On January 27, 2019, the Japanese idol group Arashi held a press conference to announce the suspension of activities after December 31, 2020. This is another seismic change that occurred in Janis after the dissolution of SMAP in 2016.
There are anecdotal reactions, lamentations, regrets, criticisms, and cold eyes. The five members, Tomomo Ono, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazuya Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto, jointly announced the "suspension of activities," but the "suspension" declaration came too suddenly, and even if the five people showed a united posture in public, it was inevitable that people would speculate about the reasons behind it. After the press conference, many questions were left unresolved, so that the relevant news of Arashi was still rolling in the headlines for several days.
Question 1: "Suspension of activity" equals "de facto dissolution"?
The subtle choice of words "suspension of activities" was distinguished from "dissolution", and at the press conference, Matsumoto Jun also clearly responded to "not dissolution" in the face of reporters' questions. However, the ambiguity of the Japanese language is once again revealed, looking back at the previous expression of the J family group, SMAP is "disbandment", light GENJI is "graduation", and KAT-TUN has experienced a "charging period" of 1 year and 8 months.
Translated into the vernacular, "disbandment" means that the team breaks up and parts ways, and the members are likely to continue to operate in their own name, implying that the breakup seems to be unpleasant. The "charging period" of KAT-TUN is affected by negative news, objectively need to temporarily avoid the wind, subjectively hold a positive return mentality, "charging period" is synonymous with "activity suspension". "Activity Rest" was also expressed by the Head of the Biological Unit as a "Grazing Declaration", when the band encountered a bottleneck, and the three of them tried in different fields, and after recuperating, they ended "grazing" and regrouped.
The word "graduation" has been used by idol girl groups, the original meaning is "to move towards a broader stage so with a positive attitude to leave", but the reality varies from person to person, some people put down the idol aura and return to ordinary life, some people were hit by Wenchun cannon negative news, and some were expelled from the firm and actually have no place to stay. The collective "graduation" of the J family's predecessor, Guang Genji, was also a de facto dissolution.
The choice of words was not only a question of whether there would be a possible future return, but also implied the question of whether members were consistent in their understanding of the decision. This time, Arashi did not choose the "charging period", which means that the hope of returning in the future is extremely slim. Most media outlets also interpret their status as "de facto dissolution." But after all, the word "dissolution" was not said, indicating that the relationship between the members had not yet collapsed, and it also left a little thought for the fans.
In 1999, Arashi debuted
Question 2: What do members really think?
The real ideas of the members themselves can find some clues from the ambiguous words used at the press conference. It is said that the first person to propose "talking about the topic of the future" was Leader Ohno Tomoru. The "internal meeting" was held on June 16, 2017, the day before Kazuya Ninomiya's 34th birthday. Kazuya Ninomiya, who thought he was going to the birthday party as in previous years, was shocked when he heard that the "event was suspended".
The reason given by Tomoru Ohno is: "I want to try to live freely without being bound by anything." From a humanitarian point of view and empathy, this statement is irrefutable. As the oldest of the five members, Ohno is about to turn forty in 2020, and it is also a guess whether he will re-plan his life at the age of forty. His ambition to return to hermitage is quite consistent with the indifferent personality he has always shown, and he usually likes to relax and like to go out to sea to fish. But as a 15-year-old artist who entered the Janis studio and debuted for nearly two decades, throwing out this reason makes it inevitable that people will have "what has happened to now?" "The feeling.
Judging only from the statement at the "suspension of activities" press conference, Ono was determined and unilaterally proposed to other members to withdraw, but considering the practical problems such as work contracts, it was delayed until two years later, and a more ambiguous way of expression was adopted. When asked if there were any objections among the members, Kazuya Ninomiya replied, "I understand that this is the answer after the leader's repeated struggles"; Sakurai Sho replied, "It is not a question of opposition or approval", which is the conclusion of the five people after a long period of collegial discussion, "it is like finding a point in the middle of the pentagon".
In the Janis group, Arashi is known for having good relationships. There were still unstable factors in the early stages of his debut, such as Ninomiya Kazumi also considered whether to quit the troupe to receive acting training and take the path of professional actors; Sakurai Sho felt too tired after juggling his studies and acting... But for at least nearly twelve or three years, the centripetal force of the five people has always been very firm.
