UTADA HIKARU

Utada Hikaru is one of Japan’s most successful artists of all time. Her debut album, First Love, is the best-selling album ever in Japan with over 7.65 million copies sold in Japan alone. She has sold over 41 million records worldwide (with over 34 million in Japan). Moreover, 3 of her albums are in the Top 10 best-selling album of all time in Japan (#1, #4, #8), making her one of the most indefinitely successful and popular singers in JPop history.

She is bilingual as she was raised in both New York and Tokyo. Utada Hikaru is also known in the west under her English language project name ‘Utada’. Originally, Utada’s music had a heavy R&B style to it, but now her music has progressed to a more pop / experimental tone. Her R&B sound was what brought her so much attention with her first release in Japan, “Automatic / time will tell”, as there were no other artists with her distinct style. Utada was married to director Kiriya Kazuaki, who directed the movie CASSHERN, but in March of 2007 they annouced that they had divorced. Currently in Japan she has album sales totaling 24 million copies, singles sales of 15.1 million copies and VHS/DVD sales estimated 3 million copies sold.

IKIMONO GAKARI

Ikimono Gakari is a Japanese rock band. They are part of Sony Music Japan’s EPIC Records label.The band was formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in February 1999 by Hotaka Yamashita and Yoshiki Mizuno, and was later joined by lead vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka in December of the same year.

Mizrock

Mizrock is a Japanese pop/rock singer under Universal Music. She originally debuted in 1999 under Universal with her real name Watanabe Mizuki and released two singles. In 2003 she begun to work with Swedish producer Tord Backstrom, and debuted under Victor Entertainment with the pseudonym Miz in 2004. In the same year she released an English album in Sweden, with the lead single “Waiting” reaching #8 on the Hitlistan Swedish singles chart. In 2007 she returned to Universal, releasing the mini-album “Good bye, yesterday”.

misono

misono is a Japanese pop/rock artist, who was once the vocalist/lyricist for the band day after tomorrow. In 2006, she started her own solo project and has become well known for upbeat songs such as “VS” and “Lovely♥Cat’s Eye”. misono is also an aspiring actress; debuting in the film world with a leading role in the movie Obochan Chips. She is the younger sister and labelmate to the singer Koda Kumi.

YOUNHA

Younha is a KPop and JPop South Korean singer. Younha made her debut as an artist at the young age of sixteen. She is nicknamed the “Oricon comet” for her success in Japan. She is also the second Korean after BoA to enter the Oricon Chart’s Album Top-20.  Although she is often compared to BoA, another Korean singer active in Japan, there are significant differences in their musical style and performance.

JYONGRI

JYONGRI is a Japanese singer-songwriter of Korean ancestry on the EMI Music Japan record label. Jyongri attended Osaka International School, and is fluent in both English and Japanese. She debuted in December 2006 with the single “Possession / My All For You” which broke into the Oricon top 20 singles chart. One of her signatures as a musician is to have a forward tilting keyboard in her performances.

melody.

melody. is a Japanese urban pop artist born and raised in Hawaii. She made her debut in early 2003 with the single “Dreamin’ Away”, but wasn’t majorly recognized until later that year when she became a part of m-flo’s “loves…” project. Since then, most of her releases have charted within the top twenty on the Oricon charts.

BoA

BoA is a multilingual singer, singing in Korean, Japanese, English, and Chinese. She made her debut in 2000 with “ID;Peace B” at the age of thirteen. After the success, her record company SM Entertainment arranged for BoA to launch her music career in Japan under Avex Trax. Her Japanese debut LISTEN TO MY HEART debuted at #1 on the Oricon charts. BoA has continued to release many #1 albums in both Korea and Japan.

MIZUKI NANA

Mizuki Nana is a singer and seiyū in Japan. She was born in Niihama, Ehime, Japan. She is admired by many of her fellow seiyū and fans because she has a great amount of power and strength in her singing voice, which surprises many fans due to her petite nature. She was also the winner of the “Best Musical Performance” award at the first Seiyū Awards.

ITO YUNA

Ito Yuna is a JPop singer born to a Japanese father and Korean American mother. She was born in Los Angeles and was brought up in Hawaii. She is signed onto Sony Music Japan. In 2005 she debuted with the single “ENDLESS STORY”, which was featured in the hit movie NANA. In this same film she played the character Serizawa Reira, the vocalist of the rival band, TRAPNEST. This single would debut at #2 on the charts and eventually sell 475,000 copies.