174-463: SMAP ( Japanese : スマップ , Hepburn : Sumappu ) was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai , Takuya Kimura , Goro Inagaki , Tsuyoshi Kusanagi , and Shingo Katori . The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa , founder of Johnny & Associates , originally as a six-piece with Katsuyuki Mori, until his departure from the band in 1996. The name stands for "Sports Music Assemble People". After making their debut in 1991,
348-559: A pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
522-456: A sportscaster and became the host of the Olympic games on TBS . "Susume Gold", a remix of their song form their fifteenth album, SMAP 016/MIJ , was scheduled to be released on September 8, 2004, as the band's thirty-sixth single but was later canceled. The song served as the official song of the 2004 Summer Olympics and used during its television coverage on TBS. In December 2004, SMAP aired
696-421: A 20% household share rating and became the twelfth most watched episode of SMAP×SMAP . On September 9, a live episode of SMAP×SMAP titled "SMAP Nonstop Special" was aired. The band performed all the past fifty singles in order of their releases in a medley, live for forty-minutes, without any commercials. On September 30, SMAP hosted a TV special, SMAP Go! Go! , and aired a short sequel to Furuhata vs SMAP ,
870-696: A Japanese astronaut , played SMAP's hit single, "The One and Only Flower in the World", while flying in the Space Shuttle Discovery and it became the second Japanese song played in space. Noguchi also took with him, food that Inagaki, Kusanagi, and Katori cooked in Bistro SMAP, a cooking segment aired on SMAP×SMAP , when he made a guest appearance on the show. On August 27 and 28, Kusanagi and Katori hosted NTV 's annual telethon , 24 Hour Television , and raised one billion yen. It also became
1044-418: A SMAP member, after Howl's Moving Castle (2004) starring Kimura. In December 2007, they released a new single, "Dangan Fighter", which reached number one in the charts. It served as the official song of all sports broadcasts on TV Asahi and was featured during its television coverage. On December 31, SMAP performed "Dear Woman" and "Dangan Fighter" at Kohaku Uta Gassen . As artists are ranked according to
1218-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
1392-594: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
1566-421: A cover since its release. Its subsequent single, "Taisetsu", which was used as the theme song for Nakai's drama television series, Brothers , peaked at No. 4 and was certified platinum. On June 18, 1998, the band released their eleventh album, SMAP 012 Viva Amigos , which reached number one in the charts and became their tenth best selling album. The band headlined their fourth stadium tour, Viva Amigos . The tour
1740-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
1914-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
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#17327726614482088-435: A group and individually. SMAP was credited for changing the Japanese entertainment and music industry, in terms of prolonging longevity of boy bands and broadening careers by creating new opportunities for bands that followed. After starting out as a typical boy band, with a fan base predominantly female teens, they gradually transformed into a band with a wider audience, expanding their fan base to preteens, male adults, and even
2262-490: A household share rating of 49.4%. In February 2013, they released a double-A-side single, "Mistake! / Battery", which reached number one. Subsequent singles, "Joy", which was used as the theme song for Katori's drama television series, Kasukana Kanojyo , and "Shareotsu / Hello", also reached number one. From March 2013, SMAP launched a collaborative project with Universal Studios Japan titled, "Universal Studios Japan x SMAP: World Entertainment Project" and their song, "Battery"
2436-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
2610-480: A massive success with over 1,560,000 copies sold, reaching number one on the charts for two consecutive weeks. The song was used as the theme song for Kusanagi's drama television series, Food Fight , and became the band's third best selling single. It quickly became one of the most recognized songs in Japan. In August 2000, Katori also released a single, "Shingo Mama's Oha Rock", as Shingo Mama, which reached number one on
2784-423: A massive success, becoming the most highest rated television series in Japanese history, becoming the only television series to have all episodes marking above the 30% sharehold rate. On July 24, 2002, they released their fourteenth album, SMAP 015/Drink! Smap! , which peaked at No. 2 in the charts and became the band's fourth best selling album. The title was derived from a superseded soft drink, called SMAP, which
2958-621: A musical segment, on Wednesdays they aired a short TV movie that they starred in, Thursdays were talk show-based with a guest celebrity, and on Fridays they performed sketch comedy. It is said that this program became a basic framework for SMAP×SMAP which started a year after the program began. From April 1995, Kusanagi and Katori launched their radio program, SMAP Power Splash . From July 1, 1995, Nakai launched his weekly radio program, Some Girl SMAP still airing as of 2016. On July 7, 1995, they released their seventh album, SMAP 007 Gold Singer , which became their first number-one studio album and
3132-433: A row. The tour was released through DVD on December 6, 2006. On December 31, SMAP performed "Arigato" at Kohaku Uta Gassen as the ootori for the second time. As artists are ranked according to the ratings during their performance, SMAP ranked number one out of fifty-eight artists, and was the most watched act of that year's Kohaku , with a household share rating of 48.8%. On January 18, 2007, "The One and Only Flower in
3306-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
3480-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
3654-575: A special episode of the famous detective-drama television series, Furuhata Ninzaburo , aired in 1999. The drama was shot in one take during the broadcast of the TV special and aired live as they shot it. On December 31, they performed "Mistake" and "Joy" at Kohaku Uta Gassen as the ootori , for the sixth time, four years in a row. On March 26, 2014, SMAP was invited to the NPB Tigers-Giants Union vs MLB All Star , held in celebration of
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#17327726614483828-426: A success, the cover version by SMAP peaked at No. 2 and was certified double Platinum. The band became a catalyst for the recognition of the song, turning it into one of the most popular songs in Japan. On March 26, 1997, the band released its second compilation album, Wool , which peaked at No. 2. From April to June 1997, Kusanagi landed a role in a drama television series, Ii Hito . The band's single "Celery" became
4002-696: A symbol of being a first-rank artist in the music industry. The pamS Tour was released through DVD on December 21, 2001. Throughout the year 2001, all five members starred in their own drama television series individually. Nakai starred in Shiroi Kage , Kimura in a detective series, Hero , Inagaki in Onmyoji , and Kusanagi in Star no Koi . Katori starred in a special episode of a comedy-drama television series, Ohha wa Sekai wo Sukuu . All programs were that year's high-rated programs. Among all shows, Hero became
