Oshi-Katsu Chronicle 2001: The iPod Debuts, "Sha-mail" Photos, and Spirited Away, USJ and Mini Moni

In 2001, the animated film Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, opened in theaters and rewrote Japan’s all-time box-office record. In Osaka, Universal Studios Japan (USJ), where visitors can step into the worlds of Hollywood films, opened in spring, and Tokyo DisneySea followed in Chiba in autumn. In Mitaka, Tokyo, the Ghibli Museum also opened its doors, expanding the places where fans could experience the worlds of their favorite stories in person.

In music, albums by Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki were released on the same day, March 28, filling the walls and entrances of record shops with giant billboards. In autumn, Apple unveiled the first “iPod” portable music player, proposing a lifestyle of carrying roughly 1,000 songs in a coat pocket. On television, the drama HERO topped a 30% household rating for every episode, and anime series such as The Prince of Tennis began airing.

March 28: Distance and A BEST Released the Same Day

On March 28, Hikaru Utada’s second studio album Distance and Ayumi Hamasaki’s first best-of album A BEST went on sale on the same day. At large CD stores in Shibuya and Shinjuku, giant billboards of the two singers covered building walls and store entrances, while daytime talk shows and sports newspapers reported daily on how the two releases were selling (Universal Music, Avex, both in Japanese).

Hikaru Utada

Distance

• A new studio album
• Roughly 3.00M copies first week, 4.472M cumulative
• Ranked No. 4 on Oricon's Heisei album chart

Ayumi Hamasaki

A BEST

• A best-of collection
• Roughly 2.87M copies first week, 4.294M cumulative
• Ranked No. 6 on Oricon's Heisei album chart

Together the two albums sold nearly 5.87 million copies in their opening week.

On the first week’s Oricon weekly album ranking, Distance sold roughly 3.00 million copies and A BEST sold roughly 2.87 million copies to line up at No. 1 and No. 2—an unprecedented combined opening week of about 5.87 million copies. Cumulative sales reached 4.472 million copies for Distance and 4.294 million for A BEST, placing them fourth and sixth on Oricon’s all-time Heisei album ranking (Bunshun Online, ORICON NEWS, both in Japanese).

At the year-end 43rd Japan Record Awards, Ayumi Hamasaki won the Grand Prix for her single “Dearest.” Best New Artist went to the dance-and-vocal unit w-inds., and the Best Album Award went to the a cappella group The Gospellers’ Love Notes (Japan Composers Association, in Japanese).

CHEMISTRY, BUMP OF CHICKEN, and MONGOL800: Hit Songs From Diverse Channels

On March 7, the male vocal duo CHEMISTRY made their debut with “PIECES OF A DREAM.” Born from the “Male Vocalist Audition” on the TV Tokyo variety program ASAYAN, the duo of Yoshikuni Dochin and Kaname Kawabata—selected from roughly 20,000 applicants—rose to No. 1 on Oricon in the sixth week after release and achieved million-seller status. Their second single “Point of No Return,” released in June, and their first album The Way We Are, released in November, were also major hits (Sony Music, ORICON NEWS, both in Japanese).

One week later, on March 14, the rock band BUMP OF CHICKEN released their single “Tentai Kansoku” (“Stargazing”), whose driving guitar sound and story of carrying a telescope to a railroad crossing at 2 a.m. made the band known across the country. In September, the Okinawa three-piece band MONGOL800 released their indie album MESSAGE, featuring “Chiisana Koi no Uta” and “Anata ni,” which spread by word of mouth into a rare double-million seller over the following year (BUMP OF CHICKEN official site, in Japanese).

March 7CHEMISTRY, "PIECES OF A DREAM"

The debut single of a duo born from an audition on the TV show ASAYAN; it went on to pass 1 million copies.

March 14BUMP OF CHICKEN, "Tentai Kansoku"

The signature single that made the band widely known and inspired a namesake TV drama the next year.

September 16MONGOL800, MESSAGE

Featuring "Chiisana Koi no Uta" and "Anata ni," it became the first indie album in Japan to pass 2 million copies.

Mini Moni’s Million-Seller, Morning Musume’s “The Peace!”, and HERO Topping 30% Every Week

On January 17, the Hello! Project unit Mini Moni made their CD debut with “Mini Moni Janken Pyon! / Shunkashuto Daisukki!” Formed by Mari Yaguchi, Nozomi Tsuji, and Ai Kago—all 150 centimeters or shorter—together with Mika of Coconut Musume, the quartet topped Oricon for two consecutive weeks with their rock-paper-scissors choreography and achieved million-seller status (Tsunku official site, in Japanese).

Morning Musume themselves released their twelfth single “The Peace!” on July 25, with fourth-generation member Rika Ishikawa taking the center position for the first time. Fans enjoyed cheering the main group while also collecting character goods and stationery from its spin-off units (Hello! Project, in Japanese).

