The following is an exercise in controlled flailing. It is written from Amy and Brina to Vix and Pippa. (Of course, anyone who wants to know more about why Arashi is so wonderful may read and enjoy.) It makes absolutely no claim whatsoever to being an unbiased account of Arashi or its members.
This is cross-posted at
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imifumei
Let's not bother with all of the hard facts concerning Arashi, their debut date, their singles, their concerts, etc. You can look up that stuff on Wikipedia. Let's concentrate on the most important bits. The sparkly gay rainbow of love. Arashi loves each other. A lot. No, more than that. They consider themselves family and when asked how they deal with difficulties or achieve success they have the same answer: Arashi is Arashi. By this they mean that their successes have been achieved because Arashi is a very particular combination of the five of them, they support and compliment each other perfectly, it just wouldn't work for them any other way. It's by far our favorite thing about them, even if you disregard the facts that they are all immensely talented individuals, that their music is fantastic, that they are consummate performers, that they are all gorgeous, I would still love Arashi just because they love Arashi so much. They also love their fans and occasionally refer to them as 'the sixth member of Arashi'. They are also notable for being one of the only units in the company to have a kanji as their name (although we are fairly certain they only narrowly escaped being called A.M.N.O.S., which would make Aiba sad because then it would be too big to paint on his cheek for concerts).
It's good to be an Arashi fan (or bad depending on how many other things you need to fit into your life, like work or sleep) because they get an insane amount of exposure. They've been around for ten years and have pretty much been at the top of their game for most of them. (What I find equally impressive is that they show no sign of slowing down any time in the near future.) They have many albums, singles, and concert DVDs (many of which we own). They have had a whole slew of TV shows including C,D, and G no Arashi (which is just them hanging out), Mago Mago Arashi (in which they go play grandkids for a day with elderly people, it's adorable), Golden Rush Arashi (in which they explored Japanese culture), and a bunch more. The ones that are still airing are Himitsu no Arashi-chan (in which they investigate the behind-the-scenes aspects of things), VS Arashi (which is an awesome technicolor game show where they compete against guests at really neat and potentially embarrassing games), and Arashi no Shukudai-kun (which is a more standard variety/talk show). Yes, three currently airing shows. I think they've probably forgotten what sleep is like. They are also notable for being the only J&A group (that I know of, if I am mistaken please let me know and I will correct this!) to have starred together in three movies. In the movie Pika*Nchi and its sequel (the oh-so-originally named) Pika**Nchi Double, they play really charmingly dorky friends trying to figure out how to transition from childhood to adulthood. In the movie Kiiroi Namida, they play... charmingly dorky friends trying to pursue their dreams in post WWII Japan.
They have heaps of music videos, most of which I really enjoy (some for the sheer humor factor). One darling girl has spent a great deal of her time screen-capping videos and adding humorous captions. These are so worth a look! She gives the boys (especially Sho) a much harder time than they deserve and she claims to be a Jun fan but she's sometimes quite mean to him, but all of her entries are literally fall-off-your-chair hilarious. Especially the gifs. Srsly, just start at the top of the list and work your way down. ^_^ Click now, click like the wind! Because we wouldn't bother to mock them if we didn't love them so much. ♥
Arashi as a unit is just amazing, the work very well together especially considering their varied personalities. Let's take a look at them, onto the individual members!
Ohno Satoshi
A few important things about Ohno Satoshi: He likes to sleep, he likes to paint, and he likes to fish. He likes to do these things more than anything else you can imagine. No really. The man has been known to fish for more than 24 hours at a time. He is by nature kind of lazy, at the age of 18 he was ready to quit and become a convenience store clerk. Which would have been a shame because the other important things about Ohno Satoshi are that he probably the best dancer in the company, certainly one of the most talented vocalists, and a damned good actor to boot. He was doing solo shows in Kyoto when he was 15. He assists in choreographing a lot of the group's routines as well as his own solos, which are amazing. He tends not to talk very much in TV performances and group interviews, and he has been known to fall asleep on TV if you let him sit undisturbed for too long. Despite this, he is incredibly energetic and charismatic on stage. His concert performances are a wonder to behold.
He is the oldest member of the group by about three months, and he is the leader because in their 2nd or 3rd year he lost a game of jan-ken-pon. He is a pretty good leader, although one of the zen tradition. He leads by being utterly relaxed and doing not much of anything at all. His band mates all pretty much adore him for this. They call him Oh-chan mostly, or Riida(Leader). Aiba occasionally calls him Captain and Nino sometimes just calls him Satoshi, more about that later. Personality wise, he's laid back and well... sort of weird. He still lives with his parents, I believe that his mother still buys his clothes. We theorize that this is mostly because he can't or can't be bothered to take care of himself. Other than that, he is good at just about everything they ask him to do. Seriously, he makes some of those ridiculous sport and games look easy (which, given the utter failure of just about everyone else, we must conclude, are not). He is also a very talented artist, he's designed t-shirts, and album covers, and he had a solo exhibition of his work in February of 2008, called FREESTYLE.
