the original members of the all-female J-pop group Morning Musume. She is also a member of Japanese pop group Dream Morning Musume. Biography Yuko Nakazawa was born in Kyo ...

Kaori Iida is a Japanese pop singer and actress, associated with Hello! Project and best known as a founding member of the girl band Morning Musume. She has also recorded with the Morning Musume side project band Tanpopo and is currently a solo artist. ...

Asuka Fukuda (born December 17, 1984) is a Japanese pop singer, and she was a member of Japanese girl group Morning Musume from 1997 until April 18, 1999. Her only album with the group is the 1998 release '' First Time''. She was the first ever Hello! Pro ...

, and Aya Ishiguro. They were issued a challenge to sell 50,000 copies of their demo single, "

Ai no Tane is the unofficial debut single of Japanese pop idol group Morning Musume, released under a defunct Up-Front Group-affiliated independent label on November 3, 1997. It is sometimes called the "zeroth single"— being the "first single" and so ...

", with just five days of promotion events. They managed the feat in four promotion days (spread out over November 1997) in a very grassroots manner, and Tsunku began his mission to create the most famous all-girl group in Japan. In early 1998, the girls were ready with their first official single, " Morning Coffee". The success of this single (hitting number six on the Japanese pop charts) brought them three new members known as the second generation:

Kei Yasuda is a Japanese singer, musician and actress under the Hello! Project. She was a member and co-leader of the Japanese girl group Morning Musume. Yasuda, along with Mari Yaguchi and Sayaka Ichii, were the second generation of singers to be recru ...

, Mari Yaguchi, and Sayaka Ichii, bringing the total member count to eight. The second single, " Summer Night Town", was the first single of the new lineup—a mature pop tune about unsuccessfully attempting to hide one's true feelings. Their third single, " Daite Hold on Me!", continued in the same vein musically as Summer Night Town, and managed to hit number one on the charts. Leader Nakazawa also started her solo career. " First Time" was released in July 1998, featuring the singles "

", " Morning Coffee" and " Summer Night Town". That year, Tsunku also formed

Tanpopo was a sub-group of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1998 as Morning Musume's first sub-group. While the main group Morning Musume features predomin ...

, the first subgroup of Morning Musume, with

, Aya Ishiguro, and Mari Yaguchi. Tanpopo touted slower, more mature songs. When " Morning Coffee" was released, however, Morning Musume's label

Zetima is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

went by a different name, One Up Music (One Up is a combination of

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records * Elektra Records *Parlophone Records * Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * All Money In * Artist Partners Group * Asylum ...

(the label that distributed One Up Music's catalog) and

Up-Front Group is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

(One Up Music's parent company)). However, in April 1998, one month before the release of " Summer Night Town", One Up Music ended its distribution deal with Warner, and was rebranded as Zetima when it merged with Y.J. Sounds (another former

-affiliated label). Distribution rights would be given to

Sony Music 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 oper ...

's sub label

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

for " Summer Night Town", " First Time" and all of Zetima's subsequent releases.

1999: Commercial success with "Love Machine" and the 3rd Generation

The group released its fourth single " Memory Seishun no Hikari" in early 1999, reaching number two on

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 i ...

, second to

Glay Glay (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, includ ...

's " Winter, Again" which had 1st week sales of 955,780 copies, verse Memory Seishun no Hikari's 195,720. The song features rap passages by L The Headtoucha and intense vocal harmonization by the group's members. This was

's last single with Morning Musume, making her currently the shortest-lived member at 2 years. Asuka claimed that she was leaving in order to focus on her studies, only to drop out of school soon after. " Manatsu no Kōsen" was released in May and was a summer tune. It went to number three on the charts, and the sales dropped by half from Memory Seishun no Hikari. Morning Musume's chart position was visibly lagging at the time: their sixth single, " Furusato", only sealed the fact. Natsumi Abe was the only one who sang the melody on "Furusato"; the other members just harmonized discreetly. This was their fifth single, and the sales once again decreased by half. '' Second Morning'' was released in July 1999, and contained the singles "Daite Hold on Me!", "Memory Seishun no Hikari", "Manatsu no Kōsen", and "Furusato". "Daite Hold on Me!" and "Manatsu no Kōsen" were remixed. Eager to add new life to the group, Tsunku held auditions for the third generation of Morning Musume. Two girls were expected to be admitted, but eventually only Maki Goto was added. Goto was 13, the youngest member of Morning Musume at the time. The group's seventh single, " Love Machine", sold 1,760,000 copies, making it a major hit; it is still their highest-selling single as of 2012. The song touted an image of Japan as the future "envy of the world" and cheered the masses during a period of economic recession. It was Maki Goto's first single and Aya Ishiguro's last. Its wild success dramatically increased the popularity of the group. Soon Goto was paired with

and Sayaka Ichii to form the subgroup

Petitmoni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1999 as the second sub-group of Morning Musume. History Founded November 1999, the group initi ...

(also known as Pucchi Moni). Petitmoni's first single, " Chokotto Love", rivaled the success of "Love Machine", selling over 1,123,610 copies.

2000: Koi no Dance Site, continued commercial success and the 4th Generation

" Koi no Dance Site" was released in early 2000, reaching number two and selling over a million copies—400,000 away from reaching "Love Machine"'s success. The single had the highest 1st week sales than any other Morning Musume's singles, an enormous amount of 600,860 copies. Even with this large number, the single did not reach number one because

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band that first formed in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), Hiroshi Matsuda (dr ...

's biggest hit single,

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

, which sold total of 2.93 million copies, was released at the same date as Koi no Dance Site. Aya Ishiguro left the group before the single was released in order to marry Shinya, drummer of

visual kei is a movement among Japanese musicians that is characterized by the use of varying levels of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics, similar to Western glam rock. Some ...

rock band

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of make-up and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most successful and inf ...

, leaving the group with seven members. The second event of 2000 was the creation of " shuffle units", in which all members of Tsunku's then 16-member family,

, were shuffled around to form three one-time groups: Akagumi 4, Kiiro 5, and Aoiro 7. The idea was to battle for the highest single sales. This was achieved by Akagumi 4 which boasted Maki Goto as the lead vocals. In March, their third studio album, '' 3rd: Love Paradise'' was released. Despite having " Love Machine" and " Koi no Dance Site" on its track list, it did not manage to claim the number one spot, but did sell more than 800,000 copies, making it Morning Musume's highest-selling studio album to date. This year also brought a new generation search. The fourth generation consisted of

Rika Ishikawa , is a Japanese actress and model associated with Hello! Project and best known as a former member of the pop group Morning Musume. She was the leader of the Japanese pop idol trio v-u-den until June 2008. She has performed as a solo singer, as a ...

Hitomi Yoshizawa is a Japanese former singer and actress. In 2000, Yoshizawa debuted as a 4th generation member of the idol girl group Morning Musume and became their leader in 2005 until leaving the group in 2007. Following her departure, Yoshizawa continued to ...

Nozomi Tsuji , known professionally by her birth name (born June 17, 1987) is a Japanese media personality, singer, and blogger. In 2000, she began her career as a singer for Japanese girl band Morning Musume. Tsuji later found success with related groups ...

, and

Ai Kago is a Japanese actress and former singer. In 2000, Kago debuted as a 4th generation member of the idol girl group Morning Musume. During her time in the group, she was also part of Mini-Moni and other Hello! Project sub-groups. In 2004, Kago de ...

, lending a completely different feel to the group by adding the 12-year-old duo of Tsuji and Kago. After their debut single, " Happy Summer Wedding", (continuing the legacy of number one hits with 1,370,000 copies sold,) Sayaka Ichii left to pursue her own music career. She became the vocalist of Japanese group Cubic Cross and later married fellow member Naoki Yoshizawa (no relation to Hitomi Yoshizawa). With Ishiguro and Ichii gone, both Tanpopo and Petitmoni revised their lineups—Hitomi Yoshizawa joined Petitmoni, and Ai Kago and Rika Ishikawa were added to Tanpopo. Meanwhile, Mari Yaguchi had started performing informally with Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji in concerts as Mini Moni, a group tailored towards younger audiences with all the members being less than 150 cm (about 5 ft) tall.

Mika Todd was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project ...

Coconuts Musume was a Japanese idol girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 1999 and associated with Hello! Project. It was promoted as the "girls from Hawaii". After nine years, the group officially disbanded when Ayaka Kimura graduated from Hello! Project ...

was later added into the group and Tsunku made them official. Their debut single, " Minimoni Jankenpyon!", was a number one hit on the Oricon. As an idol group, they were extremely successful, drawing comparisons to the popularity of former girl idol group

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quant ...

. " I Wish" and " Renai Revolution 21" (Yuko Nakazawa's last single) continued the trend of happy pop songs becoming staple hits for the group. Morning Musume also began their tradition of performing in musicals each year, breaking new ground as idols with their musical '' Love Century: Yume wa Minakerya Hajimaranai''.

2001: "The Peace" and the 5th Generation

In April 2001, group leader Yuko Nakazawa left to focus on her solo career (stating her age as a factor as well—she felt it was limiting her ability to meet the physical demands of the group's activities) making Kaori Iida and Kei Yasuda Morning Musume's co-leaders. During this time, Rika Ishikawa was "lent" out to the rather inactive group,

Country Musume was a Japanese female idol music group that is a part of Hello! Project. On November 5, 2014, Country Musume was renamed .The Peace!". The Peace! features a distinctive

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

chants, with Rika Ishikawa as the center focus. British newspaper ''The Guardian'' described the promotional video echoed the song's "strangeness" by placing the group in the middle of what appeared to be a gigantic public bathroom, displaying the girls dancing amongst the urinals and posing for photographs in the stalls; supposedly as a response to hidden camera footage of the members that had recently surfaced, filmed from a toilet in their production offices. At the end of January 2001, the best selling Hello! Project album to date was released: ''

Best! Morning Musume 1 is the first "best of" compilation from the J-pop idol group Morning Musume, and was released January 31, 2001. It is currently the largest selling album of their career and sold a total of 2,259,510 copies. It contained their first eleven singles ...

''. It sold 2,259,510 copies. It featured 15 tracks, the only original song being "Say Yeah! -Motto Miracle Night-". At the end of 2001, four new members joined the group as the fifth generation through the audition "Love Audition 21:"

Ai Takahashi (born September 14, 1986) is a Japanese singer and actress formerly associated with the Hello! Project and is best known as the leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project until 2011. She is also a former member of its popular subgroup Mini Mon ...

