Shingo Katori’s artwork at “Museum of Together”

From October 13-31, Shingo Katori is featured as a special artist at the “Museum of Together”, part Nippon Foundation’s DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS project.

The project’s aim is recognizing diverse individuality in society. The 22 participants include disabled and contemporary artists. Two of Shingo’s pieces will be on display.

Below are a collection of translations from both the Atarashii Chizu official site and extracts from the interview with Shingo on YouTube.

Message from Shingo

It doesn’t matter if you have a disability or not, people cannot live alone. I personally want someone to support me and I want to support those in need. There is no barrier to such feelings and I suppose art made me realize that. To me, art doesn’t exist without rules or goals. There is no right answer at the beginning or end, you can measure yourself and that is irreplaceable. I usually embrace those thoughts, but I’ve never been happier to be able to participate as an artist at a exhibit without borders like this. — Shingo Katori, Atarashii Chizu official site

Interview with Shingo

Hurry, we are going to be on time (2010)
Hurry, we are going to be on time (2010)

They are pieces from 5-6 years ago. I don’t really think “I’ll try painting this”, but for these two I wanted to paint them and did. First, I decided the titles. “Hurry up, we are going to be on time”. This has two trying to escape from somewhere, but they can’t and become skeletons. Others have come to save these two shells, saying “it’s okay, we’ll make it in time”. […]

Fire Bird (2014)
Fire Bird (2014)

I painted “Fire Bird” at work. I didn’t paint it at home. I hit a wall with what was happening at work, my head was full of thoughts, “there’s little time, I must draw a little!”. So I brought cardboard to work. I always have paints on me, so I painted and just like that it’s an explosion at once! It was like “Alright! Let’s get back to work!”

[…]

This is really an amazing project exhibit. I’m honored my art work is on display. I believe this is the first time at an exhibit. After all, I want more than just painting, I want people to see my paintings. I’m very happy everyone can see the works on exhibit here. I’ve also seen many different works from various artists. The feelings and environment behind the drawings are unique for each and every one. […]

Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS Project “Museum of Together”

Dates: October 13, 2017 ~ October 31, 2017. 11:00~20:00
Location: Spiral Garden (Tokyo Minato-ku Minami Aoyama 5-6-23)
Fee: Free (numbered entry tickets may be used)
Organizer: Nippon Foundation
Joint Sponsors: The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Work: Nippon Foundation

Reaction

Um. Wow? I laughed in glee when I saw the news. Maybe it was partially an evil laugh. I’m so very, very happy that Shingo gets to not only continue on as a talent (idol was not used) but as an artist. Art is something he’s always loved doing and he’s getting to really embrace it now.

Why a partially evil laugh? While the two paintings Shingo chose were done years ago, he picked them for a reason and gave the descriptions he did for a reason. Two people trying to escape from Johnny’s somewhere and being unable able to? Turning into skeletons and shells of themselves? Then these three creatures come to save them, saying that it’s okay, they’ll make it in time.

Shingo is the king of hidden messages. So what does it mean when he isn’t being subtle at all? I’m guessing he doesn’t want anyone to not pick up on what he’s trying to say. It feels like direct call out against Johnny’s and the story that Shingo hates Kimura and SMAP and didn’t wanted it all to be over. Well, considering what we’ve gotten with Atarashii Chizu then… yeah, it wasn’t meant to be all over.

Oh, and the second painting? The fire bird? Hello phoenix rising from the ashes. We’ll get SMAP back. Even if we don’t, Shingo just made it very clear that he wants them back together once again.

Or he meant nothing by any of this and just wanted to be cute. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Atarashii Chizu – New Map – Official Launch! 10/16

At 3AM JST, the Atarashii Chizu fan site officially launched.

The site got slammed. I could barely get it loaded, but it’s much better now.

First thing – we didn’t get the SHOP yet. But it says coming soon! That was disappointing, but it’s okay… Better question is, what did we get?

