Project Taro
So I haven't posted anything in a while, mostly due to a lack of motivation, but I think I finally found something worth putting in the effort to write about. Project Taro.
I first came across the group back in 2014, during the peak of my Generations from Exile Tribe mania, when Exile and Avex Group decided to team up and recruit young vocal and dance talents. The name of the project was called Global Japan Challenge and the members who successfully passed the audition would be flown to New York where they would study english, dancing, singing and hiphop culture for 3 and a half years with the aim to become artists who can oneday go global.
In 2014 while looking up Generations videos on youtube, I happened to come across an episode of Shuukan Exile which covered the audution process and announcement of the Global Japan Challenge winners. I remember thinking at the time what an incredible idea this was but I never followed their journey due to the lack of information available and their lack of activity when they first started out. Last week, out of the blue, I decided to look them up and was pleasently surprised by how they all had active twitter and instagram accounts. But even so, there were still very little information I could find about them in english. This is the reason for this post. To write a summary of everything I've learnt about them in the past week on this journal for future fans to find without having to troll through tens of websites and try to make logical interpretations from google translate.
On the 2rd Septemeber 2013, a new audition was announced to search for talents between the ages of 9 and 15 years old (from the 4th year of primary school to 3rd year of middle school) in a joint project with Exile and Avex Group. This was the Global Japan Challenge. The group would later be named Project Taro and would also be known as Jr Exile and EXPG Boyz.
On the 30th October 2013, audition tapes and applications were viewed by memebers on Exile (including Hiro), training staff and avex staff and a shortlist of candidates were selected.
On the 23rd December 2013, 34 vocalist and 64 dancers who were shortlisted attended the live auditions. 15 boys were selected. 6 vocalists, 7 performers (dancers) and 2 who passed both the vocal and dance auditions. Everyone who passed the dance audition were already attending Exile Professional Gym (EXPG) in Japan and have performed with Exile before. So in some sense, it was more of an internal audition of picking the best of the best from those who were already influenced by Exile. They were:
1st Generation Members (ages as of 12 June 2016)
Current Members
Name: Ayumu Imazu (Vocal & Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 12 May 2000
Age: 16
(So talented. He has the most star quality out of the whole group without a doubt. For some reason he reminds me of Oshima Yuko. An absolute gem this kid)
Name: Kenya Fujita (Vocal)
Location: New York
DOB: 27 October 2001
Age: 14
Name: Masafumi Okamoto (Vocal)
Location: New York Japan >>Updated 1 August 2016<<
DOB: 24 May 1998
Age: 18
Name: Masahiro Sunada (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 17 May 2000
Age: 16
Name: Miku Fukahori (Performer & Leader)
Location: New York
DOB: 1 July 1999
Age: 16
Name: Rikiya Okuda (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 12 October 1999
Age: 16
Name: Shoji Katsumata (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 23 June 1999
Age: 16
Name: Taiki Iwamoto (Vocal & Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 22 June 1999
Age: 16
(I remember the first time I saw him from the audition in 2014 I was like 'woah that's a good looking kid' lol)
Name: Yuto Yoshida (Vocal)
Location: New York
DOB: 12 January 2000
Age: 16
Name: Kaito Morimoto (Vocal)
Location: Japan
Age: 17
Name: Kanna Takami (Performer)
Location: Japan
Age: 16
Name: Kazuki Asada (Performer)
Location: Japan
Age: 15
Have left the group
Name: Manato Hirose (Vocal)
Location: Japan
Name: Ryoto Goto (Performer)
Location: Japan
Name: Ryusei Iwamoto (Vocal)
Location: Japan
On the 1st April 2014, the 15 boys left Japan for New York where they would first attend a language school to learn english before starting proper school that had a focus on music and arts in September. The New York EXPG opened in September and the group would attend lessons there in the afternoons.
Now, events between September 2014 and now becomes a little harder to cover timeline wise but basicly the boys attend school to keep up their studies and learn useful things like long division and osmosis as well as take dance and vocal lessons. In between the must dos, they also try to make themselves more well know by performing at events, busking on the streets and some even entered the amateur night competitions at the Apollo Theatre (even winning!). They're a hard working bunch. At some point the group gets divided into 2 where 6 moved back to Japan while the remaining 9 stayed in New York. Whether this split had a purpose or the 6 that moved back were just home sick, I don't know (if anyone does, please let me know!). But out of the 6 Japan based members, 3 have now quit.
on the 17th April 2015, the boys from the Global Japan Challenge were given the name Project Taro (Top Artist ROad) and the official website went live. >>> http://www.project-taro.jp/ <<< Here you can find more about the group (except everything is in japanese, which is strange given the concept of the group) and also links to all their youtube channels, twitter and instagrams. Stalk away my good friend. Stalk away.