Asami Konno , known by her birth name is a Japanese television presenter and former singer and actress. She debuted in August 2001 with the girl group Morning Musume and participated in musical projects within Hello! Project. After leaving the group on Ma ...

Makoto Ogawa is a Japanese singer and actress, best known as a former member of Japanese girl group Morning Musume. She joined the group in August 2001 along with fellow fifth generation members Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, and Asami Konno. On March 31, 2 ...

, and

Risa Niigaki is a Japanese actress and singer. She was a fifth-generation member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume. She joined Morning Musume in 2001 along with 3 others- Ai Takahashi, Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa. She grew up in Yokohama after movin ...

, bringing the roster to 13 girls. Their first single " Mr. Moonlight: Ai no Big Band", (done in the style of

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

) featured fourth generation member Hitomi Yoshizawa as the central focus and main vocalist of the song.

2002 : Maki Goto's departure and massive re-structuring of the sub-units

In February, "

Sōda! We're Alive is the fourteenth single of J-Pop idol group Morning Musume. It was released on February 21, 2002 and sold a total of 443,630 copies. The B-side is a re-recorded and re-arranged version of the band's their first single, " Morning Coffee", feat ...

", another hit, was released. It featured many different styles combined into one song, centered on Mari Yaguchi. In July 2002, "

Do It! Now "Do It! Now" is the 15th single of J-pop idol group Morning Musume and was released July 24, 2002,. It sold a total of 310,600 copies. Overview This single also marked the last appearance of Maki Goto before she graduated from Morning Musume and ...

" was released. This single finally broke the line of number one hits and came in at number three—a surprising fact to many, considering it was Maki Goto's last single. Morning Musume's fourth studio album, ''

4th Ikimasshoi! is the fourth studio album from the J-pop idol group Morning Musume and was released on March 27, 2002. Overview It is currently their second highest selling album, with a total of 515,400 copies sold. Since their last album (with new material) ...

'' was released in March 2002 after a two-year wait. It is the first studio album from the group to reach number one on

. It featured the singles " Renai Revolution 21", (rerecorded with the current 13-person formation,) " The Peace!", (in a 'full', longer version,) " Mr. Moonlight: Ai no Big Band", (with added dialog at the beginning,) and "Sōda! We're Alive". Late 2002 was marked by the graduation of Maki Goto and a mass re-shuffle of the sub-units. Tsunku removed Kaori Iida, Mari Yaguchi, and Ai Kago from Tanpopo, adding in Asami Konno, Risa Niigaki, and

Ayumi Shibata (born February 22, 1984) is a Japanese female singer. She is a former member of Melon Kinenbi, an all-girl J-pop group which is part of the Hello! Project. She joined the group Tanpopo with Morning Musume members Asami Konno and Risa Niigaki i ...

to join Rika Ishikawa. Tanpopo only released one single with this lineup before the group was put on an indefinite hiatus status. Makoto Ogawa and

Ayaka Kimura , born October 30, 1981 and known professionally as , is a Japanese actress and former singer. From 1998 to 2008, Nagate was part of Hello! Project as a member of the Japan-based girl group Coconuts Musume. History Nagate joined Hello! Proj ...

of Coconuts Musume joined Hitomi Yoshizawa in Petitmoni to replace Kei Yasuda and Maki Goto, but the group did not even release a single, only performing in concerts. Their song "Wow Wow Wow" was later released on the Hello! Project's compilation CD ''

Petit Best 4 Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type * Petit four * Petit Gâteau * ...

''. In Mini Moni, Mari Yaguchi was replaced by Ai Takahashi and the new lineup went on to put out several singles and a second album until member Mika Todd left in May 2004, adding Mini Moni to the list of "indefinite hiatus" subgroups. In October "

Koko ni Iruzee! is the sixteenth single of J-pop idol group Morning Musume and was released October 30, 2002 under Zetima Records with the catalog number EPCE-5182. Track listing # – 4:28 #* Lyrics and composition by Tsunku; Arrangement by . # – 4:40 ...

" was released, a fast-paced, feel-good song about making the most of life and music's ability to unite the world. It was number one on

2003: 6th Generation debut and sub-groups

The unique childlike tune "

Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyōtanjima was the seventeenth single of J-pop idol group Morning Musume and was released February 19, 2003. It sold a total of 151,342 copies, reaching number four on the Oricon Charts. This single is a cover of the theme song to a famous children's puppe ...

" was released in February 2003 as the group's seventeenth single. It is significant because it was a cover song, marking the first time Tsunku did not write a single's lyrics. April brought the notably successful single "

As for One Day "As for One Day" (''Azu fō Wan Dei'') is the eighteenth single of J-pop idol group Morning Musume and was released April 23, 2003. It sold a total of 129,893 copies. This single also marked the graduation of second generation member Kei Yasuda. T ...

"—a synthesizer-driven song about lost love—which sold 129,893 copies and hit number one in

charts, and was the last time a Morning Musume single hit number one until "

Aruiteru is the thirty-first single of J-pop group Morning Musume, released on November 8, 2006. "Aruiteru" sold approximately 55,694 copies and reached number one in both the daily and weekly Oricon charts. There are three different versions of the singl ...

" (released late 2006). This single was the last for Kei Yasuda. Before the auditions for the sixth generation were held, the group released the album '' No. 5''. It was unique in a few ways. It was the last studio album to feature Kei Yasuda and Natsumi Abe as full members of the group. It was also the first Morning Musume studio album to feature a former member, as Maki Goto guests on "Megami (Mousse na Yasashisa)" and "Ganbacchae!". It only featured two singles: "

" and "

". In mid-2003, four new girls were added as the sixth generation: Miki Fujimoto,

Eri Kamei is a Japanese pop singer and model. She is a former member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume. She joined in late 2003 as a sixth generation member along with Miki Fujimoto, Sayumi Michishige, and Reina Tanaka. She graduated on December ...

Sayumi Michishige is a Japanese singer, actress and model. She is a former sixth-generation member and former leader of the J-pop group Morning Musume. Following the departure of fifth-generation member Risa Niigaki on October 12, 2013, Michishige has the long ...

, and

Reina Tanaka is a Japanese singer and actress. She is the leader of the Japanese rock band Lovendor. From 2002 to 2013, she was one of the main vocalists of the girl group Morning Musume and participated in other music acts under the Hello! Project name. ...

. Eri Kamei, Sayumi Michishige, and Reina Tanaka successfully passed the traditional auditions; however, Miki Fujimoto was a solo singer in Hello!Project at the time. After appearing on the New Year's music program "Kōhaku Uta Gassen" with several Morning Musume members dancing as backup, Tsunku added her as part of the sixth generation. The sixth generation's first single was "

Shabondama (lit. "Soap Bubbles") is a Japanese nursery rhyme written by Ujō Noguchi in 1922. It is widely taught in Japanese nursery schools and kindergartens as a simple melody; it is also sometimes used in elementary school moral education courses, where ...

", which featured "break-up" lyrics, a seemingly spontaneous dance routine, and rolled "r"s. Mari Yaguchi became Morning Musume's sub-leader after Kei's departure and was also put in charge of training and assisting the trainee group of

Hello! Project Kids is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and groups under Up-Front Promotion, a subsidiary of Up-Front Group. The name was initially used as Michiyo Heike and Morning Musume's fan club name in 1999, but has ...

, eventually forming a group with five of them, known as

ZYX ZYX or Zyx may refer to: * Zyx, a region in the North Caucasus inhabited by the Zygii * Zyx (cartoonist) (1950–2015), French-Canadian cartoonist * ZyX (company), a Japanese company that makes erotic video games * ZYX (gene), a gene that encod ...

. Later in 2003, Morning Musume was split into two subgroups so that it could tour more cities (especially smaller cities that could not support a 15-member troupe).

Morning Musume Sakuragumi , meaning "Sakura Group", was one of the subgroups derived from the Japanese pop group Morning Musume in 2003. Its less successful equivalent was Morning Musume Otomegumi. Like its counterpart, the sole purpose of Sakuragumi was to accommodate t ...

, which focused on slower and more traditional love songs, included Natsumi Abe, Mari Yaguchi, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Ai Kago, Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, Asami Konno and Eri Kamei.

Morning Musume Otomegumi was one of the subgroups that the Japanese pop group Morning Musume was divided into in 2003. Its counterpart was Morning Musume Sakuragumi. The group's name is made up of and , meaning "Young Girls' Group". Like Sakuragumi, purpose of Morning ...

, which had more upbeat pop songs with a slight rock flavor, featured Kaori Iida, Rika Ishikawa, Nozomi Tsuji, Makoto Ogawa, Miki Fujimoto, Sayumi Michishige, and Reina Tanaka. Sakuragumi released two singles: "

Hare Ame Nochi Suki is the first single of the J-pop idol group Morning Musume subgroup Morning Musume Sakuragumi, released on September 18, 2003. In addition to the title song and its karaoke version, the single also contains Sakuragumi's version of "Dekkai Uchū ni ...

" and "

Sakura Mankai is the second single of the J-pop idol group Morning Musume sub-group Morning Musume Sakuragumi. In addition to the title song and its karaoke version, the single also contains Morning Musume Sakuragumi versions of the earlier Morning Musume song ...

", and Otomegumi released two singles as well: " Ai no Sono: Touch My Heart!" and " Yūjō: Kokoro no Busu ni wa Naranee!". The last single of Morning Musume in 2003 to feature the entire group was " Go Girl: Koi no Victory", which had the members girlishly proclaiming the victory of their love.

2004: Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago's graduation

In January 2004, Natsumi Abe (known as "the face of Morning Musume" to the general public) left to pursue a soloist career. Her last single was " Ai Araba It's All Right", Morning Musume's last song to sell more than 100,000 copies until ' One Two Three / The Matenrou Show'. "Ai Araba It's All Right" had uplifting lyrics and a cheery dance sequence. The group soon released another single, " Roman: My Dear Boy". The song showcased an almost rock flavor and centered its lyrics around offering "a dance" to a boy. This was followed by their twenty-third single, " Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari", which is unique in that it was actually about the Morning Musume girls themselves—each member got a verse about their personality. This song would later be remade several times as "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari 2" and "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari 3", included in their sixth and seventh album respectively. This single also marked the leaving of fourth-generation members Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago in August, to focus on " W", their new duo group. In April 2004, Rika Ishikawa was caught in a rare scandal, as an audio recording revealed her saying of the group's fans at a show, "look at them. Grownups screaming like that! I can't believe it. So stupid!" In mid-2004, Morning Musume's second best-of album, ''

Best! Morning Musume 2 is the second "best of" compilation from the Japanese female idol group Morning Musume and it was released March 31, 2004, selling a total of 180,897 copies. It contains ten of the A-sides released since the release of Best! Morning Musume 1 in 2 ...

