Aera is a Japanese weekly magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, printed in gravure, published by the Asahi Shimbun

Asahi Shimbun

The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...

. The magazine combines photographs and news

News

News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...

 stories. In May 1988, Aera replaced Asahi Journal, a more substantial weekly.

The cover story is called Person in Focus. Eiichirō Sakata takes cover photos for Aera, but when the person on the cover is a photographer, it is a self-portrait.

The title AERA is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 word that means "era

Era

An era is a commonly used word for long period of time. When used in science, for example geology, eras denote clearly defined periods of time of arbitrary but well defined length, such as for example the Mesozoic era from 252 Ma–66 Ma, delimited by a start event and an end event. When used in...

" in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, and a backronym

Backronym

A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....

 said to mean "Asahi Shimbun Extra Research and Analysis."

Aeras advertisement in the Asahi

Asahi Shimbun

The is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...

features topical dajare

Dajare

is a kind of comic Japanese word play, similar in spirit to pun relying on similarities in the pronunciation of words to create a simple joke.Dajare are popular in advertising...

(word play

Word play

Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...

).

People who have appeared in Aeras cover story Person in Focus

Issue number and names in Japanese and roman script.

Issues of 1998

• May 11 issue - Meja
  Meja
  Meja , is a Swedish composer, artist and singer. Among her best known songs are "I'm Missing You","All 'Bout the Money" and "Private Emotion"...
  
  
• June 8 issue - Jean Reno
  Jean Reno
  Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
  
  
• June 28 issue - Ricky Martin
  Ricky Martin
  Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
  
  
• August 3 issue - Joaquín Cortés
  Joaquín Cortés
  Joaquín Pedraja Reyes "Joaquín Cortés" is a classically trained ballet and flamenco dancer from Spain of Romani origin.-Biography:...
  
  
• September 21 issue - James Turrell
  James Turrell
  James Turrell is an American artist primarily concerned with light and space. Turrell was a MacArthur Fellow in 1984. He is represented by The Pace Gallery in New York...
  
  
• November 2 issue - Yoshio Taniguchi
  Yoshio Taniguchi
  Yoshio Taniguchi is a Japanese architect best known for his redesign of the Museum of Modern Art in New York which was reopened November 20, 2004.- Biography :...
  
  
• November 9 issue - Alek Wek
  Alek Wek
  Alek Wek is a Sudanese British model who first appeared on the catwalks at the age of 18 in 1995, sparking a career lasting to date. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan, but in 1991 she and some family members fled to Britain to escape the civil war in Sudan...
  
  
• November 16 issue - Richard Branson
  Richard Branson
  Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
  
  

Issues of 1999

• January 18 issue - Philippe Starck
  Philippe Starck
  Philippe Patrick Starck is a French product designer and probably the best known designer in the New Design style...
  
  
• January 25 issue - LeAnn Rimes
  LeAnn Rimes
  LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...
  
  
• May 31 issue - Jewel
  Jewel (singer)
  Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...
  
  
• June 28 issue - Yayoi Kusama
  Yayoi Kusama
  is a Japanese artist whose paintings, collages, soft sculptures, performance art and environmental installations all share an obsession with repetition, pattern, and accumulation...
  
  
• November 15 issue - Haley Joel Osment
  Haley Joel Osment
  Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
  
  
• November 29 issue - Jane Birkin
  Jane Birkin
  Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...
  
  
• December 13 issue - Alina Kabayeva
• December 20 issue - Milla Jovovich
  Milla Jovovich
  Milla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
  
  

Issues of 2000

• January 10 issue - Carly Fiorina
  Carly Fiorina
  Carly Fiorina is an American business executive and a former Republican candidate for the United States Senate representing California. Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and previously was an executive at AT&T and its equipment and technology spinoff,...
  
  
• January 17 issue - Tatsuya Fujiwara
  Tatsuya Fujiwara
  is a Japanese television and film actor.-Biography:Born in Saitama, Fujiwara has had an interest in acting from a young age.He is famous for acting the part of Shuya Nanahara in the controversial 2000 film Battle Royale and continues the character as a leader of the Wild Seven in the sequel, Battle...
  
  
• February 7 issue - Andrew Weil
  Andrew Weil
  Andrew Thomas Weil is an American author and physician, who established the field of integrative medicine which attempts to integrate alternative and conventional medicine. Weil is the author of several best-selling books and operates a website and monthly newsletter promoting general health and...
  