He started getting lead roles in dramas in the summer of 2008, he starred in Maou with Ikuta Toma, and then earlier this year in Uta no Oniisan with Maruyama Ryuhei. Oh, another really important thing about Oh-chan is that he likes food. A lot. Every kind of food, and quite a few things most people wouldn't classify as food, like fried corn cobs, or crab shells, or watermelon rinds. Arashi tastes stuff on just about every episode of Arashi no Shukudai-kun (of which there are many) and when it comes time to comment on the food Oh-chan says the same thing pretty much every time: "Oh. Umai." He especially enjoys strawberries, one memorable episode of AnS, they had a Christmas cake and by the time everyone else noticed, he had eaten all of the berries off of the back half of the cake.
You will note from the pictures, that Oh-chan is pretty gorgeous. He looks even better in motion, I promise. He looks like an adorable kitten when he sneezes, like a kitten he is also weensy, unlike a kitten, he is surprisingly toned. (That's him on the far right. I have captioned this picture: stupid bucket.
His dancing... gah. He moves more smoothly than anyone I have ever seen, like he's made of water, like he has the ability to keep every muscle in his body perfectly relaxed. When Oh-chan dances, he is nothing short of mesmerizing.
Birthday: November 26, 1980
Recent Solos:
Rain - from 2006 All Around Asia Tour, in the Tokyo Dome
Song for Me - from 2007 Time Tour, in Tokyo Dome
Take Me Far Away - from 2008 All Around Asia Tour, in Kokuritsu (National Sports Stadium)
Ninomiya Kazunari
Ninomiya, or Nino (as the vast majority of people refer to him), is kind of a sweetheart. He is also an evil bastard. One of the things I like most about Nino is that he is a study in contradictions. He loves his band mates fiercely, they are also his favorite targets for his elaborate and sometimes nasty practical jokes. He will tell you flat out that he's a pretty talented guy but be honestly embarrassed when someone else tells him the same thing. He hardly speaks about his family, but we're given to understand that they are estranged from his father and have been for quite some time. He and Sho have been long time BFFs since their junior days. And when Nino first met Jun, he lied to him about being related to another junior for no reason. (I suspect it was one of the earlier signs of his love for messing with people. (Especially Jun, because it's so~ easy.)
Nino probably not the best vocalist as far as simple technique goes but I just adore the sound of his voice. It's distinctive and he uses a lot more vibrato than most people. He plays the guitar and the piano and is an immensely talented song writer. He's written a few of his own solos and accompanies himself in concert. He also wrote Fight Song, which is (you guessed it) a fight song, for Arashi... because Nino's love is a little less obvious but no less squishy. And sometimes Nino can be downright adorable. On the show Mago Mago Arashi, they send the boys in pairs to spend a day with an elderly couple as their adopted grandchildren. At the end of the day, the boys usually do something nice for the couple. Nino usually brings his guitar and sings them a song. I especially love watching him in that capacity because he is far less 'on' than he is on stage. His voice has a more vulnerable quality, he sounds unrehearsed, and emotional, and lovely.
On their TV shows he has very few qualms about being his prickly little self. He whines and complains, he has a sharp tongue and he's not afraid to use it. He often has to hide the fact that he is outright laughing at their guests, (except of course when they're comedians and trying to be funny) and when he is bored he rests his face in his hand. The more disinterested he is, the more of his face is covered. Brina and I like to say "If Nino's hand is eating his face, you're boring." Also, the rest of the group has a strange fascination with his hands. They have all, in separate interviews, referred to them as tiny, adorable, and like hamburgers. Seriously, I don't know what's up with that either but it causes Nino to sometimes be known as 'hamburger hands'. They are also very skilled hands, Nino's favorite hobby for the last year or so has been learning magic, more specifically card tricks. He is really frighteningly good at them. He's well known for being a gamer (several official photo shoots have included his DS), he especially enjoys RPGs and his favorite of all time is Dragon Quest. He is also a cheapskate, the guys give him a hard time about this.