'' was released and featured "Yah! Aishitai" as the only new track. It had a lukewarm reception at best, compared to their first best-of compilation. Auditions for the seventh generation (named "Lucky 7" to commemorate the seventh generation, the seventh year of Morning Musume, and seven audition sites across Japan) were held in various Japan cities in late 2004, resulting in six finalists. However, on January 9, 2005, Tsunku surprised everyone by announcing that no one in the Lucky 7 audition would be added to Morning Musume, citing that he had set his expectations extra-high this year in hopes of finding an "ace". This was the first time an audition had ended with no new members. In November 2004, Morning Musume released " Namida ga Tomaranai Hōkago", a ballad that featured Asami Konno, Miki Fujimoto, Sayumi Michishige, and Rika Ishikawa. Following this single '' Morning Musume Early Single Box'' was released. It was a 9-CD set containing their first eight singles with a bonus track on each one, as well as a karaoke CD of some of their more popular tunes from the early years. Finally, at the end of 2004, the group's yearly album was released. Their sixth studio album, named ''

Ai no Dai 6 Kan is the sixth album from the J-pop idol group Morning Musume. The album was released on December 8, 2004. Overview ''Ai no Dai 6 Kan'' contains three hit singles, all released prior to the album between April and December 2004: " Roman: My Dea ...

'', hit stores in December. It contained three singles: " Roman: My Dear Boy", " Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari", and " Namida ga Tomaranai Hōkago". This was Ai Kago, Nozomi Tsuji, Kaori Iida, Mari Yaguchi, and Rika Ishikawa's last credited studio album.

2005: 7th Generation "Miracle" Member

On January 30, 2005, then-leader and the last member from the first generation Kaori Iida left to pursue a solo singer/artist career, with Mari Yaguchi taking on leadership role with Hitomi Yoshizawa as subleader. Her last single was "

The Manpower!!! is the twenty-fifth single of J-pop group Morning Musume. It also served as the last single of the last founding member of the group Kaori Iida. It was released on January 19, 2005. There are two editions of the single. The limited edition was w ...

", which sung about the abilities of the human race and was also the

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shoppin ...

theme song. The beginning of 2005 also saw the beginning of Musume Document 2005, which covered behind-the-scenes material, historical footage, and interviews. In February 2005, Tsunku started another audition for Morning Musume's seventh generation. He noted that he was still intent on finding an "ace". This audition resulted with

Koharu Kusumi is a Japanese actress, model, television personality, singer, and voice actress. In 2005, she became the only seventh generation member of the Japanese girl group Morning Musume, a part of Hello! Project. While Kusumi was in Morning Musume, she p ...

finally being chosen as the sole "miracle" member of the new generation. On April 10, 2005, photos were taken of Mari Yaguchi with

Shun Oguri is a Japanese actor and voice actor, son of stage director Tetsuya Oguri, and the youngest of 3 siblings, including older brother Ryo, who is also an actor. He started in small roles as extra in the works in which his father and brother worked ...

(scheduled to be published in a gossip magazine ''Friday!'' on the 15th). On April 14, 2005, Yaguchi announced that she would "retire" from Morning Musume and would continue on with solo activities. In her public statement, Yaguchi said that due to the scandal and its publicity, she could no longer sustain an "idol" image befitting of Morning Musume. Because of the nature of her departure, Yaguchi did not receive a leaving concert. Sub-leader Hitomi Yoshizawa took over as the leader of Morning Musume, and Miki Fujimoto became sub-leader as of July 15, 2005. Just days after Yaguchi resigned, on April 27, 2005, the group's twenty-sixth single, "

Osaka Koi no Uta was the twenty-sixth single of J-pop girl group Morning Musume, from the group's seventh album '' Rainbow 7''. It was released on April 27, 2005 under the Zetima label, and went on to sell a total of 59,287 copies. The single reached a peak of #2 ...

" was released. The final version featured Yaguchi still, presumably because they did not have enough time to rerecord and remix it. The lyrics are in an Osaka dialect. This single was also Rika Ishikawa's last. She left on May 7, 2005, to assume full-time leadership of the Hello! Project trio known as

. Kusumi's first single with Morning Musume was July's "

Iroppoi Jirettai was the twenty-seventh single of J-pop girl group Morning Musume, and was the debut of seventh generation member Koharu Kusumi. The limited edition of this single came with special packaging and also contained five photocards. The Single V wa ...

", a flamenco styled song, which was considered to be the biggest hit of the year—selling around 20,000 more copies than anything else. A 3 city handshake event was organized for the promotion of this single. Morning Musume's last single of 2005 was " Chokkan 2: Nogashita Sakana wa Ōkiizo!", which was a remake of a previous album-only song about the importance of using your intuition and not taking good things for granted. "Koi wa Hassō Do The Hustle!" was going to be the title track for the single, but due to poor preview results, became the coupling track instead. On December 31, 2005, former Morning Musume members Mari Yaguchi, Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Yuko Nakazawa, Ai Kago, Nozomi Tsuji, Rika Ishikawa, Maki Goto, and Kei Yasuda joined the current lineup of Morning Musume to perform the group's signature hit "Love Machine" on the 2005/2006 edition of ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

''. The performance was Yaguchi's first since leaving Morning Musume eight and a half months earlier.

2006: Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa's graduation

On January 16, 2006, it was announced that Morning Musume had won a Kanagawa Image Up Award in recognition of Hello! Project's support of an anti-pollution campaign. Yoshizawa, Fujimoto, and Takahashi represented the group to accept the award. In February, the group released their seventh studio album, ''

Rainbow 7 is the seventh album by the J-pop idol group Morning Musume. It is the first album to feature 7th generation member Koharu Kusumi and first album after graduation of Kaori Iida and Rika Ishikawa and departure of Mari Yaguchi. It was released on F ...

''. It was the first album for Kusumi and the last for Konno and Ogawa. The album features "

", "

", and " Chokkan 2: Nogashita Sakana wa Ōkiizo!" (in a remixed form). Kaori Iida, Rika Ishikawa and Mari Yaguchi are not credited anywhere in the liner notes although their vocals appear. Three of the songs on the album are performed by smaller clusters of several group members, and are credited in the liner notes to the featured members involved, rather than to the entire group. In March 2006, " Sexy Boy: Soyokaze ni Yorisotte" was released. It featured an easy-to-learn dance and a parapara style. It was considered to be a relative success. On April 28, 2006, it was announced by Tsunku from his official website that fifth-generation members Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa would be leaving the group. Konno graduated on July 23, 2006, to attend University and Ogawa left on August 27, 2006, to study English abroad. Both left Morning Musume, but only Konno left Hello! Project entirely; Ogawa intended to return after completing her studies. However, as of 2007, Konno returned to Hello! Project to join the new group

Ongaku Gatas was a Japanese girl group consisted of select members from Hello! Project's futsal club Gatas Brilhantes H.P. and Hello Pro Egg. History The group was formed in 2007. The group's name combines the Japanese word ''ongaku'' (music) with the Portu ...

, making it the first time ever that a girl who left Hello! Project actually returned. Ogawa, on the other hand, returned in June 2008 by appearing on an episode of Morning Musume's television show

Haromoni@ was the sequel to the long-running Japanese variety show ''Hello! Morning'', which first aired on April 8, 2007, on TV Tokyo and later throughout the country. The show was recorded in HD and starred Morning Musume members. Each member represent ...

. Konno and Ogawa's last single was "

Ambitious! Yashinteki de Ii Jan is the thirtieth single of J-pop idol group Morning Musume. It was released on June 21, 2006. The Single V was released on June 28, 2006. Overview There are regular and limited edition versions of this single. The regular version comes with a ph ...

", which, yet again, featured a parapara type arrangement, with a rock 'n' roll flair. It was the group's 30th single, and a limited-edition CD of all past 30 singles mixed into a thirteen-minute track was included on the first pressing. Unfortunately, sales did not meet the hype, and Ambitious! clocked in as Morning Musume's lowest-selling single yet. In mid-2006, the group performed the musical '' Ribbon no Kishi''. Ai Takahashi took the main role; the secondary role was played by alternating members. There was also a mini-concert at the end of each performance, which served as Ogawa's real "leaving concert"—the Wonderful Hearts 2006 concert was initially intended for Konno's departure only, although Ogawa wore a special outfit and read her leaving comments as well. As for ''Ribbon no Kishi'', an album with a selection of songs was released: '' Ribbon no Kishi The Musical Song Selection''. In mid-2006, Tsunku announced the audition for the eighth generation, called ''Morning Musume Happy 8 Audition''. The audition started on August 27, 2006, and ended in Tokyo on October 22, 2006. On December 10, 2006's

Hello! Morning was a weekly Japanese TV show featuring members of Morning Musume, and sometimes other Hello! Project members on TV Tokyo. It was also known by the shorter name of . On April 1, 2007, the show ended after seven years of broadcast. A new show fe ...

, it was announced that the only new member was

Aika Mitsui is a Japanese singer. She is a member of Hello! Project and a former member of the J-pop group Morning Musume, joining as a member of the eighth generation from the audition in Japan during December 2006. Mitsui's audition process was documente ...

. The show had a piece of audition footage each week leading up to December 10, 2006. The last single release in 2006 was "

", which was a huge hit. It was the first single at the number one spot after 3½ years (their last number one hit being "

".) The song's lyrics were credited for its success, with lines like "''walking, you're not alone because everyone's here with you, praying for peace''". It was a bit of a turn from the hyperactive singles the group had been releasing. Tsunku's group,

Sharan Q was a Japanese rock band composed of lead singer , on guitar, on drums and on keyboards. Biography They debuted with in 1992. They were not an instant hit initially, but their fourth single broke the top 50 of the Oricon charts. Even ...

