KAT-TUN
KAT-TUN is a J-pop group from the Johnny's Jimusho (Johnny's Entertainment Company) that is made up of six young Japanese males, namely:
Kamenashi Kazuya;
Main Vocal
Akanishi Jin;
Main Vocal
Taguchi Junnosuke;
Dancing, Acrobatic Stunts
Tanaka Koki;
Main Rapper
Ueda Tatsuya;
Guitar, Sings
Nakamaru Yuichi;
Beat Box
Before joining KAT-TUN, each member belonged to different Junior units. In 2001, Kinki Kids member Koichi Domoto personally picked 6 Johnny's Jr. members to be his back dancers in the NHK music program, Pop Jam. He chose Kamenashi, Akanishi, Taguchi, Tanaka, Ueda and Nakamaru to join each other under the unit name of KAT-TUN.
Initially, KAT-TUN was only meant to be a dancing unit to support Koichi Domoto. However, KAT-TUN gained a lot of attention so the formation is maintained and the group later then became a permanent unit up until now.
Kamenashi is one of the two most popular members of KAT-TUN. He is generally considered cute and charming. Kame-chan usually leads KAT-TUN's participation in the musicals. With Jin, he is the main vocalist of the group.
Born: February 23, 1986
Blood Type: B
Height: 171cm
Weight: 52kg
Drama(s): Sapuri, Nobuta wo Produce, Kindaichi shonen no Jikenbo (2005), Gokusen 2
More infos from Wikipedia: He is affectionately called
Kame and is one of the two most popular members of KAT-TUN. Although the youngest member of KAT-TUN, he is considered the group's unofficial "leader". He is good at public speaking, and he is often appointed as the main speaker whenever KAT-TUN does their MC on TV programs or concerts. With Jin, he is the main vocalist of the group. He starred in Gokusen 2 with Jin and as a result, earned an award for best male supporting actor. Even before that, Kame had starred in the 5th season of the Kinpachi Sensei series. He has also starred in Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo (2005) and Nobuta wo Produce along with Yamashita Tomohisa from NewS, for which he scored another award, this time for best male lead actor. The two have also released a single called "Seishun Amigo" under the unit name Shuuji to Akira which also features the song "Kizuna" which he had written the lyrics for (it was used in the drama Gokusen 2). The single had sold over one million copies in four weeks and is the No. 1 best selling single on the Oricon Charts of 2005. New drama for 3rd season of 2006, 'Sapuri'(Supplement) with coupling song sang by KAT-TUN. He also has his new dorama entitled "
Yuuki" which will be aired by NTV on
August 26, 2006.
Akanishi has some affectionate nicknames from fans. Jin is one of them, but there is also Bakanishi because he often acts childishly. Like Kame, he is one of the two most famous KAT-TUN members. He plays the guitar, sings well, has excellent dance moves and writes quite a lot of songs ("Hesitate", "Love or Like"). He starred in Gokusen 2 with Kame and now also the drama Anego (2005 summer season).
Born: July 4, 1984
Blood Type: 0
Height: 175.6cm
Weight: 56kg
Drama(s): Anego, Gokusen 2, Kurisumasu Nante Dai Kirai
More infos from Wikipedia: He has some affectionate nicknames from fans.
Jin is one of them, but there is also
Bakanishi (
baka literally means
stupid or
idiot; because he often acts childishly). With Kame, he is one of the two most famous KAT-TUN members due to his looks and his voice. He plays the guitar, has a fabulous voice, and writes many songs for himself and KAT-TUN ("
Care", "
Hesitate", "
Love or Like", "
Murasaki""). He often takes the hardest parts of the songs because of his impressive vocal range, especially when compared to his bandmates' limited ones. He starred in Gokusen 2 with Kame, Anego, and a dorama special called Kurisumasu Nante Daikirai (I Hate Christmas).
Taguchi is known as Junno. This tallest member of KAT-TUN is currently addicted to tap dancing. His trademarks are the acrobatic stunts he performs in their shows and also his smile. Junno has also acted alongside his senior from SMAP Nakai Masahiro's film "Mohouhan" (The Copycat) in 2002.
