Hirate Yurina (Techi) / Keyakizaka46 1st Generation

Ethics aside, HYBE is a very good gigantic international music label. But, what about its reach in Japan?
Seemingly, after withdrawing from Keyaki, still, she was bound to Sony Music Japan. However, HYBE's Japanese partner is Universal Music Japan. Will this mean a beef between her and SMJ?
And, what about the domicile? I have no idea about HYBE Japan and &team but, WayV (Chinese boy group from S.M Ent) and NiziU (Japanese girl group from JYP Ent) both are residing in Korea. Must she too move to Seoul?
What will this mean to her acting career?

The Naver article via papago
Japanese top star Yurina Hirate, with Hive... "NAECO" label activity

Popular Japanese actress Yurina Hirate will be held in a hive.

HYBE announced on the 21st that it has established a new label "NAECO" as a subsidiary of Hive Japan, a Japanese subsidiary, and recruited popular actor Yurina Hirate as its first artist.

NAECO is an upside-down spelling of "OCEAN," which means "ocean," and aims to be a global company for artists who pursue challenges without settling in one place.

Following the merger with Ithaca Holdings, a U.S.-based media company, Hive plans to support artists' entry into the global market through Nico, which is in charge of artist planning, training, and management, as well as high-quality content production functions.

Naiko, a former Keyakizaka 46, took the center position and served as a central member until 2020, and recruited Yurina Hirate, a famous Japanese actor who showed outstanding acting skills through several dramas and movies, as the first artist. Yurina Hirate is also active in the field of acting, showing a clear presence, such as winning the Rookie of the Year Award at the 42nd Japan Academy Awards in 2019 and the Rookie of the Year Award at the 28th Japan Film Critics Awards. Recently, he played the role of Asamiya Aoi in the Japanese remake of the drama "Itaewon Class" "Roppongi Class."

Yurina Hirate said, "We decided to join Hive's new label, Nico. "I will make an effort to discuss with various creators so that I can present better works," he said.

Han Hyun-rok, CEO of Hive Japan, said, "After successfully debuting Hive's first Japanese group, & TEAM, we established NEACO to grow talented artists in Japan into global artists," adding, "Hive's promised 'expansion without boundaries' strategy is taking shape."

CEO Han stressed, "Japan's top artist Yurina Hirate's decision to join Naeko presents a challenge to expand her activities to the global market beyond the Japanese market through Hive, which shows Hive's competitiveness in the global market."

Meanwhile, Yurina Hirate will also open an official community of the global fandom life platform Weverse in the first half of 2023 for wide communication with fans.

 

So is this the return of idol Techi?

I follow Sakura’s Kpop group and she looks like she’s very happy there (in HYBE). If Techi does return as an idol, I hope she does so without any burden and that she’ll be happy to perform again.

 

Honestly I don’t think there’s anything beef between Techi and SMJ, can’t say the same for S&F though. HYBE is only starting out in Japan but they’re well-known enough, have good experience with managing artists and funding is sufficient. Honestly I think this will open up many more opportunities for her, not less. If anything, I expect more frequent music release from Techi.

I also don’t think she’ll move to Korea, maybe just go there occasionally for schedules and training if needed. I think Niziu lives in Japan considering how many activities they have there. I heard &Team is currently in Korea but for training purposes only.

She already released 2 digital singles after becoming a soloist. You should check them out. I think she had plenty of fun honing her dance skills and performing with the team. She is very close with her dancers and they even call themselves Team Techi. But of course I also wish to see idol Techi appear more frequently

 

Ok, so that's the reason she had gone silent after Roppongi Class. Apparently, she was moving house. I've been checking the convos and retweet quotes on Twitter and this is getting a lot of positive hype. She's also still trending in the entertainment news in Japan. To be honest, I'm ok if she doesn't go global or not just yet. I just hope that she'll get a lot of good projects as a result of this move. I'm also hoping for more music because I want her on next year's year-end shows.

Her official website has already been taken over and updated by NAECO. https://www.hirateyurina-official.jp/

 

Actually, it seems NiziU has dorms in Korea and used to live there during their first years, however - as you noted - they have so many activities in Japan that it seems they practically live there because it's impractical to keep living in a country if you're working on a different one. NAECO is based on Japan and the address cited on Techi's official website is located in Tokyo, so I assume she won't move. I don't follow HYBE and boy groups closely, but it seems &TEAM didn't even debut yet, so that's why they're living and training in Korea, but it's safe to say that it will be same as NiziU if they manage to become really famous in Japan. Comparing their situation with WayV is unrealistic because China enforces a ban on hallyu wave so it's a lot more difficult for them to live in China while being part of a Korean group (NCT).