Nino is an incredible actor, by far the best of all of them. (and MatsuJun is damn good!) He can do serious and heart wrenching like nobody's business. In one of his recent drama specials he plays a salesman with cerebral palsy, he made Brina and I tear up just watching a 15-second preview clip. He's also the only Johnny to have starred in an American movie, in 2006 he spent 3 months working on Letters From Iwo Jima with Clint Eastwood. He came back tan and (more) smug. My very favorite Nino drama also stars Sho, it's called Yamada Tarou Monagatari and it is more gay even than Nobuta wo Produce, if you can believe that. But overall, I recommend everything he's done.
I think Nino's practical jokes deserve their own section, you have to watch like a metric fuckton of old Arashi shows to learn about all of them. But, since Brina and I have already done that for you, you should reap the benefits! Background: he calls his tricks 'Ni no Arashi' which is a pun on the name of their older shows (C no Arashi, D no Arashi, and G no Arashi) and whenever he pulls a stunt, at the end he holds up a tiny piece of tape between his first two fingers with 'Ni no Arashi' written on it. Ok, he is a master of the elaborate set-up. His most impressive trick in my estimation was arranging for an entire concert stadium of people to only chant his name during the encore. The other members had no idea what was going on. Sho looked royally pissed while the others were dazed and confused. They all trailed out on stage after him and he let them go for a few minutes before the entire audience held up little 'Ni no Arashi' signs. The backstage footage for that DVD further revealed the audience being given the instructions and signs as they came into the arena. On the set of D no Arashi, he had people come in and arrest their Assistant Director on domestic violence charges. The AD was in on it of course but he really had the boys going. We seriously thought Aiba was going to cry, it was tragic. But I think the worst one to date was directed at Oh-chan. Now the two of them wrestle around all the time, they were filming a sleep-over segment on futons and Ohmiya can't keep their hands off each other so of course they were messing around and pushing each other. Oh-chan kind of shoves Nino over and leans on him (not very hard mind you) but Nino comes up on his knees coughing hard. After a few moments of coughing he spits up blood on the futon. Which pretty much terrifies poor Oh-chan. He is so relieved when Nino reveals the gag that he doesn't seem mad at all, he just clutches his heart. After a while of this crap, the guys decide to try and prank him back. As you can probably imagine this does not go well for them. They talk to their director and have him ask Nino for a private meeting and try to come on to him, you know touching his hand, rubbing his shoulders... but the problem here is two-fold. Nino is smart, and they couldn't hide a camera well to save their lives. As soon as he suspects that something might be up (pretty much right away) he whips his head right over to where they have hidden an camera in a box with a hole cut out for the lens. facepalm. So yeah, Nino is the undisputed King of Messing With People. I don't care how many of Yamapi's shoes Tegoshi tapes to the floor.
Birthday: June 17, 1983
Recent Solos:
Himitsu - from Arashi Around Asia Tour 2006, in the Tokyo Dome
Niji - from Arashi Around Asia Tour 2008, in Kokuritsu (National Sports Stadium) - I am seriously in love with the way Nino sings this song.
(Ohmiya)
Ohmiya gets its own section not just because Brina and I both ship it hardcore, but because the universe in general, and Oh-chan and Nino specifically, do as well.
Where to start... well, let's start at the very beginning. Arashi has said on many occassions that they were not all very close when they first debuted. This is true, however, it did not stop Nino even a little bit from latching onto Oh-chan during their actual debut in Hawaii. Very recently, a talk show aired footage of their debut which included them traipsing all over the island, Oh-chan's hand securely in Nino's the entire time. Oh, except for the moments Nino requires both hands so he can lean over Oh-chan's lap to steal his french fries.They had known each other for a matter of days matter of days (aside from seeing each other around the Jimusho) and Nino had already staked his claim.
So, you know how Koyama and Shige go way out of their way to assure everyone and their mother that they are really 'just friends' and as a result, most people are firmly convinced that they are dating? Well, Ohmiya bascially uses the exact opposite technique. They appear to actively encourage speculation about their relationship. They sit all over each other in photos and on their TV shows (seriously I could write a whole paragraph about how they utterly fail to use a three person couch on AnS... let's just say they rarely use more than half of it, they prefer to squish up together in the corner). They have been quoted so many times in so many interviews that I wouldn't even know where to start compiling a list, talking about how much they like each other, how the other is their ideal person, how Nino grabs Oh-chan's butt to help him de-stress, running off to a deserted island together, etc. They guest star on each others' dramas, I swear the bit in the first episode of Maou where Nino throws Oh-chan up against a wall may be the hottest 20 seconds of j-drama ever. They call each other Satoshi and Kazu-chan and leave each other schmoopsy little comments on the Wink-up Message boards (which, in my opinion might as well just be called the Wink-Up Hook-Up message board). They kiss in concert.
