Oshi-Katsu Chronicle 1999: GLAY's 200,000-Person Show and i-mode, Reading About Your Oshi on a Mobile Phone

In February 1999, “i-mode,” a service for using email and websites on a mobile phone, began. Alongside voice calls, fans could now check news, tour schedules and ticket pages on a small screen in their hand.

That summer, 200,000 people gathered in Makuhari for an outdoor concert by the rock band GLAY, while in game arcades crowds lined up to dance on the arrow panels of Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).

GLAY’s 200,000-Person Show: A Makuhari Parking Lot Becomes a One-Day Venue

On July 31, “GLAY EXPO ‘99 SURVIVAL” was held at a special outdoor venue built across the parking lot of Makuhari Messe in Chiba. Drawing 200,000 attendees—the largest paid concert by a single act in Japanese history—the site spanned 700 meters by 264 meters, or roughly 18.5 hectares. GLAY official site (in Japanese)

200,000

Attendance

18.5 ha

Site area

700 m

Site length

Source: GLAY official site

A huge site

A special stage set up on grounds 700 meters long and 264 meters wide.

Multiple video screens

In addition to the large screen on the stage, monitors placed around the site.

Ways to get there

Special JR trains and shuttle buses ran to move visitors.

Gates opened at 10:30 a.m. for a 4:30 p.m. start because it took six hours to admit 200,000 people. During the wait, the band members broadcast a venue-only talk program from a nearby hotel room. GLAY also won the 41st Japan Record Award at year’s end with “Winter, again.” GLAY official site (in Japanese) / Japan Composers Association (in Japanese)

L’Arc-en-Ciel simultaneously released two studio albums, ark and ray, on July 1, selling over 6 million copies combined, and drew 650,000 fans across 12 outdoor shows on their “1999 GRAND CROSS TOUR.” On December 23, GLAY and LUNA SEA shared the stage at Tokyo Dome for the joint concert “THE MILLENNIUM EVE.” L’Arc-en-Ciel official site (in Japanese) / GLAY official site (in Japanese)

First Love and “LOVE Machine”: Arashi’s Debut and “Dango 3 Kyodai”

On March 10, Hikaru Utada released her first album, First Love. Including her December 1998 debut single “Automatic” and “Movin’ on without you,” it sold 7.672 million copies domestically—the best-selling album in Japanese music history—and in April she held her first live shows at Zepp Osaka and Zepp Tokyo. Hikaru Utada official site (in Japanese) / ORICON NEWS (in Japanese)

On September 9, Morning Musume released their seventh single, “LOVE Machine.” Introducing 13-year-old third-generation member Maki Goto, it became the group’s first million seller (1.64 million copies) and topped Oricon’s karaoke chart for 17 consecutive weeks. Crank-In! (in Japanese)

1M+

Copies sold

17

Weeks at No. 1

Source: Crank-In!

On November 3, the five-member group Arashi—who had held their formation press conference aboard a cruise ship off Honolulu in September—made their CD debut with “A.RA.SHI,” the theme song for the 1999 Volleyball World Cup. Meanwhile, on October 5, all four members of SPEED attended a press conference to announce their breakup set for March 2000. STARTO ENTERTAINMENT (in Japanese) / Bungeishunju (in Japanese)

September 9"LOVE Machine" released

The first single to feature Maki Goto, and Morning Musume's first million seller.

October 5SPEED announce their breakup

All four members appeared at the news conference. The breakup was set for March 2000.

November 3Arashi make their CD debut

Their debut single was "A.RA.SHI."

Ayumi Hamasaki, who released her first album A Song for ×× on New Year’s Day, scored million sellers with “Boys & Girls” and A, Dragon Ash’s mixture-rock album Viva La Revolution topped 1.8 million copies, and NHK children’s song “Dango 3 Kyodai” (“Three Dango Brothers”) sold over 2.9 million copies. Japan Composers Association (in Japanese)

i-mode Begins and AIBO Launches: Booking Tickets and Playing Ringtones on Mobile Phones

NTT Docomo launched its mobile internet service “i-mode” on February 22. Allowing users to check news, weather, concert ticket reservations and fan club updates directly from their handset buttons, i-mode passed 200,000 subscribers within three months. NTT Docomo (in Japanese)

February 22

NTT Docomo launches the service.

200,000 subscriptions

Passed within three months of launch.

30,000 a week

The pace of new subscriptions recorded in Docomo's technical journal.