CHIZULOG

CHIZULOG is the fan club member only section which will contain behind the scenes stuff you wouldn’t normally see elsewhere. They specifically ask you repost the images, so don’t expect those to be floating around on Twitter. If you haven’t signed up yet, do it! It’s open to international fans too!

(The first CHIZULOG is a behind the scenes photo of the guys doing the AbemaTV sports day shot… the one in gym clothes. It’s so bad, it’s hilarious. Again, join if you haven’t!)

The Bastard and The Beautiful World – Spring 2018

The big announcement came in the form of… A MOVIE. Actually, a movie with NAKAMA. We don’t know yet what the capacity fans will be involved in making this movie, but the title is: The Bastard and The Beautiful World and will be out Spring 2018. Official site is kusoyaro.net. Try loading the site multiple times to see the many different coming soon screens!

#ぷっくりニュース

The announcement of #PukkuriNews. This one is kind of hard to translate, but it’s kind of like ‘full of news’. You are supposed to share things that surprise you, scare you, heal you… really, anything that movies you. Share on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) using the #ぷっくりニュース tag. Each month, there will be a “Pukkuri News” article and from it a monthly “Pukkuri Of The Month” winner getting a small prize. At the end of the year, they are planning for a “Pukkuri Of The Year”.

It’s an interesting way to leverage fans and drum up social media activity and interest. We’ll see how it goes!

New MAP Real Start Movie

For me, the highlight of the web site launch was the 2nd in the line of Atarashii Chizu brand movies. Just watch and see translation below.

Let’s go along a pathless track.
We’re not afraid.
If we lose our way, let’s listen carefully for someone’s laughter.
If we believe, we can meet somewhere for sure.
You and I are New Map.

It’s so great. I don’t know what to say at the moment. I’ll just keep watching it over and over again. \(≧□≦)/

72 Hour Honne TV – Emergency Broadcast Announcement

With the upcoming 72 Hour Honne TV (or Truth TV as I like to translate it) with Goro, Tsuyoshi and Shingo, some pretty damn awesome promos have been coming out.

The first? A sudden emergency broadcast. It actually aired live on internet at midnight time (my local time, it was actually afternoon for those in Japan). I hadn’t gotten much sleep because this was shortly after the announcement of Atarashii Chizu and I had been trying to figure out a way to watch AbemaTV and record it.

So let’s just say by the time it aired, I was sleep deprived. Yet the promo woke me up instantly, even if it was an over-the-top text-only epic-music-in-background promo.

Emergency Broadcast Announcement Translation

The island nation of Japan will be shaken.
An unprecedented 72-hour live broadcast.
Those three men will appear on AbemaTV.
Goro Inagaki. Tsuyoshi Kusanagi. Shingo Katori.
For three days, the three will reveal their true feelings.
In order to tell it like it is, they will open Twitter accounts
and answer real questions from their audience.
And… Instagramer Katori. Blogger Inagaki. YouTuber Kusanagi.
They’ll launch social media accounts along with the start of the program.
A 3 Day Holiday Event in November.
Together with these three honest men,
let’s take the first step together towards a new history.
72 Hour Truth TV
Thursday, November 2 at 9PM

Personal Reaction?

The biggest impact of the announcement? The fact that the guys will be getting Twitter accounts! Goro will start a blog, Shingo will be on Instagram (expected!) and Tsuyoshi will… be a YouTuber?!

Goro blogging makes sense. It seems like it might not make that much sense to Goro himself based on transcripts I saw from his radio show (Editor-in-Chief Inagaki Goro), but it fits his idol image.

Shingo doing Instagram is kind of an obvious choice. Before the SMAP uproar in the beginning of 2016, he was consistently posting to his blog (Shingo Dictionary) under Johnny’s. His posts typically included a picture and text with hidden messages. He took great pride in his pictures, always wanting them to be something he took himself. He appeared on Goro’s variety show, Goro Deluxe, and talked very lovingly about the book collection of his posts, so it’s very obvious how much he enjoyed doing that.