, also made a rock cover of this song. Their first mini-album, '' 7.5 Fuyu Fuyu Morning Musume Mini!'', was released in December. It featured five tracks by solo and/or smaller combinations of group members. It also featured the single "

2007: 8th Generation debut, Hitomi Yoshizawa's graduation, and Miki Fujimoto's dismissal

In early 2007,

Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai was a Japanese girl group and sub-group of Morning Musume. The group was made up of five past and then-present members of Morning Musume and created to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Members * 1st generation: Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe * 3rd ...

, a unit consisting of Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto, Risa Niigaki, and Koharu Kusumi, was created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Morning Musume. They released a commemorative single called " Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia". The members chosen symbolize the beginning of the group; how they had five members ranging in age from 14 to 24. Additionally, each member was from an odd-numbered generation (Kaori Iida and Natsumi Abe from the first generation, Maki Goto from the third, Risa Niigaki from the fifth, and Koharu Kusumi from the seventh). On January 2, 2007, an announcement was made during Hello! Project's 2007 Winter concert that the group's leader at the time

would leave Morning Musume on May 6, 2007, the last day of Morning Musume's 2007 spring tour. The concert would take place at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...

in Yoshizawa's hometown. In February, the first single with the eighth generation member Aika Mitsui was released, "

Egao Yes Nude is the thirty-second single of the J-pop group Morning Musume. It was released on February 14, 2007. It was at first rumored to be the last single to feature Hitomi Yoshizawa (leader until May 6, 2007) but this was disproved. It is the first fo ...

". This was the first PV of Morning Musume to appear on the Dohhh!Up site (a streaming website of Hello! Project media). The single went up against tougher competition than "Aruiteru" had, only landing them a number four spot, although it sold relatively the same number of copies. The song has a funky, disco feel, and is highly reminiscent of some of the older songs of Morning Musume, most notably Summer Night Town. On the March 11, 2007, edition of the weekly TV show ''

'', producer Tsunku revealed he would make an important announcement in the following episode. Several days later, on March 15, he announced that two other eighth generation members would be joining the group— Li Chun and

Qian Lin Qian Lin (born March 11, 1991), better known in Japan as , is a Chinese singer. She is a former Morning Musume member and leader of the Hello! Project sub-group Shin Minimoni. She was announced to be joining as the eighth generation of Morning ...

, both Chinese nationals, were to join as "exchange students". Tsunku stated the two new members would be an important key for their group's planned expansion into Asia and gave them the stage names "Jun Jun" and "Lin Lin" respectively. The two made their stage debut on May 6, at

. They were the first non-Japanese members of the group. On March 21, 2007, the group's eighth studio album, ''

Sexy 8 Beat ''Sexy 8 Beat'' (stylized as ) is the eighth studio album by the J-pop girl group Morning Musume. Overview It is the first album to feature 8th generation member Aika Mitsui and the last full-length studio release to feature 4th generation member ...

'', was released. It was the first album for Aika Mitsui and the last album for Hitomi Yoshizawa and Miki Fujimoto. It featured the singles "

", "

", " Sexy Boy: Soyokaze ni Yorisotte", and "

". On April 25, 2007, Morning Musume released their 33rd single, " Kanashimi Twilight". The song style was a huge departure from almost anything Morning Musume had released prior to it, displaying a loud, rock arrangement and the angriest lyrics since

. This would be the group's last single with members Hitomi Yoshizawa and Miki Fujimoto. With the success of Kanashimi Twilight, on May 1, 2007, Morning Musume became the "best single selling female group in Japan" with 11,085,000 copies sold—their fifth Oricon record. The achievement surpasses the previous record set by Pink Lady of 11,037,000 copies sold. On May 6, 2007, Hitomi Yoshizawa left. Miki Fujimoto took her place as leader and Ai Takahashi replaced Fujimoto as sub-leader. As of June 1, 2007, Miki Fujimoto resigned from Morning Musume, due to the tabloid magazine ''Friday'' running an article depicting Fujimoto and comedian Tomoharu Shoji in a relationship. Ai Takahashi replaced Fujimoto as leader (a position the latter occupied for the briefest period in the group's history—26 days), and Risa Niigaki became subleader. Morning Musume's 34th single, " Onna ni Sachi Are", a song with a

beatmania (styled as ''beatmania'') is a rhythm video game developed and distributed by Japanese game developer Konami and first released in December 1997. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998, and the series expanded not only wit ...

style was released on July 25, 2007. It features the debut of new eighth generation members from China, Jun Jun and Lin Lin. The single reached number two on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, with sales of 43,364 copies. On October 26, 2007, Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, and Koharu Kusumi visited Korea to promote their singles collection album '' Morning Musume All Singles Complete: 10th Anniversary'', which was released on October 24, 2007. Also, Takahashi and Niigaki appeared as special guests in a Korean radio show called ''Maybee's Turn Up the Volume'' (메이비의 볼륨을 높여요). Later that same month, on October 29, 2007, all nine members traveled to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

for three days to promote the album. This was the first time Morning Musume held a non-Fan Club promotional event as a group outside Japan. During their visit, they attended press conferences, appeared for radio and TV show recordings, and held the first-ever public handshaking event outside Japan. November 21, 2007, marked the release of Morning Musume's 35th single, " Mikan". Initial sales were poor for the song. It became the group's lowest-selling single (even lower than the initial indies release of "

", which sold 50,000 copies), both in terms of first week sales and absolute sales figures. As a result, unlike all previous singles, Mikan failed to appear on Oricon's Top 5 Chart, breaking the group's previously held record. On December 31, 2007, Morning Musume performed in the

58th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen The , referred to from here on as "Kōhaku," aired on December 31, 2007, on NHK Hall in Japan. The music show on New Year's Eve is broadcast on both television and radio, and divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing team ...

with a remixed version of their song " Love Machine" along with Cute and

Berryz Kobo was a Japanese girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2004 and associated with Hello! Project. The group's members consisted of Hello! Project Kids members Saki Shimizu, Momoko Tsugunaga, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Chinami Tokunaga, Maasa Sudo, Y ...

. Similar to the previous Kōhaku, the red team (females) lost to the white team (males) after attaining votes from the viewers and judges.

2008–2010: Platinum Era and stable line-up

, and

participated in the musical ''Ojigi 30 Degrees'' at the Shinjuku Theater from February 26 to March 2. Morning Musume's 36th music single, "

Resonant Blue is the thirty-sixth single of J-pop girl group Morning Musume. It was released under the Zetima label on April 16, 2008. The Single V DVD of the single was released on April 23, 2008. Overview There are three editions. Limited edition A comes al ...

", had been announced for release on March 5, 2008, but was postponed until April 16, 2008, because of the busy schedule in the winter/early spring season. Multiple promotional videos were released. With the original, another version, a studio dance shot version, a night scene version, and a one-cut dance version, it makes the most PVs ever released for one single. Also notable is the smoky eye make-up used on the members, a daring new look for Morning Musume as they attempt to expand into Asia. The management of Morning Musume revealed in an interview in March that they were going to take a new approach to promoting the group, pushing the individual members so that they could do more personal work and become more well known, as was the case in the first line-up of the group. On April 5, 2008, Morning Musume's Aika Mitsui complained of a stomach ache after a concert at Hachiōji Citizen Hall. She was diagnosed with

acute appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a rupt ...

and was ordered to rest for two weeks. Mitsui subsequently missed the concerts on April 12 and 13. "Resonant Blue", the 36th single, was released on April 16, 2008, after being delayed due to hectic schedules. The single debuted at number two and finished third in the Oricon Weekly ranking. Overall, the single marked a rebound from poor sales of the previous single, " Mikan". In its first week, it sold 48,086 copies, 20,004 copies more than "Mikan" and around 5,000 more copies than Onna ni Sachi Are. The group held a concert at Taipei Nankang Exhibition Hall, Taiwan, on May 24, 2008. the first time ever for Morning Musume to have a concert outside Japan. From August 6 to 25, 2008, Morning Musume performed with several members of the all-female Takarazuka theater troupe in a version of

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular ...

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

. Ai Takahashi starred in the main role of Cinderella, with Risa Niigaki as the Prince, and Eri Kamei and Reina Tanaka as the stepsisters. The other members performed in minor roles as fairies and guards. Morning Musume's 37th single, "

Pepper Keibu is the debut single by the Japanese hit duo Pink Lady. The single was released on August 25, 1976, under the Victor label. "Pepper Keibu" reached a peak chart position of number four, with a total of 1,050,000 sales. The titular song won the du ...

", was released on September 24, 2008. Unlike past singles (with the exception of

), this song is a cover. It is originally known as Pink Lady's debut single, released in 1976. In the first week of the release, it sold approximately 10,000 copies less than Resonant Blue and 10,000 copies more than Mikan. Berikyū! and

finished their run and were replaced with ., which began on October 6, 2008. The show starred Morning Musume,

, and Cute. 2008 was the first year in which there were no changes in Morning Musume's lineup. Morning Musume released their 38th single on February 18, 2009. This was their first single of 2009, titled "

Naichau Kamo is the thirty-eighth single of J-pop group Morning Musume. It was released under the Zetima label on February 16, 2009, achieving a weekly rank of 3 on the Oricon singles chart. The Single V DVD of the single was released on February 25, 2009. Th ...

". The title translates to "I Might Cry" and was released in two limited versions, A and B, each including a DVD. On March 18, 2009, they released their ninth studio album, called ''

Platinum 9 Disc is Morning Musume's ninth original studio album, released approximately two years after their previous album, '' Sexy 8 Beat''. It was released on March 18, 2009 in both limited (EPCE-5629) and regular (EPCE-5631) editions. The limited edition co ...

''.