Basically, they prefer to be as close as possible as much of the time as possible. See also, this video, which was taken backstage during the Iza, Now tour. For me at least, one of the most delightful parts of it being that they're on Sho's futon, but also way up there is how Oh-no thinks he can jump back over to the other bed and no one will notice, and Nino's super adorable lost and sleepy puppy face. There has been much fandom speculation as to whether one or several of Nino's solos were written for Ohno, Nino mentioned off-hand once that Ohno had inspired some of his music.
Ever wonder who first coined the namesquish 'Ohmiya'? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the fans. In their earlier summer concerts, (I think they stopped sometime around 2006), the boys had a section in which they did skits as the comedy duo Ohmiya SK. They wore tiny sparkly shorts and basically goofed around in a gay, gay way. They have super cute photo shoots, wherein they act like a married couple. (Yes, those are the first parts of their names, Sato and Kazu, under that umbrella with a ketchup heart on the omurice.)
So... are they actually together? We sure as hell like to think so. At the very least, they are extremely close and very important to each other. I like to think that they are evil geniuses for hiding their relationship in plain sight. It was probably Nino's idea and Oh-chan never got around to objecting. At any rate, they are totally getting away with it.
Aiba Masaki
Known as Aiba-chan for the most part to his group and fans, he is a ray of sunshine. Tru fax. He was born in Chiba, (as were Pi and Koki, oh so many reasons to love Chiba!) his parents own a Chinese restaurant that he was supposed to inherit. Thankfully he has a younger brother to take his place. Aiba joined the company because he thought if he did, he would get a chance to play basketball with SMAP. He passed the audition, debuted, works his butt off and the poor sweetie still hasn't gotten his wish. Someday Aiba-chan! I am utterly addicted to Aiba's breathy singing voice. It took me a little while to get used to but once I did, I was hopelessly hooked. He's got a surprisingly low range (second only to Sho, within Arashi, I believe), and in my opinion, he doesn't get enough solo bits. His solos are all lovely and happy and genki, in his most recent solo he plays the harmonica! (like most things about Aiba, it's adorable) This does not, however, mean that the boy can't ooze sex. Because, boy howdy, he can when he wants to.
Aiba is generally a cheerful person, he's bubbly and enthusiastic about everything. His smile is one of the cutest and most endearing things I can think of, except maybe his laugh (and perhaps, this). Aiba is the kind of person who laughs loudly, with his entire body, and doesn't care that it sounds completely dorky. He sometimes has a hard time reading kanji and has the habit of saying out loud pretty much whatever happens to flit through his mind at the moment. This earns him a lot of smacks to the back of the head and the pet name Aibaka. People have a tendency to label him as stupid, but I rather think he's just a little ditzy and easily distracted by shiny thoughts and/or objects.
Aiba has a very special relationship with science. They are buds, they hang out when science can be bothered to make the time (which is actually pretty rare). But, this doesn't stop Aiba from hosting a special segment on every single one of their shows called 'A no Arashi'. In this segment they do experiments. Some of them are very Mr. Wizard type things like 'how long can Nino run on top of corn starch mixed with water'? (As it turns out, quite a while! The trick is not to break the surface tension which means running fast, which Nino can b/c he is tiny and quick like a bunny.) Some of them are slightly less scientific such as 'what will happen if we put Aiba in a fencing mask and hit him in the face with a cream pie?' Answer: Aiba gets a face covered in delightfully waffle-patterned cream. By this point in their careers they have done literally hundreds of experiments, some of them are truly epic. I could write an entire pimp post about just them, but I won't. Although I am really sorely tempted to make a fanvideo to the song "I'm on a Boat" using footage of their (horrible failures) attempts to row to Tokyo Bay in boats made of paper, seaweed, cardboard, banana leaves, legos, and hay (among other things, like an ice floe which they proceeded to make snow cones out of while they were on it. Srsly, I couldn't dream this shit up). And I would be sadly remiss if I wrote about Aiba experiments without mentioning Mirror Man. Mirror Man is a segment in which Aiba wears a box-like suit made out of mirrors and sits in various environments trying to blend in by reflecting his surroundings. His first handfuls of attempts failed just as hard as you might expect. But after a while, he was a little more successful. The trick was picking the right places like a foliage heavy forest in autumn, or a dark park filled with twinkly lights, not a big empty ski slope or a crowded city street.