  
• February 14 issue - Carlos Ghosn
  Carlos Ghosn
  Carlos Ghosn, KBE , born 9 March 1954, is a Brazilian-Lebanese-French businessman who is currently the Chairman and CEO of Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan and holds the same positions at Paris-based Renault, which together produce more than one in 10 cars worldwide...
  
  
• February 21 issue - Sergio García
  Sergio García
  Sergio García Fernández is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on both the United States PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings...
  
  
• February 28 issue - Daniel Keyes
  Daniel Keyes
  Daniel Keyes is an American author best known for his Hugo award-winning short story and Nebula award-winning novel Flowers for Algernon. Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000.-Early life and career:Keyes was born in Brooklyn, New...
  
  
• March 13 issue - Gerhard Schröder
  Gerhard Schröder
  Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
  
  
• March 20 issue - Charlotte Church
  Charlotte Church
  Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...
  
  
• March 27 issue - Yasser Arafat
  Yasser Arafat
  Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
  
  
• April 17 issue - Yoshirō Mori
  Yoshiro Mori
  is a Japanese politician who served as the 85th and 86th Prime Minister of Japan starting at 5 April 2000 ending 26 April 2001. Described as having "the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark," he was an unpopular prime minister mainly remembered today for his many gaffes and situationally...
  
  
• April 24 issue - Émilie Dequenne
  Émilie Dequenne
  Émilie Dequenne is a French-speaking Belgian actress.-Biography:She won the Best Actress award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival for her debut film performance in the Palme d'Or-winning film Rosetta...
  
  
• May 8 issue - Ringo Shiina
• May 29 issue - Rickson Gracie
  Rickson Gracie
  Rickson Gracie is a Brazilian 8th degree black and red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a retired mixed martial artist. He is a member of the Gracie family: the son of Hélio Gracie, brother to Rorion and Relson Gracie, and half-brother to Rolker, Royce, Robin and Royler Gracie.-Biography:Rickson...
  
  
• June 12 issue - Robin Williams
  Robin Williams
  Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
  
  
• July 31 issue - Enrique Iglesias
  Enrique Iglesias
  Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...
  
  
• September 11 issue - Valery Gergiev
  Valery Gergiev
  Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
  
  
• September 18 issue - Vladimir Putin
  Vladimir Putin
  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
  
  
• October 2 issue - Koji Murofushi
  Koji Murofushi
  is a Japanese hammer thrower. He has been among the world elite since the 2001 World Championships, where he won the silver medal. He was olympic champion during the Athens Olympics. In 2011, He was crowned world champion.-Career:...
  
  
• October 9 issue - Desmond Morris
  Desmond Morris
  Desmond John Morris, born 24 January 1928 in Purton, north Wiltshire, is a British zoologist and ethologist, as well as a popular anthropologist. He is also known as a painter, television presenter and popular author.-Life:...
  
  
• October 23 issue - Nikita Mikhalkov
  Nikita Mikhalkov
  Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union.Mikhalkov was born in Moscow into the distinguished, artistic Mikhalkov family. His great grandfather was the imperial governor of Yaroslavl, whose mother was a Galitzine princess...
  
  
• November 6 issue - Hideki Shirakawa
  Hideki Shirakawa
  Hideki Shirakawa is a Japanese chemist and winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of conductive polymers together with physics professor Alan J. Heeger and chemistry professor Alan G...
  
  
• November 13 issue - Zhang Ziyi
  Zhang Ziyi
  Zhang Ziyi is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun...
  
  
• December 4 issue - Jeff Bezos
  Jeff Bezos
  Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer , and chairman of the board of Amazon.com.-Early life and background:...
  
  

Issues of 2001

• January 8 issue - Tiger Woods
  Tiger Woods
  Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
  
  
• February 5 issue - Ibrahim Ferrer
  Ibrahim Ferrer
  Ibrahim Ferrer was a popular Afro-Cuban singer and musician in Cuba. He performed with many musical groups including the Conjunto Sorpresa, Orquesta Chepin-Choven and Afro-Cuban All Stars...
  
  
• March 5 issue - Hiroyasu Shimizu
  Hiroyasu Shimizu
  Hiroyasu Shimizu is a Japanese speed skater. He has an Olympic Gold medal from 1998 in the 500m and his win made him a hero in his home country. He currently holds the world record for the 100m speed skating event in 9.43 seconds...
  
