{"id":1916,"date":"2012-08-05T09:03:46","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T07:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpop-idols.com\/en\/?page_id=1916"},"modified":"2015-06-12T18:55:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T16:55:50","slug":"country-musume","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.jpop-idols.com\/en\/country-musume\/","title":{"rendered":"Country Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CountryCountry Girls<\/strong> (\u30ab\u30f3\u30c8\u30ea\u30fc\u30fb\u30ac\u30fc\u30eb\u30ba) is a Japanese idol group formed in 1999. They were formerly known as Country Musume<\/strong> (\u30ab\u30f3\u30c8\u30ea\u30fc\u5a18\u3002).<\/p>\n

It currently consists of 5 members. Each one has been assigned a color.<\/p>\n

Country Musume is part of Hello! Project.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Biography \/ History<\/h2>\n

The 3 original members were Toda Rinne, Kobayashi Azusa and Yanagihara Hiromi. They were selected to represent the country girls from Hokkaido.<\/p>\n

Yanagihara Hiromi died in a car accident one week before the release of their 1st single Futari no Hokkaido (\u4e8c\u4eba\u306e\u5317\u6d77\u9053)<\/span> in July 1999.<\/p>\n

Kobayashi Azusa left the idol unit a few weeks later for personal reasons.<\/p>\n

Toda Rinne continued as a soloist and released 2 singles as Country Musume even if she was the only member.<\/p>\n

Kimura Asami joined her in May 2000.<\/p>\n

They played in the movie Country Girl Hokkaido Bokujou Monogatari (\u30ab\u30f3\u30c8\u30ea\u30fc\u30fb\u30ac\u30fc\u30eb\u5317\u6d77\u9053\u7267\u5834\u7269\u8a9e)<\/span> in July 2000. The theme song Koi ga Suteki na Kisetsu (\u604b\u304c\u30b9\u30c6\u30ad\u306a\u5b63\u7bc0)<\/span> was released as a single.<\/p>\n

Tsunku\u2642<\/strong> became their new producer in 2001.<\/p>\n

Morning Musume’s Ishikawa Rika was added in April 2001. The idol group quickly rised in popularity after her arrival.<\/p>\n

Satoda Mai joined Country Musume in January 2002.<\/p>\n

Toda Rinne graduated in October 2002.<\/p>\n

In January 2003, their moved to Tokyo for their activities.<\/p>\n

Saito Miuna was recruited in April 2003.<\/p>\n

Ishikawa Rika departed in summer 2003. She was replaced by 2 other Morning Musume members, Konno Asami and Fujimoto Miki, who belonged to the idol group until 2006.<\/p>\n

Country Musume gave their 1st live performance in September 2006 at Shibuya-AX.<\/p>\n

Kimura Asami and Saito Miuna graduated from Country Musume and Hello! Project in January 2007.<\/p>\n

\"SatodaSatoda Mai became the only remaining member. She graduated from Hello! Project in March 2009. She continues her activities as a singer, a model and a TV presenter.<\/p>\n

In February 2014, it was announced at Hello! Project 2014 Winter ~Goisu Mode~<\/span> that there will be auditions to recruit new members. However no applicant was selected.<\/p>\n

In November 2014,\u00a0Yamaki Risa, Inaba Manaka, Ozeki Mai, Shimamura Uta, Morito Chisaki<\/a> joined the idol group as new members. Country Musume was renamed Country Girls. Former leader Satoda Mai has been appointed general manager. Tsugunaga Momoko (Berryz Kobo<\/a>) became the “playing manager”.<\/p>\n

\"CountryCountry Girls’ 1st single Itooshikutte Gomen ne \/ Koi Dorobou<\/a>\u00a0(\u611b\u304a\u3057\u304f\u3063\u3066\u3054\u3081\u3093\u306d \/ \u604b\u6ce5\u68d2)<\/span> was released in March 2015.<\/p>\n

In June 2015, Shimamura Uta<\/a> withdrew due to disagreements between her family and Up-Front agency about her activities.<\/p>\n

Profile<\/h2>\n