Gen Hoshino

Gen Hoshino (星野 源, Hoshino Gen, born January 28, 1981) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and writer.

Gen Hoshino
星野 源
Born	(1981-01-28) January 28, 1981 (age 43) Warabi, Saitama, Japan
Occupations	Singer songwriter musician actor voice actor writer
Agents	Otona Keikaku (acting) Amuse (music)
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Spouse	Yui Aragaki ​ (m. 2021)​
Musical career
Genres	J-Pop folk dance Smooth jazz
Instruments	Vocals marimba guitar
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Daisyworld Discs Speedstar Records
Website	hoshinogen.com

Career

Music

From its formation in 2000 until its disbandment in 2015, Hoshino led the instrumental band Sakerock, where he played marimba and guitar. They released over ten albums. As a solo artist, he debuted with his first album Baka no Uta on June 23, 2010. His first physical single, "Kudaranai no Naka ni" was released on March 2, 2011, and peaked at number 17 on the Oricon Singles Chart. The subsequent singles – "Film", "Yume no Soto e", "Shiranai" (2012), and "Gag" (2013) – all charted in the top 10. His second album, Episode, released on September 28, 2011, peaked at number five. Hoshino's third album, Stranger, followed on May 1, 2013. It peaked at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).^[1]

Since 2011, Hoshino has co-hosted the Ustream program Sake no Sakana (サケノサカナ) with Ichirō Yamaguchi of Sakanaction.^[2] In 2014, the program officially changed its name to Yoru no Television.

Hoshino's fourth album, Yellow Dancer, was released on December 2, 2015, in Japan through Speedstar Records; it debuted atop both Oricon and Billboard Japan's album charts. Yellow Dancer was certified platinum by the RIAJ that same month for surpassing 250,000 physical shipments,^[3] and became one of the few albums to receive a gold certification for digital downloads.^[4]

On February 18, 2018, Hoshino uploaded a music video for his song "Doraemon", which was written in tribute to the Japanese franchise of the same name. The song was used as the theme of the 38th Doraemon movie, Nobita's Treasure Island, and, since fall 2019, has been used as the opening theme of the Doraemon anime. Pop Virus, Hoshino's fifth album, was released on December 17.^[5] It spent four consecutive weeks atop the Oricon Album Chart and was certified double platinum by the RIAJ that same month.^[6] The album's commercial performance, within just a few months of its release, earned Hoshino a Best Album prize at the 33rd Japan Gold Disc Awards, as well as a Best Song prize for the digital success of the single "Idea", which was used as a theme for Asadora.^[7][8] He also became the first artist to win four trophies at the Space Shower Music Awards, in March 2019.^[9] On August 30, 2019, all of Hoshino's music was made available on streaming services.^[10]

In April 2022, Hoshino's song "Comedy" was used as the ending theme of the season one anime adaptation of Spy x Family.^[11] The following July, he released the single "I Wanna Be Your Ghost", as the main theme for the film Yokaipedia (2022).^[12] It debuted at number one on Oricon's weekly Digital Singles Chart.^[13]

On December 27, 2023, Hoshino released the double A-side single "Why" / "Life" (光の跡／生命体). It features the song "Why", used in the end credits of the movie Spy × Family Code: White.^[14]

Acting

Hoshino at a screening for Samurai Shifters in 2019

Hoshino's movie debut, Lee Sang-il's 69, was an adaptation of the Ryū Murakami novel of the same name. He previously acted in various television dramas and stage plays. In 2012, he debuted as a voice actor, voicing Buddha in the original video animation (OVA) adaptation of Hikaru Nakamura's manga Saint Young Men, and also provided a theme song called "Gag" for its 2013 theatrical version, where he reprised his role.^[15] In 2013, he played the lead character in Masahide Ichii's Blindly in Love (箱入り息子の恋, Hakoiri Musuko no Koi) alongside Kaho, and starred in the Sion Sono film Why Don't You Play in Hell?. In 2016, Hoshino starred in TBS's The Full-Time Wife Escapist. With Yui Aragaki as his co-star, he portrayed a salaryman named Hiramasa Tsuzaki. The drama achieved steadily rising ratings, with a real-time viewership peak rating of 20.8% on the final episode, and an overall rating of 14.5%.^[16][17] Hoshino's performance earned him several Best Supporting Actor awards.^[18][19][20] He also provided the theme song for the drama, titled "Koi".

