Oshi-Katsu Chronicle 2000: DVDs on the PS2, Photos by Phone, and the Arrival of Shuffle Units and Summer Fests

In 2000, the PlayStation 2 (PS2) home video game console went on sale. The console played DVD movies and concert videos as well as games. In autumn, a mobile phone that could send the photos you took by email appeared. Both at home and on the move, fans gained new ways to watch and share their favorite videos and photos.

In music, Southern All Stars’ “TSUNAMI” and Masaharu Fukuyama’s “Sakurazaka” both passed 2 million copies sold. Albums by Ayumi Hamasaki and Mai Kuraki dominated the charts, and a limited-time set of shuffle units drawn from Morning Musume and other Hello! Project groups became a major talking point. In television drama, Beautiful Life and Yamato Nadeshiko recorded huge viewer ratings, and at the Sydney Olympics Naoko Takahashi won the gold medal in the women’s marathon.

Buy a PS2 and Enjoy Both Games and DVDs at Home

On March 4, Sony Computer Entertainment released the PlayStation 2 (PS2) at a suggested retail price of ¥39,800. Its maker announced that it sold 980,000 units in the first three days, a figure that included internet orders for later delivery. It also featured backward compatibility that let players run games released for the original PlayStation (PS1) directly on the new console (Sony Computer Entertainment, in Japanese).

980,000

Units sold

3 days

From launch, March 4

26,400

Retail stores nationwide

Source: Sony Computer Entertainment

Besides game shops, the PS2 was reserved and sold at about 18,500 convenience stores nationwide. In all, about 26,400 stores carried it. Even in households that did not yet own a standalone DVD player, buying a PS2 rapidly made DVD viewing an everyday habit, accelerating the shift from VHS video tapes to DVDs for concert videos, anime, and films (Sony Computer Entertainment, in Japanese).

March 4 / 980,000 units

The PS2 launch date and domestic sales in the first three days, including online orders, with built-in DVD playback.

About 26,400 stores

Retail locations carrying the PS2, of which convenience stores accounted for about 18,500.

August 26 / 4M+ copies

Enix's PS1 RPG Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden shipped over 4 million copies in Japan.

On August 26, Enix released Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden for the original PlayStation. Packing a vast scenario across two CD-ROM discs, it shipped more than 4 million copies in Japan to become the biggest game hit of the year. Playable on the PS2 console as well, the blockbuster RPG drew long lines at game stores near the end of summer vacation (Square Enix, in Japanese).

In theaters, the double bill led by Pokémon the Movie 2000: Spell of the Unown (Gekijoban Pocket Monsters: Kesshoto no Teio ENTEI) took No. 1 among Japanese films for annual box-office revenue at ¥4.85 billion, while Yuji Oda’s Whiteout earned ¥4.2 billion to place second among domestic releases. In winter, the Japanese translation of the children’s novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (translated by Yuko Matsuoka and published by Say-zan-sha) sparked a nationwide reading boom ahead of the following year’s film release (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, in Japanese).

“TSUNAMI” and “Sakurazaka” Pass 2 Million, and Mai Kuraki and Ayumi Hamasaki Soar

Southern All Stars released the single “TSUNAMI” on January 26. Featured as the theme song for the “Mirai Nikki III” (“Future Diary III”) segment on the TBS variety program Unnan no Hontoko!, it sold more than 2.93 million copies in total to become the band’s biggest hit. At the year-end 42nd Japan Record Awards, the band won its first Grand Prix since debuting in 1978 (Southern All Stars official site, Japan Composers Association, both in Japanese).

On April 26, Masaharu Fukuyama released the single “Sakurazaka.” Also used as the theme song for Mirai Nikki V, it sold 2.29 million copies and finished second on the annual singles ranking. It was a year in which two ballads tied to the same television romance project both achieved double-million sales (ORICON NEWS, in Japanese).