 

So, coincidentally (?) Bunshun decided to publish an article on Hirate neglecting her acting work causing huge damage.
https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/59579
What I understand (via deepl) is that Hirate was casted as female lead for Japanese adaptation of Moulin Rouge next to Takeru Satou but, she just went mia after first day of filming. The project has been on indefinite halt as various persons, Takeru especially, cannot just wait forever and have had other projects in line.

I guess this might have something to do with agency switch, since she's switching agency, she just left the unfinished activity with her old agency behind. Also, the agency might take the deal against her will. There is no surprising if Hirate not wanting to be Satine.

Being well-known is not enough. It needs all those "networks" to land any good deal. Whatever country it is, the showbiz industry is nepotism as f***. It does not matter how rich or famous you are, if you have no private connections to those big names in the game, you are doomed.

If Bunshun's report is true, Hirate and her former agency must be not in a very good term.

I did quick observation on NiziU's channel and concluded they still resided in Korea. The in-house mini variety content (Made in NiziU) was overtly shot in Gapyeong. That definitely is not a Japanese name but Korean. If they lived in Japan, it must be more convenient to film the show in Japan. Also, they timely ran into Nmixx.

Has not &Team debuted recently? They have released a song titled something "skin".

Definitely, a comeback is much more easier with a well-establish and well-connected agency behind you. I believe she will be more active in music scene and even release her music physically. You can see through Sakura that HYBE does have talented dance trainer and dance director.

Actually, WayV has zero Korean member and never officially been tied to NCT to evade China's hallyu ban. The ban has been eased anyway. No WayV's member is very active in Korea but for the bi-annual NCT U release.

 

personally i think we will get new music by her next year, i think this cause she will join weverse ( i believe a sort of chat system in which u pay and then u can talk to the artist) early next year.


im really excited for the future of Techi , i am happy she joined Hybe as well.

 

HYBE released the news of Techi's transfer this morning and it received an overwhelming response from the press and the fans. Bunshun just did not want to be outdone so they released that news in the afternoon. By leaving too many blanks to fill, many people were of course just quick to assume that this is Techi's fault. I thought it was funny because it's not like Techi can make that decision by herself. There are multiple agencies involved here. Apparently, S&F was not available to make any statement. My guess is that they were not honest with the film's producer about Techi's pending status with their company and continued to get commitments for her. They should have worked this out with NAECO/HYBE and the film's producers. I also feel bad for the people involved in this movie because they were the victim of lack of or dishonest communication.

Anyway, Bunshun just does not want Techi to enjoy this moment so I sincerely DON'T wish them well this New Year.

 

The groups' albums and variety contents are made in Korea using Korean production teams. Also SM and JYP are not investing in overseas facilities like training camp and studios, so it makes sense for Niziu and WayV to be primarily based in Seoul except for schedules. But I think they have dorms in both countries. WayV doesnt have much to do in China, probably due to their tie to Korea and lack of SM's local partners hence they mostly stay in Korea for contents and NCT stuff.

However, I think the purpose of creating Naeco is for managing and exporting Japanese artists and not J-Kpop idols, so I'm quite positive that she wont be moving to Korea. Hybe is probably investing facilities in Japan as well.

Weverse is not paid chat system but a fanclub platform with Twitter and Instragram Live functions. Its mostly free except for some paid membership only contents like reality shows or behind-the-scene contents. I think you are confused with Bubble(owned by JYP and SM) and Universe(going bankrupt soon), Hybe dont have paid chat systems like those apps.

 

Might be more complicated than that. It can be a very long time between casting and the start of filming. Hirate's side might not see herself leaving her ex-agency before the completion of the film but, it happened. Since her contract with the new agency is exclusive, she working on this film project under the ex-agency could lead to contract breaching, she could neither continue working on the project under new agency as the new agency had not made a deal with the film production team. In this case, it's no one's fault.

 

aah i see thanks for the correction!

 

That's what I believe. Also, I can't see why she would move to Korea being a soloist. When talking about Japanese K-pop groups like NiziU and &TEAM, they are supposed to live together in dorms, so they have to move. But Techi being an adult woman now and a soloist could just live on her own, no need to change move to another country for that, especially as NAECO is 100% based in Japan and under HYBE Japan.

 

That's a possibility as well. Like I said, the article left way too many things unknown.

 

This is with the assumption that she’ll work fully as a soloist. The most exciting possibility for Techi is her re-debuting in an idol group. If this is the case, I can definitely see her getting sent to Korea for training just like all the Japanese idols that have Korean parent companies. She’s just 21 so it’s not late for her to be in a group. Sakura is 24 when she her new group debuted this year.

