EXPG/History

A chronological overview of EXPG's history.

## History

### 2003

In October 2003, the first EXPG STUDIO (Tokyo school) opened in Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, as the first business of LDH outside of artist management.

### 2005

On June 1, the Miyazaki school opened in Tachibana-dori Higashi, Miyazaki City, Miyazaki Prefecture.

### 2007

On January 14, the Sapporo school opened in Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido.

On September 1, the Osaka school opened in Nishi Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture.

### 2008

On July 1, Matsuyama school opened in Minato-cho, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture.

### 2009

On April 1, the Fukuoka school opened in Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

On May 25, the Tokyo school moved to Higashiyama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo.

On September 1, the Taipei school opened in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan.

### 2010

On December 18, the Okinawa school opened in Matsuo, Naha, Okinawa Prefecture.

### 2012

On September 1, the Nagoya school opened in Higashi Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

### 2013

On April 1, the EXPG division spun off to form its own subsidiary within LDH called "expg Inc**.**", which started operating all EXPG STUDIOs.

On July 25, the Okinawa school moved to Asahi-cho, Naha, Okinawa Prefecture.

On September 17, the Yokohama school opened in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

### 2014

On September 1, the New York school opened in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. Since then, the school has also been organizing and hosting the annual street dance event "HOUSE OF EXILE".

### 2015

On July 13, the Omiya school opened in Omiya-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture.

### 2016

On October 3, the Kyoto school opened in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture.

### 2017

On January 1, with LDH's rebrand including a world expansion plan, it was announced that schools in Sendai, LA and Shanghai were scheduled to open in the future. Additionally, EXILE AKIRA and dancer Charisma Kantaro (Kanda Kantaro) were appointed as directors of EXPG.

On March 20, the Sendai school opened in Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.

In June, "EXPG Lab" was established as the sub-division of EXPG which includes a selection of the best students across the schools in Japan.

On August 16, the Tokyo school moved to Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, and added rap classes and DJ classes to the existing curriculum, as well as other classes. The RAP class curriculum would be supervised by official supporter DOBERMAN INFINITY, and the DJ class would be supervised by DJ SOULJAH with Afrojack, MARLEY MARL, and PKCZ® as official supporters. Following the relocation, the number of students that could be accepted increased significantly, and the new facility would be equipped with 4 dance studios and 3 vocal studios. Of the 4 dance studios, Studio A, the largest, could accommodate up to 45 students, while Studios B and C could accommodate 30 to 35 students. The remaining dance studio would be a room dedicated for EXPG LAB, an elite group of students selected from all schools, where training camps and productions would take place. The 3 vocal studios were Studio A, Studio B, and Studio C (also a DJ studio), which could accommodate groups of up to 8 people. Each would be equipped with a karaoke sound system in addition to keyboards and microphone equipment. All in all, approximately 6,500 students would be enrolled at EXPG STUDIO (excluding the New York school, which was a membership school) at that time, and the Tokyo school could now accommodate approximately 2,500 students, up from approximately 1,000 students before the relocation. The reason for the expansion was that the dance and vocal classes of the previous facility had exceeded their capacity, and demand continued to be high, with people waiting several years to even take a trial lesson. Therefore, to accommodate more students, the number of studios was increased from 2 dance studios and 1 vocal studio to 4 dance studios and 3 vocal studios.

### 2018

On April 1, EXPG launched "EXPG ONLINE STUDIO", a dance lesson distribution service service that anyone can enjoy online, from basic dance lessons to advanced dance lessons.

