KAT-TUN (カトゥーン, Katūn?) is a Japanese boy band formed by Johnny & Associates (Johnny's) in 2001. The group's name is an acronym that was exclusively based on the first letter of each member's family name until the departure of Jin Akanishi in 2010. As of 2010, KAT-TUN stands for Kazuya KAmenashi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda and Yuichi Nakamaru.[1] Their debut on March 22, 2006 was marked by a tripartite release of a CD single, album and music DVD on their exclusive record label J-One Records. Since then, all of their single, album and music DVD releases have debuted at number one on the Oricon music and DVD charts. 2011: 5th Anniversary
The group announced a release of their 14th single on 2010's Christmas Eve, "Ultimate Wheels" on February 2, 2011 along with a tie-in CM of Suzuki Solio car that the group endorsed.[40] On January 6, KAT-TUN announced its plan of KAT-TUN Live Tour 2011 during May to October. The tour includes the 5 big dome tour at Sapporo Dome, Tokyo Dome, Nagoya Dome, Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka, and Kyocera Dome in Osaka and a special live event in Kawasaki on July 17-19. KAT-TUN will become the 4th Johnny group to be able to conquer the 5 big domes in Japan after SMAP, Kinki Kids and Arashi. After October, the group will start their Asia Tour that includes Thailand, Taiwan and Korea.[41] [42] [43] [44] [45] "Ultimate Wheels" became their 14th straight No.1 single since their debut. The total number of copies sold in the first week was over 180,000 copies, reported by Oricon. Early March, KAT-TUN announced 3 new songs in 3 days including "Perfect" for Kamenashi's new AOKI CM[46], "White" for Sofina CM[47] and "Diamond" as the theme song of NTV telecasts of Yomiuri GIANTS baseball games.
