Kanjani8

Kanjani Eight (関ジャニ∞, Kanjani Eito?, or Kanjani∞) is a rising Japanese seven-man music and entertainment group hailing from the country's Kansai region. One of the many top idol units under the talent agency, Johnny & Associates, and signed to the record label, Teichiku. This group was formed in 2002 and made its CD debut in 2004 as 'Johnny's modern enka group'. While their releases continue to be classified under enka and consistently break enka-related sales records, they actually exhibit a diverse range of styles including pop, rock, ballad, blues, funk, jazz and even comedy – for example, Sukiyanen, Osaka, a trademark single, incorporates "konto" (comical skits) which are always ad-libbed. Kanjani Eight project a strong image of being funny and loud – traits stereotypically connected with people from Kansai, or more specifically, Osaka (six members are from Osaka). In fact, 'Osaka' is a recurrent theme in many of their songs – Sukiyanen, Osaka proclaims their love for the city, while in ∞saka Obaachan Rock, they sing about Osaka older ladies/mothers. While fulfilling the Johnny's-idol prerequisites of being able to sing and dance, the individual members also exhibit a broad range of talents including speaking, hosting TV shows, song-writing, acting, playing musical instruments, and even Manzai. Members: You Yokoyama Subaru Shibutani Shingo Murakami Ryuhei Maruyama Shota Yasuda Ryo Nishikido Tadayoshi Okura Former member: Hiroki Uchi