J-Pop group Arashi to become dormant at end of 2020

January 28, 2019

Tokyo--Five members of Arashi, a popular men's pop group in Japan, said Sunday they will halt group activities at the end of 2020.

The members and talent agency Johnny&Associates Inc., where they belong, made the decision through talks held after group leader Satoshi Ono, 38, expressed wish for living freely, according to the announcement.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Ono said, "I want to stop to re-examine myself."

Making a debut with single CD "A. RA. SHI" in 1999, Ono, Masaki Aiba, 36, Sho Sakurai, 37, Kazunari Ninomiya, 35, and Jun Matsumoto, 35, have releases 56 singles and 16 albums and sold more than 30 million units in total so far.

Arashi appeared in the "Kohaku Uta Gassen" (Red and White Song Battle), a long-continued show aired by state-run Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) on New Year's Eve, for the 10th straight year in 2018. Currently, the group has regular television shows "VS Arashi" and "Arashi ni Shiyagare" and has been on what the members call "the biggest-ever" live concert tour since November last year to mark the group's 20th debut anniversary.

Besides group activities, each member has been taking part in various TV and radio programs as well as movies and TV commercials.

"I was so shocked that I cried loudly," said Hina Mouri, a 16-year-old high school student in Chiba Prefecture who has been an Arashi fan since she was an elementary school second grader. She said she heard the news at Johnny's Shop in the Harajuku district in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.

"I thought Arashi would be my idol forever," sadly said Aiko Ishihara, a Saitama Prefecture high school girl also aged 16.

The members' announcement has sent shockwaves not only across Japan but overseas, particularly Taiwan, where there are many fans.

Although the members did not use the word "breakup," fans should have imagined it, a local newspaper reported online. Arashi held concerts in Taipei in 2006 and 2008.

A 35-year-old Taiwanese woman now studying in Tokyo was quoted as saying that she feels sad because she cannot watch TV programs featuring the members altogether after 2020.

At the news conference, Matsumoto said, "I'm sorry for surprising (fans)." But he stressed that Arashi will not disappear.

At Johnny&Associates, another broadly popular men's J-pop group SMAP disbanded at the end of 2016. Jiji Press