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Japanese pop rock band

Mr. Children (ミスターチルドレン), commonly referred to by their contracted nickname "Misu Chiru" (ミスチル), 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 "Mis chil Phenomenon" (ミスチル現象) 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 Namonaki Uta (名もなき詩), 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).

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. 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 "Yasashii uta" (優しい歌) 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 Koufuku no ouji (幸福の王子), Starring former Shibugakitai member Masahiro Motoki. Mr. Children released their 22nd single "Kimi ga Suki" (君が好き) on New Year's Day of 2002 (January 1), which was used as a show song in the Japanese drama Antique Bakery. 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. 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 "Tenohira/Kurumi" (掌/くるみ). It became their first double a side single with "Tenohira" receiving no commercial tie in, and "Kurumi" used to promote NTT DoCoMo (NTTドコモ). The single was a hit and became Mr. Children's best selling single since 2001's "Youthful Days" single. Mr. Children released their eleventh album on April 4, 2004, titled Shifuku no Oto (シフクノオト), 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 "Tagatame" (タガタメ) in 'Nissin Cup Noodle – NO Border' commercials and as the 'News 23' theme song. According to Sakurai, "Tagatame" (タガタメ) 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 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 "Yojiken Four Dimensions" (四次元 Four Dimensions). The single became a monster hit selling 569,000 copies its first week, and ending with 925,632 copies sold. 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 "Houkiboshi" (箒星) 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 "Shirushi" (しるし), which was used as the theme song 14 year old Mother (Jyūyonsai no Haha), by NTV, a controversial television drama about underage pregnancy. Kazutoshi Sakurai had begun writing the song in February 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 Koufuku na Shokutaku (幸福な食卓).

On January 24, 2007, the band released their 30th single, "Fake" (フェイク), which was used as the theme song for the movie Dororo (どろろ), 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 "Motto" (もっと) talking about the 9/11 attacks at New York City, and "Anmari oboetenai ya" (あんまり覚えてないや), 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. The main promotional track for the Home album, "Irodori" (彩り), 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 "Tabidachi no Uta" (旅立ちの唄). 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 Koizora (film) (Koizora), 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. 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, "Shounen" (少年), used in the NHK Japanese television drama Battery (バッテリー). 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. 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. 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. On October 20, 2009, it was announced that Mr. Children produced their first anime theme "Fanfare" for the movie One Piece Film: Strong World. "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. On September 4, 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, 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?)". On April 18, 2012, Mr. Children released the triple A side single "Inori (Namida no Kidou)/End of the Day/Pieces", their first in three years and seven months; the single debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, 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 one 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, Mr. Children released a pair of best of 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 of albums. On November 28, Mr. Children released new album titled (An Imitation) Blood Orange. At the end of the year, Mr. Children monopolized the yearly album ranking, with all three of their albums in the top 10. Their dual best of albums Mr. Children 2005–2010 ＜macro＞ and Mr. Children 2001–2005 ＜micro＞ were the top two best selling albums of 2012, selling 1.17 million copies and 1.11 million copies, respectively. Moreover, (An Imitation) Blood Orange placed eighth on the best selling albums of 2012 list. They achieved both the highest selling album and highest selling artist for 2012. Mr. Children became the third artist to have achieved top two spots on the yearly album ranking, also making it the first time in 14 years that any artist achieved this. Mr. Children was the 4th artist by total sales revenue in Japan in 2012, with ¥9.947 billion (approximately $84 million). On November 19, 2014, Mr. Children released the CD single "Ashioto (Be Strong)". On December 2, 2020, Mr. Children released their 20th studio album Soundtracks.

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. 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. and "Tabidachi no uta" for the 2007 Japanese movie Koizora (恋空). As a group, Mr. Children have not endorsed products by physically appearing in television commercials or printed media advertisements. 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 Shifuku no Oto (シフクノオト) and I Love U (I♥U).

a. Early on in the group's career, Takeshi Kobayashi collaborated with Kazutoshi Sakurai on various songs in addition to writing songs himself. For example, "Dance dance dance" on the album Atomic Heart was co composed by him, and "Toubousha" (逃亡者) on the album Versus, was both composed and written by him. Over the years, his composing and lyrical work with the group has lessened with the last a side track co written by him and Kazutoshi Sakurai being Everybody Goes (Chitsujo no Nai Gendai ni Drop Kick) (everybody goes 秩序のない現代にドロップキック ) which was released on December 12, 1994 .