Oshi-Katsu Chronicle 1994: GLAY Debuts, Mr.Children Hit Big, PlayStation Arrives and Ichiro Bangs Out 210 Hits

1994 was the year Mr.Children’s “innocent world” and songs produced by Tetsuya Komuro achieved one million-seller after another. In October, the music variety show HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP, hosted by the comedy duo Downtown, began airing, making lively, unguarded banter between comedians and musicians a familiar part of television.

In the rock scene, Kuroyume, GLAY and L’Arc-en-Ciel all made their major debuts, while in publishing Weekly Shonen Jump reached its all-time record circulation of 6.53 million copies and the shojo magazine Ribon hit a peak of 2.55 million. At year’s end, the Sega Saturn and PlayStation launched 11 days apart, and in professional baseball Ichiro’s 210-hit season captured the nation’s attention.

Mr.Children’s “innocent world,” the Komuro Sound and HEY!HEY!HEY!

On June 1, Mr.Children released their fifth single, “innocent world.” Featured widely in a beverage commercial, it earned the band’s first weekly Oricon No. 1. Alongside “Tomorrow never knows,” the November theme song for the drama Wakamono no Subete, it became a massive hit and won the Grand Prix at the 36th Japan Record Awards at year-end (Mr.Children official site, in Japanese; Japan Composers Association, in Japanese).

Songs written, composed and arranged by producer Tetsuya Komuro also dominated the charts. trf’s “survival dAnce - no no cry more,” released in May as the theme song for the drama 17-sai: at seventeen, became a million-seller alongside June’s “BOY MEETS GIRL.” Ryoko Shinohara with t.komuro’s “Koishisa to Setsunasa to Kokorozuyosa to” (“Love, Sadness and Strength of Heart”), released July 21, served as the theme song for the animated film Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. In December, the massive discotheque “velfarre,” developed by Avex and partners, opened in Roppongi, Tokyo (Avex corporate history, in Japanese; Re:minder, in Japanese).

Ryoko Shinohara’s 8-centimeter CD single used different jacket artwork on its front and back so that anime and game corners could display the film illustration facing out (Re:minder, in Japanese).

Front: Ryoko Shinohara

See the singer's face and recall the song and the shows she appears in.

Back: the film's artwork

Fans of the game characters could tell it was the theme song CD.

Reaching both fans of the singer and fans of the game and anime film, the single sold a cumulative 2.02 million copies, a record at the time for a female solo singer. On October 17, the music program HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP, hosted by Downtown, premiered on the Fuji TV network. Its format—putting rock musicians and singers who had rarely spoken at length on television into candid back-and-forth exchanges with comedians—opened a new doorway for viewers to fall in love with artists’ personalities (Re:minder, in Japanese; Fuji TV official, in Japanese).

Drama

trf

• "survival dAnce" for the drama 17-sai
• Written by Tetsuya Komuro

Animated film

Ryoko Shinohara with t.komuro

• Theme of Street Fighter II movie
• CD art differed on front and back

Both songs were bought on CD by people who first met them on screen.

GLAY, L’Arc-en-Ciel and Kuroyume Make Their Major Debuts: From Live Houses to the Nation

Bands that had built fervent followings in independent live houses made their major debuts one after another. On February 9, Nagoya’s Kuroyume stepped up to a major label with the single “for dear,” followed on May 25 by GLAY with the single “RAIN,” produced by X JAPAN’s YOSHIKI. GLAY had sold out their first solo show at Meguro Rokumeikan in Tokyo on February 1 and released their independent-label album Hai to Diamond (Ashes and Diamonds) on the same day as their major debut (Yamaha Music Communications, in Japanese; GLAY official site, in Japanese).

1. Feb. 1

   First solo concert

   A GLAY-only show at Meguro Rokumeikan.

2. May 25

   Major debut with "RAIN"

   Two days later, their first appearance on the TV music show Music Station.

3. Sept.-Oct.

   13-show national tour

   The "Hai to Diamond TOUR" draws a combined 4,000 people.

On their autumn “Hai to Diamond TOUR,” GLAY traveled to live houses from Kyoto to Hokkaido, drawing a combined 4,000 people across 13 shows. Building their audience step by step from small clubs, the band would draw 200,000 fans to a single day’s concert at a special venue in Makuhari five years later in 1999 (GLAY official site, in Japanese; GLAY’s 1999 concert record, in Japanese).

1. 01First solo showMeguro Rokumeikan, Feb. 1
2. 02Major debut"RAIN" on May 25
3. 03TV appearanceMusic Station, two days later
4. 04National tour13 shows, Sept.-Oct.
5. 05Radio showFM ROCK KIDS from Oct. 1

Fans could follow one band across a stage, a screen and the radio.

