Tokio (band)

Tokio (stylized as TOKIO) is a Japanese rock/pop band formed by Johnny & Associates that debuted in 1994. It is made up of five men who were signed with Sony Music Entertainment from 1994 to 2001, with Universal Music Japan from 2001 to 2008, and are now signed under J Storm, a label owned by Johnny & Associates. In addition to their activities as a band, the members of Tokio also act in dozens of dramas and host variety programmes, both as a group and individually.

The group's name "Tokio" is the old English romanization for Japan's capital Tokyo, and remains the current transliteration in several European languages. Unlike most other bands under Johnny & Associates, where all of the band members are usually only vocalists, Tokio only has one main vocalist, a drummer, a guitarist, a bassist, and a keyboardist. Subsequently, less choreography is used in concerts and promotional videos, and their music is often more rock-centric.

History

1989–1993: Formation

Like the members of SMAP, the members of Tokio performed as background dancers for the idol group Hikaru Genji mainly in the form of the back-dancing group Heikeha, which also involved members of the band V6. In 1989, guitarist Shigeru Joshima and bassist Tatsuya Yamaguchi discovered they both played instruments in their own bands and decided to form their own, practicing in private and unknown to the company, calling themselves Joshima Band, or "Joh Band" for short. At one point, they also called themselves 'JURIA', combining their names using Joshima's "J", "URI" from the melon-shape of Yamaguchi's face, and rhythm-guitarist member Takehito Asakura's "A". Eventually, Johnny accepted them as a band, giving them the name "Tokio Band". At this point, members included Joshima, Yamaguchi, and new support member, rhythm guitarist Kazuhisa Watanabe.

+/- (band)

+/-, or Plus/Minus, is an American indietronic band formed in 2001. The band makes use of both electronic and traditional instruments, and has sought to use electronics to recreate traditional indie rock song forms and instrumental structures. The group has released two albums on each of the American indie labels Teenbeat Records and Absolutely Kosher, and their track "All I do" was prominently featured in the soundtrack for the major film Wicker Park. The group has developed a devoted following in Japan and Taiwan, and has toured there frequently. Although many artists append bonus tracks onto the end of Japanese album releases to discourage purchasers from buying cheaper US import versions, the overseas versions of +/- albums are usually quite different from the US versions - tracklists can be rearranged, artwork with noticeable changes is used, and tracks from the US version can be replaced as well as augmented by bonus tracks.