Jiro Wang

Momoko Sakura was impressed with Jiro Wang's gift of his personal artwork, which led to a collaboration featured in Chibi Maruko-chan's 30th anniversary publication entitled 《恭喜》, published both in Japanese and traditional Chinese.

Jiro Wang (born 24 August 1981) is a Taiwanese singer and actor, who started his career as a model.

Wang is a member of Taiwanese Mandopop vocal quartet boy band Fahrenheit.

Jiro Wang was born August 24, 1981, in Taiwan.

He graduated from Fu Shin Trade and Arts College with a degree in Advertising Design.

Wang's father died when he was 18, leaving him and his mother stranded with the family debt.

To pay off the enormous debt, Wang worked three jobs at a time, which variously included Flyer distribution, dressing up as a mascot for Taipei's Zoo Mall, waiting tables at a bar, a fashion retail assistant, a part-time model, and even hard labor work as a construction worker.

Upon graduation from arts college, he entered the commercial and modeling industry.

BMG, the label that signed him, planned to package him with Jay Chou and Jordan Chan under the "3J Plan", but when BMG's stocks crashed following 9/11, the 3J plan was scrapped.

Wang then decided to continue his career in the industry via commercial modeling and working backstage in fashion design.

He was approached again around 2004, launching the start of his acting career.

He speaks fluent Taiwanese and Mandarin, and understands conversational English.

Wang used to play with an underground band named Karma and was their lead singer.

Wang also composed the lyrics to their song, "人間逃亡記" (Rénjiān táowáng jì).

The band later changed its name to Dong Cheng Wei (東城衛).

On February 14, 2010, Wang started his own fashion label M JO .

In line with its founding date on Valentine's Day, the label's slogan advocates, "Enjoy Love, Life, and Peace."

As a design graduate with a passion for art, Wang personally designs the caps, clothing, and accessories, which are characterized by bold, vibrant and colorful designs.

Wang, who is well known in the industry for his filial piety, credits his mother for his artistic gifts and love of design.

She was a tailor / custom dressmaker and Wang learnt part of his craft from watching her work when he was young.

He was partly motivated to create the fashion label as a gift to his mother.

In 2013, between his filming commitments, Wang also held solo concerts in the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo in Japan, and Beijing and Shenzhen in China.

Apart from sharing work and lifestyle photographs, Wang uses his Weibo account to advocate various charitable causes, especially those relating to aiding aged war veterans (like Wang's own father) and elderly street hawkers, and animal welfare, amongst others.

His early difficult financial circumstances made him a firm believer in helping those in need and the privilege of being able to give.

Though he has used his celebrity status to aid charitable organizations such as Taiwan's Syinlu Social Welfare Foundation to raise funds and awareness for those with intellectual disabilities—such as shooting the micro-film entitled Seeing and designing packaging for the sale of their handicrafts —he remains largely low-profile about his personal charitable contributions.

Some of his acts of goodwill only come to light when organizations publish a list of their donors, for instance.

Through his friend Ivan Wang's introduction, Jiro Wang flew to Japan at the end of 2013 to meet with the manga artist, Momoko Sakura, creator of the series Chibi Maruko-chan.

In 2014, Wang designed an exhibit for World Trade Centre (Hong Kong), in line with the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where Wang's artwork, M JO products, and his label's iconic JO robot were on display from 30 May – July 17, 2014.

In 2014, Wang was invited to design the "M JO – JO Robot" series of virtual stickers/large-sized emoji for Line (application), making him the first Taiwanese celebrity to design purchasable stickers for the company.

On May 6, 2014, they attended the opening ceremony of WoMen Hair, which is run by their longtime friend and colleague, Sam Chen.

Wang's interest in art and Japanese manga includes a NT$10 million (approx. US$315,000) investment in exclusive agent rights for Chibi Maruko-chan merchandise in Taiwan.

His love of the series began as a child, when he would hurry home after school to catch the television series over his meal-time.

Jiro Wang and Momoko Sakura's collaboration is featured as part of the series' larger 30th anniversary exhibit, which was variously on display in Japan (August 6–20, 2014; December 27, 2014 – January 12, 2015) and Hong Kong (November 3, 2014 – January 4, 2015).

In 2014, Jiro Wang and Ivan Wang established Toyu / 東友企業 (a synthesis of their Chinese names) and became exclusive agents for marketing Chibi Maruko-chan products in Taiwan.

They have plans to make a Chibi Maruko-chan movie and Jiro Wang may possibly play Maruko's father or her classmate Kazuhiko Hanawa, depending on Maruko's age in the movie.

In his spare time, Wang takes an avid interest in putting Gundam models together and also in cosplay —a pastime he has enjoyed since his art school days, when he used to make his own costumes —and frequently shares photos on his Instagram and/or Weibo account in various roles as manga or anime characters, or Western superheroes, including Iron Man, Wolverine, Batman, and Captain America.

Wang is most well known as the male lead in the Taiwanese drama KO One (終極一班) (in which he plays the character Wang Da Dong, where he got his nickname, as it is quite similar to his real name, Wang Dong Cheng) and its sequel The X-Family.

He is also known for roles such as Ah Jin in It Started with a Kiss, as Jin Xiu Yi in the live-action Taiwanese drama, Hana-Kimi (花樣少年少女), and Huang Tai Jing in the Taiwanese adaptation of Fabulous Boys (原來是是美男).

Using his fashion line M JO's iconic JO robot as his theme, he designed a series of 40 virtual stickers, which was released in LINE's sticker store on April 24, 2015.

Jiro Wang jointly invests in WoMen Hair, a stylish hair salon in Taipei, with his good friends and fellow Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band) mates, Calvin Chen and Wu Chun.