Taiyou to Ciscomoon

Taiyou to Ciscomoon (太陽とシスコムーン) was a Japanese girl band under Hello! Project that debuted in April 1999. They changed their name to T&C Bomber (T&Cボンバー) after the release of their sixth single, and released two more singles and an album under this name.

The group disbanded after a final performance in Osaka, on October 9, 2000, but re-united as Taiyou to Ciscomoon for their 10th anniversary releasing a best-of album as well as holding several concerts.

Members

 * Shinoda Miho
 * Inaba Atsuko
 * RuRu
 * Kominato Miwa

1998
On November 22nd, 1998, Tsunku announced on the TV show ASAYAN his idea for a new girl group. He launched the idea saying: «For this time around, we are looking for girls with special talents who have enough experiences. To give you some examples: someone who can dance well, someone who has learned Minyo-style singing professionally, someone who is striving to become talented singers like Whitney Houston and Celine Dion.”

The audition was called «Tsunku Producer Geinoujin Atarashii Unit Audition» (つんくプロデュース芸能人新ユニットオーディション), and there were 500 applications in total. After their application forms were examined, 10% of the applicants managed to remain in the audition. After that, Tsunku and the segment producer interviewed each applicant face to face. 8 candidates were selected as the finalistsundefined:
 * Inaba Atsuko (former member of the idol group Osaka Performance Doll)


 * Kobayashi Yumi (a pop singer using the stage name ABYSS, and former member of the ASAYAN group AIS)undefined


 * Kominato Miwa (an experienced folk singer and mother of two)


 * Shinoda Miho (a former Olympic gymnast)


 * Shihei Ayako (former member of Takarazuka Revue Company)undefined


 * Hoshino Kyoko (former member of the idol group Milk)undefined


 * Yamaguchi Kaori (actress)undefined

They were then separated into two groups, four people in each (Shihei, RuRu, Shinoda & Hoshino, and Kobayashi, Kominato, Inaba & Yamaguchiundefined). The groups were sent out to San Francisco for 40 days of boot camp training sessions. Tsunku named the first group “San Fran”, the second group as “Cisco moon” (Together, they were “San Francisco Moon”). Each week, Tsunku was checking the videos sent from San Francisco to examine each member’s progress. Half way into the boot camp, he selected three girls; Kominato, Inaba, and Shinoda.
 * RuRu (Chinese singer)

1999
The last audition took place among the five remaining candidates. After showing her devotion to music and vocal skills, RuRu was selected as the 4th member of the unit. She had applied for the audition solely based on Tsunku’s comments saying he wanted someone who could sing like Whitney Houston. She sang «I will always love you» at her audition, and blew Tsunku away with her great vocal ability.

After having chosen the final four, they were sent to four different cities in The United States to work on their vocals and dance skills. For three weeks from February to March 1999, ASAYAN covered the members’ journeys. Inaba was sent to Atlanta (famous for gospel and soul), Kominato to Detroit (famous for Motown), Shinoda to Memphis (famous for southern blues music), and Honda to Chicago (famous for blues and rhythm). They spent three weeks improving themselves before they officially debuted in April of 1999.

The unit’s name was decided by Tsunku as “Taiyo To Ciscomoon”. They released their first single, Tsuki to Taiyou, on April 21st. Originally, the unit was formed under a contract of releasing only one song. They were told that if their debut song placed lower than Morning Musume’s debut song, there was no point in continuing producing this group. The single landed 6th place for the Oricon chart during its first release week, later moving up to 4th place. After it’s success, it was announced the group was going on a «single release spree»; each month a new single would be released from April to September.

The next singles to be released was Gatamekira, Uchuu de La Ta Ta, Everyday Everywhere and Magic of Love, followed by their debut album One in October.

As annual school festival season was approaching, (Note: Annual school festivals (“Gakuensai”) provide musicians with opportunities for small gigs), everything seemed to be going smoothly. But there was one incident that changed the unit. They were told the restructuring plan to improve the quality of the unit. In order to become better performers with consistency and high skills, the agency asked Tsunku to reconsider the unit’s dynamics. After examining videos from various school festivals, Tsunku made a decision to let go of Kominato. The decision would become in effect for the release of the following single. The reason for letting Kominato go was because she was having a hard time keeping up with the fast-pace of the rhythm in both singing and dancing. The rumor has it that it was the record label’s pre-planned action to let Kominato go. After the release of their debut album, Taiyou to Ciscomoon released their sixth single, «Marui Taiyo» as a trio.