  
• March 19 issue - Koichi Wakata
  Koichi Wakata
  is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two decade career in spaceflight he has logged five months in space. Wakata is currently assigned to the Soyuz...
  
  
• March 26 issue - Vladimir Ashkenazy
  Vladimir Ashkenazy
  Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
  
  
• April 16 issue - Ichiro Suzuki
  Ichiro Suzuki
  , usually known simply as is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262...
  
  , Tsuyoshi Shinjo
  Tsuyoshi Shinjo
  is a former Japanese professional baseball outfielder.-Career:Born in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan and raised in Minami-ku, Fukuoka, he played for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan from until , then for Major League Baseball's New York Mets and San Francisco Giants...
  
  
• April 23 issue - Kitarō
  Kitaro
  , better known as , is an award winning Japanese musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who is regarded as one of the pioneers of new age music.-Early life:...
  
  
• May 7 issue - Ian Thorpe
  Ian Thorpe
  Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...
  
  
• May 14 issue - Junichiro Koizumi
  Junichiro Koizumi
  is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...
  
  
• May 28 issue - Karrie Webb
  Karrie Webb
  Karrie Ann Webb AM is Australia's most successful female professional golfer, and one of the top players in the history of global women's golf. She currently plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and also turns out once or twice a year on the ALPG Tour in her home country. She is a member of...
  
  
• June 11 issue - Christian Bale
  Christian Bale
  Christian Charles Philip Bale is an English actor. Best known for his roles in American films, Bale has starred in both big budget Hollywood films and the smaller projects from independent producers and art houses....
  
  
• June 18 issue - Naomi Kawase
• June 25 issue - Yoshida Brothers
  Yoshida Brothers
  The Yoshida Kyōdai are Japanese musicians and have released several albums under the Domo Records internationally as the Yoshida Brothers....
  
  
• August 27 issue - Linus Torvalds
  Linus Torvalds
  Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator...
  
  
• September 17 issue - Hironobu Sakaguchi
  Hironobu Sakaguchi
  is a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is world famous as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and has had a long career in gaming with over 100 million units of video games sold worldwide...
  
  
• November 5 issue - Plácido Domingo
  Plácido Domingo
  Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
  
  
• December 10 issue - Nina Ananiashvili
  Nina Ananiashvili
  Nina Ananiashvili is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia.- Career :...
  
  

Issues of 2002

• February 4 issue - Hamid Karzai
  Hamid Karzai
  Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
  
  
• February 18 issue - Donald Keene
  Donald Keene
  Donald Lawrence Keene is a Japanologist, scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene was University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years...
  
  
• February 25 issue - John Cameron Mitchell
  John Cameron Mitchell
  John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
  
  
• March 4 issue - José Carreras
  José Carreras
  Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
  
  
• March 25 issue - Muhammad Yunus
  Muhammad Yunus
  Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
  
  
• April 8 issue - Hideki Matsui
  Hideki Matsui
  is a Japanese Major League Baseball designated hitter and outfielder. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed.After playing the first ten seasons of his career for the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, he played the next seven seasons, from 2003–2009, for the New York...
  
  
• April 15 issue - Sepp Blatter
  Sepp Blatter
  Joseph S. Blatter , commonly known as Sepp Blatter, is a Swiss football administrator, who serves as the 8th and current President of FIFA . He was elected on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange. He was re-elected as President in 2002, 2007, and 2011...
  
  
• May 13 issue - Junichi Inamoto
  Junichi Inamoto
  is a Japanese footballer who plays as a midfielder for Kawasaki Frontale.-Playing career:Inamoto played for Japanese club Gamba Osaka during his last year of high school, signing with the club in 1998. He was then one of many high profile transfers of Asian players to Europe, signing with Arsenal...
  
  
• May 20 issue - Morgan Freeman
  Morgan Freeman
  Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
  
  
• June 3 issue - Alicia Keys
  Alicia Keys
  Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
  
  
• July 1 issue - Kelly Chen
  Kelly Chen
  Kelly Chen is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress. Kelly has also been known as a diva in Asia. She has a great success in Asia Entertainment industry with nearly 20 million record sales of 38 albums...
  