Morning Musume - Platinum 9 Tour Spring 2009

Morning Musume released their 39th single, " Shōganai Yume Oibito", on May 13, 2009, attaining a rank of number one on the

weekly chart for the first time since their "Aruiteru" single in late 2006. It also became the group's first number one single to feature eighth generation members Aika Mitsui, Jun Jun, and Lin Lin. Following the success of "Shōganai Yume Oibito", the group released their 40th single, " Nanchatte Renai", on August 12. Because "Nanchatte Renai" was the group's 40th single, a commemorative edition was released along with the usual regular edition plus two limited editions. The commemorative edition has a different c/w track on it than the regular and limited editions. The group hadn't had two different c/ws since their 4th single, "Memory Seishun no Hikari" in 1999, which has two c/w tracks in one edition. The single came in at number two on the Oricon chart, only behind the new single of powerhouse

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

, Sunrise/Sunset (Love Is All). This single marked their best opening week since "Iroppoi Jirettai" in 2005. Their latest Greatest Hits Album (B-side collection album) was released featuring all B-side songs from their debut single to 40th single on 3 discs. Morning Musume released their 41st single, " Kimagure Princess", on October 28, 2009. There are four versions of the single (Regular, Limited A, B, and C). This marked the first time a Morning Musume single released a C version. The C version contained 10 interchangeable covers, much like 30th single "

", which came with 10 different covers. The announcement was made that 7th Generation member Koharu Kusumi would leave Morning Musume and Hello! Project on December 6, after the first performance of Morning Musume's Fall Concert Tour 2009 Nine Smile, in order to pursue a modelling career. This was the first departure since fourth-generation member Hitomi Yoshizawa in 2007, ending the longest stable line-up for Morning Musume. Morning Musume released their 42nd single, " Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai", on February 10, 2010 It was released in four versions: Regular, and Limited A, B, and C. This was the group's first single released with the new eight-member lineup, following the departure of seventh generation member Koharu Kusumi. Their tenth album, ''

10 My Me ''10 My Me'' (stylized as ) is Japanese pop girl group Morning Musume's tenth studio album. It was released March 17, 2010 in both a regular and limited edition. The normal edition came with a photocard, depicting a similar picture to the limited e ...

'', was released on March 17. Their forty-third single, " Seishun Collection", was released on June 9. On August 8, producer Tsunku announced at that day's concert, and later on his blog, that sixth-generation member Eri Kamei and eighth generation members Jun Jun and Lin Lin would be leaving Morning Musume at the end of the autumn tour, and that the ninth-generation audition would be held later in the year. The triple departure left Morning Musume temporarily at five members for the first time since its creation. Kamei stated that the reason for her leaving was to spend more time on the treatment of her

atopic dermatitis Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a long-term type of inflammation of the skin ( dermatitis). It results in itchy, red, swollen, and cracked skin. Clear fluid may come from the affected areas, which often thickens over tim ...

, a chronic form of

eczema Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved c ...

, while Jun Jun and Lin Lin left to pursue careers in China. Morning Musume's 44th single, " Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game", was released on November 24, and Morning Musume's eleventh studio album, ''

Fantasy! Jūichi is the eleventh studio album by Japanese girl group Morning Musume. The album was released on December 1, 2010, in a normal and limited edition, the first press of the normal edition coming with a photocard, and the limited edition coming with a b ...

'', was released on December 1. These were the last single and album to feature Kamei, Jun Jun and Lin Lin and the album contains only two singles. On December 15, the last day of the autumn tour, Eri Kamei, Jun Jun and Lin Lin left Morning Musume and Hello! Project. In 2010, it was announced that a new group has been created, "Dream Morning Musume", consisting of former-Morning Musume members:

, Natsumi Abe,

, Mari Yaguchi,

, Miki Fujimoto,

. They released an album titled ''DoriMusu 1'' which consisted of two new songs, as well as remakes of older Morning Musume songs.

2011: Revival and 9th and 10th Generation debuts

The three audition winners,

Riho Sayashi Riho Sayashi (鞘師里保 ''Sayashi Riho''; born May 28, 1998 in Hiroshima, Japan) is a Japanese dancer, actress, and singer. She is a former ninth generation member of the Japanese pop group Morning Musume, along with Mizuki Fukumura, Erina Iku ...

Kanon Suzuki Kanon may refer to: Buddhism * Kanon, a Japanese name for Guanyin, a Buddhist spiritual figure Media and literature * ''Kanon'' (video game), a Japanese visual novel by Key, later adapted into anime series * ''Kanon'' (manga), a manga by Chiho ...

and

Erina Ikuta is a Japanese pop singer, dancer, actress and former model. She is a ninth generation member of J-pop group Morning Musume. She joined Morning Musume in 2011 along with Riho Sayashi, Kanon Suzuki and Mizuki Fukumura. On 26 November 2014, she b ...

, were announced on stage by Tsunku at the ''Hello! Project 2011 Winter: Kangei Shinsen Matsuri'' concert on January 2, 2011. He then announced that

Mizuki Fukumura is a Japanese singer, dancer, and actress. She is a ninth-generation member, current leader of the pop group Morning Musume as well as the current and seventh leader of Hello Project. Prior to becoming part of Morning Musume, Fukumura was known ...

, a

Hello! Pro Egg (formerly known as until January 2012) is a pre-debut training group established by Japanese entertainment agency Up-Front Group within Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and group ...

, would also be joining Morning Musume. On January 9, also at the Winter concert, it was announced that leader Ai Takahashi would be leaving Morning Musume and Hello! Project at the group's Autumn 2011 concert. The decision came after Tsunku suggested that Takahashi should consider leaving soon. After Takahashi's departure, Risa Niigaki took over her role as leader but for the first time, there was no subleader. Takahashi continued her musical and theatre careers after leaving. On February 3, 2011, Morning Musume's 45th single, " Maji Desu ka Ska!", was announced. The single was set to be released on March 23, 2011; however, due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the single was postponed until April 6. The new single reached number 5 on the Oricon weekly charts. Morning Musume 46th single, " Only You", was released on June 15, 2011. There were five versions to the single: Regular, Limited A, Limited B, Limited C, and Limited D. The single reached number 4 on the Oricon Weekly charts. On April 13, Morning Musume launched a weekly 1-hour Ustream show called UstreaMusume. On their official website, there is an e-mail provided, so fans can submit questions, messages and requests. It was announced May 8 that 10th Generation Audition "Genkijirushi" submissions were starting until June 13. During the summer, Morning Musume did a Fanclub Tour in Hawaii from July 20–26. On September 14, Morning Musume released their 47th single. This was the leader Ai Takahashi's last single with Morning Musume after a tenure of 10 years with the group. In order to celebrate Ai Takahashi's long career with Morning Musume, their 47th single was released as a double A sides. This is the first time in history that Morning Musume has purposely done a double A side single. There were five versions of the single: Regular, Limited A, Limited B, Limited C and Limited D. The single names were as follows: " Kono Chikyū no Heiwa o Honki de Negatterun Da yo! / Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!" as the double A side and Takahashi's solo song was revealed as "Jishin Motte Yume o Motte Tobitatsu Kara". The 47th single reached number 2 on the Oricon daily and weekly charts. On September 29, the penultimate day of the fall tour and the day before Ai Takahashi's departure, Tsunku announced the four winners of the tenth-generation audition,

Haruna Iikubo is a Japanese actress and former pop singer. She is a former tenth-generation member and sub-leader of the pop group Morning Musume and former model for the Japanese fashion magazine ''Love Berry''. Biography Early life Haruna Īkubo was born ...

, Ayumi Ishida,

Masaki Sato Masaki may refer to: Name * Masaki (given name), a unisex Japanese given name * Masaki (surname), a Japanese surname Places * Masaki, Ehime, a town located in Iyo District, Japan * Masaki Art Museum, a museum in Tadaoka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan ...

, and Haruka Kudo from

. This brings the group to 12 members, excluding Ai Takahashi, which is the highest number of group members since late-2004 and early-2005 before Iida Kaori's departure. On September 30, Takahashi left, handing over her position as leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project to Risa Niigaki.

2012–2014: Colorful era

It was announced on January 2 that new leader

would leave Morning Musume and Hello! Project on the last day of their spring concert tour, May 18, at the

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

. The tour started on February 19. Niigaki's successor was not announced, but

had expressed her desire to be the next leader. Morning Musume's 49th single, "

Renai Hunter is the 49th single by the J-pop group Morning Musume, released in Japan on April 11, 2012. Background "Ren'ai Hunter" is the second single for the 10th generation members and the last single by Morning Musume to feature Risa Niigaki. It also be ...

", was released on April 11, 2012. This was Risa Niigaki's last single in Morning Musume and it came in Limited A, B, C, and D editions and also had a solo cover song by Risa called Egao Ni Namida, originally sung by Matsuura Aya. It was also the last single to feature

. On May 4,

announced that she would leave Morning Musume, due to an unhealed stress fracture in her left foot. She left along with Niigaki at Nippon Budokan on May 18. Sayumi Michishige was declared as the new leader at the concert, along with the announcement of the 11th generation 'Suppin Utahime' audition. On July 4, Morning Musume's 50th single, " One Two Three / The Matenrou Show" was released, and sold 56,139 copies on its first day, charting at number 2. These first-day sales surpassed the first week sales of all Morning Musume singles since 'Iroppoi Jirettai' in 2005. The single came in seven different editions: Regular, Limited A and Limited B (featuring sixth-generation), Limited C and D (featuring ninth-generation) and Limited E and Limited F (featuring tenth-generation). The Limited A, B, C, D, E and F had tracks featuring the respective generations. "One Two Three/The Matenrou Show" placed at number 3 weekly, selling over 100,000 copies in its first week, thus becoming the group's first single since "

" (released in 2002) to sell over 100,000 units in its first week, as well as first single since " Ai Araba It's All Right" (2004) to sell over 100,000 units total and receive a gold certification. This also became the group's 50th top-ten single, breaking their own previous record of 49 singles and becoming the first artist to do so. Morning Musume's 13th album, ''

13 Colorful Character is the thirteenth studio album by the Japanese girl group Morning Musume. It was released on September 12, 2012. Background It is the first album to feature tenth generation members Haruna Iikubo, Ayumi Ishida (Morning Musume member), Ayumi Is ...

'', was released on September 12. On September 14, 2012, at Morning Musume's 15th Anniversary Concert Tour Rehearsal, Hello! Project producer Tsunku, announced the winner of the 'Morning Musume 11th Generation Suppin Utahime Auditions'. Sakura Oda was chosen out of 7,000 applicants and was the only one out of the six finalists to be chosen making her the third sole generation of Morning Musume, previously being Maki Goto (third-generation) and Koharu Kusumi (seventh-generation). Morning Musume's 52nd single would be called "

Help me!! "Help Me!!" is the 52nd single by the J-pop group Morning Musume, released in Japan on January 23, 2013. Release details "Help Me!!" will be the first single by Morning Musume on which Sakura Oda participates. The single will be released in ei ...