4176-423: A television personality and as a news presenter, carrying many of his own television programs, which lead to expanding the capacity of a boy band. From April 1995, the group launched a variety show, SMAP no Gambarimashou , derived from the single released the previous year, which aired on weeknights. The content of the show changed daily. On Mondays they performed a theatrical act, Tuesdays were talk show-based with
4350-432: A television special as an apology for their musical hiatus and to show the fans their appreciation for their support on the group's solo projects. By the end of 2004, their single, "The One and Only Flower in the World", released in 2003, had become the best selling single in the 21st century and the most recognized song in Japan. Although many assumed that the band would be performing the song again at Kohaku Uta Gassen as
4524-455: A three-hour television special, SMAP Gambarimasu , and became an annual television program until 2013, with five episodes aired in total. In August 2009, they released a double-A-side single, "Sotto Kyutto / Super Star", which reached number one. "Sotto Kyutto" served as the theme song for Kusanagi's high-rated drama television series, Ninkyo Helper , aired in 2009. "Super Star" served as the official song of all sports broadcasts on TV Asahi and
4698-415: A tight schedule compared to the previous years, as they all carried their own television programs and worked as actors, on both television and film. They were not able to rearrange their schedules to fit in a time to work as a group, besides the taping of their weekly television program, SMAP×SMAP . It was announced that the band did not have a single day that all five members could meet together, other than
4872-464: A unanimous decision over Mac Foster in their 1972 heavyweight boxing match. On February 13, 1975, a religious gathering was held to hear Rev. Sun Myung Moon speak. On August 27, 2011, Japan's three biggest professional wrestling promotions; All Japan Pro Wrestling , New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah came together to produce a charity event titled All Together at the arena. On August 10, 11 and 12, 2018 New Japan Pro-Wrestling held
5046-484: A venue for big musical events, its primary purpose is for Japanese martial arts . The national championships of the different branches of major martial arts ( judo , kendo , karate , aikido , etc.) are held annually at the Budokan. The Budokan has also been associated with professional wrestling 's big shows, typically from All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah . However, due to declining audiences following
5220-440: A weekly variety program, Watto Atsumare , with Masataka Itsumi and Cha Kato and appeared regularly until the program ended several months later. In 1989, they started to host their own music show, Uta no Big Fight and Pop City X , as well as appearing regularly on a variety program, Idol Kyowakoku , from 1989 to 1991. In 1988, SMAP made their acting debut in a drama television series, Abunai Shonen III , playing themselves as
5394-451: A yearly tradition and the nation's military tattoo first held here in the fall of 1963. Aside from JSDF bands, foreign armed forces military bands are also invited to join the event. The state funeral of Shinzo Abe was held at the Budokan on 27 September 2022. The Nippon Budokan is the primary setting of the 1989 fighting game Budokan: The Martial Spirit . Players train in various Japanese martial arts, and must then face off at
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5568-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
5742-469: Is a historical and traditional music program and enka artists dominated the position of the ootori . As artists are ranked according to the ratings during their performance, SMAP ranked number one out of fifty-eight artists and was the most watched act of that year's Kohaku, with a household share rating of 57.1%. Although all five members were able to work actively as a group while pursuing solo careers since their debut, in 2004, their solo projects were on
5916-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
6090-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
6264-506: Is an indoor arena 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 contests, the arena has gained additional fame as one of the world's most outstanding musical performance venues. The Budokan was a popular venue for Japanese professional wrestling for a time, and it has hosted numerous other sporting events, such as
6438-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
6612-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
6786-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
6960-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
7134-645: Is currently ranked No. 7 for the most watched Japanese variety show in history, with 34.2 million viewers. It is the eighth longest-running prime-time television program in Japan, as of 2016. SMAP officially disbanded on December 31, 2016. In 1986, Masahiro Nakai (age 14), auditioned to enter Johnny & Associates , a Japanese talent agency that recruits and trains young boys, preteens to teens, to become singers and members of boy bands. Later, in 1987, Takuya Kimura (age 15), Goro Inagaki (age 14), Katsuyuki Mori (age 13), Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (age 13), and Shingo Katori (age 10) auditioned individually and joined
SMAP - Misplaced Pages Continue
7308-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
7482-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
7656-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
7830-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
8004-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
8178-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
8352-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
8526-599: The 1967 Women's Volleyball World Championship . Most recently, the arena hosted the Olympic debut of karate in the 2020 Summer Olympics , as well as the judo competition at both the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics . A number of famous acts have played at the Budokan. The Beatles were the first rock group to play there, in a series of concerts held between June 30 and July 2, 1966. ABBA ended their last tour and held their final live performance there in March 1980. Numerous acts have recorded live albums at
8700-399: The 2012 Summer Olympics and was featured during the television coverage on TBS . They launched their fourteenth stadium tour, Gift of SMAP Concert Tour , from August to December. The number of attendees for one tour surpassed one million, for the first time six years. The tour was released through DVD on December 5, 2012, and later through Blu-ray on March 26, 2014, and reached number one in
8874-517: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
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#17327726614489048-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
