Wikipedia
For the religion, see Shinkai (religion).
is the 5th studio album recorded by Japanese rock band Mr. Children, released in June 1996 under the record label Toy's Factory.
After their breakthrough in 1994, Mr. Children yielded eight consecutive chart-topping singles. Three of those hits were appeared on the album; "Na mo Naki Uta", "Hana (Mémento-Mori)", and "Machine Gun o Buppanase" — while others were reserved for their subsequent release Bolero in 1997.
Kazutoshi Sakurai, a chief singer-songwriter of the band named the album's working title as , which was misheard by his band-mate as "Shinkai" (lit. "deep sea"). Sakurai, who favored the sound of the phrase, decided to change the title of the album.
Shinkai was a sort of concept album, featuring more insightful compositions and harder-edged sound compared to the band's previous materials. The whole album is played gaplessly, though each tracks are separated on CD. They had not anticipated that such an adventurous effort would be a big hit.
Contrary to the group's prediction, Shinkai met with commercial success, although it underperformed its predecessor in cumulative sales. It debuted at number one on the Japanese Oricon chart with first-week sales of over 1.5 million copies, becoming the country's fastest selling album at the time. The album spent 46 weeks on the top 100, selling in excess of 2.7 million units during its chart run. Upon its release, Shinkai was certified double-million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, for shipments of over 2 million copies.
Shinkai is a Christian denomination that mixes certain practices and architecture, but not beliefs, of Shinto and Taoism. They follow a flat hierarchy with an ecclesion/governor-general as the symbol on Earth, but without any executive power. The executive consists of an abbot and other ministers. At the local level, the vicar is widely considered to be the pastor. They cannot be considered either Trinitarian nor Oneness as this interpretation is left to the member. What sets apart Shinkai from other denominations is its use of discussion rather than sermons or liturgy for the vast majority of the time. The members meet together and discuss a topic in great detail in a manner similar to a more respectful Question Time. The topic is pulled at random and members move into groups they agree with and find scripture to match.