In television drama, Fuji TV’s Monday 9 p.m. series HERO, aired from January to March, became a social phenomenon. Following unconventional prosecutor Kohei Kuryu (played by Takuya Kimura) and paralegal Maiko Amamiya (played by Takako Matsu) at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s Josai Branch, the drama topped a 30% household rating for all 11 episodes and averaged 34.3%. The brown down jacket worn by Kuryu sold out in shops across the country, and Hikaru Utada’s theme song “Can You Keep A Secret?” sold 1.48 million copies to finish No. 1 on the annual singles chart (Video Research, in Japanese).

Spirited Away Earns ¥30.4 Billion, and the Ghibli Museum Opens in Mitaka

On July 20, Hayao Miyazaki’s animated feature Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) opened nationwide. It tells the story of a ten-year-old girl, Chihiro, who wanders into a mysterious town on the way to her new home and works at the bathhouse “Aburaya,” visited by myriad gods, to rescue her parents after they are turned into pigs (Studio Ghibli, in Japanese).

¥30.4B

Box-office revenue

23.5M

Theater admissions

Source: Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan

Repeat viewers filled theaters from summer vacation into autumn, pushing box-office revenue to ¥30.4 billion (later ¥31.68 billion including re-releases) and attendance to roughly 23.5 million admissions. The film overtook Titanic to stand No. 1 in Japanese box-office history and went on to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature the following year, while Yumi Kimura’s theme song “Itsumo Nando Demo” won a Gold Prize at the Japan Record Awards (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Japan Composers Association, both in Japanese).

July 20 / ¥30.4 billion

Spirited Away opened and set a new all-time Japanese box-office record of ¥30.4 billion.

October 1

The Ghibli Museum, Mitaka opened inside Inokashira Park in Mitaka, Tokyo.

December 1

The film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone opened in Japan, packing theaters over the holidays.

On October 1, the “Ghibli Museum, Mitaka” opened in Mitaka, Tokyo. Built under the slogan “Let’s lose our way, together,” with Hayao Miyazaki himself conceiving the building’s design, the museum featured the “Saturn Theater” for exclusive short films and a Catbus room for children, using advance date-and-time tickets purchased at Lawson’s Loppi terminals (Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, in Japanese).

USJ and Tokyo DisneySea Open, Alongside Game Boy Advance and The Prince of Tennis

The year 2001 also saw major theme parks open in both western and eastern Japan. On March 31, Universal Studios Japan (USJ) opened in Konohana Ward, Osaka, recreating the worlds of Hollywood films such as Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Back to the Future and drawing more than 11 million visitors in its first year alone (USJ official site, in Japanese).

On September 4, Tokyo DisneySea opened in Urayasu, Chiba, as the second park of Tokyo Disney Resort. Arranged around seven themed ports inspired by stories and adventures of the sea, it opened alongside Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta and the Disney Resort Line monorail, encouraging multi-day stays immersed in the park’s world (Oriental Land, in Japanese).

March 21 & Sept 14Game Boy Advance and GameCube

Nintendo released the handheld Game Boy Advance and the home console Nintendo GameCube.

March 31 & Sept 4USJ and Tokyo DisneySea

USJ opened in Osaka and Tokyo DisneySea opened in Maihama, Chiba.

July & OctoberFruits Basket, The Prince of Tennis, Hikaru no Go

TV Tokyo anime adaptations fueled character-song CDs, voice-actor radio shows, and events.

In home gaming, Nintendo released the handheld “Game Boy Advance (GBA)” on March 21 and the “Nintendo GameCube” on September 14, while Square released the PS2 RPG Final Fantasy X (FF10) on July 19, introducing full voice acting and RIKKI’s theme song “Suteki Da Ne” to sell over 2 million copies (Nintendo GBA, in Japanese).

In television anime, Fruits Basket premiered in July, followed in October on TV Tokyo by The Prince of Tennis and Hikaru no Go. Character-song CDs and radio shows for The Prince of Tennis and the youth Go boom sparked by Hikaru no Go broadened female anime fandom, while summer’s Comic Market 60 drew a combined 480,000 attendees over three days, up by 50,000 from the previous summer (Comic Market Preparation Committee, in Japanese).

The First iPod and “Sha-mail”: Carrying Songs and Trading Photos

On October 23, Apple unveiled the first iPod portable digital music player. Packing a 5 GB hard drive and scroll wheel into a body about the size of a deck of cards under the slogan “1,000 songs in your pocket,” it transferred a full CD of music from a Mac in under 10 seconds and played for up to 10 hours on a charge (Apple).

On mobile phones, J-PHONE’s camera phones spread rapidly under the service name “Sha-mail,” and the clipped nickname sha-me for taking and emailing a photo became an everyday word alongside Print Club stickers. Because sending photos across different mobile carriers was not yet seamless, friends and couples often chose handsets from the same carrier (KDDI, in Japanese).

Ichiro Wins AL MVP and Rookie of the Year; Kintetsu Clinches on a Walk-Off Grand Slam

In sports, Ichiro Suzuki, who had moved from Orix to the Seattle Mariners, turned in a historic first Major League season. Playing in 157 games, he recorded a .350 batting average, 242 hits, and 56 stolen bases to win the batting title, stolen-base title, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, Rookie of the Year, and American League MVP while leading Seattle to a record-tying 116 wins (Full-Count, in Japanese).