 

The article clearly mentions content creation and, I believe the content production teams are in Korea. May it be a team in Japan, I don't think the quality is any close to Korean side.
The main training and music production departments also are in Korea. Neither HYBE Japan has "performance director". Definitely, there are conveniences for soloist living in Korea.

I know HYBE Japan has music producers too but, I don't think Hirate wanna release this such trashy noise.

if the video does not show watch the video here

Do you remember what happened to Sakura pre-debut?
- A media outlet reported Sakura, Chaewon and Minju being poached by HYBE while HYBE responded it would not confirmed anything.
- Sakura and Chaewon snapped a photo with Bang Sihyuk, the chairman of HYBE.
These are all we got during several months before Le Sserafim revelation.
In comparison, HYBE officially has welcomed Hirate, not deleted her website, added her name into artist list on the corporate website, got the mainstream media publishing on her joining HYBE.
Might HYBE mean to make group consisting Hirate, like back then with Sakura, it would let her enter quietly and make some noise only when the group was debuting.
Besides, had they planned to simply conventionally debut a group, there was no need to found a new label and Hirate must have been assigned to one of HYBE's existing labels such as HYBE Japan or Bighit.
These suggest Hirate will continue being soloist.

First and foremost, can you imagine Hirate being a K-pop idol? Having no time alone and always under scrutiny of the manager, sleeping 5 hours daily for weeks, demanded to do silly aegyo skits and must always smile before camera, blah blah blah.

 

It's not only an assumption that she will be a soloist, it's the actual situation. She was already added to HYBE website as a soloist and also all the other points were already pointed by @welp as well. There would be no point to welcoming her so openly like that and announcing her a solo artist if they're going to throw her in a group. Furthermore, anyone acquainted with Techi know she wouldn't agree to become part of group again, a situation that was totally different from Sakura's, as she stated she wanted to continue idol activities even before her graduation from HKT48, and the rumours of her joining HYBE precede IZ*ONE's disbandment.

What is that? Anyway, how about her continuing to release music as she has already been doing since 2020? She takes active part in the composition and production of her songs together with Akimoto-sensei. Nikkan Sports released this article today stating that Akimoto Yasushi was behind this label transfer and fully supported Hirate in this, so I think it's safe to assume their collaboration will continue.

 

A song Alysa, HYBE Japan's main music producer, co-composed with Toosaka Hiromi for the survival show Icon Z. They were 2 more songs which were similarly noisy.

In addition, Nikkan Sports also addressed that Yurina joined HYBE to become global actress and soloist. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1f12714f380312fa753287eb59aa51b9c0d28244 No need to play guessing game further.

How about never ever? She will be better off without him involving with her music. HYBE has a dozen in-house music producers. I believe she will find one she can vibe with. Staying away from his music will broaden her musical horizon.

Dancing too, may she be at main Korean HYBE, she will see new choreographers, exploring various new styles.

Now that Aki-P intervention has been confirmed, do you think they will be more former 48/46 girls signing with HYBE? Who may they be?

 

Based on what I cautiously see on how HYBE says about NAECO, Yabuki Nako when she's free next year. She wants to be an actress, and already has some recent work in South Korea.

And yes, still based in Japan and still with opportunities within Japan as well as abroad.

 

This is such a bold move on Techi part, I can't wait to see where it will take her.
Once again is so good to see her evolve in ways I wasn't expecting.

This said, I hope she doesn't take the full kpop path.
I followed both NiziU and WayV and still like them a lot, but they are groups made by idols who spent years dreaming to be exactly what they are now, knowing full well the chances of succeed are slim, the market full, and the debts towards their own agencies growing each day. They are shaped to be superstars, and they accepted it fully.... overwhelming and crazy fans included.

So I think there will be a lot of positive creative influences in her artistic life, but I'm not sure about everything around it. I hope she start with being an actress for now
...
but Techi is good at surprising me.



I would also like to applaud Bunshun; years pass by but they are still Techi fans They'll never stop to be losers I guess

 

Nah. Their successes are guaranteed once they secure the artist contract with a giant agency. A flopping JYP's group can still sell over 200k copies of each single, clearing the debt within 2 years. Their real struggle is the pre-debut period, practising to death for years without knowing if the debut will ever come. Recently, HYBE scrapped a boy group debut project and the eldest trainee had been trained under HYBE for 6 years. Hirate has evaded that pre-debut misery and secure an artist deal straight away. She will be fine.

Being an actress for now? Bunshun is mere a loser? Do you think she could tank a film production project without any repercussion? Do you believe no one in showbiz will hear her sudden exit through the grapevine had Bunshun not publishing it?

Overwhelming crazy fans? What's the point of bringing this up when wota's obsession is second to none? It is such a universal law of nature that the amount of crazy fans grow after one's level of popularity.