  
• July 8 issue - Tommy Lee Jones
  Tommy Lee Jones
  Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
  
  
• July 22 issue - Romano Prodi
  Romano Prodi
  Romano Prodi is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008...
  
  
• August 19 issue - Nicolas Cage
  Nicolas Cage
  Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
  
  
• September 9 issue - Cai Guo-Qiang
  Cai Guo-Qiang
  Cai Guo-Qiang is a Chinese contemporary artist and curator.-Biography:Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China. He was trained in stage design at the Shanghai Theater Academy from 1981 to 1985. Cai's work is scholarly and often politically charged...
  
  
• September 23 issue - Mariko Mori
  Mariko Mori
  Mariko Mori is a Japanese video and photographic artist. While studying at Bunka Fashion College, she worked as a fashion model in the late 1980s. This strongly influenced her early works, such as Play with Me, in which she takes control of her role in the image, becoming an exotic, alien...
  
  
• September 30 issue - Megumi Yokota
  Megumi Yokota
  was one of at least 17 Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was abducted on November 15, 1977 at the age of thirteen and apparently forced to help train North Korean spies to pass as Japanese citizens...
  
  
• October 7 issue - John Woo
  John Woo
  John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
  
  
• October 21 issue - Zico
  Zico
  Arthur Antunes Coimbra , better known as Zico , is a Brazilian coach and former footballer. He is the current head coach of the Iraq national football team. Often called the "White Pelé", he is commonly considered one of the most skilled finishers and one of the best passers ever and possibly the...
  
  
• October 28 issue - Koichi Tanaka
  Koichi Tanaka
  is a Japanese scientist who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for developing a novel method for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules with John Bennett Fenn and Kurt Wuthrich ....
  
  
• December 9 issue - Annika Sörenstam
  Annika Sörenstam
  Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...
  
  
• December 22 issue - Leonardo DiCaprio
  Leonardo DiCaprio
  Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
  
  

Issues of 2003

• January 6 issue - Ayumi Hamasaki
  Ayumi Hamasaki
  is a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to...
  
  
• February 17 issue - Jon Bon Jovi
  Jon Bon Jovi
  Jon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
  
  
• April 14 issue - Astro Boy
• June 2 issue - Yuta Tabuse
  Yuta Tabuse
  is a Japanese professional basketball player. A point guard, Tabuse is and . He is the first Japanese-born basketball player to play in the National Basketball Association, appearing in four games with the Phoenix Suns during the 2004–05 NBA season before he was waived...
  
  
• June 16 issue - Keanu Reeves
  Keanu Reeves
  Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
  
  
• July 14 issue - t.A.T.u.
  T.A.T.u.
  t.A.T.u. was a duo formed in Moscow, Russia in 1999 by Ivan Shapovalov. The group consisted of Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova.Their debut single "Ya Soshla S Uma" was released in December 2000. The single had a huge success in Russia and Eastern Europe...
  
  
• August 11 issue - Lisa Marie Presley
  Lisa Marie Presley
  Lisa Marie Presley is an American singer and songwriter, also known as the "Princess of Rock and Roll". She is the only child of Elvis Presley, and daughter of Priscilla Presley.-Early life:...
  
  
• September 8 issue - Miuccia Prada
  Miuccia Prada
  Miuccia Prada is an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. She also has a Ph.D. in Political Science.Prada was born in Milan, the youngest granddaughter of Mario Prada, founder of the company. According to: Forbes.com's The World's Richest People 2001: "She and her husband, Patrizio Bertelli,...
  
  
• October 6 issue - Alice Walker
  Alice Walker
  Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
  
  
• November 24 issue - Quentin Tarantino
  Quentin Tarantino
  Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
  
  
• December 22 issue - Riccardo Muti
  Riccardo Muti
  Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...
  
  

Issues of 2004

• January 5 issue - Hillary Rodham Clinton
  Hillary Rodham Clinton
  Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
  
  
• January 19 issue - Paula Radcliffe
  Paula Radcliffe
  Paula Jane Radcliffe, MBE is an English long-distance runner. She is the current women's world record holder in the marathon with her time of 2:15:25 hours...
  
  
• January 26 issue - Nigel Kennedy
  Nigel Kennedy
  Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...
  
