About KAT-TUN KAT-TUN (hepburn: katūn, sounding similar to "cartoon" is a J-pop group from Johnny &am...

About KAT-TUN
KAT-TUN (hepburn: katūn, sounding similar to "cartoon" is a J-pop group from Johnny & Associates, made up of six young Japanese men:

* Kamenashi Kazuya, 亀梨和也, (born February 23, 1986)
* Akanishi Jin, 赤西仁, (born July 4, 1984)
* Taguchi Junnosuke, 田口淳之介, (born November 29, 1985)
* Tanaka Koki, 田中聖, (born November 5, 1985)
* Ueda Tatsuya, 上田竜也, (born October 4, 1983)
* Nakamaru Yuichi, 中丸雄一, (born September 4, 1983)

The group's name is an acronym formed by the members' surname initials.

Like most of Johnny's other groups, KAT-TUN not only sings and dances, but the members also act and star in commercials. They are one of the most popular talent idol groups in Japan at the moment, and have released a debut CD, setting records in album sales.

History
KAT-TUN is a unit of Johnny's Jr., a large group of boys which make up the Junior branch of the Johnny & Associates entertainment company. They made their professional debut with their single "Real Face", released in March 2006. They previously released a concert DVD which features approximately 10-15 of their songs.

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 be his back dancers and gave them the unit name KAT-TUN.

Initially, KAT-TUN was only meant to be a dancing unit to support Koichi Domoto. However, KAT-TUN gained a great deal of attention so the formation was kept and KAT-TUN remains a solid unit.

KAT-TUN's debut

Their debut was announced January 29, 2006. This was a long-awaited event for both the members and their fans. The debut is to be accompanied by a concert tour of Japan.

Release Date: March 22, 2006

Single: "Real Face"

Album: "Best of KAT-TUN"

DVD: "Real Face Film"

Debut Sales

With the release of their album, single and DVD, KAT-TUN broke numerous records. "Best of KAT-TUN" debuted with sales of 556 548 copies, "Real Face" debuted with 754 234 copies, and "Real Face Film" debuted with 374 202 copies. With these releases, KAT-TUN topped all three charts, only the second artist to do so in the history of the Oricon Charts (the first artist to do so was Ayumi Hamasaki). They hold the records for the highest single debut sales as well as the record for highest DVD debut sales. Their single "Real Face" topped the Oricon charts for 3 weeks, making them the first artist in the millennium to do so. Their single sold over one million copies in nine weeks.

Members

* Kamenashi Kazuya, called Kame, is one of the two most popular members of KAT-TUN. Although he is the youngest member of KAT-TUN, he is considered the group's unofficial "leader". He is good at public speaking and often speaks as MC for KAT-TUN on TV programs or concerts. In 2005 he starred in Gokusen 2 with Jin and won best male supporting actor. In 2005's winter season he starred in Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo (2005) and Nobuta wo Produce with Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi) from NewS. He won best male lead actor for his role as Kiritani Shuuji in Nobuta wo Produce. Kame joined Yamapi and released the single "Seishun Amigo" under the temporary unit Shuuji to Akira. The single contains the ending theme of Nobuta wo Produce, Kame's Kizuna from Gokusen and Yamapi's Colorful from Dragon Zakura. The single sold over one million copies in four weeks, earning the No. 1 best selling single on the Oricon Charts of 2005. During summer of 2006, Kame stared in 'Sapuri'(Supplement) and drama special "Yuuki" that aired during 2006's 24 hour television. His drama 'Tatta Hitotsu no Koi', also starring KAT-TUN's second T, Koki, started on October 14, 2006. In the winter of 2008 he played the protagonist in 1 Pound no Fukuin. He is good at playing baseball and has represented Japan in the junior leagues. He does a good imitation of Donald Duck.

* Akanishi Jin 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, 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). Jin took a brake from the group on the end of october 2006 for 6 months and more and went overseas to study the english language. When he came back he was just right in time with KAT-TUN's new tv show called cartoon KAT-TUN. And by the end of November 2007 he and his co-member Junno starred in a dorama called Yukan Club.

* Taguchi Junnosukeis 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, Junno also has 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 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 and in drama special Happy!. Junno is left-handed. He is interested in billards and participated in an official game, coming in with a respectable placing. He is also interested in the drums. He starred in a dorama called Happy! 2 which was aired in December 26,2006.He also starred in the dorama "Yukan Club" starring with his co-member akanishi. And his latest drama was Hanayome to Papa which was aired this 2008.

* Tanaka Koki 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. He writes under the penname "Joker". 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). Recently he starred as 'Kazuya' of the dorama 'My*boss My*hero' (マイ☆ボス マイ☆ヒ-ロ-) with Nagase Tomoya (TOKIO) and Tegoshi Yuya. His latest drama is Tatta Hitotsu no Koi. He also starred in the drama special called Byakkotai. with Yamashita Tomohisa that was air at the beginning of 2007. He will be starring at a drama called "Tokkyu Tanaka san go" with Tsukamoto Takashi.

* Ueda Tatsuya, was the official leader of the group, but he stepped down shortly after KAT-TUN's formation. 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 languages (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 it is highly possible that Ueda could be the mysterious "SPIN" who has written countless KAT-TUN songs such as "Le Ciel" and "GOLD". It would make sense if Ueda turned out to be SPIN, because he speaks or is learning French as well as English, and therefore 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 hasn't stared in a dorama yet. Recently he is doing kintore (muscle training) for boxing which seems to be influence of Dream Boys.

* Nakamaru Yuichi, the oldest member, is known for his good sense of humor. Japanese fans are known to call him "Yucchi," but amongst his fans he is also known as "Nakama" and "Maru". He is in the TaNaka comedy unit with Koki. Nakamaru's trademark skill is his human beatbox (sound of beats he creates with his mouth), which is incorporated into many of KAT-TUN's songs. It seems that he has been learning this skill for many years and he spends much of his free time practising. His ability to beatbox has made him stand out recently, earning him more fans and popularity. To add to his growing popularity, he has recently begun writing songs for KAT-TUN (such as "Understandable"), incorporating his beatbox style whenever possible. Rumor has it that Nakamaru replies to fan mail.

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