9222-517: The Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from
9396-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
9570-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
9744-490: The ootori for the third time and for the first time in four years. As artists are ranked according to the ratings during their performance, SMAP ranked number one out of forty-four artists, and was the most watched act of that year's Kohaku , with a household share rating of 48.9% From March 2011, SMAP has shown active philanthropic support to the victims and regions affected by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami . On May 4, their first and only digital single , "Not Alone"
9918-459: The ootori , as they did the previous year, the band declined their invitation from the show due to not releasing any new music in 2004. Kohaku experienced a fall in ratings that year and became the lowest-rated Kohaku in history and the absence of SMAP is thought to be the cause of this. In January 2005, the band released their new single, "Tomodachi e Say What You Will", a cover of Eric Clapton 's "Say What You Will", which reached number one in
10092-509: The second Anthology album included the first show's performances of " Rock and Roll Music " and " She's A Woman ". The venue is one of the stages in The Beatles: Rock Band video game. Chatmonchy currently holds the record for the largest crowd at the Budokan. The record for the most Budokan music concerts is held by Eikichi Yazawa , 142 times as of December 19, 2017. Artists that have released live recordings from
10266-448: The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics ,
10440-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
10614-465: The 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of
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#173277266144810788-419: The Budokan, hosted by Joe Hisaishi . It included repertoire from most of the films Hisaishi composed for Hayao Miyazaki 's Studio Ghibli filmography. Diana Ross performed and taped her "Here and Now" television special in 1991 to a sold-out audience. The Japan Record Awards took place in the arena from 1985 to 1993 where all of the artists from around the country receive these awards. Muhammad Ali won
10962-491: The Budokan, including Casiopea , Joe Hisaishi , Blur , Incubus , TVXQ , Bryan Adams , Bob Dylan , Tom Petty , Eric Clapton , Cheap Trick , Neil Young , Dream Theater , Duran Duran , Kiss , Ozzy Osbourne , Mariah Carey , Judas Priest , Paul McCartney , Asia , Ringo Starr , Journey , Deep Purple , Masayoshi Takanaka , and Michael Schenker Group . The Nippon Budokan is located in Kitanomaru Park in
11136-558: The Budokan. American crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death released a live album titled Live at Budokan (1992), though the title was in jest and the album was recorded at famed New York City venue The Ritz . The original Beatles concert is heavily bootlegged on audio and video; the first night's concert video was officially released by Apple Records in Japan only as Beatles Concert at Budokan 1966 , and excerpts are shown in The Beatles Anthology , while
11310-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
11484-488: The Night Sky", was released. It reached number one on the charts and became the best selling single of that month and the second best selling single of that year. The song became the band's second best selling single, with over 1,620,000 physical copies sold. From April 2002, it has appeared in text books used in music classes in middle school and has become one of the most recognized songs in Japan. Many artists have released
11658-619: The Nippon Foundation, which took about ten days to complete. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes
11832-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
12006-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
12180-676: The Seibuen Theme Park in Saitama , where they had their first fan meeting on the day of the debut in 1991. On September 16, 2011, their postponed concert in China was held in Peking . The concert was released through DVD on December 7, 2011, and reached number one on the charts. After several fan meetings at small venues, on November 12 and 13, they hosted another event, titled FanxFun Party, at Tokyo Dome , for those who couldn't make it to
12354-499: The World" was chosen as one of Nihon no Uta Hyakusen , a collection of one-hundred songs, widely beloved in Japan and encouraged to be sung in future generations. On September 8, 2007, Kimura starred in Hero , a sequel to the 2001–2005 detective television series of the same name. The film was a commercial success and became the highest-grossing film that year, as well as becoming the second highest-grossing film among all films starred by
12528-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
12702-496: The agency. In Autumn 1987, twenty boys, from ages ten to seventeen, were put together into a group called The Skate Boys, which was initially created as backup dancers for a famous boy band, Hikaru Genji . In April 1988, producer Johnny Kitagawa chose six out of the twenty boys to create a new boy band and named them "SMAP". While the group continued to work as backup dancers for Hikaru Genji, they spent their early years as actors and television personalities. In 1988, they starred in
12876-478: The album, "Here Is Your Hit". SMAP became the second artist in history to have a total album sales of ten million, after Chage and Aska . The band launched their twelfth stadium tour, super.modern.artistic.performance tour , from September to December. The tour was released through DVD on December 17, 2008, and later through Blu-ray on March 26, 2014. On December 31, SMAP performed "Sono toki, Kitto Yume janai" at Kohaku Uta Gassen . On January 31, 2009, SMAP hosted
13050-430: The annual music show on NHK , Kohaku Uta Gassen , and performed "The One and Only Flower in the World". Out of the fifty-eight artists on the program, SMAP performed last for the first time, serving as the ootori , the most honorable and prestigious title in the Japanese music industry. SMAP became the first pop artist and the first group in history to perform as the ootori since the program started in 1951, as Kohaku
13224-411: The annual music show, Kohaku Uta Gassen , for the seventh consecutive year. While they appeared as the performer for the previous six years, Nakai became the host of the show, which is the most prestigious job for television personalities. Nakai also hosted the program in 1998 and established himself as a highly regarded host on television. On January 14, 1998, the band's twenty-seventh single, "Beyond
13398-527: The arena to record their performances, Cheap Trick at Budokan (1978) and Bob Dylan at Budokan (1979). The venue is popular for recording live albums because it has good acoustics, is relatively large and Japanese audiences are known for being highly appreciative when appropriate but quiet during performances. Eric Clapton described the Tokyo audience as "almost overappreciative" in interviews promoting Just One Night (1980), his own live album recorded at
