Mr. Children
, commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of the best selling artists in Japan and one of the most successful Japanese rock artists, having sold over 75 million records and creating the in the mid-1990s in Japan. They held the record for the highest first week sales of a single in Japan for 15 years, with 1.2 million copies of their 10th single , have 30 consecutive number  1 singles, replaced Glay as the all-male band (with 3 or more members) to have the most number 1 albums on the Oricon charts, and won the Japan Record Award in 1994 for "Innocent World" and in 2004 for "Sign". As of 2012, Mr. Children has published fifteen original studio albums and 34 physical singles, along with five compilations, a live album, and fifteen home video releases. The band's music is mainly composed and written by lead singer Sakurai, with the exception of the Suzuki-penned songs "Asia" and "#2601" from the albums "Atomic Heart" and "Discovery", and  occasional collaborative song writing with producer Takeshi Kobayashi. In 2012 they celebrated their 20th debut anniversary by releasing dual best album titled "Mr. Children 2001–2005 ＜micro＞" and "Mr. Children 2005–2010 ＜macro＞". Both albums dominated the best-selling album category in the 2012 Oricon yearly chart, selling over 2.5 million copies. Mr.Children has become the third artists who achieved TOP 2 spots on the yearly album ranking, and this is the first time in 14 years for any artist to achieve this. Moreover, "[(An Imitation) Blood Orange]", an album of new material released in November 2012, debuted No.1 on the  Oricon Chart—at the end of the year, all three albums released that year were in the Top 10 best selling albums of 2012. In 2015, Mr. Children was named No.1 Concert Mobilization Power Ranking based on the overall number of people whom attended their performances during 2015 in Japan, mobilizing 1,119,000 fans (36 concerts). History. 1987–1992. The group's members first met in the year of 1987, when Sakurai, Tahara and Nakagawa were in "The Walls", which was originally influenced by the band Echoes. The frontman of Echoes, Jinsei Tsuji, was a political activist, and because of this, The  Walls too became a political band. Drummer Hideya Suzuki was not an original member of The Walls. When the original drummer departed, the band recruited Suzuki, who went to the same school as the other members. In late 1988, The Walls disintegrated, while the remaining members formed Mr. Children in early 1989. The name of Mr. Children supposedly came about during a talk in a dinner, in which the group thought the word "children" had a nice ring to it, but because they were no longer children themselves, they decided to add Mr. in front of it. They credit this  change as a new way they started to look at the group. After changing their name and overall sound, Mr. Children auditioned at a music club called La Mama, failing to pass the first time, but passing a second audition to play at the club. After playing in the club, they were asked to try and debut as professionals. Mr. Children sent out five demo tapes; all failed to generate record label interest, and the group took a three-month hiatus in 1991. Hideya Suzuki worked as a receptionist at an economy hotel, while Kazutoshi Sakurai worked with his father  who owned a construction company. When they returned, the group created a sixth demo tape and caught the attention of Toy's Factory. The label signed the group and had them play as the opening act for the rock group Jun Sky Walkers. It was also during this time that they were introduced to their long-time friend and producer Takeshi Kobayashi. Kobayashi was already known in the music industry as a music composer for Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars and Kyōko Koizumi. 1992–1994. On May 10, 1992, Mr. Children's debut album, "Everything", was released and represented the  long journey they took to get to this point. Three months later their first single was released on August 21, 1992. After the release of the single the group held two tours for the album, both held between September 23, 1992 and November 5 of the same year, the '92 Everything Tour comprising ten and the '92 Your Everything Tour consisting of twelve performances. To cap off the year and lead them into the next, Mr. Children released their second album, "Kind of Love" and their second single on December 1, 1992. "Dakishimetai" was later used as an insert song  for the Japanese drama . Shortly after, a new tour called '92–93 Kind of Love Tour started and lasted from December 7, 1992 till January 25, 1993. In 1993, with the completion of the band's tour they began work on for their third album. The first single of the new year to be released was "Replay", released on July 1, 1993 and used in commercials. On September 9, 1993 their third album "Versus" was released, but failed to bring the group into the spotlight. They continued on and held a new tour. The '93 Versus Tour was held from September  