According to Docomo’s technical journal, subscriptions were growing by 30,000 a week, and the article likened i-mode to “a big rookie, the first in a long while, like Seibu’s pitcher Matsuzaka.” NTT Docomo (in Japanese)

Chaku-melo—customizing mobile ringtones with electronic melodies of hit songs—also became a nationwide craze, while in May Sony unveiled its autonomous entertainment robot “AIBO (ERS-110).” Priced at ¥250,000 before tax, all 3,000 units allocated for Japan sold out in just 20 minutes when online orders opened on June 1. MTI (in Japanese) / Sony corporate history (in Japanese)

Odaiba’s Palette Town Opens and Rhythm Games Boom

On Tokyo’s Odaiba waterfront, the large-scale entertainment complex “Palette Town” opened in March, featuring a 100-meter-diameter, 115-meter-tall giant Ferris wheel and the 2,700-capacity standing concert hall “Zepp Tokyo.” In August, the indoor shopping mall “VenusFort”—designed like a southern European townscape beneath an artificial sky ceiling that shifted from daylight to sunset—opened on the same site. Odaiba quickly became a landmark destination where concert travel, weekend shopping and dates converged. Sony Music Entertainment (in Japanese)

In game arcades across Japan, Konami’s BEMANI series of music and rhythm games (oto-ge) sparked a nationwide craze. Following the DJ simulator beatmania, where players worked five keys and a turntable, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) had players stepping on four illuminated arrow panels in time with high-tempo dance tracks while crowds gathered around the cabinet. A home PlayStation port and dedicated soft dance mat controller launched in April, driving sales of Toshiba-EMI’s Dancemania Eurobeat compilation CDs, while guitar-strumming GuitarFreaks and drum-kit drummania cabinets also debuted in arcades that year. Konami Digital Entertainment (in Japanese)

Anonymous Bulletin Board “2channel” Opens: Reading the Impressions of Unknown Fans

In May, Hiroyuki Nishimura opened the anonymous textboard website “2channel.” Created as a refuge for users of the earlier “Amezou Bulletin Board,” it adopted a “thread-floating” interface where any new reply bumped a topic thread back to the top of the index page. Accounts differ on whether it opened on May 16 or May 30, and Nishimura later wrote in a retrospective essay that he did not recall the exact date himself. Hiroyuki Nishimura looks back, Internet White Paper 2001 (in Japanese)

Having dedicated boards for individual bands, idols, anime series, TV dramas and video games where anyone could post without registering a handle accelerated real-time broadcast commentary, concert setlist reports and deep-dive fan theories. At the same time, personal fan websites linked together through “webrings” and banner “alliances” (doumei) declaring shared love for a character or pairing were at their height.

ONE PIECE Becomes an Anime, and NARUTO and The Prince of Tennis Begin Serialization

On October 20, the TV anime ONE PIECE premiered on Fuji TV in the Wednesday 7 p.m. slot with Hiroshi Kitadani’s opening song “We Are!”. Magical-girl series Ojamajo Doremi and Digimon Adventure also began airing that year, while in theaters Pokémon: The Movie 2000 (Maboroshi no Pokemon Lugia Bakutan) topped the domestic film chart with ¥3.5 billion in distribution revenue, and Hollywood blockbusters Armageddon (¥8.35 billion distribution revenue) and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (¥7.8 billion) packed cinemas nationwide. Toei Animation (in Japanese) / WEB Animation Style (in Japanese) / Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (in Japanese)

In Weekly Shonen Jump, Takeshi Konomi’s The Prince of Tennis began serialization in July, followed by Masashi Kishimoto’s ninja manga NARUTO in September—two flagship series that would shape anime, character songs, 2.5D musicals and fan conventions throughout the 2000s. In February, Konami launched the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game Duel Monsters, drawing long lines at toy and hobby card shops across Japan, and in November Nintendo released Pocket Monsters Gold and Silver for the Game Boy. Shueisha corporate history (in Japanese) / Konami Digital Entertainment (in Japanese)

Summer’s Comic Market 56 (August 13–15) drew 35,000 circles and a combined 400,000 attendees at Tokyo Big Sight, and winter’s Comic Market 57 (December 24–26) ran for three days in winter for the first time, drawing 25,000 circles and 320,000 attendees. Comic Market Preparation Committee (in Japanese)

Fukuoka Daiei Wins the Japan Series; “Zassou Damashii” and “Revenge” Win Buzzword Honors

In pro baseball, the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, managed by Sadaharu Oh, defeated Senichi Hoshino’s Chunichi Dragons 4 games to 1 to win their first Pacific League pennant and Japan Series title since relocating to Fukuoka in 1989. Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese)

