is Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Radwimps

Radwimps

is a Japanese rock band, who debuted independently in 2003 and later on major label Toshiba EMI in 2005. The band achieved great commercial success in 2006 album their album Radwimps 4: Okazu no Gohan, and are best known for their later singles "Order Made" and "Dada" , both of which hit number...

' sixth album, released on March 9, 2011.

Background and development

After the band's 2009 tour for their previous album, Altcolony no Teiri, the band did not perform or do any band activities for six months, with Noda in this time going to the studio alone and recording demo tapes. After the release of Altocolony no Teiri, Noda felt too cautious in writing lyrics, due to the mistakelessness he had strived for in Altocolony no Teiri. In Summer 2010, the album had begun to take shape, with most of the songs in a self-completed state. Noda felt that the album was free from many of the constraints in the band's previous work, and that it was a high-energy album. He experimented with hip-hop in "G-kōi" and jazz-style piano in "Pi".

All of the songs on the album are sung entirely in Japanese, except for a brief English phrase in "G-kōi." This is greatly different to the band's past albums, which generally feature a few entirely English language songs, and many with large sections sung in English.

Promotion and release

On June 30, 2010, Radwimps released two singles simultaneously, "Manifesto" and "Keitai Denwa," which reached number two and three on Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

's single charts, respectively, underneath "Wonderful World!!" by boyband Kanjani Eight

Kanjani Eight

is a seven-member Japanese boy band from Japan's Kansai region. They are managed by the multimedia talent agency, Johnny & Associates, and signed to Imperial Records. The group was formed in 2002 and made their CD debut in 2004 as "Johnny's modern enka group", though after the year 2006, their...

. "Manifesto" did not appear on the album, and "Keitai Denwa" appeared as a re-arranged version.

Before the release of the album, the singles "Dada

Dada (song)

"Dada" is a song by Japanese rock band Radwimps, released on January 12, 2011 as the first of two singles leading up to the band's sixth album, Zettai Zetsumei....

" and "Kyōshinshō

Kyōshinshō

is a song by Japanese rock band Radwimps, released on February 9, 2011 as the second of two singles preceding the band's sixth album, Zettai Zetsumei.-Composition and writing:...

" were released in January and February 2011. "Dada" reached number one on Oricon's single charts, becoming Radwimps second single to do so since their debut.

"Kimi to Hitsuji to Ao" was chosen as broadcaster NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

's theme song for soccer events in 2011, including the 2011 J. League Division 1

2011 J. League Division 1

The 2011 J. League Division 1 season is the 46th season of Japanese top flight football and 19th since the establishment of the J. League. The season began on March 5 and is scheduled to end on December 3, with a planned five-week summer break between June 27–July 29 in order to allow preparation...

, the first round of the 2012 AFC Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament

2012 AFC Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament

The Asian Football Confederation's Pre-Olympic Tournament is the qualifying tournament for the 2012 Summer Olympics Football tournament in London. Thirty-five teams entered the qualification, where AFC have three spots for automatic qualifiers and a spot for inter-continental play-off against the...

 in June and the 2011 Copa América

2011 Copa América

The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América Argentina 2011, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America...

 in July. This is the band's first commercial tie-up since "EDP (Tonde Hi ni Iru Natsu no Kimi)"'s use as the music countdown show Count Down TV

Count Down TV

is a Japanese late night music television show, originally broadcast on TBS from 1993 onwards. The program is shown weekly, and features a Japanese music video hit chart countdown, live performances from musicians and music information...

's opening theme song in early 2006. A music video, directed by Daisuke Shimada and Sōjirō Kamatani, was filmed for the song. The song was given radio play from February 23, as well as released as a ringtone. Also released as ringtones on the same day were "Daidarabocchi, ""Gakugeikai," and "Tōmei Ningen Jūhachi-gō."

Radwimps took part in Tower Records

Tower Records

Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....

' No Music, No Life? advertisement campaign from March 8 until March 21, and were featured on in-store posters in Tower Records stores across Japan. The band will also make two appearances on Tokyo FM

Tokyo FM

Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co., Ltd. is a radio station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flagship station of the Japan FM Network .-Program:*Countdown Station** DHC Countdown jp** cosmo Pops Best 10...

's School of Lock! on their regular program Rad Locks!, airing in April and May 2011.

The band will tour across Japan between April and July 2011, on their , performing 37 dates.

Track listing

Chart rankings

Charts (2011)	Peak position
Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... daily singles	2
Oricon weekly albums	2
Oricon monthly singles	3

Sales and certifications

Chart	Amount
Oricon physical sales	261,000
RIAJ physical shipping certification	Platinum (250,000+)

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Distributing Label
Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...		CD, digital download	EMI Music Japan
		Rental CD