To make things simpler, Hello!Project is basically Johnny's Entertainment's female counterpart in Japan. Like if you put in JE and HP together, it would turn out to be like Japan's version of SM Entertainment. Lots of pretty girls are in this company and SNSD's Soo Young used to be one of them when she was still a singer in Japan. They pretty much eat up most of the girl band monopoly in Japan which is now being broken by new girlband Perfume which is from Amuse Entertainment Agency. Before Perfume hit it big, most popular girlbands come from HP (such as Morning Musume, C-ute and Berryz Koubou) and during their peak, they easily sold a million copies for their every single. Now, they still range in the hundred thousands but definitely not as big as they were before. The whole concept was born in 1997 so you could say that they were the initial reason for all these Asian girl groups. Their range of merchandise is also vast from dolls to music to acting. But the sudden rise of girlbands AKB48 and Perfume are sort of threatening Hello Project's reign on Japan which might be the reason of the whole new concept (similar to how Tohoshinki is slowly changing the boyband landscape in Japan).



It is also noted that some girls under Hello Project are undergoing Korean language lessons now. So a multi-ethnic group might be in the works.






Soo Young's old group Route 0



Partner Takahashi Marina



Soo Young





Morning Musume

morning guuuu musumeee xDDDDDD

o.o i didn't know DBSK/THSK was changing/affecting the boyband landscape in japan.

can someone explain how they're doing that? or what DBSK did to cause change...?

^ Umm..truthfully, I dont think they're changing the boyband landscape in Japan at all
JE still has a monopoly on the boyband market
Their groups are still top-sellers whenever they come out with a new single/album
DBSK/THSK are topping charts but they're not considered a "boyband", they're "artists"
And their album sales are still a lot lacking compared to the JE boybands...barely passing 100,000 in a week compared to JE boys selling that much in a day
They're not a threat yet
So to say they're affecting the boyband market is not true
I mean, no one is changing their style to imitate DBSK/THSK
Maybe in the future, but definitely not now
I'm sorry if I offended anyone T__T
That's just how I see it from observing DBSK's activities in Japan

Anyways, back on topic
Wow...cool
A multi-ethnic group
I'd like to see this group when they debut

I'm pretty much over my H!P phase XD,
To me H!P has just been disappointing over the last 2 years or so.

I miss the old Morning Musume, their music was much better than how it is today. Back then it was fresh, but now their songs just sound recycled. The only recent songs from Momosu I like is Resonant Blue and Egao Yes Nude(Not really recent, but yeah haha XD).

I do agree, AKB48 and PERFUME pose a big threat to them. I am more fond of AKB48 than Morning Musume, and of course .. PERFUME <33 haha.

but yeaaah, good luck with their auditions.

so they want to have korean member in the group?
nice hahaha maybe they can borrow some trainee from SM >.<
so atleast they can debut

hmmm i dont see anything change in japanese boyband with dbsk there
but yah like been said dbsk in japan not considered as idol but artist
JE boys def still dominating whole area from music till drama (eventho in music other artists also dominant)

okay yeah... what you wrote is kinda what i was thinking. so when i read that, i was like o.O that's a big impact given how large the j-music industry/market is.

Yeah, I'm not seeing this change either.
JE boybands still chart like crazy - it makes me nauseous sometimes.