For each single the group released, the sales figured dropped rapidly. Their first msingle sold almost 200.000 copies, while the latest one only sold 30.000 copies. All though Taiyo to Ciscomoon was a unique group due to their style of music, which were either dance songs full of rhythm, or jazz/soul inspired songs full of heavy vocals, it was the other girl groups within Hello! Project who had high sales figures.

2000
When Kominato returned to to the group a few months later, the group’s name changed to «T&C Bomber».

Before doing anything else as a group after the name change, Tsunku had decided to shuffle all the girls he produced. He shuffled the girls together between their respective groups, coming up with three new groups; Kiiro 5, Akagumi 4 and Aoiro 7. The members of T&C Bomber were split and shuffled, and spent time recording and releasing the singles within this project. After the shuffle singles went on sale in March, it would only be a month before they released their first single under their new name; Don’t Stop Renaichuu.

In July they released what would be their last single: Hey! Mahiru no Shinkirou. The song was described by Tsunku as oriental funk, and had a new sound to it (similar to Heike Michiyo’s Murasaki Shikibu). It was featured in the movie Country Girl Hokkaido Bokujo Monogatari, in which T&C Bomber had a guest appearance.

On August 27th, during ASAYAN, they released the news of the unit’s upcoming break-up in Octoberundefined. The reason was so that each artist could focus on solo activities On the 30th, T&C Bomber released the concert CONCERT TOUR 2000 YO! YO! Taiyo-La! Muunsan no Dance Tengoku on DVD and VHS. They had been on one tour before (Gatameki-live), but this was their first concert to be recorded and released on video. It reached #27 on the Oricon charts and charted for one week.

The group released their second album, 2nd Stage, which was released in September of 2000. This was followed by a farewell concert tour, which started in October. The tour was called DO-DA! Taiyo & Ciscomoon vs T&C Bomber.undefined Their words of farewell were:

Kominato: ''Thank you for the last year and a half. Your cheering voices reached into my heart and gave me the strength to go on. Until next time… See you.''

Shinoda: ''It’s been a year and a half since I met everyone. With everyone’s help, I was able to form so many great memories. I’m going to keep on working hard, so until the day I see you again… Thank you for everything.''

Inaba: ''That year and a half went by so quickly. But I have so many memories from it. Thank you for all your support. And please keep on supporting me.''

RuRu: ''Thank you for everything! Keep your eyes on us from now. Jīn hòu yě qǐng duō guān zhào. Zài jiàn.''

The agency released a video collection on VHS and DVD called All Taiyou to Ciscomoon·T&C Bomber on December 12th, and this was the last thing T&C Bomber did together (until 2008).

Shortly after the disbandenment of the group, Ruru, Kominato Miwa and Shinoda Miho left the agency. Kominato had been asked to debut as a solo enka/minyo singer, but she chose to stay away from the major spotlight. Inaba however, stayed with the agency, and a new audition was announced, called Inaba Atsuko Atarashii Unit Audition ("Inaba Atsuko New Unit Audition"). This ran from December 2000 up until May 2001, but the audition was unsuccesful and a new uniy featuring Inaba was shelved.undefined

2008
In December of 2008, eight years after disbanding, the group came back together as Taiyou to Ciscomoon in order to celebrate their ten year anniversary and the release of their best of-album.

2009
Their first official reunion was on January 9, 2009 in Shibuya. The only member to not attend was RuRu, as she had commitment to working as a vocal couch in Taiwan.

In March, the group called for fans to sign a petition for a 10th anniversary live performance. In 2 months, the petition received more than 2,200 signatures. Their final live performance took place in October. RuRu did not take part in the performance due to scheduling conflicts. Afterwards, the group's official blog ended, though it was not taken down and was occasionally updated with information about the members (though it has since been removed from Oricon's site).

2010
The reunion and farewell concert held in 2009, Are Kara 10nen Taiyo to Ciscomoon Live 2009 Last & New Decade, was released in January as a fan club release, and concluded Taiyo to Ciscomoon as a groupundefined.

2013
On December 31, 2013, Taiyou to Ciscomoon, without RuRu, participated in a special Hello! Project New Year concert, Hello! Project COUNTDOWN PARTY 2013 ~GOOD BYE & HELLO!~.

2015
In the summer of 2015 all four members of Taiyo to Ciscomoon got together for a special talk / live event (one night only)undefined.

2018
In 2018, for Hello! Project's 20th anniversary, Taiyo to Ciscomoon (minus RuRu) was announced as some of the graduated members to appear at the concerts Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project Hina Fes 2018 and Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project 2018 SUMMER.

It was also announced that the group would be part of the 2019 concert Hello! Project 20th Anniversary!! Hello! Project 2019 WINTER.