  
• February 9 issue - Shigetoshi Hasegawa
  Shigetoshi Hasegawa
  is a retired relief pitcher in Major League Baseball and best-selling author and Japanese television personality. He achieved the most recognition when he played for the Seattle Mariners from through . Previously, Hasegawa played with the Anaheim Angels , and before that spent six years with the...
  
  
• February 16 issue - Norah Jones
  Norah Jones
  Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
  
  
• March 1 issue - Matthew Bourne
  Matthew Bourne
  Matthew Bourne OBE is a British classical and contemporary ballet and dance choreographer.-Biography:Matthew Bourne was born in Hackney, London in 1960. He went to William Fitt and Sir George Monoux School in Walthamstow, London...
  
  
• March 8 issue - Daniela Hantuchová
  Daniela Hantuchová
  Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...
  
  
• April 26 issue - Sofia Coppola
  Sofia Coppola
  Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
  
  
• May 17 issue - Hiromi Uehara
• July 5 issue - Won Bin
  Won Bin
  Won Bin is a top South Korean actor and model.- Early life and beginnings :Won was born and raised in a hamlet in the north of Jeongseon in Gangwon-do, South Korea. He is the fifth and youngest child, with one brother and three sisters. His father was formerly employed in a mine and his mother...
  
  
• July 12 issue - Yūya Yagira
  Yûya Yagira
  Yuya Yagira is a Japanese actor from Higashiyamato, Tokyo. His portrayal of 12-year-old Akira in the highly acclaimed Nobody Knows won him a Best Actor Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival...
  
  
• August 2 issue - Tobey Maguire
  Tobey Maguire
  Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire is an American actor and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, and has achieved his greatest fame for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films.-Early life:...
  
  
• September 20 issue - Bill Clinton
  Bill Clinton
  William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
  
  
• October 4 issue - Lester R. Brown
  Lester R. Brown
  Lester Russel Brown is a United States environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C...
  
  
• October 18 issue - Jonny Wilkinson
  Jonny Wilkinson
  Jonathan Peter "Jonny" Wilkinson OBE is an English rugby union player and member of the England national team. Wilkinson rose to acclaim from 2001 to 2003, before and during the 2003 Rugby World Cup and was acknowledged as one of the world’s best rugby players...
  
  
• October 30 issue - Kosuke Kitajima
  Kosuke Kitajima
  is a Japanese multiple Olympic gold medalist breaststroke swimmer. He won gold medals for the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke at both the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics.-Major achievements:...
  
  
• November 8 issue - Ken Watanabe
  Ken Watanabe
  is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best...
  
  
• November 29 issue - Lee Byung-hun
  Lee Byung-Hun
  Lee Byung-hun is a South Korean actor, singer and model. He has starred in popular television dramas such as Iris , All In and Beautiful Days...
  
  
• December 13 issue - Takuma Sato
  Takuma Sato
  is a Japanese automobile racing driver and the most successful Japanese Formula One driver in history. He is currently racing for KV Racing Technology in IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.-Junior Years:...
  
  
• December 20 issue - Simon Rattle
  Simon Rattle
  Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
  
  
• December 27 issue - Emmanuelle Béart
  Emmanuelle Béart
  Emmanuelle Béart is a French film actress, who has appeared in over 50 film and television productions since 1972. Béart won a César Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Manon des Sources . She has been nominated a further seven times for Most Promising Actress and Best Actress.- Early...
  
  

Issues of 2005

• January 24 issue - Gwyneth Paltrow
  Gwyneth Paltrow
  Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
  
  
• January 31 issue - Andrew Lloyd Webber
  Andrew Lloyd Webber
  Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
  
  
• February 21 issue - Colin Farrell
  Colin Farrell
  Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
  
  
• March 7 issue - Alain Ducasse
  Alain Ducasse
  Alain Ducasse is a Monégasque chef. He formerly held French nationality. He operates a number of restaurants including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester which holds three stars in the Michelin Guide....
  
  
• March 14 issue - Peter Schreier
  Peter Schreier
  Peter Schreier is a German tenor and conductor.-Early life:Schreier was born in Meissen, Saxony, and spent his first years in the small village of Gauernitz, near Meissen, where his father was a teacher, cantor and organist...
  
  
• May 23 issue - Hayley Westenra
  Hayley Westenra
  Hayley Dee Westenra is a New Zealand soprano, classical crossover artist, songwriter and UNICEF Ambassador. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached No. 1 on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide...
  