### 2019

On January 18, the Los Angeles school opened in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. Choreographer Shaun Evaristo was appointed chief creative officer of the school, and King Charles, a juke/footwork master, as the school's director. There would be three courses: dance classes, vocal classes, and acting classes. In addition to Shaun Evaristo, the school would also offer classes by Lawrence "Pops" Dobson, a member of the "1500 or Nothin'" sound production team that has produced for artists such as Bruno Mars and Beyoncé, and Joseph Pearlman of the "Pearlman Acting Academy". The 1,100-square-meter location would be equipped with two studios for dance and acting lessons that can accommodate 50 people, as well as two studios dedicated to vocal lessons. In addition, there would be a "PKCZ STUDIO", a recording studio equipped with the latest equipment exclusively for artists, and a gallery for "24karats", LDH's original fashion brand. The studio would also offer a study abroad course from Japan. According to EXILE HIRO, the aim of establishing a studio in LA was to increase opportunities to work together with creators and artists from overseas in entertainment and business. Not only as a place to discover local stars and for LDH artists to train in LA, but also as a place for collaborations that transcend borders, creating entertainment that is based on people-to-people connections. Eventually, LDH would plan to open its doors to artists other than those affiliated with LDH and use it as a base for various artists in Japan who wish to expand their business overseas. Ultimately, the studio would be expected to expand globally as a base for LDH's entertainment.

### 2020

In April 2020, LDH opened "EXPG High School" as a business alliance between EXPG STUDIO and the correspondence school corporation *Kadokawa Dwango Gakuen "N High School"*. This initiative would include a system that allows students to acquire a high school equivalency diploma through distance learning at *N High School* while also studying about dance. The purpose of this project would be to support children who want to work in the field of dance as a profession (e.g. artists, dancers, choreographers, instructors, etc.). EXILE TETSUYA was appointed as the president of the new institution.

On August 14, expg and Kadokawa Dwango Gakuen held a press conference online in which they announced the launch of "N High School Dance Club", N High School's first athletic club, in October. The initiative would be a correspondence system, and students would select an assignment from the contents of "EXPG ONLINE STUDIO", watch a video, practice on their own, and post the video for the instructor to check from time to time. After that, live lessons would be given using ZOOM and class placement tests would be conducted every three months. GENERATIONS member Nakatsuka Yuta was selected as the special advisor for the initiative.

On November 16, it was announced that the contest "GRAND SHOWDOWN" presented by EXPG STUDIO and EXPG High School would take place, with the final competition being held in the spring of 2021. In the contest, elite students who had passed an audition process to become the representatives of each school would compete against each other to determine the best school.

### 2021

On March 31, the New York school closed due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 2, the final round of the "GRAND SHOWDOWN" was held, and on April 3, it was announced that EXPG Kyoto had won the battle between all 13 schools.

On June 1, it was announced that EXPG STUDIO would expand globally and be re-organized as "EXPG ENTERTAINMENT". With this reorganization, EXPG ENTERTAINMENT started to comprise four brand categories/divisions:

* EXPG STUDIO: Producing artists through a unique training system (dance/vocal/rap/act/DJ).
* EXPG ONLINE STUDIO: Online dance lessons for anyone, anytime, anywhere.
* ETC DANCE SCHOOL: A place where people can experience dance for the first time and enjoy dance according to their own goals.
* EXPG High School: A place where students can obtain a high school diploma while learning dance.

Furthermore, the plans included the opening of a new branch in Shanghai with EXILE AKIRA serving as honorary principal / chief artistic director. Additionally, "EXPG Authorized TikTok Teams" was started as a new project for EXPG students across all schools, with a total of 62 teams being formed. This project aimed at taking advantage of the regional features of the schools and training the students in a new form of entertainment.

On September 27, Shanghai Jinqiao school opened at "Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Shanghai Jinqiao" in Pudong District, Shanghai, China.

On December 23, Shanghai West Bank school opened at "AI PLAZA West Bank Phoenix Nest" in Xuhui District, Shanghai, China.

### 2022

It is assumed that the Los Angeles school closed to the public at some point between the end of 2020 and the end of 2022 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The school's last SNS update was in December 2020. While public classes have not been held since then, some artists were seen training at the facility in that timeframe.

### 2023

On February 4, the Okinawa school moved to Aeon Mall Okinawa Rycom in Kitanakagusuku, Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture.

On August 13, the "EXPG STUDIO MATSUYAMA FINAL SHOW" was held, and the Matsuyama school closed afterwards.

On November 4, it was announced that TETSUYA had been appointed as the representative director, president and CEO of expg Inc.

