any one knows how w-inds got started? there seems to be very few english sites about them, and i can't read japanese so their official site is not terribly useful as an information source.

it seems that they are one of the few successful boy bands that is not out of jhnny's jmusho.

any info. on w-inds will be greatly appreciated! thanks!

how they got started? about their history, i'm not so sure, but they don't have a long story to tell... they began in 2001 if i'm not wrong.

i also think they strated somwehere around 2001,i head PC wanted to form a boyband to compeet against johnny's jimusho,the only company with truly succesfull boybands at the time...the held an audititon and three boys were picked,chiba ryohei( ),tachibana keita and ogawa ryuichi (or is it ogata?? )
that's all i can remember now

i'm not really a fan of w-inds. but i listen to their songs occassionally.. though the group doesn't look good together to say the truth..

Now they were many great group which was same company with Dapump.W-inds,Lead ,Flame Run & Gun are under them....Dapump teach W-inds dance...i really like w-inds. .i also face the same problem from their official wedsite..there are only the menu list was english..then the whole news,story ...was japanese

Hmm.... i think they satrted in 2001???
is it...... hehe.... anyway... i am not too sure... but i love them!!!!

w-inds. started in march 14 2001... the members r ryohei chiba,keita tachibana & ryuichi ogata.... keita is the vocalist & ryohei & ryuichi is the dancer & sumtimes they performed the rap parts... oh yeah.. ryohei is the leader of w-inds. (i guess its bcos hes the oldest..)..& uh...watels do u wanna know ???
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if w-inds wouldn't have ryohei i'd probably don't pay attention to them actually...although i did liked "super lover"

valle wrote:

if w-inds wouldn't have ryohei i'd probably don't pay attention to them actually...although i did liked "super lover"

watashi mo!

thanks minasan for the replies. Not being able to get much out of the official website, I dug around and found a whole lot of chinese sites, some of which contains an amazing amount of videos and magazine transcripts. Keita of w-inds also keeps an online journal, for those interested it's: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tachibana_keita/ (the other two also have ones of their own but they are all linked anyway)

it seems that a lot of johnn's boys have their own telly shows on the side (eg SMAP, Kinki kids), there doesn't seem to be such variety shows hosted by boybands of non-johnny's origin. However w-inds do seem to make regular apperance on a show called "Ganki dashi' (sp?) . Does anyone know what kind of program this is? (eg is it brodcasted on telly? the video file looks like it's held in a big auditorium for school kids as oppposed to a television studio)

Long Road wasn't too bad and Super Lover is ok...but they dance like girls... even my sister was saying "who are these sissies?"

Correct if I'm wrong but I think their first single was paradox. Well actually it was their first single that went big. Not sure if they had a single before that but paradox broke them into the industry. They had a string of songs; I can't rightly remember which one was the best one but they're ok. I do like w-inds over other Japanese boy bands like Flame. Just from my experience with music sales w-inds has been in an upward trend and becoming quite popular.

icpmat wrote:

any one knows how w-inds got started? there seems to be very few english sites about them, and i can't read japanese so their official site is not terribly useful as an information source. it seems that they are one of the few successful boy bands that is not out of jhnny's jmusho. any info. on w-inds will be greatly appreciated! thanks!

sorry i can't help. . .hehe. . .i'm also trying to find some info on them. . .i really like their songs especially forever memories. . . its so hard to find an english site. . to bad i cant read chinese or japanese. . .is ryohei really the leader??, to me its seems like keita is the leader. . .

amethyst216 wrote:

. .is ryohei really the leader??, to me its seems like keita is the leader. . .

I am not sure what a 'leader' is suposed to be. If you look at SMAP, it sometimes appears that perhaps Kimura Takuya is the leader cuz he talks a lot, but the official leader is Nakai Misahiro. Usually it's the oldest memeber of a group, so Ryohei is the official leader for this reason. These three have quite different characters, where Ryohei-kun being the most introverted, which is probabily why he doesn't quite come across as the 'leader' in variety shows. But you watch their live events, it's more apparent that Ryohei is the leader.

Hi, everyone. I'm from Japan.
I like w-inds. songs (especially Keita's voice), though I'm NOT so a "crazy" fan...ha ha.
I listen to their CD and see them on TV, but have never been to their lives.
It's enough for me, maybe.

I agree that there are not so many info about them in English, and I know that translating systems (from Japanese to other languages) on the web or in computers are not so useful.
(I sometimes see so funny or meaningless translations! I, a Japanese, know that it's a difficult language...)

I'll be happy if I can help you, w-inds. fans, here "a little" with giving or translating their info.
But please note and allow me that I'm not a native English speaker, and that I sometimes visit here (not so often).
Thank you!