Aiba also loves animals! He is a co-host for the show Tensai! Shimura Dobutsuen which basically consists of a bunch of celebrities cuddling baby animals. We tend only to watch the bits that include Aiba (and not Shimura Ken's pet chimp because we freaking hate monkeys) and sometimes other segments if the baby animals are especially cute (red pandas and otters!) Due to his work on T!SD, Aiba has traveled all over the world and picked up quite a bit of animal handling skill (and an entirely justified fear of kangaroos). Oh, and he also thinks he can speak English. He is mistaken. But even if he were fluent, I still want to ask him what makes him think the cheetah speaks English too.
Aiba hasn't done a whole lot of acting as far a dramas go, although he was recently very successful as the lead in the stage play 'Greenfingers' which was adapted from the British movie of the same name. I found all of his interviews about the play and the character to be incredibly thoughtful.
Aiba is an emotional boy, probably the most of all of his group. He cries at the end of just about every concert and on other occasions as well. Early on in their career, I believe during a PV filming, one of his lungs collapsed and he was in the hospital for a while. He is no longer allowed to play the saxophone (which he did quite well) and he felt really terrible for having to leave his group in a lurch. During their first turn as hosts of 24-Hour Terebi in 2004, Aiba wrote and read aloud a letter he had written to the other members. It is incredibly touching and made damned near everyone present (not to mention me and Brina) cry.
Aiba is a joy to watch because no matter what he is doing, he clearly adores his job. In a very recent interview in which the boys were reflecting back on their ten years as Arashi and Aiba said something like unto this: 'When I first started I wanted Arashi to be the kind of group people would look at and want to be a part of. Even now, when I watch us on TV, I am watching as a fan and not as Aiba Masaki of Arashi. I watch us and I think that we really look like we're having fun! I want to be there having fun too! So I guess we accomplished my goal from those days.' I think Aiba embodies the best qualities of youth: boundless enthusiasm, the ability (and inclination) to wonder, and pure devotion to his friends.
Birthday: December 24, 1982 (yes, I do occasionally refer to Aiba as a Christmas present to the world. Don't judge me!)
Unlike the other members, Aiba has never gotten a sexy and/or provocative solo. I am totally ok with this as the solos he does have are all completely charming.
Recent Solos:
Namida no Nagareboshi - from Arash Around Asia Tour 2006, in the Tokyo Dome {fun fact: Tackey and Tsubasa are totally singing backup for him here!}
Friendship - from the Time Summer Tour 2007, in the Tokyo Dome
HelloGoodbye - from Arashi Around Asia Tour 2008, in Kokuritsu (National Sports Stadium)
Sakurai Sho
Sakurai Sho, often called Sho-kun, or Sho-chan, is the second-oldest member of the group. He is the rapper of the group and, being the best public speaker, usually acts as the MC. He is, in short, amazing. Let me count the ways. Sho was the first Johnny to introduce rapping as a regular part of his group's performances. In the early days it was met with mixed reviews and, being a little touchy about it, he wrote Unti-Unti, later re-romanized to Anti-Anti, in response to the claim that Johnny's idols couldn't rap. His perseverance in the field inspired Tanaka Koki to rap as well. Unlike Koki, however, he only occasionally attempts to be 'street', which is good because his clean-cut respectable image just wouldn't mesh with it. He writes all of his own rap lyrics. This is to be expected, of course, but it is especially notable because if you ask anyone who has ever tried to translate his rap lyrics, he writes them much in the same way that he regularly speaks; that is to say, in well-thought-out, university-educated Japanese with lots of big words and obscure kanji compounds, and it makes translation less-than-easy. Sho's interest in education is not surprising as he comes from a background of educators. Sho was one of the first Johnny's to continue his education through the university level. He attended Keio, where he received a degree in Economics in 2004. He has since become a respected newscaster, hosting a weekly segment on NEWS ZERO called 'Ichimen' in which he explains some pressing socio-political issue in a layman-accesible format using graphics and pointers. He also has a blog where they post his segments. (This is not a personal blog. It is not a place for much fangirling unless you are going to fangirl on news, actual news, not NewS. I enjoy trying to figure out what he's saying about the American political climate. His coverage of the presidential election was fun to try to translate. He also talks a lot about the Gross National Product as compared with that of other nations. By all accounts, Sho spends a lot of time thinking about the GNP.) He was also chosen as NTV's main newscaster for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
With these accomplishments, many think that Sho is necessarily conceited and egotistical, some even say he deserves to be so. However, I do not believe this could be further from the truth. Why? Because in addition to being highly accomplished he is a Captain. Not like Oh-chan is the Riida/Captain, no. Sho is the resident Captain of the Arashi Failboat. Sho is fail or flail at everything. He has been known, in his early days before he knew how best to romanize his own name, to spell it with a W at the end. Erm, no, sweetie, you are Sho, not a show. His tendency toward sounding highly educated and (over)thinking through things he says has led him to give lengthy responses chock-a-bock with meaning and symbolism only to be dismissed out of hand in countless segments on AnS wherein the members are asked to come up with a way to confess/ask-out/apologize to a girl and the audience gets to vote on whether it is acceptable. This is as opposed to Ohno who says basically nothing and the entire audience loves him. That news show he's on? Oh yeah, watching the pained expression on his face when they covered the Arashi dome concert and there was a 20 foot tall sparkly version of himself prancing on the screen behind him was priceless. Highly respected Olympics News Broadcaster? Sure, but he sometimes forgot to give commentary in favor of just watching matches in various sports and cheering like a regular fan. He also fanboy-ed out over one of the Japanese gymnasts' abs, going to far as to ask if he could touch them (somehow this amazingly did not come off half as gay as it sounds).