23 until November 5 and had the band holding nine performances. Shortly after, "Cross Road" was released on November 10, 1993, which was used to promote the Japanese drama . The single was not a hit, but through word of mouth "Cross Road" gained popularity and after 22 weeks sold over a million copies and later, though released in 1993, managed to become the fifteenth best selling single in Oricon's 1994 yearly charts. Sakurai confessed years later as to not liking his works up to this point. According to him: On June 1, 1994 a new single called "Innocent World  was released and used a promotional song for the soft drink . The single solidified the groups popularity with its sales, managing to sell 1,935,830 copies and becoming the No. 1 selling single in Oricon's 1994 yearly charts. Afterwards work began on their fourth original album Atomic Heart". The album was released on September 1, 1994 and became the band's highest selling album to date. Due to the huge success the band received from the album and "Innocent World" single, the groups popularity built up creating the in Japan. The band also had Takeshi Kobayashi produce two new tours  for them. The first tour, named after the "Innocent World" single was held from September 18 to December 18. The band also released their sixth single "Tomorrow Never Knows" on November 10, 1994 which was used as the theme song to the Japanese drama . The song was written while the group was on tour, was later voted in 2006 as fans No. 1 all-time favorite song on Music Station, and is currently the third highest selling drama tie-in single in Japan. The next single, was released on December 12, 1994, though originally intended to be the B-side  of "Tomorrow Never Knows". To end the year, "Innocent World" won the Song of the Year award at the 36th annual Japan Record Awards. 1995–1997. In 1995, the second half of the Atomic Heart tour started, lasting from January 1 to February 2. Mr. Children also became involved in charity work, doing a collaboration song with Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars. The single was used as the theme song for the Act Against AIDS campaign, was produced by Mr. Children and written by Kuwata. To promote the single and the campaign, they held a one-month tour from April  18 until May 14, entitled , where the group did cover songs of many English speaking artists such as The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. During the tour the group was also filming a documentary/concert movie called "Es ~Mr. Children in Film~". It was released in theaters on June 6, 1995, preceded by the group's eight single "Es (Theme of Es)" on May 10, to promote the movie. Two months later the group held an open air tour titled from July 16 to September 10, during which the ninth single, was released on August 10. On February 6, 1996  Mr. Children's tenth single was released, to promote the Japanese drama and also for Daio Paper's commercial. The single went on to become Japan's highest first week selling single of all time (which was later broken by idol group AKB48) and is currently Japan's eighth highest selling drama tie-in single. The success of the single was also a surprise for Sakurai, who admitted to spending very little time writing the song. Two months later, on April 5, 1996 the group's eleventh single was released, followed by their fifth original album on June 24 and  their twelfth single , on August 8. To close the year, the Regress or Progress Tour started and lasted from August 24, 1996 to March 28, 1997. The group visited 14 cities and held 55 concerts. Mr. Children's 13th single, "Everything (It's You)", was released on February 5, 1997, with the title track used as the theme song to the Japanese drama . A month later, on March 5 "Bolero", Mr. Children's sixth album was released. Soon after, rumors started of the group disbanding. Sakurai's reply: "The band will dissolve only when we have no more talent and  have relationship problems with each other." Yet the group then decided to take some time off. Nakagawa and Suzuki start a side project band called "Hayashi Hideo", and joined by Kenji Fujii from My Little Lover and Sawao Yamanaka from The Pillows, went on a club tour. 1998–2000. On February 11, 1998, they released their 14th single , theme song to the Japanese drama . The group was still on hiatus during this time and made no live performances to promote the single and did not appear in the music video for the song. Finally on October 21, 1998, Mr. Children officially  re-grouped and released their 15th single, with the Japanese drama using it as their theme song. The song remains a public favorite in voting polls, Oricon citing its inspirational lyrics as the reason. On January 13, 1999, , their 16th single, was released, followed by their seventh album, "Discovery", on February 3, 1999. Sakurai compared his approach to the songwriting for the record to surfing: Eleven days later they began the Discovery Tour '99, from February 14 to July 12, where