Amuse Inc.

History

Amuse Inc. was created in 1978 when it signed with the rock band Southern All Stars. Soon after in 1981, the company created its movie production and distribution subsidiary Amuse Cinema City Inc. and produced Morning Moon Wa Sozatsu Ni (starring Shin Kishida) that same year, followed by Aiko 16 sai (1983). In 1983, Amuse signed with the actress Yasuko Tomita. The next year, the firm opened its subsidiary in the United States.

Amuse Video Inc. was created in 1990 as the video software production and sales subsidiary of the company. In 1995, Amuse established Ayers Inc. through a joint venture with Bandai, and opened its first movie theater. In 2000, Amuse opened its Korean subsidiary, Amuse Korea Inc. On 20 September 2001, Amuse was listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange. Its distributed film The Pianist won the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2004, Amuse opened its e-commerce site, Ambra. In 2007, it established its music label Taishita in joint venture with Victor Entertainment. In 2008, the group invested in Brussels Co. Ltd., a company that develops Belgian beer bars; and also formed the A-Sketch label in joint venture with KDDI Corporation. In 2009, the group launched its subsidiary Amuse Edutainment Inc. In 2012, Amuse Singapore was created. Amuse intended to give a second life to J-pop by promoting the bands Flumpool and Weaver. In 2013, it produced and distributed the movie The Eternal Zero. In 2015, Amuse France Inc. was created.

In January 2016, Amuse established a partnership with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, a promotion in which Amuse owns shares. In the US, Amuse launched J-Creation to further develop ties between the Japanese and American entertainment industries. In October 2018, Amuse USA released the graphic novel Apocrypha: The Legend of Babymetal.

In 2022, Amuse founded Kulture Inc., aiming to create next-generation entertainment with Web3 and metaverse content, such as NFTs.

In February 2025, Amuse sold its 66% majority shares in A-Sketch to Universal Music Group's Japanese subsidiary for an undisclosed amount.

Notable artists

Groups

• @onefive
  • Tsugumi Aritomo
  • Kano Fujihira
  • Momoe Mori
  • Soyoka Yoshida
• Asterism
• Babymetal
  • Moa Kikuchi
  • Suzuka Nakamoto
  • Momoko Okazaki
• Begin
• Cravity (for Japanese activities only)
• Cross Gene
  • Shin Won-ho
• Flow
• Flumpool
• Frederic
• IVE (for Japanese activities only)
• Perfume
  • Yuka Kashino
  • Ayaka Nishiwaki
  • Ayano Ōmoto
• Porno Graffitti
  • Akihito Okano
  • Haruichi Shindō
• Sakura Gakuin
• Shit Kingz
• Southern All Stars
  • Yuko Hara
  • Keisuke Kuwata
  • Kazuyuki Sekiguchi
• Team Nacs
  • Yo Oizumi
  • Shigeyuki Totsugi
  • Ken Yasuda
• The Oral Cigarettes

Individuals

• Ruito Aoyagi
• Kaori Asoh
• D-Lite (for Japanese activities only)
• Dean Fujioka
• Sakura Fujiwara
• Eri Fukatsu
• Masaharu Fukuyama
• Yuta Hiraoka
• Gen Hoshino
• Mayu Hotta
• Yuka Itaya
• Karin Isobe
• Kenta Izuka
• Fūka Izumi
• Shouma Kai
• Kento Kaku
• Kangnam (for Japanese activities only)
• Noa Kazama
• Kaya Kiyohara
• Yuta Koseki
• Kaori Maeda
• Yui Makino
• Airi Matsui
• Yuya Matsushita
• Ayaka Miyoshi
• Takuya Mizoguchi
• Eri Murakawa
• Shuhei Nomura
• Ryohei Otani
• Manaki Reika
• Shogo Sakamoto
• Akane Sakanoue
• Dori Sakurada
• Hinata Satō
• Rie Takahashi
• Junko Takeuchi
• Asami Tano
• Takuya Terada
• Miyu Tomita
• Reina Triendl
• Juri Ueno
• Alissa Yagi
• Anna Yamada
• Erika Yamaguchi
• Jun Yoshinaga
• Yuriko Yoshitaka
• Ryo Yoshizawa

Former artists

Groups

• One Ok Rock

Individuals

• Ryunosuke Kamiki
• Nina Makino
• Haruma Miura
• Yui Mizuno
• Riisa Naka
• Takeru Satoh
• Shota Taguchi
• Yu Takahashi
• Kimito Totani
• Seishuu Uragami
• Mafumafu

Other holdings

Amuse Models

Amuse Models is a division of Amuse founded in 2004. Its division for child talents is sometimes called Amuse Kids. In 2014, Amuse merged with Will Corporation and then established the modeling agency, which mainly consists of teenage talents. Talents who belonged to Amuse after their merger with Will Corporation include Juri Ueno and Yuriko Yoshitaka.

References

References

1. "Corporate Profile". AMUSE INC..
2. "Message From Management". AMUSE INC..
3. Herskovitz. (2000-12-26). "J-Pop Takes Off / Japanese music, movies, TV shows enthrall Asian nations". The San Francisco Chronicle.
4. This figure does not include part-time and temporary workers.
5. "アミューズモデルス". Amuse.co.jp.
6. (June 2017). "History".
7. Jeanette Tan. (5 September 2012). "Is Singapore ready for the 'new J-pop'?".
8. link. (2016-01-05). [[New Japan Pro-Wrestling]]
9. Soumik Datta. (14 May 2018). "NJPW News: New Japan Pro Wrestling hires a new president".
10. (1 June 2018). "J-CREATION: A Chance for American Filmmakers and Developers to Tap Into Japan's Most Beloved and Popular IP".
11. (2022-06-24). "テクノロジーとの融合で新たなエンターテインメント創出を目指す新会社「株式会社Kulture」及び、Web3・メタバース特化ファンド「KultureFUND」を設立。設立記念NFTの販売もスタート！".
12. (February 14, 2025). "株式会社A-Sketch株式取得のお知らせ".