Rising Production
{{Short description|Japanese talent agency}}
{{Redirect|Vision Factory|the defunct Dutch CD-i video game developer|The Vision Factory}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Rising Production
| logo =
| type = Private
| genre = Talent agency
| fate =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| foundation = July 1985
Minato, Tokyo
| founder = Tetsuo Taira
| defunct =
| location_city = Aoyama, Tokyo
| location_country = Japan
| location =
| locations =
| area_served = Japan
| key_people =
| industry = Entertainment
| products =
| services =
| revenue =
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| aum =
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| owner =
| num_employees = 31
| parent =
| divisions =
| subsid =
| homepage = {{URL|www.rising-pro.jp}}
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo4|RISNGPRO Holdings Co. Ltd.|株式会社ライジングプロ・ホールディングス|Kabushiki gaisha Raijingupuro Hōrudingusu}}, operating as Rising Production, is a Japanese talent agency. It largely works with musical talent, but has branched out in recent years to include actors and comedians. The company came into prominence after the widespread successes of musical acts Namie Amuro, MAX, Speed and Da Pump in the mid to late 1990s.{{cite web |url=https://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/www/article/1999/0914/rising.htm |title=安室奈美恵、SPEEDらの所属プロダクションが公式サイト amuro-namie.netのメールアドレスが使えるプロバイダーサービスも開始 |website=Internet Watch |access-date=2021-07-31}}
History
Rising Production was founded by {{nihongo4|Tetsuo Taira|平 哲夫|Taira Tetsuo}} in Minato, Tokyo in July 1985, with Japanese idol Yōko Oginome being the agency's first talent. Oginome's success led to Taira becoming a producer under the pseudonym {{nihongo4|"Jonny Taira"|ジョニー平|Jonī Taira}}. In the fall of 1986, 12-year-old Kaori Sakagami signed with Rising Production after being invited to an Oginome concert in Nagasaki Prefecture. In 1991, the agency signed up-and-coming talent Alisa Mizuki.
In 1992, Rising Production formed a partnership with the Okinawa Actors School, which debuted the music group Super Monkey's that year. Super Monkey's would later evolve into two separate acts: Namie Amuro and MAX. Speed, Da Pump, Rina Chinen, Daichi Miura, and Folder 5 were also products of the partnership.
In 2001, Taira was arrested for tax evasion. During this time, Rising Production changed its name to {{nihongo4|Freegate Promotion|フリーゲートプロモーション|Furīgēto Puromōshon}} on September 1. A year later during Taira's trial, the company renamed itself to {{nihongo4|Vision Factory|ヴィジョンファクトリー|Vijon Fakutorī}}. Taira served a 30-month prison sentence before returning to the company. In 2003, the agency ended its partnership with the Okinawa Actors School.{{cite news |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Talent+agency+founder+arrested+in+tax+evasion+case.-a080339324 |title=Talent agency founder arrested in tax evasion case. |newspaper=Kyodo News (via The Free Library) |date=2001-10-18 |access-date=2021-07-31}}{{cite news |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2003/03/25/national/talent-agency-exec-gets-30-months/ |title=Talent agency exec gets 30 months |newspaper=The Japan Times |date=2003-03-25 |access-date=2021-07-31}}
In the fall of 2006, Vision Factory opened the website Vision Cast and the record label Rising Records.
On December 11, 2014, the agency announced it would revert to its original name Rising Production.{{cite web |url=https://www.rising-pro.jp/news/news_archives/news.html?aid=rising&nID=VFE12iiEkf |title=RISINGPRODUCTION：サイト名と社名変更のご案内 |publisher=Rising Production |date=2014-12-11 |access-date=2021-07-31}}
Rising Production has hosted several charity events to help victims of disasters such as the Great East Japan earthquake in 2011, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, and the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes.{{cite web |url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/87679/full/ |title=ISSAの呼びかけでDA PUMP、SPEED、w-inds.らがチャリティーライブ |publisher=Oricon |date=2011-05-16 |access-date=2021-07-31}}{{cite news |url=https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2015/09/03/kiji/K20150903011057290.html |title=ｗ―ｉｎｄｓ．チャリティー収益で台風被害のレイテ島に小学校 |website=Sponichi Annex |date=2015-09-03 |access-date=2021-07-31}}{{cite web |url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2072825/full/ |title=上原多香子、復興支援ライブで9年ぶりソロ歌唱 荻野目&観月らも競演 |publisher=Oricon |date=2016-06-05 |access-date=2021-07-31}}
Representative list of notable present and past clients
= Music =
== Solo ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
- Akina
- Namie Amuro
- Asuka
- Rina Chinen
- Yumiko Fukuhara
- Kenichi Fujikawa
- Amika Hattan
- Asuka Hinoi
- Hitoe
- Eriko Imai
- Issa
- Ryoko Kuninaka
- Daichi Miura
- Alisa Mizuki
- Nobutoshi Nakamura
- Mariya Nishiuchi
- Yōko Oginome
- Olivia
- Kaori Sakagami
- Hiroko Shimabukuro
- Keita Tachibana
- Airi Taira
- Nana Tanimura
- Takako Uehara
{{div col end}}
== Bands and groups ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
- Ai-Sachi
- AN-J
- Asian2
- Aya & Chika from D&D
- D-Loop
- D&D
- Da Pump
- Earth
- Fairies
- Flame
- Folder
- Folder 5
- Fuwafuwa
- Hinoi Team
- Hipp's
- Lead
- MAX
- Nakanomori Band
- Ota Crew
- Rockamenco
- Speed
- Tourbillon
- Vanilla Mood
- W-inds
- Zero
{{div col end}}
=Others=
- Nao Asahi (Former Idoling!!!)
- Manami Higa (actress)
- Yukari Taki (actress)
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.rising-pro.jp/}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Entertainment companies established in 1985
Category:Japanese companies established in 1985
Category:Japanese talent agencies