13572-517: The arena. The Beatles were the first rock group to perform at the Budokan in a series of five shows held between June 30 and July 2, 1966. Their appearances were met with opposition from those who felt the appearance of a western pop group would defile the martial arts arena. In July 1973, Japanese television recorded the Santana performance at the Budokan. The Budokan gained worldwide fame when American artists Cheap Trick and Bob Dylan used
13746-464: The band aged 22. On May 27, a special episode on SMAP×SMAP , dedicated to Mori, was created and aired SMAP's last performance as a six-piece. Nakai said that he had an emotional breakdown after Mori's leave, not wanting to continue as a five-piece, fearing that their popularity will plummet and that he wished for a breakup. On July 13 and 14, 1996, they hosted the annual twenty-seven-hour long television special, FNS 27 Hour Television . On July 15, 1996,
13920-430: The band launched their seventh stadium tour, pamS Tour , which was also their first five-dome tour and the first five-dome tour ever headlined in history. SMAP invented the concept of a "five-dome tour", a tour that hits the five dome-shaped stadiums located in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka , Nagoya , Fukuoka , and Sapporo ). Since the invention of this new touring style, the five-dome tour is now used by many artists in Japan, as
14094-412: The band released "Asahi wo Mini Ikouyo", which peaked at number 3 and its subsequent single, "Fly", peaked at number 2 in the charts. On January 3, 1999, SMAP starred in a special episode on the popular Japanese detective-drama television series Furuhata Ninzaburo , as themselves. The episode became the most watched program among all television series broadcast in 1999, with 32.3 million viewers, and
14268-551: The band released their single, "Aoi Inazuma", the first material released after Mori's departure, which reached number one on the charts. Their subsequent single, "Shake" was released in November, also reaching number one. These two songs were both certified triple platinum and became the band's fifth and fourth best selling single, respectively. "Shake" has surpassed one million copies in terms of shipments. From July to August, they held their second stadium tour, Chomugendaisho , which
14442-434: The band released their tenth album, SMAP 011 Su , which peaked at No. 3 in the charts and was certified Platinum. From this point on, SMAP changed the pace of their releases from two albums per year to one, due to their busy schedules after experiencing individual success, as actors and television personalities. In September 1997, they released a new single, "Peace", which peaked at No. 2. On December 31, 1997, they performed at
14616-464: The band's ninth and tenth best selling single. "Gambarimashou" saw a jump in sales from the previous singles, becoming one of the most popular songs in Japan and helped the band gain a broader fan base. From 2002, "Original Smile" appeared on text books used in music classes in high school. From April 1994, Nakai and Katori started starring on the most famous Japanese daytime live television program, Waratte Iitomo . In October 1995, Kusanagi joined in and
14790-422: The best selling single in the 21st century and the fifth best selling single in Japanese history. The song appears in text books used in school as children are taught to learn the song at a young age and has become one of the most recognized songs in Japan. It is the band's best selling single, with over 2,700,000 physical copies sold and their first record to sell over two million copies. In 2012, JASRAC , announced
14964-588: The center of Tokyo , two minutes' walking distance from Kudanshita Subway Station , and near the Imperial Palace and Yasukuni Shrine . The 42 m (140 ft) high octagonal structure holds 14,471 people (arena seats: 2,946, 1st floor seats: 3,199, 2nd floor seats: 7,846, standee: 480). The building is modeled after Yumedono (Hall of Dreams) in Hōryū-ji in Nara . Although the Budokan also functions as
15138-482: The ceremony with Prime Minister Abe and Caroline Kennedy . It was announced that "Yes we are" will be used as the theme song for N Suta on TBS , a news program aired on weekdays, and that "Kokokara" will be used as the theme song for the Nihonbashi 's revitalizing project. On July 26 and 27, 2014, SMAP hosted the annual twenty-seven-hour long television program, FNS 27 Hour Television . Though Nakai had hosted
15312-461: The chart at number one, giving the band ten consecutive number ones. It also served as the official song of the 2008 Summer Olympics and was featured during the television coverage on TBS . On September 24, 2008, they released their eighteenth album, super.modern.artistic.performance , which reached number one in the charts. Will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas produced the opening track, "Theme of 019", and also wrote and produced Katori's solo on
15486-402: The charts and was certified double Platinum. "Hadaka no Osama" became Mori's last single before his departure from the group. The band released another album, SMAP 009 , on August 12, which reached number one. From March to April, they held their last tour as a six-piece. On April 15, 1996, SMAP launched their self-titled variety show, SMAP×SMAP , commonly known as "SmaSma" (suma-suma), which
15660-529: The charts with over 1,300,000 physical copies sold and became a social phenomenon. James Brown guest-starred in the music video, along with other Japanese celebrities who made cameo appearances. In December 2000, the term "Ohha", used by Katori, won the Ryukougo Taisho , an annual traditional event of announcing words that describes that year. On October 14, 2000, the band released their thirteenth album, S map SMAP 014 . From this point on, SMAP changed
15834-554: The charts, giving the band six consecutive number-one singles since "Gambarimasho" released in the previous year. "Oretachini Asu wa Aru" became the band's sixth best selling single. From January 1995, Kimura launched his weekly radio program, What's Up SMAP , still airing as of 2016. In January 1995, Nakai landed his first drama television series, Ajiichi Monme , which became an instant hit. Two seasons and four special episodes were made through 1995 to 2013. While he started to pursue his acting career, he also started to work individually as
16008-645: The charts. "Dear Woman" became one of the most recognized songs in Japan after being used in a shampoo commercial in Japan. Katori designed the cover art for "Arigato". "Arigato" served as the official song of the 2016 Summer Olympics , ten years after its release, and was featured during its television coverage on TBS . On July 26, 2006, the band released their seventeenth album, Pop Up! SMAP , which reached number one and became their ninth best selling album. From July to October, they launched their eleventh stadium tour, Pop Up! SMAP Tobimasu Tobidasu Tobisma Tour , and recorded an attendance of over one million, three years in
16182-468: The charts. Its subsequent singles, "Bang Bang Vacation" and "Triangle", and their sixteenth album, Sample Bang! , released on July 27, 2005, all reached number one in the charts as well. "Triangle" served as the official song of all sports broadcasts on TV Asahi , such as the 2006 Winter Olympics , the 2006 World Baseball Classic , and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating . It was featured during