Among albums, Mai Kuraki’s first album delicious way, released on June 28, sold 3.53 million copies and ranked No. 1 on Oricon’s annual album chart. It was a remarkable feat achieved barely half a year after her December 1999 Japan debut with “Love, Day After Tomorrow.” Her April single “Secret of my heart” also became an ending theme of the television anime Detective Conan, beginning a long collaboration that was certified by Guinness World Records in 2017 for the most theme songs sung by a single artist for one animated series (ORICON NEWS, Mai Kuraki official site, both in Japanese).

Ayumi Hamasaki followed her trilogy of singles—“vogue,” “Far away,” and “SEASONS”—by releasing her third album Duty on September 27. With its iconic leopard-print cover, the album sold roughly 2.9 million copies, and Hamasaki won both the Album Grand Prize and the Lyrics Award at the Japan Record Awards. Admired on fashion magazine covers for her nails and makeup as well as her music, she drew a surge of young women who identified deeply with the lyrics she wrote herself (ORICON NEWS on Duty and the Japan Composers Association, both in Japanese).

Beautiful Life Hits 41.3% Viewership, and Uniqlo Sells 26 Million Fleeces

In television drama, Beautiful Life, broadcast from January to March in TBS’s Sunday Theater slot, drew an enormous response. Written by Eriko Kitagawa, the romance starred Takuya Kimura as a hairstylist and Takako Tokiwa as a librarian who uses a wheelchair. Its March 26 finale recorded a 41.3% household viewer rating in the Kanto region, one of the highest figures in Heisei commercial television drama history, and its theme song—B’z’s “Kon’ya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni”—became a million-seller (Video Research, in Japanese).

From October to December, Fuji TV’s Monday 9 p.m. slot aired Yamato Nadeshiko, starring Nanako Matsushima as a flight attendant determined to marry into wealth opposite Shinichi Tsutsumi as a former mathematician running a fish shop. The finale reached a 34.2% household rating, and MISIA’s theme ballad “Everything” approached 2 million copies sold (Video Research, in Japanese).

In everyday fashion, Uniqlo (Fast Retailing) sparked a social phenomenon with its fleece jackets. Offering an accessible price of ¥1,900 per jacket and a lineup of 50 colors, the company sold 26 million fleeces during the 2000 autumn/winter season alone. Television commercials featuring diverse cultural figures such as Yumi Matsutoya and the band Quruli also became a talking point, making it normal across generations to pick a favorite color from the 50-shade palette for everyday wear (Fast Retailing, in Japanese).

Hello! Project’s 16 Members Become 3 Units: Shuffle Units and Morning Musume’s 4th Generation

On March 8, three Hello! Project shuffle units—temporary groups that mixed 16 members from Morning Musume, Michiyo Heike, Taiyo to Ciscomoon, and Coconut Musume into three color-themed units—released singles on the same day. Fans eagerly followed the interplay of voices and personalities that did not normally appear in the same group (Tsunku official site, in Japanese).

16 membersSplit into three units

• Morning MusumeMembers joined the units
• Michiyo HeikeA member joined a unit
• Taiyo to CiscomoonMembers joined the units
• Coconut MusumeMembers joined the units

The three units cut across the members' usual affiliations.

Aka-gumi 4

Yuko Nakazawa, Maki Goto, Miho Shinoda, and Danielle sing "Akai Nikkicho" ("Red Diary").

Kiiro 5

Natsumi Abe, Kei Yasuda, Michiyo Heike, RuRu, and Ayaka sing "Kiiroi Osora de BOOM BOOM BOOM" ("BOOM BOOM BOOM in the Yellow Sky").

Ao-iro 7

Kaori Iida, Mari Yaguchi, Sayaka Ichii, and four others sing "Aoi Sports Car no Otoko" ("The Man in the Blue Sports Car").

In April, Rika Ishikawa, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Nozomi Tsuji, and Ai Kago joined Morning Musume itself as fourth-generation members. The May single “Happy Summer Wedding” and the December single “Ren’ai Revolution 21” both approached million-selling status and were danced at school events and year-end parties nationwide, while Tsuji and Kago also teamed up with Mari Yaguchi in “Mini Moni” to win over elementary and middle school fans (ORICON NEWS, Crank-In!, both in Japanese).

