Graduation

From Wiki.theppn

Graduation (卒業 sotsugyō), in Hello! Project terms, is when a group member decides to or is forced to leave her current group. This could be anything from switching to a solo effort, moving to another group within H!P, or retiring outright to concentrate on something else such as marriage or education. This term has also been used for J-Pop groups outside of the Hello! Project.

Contents 1 Morning Musume 2 Other Groups 3 Solo Artists 4 Other Departures from Hello! Project

Morning Musume

Graduations are most common for the flagship group Morning Musume, which typically consists of 8 to 12 members. As members get older, improve their talent, or simply gain enough selling power, they will usually leave Morning Musume to concentrate on a specific effort, yet remain under the Hello! Project umbrella.

When members first started to leave the group, the word "withdrawal" (脱退 dattai) was used, until the final performance with Fukuda Asuka on Music Station, when leader Nakazawa Yuko stated that Asuka was "spreading her wings and graduating from the group". The term "dattai" was continued to be used by ASAYAN, however in the final concerts with Ishiguro Aya and Ichii Sayaka, Nakazawa would continue to use the term "graduate", since then the term stuck within Hello! Project.

List of graduated Morning Musume members:

• Fukuda Asuka: graduated in April 1999 to focus on her studies.
• Ishiguro Aya: graduated in January 2000 to become a fashion designer.
• Ichii Sayaka: graduated in May 2000 to focus on her studies.
• Nakazawa Yuko: graduated in April 2001 to continue her solo career.
• Goto Maki: graduated in September 2002 to continue her solo career.
• Yasuda Kei: graduated in May 2003 to pursue other projects within H!P.
• Abe Natsumi: graduated in January 2004 to continue her solo career.
• Tsuji Nozomi: graduated in August 2004 to focus on W with Kago Ai.
• Kago Ai: graduated in August 2004 to focus on W with Tsuji Nozomi.
• Iida Kaori: graduated in January 2005 to continue her solo career.
• Ishikawa Rika: graduated in May 2005 to front v-u-den full-time and pursue other projects within H!P.
• Konno Asami: graduated in July 2006 to focus on her studies and prepare for college entrance exams.
• Ogawa Makoto: graduated in August 2006 to study English abroad.
• Yoshizawa Hitomi: graduated in May 2007 to pursue other projects within H!P.

There are exceptions where membes leave abruptly for certain reasons (in which the term "dattai" is used):

• Yaguchi Mari resigned from Morning Musume in April of 2005 after tabloids exposed that she was dating Oguri Shun, but she did not recieve an official graduation ceremony.
• Fujimoto Miki resigned from Morning Musume in June of 2007 after tabloids posted pictures of her with comedian Shōji Tomoharu, but did not recieve an official graduation ceremony.

Other Groups

Graduations occur in the other groups within Hello! Project as well. In the case of the members of the other groups, they usually graduate from Hello! Project altogether. As of now, there have been no members of any smaller group graduating to become a solo artist.

Graduated Country Musume Members:

• Toda Rinne: graduated in October 2002 to begin a career in theater.
• Kimura Asami: graduated in January 2007 to possibly begin a career involving animals.
• Saitou Miuna: graduated in January 2007 to pursue a new career outside of the music business.

Graduated Coconuts Musume Members:

• April Barbaran: graduated in January 2000 to return to Hawaii.
• Chelsea Ching: graduated in January 2000 to pursue a modeling career.
• Danielle Delaunay: graduated in April 2001 to pursue a singing career in England.
• Lehua Sandbo: graduated in February 2002 to return to Hawaii.
• Mika Todd: graduated in May 2004 to study music and begin a Jazz career in Los Angeles.
• Kimura Ayaka: graduated in April 2008 to become an actress.

Graduated Berryz Koubou Members:

• Ishimura Maiha: graduated in October 2005 to study full-time.

Like Morning Musume, there are also exceptions in which a member leaves suddenly:

• Yanagihara Hiromi: died in a tragic car accident on July 1999.
• Kobayashi Azusa: left in August 1999 for personal reasons.
• Murakami Megumi: left °C-ute on October 2006 suddenly to return to study full-time without a graduation ceremony.

Solo Artists

Solo Artists within Hello! Project who graduate usually retire from the music business, although some return to singing eventually. As of now, however, no solo artists have graduated via a ceremony, thus the term dattai is also used interchangably with their depatures.

• Miyoshi Chinatsu: graduated in September 2000, later returned to singing in 2004 in South Korea under the name Tani Rumiko.
• Heike Michiyo: graduated in November 2002 to pursue a career with a different agency.
• Ishii Rika: graduated in December 2002 to pursue a career with a different agency.
• Shimmin: graduated in December 2006 to return to South Korea.
• Goto Maki: graduated in October 2007 to begin a new direction within her career.

Other Departures from Hello! Project

So far, two whole groups have disbanded (解散 kaisan) within Hello! Project, in which all members leave at once. In both cases, a graduation ceremony was not held.

• Taiyo to Ciscomoon/T&C Bomber: disbanded in October 2000. Members at the time were Kominato Miwa, Shinoda Miho, RuRu, and Inaba Atsuko. Inaba returned to Hello! Project a month later as a solo artist.
• Sheki-Dol: disbanded in January 2002. Members at the time were Arai Saki, Suenaga Mami, and Kitagami Ami. Original member Oki Ibuki left a year prior to the disbandment.
• Coconuts Musume was officially considered disbanded, despite only having one member for about 4 years, when Kimura Ayaka graduated from Hello! Project in April 2008.

However, a group can disband without all members leaving Hello! Project. Hello! Project internally refers to their disbandments as "hiatus" (活動休止 katsudou kyuushi), though the term "kaisan" is still used in external media).

• Minimoni disbanded in 2004, with only one member (Mika Todd) leaving Hello! Project, while the remaining three (Tsuji Nozomi, Kago Ai, Takahashi Ai) remained active in Hello! Project, since they were members of Morning Musume at the time of disbandment.
• v-u-den will disband in June 2008. All three members (Ishikawa Rika, Miyoshi Erika, Okada Yui) are said to remain in Hello! Project.

Only one member of Hello! Project has been officially fired by having their contract dissolved. Kago Ai, after being in a series of tabloid scandals in 2006 and 2007, was released from the group W.