  
• July 11 issue - Jack Johnson
  Jack Johnson (musician)
  Jack Johnson was born May 18, 1975 is an American folk rock singer-songwriter, surfer and musician known for his work in the soft rock and acoustic genres. In 2001, he achieved commercial success after the release of his debut album, Brushfire Fairytales. He has since released four more albums, a...
  
  
• July 18 issue - Bruno Ganz
  Bruno Ganz
  Bruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall.- Early life :Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university...
  
  
• November 7 issue - Rei Asami
• November 14 issue - Dan Gillmor
  Dan Gillmor
  Dan Gillmor is a noted American technology writer and columnist. He is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard...
  
  
• November 21 extra issue - Soichi Noguchi
  Soichi Noguchi
  is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and a JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was most recently in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and...
  
  
• November 28 issue - Natsuhiko Kyogoku
• December 5 issue - Eric E. Schmidt
  Eric E. Schmidt
  Eric Emerson Schmidt is an American software engineer and the current executive chairman of Google. From 2001 to 2011, he served as the chief executive officer of Google....
  
  
• December 12 issue - Dardenne brothers
  Dardenne brothers
  Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne are a Belgian filmmaking duo...
  
  
• December 19 issue - Kaiji Moriyama
• December 26 issue - Li Yundi
  Li Yundi
  Li Yundi is a Chinese classical pianist. He is also popularly known as Yundi and formerly Yundi Li. Born in Chongqing, Li is most well known for being the youngest pianist to win the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 2000, at the age of 18...
  
  

Issues of 2006

• January 2-9 issue - Kotooshu Katsunori
  Kotooshu Katsunori
  Kotoōshū Katsunori is a professional sumo wrestler or rikishi. He made his debut in 2002, reaching the top division just two years later...
  
  
• January 16 issue - Nikolaus Harnoncourt
  Nikolaus Harnoncourt
  Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
  
  
• January 23 issue - Asashoryu Akinori
  Asashōryū Akinori
  is a former sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He was the 68th yokozuna in the history of the sport in Japan and became the first Mongol to reach sumo's highest rank in January 2003. He was one of the most successful yokozuna ever. In 2005 he became the first man to win all six official...
  
  
• January 30 issue - Takafumi Horie
  Takafumi Horie
  is a Japanese entrepreneur who founded Livedoor, a website design operation that grew into a popular internet portal. After being arrested on accusations of securities fraud in 2006, he severed all connections with the company. He was granted bail, and the trial began on September 4, 2006...
  
  
• February 6 issue - Aoi Miyazaki
  Aoi Miyazaki
  is a Japanese actress. She is best known for her pure image and roles such as in Nana and Virgin Snow. Her brother Masaru Miyazaki is an actor, and they starred together in the film Hatsukoi. She married Sosuke Takaoka on June 15, 2007, her partner since she was fifteen.-Career:Miyazaki started...
  
  
• February 27 issue - Shizuka Arakawa
  Shizuka Arakawa
  is a Japanese figure skater.She is the 2006 Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles and the 2004 World Champion. Arakawa is the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating and the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic medal in figure skating, after Midori Ito, who won silver...
  
  
• March 6 issue - Noel Gallagher
  Noel Gallagher
  Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
  
  
• March 13 issue - Toots Thielemans
  Toots Thielemans
  Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
  
  
• March 27 issue - Wangari Maathai
  Wangari Maathai
  Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...
  
  
• April 10 issue - Kotaro Oshio
  Kotaro Oshio
  is an acoustic guitarist from Japan. Born in Osaka Prefecture, on February 1, 1968, he is best known for his work on the steel string guitar. Oshio is a part of Sony Music Japan's SME Records division.- Oshio's music :...
  
  
• April 24 issue - Masahiko Fujiwara
  Masahiko Fujiwara
  Masahiko Fujiwara is a Japanese mathematician, who is best known as an essayist....
  
  
• May 29 issue - James Blunt
  James Blunt
  James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
  
  
• July 3 issue - Juanes
  Juanes
  Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez , better known as Juanes is a Colombian musician who was a member of heavy metal band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. In 2000, his solo debut album Fíjate Bien won three Latin Grammy Awards.Juanes has sold more than 13 million albums...
  