" was released on January 23, 2013, and was the first single to feature eleventh-generation member Sakura Oda. It was Morning Musume's first single since "Shouganai Yume Oibito" in 2009 to achieve the weekly number 1 spot on the Oricon charts. On February 28, a loose shot version of a new song titled "Brainstorming" was posted onto YouTube, a few days later a dance shot version of another new song titled "Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai" was also posted. It was then confirmed that both tracks would be released as a double A-side single on April 17. On March 16, Tsunku announced the twelfth-generation audition, called 'Morning Musume Mirai Shoujo audition'. On August 4, he announced that no one had passed the audition. He stated that this was partly due to the level of talent being lower than necessary, and partly due to the recent success of the current line-up. All audition finalists were accepted into the Hello!Project Kenshuusei program. On May 21, Reina Tanaka graduated from Morning Musume after the final live of the “Morning Musume Concert Tour 2013" On January 1, Morning Musume began the new year with their new group name, Morning Musume '14. On January 21, Tsunku announced at the au Presentation Spring 2014 that Morning Musume would be part of a commercial along with comedians Morisanchuu, forming a new unit called Morimusu. On January 29, Morning Musume '14 released their 55th single, "Egao no Kimi wa Taiyo sa / Kimi no Kawari wa Iyashinai / What is Love?". This was their first single released as Morning Musume '14. The single peaked at number 1 on the Oricon charts, becoming their fourth number 1 single in a row – the longest streak of number ones in the group's history. In February, Morning Musume cheered and sang an official song produced by Tsunku, titled "Kimi no Kawari wa Iyashinai", for the 2014 Sochi Olympics Japanese Team. On April 16, Morning Musume '14 released their 56th single, "Toki o Koe Sora wo Koe / Password is 0", which also peaked at number 1 on the Oricon weekly chart. On April 29, during the Morning Musume '14 Concert Tour Haru: Evolution concert held in Yamaguchi, Sayumi Michishige announced that she would be leaving the group at their fall 2014 concert tour. On August 16, it was announced that the last date of the tour would take place on November 26, 2014, at Yokohama Arena. The 12th-generation members were officially revealed on September 30. They were Haruna Ogata, Miki Nonaka, Maria Makino, and Akane Haga. On October 15, Morning Musume '14 released their 57th single, " Tiki Bun / Shabadaba Dū / Mikaeri Bijin". It was the final single featuring sixth-generation member Sayumi Michishige. On November 26, Michishige left Morning Musume during the concert "Aki Give Me More Love: Michishige Sayumi Sotsugyo Kinen Special". With Michishige's graduation, there are no members in the group who have been member at the same time as a 1st generation member. Mizuki Fukumura was appointed new leader and Erina Ikuta joined Haruna Iikubo as sub-leader.

2015–2016: Riho Sayashi and Kanon Suzuki's graduation and 13th Generation

On January 1, 2015, Morning Musume '14 changed their name to Morning Musume '15. Announced on February 9, 2015, Morning Musume '15 performed the for the '' Pretty Cure All Stars: Spring Carnival'' movie that aired a month later. Haruna Iikubo, Ayumi Ishida, and Sakura Oda provide their voices in the movie for the role of a trio of spirits that they designed themselves. On February 14, 2015, it was announced that Haruna Iikubo would be the official mentor to the 12th generation, bringing back the mentor system.. On October 29, 2015, it was announced by UP-FRONT PROMOTION that Sayashi Riho will be graduated from Morning Musume '15 on December 31, 2015, during the countdown live, in order to focus on dancing. In October 2015, YouTube blocked UP-FRONT GROUP Co., Ltd.'s videos and related videos in many Western countries including the United States due to YouTube Red contract issues. (Up-Front Group is the holdings company involved in Hello Project and Morning Musume.) The issue was later resolved when Up-Front worked out a solution with YouTube. Morning Musume ’15 released their new single "Tsumetai Kaze to Katamoi / Endless SKy / One and Only" on December 29, 2015. It is a triple A-side single and was Riho's last single as a member of Morning Musume ’15. "One and Only" was the first Morning Musume song to be sung completely in English. On January 1, 2016, Morning Musume '15 was renamed Morning Musume '16. On January 2, Morning Musume '16 Shinseiki Audition was announced during the Hello! Project 2016 Winter ~Dancing! Singing! Exciting!~ concert, to look for the 13th Generation members. In March, Morning Musume had their first concert with the new name. On February 7, Kanon Suzuki announced she will graduate from Morning Musume '16 and Hello! Project at the end of the Morning Musume '16 Spring Concert Tour Haru ~Emotion in Motion~. On February 26 to 28, 2016, Morning Musume '16 were main guests at Anime Matsuri in Houston, Texas to celebrate the convention's 10th anniversary. Morning Musume '16 released their 61st single " Utakata Saturday Night! / The Vision / Tokyo to Iu Katasumi". It is Kanon Suzuki's last single as a member of Morning Musume. On May 31, Kanon Suzuki graduated at the end of the spring concert tour in Nippon Budokan. On May 31, it was announced that no one had passed the Shinseiki audition, but as announced on June 15, 2016, it was re-held. Morning Musume '16 was invited to perform during the TV Tokyo Music Festival(3) on June 29, and NTV's THE MUSIC DAY Natsu no Hajimari on July 2, TBS TV's Ongaki no Hi x CDTV Asamade Natsu Fes! 2016 on July 16 and Fuji TV's 2016 FNS Uta no Natsu Matsuri on July 18 with °C-ute and Angerme. On November 23, Morning Musume '16 released their 62nd single, Sexy Cat no Enzetsu / Mukidashi de Mukiatte / Sou Janai. Morning Musume '16 appeared during the second night of Fuji TV's 2016 FNS Kayousai on December 14, performing in an "Idol Shuffle Medley" with other idol groups including °C-ute. On November 23 at the Morning Musume '16 Concert Tour Aki "My Vision" concert in Osaka, the group announced that the 13th generation would be selected from Hello Pro Kenshuusei and announced at the Nippon Budokan tour finale on December 12. The audition administrator later released an official statement on the Hello! Project website explaining that the winner(s) would be chosen from Hello Pro Kenshuusei because, once again, no suitable candidates were found from the general audition. The 13th Generation members were officially revealed on December 12. They are two former Hello!Pro Kenshuusei members Kaede Kaga and Reina Yokoyama. The 13th Generation was the first in the group's history to have only two members. On December 31, the group performed on TV for the first time as the Morning Musume '17 line-up during the ''CDTV Special! Toshikoshi Premier Live 2016→2017''. The performance was pre-recorded on December 30, with Sato Masaki unable to participate due to her lower back injury.

2017: 20th Anniversary celebrations, 14th Generation and Haruka Kudo's graduation

On January 1, 2017, Morning Musume '16 changed their name to Morning Musume '17. On January 6, Hello!Project announced that Sato Masaki would be on hiatus until further notice as she recovers from her back injury, classed as spinal disc herniation. On January 12, it was announced that Morning Musume '17 would collaborate with Marukome by singing a remake of "Morning Coffee" titled "Morning Misoshiru" to promote the company's new miso soup product of the same name. it was also announced that Haruka Kudo would be the official mentor to the 13th generation. Morning Musume '17 formed a collaborative unit with HKT48 member

Rino Sashihara is a Japanese tarento, singer, producer and actress. She is best known as a former member of idol groups HKT48, AKB48 and STU48, and was the theater manager for HKT48 and STU48. She was also a member of AKB48's unit Not Yet and is the producer ...

named Sashining Musume. They sang the track "Get you!" released in Type-A of AKB48's 8th album

Thumbnail (album) is the eighth studio album by Japanese idol girl group AKB48, released on 25 January 2017. This album features the singles "Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby", " High Tension", as well as " 365 Nichi no Kamihikouki", the main theme from NHK's ''Asadora'' ...

on January 25. This is the first AKB single to include Morning Musume, and the first collaboration in a single between the two groups. 'Get You!' would later be included in Morning Musume's 63rd single as a B-side. On January 26 it was announced that Morning Musume '17 would release their 63rd single titled " Brand New Morning / Jealousy Jealousy" on March 8, 2017. This was the first single to feature the 13th generation members, and the first to not feature 10th generation member Sato Masaki in the A-side tracks while she was on hiatus due to her lower back injury. This single also marks the return of Double A-side's, last seen in their 56th single. On February 24, Up Front announced that Sato Masaki will be returning from her three-month hiatus, and restart her activities in the group on March 18, where the group had a concert in Pacifico Yokohama during the "Morning Musume'17 Concert Tour Spring "The Inspiration" tour. On March 25, it was announced that Morning Musume '17 and

ANGERME , formerly , is a Japanese idol girl group from the musical collective Hello! Project, which originally consisted of four former Hello! Pro Egg (''Hello! Project'' trainees) members that left Egg in 2010 and became full-time members of ''Hello! P ...

would be featured in the game app titled Hello! Project Hina Fest "Idol Nama Gassen" "Kunitori Tenka Touitsu Hen", for which a "live battle" event was held on April 16. On April 10, Morning Musume '17 was appointed the official Ouen Taishi, or Cheer Ambassadors, of the "Ceka Paka Play Dream Campaign" for the Nihon Seimei Ce-Pa Koryusen (the Nippon Professional Baseball interleague) that would begin on May 30. Fukumura Mizuki would be the leader of the whole campaign while the other 12 members would each support one of the 12 teams, and each member would have their own type of dance movie that would be shown at their team's home stadium. On April 29, during the daytime show of Morning Musume '17 Concert Tour Haru "The Inspiration!", 10th generation member Kudo Haruka made a sudden announcement that she will be graduating from Morning Musume '17 and Hello! Project at the end of their fall 2017 tour. As part of their collaboration with marukome, Morning Musume '17 began airing a weekly 5-minute radio program titled marukome Morning Misoshiru Koeru yo! on July 1 across 38 stations. On June 26, it was announced through a special episode of Hello! Project Station that Chisaki Morito has joined the group as a new 14th generation member and concurrent member from Country Girls, She began activities with the group in the Hello! Project 2017 SUMMER concert tour and in their upcoming fall tour. On October 4, they released Morito Chisaki's debut single and Kudo Haruka's last, titled "Jama Shinai de Here We Go! / Dokyuu no Go Sign / Wakain da shi!".