Sho fails at nearly every sport he attempts save soccer, at which he is actually quite good. There was also a time on G no Arashi when the boys were learning to use nunchuks and Sho was surprisingly adept. He was very good at one move designed to hit one's opponent in the chest, prompting Sho, and the rest of Arashi, to use 'Chesuto' as Sho's battle cry for years to come, such as when he was asked to repeat the nunchuking skills on AnS (he also rode a unicycle!). The guys are often required to participate in sports and games for their many television shows and Sho invariably whines like a petulant child when being made to do something he deems "sca~~ry". Let me tell you a secret, Sho thinks everything is scary. He is terrified of heights and the mere idea of possibly one day falling from them. So much so that early on in VS Arashi episodes there was a segment called "Most Dame Arashi" in which Arashi chose who sucked the hardest for that episode and that person got dropped from a platform approximately ten feet into a bin full of foam cubes. Sho pronounced this to be "mecha kowai" (super scary). While he may look like the strongest member of Arashi on account of his being the most muscular, he is actually pretty weak. He says he rarely goes to the gym, which is probably true because he really doesn't have the time between his singing, newscasting, three regular variety TV shows, and seasonal TV projects. He has been known to lose in arm-wrestling to Nino, who is just weensy. He, and his other members, frequently talk about how stiff his muscles are and how if he tries to win an arm-wrestling match his muscles tear. (It is possible that this is because he's a big baby.)
So how does all this mean he's not the conceited jerk some people say he is? Well, because he keeps doing it. He never gets standoffish or refuses to do things on the basis that he's above it or it'll make him look stupid (Like MatsuJun sometimes does, the diva). The worst he ever does is whine and then look stupid just like everyone else. He's a good sport. Once, when he was a weensy Junior, Domoto Tsuyoshi made him kancho Domoto Koichi as a punishment game. (Not familiar with kancho? See wiki.) Also in the realm of frequently looking stupid falls the myriad faces Sho pulls when reacting to his band being crazy or cute (I actually do not have a good screencap of what we frequently call 'ShoFace'-when he's just so gosh-darned fond of his bandmates), doing scary things, and tasting foods on their TV shows. Furthermore, despite possessing absolutely no talent whatsoever, just ask Nino, Sho has been known do draw occasionally. Some of his masterpieces include a cricket and a rhinoceros.
In addition to singing and rapping and schooling and failing, Sho is also an actor. Among his more notable roles have been a kindergarten teacher in Yoiko no Mikata which is notable because he did it while he was also going to school full-time, touring and filming Arashi's TV shows, allowing himself approximately 8-9 hours of sleep per week; a school student opposite Nino in Yamada Tarou Monogatari which is notable because he is the scorchingly hot heir to an ikebana (classic flower arranging) family who listens to AC/DC while he arranges flowers; more recently a superhero - Yatterman in the film of the same name (Arashi's single Believe was made into two PVs, one regular and one cartoon which transformed every member into one of the superheroes from that universe; and his (as I write this post) currently airing drama The Quiz Show which is notable because it is a more challenging, darker role than he's ever played before. He has also been in a couple of stageplays, the one of particular note being the leading role of Tony in the Japanese version of 'West Side Story' which also starred Ohno (as Riff, leader of the Jets) and Jun (as Bernardo, leader of the Sharks).