Summer Sonic and Rock in Japan Begin: Seeing Multiple Bands on the Same Day

In August, two major summer music festivals that came to represent Japan’s live music scene launched. Unlike a solo concert by a single act, a festival ticket let fans move freely between multiple stages to see favorite bands and discover new music on the same day.

SUMMER SONIC 2000

Held August 5–6 at Fuji-Q Highland in Yamanashi and the WTC Open Air Stadium in Osaka, with Green Day and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion headlining and performers rotating between east and west.

ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2000

Held August 12–13 at Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki. Domestic rock acts including Dragon Ash, Quruli, Spitz, and Kazuyoshi Nakamura gathered on stage.

ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL drew 60,490 people over its first two days, while SUMMER SONIC started out with a two-stage setup at each venue, laying the foundation for urban and outdoor summer festivals in Japan. Wearing a favorite band T-shirt and spending a summer day on the grass or in the stands became an annual ritual for young music fans (SUMMER SONIC official site, ROCK IN JAPAN official site, both in Japanese).

Camera Phones, FLET’S ADSL, and Cell Phone Novels

In November, the carrier J-Phone released Sharp’s “J-SH04,” Japan’s first mobile phone with a built-in 110,000-pixel CMOS camera that could attach the photos it took directly to email messages. Alongside trading Print Club sticker photos or text-only messages, friends could now snap the scenery or merchandise in front of them and send it on the spot (Sharp, in Japanese).

110,000

Camera pixels

10M+

i-mode subscriptions in August

Source: Sharp

NTT Docomo’s i-mode service, which had started the year before, passed 10 million subscriptions on August 6. The original target had been 10 million subscriptions in three years, but it reached that mark in about a year and a half as ringtone downloads, standby wallpapers, and official sites became everyday habits (ITmedia report from the time, in Japanese).

Augusti-mode reaches 10 million subscriptions

Achieved in about a year and a half, driven by ringtone downloads and official mobile sites.

OctoberDeep Love begins serialization

Published on Yoshi's personal website, pioneering the "cell phone novel" read on mobile screens.

NovemberThe J-SH04 goes on sale

A Sharp handset for J-Phone with a built-in 110,000-pixel camera that could send photos by email.

DecemberFLET'S ADSL launches

NTT East and West began offering flat-rate, always-on high-speed internet over home phone lines.

In October, Yoshi began serializing the novel Deep Love on a personal homepage. Written in short horizontal lines with frequent line breaks for easy reading on small mobile phone screens, it spread rapidly by word of mouth and sold 2.7 million copies across the series after its 2002 print publication (interview with those involved, bizSPA!, in Japanese).

In December, NTT East and NTT West began full-scale service of “FLET’S ADSL,” a high-speed internet connection over existing home telephone lines for a flat monthly fee. Home internet use began shifting from dial-up connections—where users watched per-minute phone charges late at night—to an always-on environment where fan sites and bulletin boards could be opened at any hour (NTT East announcement from the time, in Japanese).

Naoko Takahashi’s Olympic Gold, Kashima’s Domestic Treble, and the ON Showdown

At the Sydney Olympics held from September to October, Naoko Takahashi won the women’s marathon in an Olympic-record time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 14 seconds—the first Olympic gold medal ever won by a Japanese woman in athletics. Her late-race surge after tossing aside her sunglasses and her post-race remark that “it was a really fun 42 kilometers” moved the nation, earning her the People’s Honor Award in October, while Ryoko Tamura (later Ryoko Tani) also won gold in women’s 48 kg judo (Japanese Olympic Committee, in Japanese).

In soccer, the Kashima Antlers won the J.League, the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup, and the Emperor’s Cup in the 2000 season to achieve the first domestic treble by a J.League club. They defeated Yokohama F. Marinos 3–0 on aggregate in the J.League Championship and beat Shimizu S-Pulse in the Emperor’s Cup final on New Year’s Day 2001 (J.League, in Japanese).