As soon as the news came out this week, the past events at the beginning of the group were also taken out for text perusal. At the end of 2017, when Matsumoto Jun was a guest on the show taiichi Kokubun in TOKYO, he recalled that when Arashi was formed, the first three members of the president were Matsumoto Jun, Ninomiya Kazuya, and Sho Sakurai, because there was a lyrical chorus in the debut song, and he thought of letting Tomo onboard, and Ono was very resistant to this, "the phone turned off for two weeks." And Masaki Aiba himself confessed that he received a phone call from President Kitagawa asking "Do you have a passport", so he inexplicably flew to Hawaii to debut, not knowing who he had called before the president asked him, and it was lucky to catch this bus.
Question 3: Is the nature of the dissolution of SMAP different?
The news that broke out with the "suspension of activities" in Arashi was mostly compared with the dissolution of SMAP for the first time. In addition to the news itself, the high and low of Arashi and SMAP has become another topic of contention. Although Takeshi Kitano commented that "Arashi and SMAP are not on the same level at all", but with real money and silver voting, speaking with real numbers, SMAP's influence has long lagged behind Arashi. In the "Spending Arousal Rankings" of the relevant market size indicators made by Bobuntang DY Partners based on core fans, Lan ranked first with 32.8 billion yen in 2018. Not only are all of Janis's groups unattainable (Almost at the same time as Arashi, Sekihachi won the 4th place), but other singers, two-dimensional idols, Sakamichi girl groups, and classic anime are all left behind. It is indeed a bit simple and rude to calculate the spiritual food of tens of millions of fans by pounds - but it must also be admitted that the economic effect of "five Amuro Namie is not as good as that of Arashi One Tuan".
Singer Kenko Yano, Ryuichi Sakamoto's ex-wife, was "headlined" for a tweet that said, "Arashi is amazing and takes responsibility for completing the work of these two years." Seeing the sudden dissolution of SMAP, I do not repeat the same mistakes, and I try to take into account the parts that I can see and can't see. Let people turn pink"... A war of words immediately broke out on the Internet, believing that this statement was disrespectful to SMAP, and Yano Teiko also had to send a "thank you" article. TV hosts and guests have also been extremely careful in their comments on this news, and several people have "led the battle". Whether SMAP or Arashi has more influence and which option is more "irresponsible", this crooked discussion continues.
Question 4: Do artists enjoy basic human rights?
For the private life of artists, the gossip instinct and the mentality of watching good dramas always prevail, and speculation about the direction of thick black can mostly win approval. It is rumored that Ninomiya Kazuya and the female anchor Ayako Ito have been married, and there is even a suspicion that Ito Lingko is pregnant. Matsumoto's relationship was not confirmed, and last year there was news of a relationship with a star and a breakup with Masayoshi Inoue. The gossip with Sakurai Sho is the female anchor Ogawa Caijia, and some people even speculate that Sakurai Xiang has ambitions to enter the political world.
The above speculation is mostly a wind catcher. The Japanese emperor can retire, but his idols retire, and fans are determined not to agree to 10,000. If an artist really wants to retire and start chasing a second life, such as Tomoyuki Ohno, it can be considered decent - full consultation with the members of the group, announced two years in advance, taking into account the commercial contract, the connection of TV programs. The wording at the press conference was also apprehensive, and I didn't say anything. If the facts are true as stated at the "Event Suspension" press conference, then the rumor that "Kazuya Ninomiya, Jun Matsumoto, and Sho Sakurai entered the countdown to their marriage and took this opportunity to plan to fly solo" would be somewhat mean and ruthless.
Question 5: Janis Palace Fight Drama?
Janis's recent scandals have led to the dissolution of SMAP and a palace fight. In April 2018, TOKIO's Tatsuya Yamaguchi was sued for molesting a female high school student and withdrew from the firm, and TOKIO's team activities were also hit hard, ending Red and White's 24 consecutive appearances. NEWS Koichiro Koyama and Nario Kato were severely warned about underage drinking and suspended their activities. The Denis Building, which is frequently reported by negative news, appears to be on signs of collapse.
In early 2019, the firm announced that it would establish a new subsidiary, Johnny's Island, with Hideaki Takizawa as president. In fact, the new company inherited the core business run by President Kitagawa and completed the transfer of personnel power to the Junior group of the reserve army. From 2019 onwards, it is President Takki who knows whether trainees can debut in the "power of life and death". And Arashi's declaration of "suspension of activity" dealt another blow to Janis, who had already seen a glimmer of life.