2018–2019: Haruna Ogata's and Haruna Iikubo's graduations and 15th Generation

On January 1, 2018, Morning Musume '17 changed their name to Morning Musume '18. On January 28, Morning Musume '18 released the digital single " Hana ga Saku Taiyou Abite". From February 3 to March 4, the "Morning Musume museum -Morning Musume Tanjou 20 Shuunen Kinen-" was open at HMV and Books Hakata in Fukuoka. Afterwards, it was open from March 11 to April 15 at HMV Sendai in Miyagi. Created to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary, the museum contained all the group's releases as well as official costumes and merchandise sold throughout their 20-year career. On February 12, TV Tokyo aired the Morning Musume 20 Shuunen Kinen Special starring 25 current and former members of Morning Musume: all thirteen Morning Musume '18 members and OG members Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Ishiguro Aya, Abe Natsumi, Fukuda Asuka, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Tsuji Nozomi, Takahashi Ai, Niigaki Risa, and Michishige Sayumi. The show included a talk corner about group history, a look back at Hello! Morning, and several studio performances. On March 14, the group attended a press conference to announce a collaboration between au and Hello! Project titled "Oto no VR", which will deliver 360° video and audio content for smartphones, starting with a video of Morning Musume '18 singing "I WISH". That following evening, Morning Musume '18 performed in the second part of the ''SKY PerfecTV! Ongakusai 2018'' alongside Tsubaki Factory. On March 27, Hello! Project announced Haruna Ogata's graduation. She cited the reason for graduation being due to failing to pass her university entrance exams due to her focus being split between education and activities as a member of the group. On June 13, Morning Musume '18 released their 65th single and Ogata Haruna's last " Are you Happy? / A gonna". Exactly a week later, on June 20, Haruna Ogata graduated at Nippon Budokan, the last stop of their Spring 2018 tour. After the end of their Spring 2018 tour, the group began to focus on performing at the mid year specials for various music shows. On June 27, Morning Musume '18 performed "Are you Happy?", their first performance without Ogata, on TV Tokyo Music Festival 2018. During the show, eight former Morning Musume members, Nakazawa Yuko, Ishiguro Aya, Iida Kaori, Asuka Fukuda, Yasuda Yasuda, Mari Yaguchi, Maki Goto, and Hitomi Yoshizawa, performed a special medley of their most iconic songs. This was Goto's first performance with the group in over 5 years. Morning Musume '18 also performed in TBS's Ongaku no Hi 2018 on July 14, and on July 25, had a special collaboration with

Da Pump is a Japanese boy band made up of lead vocalist, Issa Hentona and MCs Ken Okumoto, Yukinari Tamaki and Shinobu Miyara. The band formed as students at Okinawa Actors School in 1996. They made their debut on the Avex Trax subsidiary avex tune un ...

for the 2018 FNS Uta no Natsu Matsuri where they both performed Da Pump's famous song, "U.S.A" and a medley of Morning Musume's song "Are you happy?" and "The Peace.". On August 12, they performed at rockin'on presents ROCK IN JAPAN FES.2018 on the Lake Stage. On August 17, 2018, Iikubo Haruna announced on her blog that she will graduate from both Morning Musume '18 and Hello! Project at the end of the fall tour Morning Musume '18 Concert Tour Aki "Get Set, Go!". On September 14, the group celebrated their 21st anniversary. During the event they announced a collaboration with Caribadix, an anime short series produced by Sanrio and rockin'on about a group of animals who form a rock band. Morning Musume '18 would become cheer characters named "Gaokkii" who appear in each of the 12 members' colors with their symbolic motif. The characters are featured in goods sold at the Morning Musume '18 Concert Tour Aki ~GET SET, GO!~ and also in stores. On October 24, Morning Musume '18 released their 66th single and Iikubo Haruna's last " Furari Ginza / Jiyuu na Kuni Dakara". On December 12, they performed on the second night of Fuji TV's 2018 FNS Kayousai, marking Iikubo's final television appearance as a member of the group, and on December 16, Iikubo graduated at Nippon Budokan. On November 10, 2018, Morning Musume '18 held their first concert in Mexico. A week later, on November 17, they performed in the Anisong World Matsuri at Anime NYC 2018 in New York City, which included a panel and autograph signing session the day before. To promote these two overseas appearances, a YouTube live stream was held on October 5 JST with the members answering fans' questions. During the Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project Countdown Party 2018 "Good Bye & Hello!" on December 31, 10th generation member Ishida Ayumi was appointed as a new sub-leader of the group alongside Ikuta Erina. During the opening concert of the Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project 2019 Winter tour on January 2, the Morning Musume '19 LOVE Audition in search of 15th generation member(s) to join the group was announced. On March 13, they released the compilation album Best! Morning Musume 20th Anniversary. The album included all songs from the last 10 years, from Mikan in 2007 to their most recent single Furari Ginza. As the songs are unedited, all members who were active from the release of Mikan till present, can be heard in the album and appear on the covers of the album, although all the graduated members aren't credited. On June 12, the group released their 67th single "Seishun Night / Jinsei Blues". During their release event at Ikebukuro Sunshine City Fountain Square, it was announced that the 15th generation would be revealed on June 22 at 5:00 PM JST in a YouTube live stream. This is the first time the group has revealed its members to the general public and members in this format. On June 22, the 15th generation were announced in a YouTube live stream on Morning Musume's official channel at 5:00 PM JST, The new members were revealed to be Rio Kitagawa, child actress and model Homare Okamura and former Hello! Pro Kenshuusei Hokkaido member Mei Yamazaki. They were introduced on stage during the Hello! Project 2019 Summer concert tour from July 13 and would begin performing with the group in the Morning Musume '19 Concert Tour Aki. With the 15th generation all being younger than Haga Akane, their arrival marks the end of Haga's run as the youngest serving member of the group at 5 years. As the 15th generation members got their official colors, 12th generation Makino Maria revealed that she had changed her Baby Pink color to Pink, which was previously Michishige's color, a member she looks up to. Haga Akane had also changed her color from Light Orange to Orange which was Kudo Haruka's color, whom Haga also looks up to. On July 10, it was announced that Oda Sakura was diagnosed with cervical degenerative disc disease by the doctor after experiencing severe pain around her left shoulder blade the day before. Due to it requiring one month of treatment, Oda was absent from the Hello! Project 2019 Summer concert tour from July 13 to August 3, as well as a "Jinsei Blues / Seishun Night" release event on July 15. On August 10, following the success of their performance on last years Lake Stage, Morning Musume '19 were once again invited to perform at rockin'on presents ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2019 on the GRASS STAGE, the largest stage in the festival. The group's professionalism and high performance level was praised with many highlighting the group's ability to perform a 50-minute set with no breaks in the peak of hot weather in Japan. With a capacity of over 60,000 people, this was their largest audience to date. This was also Oda Sakura's first performance back with the group after her short medical leave.

2020–2021: Masaki Sato's graduation

On September 24, it was announced that Sato will be graduating from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on December 13 in order to begin activities as a solo artist. Since February, Sato has been suffering from the effects of irritable bowel syndrome, which has made her absent from several activities that she is satisfied with, mainly concerts and events. Despite her condition improving, it is still interfering with her activities, and she also expressed that it is difficult for her to continue activities as a Morning Musume member as she feels she has been causing trouble for the members and staff. As a result of discussions with her, she decided to improve her condition first than rather continue in the group under the situation where she can not make plans for the future. She also had a strong desire of graduating after a Morning Musume concert, and although she is not without concerns about her health, she has come to the conclusion that the group's upcoming concert at Nippon Budokan, which was originally planned, will be her graduation concert. Sato has also expressed desire to continue her music activities as a solo artist after graduating, so she is planning to distribute singing videos while monitoring her health. On October 1, she and Ishida Ayumi held a joint fanclub event titled Morning Musume '21 Ishida Ayumi & Sato Masaki FC Event ～Hiyoko ga 10-nen tattara, saa nani ni naru? ~“Mabasude yattenai yo. Semete isho dake ki sasete!” “Iya, taitoru nagai yo!”, featuring two shows at Edogawa cultural center. On December 1, their TikTok Channel opened. On December 8, they released their 70th single, Teenage Solution / Yoshi Yoshi Shite Hoshii no / Beat no Wakusei, which was also Sato's last single. On December 13, Sato Masaki graduated from the group and became a soloist.

2022: Chisaki Morito's graduation and 16th Generation

On January 1, Morning Musume '21 changed their name to Morning Musume '22. On January 2, during the opening concert of the Hello! Project 2022 Winter "Love & Peace" tour, it was announced by Fukumura Mizuki that Morning Musume '22 and Juice=Juice would be holding a holding a joint new member audition titled Hello! Project "Morning Musume '22" "Juice=Juice" Goudou Shin Member Audition. The audition is open to applicants as of January 2, and the application period will end at 10pm (22:00) JST on February 9, 2021. Any girl living in Japan from 5th grade elementary school to 2nd year of high school are eligible to apply. A website of the audition was opened with more details. On February 28, it was announced that Morito Chisaki is set to graduate from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on June 20 at the final concert of the Morning Musume '22 Concert Tour "Never Been Better!" at Nippon Budokan. On June 29, it was announced on a special video of the Hello! Project Station that Rio Sakurai had passed the final round of the Hello! Project "Morning Musume '22" "Juice=Juice" Goudou Shin Member Audition, becoming a member of Morning Musume '22. On September 3, it was announced that Kaga Kaede is set to graduate from Morning Musume and Hello! Project on December 10 at the final concert of the Morning Musume '22 25th Anniversary Concert Tour "Singin' To The Beat", so that she will be able to go and study dancing. On September 14, Morning Musume '22 announced their 25 Shuunen Kinen -Asu wo Tsukuru no wa Kimi- Audition during the Morning Musume '22 Kessei 25 Shunen Kinen FC Event "Musume × Fan×Fun! × Dai Kansha-sai!" concert. This was to look for a 17th generation.

Life in the group

The audition process has been described by Ai Takahashi as involving a training camp of three days and two nights, in which participants were expected to learn a new song, a dance routine and a script. The girls are afforded three holidays a year of five days each, in winter, in summer, and for the New Year. In the past, the group has always had a leader and sub-leader, though neither comes with any responsibility. Takahashi has said that the role merely includes encouraging the others to do their best, while according to Niigaki, "there is nothing I have to do s a sub-leader but I want to support

he leader He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

International activities

Asia

In addition to already having official fan clubs in Taiwan and South Korea, Hello! Project and Morning Musume began actively extending its fanbase outside Japan and primarily into the rest of Asia starting from the middle of 2007 and into 2008. In March 2007, Morning Musume inducted its first two non-Japanese members from China, Li Chun (Jun Jun) of

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

and

(Lin Lin) of

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also Chinese postal romanization, romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the prov ...