  
• October 23 issue - Paula Creamer
  Paula Creamer
  Paula Creamer is an American professional golfer on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. As a professional, she has won 11 tournaments, including 9 LPGA Tour events. Creamer has been as high as number 2 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. She was the 2010 U.S...
  
  
• November 13 issue - Dominique Perrault
  Dominique Perrault
  Dominique Perrault is a French architect. He became world known for the design of the French National Library, distinguished with the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 1996....
  
  
• December 4 issue - Bill Viola
  Bill Viola
  Bill Viola is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media...
  
  
• December 11 issue - Roger Federer
  Roger Federer
  Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
  
  
• December 25 issue - Beyoncé Knowles
  Beyoncé Knowles
  Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
  
  

Issues of 2007

• January 22 issue - Desmond Tutu
  Desmond Tutu
  Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
  
  
• January 29 issue - Michelle Wie
  Michelle Wie
  Michelle Sung Wie is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie would also become the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and the youngest to qualify for a LPGA Tour event...
  
  
• February 19 issue - Al Gore
  Al Gore
  Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
  
  
• March 12 issue - George Soros
  George Soros
  George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
  
  
• March 19 issue - Steve Chen
  Steve Chen (YouTube)
  Steven Shih "Steve" Chen is a Chinese Taiwanese American and a co-founder and previous Chief Technology Officer of the popular video sharing website YouTube.- Early years and education :...
  
  , Chad Hurley
  Chad Hurley
  Chad Meredith Hurley is an American co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the popular video sharing website YouTube. In June 2006, he was voted 28th on Business 2.0's "50 People Who Matter Now" list...
  
  
• April 23 issue - Rinko Kikuchi
  Rinko Kikuchi
  , born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories...
  
  
• June 4 issue - Kirsten Dunst
  Kirsten Dunst
  Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
  
  
• August 6 issue - M.I.A.
  M.I.A. (artist)
  Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...
  
  
• November 19 issue - Takashi Murakami
  Takashi Murakami
  is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
  
  
• December 3 issue - Raul Midón
  Raul Midón
  Raúl Midón is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Mexico, based in New York City. He combines his distinct voice, strumming, beats, and vocal mouth trumpet sounds to create a one-man performance. His unique style shows influence of virtually every musical genre which came before him,...
  
  

Issues of 2008

• March 17 issue - Jude Law
  Jude Law
  David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
  
  
• May 12 issue - Namie Amuro
  Namie Amuro
  is a Japanese R&B and pop singer, entertainer, and former actress who at the height of her popularity was referred to as the "Teen Queen" and the title "Queen of Japanese Pop Music". Born in Naha, Okinawa, Amuro debuted at the age of 14 as an idol in the girl group Super Monkey's...
  
  
• June 23 issue - B'z
  B'z
  is a Japanese hard rock duo, composed of and .B'z has released 45 consecutive #1 singles, 24 #1 albums, and sold more than 79 million records in Japan alone...
  
  
• July 14 issue - Diablo Cody
  Diablo Cody
  Brook Busey , better known by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American screenwriter, writer, blogger, journalist, and author. She was first known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her Pussy Ranch blog and her 2006 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper...
  
  
• November 10 issue - Masumi Kuwata
  Masumi Kuwata
  Masumi Kuwata is a former Japanese right-handed pitcher. He was formerly with the Yomiuri Giants of the Central League. He pitched 21 seasons with the Giants, beginning in 1986. In December 2006 Masumi signed a minor league deal with the Pirates...
  
  

Issues of 2009

• January 16 issue - Daisuke Matsuzaka
  Daisuke Matsuzaka
  is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball in the United States. He previously played for the Seibu Lions in Japan's Pacific League. He was selected the MVP of the inaugural and the second World Baseball Classic, and is an Olympic bronze...
  
  
• March 19 issue - Hidetoshi Nakata
  Hidetoshi Nakata
  , is a retired Japanese football player. He was one of the most famous Asian footballers of his generation.Nakata began his professional career in 1995 and won the Asian Football Confederation Player of the Year award in 1997 and 1998, the Scudetto with A.S...
  
  
• April 27 issue - Liam Gallagher
  Liam Gallagher
  William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...
  
  
• August 3 issue - Lady Gaga
  Lady GaGa
  Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
  
  
• August 17 issue - Richard Gere
  Richard Gere
  Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...