Sakurai Kazutoshi

Kanji: 桜井和寿
Blood type: O
Birthday: 1970.3.8
Birthplace: Tokyo
Martial Status: Married to 吉野美佳 [Mika Yoshino]
Status in band: Vocal, guitar, lyrist, and composer

Favourite things:

• Soccer
• Surfing
• Singing
• Drinking
• Guitar
• TV
• Radio show (Yaruki-Manman)
• Sea
• Sky
• People

Trivia:

• Hospitalized after bloackage in his cerebellum was detected in 2002. All activities were cancelled but after recieving word of a good recovery they returned for a 1 night live in December that same year.
• Former employee of recording label
• Had a daughter with first wife [born October 1994]
• Has a son with second wife [born *I think* around June 2002]
• Nickname is エロオヤジ [erotic father]
• Parents have a construction company
• Father is a carpenter and Sakurai had consider following in his foot steps until Atomic Heart was released.
• Favorite book is 世界の子供たち [Children in the world] and 'Happy News'
• His eldest sister was the one who noticed he had a talent for the guitar
• Favorite food is cake
• His favorite animal is a Squirrel monkey
• There is a villa he goes to in the Yamagata Prefecture when he needs to get away
• Is said to look like Junichiro Koizumi, which was pointed out when Koizumi was speaking with a high school girl

About Mika Yoshino:
Birthday: 1971.8.31
Bloodtype: 0

• Was in a girl group called Giri Giri Girls
• They were having an affair with each other [and the media found out], of which in May 1997 Sakurai divorced his first wife, and in June 1997 started dating Mika. They were married June 2000. They had a son together who was born in 2002.

About ap bank:

• Consists of three people: Sakurai, Takeshi Kobayashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto
• Started in 2003
• They loan money to various environmental preservation projects like natural energy and energy conservation, etc... at a low interest rate. The ap bank is a non-profit financial institution
• ap bank is not a really a BANK bank.

Hideya Suzuki

Kanji: 鈴木英哉
Date of birth: 1969.11.14
Place of birth: Tokyo
Blood type: A
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 64 kg
Position: Drums & Backing Vocals

Favourite things:

• Music
• Drinking
• Women
• Toys

Trivia:

• Nickname is Jen
• Is the leader of the band
• Is the only single person in Mr. Children
• Is the mood-setter of the band which is why he talks so much in TV interviews
• Parents liked jazz. Jen would go to see a jazz drummer named Buddy when he was young
• Came to be called Jen because he had a scooter called "Gemma of SUZUKI" when he was in junior high school student. A senior at his school who was in the baseball club, would make fun of him and his scooter and started him Gen.
• When he was invited to join the band by Sakurai and Tahara, he told them to "Wait until the result comes back, since I received an audition now." The audition was for Yui Asaka's band.
• Likes to collect guitars. He started with 2 guitars and bought them purely off of look.
• Likes to buy unusual guitars
• The green Gibson fire bird was his favorite during ku: era
• Was pretty poor when he was young and borrowed money a lot. Of which he owed Sakurai 20,000 of 30,000 he has borrowed from people.
• Used canned coffee to moisten his throat, and got Sakurai to bring in a canteen during practice
• Everytime Jen goes on a radio program he seems to always be hungry.
• This hunger is linked to the fact that he moves around alot (in addition to talking) during radio programs
• His lower lip is supposedly thicker then he top lip
• When he was little he was riding a tricycle on a slope, and had a traffic accident and injured his lip
• Reportedly played some guitar in "Shishunki no Natsu" on the KIND OF LOVE album
• Has a lemon tree in his room
• Ate instant noodles together with Sakurai while recording abroad.
• Is said to be odorless. Like even though he sweats like crazy, he does not smell.

Keisuke Nakagawa

Kanji: 中川敬輔
Date of birth: 1969.08.26
Place of birth: Nagasaki
Blood type: B
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 60 kg
Position: Bass

Favourite things:

• Women
• Drinking
• Smoking
• Sleeping
• Horse racing
• Games
• Recording
• Tour
• Susukino
• Deep fried chicken

Trivia:

• Nickname is "NAKAKE"
• Is a calm, quiet person, but will often burst into laughter surprising some
• Changes his hairstyle the most out of all the members
• Fan of the Hanshin Tigers and horse races
• Hates tomatoes and fermented soybeans but has recently (2006) learned to like them
• Incidentally, if a sea urchin is from Hokkaido, he will eat it
• Has a miniature dachshund for a pet
• Went to the same junior high school and high school as Kenichi Tahara, and went to the same junior high as Suzuki
• Met Sakurai in high school [as did Tahara]
• Started learning how to play bass in junior high
• Likes to go drinking after each tour
• Likes Choi Yong Soo from South Korea’s soccer team [he thinks he’s a good player]
• His type of girl is someone that can understand the feelings of a man who tries to charm his favorite girl

Kenichi Tahara

Kanji: 田原健一
Date of birth: 1969.09.24
Place of birth: Fukuoka
Blood type: O
Height: 171 cm
Weight: 58 kg
Position: Guitar

Favourite things:

• Baseball
• My blue guitar
• Travel stories
• Tremelo
• Deep fried oysters
• Driving
• Fine days
• Joy
• Family

Trivia:

• He is very quiet
• Says about himself: "I'm somewhat poor at talking in public", and thus he really only talks for magazine interviews and radio programs
• Because of his quietness the media is always asking "Is Mr. Tahara happy?"
• Is a baseball junkie and played baseball in school until Sakurai asked him to join his band. He wasn't so sure so Sakurai said to him "Have the bat from tomorrow in the guitar and substitute it"
• Can play the glockenspiel
• Supervises the baseball team "JIMIKEN"
• If Mr. Children isn't doing anything at the time he likes to be together with all of his family at home
• Played the pianica in Arifureta Love Story ~Danjomondai ha Itsumo Mendou da~ and Tobe
• Currently uses Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman and Gibson's Les Paul Standard
• Wrote a bunch of essays for "monthly KADOKAWA"
• Is said to look like Hamada Isao of Downtown

Mr.Children

• Tahara and Nakagawa got together to start the band, Sakurai then joined, and then they needed a drummer so Sakurai and Tahara called Suzuki
• Mr.Children is famous for not appearing in Kouhaku Uta Gassen
• First original song was written in 1991 called クリスマスナイト [Night of Christmas]
• Won Japan Record Grand Prix in 1994 for 'innocent world' and won it again 10 years later for 'Sign'.

Special thanks to Ikuni-web @ jpopmusic.com. HTML/tidy up/slight rearrange especially for I Love U by Cardcaptor Stacey