the group visited 16 cities and held 42 shows. During the tour, Mr. Children released their 17th single "I 'll Be" on May 12, which was used in "Sea Breeze" commercials. Though originally released on the "Discovery" album, the song was re-released as a single with a lighter beat. The single was not a success and became Mr. Children's lowest selling single since "Cross Road". During the Discovery Tour '99, an idea for a live album was brought up. It was released as a 500,000 copy limited edition on September 8, 1999 and called "1/42" (referring to one of the 42 shows in the tour). Most of the tracks were recorded on June 16, 1999 at the  Makomanai ice arena, while the bonus track "Dakishimetai" was recorded at the Okinawa Ginowan-Shi seaside park. At the beginning of a new century , released on January 13, 2000 became the group's 18th single. While "I'll Be" failed to be a success, "Kuchibue" proved to be a hit selling 724,070 copies. On August 9, 2000, their 19th single "Not Found" was also used as the theme song to the Japanese drama , followed a month later by their 9th original album "Q" on September 27, 2000. The band went to New York to record this album, where they re -recorded some of their old indie material and for the first time, producer Takeshi Kobayashi performed with the band on a recording. The cover for the album was shot bought Size, Inc. at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. The album was not a favorite amongst fans for various reasons and became their first album since "Atomic Heart" to not sell over one million copies. ‘Concert tour Q’ started, visiting 13 cities and holding 35 concerts between October 15, 2000 and February 24, 2001. 2001–2003. In 2001, Mr. Children continued their Q tour, followed by dual "Best Of  albums. Titled Mr. Children 1992–1995" and "Mr. Children 1996–2000", they were both released on July 11, 2001. Both albums went on to sell a combined total of 4,034,785 copies. According to an interview done with MTV Japan Sakurai stated the best of albums weren't something they had planned on doing yet. During this time, the group was finishing up work for their new upcoming album and had planned to start promoting singles on it. However it was decided that a best of album was needed and so they were released. Four days following the dual album release, the group  launched the ‘Popsaurus’ tour, visiting 10 cities and playing 15 shows, lasting from July 15, 2001 all the way through September 25, 2001. A month into the tour their 20th single was released and used to promote the Wonda Canned Coffee by Asahi Soft Drinks. Two months after the Popsaurus tour ended, "Youthful Days" was released. Released on November 7, 2001, it was their 21st single and was an insert song for the Japanese drama Antique Bakery. "Youthful Days" debuted at number-one on Japanese Oricon's Charts in its first week at retail (ahead of Mr. Moonlight (Ai no  Big Band) by Morning Musume, from album 4th Ikimashoi!), and It ended up being their best selling single for the year. The b-side for the single, "Drawing", originally had no commercial tie-in, but two years later was used as the theme song to the 2003 Japanese drama , Starring former Shibugakitai member Masahiro Motoki. Mr. Children released their 22nd single on New Year's Day of 2002 (January 1), which was used as a show song in the Japanese drama Antique Bakery. Four months later their tenth original album "It's a Wonderful World" was released on May 10 , the groups' tenth anniversary. The release of the album on their 10th anniversary was not something that had originally intended. As the group was wrapping up recording, Sakurai asked if the album could be released in the spring time. While the group and their management was trying to think of how to promote an album in the spring time, they came up with releasing the album on their 10th anniversary. A new tour, titled "Mr. Children Tour 2002 Dear Wonderful World" was set to begin later that year. The previous single "I'll Be" from the "Discovery" album was selected  to be used as an official theme for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, held in Japan and South Korea. On May 24, 2002 Mr. Children attended the first ever MTV Video Music Awards Japan and topped the awards show by winning 'Video of the Year' for the song "Kimi ga suki", the band also nominated in Best Group Category but losing to Backstreet Boys. Two months after the release of the new album, Mr.Children's 23rd single "Any", was released on July 11, 2002 and used to promote NTT DoCoMo Group "10th Anniversary". The group was not able to  properly promote the single. As preparations for the new tour were beginning and promotion for the new single were being done, lead singer Sakurai was hospitalized on July 21, 2002, after a blockage in his cerebellum was detected. The "Mr. Children Tour 2002 Dear Wonderful World" was canceled and all group activities were put on a temporary hiatus. While recovering, Sakurai wrote a song called "Hero", that