Birthday:January 25, 1982
Recent Solos:
Anti-Anti from Arashi Around Asia in the Tokyo Dome 2006 DVD
Can't Let You Go from the Time Concert DVD 2007
Hip-Pop Boogie from Arashi Around Asia 2008 at Kokuritsu
Matsumoto Jun
Matsumoto Jun, also called MatsuJun, Jun-kun, or Jun-chan, is the baby of Arashi. He is, without question, the biggest fan of Arashi who ever has or ever will live. No one loves Arashi as much as Jun does, every member has at one point or another said the same. He carries the distinction of being one of the three Johnny's never to have to audition (The others are Nakai Masahiro of SMAP and Higashiyama Noriyuki of Shounentai). He sent his application in at the end of elementary school and Johnny personally called him about a week later to invite him to begin rehearsals. In his early days, Jun was dorky and awkward and took himself a little too seriously. (He still does that occasionally.) He had adorable crooked teeth and was too lanky for his own good. However, he was, and still is, very hardworking. He takes being an idol as a serious job which requires a lot of effort and concentration. He works very hard, never complain he's tired or lets others say he is tired.
When he started in the company, he idolized Sho. It was Sho's influence and tutoring that convinced Jun to finish high school. Jun is a reader, he has been known to enjoy manga including 'Fist of the North Star' and 'Hunter X Hunter'. He often stays up late reading. Actually, he often simply stays up late. He is a terrible insomniac and purportedly drinks a lot of canned coffee (I have heard of a 'red can with a hummingbird on it' being the kind he likes but I haven't been able to track it down.)
He is very concerned with his image. He is extremely, some might say 'overly', critical of himself and others. He hates looking stupid. He does not like to appear scared. But he is not cowardly, when pressed he will make just as much a fool of himself as his bandmates, if only as a bonding experience. He does not, however, persist in doing stupid things just for the sake of them. He doesn't whine about it the whole time like Sho, either. He just realizes he's going to have to do it, does it, and then hides. In one memorable episode of AnS, Aiba volunteered Arashi to undertake the experiment of how many meters of three different types of noodles would fit into one's mouth. Jun, Ohno, and Nino were each assigned udon, soba, and ramen noodles, respectively. Now, udon are the thickest of those noodles, Nino is competitive, and Ohno will eat until you tell him to stop, so Jun had no chance of winning. He put up a valiant effort and got about 4 meters of udon into his mouth before bowing out. He obviously could have fit more, but he seemed disinterested in looking foolish. Nino ended up with (I think about) 18 meters and Ohno won with 26. Nino and Ohno had chipmunk-cheeks of noodle. Jun looked pretty, as pretty as one can look when eating noodles.
Sometimes, of course, the Jimusho just makes him do dumb things. If you asked Jun, I think he'd say that the greatest travesty in this situation is the outfit and not the terrible pun of "bowlingual".
He is not-so-secretly earnest, bright-faced, flaily, and adorable; every bit the dorky, excitable child he's constantly trying to prove he never was. He grew up into the cool, aloof one. He does a moderately good job of making people forget how geeky he actually is. He usually manages cool (for the Japanese which is different from cool in the States and probably the UK as well) but only sometimes manages to seem aloof. This is not helped by the fact that on the inside, Jun is a snuggly love bug. He is very standoffish with people he doesn't know well, but with Arashi, his one and only love, he is all cuddles. It is difficult to seem aloof with your arms always around one or another of your band-mates shoulders and especially so considering the ridiculous look of gooey affection on his face in the One Love PV. You'd think they could have mentioned he was oozing his luuuurve all over the video, but then, he's always doing that, so they may not have noticed a marked change. (By the by, as much as I love it, it is one of Arashi's worst PVs.)
He loves each of his bandmates individually as much as he loves Arashi as a group. The only ones he doesn't cuddle all the time are Sho and Aiba and that's primarily as a result of not being able to cuddle someone who is busy interviewing someone (Sho) or whom you are busy smacking over the head (Aiba). Sometimes his love is shown through his very very wry sense of humour. Jun has a very good "Oh, really?" face, you know that one that says "You must think I'm a mushroom because you keep trying to feed me bullshit"? His usual brand of making fun is in that dry, sarcastic, 'you don't say' way. He rarely points out a lot flaws in them (a la Nino), he usually just grins to himself and let's them make themselves look stupid, a feat which Arashi accomplishes daily. (Jun, to his own chagrin, included.) His sense of humour is further characterized by a healthy appreciation of schadenfreude, which is what prompts the rest of his band and many others to consistently refer to him as DoS (very sadistic). But no matter how much he might mock them, really he loves them. So much so that he wrote this song about it and called it La Familia. Also, they love him back.
Jun is very careful and private about his personal life. Whereas many Johnny's, certainly ever other member of Arashi, has at some point had some sort of scandal, to my knowledge Jun still has not. He does not talk very much about his family, except that he has an older sister. He keeps things focused on work. He has said that someday (after he 'retires') he'd like to be a host of a music show like Music Station. (We'll see how old you are when Johnny finally lets you retire, sweetie.)