Gen Hoshino created the parody character "Akira Nise" (ニセ明, Nise Akira, literally Fake Akira) as a tribute to Akira Fuse.^[21][22][23]

In 2017, Hoshino lent his voice to the main character of award-winning animated film Night Is Short, Walk On Girl. He also became the voice of the Father in Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai, which was released into theaters in Japan on July 20, 2018.^[24]

On April 30, 2018, it was announced that Hoshino will star in Samurai Shifters, the film adaptation of Akihiro Dobashi's historical novel Hikkoshi Daimyo Sanzenri, set to premier on August 30, 2019. In the movie, he plays a bookworm samurai called Harunosuke Katagiri, who receives the mission to help a daimyo move. It will be Hoshino's first lead role in a live-action movie since Blindly in Love in 2013.

Idaten, NHK's 2019 Taiga drama, chosen for the theme to encourage the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Hoshino portrayed Kazushige Hirasawa, who delivered the persuasive speech that helped determine the venue for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.^[25][26]

Personal life

On December 22, 2012, Hoshino was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage and underwent surgery.^[27] He officially returned to public life on February 28, 2013, with his appearance at the Tokyo J-Wave Awards.^[28]

In 2021, Hoshino married actress Yui Aragaki, his co-star in the television series The Full-Time Wife Escapist.^[29]

Discography

Main articles: Gen Hoshino discography and List of songs by Gen Hoshino

Studio albums

• Baka no Uta (2010)
• Episode (2011)
• Stranger (2013)
• Yellow Dancer (2015)
• Pop Virus (2018)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2004	69	Yuzuru Nakamura
2008	Nonko 36-sai	Masaru	Lead role	[30]
2009	Brass Knuckle Boys	Band member		[31]
2013	Saint Young Men	Buddha	Lead role, voice	[32]
	Blindly_in_Love	Kentaro Amanoshizuku	Lead role	[33]
	Why Don't You Play in Hell?	Koji Hashimoto		[34]
2015	Love & Peace	PC-300	Voice	[35]
2016	Chieri and Cherry	Chieri	Lead role, voice	[36][37]
2017	Night Is Short, Walk On Girl	Senpai	Lead role, voice	[38]
2018	Mirai	Father	Voice	[39]
2019	Samurai Shifters	Harunosuke Katagiri	Lead role	[40][41]
	No Smoking	Narrator		[42]
2020	The Voice of Sin	Toshiya Sone	Lead role	[43]
2024	Last Mile	Kazumi Shima		[44]