Two rookie pitchers dominated sports headlines all season: the Yomiuri Giants’ Koji Uehara—who had spent a year studying for university entrance exams before turning pro—went 20-4 with 15 straight wins to claim the Triple Crown for pitchers and the Sawamura Award, and Seibu Lions high-school phenomenon Daisuke Matsuzaka struck out Orix star Ichiro three times with 155 km/h fastballs in their first showdown on May 16 on his way to 16 wins. Uehara’s motto “zassou damashii” (“weed spirit”) and Matsuzaka’s “revenge” both won grand prizes at the Buzzword of the Year awards. Jiyu Kokuminsha (in Japanese)

Key Events of the Year

1. Feb. 22NTT DoCoMo launches the "i-mode" serviceMedia
2. Mar. 10Hikaru Utada releases the album First LoveMusic
3. MayThe anonymous bulletin board "2channel" opensMedia
4. Jul.The Pokémon movie "Revelation Lugia" opens (¥3.5 billion in distribution revenue)Anime
5. Jul. 31GLAY EXPO '99 draws 200,000 people at MakuhariMusic
6. Aug. 13–15Comic Market 56 (400,000 total visits over three days)Fan works
7. Sep. 1Commercial ADSL, said to be the first in Japan, starts in Nagano PrefectureMedia
8. Sep. 9Morning Musume. release "LOVE Machine"Music
9. Oct. 5SPEED announce their breakup (the breakup takes effect in March 2000)Music
10. Oct. 20TV anime ONE PIECE begins broadcastingAnime
11. Oct. 23–28The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks win their first Japan championship since moving to FukuokaSports
12. Nov. 3Arashi make their CD debut with "A-RA-SHI"Idols
13. Dec. 23LUNA SEA and GLAY perform together at the Tokyo DomeMusic
14. Dec. 24–26Comic Market 57 (320,000 total visits over three days)Fan works
15. Dec. 31At the 41st Japan Record Awards, GLAY win the Grand PrixMusic
16. Dec. 31Morning Musume. appear on the 50th NHK Kohaku Uta GassenMusic

1. Feb 22i-mode beginsNews and tickets on a phone
2. Mar 10First LoveHikaru Utada's first album
3. May2channel opensAn anonymous bulletin board
4. Jul 31GLAY EXPO '99200,000 at Makuhari
5. Sep 9LOVE MachineMorning Musume's first million-seller
6. Oct 20ONE PIECE animeStarts on TV
7. Nov 3Arashi's CD debut"A.RA.SHI."

The Year’s Buzzword Awards

Grand PrizeZassokondamashii ("weed spirit," the grit to rise again like a weed)

Koji Uehara (Yomiuri Giants)

Grand PrizeBucchihon ("Buchi phone," Prime Minister Obuchi's habit of phoning people directly)

Keizo Obuchi (Prime Minister)

Grand PrizeRevenge (rival-beating comeback, said by Matsuzaka)

Daisuke Matsuzaka (Seibu Lions)

Top 10Gakko (kyu) hokai ("school/classroom collapse")

Ryoichi Kawakami

Top 10Karisuma ("charisma," used for star shop clerks in fashion)

All the charisma shop clerks at Shibuya 109 "Egoist"

Top 10Mitchy-Satchy (the rivalry between Mitchy Asaka and Satchy Nomura)

Mitsuyo Asaka

Top 10Seireki 2000-nen mondai (the Year 2000 problem, Y2K)

Atsushi Itani

Top 10Dango san kyodai ("The Three Dumpling Brothers")

Production staff of NHK's Okaasan to Issho

Top 10Iyashi ("healing")

Isamu Nishiguchi

Top 10i-mode

Keiji Tachikawa (Representative Director, NTT Mobile Communications Network)

The grand prizes at the Buzzword of the Year awards were “zassou damashii,” Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi’s “Bucchi-phone” and “revenge,” while “i-mode,” “Dango 3 Kyodai,” “Iyashi” (“healing/soothing,” led by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s instrumental single Ura BTTB / “energy flow”) and “charisma” made the top ten. Jiyu Kokuminsha (in Japanese)

The recipients for “charisma” included the shop staff of “EGOIST” at Shibuya 109 and “charisma hairstylists.” Magazine features on shop clerks’ outfits and makeup made fashion store clerk the No. 1 most admired occupation among high school girls at the time, turning everyday retail staff into style icons that teenage readers traveled to Shibuya to see in person. Jiyu Kokuminsha (in Japanese)

In 2000, Sony’s PlayStation 2 brings DVD playback into living rooms across Japan, Ayu and Kuwata dominate the singles chart, and the summer rock festivals Summer Sonic and Rock in Japan launch.