### 2024

On January 25, the Funabashi school opened at "vivit Minami-Funabashi" in the Minami-Funabashi area of Chiba Prefecture. The opening of the school was part of LDH JAPAN's business partnership agreement with real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan. In a press conference to commemorate the opening on the same day, 24 pledges entitled "EXPG ENTERTAINMENT ~24EVOLUTION~" were announced, including the appointment of Nakatsuka Yuta of GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE as the new president of EXPG High School (taking over the position from EXILE TETSUYA, the first president since its founding in April 2020), new EXPG events and upcoming projects for students.

## References

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060103053749/http://expg.jp/studio\_tokyo.html
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://realsound.jp/2017/10/post-118642.html
3. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=5135&school\_id=3&category\_id=1
4. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=1972&school\_id=4&category\_id=1
5. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/64726/full/
6. ↑ https://m.ldh-m.jp/static/expg/sppg/expg2009/expg2009\_2\_47
7. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=545&school\_id=12&category\_id=1&year=
8. ↑ https://m.ldh-m.jp/static/expg/sppg/expg2010/expg2010\_2\_343
9. ↑ https://m.ldh-m.jp/static/expg/sppg/expg2012/nagoya/index\_date\_20120903\_p\_120903-1
10. ↑ https://m.ldh-m.jp/static/expg/sppg/expg2013/okinawa/index\_date\_20130728\_p\_130728-2
11. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=98&school\_id=10&category\_id=1
12. ↑ https://realsound.jp/2019/01/post-312393.html
13. ↑ https://realsound.jp/2018/05/post-199096.html
14. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=368&school\_id=11&category\_id=1&year=
15. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=4594&school\_id=14&category\_id=1
16. ↑ https://mdpr.jp/music/detail/1651111
17. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2080388/full/
18. ↑ https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/15087333/
19. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=2070&school\_id=5&category\_id=1
20. ↑ EXPG Diary Vol.58 Page 2
21. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=2441&school\_id=2&category\_id=1
22. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2096576/full/
23. ↑ https://realsound.jp/tech/2018/04/post-177667.html
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2195206/full/
25. ↑ https://realsound.jp/2019/01/post-308216.html
26. ↑ https://realsound.jp/2019/01/post-312393\_2.html
27. ↑ https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv322972294
28. ↑ https://natalie.mu/music/news/356831
29. ↑ https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/201911250000262.html
30. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2149350/full/
31. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2169382/full/
32. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=5401&category\_id=2
33. ↑ https://evgrieve.com/2021/03/expg-studio-is-closing-on-2nd-avenue.html
34. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=5678&school\_id=9&category\_id=2&year=
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "EXPG STUDIO BY LDH" changes its name to "EXPG ENTERTAINMENT"! A branch school opens in Shanghai, China! EXILE AKIRA to serve as honorary principal / chief art director!!
36. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=5807&school\_id=&category\_id=1&page=ALL
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 https://xtrend.nikkei.com/atcl/contents/18/00941/00004/
38. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=6052&school\_id=5&category\_id=1
39. ↑ https://expg.jp/info/detail.php?info\_id=6202&category\_id=1
40. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2266257/full/
41. ↑ https://www.ldh.co.jp/eng/news/detail.php?lang=eng&site=LDH&newsid=0000041939
42. ↑ https://www.astage-ent.com/astage-navi/expg-studio-2.html
43. ↑ https://www.ldh.co.jp/eng/news/detail.php?lang=eng&site=LDH&newsid=0000043661
44. ↑ https://mdpr.jp/news/detail/4034570
45. ↑ https://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/2023/11/30/0017080824.shtml
46. ↑ https://www.ldh.co.jp/eng/news/detail.php?lang=eng&site=LDH&newsid=0000045033
47. ↑ https://www.ldh.co.jp/eng/news/detail.php?lang=eng&site=LDH&newsid=0000045483
48. ↑ https://www.tokyoheadline.com/734084/
49. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2311887/full/
50. ↑ https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2311764/full/
51. ↑ https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202401250000603.html
52. ↑ https://nordot.app/1123117019367473740?c=516798125649773665
53. ↑ https://natalie.mu/music/news/558512
54. ↑ https://www.tokyoheadline.com/734185/