16356-410: The charts. On December 31, 2012, they performed "Moment" and "Sakasama no Sora" on Kohaku Uta Gassen , as the ootori , for the fifth time. They became the first artist in history to serve as the ootori three years in a row. As artists are ranked according to the ratings during their performance, SMAP ranked number one out of forty-four artists, and was the most watched act of that year's Kohaku, with
16530-409: The charts. The song was used as the theme song for NHK 's television drama series, Umechan Sensei , and SMAP became the first artist under Johnny & Associates to contribute a song to an asadora . On August 1, 2012, they released their new single, "Moment", and their twentieth album, Gift of SMAP , on August 8, both which reached number one in the charts. "Moment" served as the official song of
16704-515: The death of Mitsuharu Misawa and the retirement of Kenta Kobashi , professional wrestling has ceased running regular shows in the Budokan. During Wrestle Kingdom 12 , New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that its yearly G1 Climax tournament's finals would be held at the Budokan. The Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki hybrid rules fight held at the Budokan in 1976 is seen as a forerunner to mixed martial arts . K-1 , Shooto , Vale Tudo Japan and Pride Fighting Championships have all held events at
16878-406: The earthquake and tsunami. The program is aired every summer since 2011. On August 17, 2011, the band released their fifth compilation album, SMAP Aid , to support the people affect by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It was released for a limited- time period, until the end of December 2011. Two-hundred yen per album sold were donated to the victims. Fans were given the opportunity to create
17052-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
17226-535: The eightieth anniversary of the Japan Professional Baseball and sang the national anthem . In April 2014, they released a double-A-side single, "Yes we are / Kokokara", which reached number one. Their subsequent double-A-side single, "Top Of The World / Amazing Discovery", which served as the official song for Universal Studios Japan , also reached number one. On April 18, SMAP became the first ambassador of Universal Studios Japan and attended
17400-454: The elderly, after their success as actors and television personalities. SMAP released 55 singles, all of which reached the top 10 in the charts, 22 consecutive number-one singles, and 33 number-one singles in total. The band has had 24 top-10 albums and 14 number-one albums. " The One and Only Flower in the World ", released in 2003, is the best selling single in the 21st century and the third best selling single in Japanese history and has become
17574-475: The fifth time. A special episode of "Bistro SMAP" was aired during the show, titled "Bistro SMAP On The Go". Four members flew to regions that were affected by the tsunami, Kimura and Inagaki to Iwate Prefecture and Kusanagi and Katori to Fukushima . The four members cooked a total of one-thousand meals to the victims evacuated in these areas. Nakai started to host his own music show, Ongaku no Hi , meaning "music day", to show their support to all those affected by
17748-766: The final 3 days of the G1 Climax in the Budokan, which marked the first time in 15 years that New Japan has promoted an event there. New Japan once again returned to the arena for the final 3 days of the 2019 G1 Climax. New Japan also held the Best of the Super Jr. and World Tag League finals in December 2021, as well as their 49th Anniversary Show and the final two days of the upcoming G1 Climax in 2021. Joshi wrestling promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom held their All Star Dream Cinderella event on March 3, 2021. Making this
17922-520: The first time a joshi company to held an event in the venue in 24 years. Professional wrestler and legend in Japan Kenta Kobashi wrestled his final match in Budokan on May 11, 2013, at an event titled Final Burning in Budokan . Kobashi is synonymous with the arena along with fellow wrestlers Toshiaki Kawada and the late Mitsuharu Misawa . In November, the Budokan is a venue for the annual Japan Self-Defense Forces Marching Festival,
18096-429: The first time on January 4, 2010, sixteen years after its release. On January 1, 1995, the band released their first compilation album, Cool , which reached number one. The band gave an opportunity for fans to create the track list and the top fourteen of their favorite songs made it into the album. Singles released in 1995, "Kansha shite", "Shiyouyo", "Donna Iikoto", and "Oretachini Asu wa Aru", all reached number one on
18270-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
18444-470: The group and with other musical guests, the program has had countless guests from around the world and is known for being the show with the widest range of guests in Japanese television history. The show ranked No. 1 in the annual household share ratings in 1996, 1997, 1999 – 2002, 2006, and 2016 making it the most watched television show in Japan. The episode aired in January 2002 is currently ranked No. 7 for
18618-586: The group appeared regularly on a weekly variety program, Yume ga Mori Mori . Due to the fact that this was the first time in Japanese history, that a band participated in a sketch comedy, this rare act attracted wide attention. On January 1, 1992, they released their first album, SMAP 001 , which peaked at No. 14 and released another album, SMAP 002 , in the same year and peaked at No. 6. Their singles, "Egao no Genki", "Yuki ga Futtekita", "Zutto Wasurenai", "Hajimete no Natsu", "Kimi wa Kimi dayo", "$ 10", and "Kimi iro Omoi", released from 1992 through 1994, all peaked at
18792-420: The group launched their weekly variety show, SMAP×SMAP , which quickly gained high ratings and became one of the most famous television shows in Japan. The distinct format of the program has received widespread critical praise. The show ranked No. 1 in the annual household share ratings in 1996, 1997, 1999–2002, 2006, and 2016, making it the most watched television show in Japan. The episode aired in January 2002
18966-483: The group took the Japanese entertainment industry by storm, becoming one of the most successful boy bands in Asia. The group is often referred to as a "national treasure" and a "fortune and property of the country" in Japan. SMAP was regarded as an iconic group in Japan, after achieving an unprecedented level of success in numerous genres in the entertainment industry, including music, television, film, radio, and theater, as
19140-454: The highest total weeks in the charts, after " Nada Soso " (232 non-consecutive weeks). The song has been covered and re-arranged by heavy metal guitarist Marty Friedman on his 2006 album Loudspeaker . On June 25, 2003, they released their fifteenth album, SMAP 016/MIJ , which peaked at number one and became the band's eighth best selling album. From July to September 2003, the band launched their ninth stadium tour, MIJ Tour . SMAP became