In Nippon Professional Baseball’s Japan Series, Yomiuri Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima and Fukuoka Daiei Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh faced each other in the “ON Showdown” between the two legends who had once powered the Giants’ V9 dynasty together. After dropping the first two games at Tokyo Dome, the Giants won four straight—including three in Fukuoka—to capture the Japan Series title (Nippon Professional Baseball, in Japanese).

Key Events of the Year

1. Jan. 7Aya Ishiguro graduates from Morning Musume.Idols
2. Jan. 26Southern All Stars release "TSUNAMI"Music
3. Mar. 4PlayStation 2 released, able to play DVD videos tooGames
4. Mar. 8Three shuffle units release singles on the same dayIdols
5. Mar.Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King opens (box office of ¥3.05 billion)Anime
6. Apr. 2Digimon Adventure 02 begins airing (Fuji TV network)Anime
7. Apr.Rika Ishikawa, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Nozomi Tsuji and Ai Kago join Morning Musume.Idols
8. May 17Morning Musume. release "Happy Summer Wedding"Idols
9. Jul.Pokémon: Spell of the Unown (Kesshoto no Teio) opens (box office of ¥4.85 billion)Anime
10. Aug. 5–6First SUMMER SONIC, held in Yamanashi and OsakaMusic
11. Aug. 11–13Comic Market 58 (430,000 total visits over three days)Fan works
12. Aug. 12–13First ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL, held in HitachinakaMusic
13. Sep. 27Ayumi Hamasaki releases DutyMusic
14. Oct.Yoshi's Deep Love begins serialization on a personal homepageMedia
15. Oct.Japan Series: the Giants beat Daiei 4 games to 2 to become Japan championsSports
16. Nov.J-SH04 released, a mobile phone that can email the photos it takesMedia
17. Dec. 13Morning Musume. release "Ren'ai Revolution 21"Idols
18. Dec. 26NTT East starts FLET'S ADSL in some areasTelecom
19. Dec. 3142nd Japan Record Awards: "TSUNAMI" wins the Grand PrixMusic

1. Jan 26TSUNAMISouthern All Stars' 2.93M-selling hit
2. Mar 4PS2 goes on sale980,000 units in three days
3. Mar 8Three shuffle unitsHello! Project's 16 members
4. AugTwo new festivalsSUMMER SONIC and ROCK IN JAPAN
5. Sep–OctSydney OlympicsNaoko Takahashi wins marathon gold
6. NovFirst camera phoneJ-Phone's Sharp J-SH04
7. DecFLET'S ADSLFlat-rate home broadband

What you watch with and how you share it both changed.

The Year’s Buzzword Awards

Grand PrizeOhha~ (a cheerful morning greeting, short for "ohayo")

Shingo Mama (Shingo Katori's character)

Grand PrizeIT kakumei ("IT revolution")

Hitoshi Kinoshita

Special AwardSaiko de kin, saitei demo kin ("Gold at best, and gold at the very least")

Ryoko Tamura

Top 10Q-chan (nickname of marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi)

Naoko Takahashi, Yoshio Koide

Top 10Jikochu ("self-centered bug," a self-absorbed person)

Mutsuo Terao

Top 10Juhichi-sai (seventeen-year-olds)

—

Top 10Para para (a group dance with synchronized hand movements)

Noboru Koda

Top 10Meccha kuyashii~ ("I'm so frustrated~")

Yasuko Tajima

Top 10Watashi-teki ni wa... ("Personally, I...")

Ai Iijima

Top 10"Kan" tai "min" ("officials" versus "the people")

Akio Fukuda

The grand prizes were “Oha-” and “IT revolution.” The jury selected the morning greeting of Shingo Katori’s television character “Shingo Mama” alongside a phrase for how information technology was reshaping society, while the top ten included Naoko Takahashi’s nickname “Q-chan” and “para para,” the synchronized Eurobeat dance craze (Jiyu Kokuminsha, in Japanese).

In 2001, Spirited Away opened in theaters, USJ and Tokyo DisneySea launched, and the iPod portable music player appeared.