Born: November 29, 1985
Blood Type: AB
Height: 180cm
Weight: 64kg
Drama(s): HAPPY, Ganbatte Ikimasshoi
More infos from Wikipedia: He is known as
Junno. This tallest member of KAT-TUN is currently addicted to tap dancing. His trademarks are the acrobatic stunts he performs in their shows, despite being the tallest of them all, and also his smile, which has been described as 'invincible'. In 2004, Junno injured his knee and had to take a few months' break from group activities after surgery. Junno has also acted alongside his senior from SMAP Nakai Masahiro's film "Mohouhan" (The Copycat) in 2002. He also starred in "Ganbatte ikimasshoi" with Nishikido Ryo from NewS. Junno is left-handed.
Tanaka naturally gets called Koki. His role in the group is as the main rapper. He writes most of the rap lyrics in their recent original songs and has started to write his own solo rap songs. His style is hip-hop. Although Koki looks really tough, he is actually sweet and kind. Koki pairs up with Nakamaru most of the time and they have a comedic unit called TaNaka.
Born: November 5, 1985
Blood Type: B
Height: 170.5cm
Weight: 55kg
Drama(s): My Boss, My Hero, Kindaichi shonen no Jikenbo (2005), Never Land
More infos from Wikipedia: He naturally gets called
Koki. He is the main rapper of the group. He writes most of the rap lyrics in their recent original songs and has started to write his own solo rap songs. His style is hip-hop, and he likes to portray a cuddly personality that is at odds with his image. Koki pairs up with Nakamaru often and they have a comedic unit called
TaNaka (TAnaka - NAKAmaru). Currently starring 'Kazuya' of drama 'My Boss, My Hero' with Nagase Tomoya from TOKIO and Tegoshi Yuya
Ueda, the appointed leader of the group, is one of KAT-TUN's most striking members. Because he tends to change his image a lot he has been criticized for being "unstable" in terms of personality. He is learning the English language and plays the guitar.
Born: October 4, 1983
Blood Type: B
Height: 171cm
Weight: 48kg
Drama(s): N/A
More infos from Wikipedia: He is the official leader of the group. Fans and group members call him Tat-chan or Uebo. He is one of the most striking members of KAT-TUN and he tends to change his image a lot. He is learning the English and French language (just like Gackt does - he's a big fan of Gackt, to the point that he was obsessed with looking exactly like Gackt for a long period of time). ). It is rumored among his fans that Ueda could highly be the mysterious ‘SPIN” who has written countless KAT-TUN songs such as Le Ciel and GOLD. It would make sense Ueda being SPIN, because he speaks or is learning French as well as English, and so could well have written the French lyrics in "Le Ciel". However, no other concrete evidence has surfaced to support this rumor. He is most famous for his solo performance
Love in Snow as well as his piano and guitar skills among KAT-TUN fans. So far, he is the only member of KAT-TUN who doesn't star in a drama. Recently he is doing gintore (muscle training) for boxing, and that seems to be influence of Dream Boys.
Nakamaru, or Maru, the oldest member, is very funny. He proves that by being in the TaNaka comedy unit with Koki. Maru's trademark skill is his human beatbox (sound of beats he creates with his mouth) that gets incorporated in KAT-TUN's songs a lot. Because of this skill, he seems to be gaining more popularity recently.
Born: September 4, 1983
Blood Type: 0
Height: 176cm
Weight: 55kg
Drama(s): Kindaichi shonen no Jikenbo (2005)
More infos from Wikipedia: He, the oldest member, is very funny. He is in the
TaNaka comedy unit with Koki to complement this. Maru's trademark skill is his human beatbox (sound of beats he creates with his mouth) that gets incorporated in KAT-TUN's songs a lot. He spent a lot of time practicing and for every chance he had, he would try to get practise. It seems that he has been learning it for some years already. Because of this skill, he is gaining more popularity recently.He also start to write songs. Like "Understandable", is a song that he wrote himself. In songs that he song, he will try to add in beatbox.He is normally called Yucchi by Japanese fans, but sometimes called Nakama or
Maru by fans from other Asian countries. To fans that wrote letter to him, there is a rumour that he does reply fan mail.
Discography
- 1st Single "Real Face" released on March 21, 2006
- 2nd Single "Signal" released on July 17, 2006
- 1st Album "Best of KAT-TUN" released on March 21, 2006
Want to download their singles/album(s)/promotion videos? Go to my
Archive. And I might reconsider it to upload their performances as well. ^^
Official Website(s):
-
johnnysnet
Credit(s): kattunband @ myspace + yesasia.com
