Mr. Children (misutachirudoren, Misuta Chirudoren), commonly referred to by their contracted nickname "Misu-Chiru" (misuchiru)) is a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989 by Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki. They made their major debut in 1992. As a group, they are one of the best selling artists in Japan and one of the most successful Japanese rock artists, having sold over 50 million records and creating the "Mis-chil Phenomenon" (misuchiruXian Xiang ) 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" (Ming monakiShi ), 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".

On February 11, 1998, they released their 14th single "Nishi e Higashi e" (nishiehigashie), theme song to the Japanese drama Kira kira Hikaru (kirakirahikaru). The group was still on hiatus during this time and made no live performances to promote the single and did not appear in the music video for the song. Finally on October 21, 1998, Mr. Children officially re-grouped and released their 15th single, "Owarinaki Tabi" (Zhong warinakiLu ) with the Japanese drama Naguru Onna (Ou ruNu ) using it as their theme song. The song remains a public favorite in voting polls, Oricon citing its inspirational lyrics as the reason.  On January 13, 1999, "Hikari no Sasu Hou E" (Guang noShe suFang he), their 16th single, was released, followed by their seventh album, Discovery, on February 3, 1999. Sakurai compared his approach to the songwriting for the record to surfing:  Eleven days later they began the Discovery Tour '99, from February 14 to July 12, where the group visited 16 cities and held 42 shows. During the tour, Mr. Children released their 17th single "I'll Be" on May 12, which was used in Shiseido's (Zi Sheng Tang ) Sea Breeze commercials. Though originally released on the Discovery album, the song was re-released as a single with a lighter beat. The single was not a success and became Mr. Children's lowest selling single since "Cross Road". During the Discovery Tour '99, an idea for a live album was brought up. It was released as a 500,000 copy limited edition on September 8, 1999 and called 1/42 (referring to one of the 42 shows in the tour). Most of the tracks were recorded on June 16, 1999 at the Makomanai ice arena, while the bonus track "Dakishimetai" was recorded at the Okinawa Ginowan-Shi seaside park.  At the beginning of a new century "Kuchibue" (Kou Di ), released on January 13, 2000 became the group's 18th single. While "I'll Be" failed to be a success, "Kuchibue" proved to be a hit selling 724,070 copies. On August 9, 2000, their 19th single "Not Found" was also used as the theme song to the Japanese drama Bus Stop (basusutotsupu), followed a month later by their 9th original album Q on September 27, 2000. The band went to New York to record this album, where they re-recorded some of their old indie material and for the first time, producer Takeshi Kobayashi performed with the band on a recording. The cover for the album was shot bought Size, Inc. at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. The album was not a favorite amongst fans for various reasons and became their first album since Atomic Heart to not sell over one million copies. 'Concert tour Q' started, visiting 13 cities and holding 35 concerts between October 15, 2000 and February 24, 2001.

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