19314-549: The highest-rated 24 Hour Television since its launch in 1978. On December 31, SMAP performed "Triangle" at Kohaku Uta Gassen . As artists are ranked according to the ratings during their performance, SMAP ranked number one out of fifty-four artists, and was the most watched act of that year's Kohaku , with a household share rating of 48.6%. In April 2006, the band released their single, "Dear Woman", and its subsequent single, "Arigato" in October, both which reached number one in
19488-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
19662-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
19836-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
20010-565: The main role. Their first self-titled variety program, SMAP no Gakuen Kids , aired from 1990 to 1991. On January 1, 1991, the band held their first concert in Nippon Budokan and their first tour from March through April, before releasing any music. On September 9, 1991, they released their first single, "Can't Stop -Loving-" from Victor Entertainment , which peaked at No. 2 on the charts. Subsequent singles, "Seigi no Mikata wa Ate ni Naranai", "Kokoro no Kagami", "Makeru na Baby" peaked in
20184-449: The members' humorous and playful spirits on these shows propelled them to gain new fans, despite not having many musical performances on television since their debut. In 1991, the band's first self-titled television show, SMAP no Gakuen Kids , got renewed and changed to, I Love SMAP , which aired until 1996. From October 7, 1991, Inagaki launched his radio program, Stop The SMAP , still airing as of 2016. From April 1992 to September 1995,
20358-403: The morning. Katori started to use the phrase, "Ohha", a pun for "Ohayo", meaning "good morning" during the segment as his trademark phrase, which soon became a popular word used among children. Shingo Mama, the lovable character Katori played, and the phrase "Ohha", became a social phenomenon. As a result, SMAP incidentally brought in kindergartners and preteens to their fan base. In January 1999,
20532-417: The most recognized song in Japan, as it appears in text books used in school and children are taught to learn the song at a young age. Other best selling singles by the group include, "Beyond the Night Sky", "Lion Heart", "Shake", "Aoi Inazuma", which also have become some of the most popular songs in Japan. Throughout their career, the band has sold over 38.5 million records in Japan alone. In April 1996,
20706-690: The most watched Japanese variety show in history, with 34.2 million viewers. It is the eighth longest-running prime-time television program in Japan and Fuji Television 's second longest-running prime-time television program, as of 2016. From April to June 1996, Nakai, Kimura, and Katori each landed a role on a drama television series. Nakai played the main role in Shori no Megami , Kimura in Long Vacation , and Katori in Tomei Ningen . All three series were successful and gained high ratings. Among
20880-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
21054-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
21228-446: The pace of their releases from one album per year to one album every two years, due to their busy individual schedules, as actors and television personalities. They headlined their sixth stadium tour, S map Tour , from October to November. The tour was released through DVD on March 14, 2001. The number of shows performed changed to one per day from this tour on. Kimura announced his marriage to singer Shizuka Kudo and her pregnancy during
21402-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
21576-411: The popular music shows that aired weekly since the 1980s ended, and singers and bands lost a place to perform, resulting in scarce opportunities for TV exposure. Therefore, the agency decided to market the band through variety programs, where members participated in sketch comedies and game shows along with other television personalities. This non-mainstream marketing approach turned out to be a success, as
21750-502: The previous ones held that year. In December 2011, they released their new single, "Boku no Hanbun", which reached number one. Throughout the year, a Chinese version of their hit singles, "The One and Only Flower in the World" and "Beyond the Night Sky" was released in China. On December 31, they performed "Not Alone" and "Original Smile" at Kohaku Uta Gassen , as the ootori , for the fourth time. In April 2012, they released their new single, "Sakasama no Sora", which reached number one in
21924-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
22098-555: The ratings during their performance, SMAP ranked number one out of fifty-four artists, and was the most watched act of that year's Kohaku , with a household share rating of 43.9%. Their hit single from 2003, "The One and Only Flower in the World" was performed by all fifty-four artists together as the finale and marked 46.1%. In March 2008, they released a double-A-side single, "Sonomama / White Message", which reached number one, giving them forty-two consecutive top ten singles. Its subsequent single, "Sono toki, Kitto Yume janai", also topped
22272-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
22446-504: The season finale. Kimura's popularity soared and from then on, members of the band started their acting careers individually. In 1994, they released two albums, SMAP 005 and SMAP 006 Sexy Six , which both peaked at No. 2. On March 12, 1994, they released their 12th single, "Hey Hey Ookini Maidoari", which gave the band their first number one hit. Subsequent singles, "Original Smile", peaked at No. 2 and "Gambarimashou", and "Tabun Alright", reached number one. The two number-one singles became
22620-445: The second most watched television program after an episode of SMAP×SMAP . On July 14, 1999, they released their twelfth album, Birdman SMAP 013 , which peaked at No. 2. From July to September, they headlined their fifth stadium tour, SMAP 1999 Tour Birdman . The tour was released through VHS on December 22, 1999, and through DVD on January 1, 2000. In August 2000, the band released their thirty-second single, "Lion Heart", which became
22794-481: The show is commonly referred to as the "Lonvaca (ron-bake) phenomenon". This was also a breakthrough for Kimura as an actor and helped him gain recognition and a more broad fan base. In May 1996, Mori's departure from the band was announced. Mori had always wanted to pursue Auto Race , a Japanese version of motorcycle speedway, since he was a child. Due to the fact that there was an age limit of twenty-three for students who wanted to attend school for Auto Race, Mori left
22968-423: The show several times on his own, it became the band's first time to host as a group. A letter from former band member Katsuyuki Mori, who departed the group in 1996, was read during the show. On September 3, 2014, they released their twenty-first album, Mr.S , which reached number one, and the band launched their fifteenth stadium tour, Mr.S Saikou de Saikou no Concert Tour , from September to January 2015. The tour