was inspired by his hospitalization. The song was released as the group's 24th single on December 11, 2002 and was used in NTT DoCoMo Group "10th Anniversary" commercial. The first press version  of the single included a DVD where, in addition to a "'Mr. Children 2002 documentary -Hero-" that was aired, the singer talked about his hospitalization and inspiration for the song. On November 15, 2002 Mr.Children's website announced the band's return to the stage for a "stew of home pride" with a one night only live, December 21, 2002 the group returned to the stage for a single concert, later released on DVD, titled "Wonederful World on Dec. 21". The group remained quiet for most of 2003. Sakurai helped to launch Artists' Power Bank (AP Bank), a non -profit environmental financial institution, in June. Sakamoto Ryuichi, a well known composer, came up with the initial idea to build a wind-power plant. With the help of Sakurai and music producer Takeshi Kobayashi, their goal later became to invest in environmentally friendly projects, such as renewable energy, and as of 2007, participated in other social issues such as helping the victims of a Chuetsu offshore earthquake in Niigata Prefecture on July 16, 2007. Near the end of the year, Mr. Children re-grouped and released their 25th single . It became their first double a-side single with "Tenohira" receiving  no commercial tie-in, and "Kurumi" used to promote . The single was a hit and became Mr.Children's best selling single since 2001's "Youthful Days" single. 2004–2006. In 2004, Sakurai started a solo project titled Bank Band, which became a spin-off of AP Bank. As Bank Band, Sakurai released a first album, titled , which contained covers of two Mr. Children songs, "Hero" and "Yasashii Uta". Mr. Children released their eleventh album on April 4, 2004, titled , which came with a documentary DVD showing the group working and talking about the concept behind the album. To help promote  the album, Mr. Children used the song in 'Nissin Cup Noodle – NO Border' commercials and as the 'News 23' theme song. According to Sakurai, is In the following month, they released their 26th single, "Sign", on May 26, which was used as the theme song to the Japanese drama "Orange Days" and went on to win the Song of the Year award at the 46th annual Japan Record Awards ten years after their win for 'Innocent World'. Most of the 2005 was spent working on a new album. As a solo act, Kazutoshi Sakurai appeared at Golden Circle vol.7 on  February 28, 2005. Finally on June 29, 2005 the group released their 27th single . The single became a monster hit selling 569,000 copies its first week, and ending with 925,632 copies sold. As a quad a-side single, all four songs had a commercial tie in. promoted 'Pocari Sweat', "and I love you" promoted 'Nissin Cup Noodle – NO Border', became the theme song for the Japanese movie 'Fly Daddy Fly', and was used as a promotional song for Fuji TV's educational program 'Kodomo bangumi Ponkikkiizu, Gachagachapon'. Even though it was released as a single, it was classified as an  album by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. A month later the group attended Kazutoshi Sakurai's 3-day festival 'ap bank fes’ 05' from July 16, 2005 through July 18, 2005, followed by 'SETSTOCK '05' at Kokuei bihoku kyuuryou park on July 23, 2005 and 'Higher Ground 2005' at Umi no nakamichi kaihinkouen outdoor theater on July 30, 2005. Three months later on September 21, 2005, "I Love U (I♥U)", Mr.Children’s 12th original album, was released. Two months later Dome Tour 2005 'I Love U' began, running from November 12, 2005 through December 27, 2005  and were only the fourth artist in Japanese history to play at the Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo, Nagoya and Fukuoka dome's. The tour ended in Tokyo Come where they played to 45,000 fans, bringing the tour total to almost 390,000 fans. By the end of the year the group managed to pass the 45 million mark in sold records. The first single for 2006, was their 28th single released on July 5, 2006 and used as the promotion song for Toyota's "Tobira wo akeyou" commercial and as the theme song to NTV's 2006 FIFA World Cup broadcasting. Due  to the groups involvement with ap bank fes. '06, there were no magazine or radio promotions, and only 3 live performances were done to promote the single. However the commercial tie-in's for the single proved to be a success and "Houkiboshi" was voted No. 3 as the favorite commercial song for 2006 and voted as the favorite winter song heard in the summer. Ten days following the release of 'Houkiboshi', Mr.Children participated in the 3 day festival, ap bank fes '06, where they performed "Hero", "Strange Chameleon", "Owarinaki tabi", and "Hokiboshi". One month later Mr.Children were  special guests at The Mujintou fes. 2006 and performed "Mirai", "Innocent world", "Hokorobi", "Sign", "Owarinaki tabi", "Worlds end", and "Houkiboshi". Shortly after Mr.Children announced a joint tour with fellow Japanese rockers the pillows, known as 'Mr.Children & the pillows new big bang tour ~This is Hybrid Innocent~'. The tour was held from September 26, 2006 through October 11, 2006. On November 15, 2006, the group released their 29th single , which was used as the theme song , by NTV, a controversial television drama about underage pregnancy. Kazutoshi Sakurai had begun writing the song in February 2006 and finished writing in  March 2006. and shot the promotional video in September 2006. One of the b-sides of single was a re-recording of Mr. Children's 2003 song "Kurumi", used as a theme song in the movie . 