. Along with

, the two left in 2010 after the group failed to break into China due to piracy levels. In addition to the unveiling of Hello! Project's Taiwanese website in 2007, Hello! Project has also launched the Taiwan H.P. New Star Audition as well; an audition aimed at recruiting new members to join Hello! Project as

Hello Pro Egg (formerly known as until January 2012) is a pre-debut training group established by Japanese entertainment agency Up-Front Group within Hello! Project is a Japanese musical collective consisting of all female recording artists and group ...

members. At this audition, Morning Musume also performed as well. Morning Musume also held their 10th Anniversary Live Tour in Korea in June 2008. On October 5, 2016, Morning Musume '16 attended a fan meeting in Seoul, South Korea and then on October 6 they performed in the MU:CON LIVE AMN Big Concert at DMC Festival 2016, which took place in the Sangam Culture Plaza. On October 15, 2016, Morning Musume '16 performed "Utakata Saturday Night!" on TVBS's Quan Qiu Zhong Wen Yin Yue Bang Shang Bang (全球中文音樂榜上榜; Global Chinese Music Live), a live Taiwanese music program. The next day on October 16, the group held a live concert in Taipei. Two months before on August 16, members Fukumura Mizuki, Kudo Haruka, and Ogata Haruna visited Taipei for a press event outside of the Red House Theater to promote the concert. On March 12 and 19, 2017, Morning Musume '17 appeared on the Taiwanese show Riben Tian Nan Di Bei You (日本天南地北遊; Traveling All Over Japan). 7The group members split into pairs and give tours to Taiwanese celebrities around Kyushu in the first episode and Hokkaido and Okinawa in the second episode. Morning Musume '17 held a concert in Hong Kong on June 25, 2017.

Europe

In France, Morning Musume music videos are aired on a television channel called ''Nolife'', a channel that features video games and Japanese music. On Friday, July 1, 2010, Morning Musume made their first appearance at the Japan Expo 2010 in Paris, France as guest of honor. "Tomo", the coupling track to the group's 43rd single, " Seishun Collection", was the event's theme song.

North America

On February 12, 2009, it was announced that Morning Musume would be performing in the United States at the 2009

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first w ...

, the nation's largest anime convention, as one of the first official guests of honor. Niigaki stated that "The movies that Disney makes are full of dreams, but when I have children, I'd like them to know about war, the pain of death and such things, so I hope they will watch

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

." It was also announced that "3, 2, 1 Breakin' Out!", the coupling track of their upcoming single "Shōganai Yume Oibito", would be the official theme song for Anime Expo 2009. The convention was held at the

Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in the southwest section of downtown Los Angeles. It hosts multiple annual conventions and has often been used as a filming location in TV shows and movies. History The convention center, ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

on July 2 to 5. On Sunday, October 5, 2014, Morning Musume '14 made their first appearance at the

Best Buy Theater Palladium Times Square (formerly PlayStation Theater, Best Buy Theater and Nokia Theatre Times Square) is an indoor live events venue in New York City, located in One Astor Plaza, at the corner of Broadway and 44th Street. It was designed by archi ...

in New York City, New York. The concert was sponsored by

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a ...

. Of the experience Sayumi Michishige shares "We had an overwhelming welcome from the New York fans, and we really could feel that they've really been waiting for us all along. It made us very happy." From February 26 to 28, 2016, Morning Musume '16 were main guests at Anime Matsuri in Houston, Texas to celebrate the convention's 10th anniversary, which took place at the George R. Brown Convention Center. On Friday, February 26, the group appeared in the opening ceremony and held a Q&A session afterwards. Their concert was held on Saturday, February 27, which they performed a total of 16 songs in front of 6,000 people. Former member Mitsui Aika accompanied the group and was the concert MC. There were originally plans for members Iikubo Haruna and Kudo Haruka to participate in the Friday J-Fashion Show as models, but they did not appear.

Members

(2011–) *

(2011–) * Ayumi Ishida (2011–) * Sakura Oda (2012–) * Miki Nonaka (2014–) * Maria Makino (2014–) * Akane Haga (2014–) * Reina Yokoyama (2016–) * Rio Kitagawa (2019–) * Homare Okamura (2019–) * Mei Yamazaki (2019–) * Rio Sakurai (2022–)

Subgroups

Mini-Moni was a sub-unit of the Japanese idol girl groups Morning Musume and Coconuts Musume. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2000 and associated with Hello! Project. The group was founded by Morning Musume members Mari Yaguchi, Nozomi Tsuji, ...

Discography

* '' First Time'' (1998) * '' Second Morning'' (1999) * '' 3rd: Love Paradise'' (2000) * ''

'' (2002) * '' No. 5'' (2003) * ''

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2006) * ''

'' (2007) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

'' (2010) * ''

12, Smart is the twelfth studio album by Japanese girl group Morning Musume. Overview It is the last album to feature Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, and Aika Mitsui and the first to feature the ninth-generation members Mizuki Fukumura, Erina Ikuta, Riho Sa ...

'' (2011) * ''

'' (2012) * '' 14 Shō: The Message'' (2014) * '' 15 Thank You, Too'' (2017) * '' 16th ~That's J-POP~'' (2021)

Milestones and awards

* Oricon – Most Top 10 singles by an artist in Japan. * Oricon – Most number one singles by a female group in Japan, beating the previous record set by Pink Lady. The record was later beaten by

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with i ...

in 2012. * Oricon – Most consecutive Top 10 singles by a female group in Japan. * Oricon – Best single selling female group in Japan—22,103,479 copies sold, their fifth Oricon record. The record was later beaten by AKB48 in 2012.

Golden Arrow Award

The Golden Arrow Award is presented by the Japan Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA) to recognize excellence in domestic media, such as in film, television, and music. , - , 1998 , , Morning Musume , , Newcomer Award (Music) , , , - , 1999 , , Morning Musume , , Music Award , ,

Japan Academy Prize

The Japan Academy Prize is presented by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association for excellence in Japanese film. , - , rowspan="2" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, , Morning Musume , , Popularity Award , , , - , ''Pinch Runner'' , , Newcomer Award , ,

Japan Cable Awards

The

Japan Cable Awards are an annual set of music awards, sponsored by the . The awards are presented annually since 1968 and are based on requests from the audience received by cable broadcasters. The awards is finished in 2017, Kiyoshi Hikawa, who is a Japanese enk ...

are sponsored by the National Cable Music Broadcasters Association and are based on requests from the audience received by cable broadcasters. , - , 1999 , , "Love Machine" , , Excellence Award (Pops) , , , - , 2000 , , "I Wish" , , Excellence Award (Pops) , ,

Japan Gold Disc Awards

The

Japan Gold Disc Awards The is an award presented by the Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Associa ...

are the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

's annual music awards. , - , 1999 , , Morning Musume , , New Artist of the Year , , , - , rowspan="2" , 2000 , , "Love Machine" , , Song of the Year , , , - , "Koi no Dance Site" , , Song of the Year , , , - , rowspan="5" , 2001 , , "Happy Summer Wedding" , , Song of the Year , , , - , ''3rd: Love Paradise'' , , Pop Album of the Year , , , - , ''Best! Morning Musume 1'' , , Pop Album of the Year , , , - , ''The Video Koi no Dance Site'' , , Music Video of the Year (short term) , , , - , ''Video The Morning Musume Best 10'' , , Music Video of the Year (long term) , ,

Japan Record Awards

The

Japan Record Awards is a major music awards show, held annually in Japan that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST ...

are presented by the

Japan Composer's Association The Japan Composer's Association, or JACOMPA (日本作曲家協会 in Japanese) is an organization of Japanese composers, established in 1959. Among its members are some of Japan's most renowned composers of contemporary classical music. Preside ...

for outstanding achievements in the record industry. , - , rowspan="2" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, , Morning Musume , , Best New Artist Award , , , - , Morning Musume , , New Artist Award , , , - , rowspan="2" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, , "Love Machine" , , Japan Record Award , , , - , "Love Machine" , , Gold Award , , , - , rowspan="2" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, , "Koi no Dance Site" , , Japan Record Award , , , - , "Koi no Dance Site" , , Gold Award , ,

Billboard Japan Music Awards

The

Billboard Japan Music Awards ''Billboard Japan'' Music Awards are an annual set of music awards, founded by ''Billboard Japan'', the Japanese online edition of the music magazine ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard''. The awards honor artists, both Japanese and foreign, who ha ...

are an annual set of music awards, founded by ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from '' ...

'', the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese online edition of the music magazine ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

''. In 2013, Morning Musume was awarded for the most active live performance act. , - , 2013 , , Morning Musume , , Active Artist of the Year , , , -

References

* ''All

Up-Front Works is a Japanese holding company for various entertainment companies. Its subsidiaries include the talent agency Up-Front Promotion and Up-Front Works, a music production and sales company that manages such record labels as Zetima, Piccolo Town, ...

discography pages are in Japanese''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Musume Hello! Project groups Japanese idol groups Japanese girl groups Japanese electropop groups Japanese dance music groups Musical groups established in 1997 1997 establishments in Japan Japanese pop music groups Musical groups from Tokyo Japanese dance groups Child musical groups All-female bands

History

1997-1998: Formation and beginnings

1999: Commercial success with "Love Machine" and the 3rd Generation

2000: Koi no Dance Site, continued commercial success and the 4th Generation

2001: "The Peace" and the 5th Generation

2002 : Maki Goto's departure and massive re-structuring of the sub-units

2003: 6th Generation debut and sub-groups

2004: Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago's graduation

2005: 7th Generation "Miracle" Member

2006: Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa's graduation

2007: 8th Generation debut, Hitomi Yoshizawa's graduation, and Miki Fujimoto's dismissal

2008–2010: Platinum Era and stable line-up

2011: Revival and 9th and 10th Generation debuts

2012–2014: Colorful era

2015–2016: Riho Sayashi and Kanon Suzuki's graduation and 13th Generation

2017: 20th Anniversary celebrations, 14th Generation and Haruka Kudo's graduation

2018–2019: Haruna Ogata's and Haruna Iikubo's graduations and 15th Generation

2020–2021: Masaki Sato's graduation

2022: Chisaki Morito's graduation and 16th Generation

Life in the group

International activities

Asia

Europe

North America

Members

Subgroups

Discography

Milestones and awards

Golden Arrow Award

Japan Academy Prize

Japan Cable Awards

Japan Gold Disc Awards

Japan Record Awards

Billboard Japan Music Awards

See also

References