Just a quick popularity poll, here are the number of followers on each of their instagrams (as of 12 June 2016):
1st Ayumu 46.4k
2nd Masahiro 32.5k
3rd Taiki 30.6k
4th Shoji 26.5k
5th Rikiya 26.1k
6th Miku 21.3k
7th Yuto 21.1k
8th Kenya 20.6k
9th Masafumi 18.6k
10th Shin 12.2k
In September 2015, two 2nd Generation members (both performers) joined the group in New York. Sora has since left and returned to Japan. Sora was a super good dancer and a real loss.
Current Member
Name: Shin Tokuzawa (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 8 May 1999
Age: 17
Have left the group
Name: Sora Furuya (Performer)
Location: New York
And so the boys will continue their journey in New York until their return in April-September 2017. Their debut has not been confirmed but I will wait eagerly to hear that good news in the years to come. The level of talent amongst this group and the sheer ambition Exile and Avex are trying to achieve here is worth supporting. There's no reason why american artists are almost automatically considered global and can obtain international success and Japanese artists can't. There's no reason why Kpop is a thing while Jpop isn't. I hope these boys give JE groups a run for their money in the future. Writing how to say thank you in a hundred different languages into a Hey Say Jump song isn't opening up to an international audience (Arigatou was HSJ's single with lowest to date first week sales).
Whether Project Taro will be able to find global success or just be competitive in the Japanese charts, I'll definitely be there to cheer them on. All the best boys!
Here are a few of my favourite Project Taro performances:
Memebers
Back row from left: Masafumi, Yuto, Ryoto, Kazuki, Kanna
Front row from left: Masahiro, Shoji, Ayumu, Kenya, Miku, Rikiya, Taiki
Absent: Kaito, Shin
I first came across the group back in 2014, during the peak of my Generations from Exile Tribe mania, when Exile and Avex Group decided to team up and recruit young vocal and dance talents. The name of the project was called Global Japan Challenge and the members who successfully passed the audition would be flown to New York where they would study english, dancing, singing and hiphop culture for 3 and a half years with the aim to become artists who can oneday go global.
In 2014 while looking up Generations videos on youtube, I happened to come across an episode of Shuukan Exile which covered the audution process and announcement of the Global Japan Challenge winners. I remember thinking at the time what an incredible idea this was but I never followed their journey due to the lack of information available and their lack of activity when they first started out. Last week, out of the blue, I decided to look them up and was pleasently surprised by how they all had active twitter and instagram accounts. But even so, there were still very little information I could find about them in english. This is the reason for this post. To write a summary of everything I've learnt about them in the past week on this journal for future fans to find without having to troll through tens of websites and try to make logical interpretations from google translate.
On the 2rd Septemeber 2013, a new audition was announced to search for talents between the ages of 9 and 15 years old (from the 4th year of primary school to 3rd year of middle school) in a joint project with Exile and Avex Group. This was the Global Japan Challenge. The group would later be named Project Taro and would also be known as Jr Exile and EXPG Boyz.
On the 30th October 2013, audition tapes and applications were viewed by memebers on Exile (including Hiro), training staff and avex staff and a shortlist of candidates were selected.