On July 1, L’Arc-en-Ciel—who had topped the indies chart the year before—also made their major debut with the video single “Nemuri ni Yosete,” delivering their visual world on video ahead of a CD single and releasing their first major album, Tierra, later that month (ORICON NEWS, in Japanese).

Late-Night Radio, Pagers, “Ura-Harajuku” Streetwear and Ebisu Garden Place

On October 1, GLAY launched the late-night program “GLAY in FM ROCK KIDS” on AIR-G’, an FM station in their home prefecture of Hokkaido. Airing for two hours on late Saturday nights with members rotating as host each week, it gave fans a place to hear the band’s unvarnished voices offstage and send in postcards (GLAY official site, in Japanese).

To stay in touch with friends and fellow fans, people used pagers (pocket bell) alongside landline phones, tapping payphone buttons rapidly to send number wordplay such as “4649” (“yoroshiku”) or short katakana messages. On April 1, regulatory liberalization allowed consumers to purchase mobile phone handsets outright instead of only renting them, marking a turning point toward rapid growth in mobile subscriptions (NTT Docomo, in Japanese; Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, in Japanese).

In street fashion, independent shops such as “NEIGHBORHOOD” joined the previous year’s “NOWHERE” along the backstreets off Meiji-dori in Harajuku, Tokyo. Known as “Ura-Harajuku” (“back-street Harajuku”), these stores drew morning lines of young shoppers guided by magazine features in search of small-batch T-shirts and sneakers designed by local creators. On October 8, the complex “Ebisu Garden Place” opened on the former site of the Sapporo Breweries plant, creating a new destination for city outings with a department store, hotels and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (artscape, in Japanese; Ebisu Garden Place official, in Japanese).

Sega Saturn and PlayStation: Next-Generation Consoles 11 Days Apart

In home video games, Sega Enterprises launched the “Sega Saturn” on November 22 and Sony Computer Entertainment launched the “PlayStation” on December 3. Arriving just 11 days apart, the two 32-bit next-generation consoles used high-capacity CD-ROMs, bringing 3D polygon graphics and animated or live-action video sequences—previously limited to arcade cabinets—into living rooms (Sega, in Japanese; Sony, in Japanese).

November 22
Sega Saturn

Released by Sega. The arcade hit Virtua Fighter arrived the same day as the console.

December 3
PlayStation

Released by Sony Computer Entertainment. Sony entered home consoles.

At launch, the Sega Saturn cost ¥44,800 and the PlayStation ¥39,800. Sega Saturn launched alongside a home port of Virtua Fighter, while PlayStation debuted with the 3D racing game Ridge Racer. On the Super Famicom that same year, Final Fantasy VI arrived in April and Shigesato Itoi’s EarthBound (MOTHER 2) in August, giving players landmark titles across both new and established hardware (Sega, in Japanese; Weekly ASCII, in Japanese).

The “10.8 Showdown” and Ichiro’s 210 Hits: Watching the Result Through

In professional baseball’s Central League, the Chunichi Dragons and the Yomiuri Giants met at Nagoya Stadium on October 8 for the final game of the season. Tied for first place at 69 wins and 60 losses after 129 games, the winner-take-all game—the first of its kind in Japanese professional baseball—became known as the “10.8 Showdown.” Manager Shigeo Nagashima’s Giants sent all three ace pitchers—Masaki Saito, Hiromi Makihara and Masumi Kuwata—to the mound to win the pennant, and Fuji TV’s broadcast drew a 48.8% rating, the highest for a Central League regular-season game since Video Research records began in 1977 (Nippon Professional Baseball, in Japanese; Video Research, in Japanese).

In the Pacific League, 20-year-old third-year outfielder Ichiro of the Orix BlueWave racked up 210 hits across the 130-game season. Batting with his distinctive “pendulum” stride, he won the batting title at .385 and was named league MVP. Having switched his registered name from his full name, Ichiro Suzuki, to the katakana “Ichiro” that spring at the suggestion of Manager Akira Ohgi, he drew packed crowds day after day to Green Stadium Kobe (Nippon Professional Baseball, in Japanese; Number Web, in Japanese).

210

Hits

.385

Batting average

MVP

Pacific League award

Source: Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese)

In grand sumo, Takanohana won consecutive undefeated 15-0 championships in September and November to earn promotion to the 65th yokozuna, while in the J.League’s second season Verdy Kawasaki defeated Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the championship series to claim a second straight annual title (Japan Sumo Association, in Japanese; J.League, in Japanese).

