TV Asahi Corporation (株式会社テレビ朝日, Kabushiki-gaisha Terebi Asahi^?), also known as EX and Tele-Asa (テレ朝, Tere Asa^?), is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network.

In 2003, the company headquarters moved to a new building designed by Fumihiko Maki. The address is: 6-9-1 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

TV Asahi began as "Nihon Educational Television Co., Ltd." (NET) (株式会社日本教育テレビ, Kabushiki-gaisha Nihon Kyōiku Terebi^?, "The Japanese Educational Television Company") on November 1, 1957. It was established as a for-profit educational television channel, which was (and still is) quite rare in the world television industry. At the time, its broadcasting license dictates that the network is required to devote at least 50% of its airtime to educational programming, and at least 30% of its airtime to children's educational programming. The station was owned by Asahi Shimbun, Toei Company, Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Obunsha.

Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ, Hamasaki Ayumi^?, also 濱崎 歩; born October 2, 1978) 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 pursue a career in entertainment. In 1998, under the tutelage of Avex CEO Max Matsuura, she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for ××. The album debuted atop the Oricon charts and stayed there for four weeks, establishing her popularity in Japan.

Hamasaki's constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry has helped her popularity extend across Asia; music and fashion trends she has started have spread to countries such as China, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, she later reconsidered and eventually opposed her status as an Avex "product".

Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) 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. Pure is the fastest-selling international début classical album to date, having made Westenra an international star at age 16. In August 2006, she joined the Irish group Celtic Woman, was featured on their Celtic Woman: A New Journey CD and DVD, toured with them on their 2007 Spring Tour, and also was featured on their DVD, The Greatest Journey: Essential Collection, released in 2008.

Across classical music to easy listening, folk and pop style songs, Westenra has performed songs in English, Irish, Welsh, Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Latin, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese and Māori from west to east, north to south all around the world.

Westenra has performed for dignitaries around the world. She is the second youngest UNICEF Ambassador to date and has contributed to charities around the world.

Tomotaka Okamoto (岡本 知高, Okamoto Tomotaka^?, born December 3, 1976) is a Japanese sopranist. He graduated from Conservatoire Francis Poulenc with a first place award. He often dresses up in a unique and original manner when he performs.

Tomotaka Okamoto was born December 3, 1976 in Kouchi, Japan. He is a “sopranista”, a male who has a female soprano vocal range voice. Most sopranistas and tenors vocalize in a falsetto technique; however, Tomotaka Okamoto is an exceptional “naturally gifted male soprano singer” who exhibits a soprano voice with the strong muscle and great breathing capacity as a man. He doesn’t have a tenor or baritone voice like a general man; his vocal mechanism is that of a female sopranist. “My voice is like a contrabass with violin strings,” Okamoto uniquely explained. His repertory is various; he sings castrato (farinell) compositions in baroque time, opera, Japanese, classic, crossover, musical and pops. He corroborates with Japanese orchestras and artists and also overseas orchestras, such as the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony, the England Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London), and Prague Chamber Orchestra. He has solo concerts with piano in various parts of Japan and vibrates his miraculous voice.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstɛfəniː dʒʌrməˈnɑːtə/ STE-fə-nee jurr-mə-NAH-tə; born March 28, 1986), 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 focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and was signed with Streamline Records by the end of 2007. During her employment as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro". The album's success allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album Born This Way (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, including "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Besides her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.