2007. On January 24, 2007, the band released their 30th single, , which was used as the theme song for the movie , and while only a limited edition single, brought the group to 26 consecutive No. 1 singles. Shortly after, the 13th original album, "Home", was released on March 14, which would become the group's first in almost 13 years to chart at No . 1 for two consecutive weeks. It was also the first Japanese album in 2007 to sell more than a million copies. Work on the record had come to a standstill, during the recording of the song "Houkiboshi", due to a dispute among the group over "Home"'s direction. Producer Kobayashi suggested to make an album that "pays attention to the world with a message". The album reflected a more personal touch from the group, with talking about the 9/11 attacks at New York City, and , being inspired by Kazutoshi Sakurai father who had been sick. The title of the album , "Home", was originally suggested to be titled "Home Made" or "Home Ground", because the group wanted the album to have the meaning that it was made by hand. However, they choose to name it just "Home" because they felt that by adding another word it would be limiting the idea in mind. Three days after the release of "Home", Mr. Children won the awards Best Video of the Year and Best Group Video for the single "Shirushi" at the Space Shower Music Video Awards '07. For the album, the group held two promotional tours. The first half called Mr. Children  Home Tour 2007, started on May 4 and lasted until June 23. During the tour, a new compilation album titled "B-Side" was released on May 10, which was also the group's 15th anniversary. The release of a B-side compilation had been suggested by singer Sakurai while working on "Home": Releasing a public statement on their official site at Toy's Factory, both the group and Sakurai felt that the A-side tracks on their singles had started to dictate and overall theme as to who Mr. Children were as a group. They felt a lot of feelings  and desires which have shaped them as a group came from these coupling songs, and thus decided to release them as a compilation album. On May 5, 2007, after the second concert for the first half of the "Home" tour, drummer Hideya Suzuki injured his hand after accidentally touching a ventilator. He injured his left index finger, which required four stitches and the following two concerts had to be rescheduled. Publicity for the tour reached a high, when they performed in front of a sold-out tour for 15,000 fans at Yokohama Arena on June 7, 2007 and reignited speculation  that the Mr.Children phenomenon was alive and well. A second half of the tour to promote 'Home', titled Mr.Children Home Tour 2007 -In the Field- took place from August 4 to September 30. Both tours ended up being a big success for the group, and became the most attended Japan tour in 2007 at 550,000 fans. The main promotional track for the "Home" album, , was selected to promote the Olympus E-410. During the E Goes to World campaign, the camera manufacturer had customers submit pictures to create a new promotional video for the song. On July 10, Mr.  Children announced a new song on their website titled . While initially a single release date wasn't issued, the group announced a month later it would be released on October 30, 2007. The title track, "Tabidachi no Uta", was used as a theme song for the Japanese movie , and a month later also be used to promote NTT Higashi Nihon. With the release of the single, Mr. Children managed to debut at number 1 for the week and in return obtained their 27th consecutive number 1 single. Similar to "Jyūyonsai no Haha" before, the movie "Koizora" deals with the struggles  of a young girl, involving betrayal, rape and abortion. The group was scheduled to play at the ap bank fes '07 from July 14 to July 16, but due to a typhoon, the first two days had to be canceled, and only the final day proceeded as planned. With the announcement of the new single, Mr.Children also announced the 'Home' tour 2007 DVD, which was released on November 14, 2007. On December 18, 2007, Oricon announced that "Home" became their first album to top the yearly album charts since their debut with the sales of 1.18 million copies, surpassing  the sales of Kumi Koda's album "Black Cherry" of 1.02 million copies. 