Wada Kaoru

Wada Kaoru和田(わだ)薫(かおる)
Wada Kaoru with Yasuda Kei and Yaguchi Mari, October 2017
Name
Nicknames	Wadamane (和田マネ)
Personal Information
Born	April 8, 1965 (1965-04-08)
Origin	Osaka, Japan
Blood Type	B
Zodiac Sign	Aries Snake
Professional Information
Occupation	Manager, producer, president of HARMONY PROMOTION
Years Active	1985-present (40 years)
Agency	UP-FRONT AGENCY (1987-2000) HARMONY PROMOTION (2000-present)
Associated Acts	Sharam Q, Morning Musume, EE JUMP, Sonim

Wada Kaoru (和田薫) is a former UP-FRONT AGENCY employee as the chief manager and producer of Sharam Q and later the first manager of Morning Musume. He is the current president and general manager of HARMONY PROMOTION, a talent agency affiliated with UP-FRONT GROUP.

The 1st through 4th generation Morning Musume members who were supervised by Wada have called him the group's foster parent and a very important figure in the history of Morning Musume.

Biography

Wada Kaoru with Morning Musume OG members, April 2015

Wada Kaoru congratulating Morning Musume for hitting 50,000 CD sales for "Ai no Tane", November 1997

Wada Kaoru was born on April 8, 1965 in Osaka, Japan.

He started working as a manager in 1985 for actress and singer Onishi Yuka.

In 1987, Wada joined UP-FRONT AGENCY. He was appointed as the manager for various artists, but became Sharam Q's chief manager in 1991. When Sharam Q’s front man Tsunku decided to hold auditions for a female vocalist in 1997, he asked Wada to help him manage the idol group Morning Musume that he had formed with five of the runner-ups.

On April 1, 1999, UP-FRONT AGENCY established a new management company named HARMONY PROMOTION. Wada left his position as Morning Musume’s manager sometime after the 4th generation members joined in 2000, then joined HARMONY PROMOTION to become in charge of EE JUMP, consisting of SONIM, KEN who withdrew prior to their debut, and YUKI who is the younger brother of Goto Maki. Following Goto Yuki’s suspension and EE JUMP’s dissolution, Wada remained Sonim’s manager when she became a solo artist.

During his time as the manager of Morning Musume he made TV appearances on ASAYAN and he was a radio personality in All Night Nippon R Producers Night from 1999 to 2000. After he became EE JUMP’s manager, he made a appearances on Utaban.

Wada was later promoted as the president and general manager of HARMONY PROMOTION. In 2004, he bought UP-FRONT AGENCY’s shares in HARMONY PROMOTION, ending capital ties with UP-FRONT GROUP and instead becoming an affiliate. HARMONY PROMOTION’s office is presently located in a building in the same city block as UP-FRONT GROUP in Higashi-Azabu, Minato, Tokyo.

Works

TV Program

• [1997-200?] ASAYAN
• [2002-2003] Utaban (うたばん)

Radio

• [1999-2000] All Night Nippon R Producers Night (オールナイトニッポンR プロデューサーズナイト)

Music Videos

• [2001] Morning Musume - LOVE Machine -FULL VER.-

Trivia

• He is not to be mistaken with anime composer Wada Kaoru with whom he shares the exact same name.
• He is referred to by fans as "Wadamane" (和田マネ; Manager Wada).
• He appears in the FULL VER. music video for "LOVE Machine", having a phone conversation with Fuji TV producer Kikuchi Shin about Goto Maki.
• Several Morning Musume OG members planned him a surprise 50th birthday party in April 2015. They all wore T-shirts with his face printed on them and sang "LOVE Machine" with him.
• On October 29, 2017, Fukuda Asuka suddenly had a feeling that it was an important birth date. She checked Wikipedia and remembered it was the birthday of her mentor. However, she involuntarily sent a text message to Wada who then corrected her that it was Tsunku's birthday.
• In honor of the five original Morning Musume members performing live together for the first time in 18 years on FNS Kayousai Dai 2 Yoru in December 2017, Wada gave Nakazawa Yuko a Polaroid photo of them from 1997 as a gift.

External Links

• HARMONY PROMOTION Official Site
• Wikipedia: Japanese