J-pop, natively also known simply as pops, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional Japanese music, but significantly in 1960s pop and rock music, such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys, which led to Japanese rock bands such as Happy End fusing rock with Japanese music in the early 1970s. J-pop was further defined by new wave groups in the late 1970s, particularly electronic synth-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra and pop rock band Southern All Stars.
Miwa Watabiki, better known by her stage name Chara, is a Japanese singer, actress and video jockey. She debuted in 1991 with the single Heaven. She is most well known for her song "Swallowtail Butterfly ", the theme song for the 1996 Shunji Iwai film Swallowtail Butterfly, her 1997 hit single "Yasashii Kimochi", and her collaboration with Judy and Mary vocalist Yuki, "Ai no Hi Mittsu Orange". Chara later formed a band with Yuki, called Mean Machine.
GLAY is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate 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, including progressive rock, punk, electronic, R&B, folk, reggae, and ska. Originally a visual kei band, the group slowly shifted to less dramatic attire through the years. As of 2008, Glay had sold an estimated 51 million records; 28 million singles and 23 million albums, making them one of the top ten best-selling artists of all time in Japan.
Beni Arashiro, is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform under the mononym, Beni.
12012 is a Japanese visual kei rock band. Formed in 2003 in Osaka Prefecture, the group centers its work around the concept of "madness inside a human". 12012 is also the penal code for the possession of a dangerous weapon in California. The group sometimes performs as "Kyōki Shoji" (凶器所持), which is a translation of that offense.
Ayaka Iida, known mononymously as Ayaka, is a female Japanese singer, songwriter and record producer formerly signed to Warner Music Japan. Born in Osaka, she moved to Tokyo to pursue a singing career. She married actor Hiro Mizushima on February 22, 2009.
Shūji to Akira was a special temporary unit formed by KAT-TUN member Kazuya Kamenashi and NEWS member Tomohisa Yamashita for their 2005 drama Nobuta o Produce. Shūji (修二) and Akira (彰) are the names of the characters Kamenashi and Yamashita play in the drama respectively. Although the drama has long finished on television, the duo have revived their performance of their song "Seishun Amigo" numerous times. In 2017, they formed another special temporary unit, Kame to Yamapi, for their 2017 drama Boku, Unmei no Hito desu.
"Luv Parade/Color of Life" is the fifteenth single by Japanese recording artist Misia. It was released on July 5, 2006 as the first single from Misia's seventh studio album Ascension.
BOY is the first single Shion Miyawaki released under label Rhythm Zone. This single charted on the Oricon ranking on the #182 place and sold 507 copies in its first week.
Dear is the first mini-album from Shion Miyawaki under the label Rhythm Zone. The album failed to chart on the Oricon chart. This mini-album includes a collaboration song with DJ MAKAI.
"Stand by U" is South Korean pop group Tohoshinki's twenty-eighth Japanese language single. "Stand by U" was released on July 1, 2009 by their label Rhythm Zone and was released in two formats: CD and CD+DVD. The track serves as the final single promoted by the group as a five-piece, following which legal troubles caused the group to go on an extended hiatus.
Love Songs – Koi Uta is the second mini-album from Shion Miyawaki under the label Rhythm Zone. This mini-album contains songs that about the experience of Shion in love that were told in the cellphone story KoiUta.
To Love is Japanese R&B singer-lyricist Kana Nishino's second studio album. It was released on June 23, 2010 by SME Records. The album spawned four Oricon Top 10 singles, "Motto...", "Dear.../Maybe", "Best Friend" and "Aitakute Aitakute".
Sakura Miyawaki is a Japanese singer and actress. She became a member of Japanese-South Korean girl group Iz One after finishing second in survival reality television show Produce 48 and is a member of the Japanese idol girl group HKT48.
Haruka Kodama is a Japanese idol singer and a member of the idol girl group HKT48. In HKT48, she is in Team H. She was a concurrent member of AKB48 from 2013 to 2018,
"12 Byō" is the fifth single by the Japanese girl idol group HKT48, released in Japan on April 22, 2015. It reached number one on the Oricon weekly singles chart. As of June 1, 2015, it had sold 296,698 copies.
Shiori Takei is a former Japanese pop singer and songwriter who recorded under the Giza studio label.