23142-502: The show since. From 2005, Kusanagi became the host of the show until he passed on the position to a comedian in 2014. In December 1995, they hosted a TV special, Sanma&SMAP , with comedian Sanma Akashiya and the program has become an annual event since for NTV , with 21 episodes aired. On March 3, 1996, they released their eighth album, SMAP 008 Tacomax , which peaked at No. 2, with over 500,000 copies sold. Singles "Munasawagi wo Tanomuyo" and "Hadaka no Osama" both peaked at No. 2 on
23316-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
23490-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
23664-427: The taping of SMAP×SMAP , which happened four times a month, commenting on the impossibility of shooting a music video, promoting a record, or going on tour. This led to a musical hiatus in a way, although they continued to perform their songs every week in a musical segment on SMAP×SMAP . This was the first time in thirteen years that the band did not release any new material or go on tour. A song titled "Wonderful Life"
23838-543: The television coverage on TV Asahi from November 2005 through March 2006. Later in 2008, it was announced that "Triangle" would be appearing on text books used in music classes in school. From July to September 2005, they launched their tenth stadium tour, SMAP to Iku SMAP Sample Tour . SMAP became the first artist in history to perform at the National Olympic Stadium . The tour was released through DVD on December 14, 2005. In August 2005, Soichi Noguchi ,
24012-484: The theme song for the show. Nakai and Kimura made a cameo appearance on the show. Nakai, Kimura, Inagaki, and Katori had played a main role in a television series and with Kusanagi starring in Ii Hito , all five members had become leading man-class actors. From July to September 1997, the band headlined their third stadium tour, SMAP 1997 Su , which was released through VHS and DVD on December 17, 1997. On August 6, 1997,
24186-513: The third artist in history to hold a concert at the International Stadium Yokohama , after B'z and Eikichi Yazawa . Due to scheduling conflicts with Katori's NHK Taiga drama , Shinsengumi , the number of shows were reduced compared to previous years, though the number of attendees surpassed one million two years in a row. The tour was released through DVD on December 24, 2003. On December 31, 2003, SMAP appeared on
24360-455: The three members appeared regularly for 20 years, Katori on Mondays, Nakai on Tuesdays, and Kusanagi on Fridays, until the program ended in 2014. From July to August, the band held their first large-scale tour, Sexy Six Show , hitting the three major cities in Japan. The tour was released on VHS on November 11, 1994, and later on DVD on December 24, 2003. On March 12, 1994, SMAP starred in their first film, Shoot! . The film aired on television for
24534-432: The three, Kimura's Long Vacation , which aired Monday nights, became a major success and a social phenomenon. Magazines and other media stated that, "women disappear from the city on Mondays", pointing out the large viewership and how intoxicating the show was for women in Japan. After Kimura playing a young pianist, there was a rapid increase of young men who started taking piano lessons. The cultural impact and influences of
24708-455: The top 10. The band asked the fans to write the lyrics for "Kokoro no Kagami", and the one submitted by a fourteen-year-old girl was chosen. The song was later used in a Panasonic television commercial. They were invited to perform the song at Kohaku Uta Gassen , an annual music show, on December 31, 1991. At the same time of their debut, the Japanese music industry experienced what is frequently referred to as an "Idol Ice Age", where many of
24882-457: The top 10. They headlined three tours in 1992, from January to August. In 1993, they released their third and fourth album, SMAP 003 and SMAP 004 , which peaked at No. 11 and No. 3 respectively. In 1992, Inagaki starred in a drama television series, Hatachi no Yakusoku , as the main role. In 1993, Kimura starred in a drama television series, Asunaro Hakusho , which became a massive hit, with an average household share rating of 27% and 31.9% for
25056-702: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Nippon Budokan The Nippon Budokan ( Japanese : 日本武道館 , Hepburn : Nippon Budōkan , lit. ' Japan Martial Arts Hall ' ) , often shortened to simply Budokan ,
25230-577: The total number of records sold to 35 million. From April 29 to June 2, Kusanagi and Katori starred in a two-act play, Burst! , written by playwright Kōki Mitani , at the Parco Theatre. Their fifty-fifth single, "Otherside / Ai ga Tomarumadewa", was released on September 9, which was the same day the band's debut single was released in 1991. The single gave them their twenty-second consecutive number one singles. On December 31, they performed "Triangle" and "Otherside" on Kohaku Uta Gassen . Throughout
25404-423: The tour. He had a press conference after the show at Saitama Super Arena . On March 23, 2001, the band released their third compilation album, Smap Vest , which reached number one in the charts. It sold one million copies during the first week of release and 1,800,000 copies in total, becoming the band's best selling album. Singles, "Smac" and "freebird", peaked at No. 3 and No. 1 on the charts respectively. "Smac"
25578-417: The track list by voting their favorite songs through the internet. The top fifteen songs made it into the album and the complete track list was announced on SMAP×SMAP on August 8, 2011. The album reached number one and was certified platinum. Although they released an album, concerts were not held in consequence of the earthquake and tsunami but the band decided to host fan meetings in various venues, including
25752-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
25926-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
26100-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
26274-715: The venue include: The National Memorial Service for War Dead is held with the attendance of the Prime Minister , the Emperor and the Empress annually in Budokan on August 15, the day of Japan's surrender. As well as holding the Live Concert in appreciation of the Popular Anime series Lucky Star : Live in Budokan (Anata No Tame Dakara). A concert was held in honor of Studio Ghibli 's 25th anniversary at
26448-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
26622-514: The winner of the JASRAC Award, in celebration of the award created in 1982. "The One and Only Flower in the World" received the award, as the copyrighted work in music with the highest paid royalties within the past thirty years. After thirteen years from its release, the single has continued to chart in the Top 200, for a total of two-hundred non-consecutive weeks and is currently ranked second with
26796-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
26970-537: The year, SMAP became the representative for promoting and supporting NHK Nodojiman , in celebration of the program's seventieth anniversary. On November 10, it was announced that SMAP will be the representative and supporter for the Paralympic games until the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, in partnership with the Nippon Foundation . Katori painted the forty-square feet mural in the building of