Jun is also noted for being very
Jun's dancing skills, as witnessed in the above-linked W/Me video, are special. People say he's a bad dancer. He's not bad, per se. He just has a very specific style. Specific to him only. The members call it "dancing like a mollusk" and refer to it in La Tormenta 2004. I have no idea in what way they think it is "like a mollusk".(La Tormenta is Arashi's Member Introduction Rap song. They were one of the first, maybe the first to do a member introduction rap. It has had at least 3 different versions which talk about various aspects of the members careers.)
Jun likes to be in charge of things (probably because then he can be sure they are being done correctly-it's why I like to be in charge of things too, just ask Amy). This has led him to become Arashi's concert leader. The band looks to him for guidance in the layout, set list, staging, etc. he acts as Arashi's liaison with the concert production staff. One of his most impressive feats as their concert coordinator was to introduce the clear lucite moving stage to the Tokyo Dome. Do you recall the clear, bouncing platform Koki gyrates all over in "Make U Wet" in the Cartoon KAT-TUN II You Con? That was Jun's idea. It is used extensively in Arashi's concerts.
In concert (and sometimes in photo shoots) Jun shows that he has something of an oral fixation. This used to be just sticking his tongue out (rock-style, not very lasciviously, he's not Kame) or occassionally licking his fingers. Recently, for Arashi Around Asia: 2008 at Kokuritsu, this has escalated to licking one finger in a sort of inexplicable way and flicking it at you. It is bizarre. I am sure he thinks it looks cool. Frequently he makes kissy faces at the camera. You see, Jun has this special power. He can locate a camera and make love to it from about 200 yards away; in any place at any time. Very rarely you see him actually looking for one, maybe slinging an arm over Ohno's shoulder and pointing one out, but usually he just knows where it is.
As far as Jun's singing goes, he has an excellent range but somehow still manages to have to sing above it, prompting his nasal "I'm going to be all whiny popstar at you" voice. Sometimes he just sings that way even when it is within his range. I think he thinks he sounds cool. Not usually, but I love him anyway. For a good demonstration of his vocal capabilities, listen to Naked, his solo from the Dream "A" Live album. In it he demonstrates vocal control and a very sweet (as opposed to nasal) falsetto that is less present in their group work.
Jun is also a respected actor. His most famous role was as Domyouji Tsukasa in the Hana Yori Dango Series. He has also been in Gokusen (before Jin and Kame!), Kimi wa Petto (he plays a puppy! no really.), Bambino! (an arrogant line cook), and most recently Smile, among many others drama and movie roles. He has been in a few stageplays; the aforementioned 'West Side Story', as well as one called 'Byakuya no Onna Kishi Valkyrie' which I have watched in a bad fancam version and have absolutely no idea what is going on in it. It's very artsy-fartsy. Jun looked lovely.
All of these things add up to one the the biggest ones, if not the biggest Diva in J&A. Jun knows himself very well. He is self-aware, thoughtful, and insightful, and he owns a mirror, so he knows exactly how awesome and beautiful he is. He sees no reason to be overly modest but he does not go around spouting nonsense like "I'm the best, Viva Myself". Hold the phone. Yes he does. (This is my favorite of Jun's solos. It is his, and my, personal anthem.) In addition to carrying a giant fuck-off torch for Arashi, Jun fanboys himself. Not really a lot, and not in public except when he sings Yabai! Yabai! Yabai! but he is his own fan and this is something I really appreciate about him. To Jun, Jun's way is always best. (Luckily, he's a good person and not an utter douchenozzle, otherwise he might get into trouble.)
Birthday: August 30, 1983
Recent Solos:
These are linked above.
La Familia (not really recent) is from the Iza, Now Tour
Yabai! Yabai! Yabai! is from the Time Concert
The version of Tell Me What You Wanna Be I linked is from AAA 2008 at Kokuritsu. He also did this song in the AAA 2006 Concert.
Here is a performance of it that, as near as I can tell was filmed during that tour but that did not get used for the DVD. I'm fairly certain this is from the Yokohama Dome performance. It is a long video which includes the Fan Dance and Light Saber dance that precede Right Back To You in the concert. Also, occasionally Nino plays the guitar part for Jun's solo. Jun shows his love by practically licking Nino's face. This video is this short because that's really all there is. It was released as an extra clip from their Arashi Around Asia; Thailand-Taiwan-Korea DVD which was a behind-the-scenes documentary of their tour.
At some point in the near future, I also plan to put together a fic rec list. Arashi was totally my gateway drug to this wonderful fandom, so I really want to share the love.
<3<3<3
accomplished
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