P.S.
w-inds. now don't have regular TV programmes, but radio named "w-inds.' Windy Street" on every Saturday.
Sorry but I've never lietened to it, it's too late hour!!

well...umm..paradox's not their first single but forever memories's their first single...

i have 2 admit tht they do look like gals but i dun think they dance like gals..do u think gals can do the breakdance like ryuichi & ryohei usually do...its quite hard ok?! sum guys cant even do it!!

& i haf 2 tel u bout tht online journal...thts NOT them...i dunno who the hell did tht & try 2 b w-inds. but i m very sure tht its not w-inds. who wrote tht journal...from their profile & their journal i can c..."keita" said tht ryohei cook...but in fact....ryohei said tht he dun reali like 2 cook & i guess he said he never try 2 cook...if i haf not mistaken..on TV..
ryohei wont b lieing on tht rite?!

oh yeah...w-inds. do haf a tv program..but its not on any japanese channel..onli on taiwan TVBS-G or TVBS-ASIA..its called "Factory Generation" ..its all bout w-inds. , FLAME & Lead...
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there's also a ridiculous online journal from some who claim that they are nino and matsujun from arashi...(>_<)

Quote:

he said he never try 2 cook...if i haf not mistaken..on TV.. ryohei wont b lieing on tht rite?!

he idd said that,but it's just o-unlogical that someone from w-inds could also write that good english in an online journal,or even just make one!!

btw,to come back at a quote from someone,it is indeed true that w-inds. is one of the boybands with succes,not coming out of johnny's jimusho

icpmat wrote:

I am not sure what a 'leader' is suposed to be. If you look at SMAP, it sometimes appears that perhaps Kimura Takuya is the leader cuz he talks a lot, but the official leader is Nakai Misahiro. Usually it's the oldest memeber of a group, so Ryohei is the official leader for this reason. These three have quite different characters, where Ryohei-kun being the most introverted, which is probabily why he doesn't quite come across as the 'leader' in variety shows. But you watch their live events, it's more apparent that Ryohei is the leader.

o0o i see. . . i was thinkin that the one that is the lead singer was the "leader of the group"but i never new that it was the oldest person. . .thx for the info

ryosin_chiba wrote:

& i haf 2 tel u bout tht online journal...thts NOT them...i dunno who the hell did tht & try 2 b w-inds. but i m very sure tht its not w-inds. who wrote tht journal...from their profile & their journal i can c..."keita" said tht ryohei cook...but in fact....ryohei said tht he dun reali like 2 cook & i guess he said he never try 2 cook...if i haf not mistaken..on TV.. ryohei wont b lieing on tht rite?!

huh? "Keita" wrote abuot Ryuichi's cooking, not Ryohei. I learnt about Ryuichic's culineary skills from some magazine article, so it didn't occur to me that it wasn't them that were behind the journals.

ryosin_chiba wrote:

oh yeah...w-inds. do haf a tv program..but its not on any japanese channel..onli on taiwan TVBS-G or TVBS-ASIA..its called "Factory Generation" ..its all bout w-inds. , FLAME & Lead...

Sorry! I should have written that they didn't have ones broadcasted "in Japan", also I didn't have BS programmes in my mind. Thank you for your info.


I don't think the live journals are owned by real w-inds. either.
In MY opinion, such kind of artists think a great deal of being "public", and it is unbelievable to have freedom to open such journals.
(I even doubt that the members who are writing them are not Japanese, because some of Japanese expressions in theirs are strange...)

I think it's not too bad if theirs are personal things for a play, but I wouldn't like them to deceive lots and lots of w-inds. fans.
(Such fake people sometimes appear in Japanese web sites too.)

Anyway, it's MY opinion, and it'll be personal freedom to believe or not.
Please understand that I don't intend to make anyone feel bad.

sweetnote wrote:

I don't think the live journals are owned by real w-inds. either. In MY opinion, such kind of artists think a great deal of being "public", and it is unbelievable to have freedom to open such journals. (I even doubt that the members who are writing them are not Japanese, because some of Japanese expressions in theirs are strange...) I think it's not too bad if theirs are personal things for a play, but I wouldn't like them to deceive lots and lots of w-inds. fans. (Such fake people sometimes appear in Japanese web sites too.)

yeah, I think you guys do have a point. Normally entertainers post messages on their official website, and w-inds does have a very comprehensive one, so i agree it is a bit odd for them to set up an online journal like that. a bit of a dissapoinment though ~sigh~

on a somewhat related note - what's the average staying power of japanese boybands? boybands in the UK/US seem to have a few very popular singles, then dissapears as quickly as they appear. (eg westlife, boyzone, 98degree) Of course it would be great to have w-inds around for a long time, but their 'kawaii' factor seems to be one of the main draws for their (mostly female) fans, and you can only be kawaii for so long.