Nihonsei: Hello! Project

Konnichiwa minna-san! It's NIHONSEI once again and this time I will feature Up-Front Group's all female idol Japanese pop recording artists. They are collectively known as Hello! Project and various talented female performers "graduated" from this group.

Hello! Project scouts for talented Japanese females across the country and let them join its subgroups. Currently, Hello! Project consist of the following groups:



Morning Musume

"Mothership" as they call it,Morning Musume (means, morning girls) is the largest group of H!P and they hold the record of having the highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts.

Momusu holds a ceremony wherein some members will graduate and new members will be admitted after an audition. This is usually done almost every year (except 2008).

n March 2007, Morning Musume inducted its first two non-Japanese members from China, Li Chun (Junjun) of Hunan and Qian Lin (Linlin) of Hangzhou. The group officially adopted the name Jou An Sao Nu Jou (meaning, "good morning girl's group") in accordance to this expansion.




Berryz Koubou

Literally means Berryz Workshop, Berryz Koubou debuted at a concert on March 3, 2004, and they performed as backup dancers for W's promotional videos. The members consists of Japanese females whose age does not exceed 14 years old in comparison to Momusu's average age which is 16. The group currently held the record as the youngest girl group to perform at Saitama Super Arena.




℃-ute

℃-ute, pronounced as kyūto with pitch accents on "u" and "o". This group consists of members that were not chosen to be part of Berryz Koubou. ℃-ute debut single Sakura Chirari ranked third in Oricon and they currently hold the record as the youngest group (average age is 13) on the top 10.




S/mileage

S/mileage is a portmanteau of the English words "smile", "mileage", and "age", and together the name means "the age of smiles". The group members consist of H!P Eggs (see below) on February 28, 2010, H!P announced that in order for the group to debut, 10,000 people had to send a picture of themselves smiling before March 25, 2010. If the goal was not achieved, their debut might be postponed or even cancelled. The girls gatherd 16,000 pictures 3,110 from them. The girls will officially debut in May




Hello! Pro Egg

Hello! Project Egg consists of girls who did not make it to the auditions but was seen with potential. These girls receive free voice and dancing lessons so that in the future they can be part with any of the groups mentioned above. The girls perform at concerts as backing dancers for the major acts.


Hello! Project paved the way to numerous popular girl group before like Mini Moni, W and Sheki Dol. Now H!P expanded its reach across Taiwan and South Korea with the Taiwanese group Ice Creamusume and Da Xiao Jie. also, the Korean artist Jang Da Yeon.