27144-403: Was announced that the total number of concert attendees throughout their career surpassed ten million. During a show on September 16, SMAP announced that former band member, Mori, was in the audience. The tour was released through DVD on December 8, 2010, and later through Blu-ray on March 26, 2014, and reached number one on the charts. From July 6, 2010, a bottled sports drink , called We Are SMAP
27318-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
27492-409: Was canceled due to the deteriorating Sino-Japanese relations . After many discussions and negotiations, the concert was indefinitely put on hold for safety reasons. On July 21, 2010, they released their nineteenth album, We are SMAP! , which reached number one, giving the band five consecutive number one albums. The band launched their thirteenth stadium tour, We are SMAP , from July to September. It
27666-399: Was certified double platinum. They launched a tour, Summer Minna Atumare Party . After this tour, the band started to be called one of the hardest bands to get concert tickets for. In August 1995, they hosted the annual telethon, 24 Hour Television , and raised 1.2 billion yen. The band started performing at an annual music show, FNS Kayosai , and has become one of the main performers of
27840-420: Was featured during its television coverage. The song was first aired through a live broadcast of the 2009 World Aquatics Championships . On December 31, SMAP performed "Sotto Kyutto" and "The One and Only Flower in the World" at Kohaku Uta Gassen . On April 26, 2010, it was announced that SMAP would be hosting an event for their fans in China on June 13, 2010, as a part of Expo 2010 Shanghai China , though it
28014-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
28188-401: Was initially scheduled to become the band's new single in 2004. After finding out that the release was unlikely, they first decided to wait until the coming year but later had Inagaki release the song as a solo artist instead. He created a temporary stage name, &G, and made his solo debut in March and the single reached number one in the charts. From August 2004, Nakai launched his career as
28362-544: Was later canceled to avoid complications at the venue. Private companies in Shanghai released proposals stating that SMAP will be holding a concert at Shanghai as a pre-event of the expo, although they were later denied by Johnny & Associates and Victor Entertainment , informing the fans that they were ticket frauds. The band was scheduled to have their concert on October 9 and 10, at the Shanghai Stadium but
28536-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
28710-452: Was released as the 10th anniversary single and lyrics from the band's past singles were put together and made into a new song. On August 8, 2001, another compilation album, pamS (read as "Ura-suma"), was released just four months after Smap Vest . It was a compilation of fan-favorites and songs that the members personally like, that aren't usually sang on tour or on television, such as B-sides and songs from past albums. From July to September,
28884-474: Was released through DVD and Blu-ray on December 10, 2014, and reached number one in the charts. On December 31, they performed "Shake", "The One and Only Flower in the World", and "Top of the World" at Kohaku Uta Gassen . On January 25, 2015, Inagaki and Kusanagi hosted a TV special, Ichii jya nakutte Iijanai , together for the first time. In February, SMAP released a double A-side single, "Kareinaru Gyakushu / Humor Shichauyo", which reached number one, bringing
29058-493: Was released through VHS on December 24, 1998, and later through DVD on December 6, 2000. From October 1998, Nakai and Katori launched their own variety program, SataSma , which was created and aimed towards younger viewers and families. Katori starred in a segment titled, "Shingo Mama's Secret Breakfast", where Katori would cross-dress into a character called, "Shingo Mama", and visit houses to cook breakfast for children instead of their mother, allowing her to sleep in and rest in
29232-421: Was released. It was initially scheduled to serve as the band's 46th single but was canceled and released digitally in light of the earthquake and the situation in Japan, considering circumstances in power shortages and distribution. One hundred yen per single downloaded was donated to the victims. On July 23 and 24, 2011, Nakai hosted the annual twenty-seven-hour long television special, FNS 27 Hour Television , for
29406-540: Was sold in Japan in the 1980s. From July 23, 2002, a canned soft drink, Drink SMAP, was launched from Kirin Beverage Corporation . Six million drinks were shipped on the day of its release. From July to November, they launched their eighth stadium tour, SMAP 02 Drink Smap Tour , which became the largest tour in terms of attendance in Japanese history, with a total attendance of 1.2 million. They decided mainly to use soccer stadiums for their venues, as it
29580-444: Was sold in Japan. In August 2010, they released their new single, "This is love", written for them by Love Psychedelico , which reached number one. On December 19, 2010, they hosted their annual television special, Sanma&SMAP , with comedian Sanma Akashiya , which became the highest-rated program aired that year, with a household share of 23.4%. On December 31, SMAP performed "This is love" and "Triangle" at Kohaku Uta Gassen as
29754-485: Was the first tour after Mori's departure. On January 3, 1997, SMAP starred in a TV movie, Boku ga Boku de Aru Tame ni . In February 1997, they released their single, "Dynamite", which peaked at No. 3 in the charts and became the band's eighth best selling single. In May 1997, they released their twenty-fifth single, "Celery", which was a cover of a song first released by singer-songwriter Masayoshi Yamazaki in 1996. Although Yamazaki's original version did not turn out to be
29928-456: Was the year the 2002 FIFA World Cup was held. The tour was released through DVD on March 5, 2003. On September 21, 2002, they released their first video album, Clip! Smap! , a collection of ten music videos released since 1996. On March 5, 2003, the band's thirty-fifth single, " The One and Only Flower in the World ", was released. It reached number one in the charts for three consecutive weeks twice and for seven non-consecutive weeks. It became
30102-460: Was their first program on a prime-time slot. Along with the band's ability to entertain and their humorous personalities, the distinct format of the program received widespread critical praise. The show quickly gained high ratings, as it topped the rankings of annual household share ratings, dominating other existing popular programs. Consisting with an interview/cooking-based segment "Bistro SMAP", sketch comedy series, games, and musical performances by
30276-459: Was used as background music for the attractions at the theme park. On March 15, the day the attraction was launched, it created the longest queue and waiting time in USJ's history. On April 8, 2013, they aired a two-hour long special episode of SMAP×SMAP , titled "SMAP's First 5-Member Trip", celebrating their 25th anniversary. The program became the third most watched television program that year, with
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