If you think boy bands are only a source of fascination for teenage girls, think again. Popular Japanese boy band Arashi is broadening its fan base and capturing the hearts of older men with their boy-next-door image.
The five members of Arashi, which debuted in 1999, had a busy year in 2009 with many successes in the wake of the group’s 10th anniversary. Arashi means ‘‘a storm.’‘
Their songs regularly featured in the top ranking of 2009 music sales chart for singles, albums and music DVDs compiled by entertainment business firm Oricon Inc. The boy band also made its first appearance on ‘‘Kohaku Uta Gassen’’ (Red and White Year-end Song Festival), Japan’s annual TV music show on New Year’s Eve aired by Japan Broadcasting Corp, which showcases the nation’s most popular singers of the past year.
One of several male idol groups created by Japan’s giant entertainment agency Johnny & Associates, Arashi is easily one of the best-selling acts in the country, with six regular weekly programs featuring the group or individual members, as well as nine commercials. The five members, who can all sing and dance, are Satoshi Ono, 29, Sho Sakurai, 28, Masaki Aiba, 27, Kazunari Ninomiya, 26, and Jun Matsumoto, 26.
Their new song was also used as a Nippon Television Network Corp theme song for the Vancouver Olympics, and Sakurai, who is a newscaster on NTV’s ‘‘News Zero,’’ was a commentator for NTV’s live coverage of the Winter Games.
Arashi’s popularity, according to the boy band’s legions of fans, young and elderly alike, stems from the ‘‘closeness’’ of its members.
Yoshikazu Takeuchi, a 54-year-old writer, recalled being impressed by a DVD he watched four years ago of one of the boy band’s concerts and how he became smitten by the closeness of its members, as evident in their variety programs.
Before he knew it, he was a certified Arashi fan and started joining fan events. On Jan. 21, Takeuchi was among around 60 fans at a talk show in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward featuring the boy band.
Takeuchi, who has started his own blog devoted to Arashi, said, ‘‘With Japanese society tired from the economic slump, people are probably looking for something to soothe them.’’ He added, ‘‘They behave well but they’re not goody two shoes.’‘
Sharing Takeuchi’s sentiments, a 50-year-old woman from Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, who went to the talk show with her 23-year-old daughter, said it was good to see the members, who act like close friends on a school trip, adding that she likes how they do not try to outdo each other.
‘‘They act like they are a family,’’ Kumiko Arayama, 61, said at another talk show in Osaka Prefecture.
A 53-year-old woman said, ‘‘I used to hate Johnny’s celebrities for some reason, but I’ve become less prejudiced after seeing the good qualities of Arashi.’‘
The number of parents accompanying their children to Arashi concerts has been increasing over the years, with one housewife in her 40s from Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, saying, ‘‘I can bring children here without any worries as we can enjoy ourselves at the concert, just like going to Disneyland.’‘
By the time Arashi closed the curtain on their 10th anniversary concert tour on Jan 17, they had drawn 760,000 fans.
Industry pundits say that Arashi’s popularity is fast catching up or even eclipsing longtime successful boy band SMAP, who are also part of the Johnny & Associates stable, a nest for molding male pop idols.
‘‘Other idols starting with SMAP tend to show off, but Arashi, even if they fail, just take things in their stride and laugh it off, and this makes the fans think they are just being themselves,’’ said Mika Naito, a 39-year-old writer and critic who professes to be a longtime fan of Johnny’s idols.
‘‘These days people can access media at their own pace, so they can cheer and support their idols without exerting much effort,’’ Naito said, noting that Arashi’s popularity matches the trend of the times.
While the boy band’s popularity is largely welcomed by its fans, some of them cannot help but have mixed feelings.
‘‘I’m happy to see them on so many programs and I was overcome with emotion when they performed at Kohaku,’’ said an acupuncturist in her 40s, but she added, ‘‘I’m sad that it is (now) hard to get their concert tickets.’’
From Japan Today
So true, Sho-kun can be proof of that.
Arashi (嵐)’s new single “Troublemaker” has been released on March 3rd.