2019
In March, Kominato announced on her twitterundefined that the group would get together for their 20th anniversary.undefined It is going to be a live talk held at Dai Ani LIVEBASE Nishiazabu on April 21st, called Debut Kinenbi Yes! Shiawase Issho ni Iwatte Kuremasu ka? ( デビュー記念日 YES！しあわせ～一緒に祝ってくれますか？～).

Albums

 * [1999.10.27] One
 * [2000.09.27] 2nd STAGE
 * [2008.12.10] Taiyo to Ciscomoon/T&C Bomber Mega Best (太陽とシスコムーン/T&Cボンバー　メガベスト)

Singles

 * [1999.04.21] Tsuki to Taiyou (月と太陽)
 * [1999.06.23] Gatamekira (ガタメキラ)
 * [1999.07.28] Uchuu de La Ta Ta (宇宙でLa Ta Ta)
 * [1999.08.25] Everyday Everywhere
 * [1999.09.29] Magic of Love
 * [1999.12.08] Marui Taiyou -winter ver.- (丸い太陽-winter ver.-)
 * [2000.04.19] DON'T STOP Ren'aichuu (DON'T STOP 恋愛中)
 * [2000.07.19] HEY! Mahiru no Shinkirou (HEY! 真昼の蜃気楼)

Other Singles

 * [1999.xx.xx] Tsuki to Taiyou DDI Pocket Special Edition (月と太陽 DDI Pocket Special Edition)
 * [1999.07.23] Garage Opening Theme Song Shuu (ガレージ・オープニングソング集)
 * [1999.10.27] Garage Opening Theme Song Shuu Vol. 2 (ガレージ・オープニングソング集 Vol. 2)
 * [2000.01.26] Garage Opening Theme Song Shuu Vol. 3 (ガレージ・オープニングソング集 Vol. 3)
 * [2000.04.19] Garage Opening Theme Song Shuu Vol. 4 (ガレージ・オープニングソング集 Vol. 4)

Compilation Albums

 * [2000.02.19] Majutsushi Orphen Revenge OST Part 2 (魔術士オーフェン Revenge OST Part 2)
 * [2000.04.26] Petit Best ~Ki Ao Aka~ (プッチベスト〜黄青あか〜)
 * [2013.12.31] Hello! Project no Zenkyoku kara Atsumechaimashita! Vol. 1 (ハロー!プロジェクトの全曲から集めちゃいました! Vol.1 アイドル三十六房編（南波一海×嶺脇育夫))
 * [2014.07.09] Hello! Project no Zenkyoku kara Atsumechaimashita! Vol. 4 (ハロー！プロジェクトの全曲から集めちゃいました！ Vol.4 小出祐介(Base Ball Bear)編)

Concert DVDs

 * [2000.08.30] CONCERT TOUR 2000 YO! YO! Taiyo-La! Muunsan no Dance Tengoku (CONCERT TOUR 2000 YO! YO! Taiyo-La! むうんさんのダンス天国)
 * [2000.12.13] DVD All Taiyou to Ciscomoon / T&C Bomber (DVDオール太陽とシスコムーン・T&Cボンバー)
 * [2010.01.15] Are Kara 10nen Taiyou to Ciscomoon LIVE 2009 Last&NewDecade (あれから10年 太陽とシスコムーン LIVE 2009 Last&NewDecade)

Other DVDs

 * Petit Best ~Ki Ao Aka~ DVD (プッチベスト 〜黄青あか〜 DVD)

Movies

 * C ountry Girl Hokkaido Bokujo Monogatari  ( カントリー・ガール 北海道牧場物語)

Television

 * ASAYAN - TV Tokyo Series
 * Hello! Morning (ハロー!モーニング. ) - TV Tokyo
 * Morning Musume no Heso (モーニング娘. のへそ) - TV Tokyo
 * Garage (ガレージ) - TV Tokyo

Trivia

 * The group got their name from combining the names of the two groups they were split into during their audition process (San Fran and Cisco Moon).
 * When the group was formed they got the name 太陽とシスコムーン . It means Sun and Ciscomoon, and has been romanized officially in different ways; «TAIYO&CISCOMOON», «SUN&CISCOMOON», Taiyou to Ciscomoon», «Taiyo & Ciscomoon» and «Taiyou to Ciscomoon».
 * Taiyou to Ciscomoon was known as a unique group because of the style of their music. Their songs were either dance songs full of rhythm or jazz/soul inspired songs full of heavy vocals.
 * They were also unique in how they were trained: They were each sent to four different U.S. cities, famous for their unique styles of music and singers they have produced, to work on their vocals and dance.