2008. For the beginning of 2008, Sakurai released an album and DVD with his solo project Bank Band, followed a month later by the official announcement of a new song, , used in the NHK Japanese television drama . Afterwards Mr. Children announced the release of two singles. The first, "Gift", released on July 30, 2008, was used as the official theme song to the 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage on NHK. When writing this song, Sakurai focused on the meaning behind the Olympics and wanted to write a song  not just for those who win, but for everyone who participates. The ap bank announced that Mr.Children would appear for all 3 days at ap bank fes '08. Their second single of the year, "Hanabi", released on September 3, 2008, was used as the theme song to the Japanese drama "Code Blue", in which Tomohisa Yamashita played a main role. The single "Hanabi" topped the Oricon single charts for two weeks, becoming their 29th consecutive number-one single. However, their next single became their first download-only single for the music download market. The nun full-track ringtone downloads  ("Chaku Uta") of the song began on October 1 and the full-track downloads ("Chaku Uta Full") began on November 1, 2008. Their studio album "Supermarket Fantasy" was released on December 10, 2008. "Supermarket Fantasy" sold about 708,000 copies in its initial week, debuting at the number-one position on the Oricon weekly album charts. 2009–2011. On October 20, 2009, it was announced that Mr. Children produced their first anime theme "Fanfare" for the movie "". "Fanfare" was digitally released as a non full-track ringtone song ("Chaku Uta") on November 16 as a full-track ringtone song ("Chaku Uta Full ) on December 2, 2009. The song debuted at the number-one position on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart. On May 10, 2010, Mr. Children released the DVD Mr. Children Dome Tour 2009 Supermarket Fantasy in Tokyo Dome", but it sold about 49,000 copies one day before the official release day, debuting at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly music DVD chart with the one-day sales. It became their seventh consecutive number-one music DVD and they tied the records of Arashi and KAT-TUN for having the most consecutive number-one DVDs on the Oricon weekly music DVD chart . It also debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly comprehensive DVD chart, eclipsing the sales of "Avatar" in the week. It topped the Oricon comprehensive DVD charts for three consecutive weeks, making them the second artist to achieve that with the music DVD while the first is Arashi. On September 4, 2010, Mr. Children released their second documentary/concert movie "Mr. Children / Split the Difference" (since first ""Es" ~Mr. Children in Film~") and released DVD + CD includes the movie and selected songs by the band on November 10, 2010. It debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly  music DVD chart and they also became the first artist to have their eighth consecutive number-one music DVD. On December 1, 2010, Mr. Children released their sixteenth studio album "Sense" includes digital release only single "Fanfare". But the details such as track list, number of tracks, cover and title of the album were not announced until just before a release date, November 29. On April 4, 2011, Mr. Children released the download single "Kazoe Uta" to collect donations for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. "Kazoe Uta" debuted at number 1 on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart, surpassing the download sales  of AKB48's charity single "Dareka no Tame ni (What Can I Do for Someone?)". 2012. On April 18, 2012, Mr. Children released the Triple A-side single "Inori ~Namida no Kidou/End of the Day/pieces", their first in 3 years and 7 months; the single debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Single Charts, selling 174,409 copies. Two of the songs, "Inori ~Namida no Kidou" and "pieces", were used as the themes to the Bokura ga Ita movies. In addition, "Inori ~Namida no Kidou" spent four weeks atop the RIAJ Digital Track Chart, tying the record set  by GReeeeN's "Haruka". Also released on April 18 was the band's "Mr. Children 2011 Tour Sense -in the field-" DVD, which debuted at number 1 on both the Oricon DVD and Blu-ray charts, making Mr. Children the first artist to top three of Oricon's charts in a single week. On May 10, 2012, Mr. Children released a pair of Best Albums titled Mr. Children 2001–2005 ＜micro＞ and Mr. Children 2005–2010 ＜macro＞ in celebration of their 20th anniversary. The band also embarked on a 2-month dome tour, titled "POPSAURUS 2012", after the series of concerts they  held in 2001 following the release of their first two Best Albums. On November 28, 2012 Mr.Children released new album titled ［(An Imitation) Blood Orange］. At the end of the year, Mr.Children had dominated the yearly album ranking for 2012 with all 3 albums in the top10. Their dual best albums Mr. Children 2005–2010 ＜macro＞ and Mr. Children 2001–2005 ＜micro＞ monopolized TOP 2 the best selling album of 2012 yearly chart with selling 1.17 million copies sold and 1.11 million copies sold consecutively. Moreover, ［(An Imitation) Blood Orange］ placed 8th in the best selling album in 2012. They  have both achieved "the best selling album" and " the most Artist total sales Albums " for 2012. Mr.Children became the third artists who achieved TOP 2 spots on the yearly album ranking, and this is the first time in 14 years for any artist to achieve this . Mr.Children was the 4th artist by total sales revenue in Japan in 2012, with ¥9.947 billion (approximately $84 million). 