Television

Television drama

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes	Ref.
2003	Water Boys		TBS
	Manhattan Love Story		TBS	Episode 6
2004	Dollhouse		TBS	Episode 3
	Onna-tachi no Tsumi to Batsu		Fuji TV	Television special
	Rikon Bengoshi		Fuji TV	Episode 2
	Tokio: Message Across Time	Koji Ookubo	NHK	Episode 1
	Otouto		TV Asahi	Episode 2
2005	Affectionate Time	Yoichi Amano	Fuji TV	Episode 3	[45][46]
	Gekidan Engimono	Hiromi	Fuji TV	Mini-drama: "Nemureru Mori no Shitai"	[47]
	Tiger & Dragon	Dontsuku Hayashiyatei	TBS		[48]
2006	Akihabara@Deep	Taiko	TBS		[49]
	Mo Hitotsu no Sugar and Spice	Koyama	Fuji TV	Episode: "Saikou no Spice"	[50]
2007	Tokyo Tower		Fuji TV	Episode 2, 3, 4	[51]
	Detective School Q	Detective Nekota	NTV		[52]
	Kyonen Renoir de		TV Tokyo	Lead role	[53]
2008	Mirai Koshi Meguru	Eguchi Hideo	TV Asahi		[54]
	Weekly Yoko Maki	Hiroshi Inoue	TV Tokyo	Episode: "Chouchou no Mama de"	[55]
2009	Ghost Friends	Shinji	NHK	Episode 5	[56]
2010	Gegege no Nyobo	Takashi Iida	NHK	Asadora	[57]
	Shukujo – Season 2	Himself	NHK	Episode 5 guest appearance
	Kaiju o Yobu Otoko	Kota Soejima	NHK BShi	Lead role, television special	[58][59]
2011	Odd Family Eleven	Hiroyuki Sanada	TV Asahi		[60][61]
2014	Last Night's Curry, Tomorrow's Bread	Kazuki Terayama	NHK		[62]
2015	Kouhaku ga Umareta Hi	George Mabuchi	NHK	Television special	[63]
	Dr. Storks	Haruki Shinomiya	TBS	Season 1	[64]
2016	Sanada Maru	Hidetada Tokugawa	NHK	Taiga drama	[65]
	The Full-Time Wife Escapist	Hiramasa Tsuzaki	TBS		[66]
2017	Plage	Takao Yoshimura	Wowow	Lead role	[67]
	Dr. Storks	Haruki Shinomiya	TBS	Season 2	[68]
2019	Idaten	Kazushige Hirasawa	NHK	Taiga drama	[69][70]
2020	MIU404	Kazumi Shima	TBS	Lead role	[71]
2022	Teen Regime	Kiyoshi Taira	NHK	Mini-series	[72]

Variety shows

Year	Title	Network	Note	Ref.
2012–	The Comedy of Life	NHK
2017–18	Ogen-san to Issho	NHK	2 episodes	[73]
2023	Lighthouse	Netflix	Co-presenter	[74]

TV commercials

• NTT DOCOMO, "ZeniCrazy Ver1.0" (February 2019) ^[75]
• NTT DOCOMO, "ZeniCrazy Ver2.0" (March 2019)^[76]
• Nintendo, "Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary" (September 2020)

Original video animation

• Onna no Sono no Hoshi (2022), Hoshi^[77]

Concerts and tours

Headlining tours^[78]

• Baka no Uta Hatsubai Kinen no Live (2010)
• Hoshino Gen no Aisatsu Mawari Tour (2010)
• Hoshino Gen no Betsu Episode: Heya (2011)
• Episode Hatsubai Kinen Tour: Episode 2 Ikou (2012)
• Hoshino Gen One-Man no Aki (2012)
• Hoshino Gen no Fukkatsu Live Tour (2014)
• Hoshino Gen Live Tour 2016: Yellow Voyage (2016)
• Hoshino Gen Live Tour 2017: Continues (2017)
• Hoshino Gen Dome Tour 2019: Pop Virus (2019)^[79][80]

Concerts

• Live in Japan 2018 Gen Hoshino & Mark Ronson^[81][82]

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Gen Hoshino

References

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50. "＜青春★ENERGY＞結婚披露宴～人生最悪の3時間～ 20 September 2006 (水)放送 もうひとつのシュガー＆スパイス（終） – フジテレビ" (in Japanese). Fuji TV. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
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78. "LIVE / EVENT 星野源 オフィシャルサイト" (in Japanese). Gen Hoshino official website. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
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80. "星野源／東京ドーム2019.03.11 邦楽ライブレポート /March 11, 2019" (in Japanese). rockinon.com. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
81. "Gen Hoshino & Mark Ronson Announce Double Headliner Show in Japan". Billboard. August 17, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
82. "星野源×マーク・ロンソン、対談や撮り下ろしフォト・ページなど『rockin'on』表紙巻頭で特集" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. January 23, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Official YouTube channel
• Official profile at Speedstar Records
• Gen Hoshino at IMDb