Formed in 1997, 9miles are a four-man Japanese reggae band headed by unique female vocalist Yasuko. The group's name is taken from the name of Bob Marley's hometown, Nine Mile. Although the group is firmly rooted in reggae, rocksteady, lovers rock, roots, and so forth, they also work elements from various other genres into their music, making for a highly original sound that has found them a lot of cross-over success.

The group's first mini-album, Bankan no Omoi wo Komete, was released in 2003, followed in 2005 by their self-titled debut album, a track from which was used for the Vodafone commercial played during the screening of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle. Their long-awaited second album, Belly-Go-Round, was released in 2007.