On the 23rd December 2013, 34 vocalist and 64 dancers who were shortlisted attended the live auditions. 15 boys were selected. 6 vocalists, 7 performers (dancers) and 2 who passed both the vocal and dance auditions. Everyone who passed the dance audition were already attending Exile Professional Gym (EXPG) in Japan and have performed with Exile before. So in some sense, it was more of an internal audition of picking the best of the best from those who were already influenced by Exile. They were:
1st Generation Members (ages as of 12 June 2016)
Current Members
Name: Ayumu Imazu (Vocal & Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 12 May 2000
Age: 16
(So talented. He has the most star quality out of the whole group without a doubt. For some reason he reminds me of Oshima Yuko. An absolute gem this kid)
Name: Kenya Fujita (Vocal)
Location: New York
DOB: 27 October 2001
Age: 14
Name: Masafumi Okamoto (Vocal)
Location: New York Japan >>Updated 1 August 2016<<
DOB: 24 May 1998
Age: 18
Name: Masahiro Sunada (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 17 May 2000
Age: 16
Name: Miku Fukahori (Performer & Leader)
Location: New York
DOB: 1 July 1999
Age: 16
Name: Rikiya Okuda (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 12 October 1999
Age: 16
Name: Shoji Katsumata (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 23 June 1999
Age: 16
Name: Taiki Iwamoto (Vocal & Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 22 June 1999
Age: 16
(I remember the first time I saw him from the audition in 2014 I was like 'woah that's a good looking kid' lol)
Name: Yuto Yoshida (Vocal)
Location: New York
DOB: 12 January 2000
Age: 16
Name: Kaito Morimoto (Vocal)
Location: Japan
Age: 17
Name: Kanna Takami (Performer)
Location: Japan
Age: 16
Name: Kazuki Asada (Performer)
Location: Japan
Age: 15
Have left the group
Name: Manato Hirose (Vocal)
Location: Japan
Name: Ryoto Goto (Performer)
Location: Japan
Name: Ryusei Iwamoto (Vocal)
Location: Japan
On the 1st April 2014, the 15 boys left Japan for New York where they would first attend a language school to learn english before starting proper school that had a focus on music and arts in September. The New York EXPG opened in September and the group would attend lessons there in the afternoons.
Now, events between September 2014 and now becomes a little harder to cover timeline wise but basicly the boys attend school to keep up their studies and learn useful things like long division and osmosis as well as take dance and vocal lessons. In between the must dos, they also try to make themselves more well know by performing at events, busking on the streets and some even entered the amateur night competitions at the Apollo Theatre (even winning!). They're a hard working bunch. At some point the group gets divided into 2 where 6 moved back to Japan while the remaining 9 stayed in New York. Whether this split had a purpose or the 6 that moved back were just home sick, I don't know (if anyone does, please let me know!). But out of the 6 Japan based members, 3 have now quit.
on the 17th April 2015, the boys from the Global Japan Challenge were given the name Project Taro (Top Artist ROad) and the official website went live. >>> http://www.project-taro.jp/ <<< Here you can find more about the group (except everything is in japanese, which is strange given the concept of the group) and also links to all their youtube channels, twitter and instagrams. Stalk away my good friend. Stalk away.
Just a quick popularity poll, here are the number of followers on each of their instagrams (as of 12 June 2016):
1st Ayumu 46.4k
2nd Masahiro 32.5k
3rd Taiki 30.6k
4th Shoji 26.5k
5th Rikiya 26.1k
6th Miku 21.3k
7th Yuto 21.1k
8th Kenya 20.6k
9th Masafumi 18.6k
10th Shin 12.2k
In September 2015, two 2nd Generation members (both performers) joined the group in New York. Sora has since left and returned to Japan. Sora was a super good dancer and a real loss.
Current Member
Name: Shin Tokuzawa (Performer)
Location: New York
DOB: 8 May 1999
Age: 17
Have left the group
Name: Sora Furuya (Performer)
Location: New York
And so the boys will continue their journey in New York until their return in April-September 2017. Their debut has not been confirmed but I will wait eagerly to hear that good news in the years to come. The level of talent amongst this group and the sheer ambition Exile and Avex are trying to achieve here is worth supporting. There's no reason why american artists are almost automatically considered global and can obtain international success and Japanese artists can't. There's no reason why Kpop is a thing while Jpop isn't. I hope these boys give JE groups a run for their money in the future. Writing how to say thank you in a hundred different languages into a Hey Say Jump song isn't opening up to an international audience (Arigatou was HSJ's single with lowest to date first week sales).
Whether Project Taro will be able to find global success or just be competitive in the Japanese charts, I'll definitely be there to cheer them on. All the best boys!
Here are a few of my favourite Project Taro performances:
Click to viewMemebers
Back row from left: Masafumi, Yuto, Ryoto, Kazuki, Kanna
Front row from left: Masahiro, Shoji, Ayumu, Kenya, Miku, Rikiya, Taiki
Absent: Kaito, Shin