.350

Batting average

242

Hits

56

Stolen bases

Rookie of the Year and American League MVP in the same year.

Source: Full-Count (in Japanese)

In Japanese pro baseball, the Yakult Swallows won the Central League and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes won the Pacific League. On September 26 at Osaka Dome against Orix, trailing by three runs with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Hirotoshi Kitagawabelted a pinch-hit, come-from-behind walk-off grand slam to clinch Kintetsu’s first league pennant in 12 years (Nippon Professional Baseball: Central League, Pacific League, both in Japanese).

Key Events of the Year

1. Jan. 17Mini Moni. makes its CD debutIdols
2. Mar. 7CHEMISTRY debuts with "PIECES OF A DREAM"Music
3. Mar. 14BUMP OF CHICKEN releases "Tentai Kansoku"Music
4. Mar. 25Final episode of Digimon Adventure 02Anime
5. Mar. 28Hikaru Utada's "Distance" and Ayumi Hamasaki's "A BEST" are released on the same dayMusic
6. Mar.Universal Studios Japan opens in OsakaTheme parks
7. Apr.Ichiro makes his major league debut with the Seattle MarinersSports
8. Apr. 26The Junichiro Koizumi cabinet is formedSociety
9. June 6CHEMISTRY releases "Point of No Return"Music
10. JulyThe Pokemon movie "Celebi: A Timeless Encounter" opens (box office of 3.9 billion yen)Anime
11. July 20"Spirited Away" opens (box office of 30.4 billion yen in the data of the time)Anime
12. July 25Morning Musume. releases "The Peace!"Idols
13. Aug. 10–12Comic Market 60 (480,000 total visits over 3 days)Fan works
14. Sept. 4Tokyo DisneySea opensEntertainment
15. Sept. 11The coordinated terrorist attacks occur in the United StatesSociety
16. Oct."Onmyoji" opens (box office of 3.01 billion yen)Film
17. Oct. 23Apple unveils the iPod, which carries your music with youTelecom
18. Nov.Ichiro wins both Rookie of the Year and American League MVPSports
19. Dec. 29–30Comic Market 61 (360,000 total visits over 2 days)Fan works
20. Dec. 31The 43rd Japan Record Awards; Ayumi Hamasaki's "Dearest" wins the Grand PrixMusic
21. During the yearNintendo releases the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCubeGames

1. Jan 17Mini Moni's debutA million-selling four-member unit
2. Mar 28Distance and A BESTReleased the same day
3. Mar 31USJ opensOver 11M visitors in year one
4. Jul 20Spirited Away¥30.4B box-office record
5. Sep 4Tokyo DisneySeaOpens in Maihama, Chiba
6. Oct 1Ghibli Museum, MitakaOpens in Inokashira Park
7. Oct 23First iPodAbout 1,000 songs in your pocket

You could step into a story, carry your music and share photos of it.

The Year’s Buzzword Awards

Grand PrizeKome hyappyo / Seiiki naki kaikaku / Osorezu hirumazu torawarezu / Honebuto no hoshin / Waidosho naikaku / Kaikaku no "itami" ("one hundred sacks of rice," "reform without sanctuary," "fearless, unflinching, unbound," "robust policy," "wide-show cabinet," the "pain" of reform)

Junichiro Koizumi (Prime Minister)

Top 10Ashita ga aru sa ("Tomorrow will come," a song revived by Re:Japan)

Masatoshi Hamada and Re:Japan

Top 10e-Politics (e-poritikusu)

Tokiko Amano (representative of a citizens' group)

Top 10Kyogyubyo (mad cow disease)

Kunio Ichinose (head of Pepper Food Service)

Top 10Shioji ("Grandpa Shio," nickname of the finance minister)

Masajuro Shiokawa (Minister of Finance)

Top 10Show the flag (a U.S. demand that Japan visibly contribute)

No recipient

Top 10Biological weapons (BC weapons)

Keiichi Tsuneishi (professor at Kanagawa University)

Top 10Teiko seiryoku ("resistance forces" opposing Koizumi's reforms)

No recipient

Top 10Domestic violence (DV)

DV Research Association

Top 10Broadband

Masayoshi Son (head of SoftBank)

Top 10Ya da ettara, ya da ne ("If you don't like it, then no")

Kiyoshi Hikawa (enka singer)

The grand prizes went to phrases from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, such as “Kome hyappyo” (“a hundred sacks of rice”), “Seiiki naki kaikaku” (“reform with no sacred cows”), and “Honebuto no hoshin.” The top ten included “broadband” for high-speed flat-rate internet connections, NHK’s morning drama Churasan, Kiyoshi Hikawa’s “Yadane ttara, yadane,” and “Ashita ga Aru sa” (Jiyu Kokuminsha, in Japanese).

Next comes 2002, the year of the soccer World Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea and the launch of chaku-uta ringtones.