2014. On November 19, 2014 Mr.Children released the single CD "Ashioto ~Be Strong" 2020. On December 2, 2020, Mr.Children released their 20th studio album "SOUNDTRACKS". Photographers. The band has  collaborated with photographers such as Osami Yabuta, Reylia Slaby and Alfie Goodrich Charitable and other activities. Since their official debut, Mr.Children has engaged in social and charitable causes. As a group they participated in the live concert for Act Against AIDS on December 1, 1994 and again on December 1, 1995. The goal of live was to raise awareness about AIDS. The proceeds from the event were donated to support children living with HIV. The live was followed up by a collaboration Act Against AIDS charity single with fellow Japanese artist Kuwata Keisuke titled ‘Kiseki no hoshi’ and released  on January 23, 1995. On April 25, 2001 Kazutoshi Sakurai also participated in the recording of Zero Landmine, a single created to promote awareness of the problem of landmines and promote a ban on landmines. In addition the group has also participated in Kazutoshi Sakura's solo project, AP bank. AP Bank, a nonprofit lending group, carries the goal of tackling environmental problems by financing environmentally friendly projects such as renewable energy, in addition to holding yearly festivals to raise money to fund additional projects. Since its inception in 2005, Mr.Children has been actively participating in the festivals, with  an announcement in 2008 that the group will now work more closely with its cause by participating during the entire three-day festival duration in addition to further details to be announced at a later time. Members Kazutoshi Sakurai and Kenichi Tahara joined together to create Acid Test for the concert ‘Dream Power John Lennon Super live broadcasting’ on October 9, 2001. The live was part of Yoko Ono’s Dream Power and educational platform where artists came together to hold a charity concert to raise money for school construction funds for children in Africa and Asia. The John Lennon  song covered by Acid Test during the live, "Mother", was later recorded and released on a tribute album "Happy Birthday, John", and released on September 30, 2005. In addition to social causes, Mr.Children's music has been used as background music for numerous television advertisements, television programs, television drama's, and motion pictures. Examples of the group's commercial tie-ins include "and I love you", "Bokura no Oto", and "Tagatame" for Nissin Cup Noodle no Border commercials, 'Gift' for the 2008 Beijing Olympics on NHK, and "Tabidachi no uta" for the 2007 Japanese movie . As a group, Mr. Children have not endorsed products by physically appearing in television commercials or printed media advertisements. One of the methods used to help promote the group is through "Brajacket"'s, a dust jacket for books, which are available at stands in bookstores for free. The "Brajacket" serve as free advertising for various products from ice cream to movies and musicals. Mr. Children have used this method to promote singles and albums; for example and "I Love U (I♥U)". Fan club. The official fan club of Mr. Children is called Father & Mother, the title being derived from their name. The  fan club, which started in 1994, was kept relatively secretive at first, as the group has never made any mention of it on their official website. In 2006, for the release of the group's 29th single "Shirushi", the official website was revamped and with it information about the fan club was finally added. Just like before however, the fan club can only be joined by mail and requires an admission fee of 3,500 yen, with yearly re-applications for membership. He was born in Fukuoka and is charge of playing guitar in the band. He had joined the baseball  team in high school but became interested in the guitar because he saw his classmate playing a guitar at a school festival. One day one of his classmates, Kazutoshi Sakurai brought his guitar to school. They bonded with each other over it and that became the catalyst for forming Mr.Children. Known for being quiet in live concerts, his fans become estatic when he says interacts with them. Nakagawa was born in Nagasaki. His nickname is "Nakakei". He went to the same junior high school as Kenichi and Hideya where he started playing the bass. He is also famous for  being a baseball fan. Note: It is the first time in 14 years to hold Hall tour since 2002