Shonen Jump Hits 6.53 Million, Ribon Reaches 2.55 Million, and Harumi Comiket

Manga magazine circulation also reached historic heights in 1994. Shueisha’s shojo manga monthly Ribon recorded its all-time peak circulation of 2.55 million copies with its February 1994 issue. Wataru Yoshizumi’s Ribon series Marmalade Boy premiered as a Sunday 8:30 a.m. TV anime on the TV Asahi network on March 13, and both the romance between Miki and Yuu—living under one roof after their parents swapped partners and remarried—and the recording toy “Voice Memo” became huge hits among girls (Shueisha corporate history, in Japanese; Animate Times, in Japanese).

Then in December, Issue 3-4 (combined) of Weekly Shonen Jump for 1995 set the all-time circulation record for a manga magazine at 6.53 million copies. Anchored by Dragon Ball, SLAM DUNK, YuYu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin, which had begun serialization that spring, picking up or passing around the latest issue on release day became a weekly ritual (Shueisha corporate history, in Japanese).

Comic Market drew about 16,000 circles and a combined 240,000 attendees to Harumi, Tokyo on August 7-8 for its 46th edition amid record-breaking summer heat, followed by 200,000 attendees at the 47th on December 29-30, where the in-hall newsletter Comiket Press was launched. In movie theaters, Studio Ghibli’s Pom Poko (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko), directed by Isao Takahata, led Japanese films for the year with ¥2.63 billion in distribution revenue, the statistical measure of the distributor’s share of box-office receipts (Comic Market Preparation Committee, in Japanese; Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, in Japanese).

Key Events of the Year

1. Feb. 1GLAY plays its first solo concert at Meguro KugekanMusic
2. May 25TRF releases "survival dAnce"Music
3. May 25GLAY makes its major debut with "RAIN"Music
4. Jun. 1Mr.Children releases "innocent world"Music
5. Jun. 30The Tomiichi Murayama cabinet takes officeSociety
6. Jul. 10X JAPAN releases "Rusty Nail"Music
7. Jul. 16Film Pom Poko opens (No. 1 among Japanese films)Film
8. Jul. 21Ryoko Shinohara releases "Koishisa to Setsunasa to Kokorozuyosa to"Music
9. Aug. 7–8Comic Market 46 (240,000 total visits over two days)Fan works
10. Sep. 21TOKIO makes its CD debut with "LOVE YOU ONLY"Idols
11. Sep. 26GLAY starts its first national tour (13 shows in all)Music
12. Oct. 8The Giants win the Central League in the "10.8 showdown"Sports
13. Nov. 22Sega Saturn releasedGames
14. Nov. 23Takanohana's promotion to yokozuna is decidedSports
15. Dec. 3PlayStation releasedGames
16. Dec. 3136th Japan Record Awards (Mr.Children wins the Grand Prix)Music

1. Feb-MayGLAY's first show and debutSold out, then "RAIN"
2. Jun 1innocent worldMr.Children's hit
3. JulL'Arc-en-Ciel debutA video single
4. AugComic Market 46240,000 over two days
5. Oct 8The 10.8 showdownGiants win the pennant
6. Nov 22-Dec 3Saturn and PlayStationEleven days apart

Hits, debuts and consoles filled one year.

The Year’s Buzzword Awards

Grand PrizeSuttamonda ga arimashita ("There was a lot of fuss")

Rie Miyazawa

Grand PrizeIchiro (the "Ichiro effect")

Ichiro Suzuki

Grand PrizeDoujou suru nara kane wo kure ("If you feel sorry for me, give me money")

Yumi Adachi

Top 10Kakaku hakai (price destruction)

Isao Nakauchi

Top 10Yan-mama ("young mamas")

Keiko Tamura

Top 10Shin-Shinto (the "New New Party")

Ichiro Ozawa

Top 10Dai-ojo (a peaceful, fulfilled passing)

Rokusuke Ei

Top 10Hito ni yasashii seiji (politics that is kind to people)

—

Top 10Keiyaku suchuwadesu (contract stewardess)

—

Top 10Kankuu (Kansai International Airport)

Tsuneharu Hattori

Judges' Special AwardGomanism ("Gomanism," the manga-essay style of arrogant opinion)

Yoshinori Kobayashi

Judges' Special AwardShushoku hyogaki (the job-hunting "ice age")

Yasuhiro Nagasono

At the 11th New Words and Buzzwords Awards, the grand prizes went to three phrases: “Suttamonda ga arimashita” (“There was a lot of fuss”), “Ichiro (effect)” and “Doujou suru nara kane wo kure” (“If you feel sorry for me, give me money”). The awards went to Rie Miyazawa for her Takara canned chuhai commercial, to Ichiro for his 210-hit season, and to 12-year-old Yumi Adachi, star of the Nippon TV drama Ie Naki Ko (Homeless Child) (Jiyu Kokuminsha, in Japanese).

Next, 1995 begins with the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January. Alongside its impact on daily life and events, we follow the launch of Windows 95 and the broadcast of Neon Genesis Evangelion.