I will say that I was torn and angry when he ended his Shingo Dictionary. Not angry at him, but at the circumstances that caused him to have to shutdown. The final post read as if he didn’t want it to end, but he didn’t feel comfortable with continuing to use the distribution option he was provided (Johnny’s). Him moving to Instagram seems like a long awaited return of Shingo dictionary.

Tsuyoshi and… YouTube!?

The internet blew up with ‘YouTuber Kusanagi’ trending on Twitter in Japan. It even hit #11 on the world wide trends. It was so big that 10-second text-only YouTube promo got over 1 million views within a few days.

I will admit, I pretty much busted out laughing as soon as the ‘YouTuber Kusanagi’ text flashed on the screen.

YouTuber Kusanagi
YouTuber Kusanagi

I love Tsuyoshi, but as a tweet going around put, we’re excited but also very worried. Okay, maybe I’ve mostly been laughing (。 >艸<) And it just gets better and better, as Tsuyoshi revealed on ShinTsuyo Power Splash that he personally is doing the editing and is learning from a YouTube specialist about being a YouTuber!?

I will admit I know nothing about what it is to be a YouTuber. So I have no idea what to expect, but I’m anxious and excited for it!

 

Oh, and I guess the guys would be doing 72 hours of TV. It’s just funny how much that was overshadowed by the fact they’d be on social media.

Atarashii Chizu: From despair to New Map or is it NEWSMAP?

As a SMAP fan, it was a miserable couple months. Who am I kidding? It’s been nearly two years of misery. There were some ups, some moments of hope, but there was mostly downs and putting up with the horrible treatment of Johnny’s to both SMAP fans and SMAP themselves. And in the end? We lost SMAP.

When it was announced that Goro, Tsuyoshi and Shingo would be leaving Johnny’s? I was excited but afraid. Afraid that they’d be completely erased from the Japanese entertainment world without the star power of Nakai and Kimura. Not that the younger three aren’t super stars on their own, but I don’t think it’d surprise anyone to say that Nakai and Kimura just shine brighter and draw a lot more attention. Fear outweighed all other feelings and I was ready to admit defeat, that Johnny’s had won and SMAP would be no more. But then everything changed for the better as soon as 3 members were free from Johnny’s Entertainment.

September 9th

SMAP’s 26th debut anniversary. The last day for Goro, Tsuyoshi and Shingo at Johnny’s. No surprise announcements that both Nakai and Kimura would be joining them. No SMAP. I was almost ready to give up on them, but I couldn’t…

Shingo greets fans outside the TV Asahi studio before his live filming of SmaStation. I was so happy to read that he did that, to see photos of him outside of the studio smiling at fans. His first day of freedom, and he knows what fans have been needing forever and does it.

September 10th

First broadcast of ShinTsuyo POWER SPLASH where Tsuyoshi and Shingo are free and they speak freely. They openly addressed leaving their agency, with Tsuyoshi finally giving me words that I took to heart (loosely paraphrased): “Don’t think negatively. In life, when you jump into something new, there will be good and bad. Change worry into excitement. Let’s enjoy it and have fun.”

They acknowledged this was the start of something new. They acknowledged the worries of the public and fans had reached them. They didn’t ignore it. They didn’t tell us those feelings were invalid. Yet they also let us know they hadn’t given up. I personally needed that so much.

September 22nd

There’s too much to go paragraph style, so here’s a bullet list:

  •  The soft launch of ATARASHII CHIZU, the official fan club for Goro, Tsuyoshi and Shingo.
  • The fan club is open to International fans!!
  • Official social media accounts for the fan club are launched (Twitter, Weibo, Facebook, Instagram, LINE, YouTube)
  • A promotional video is released on YouTube.
  • The launch is announced in Asahi Shinbun and Tokyo Shinbun, the two newspapers that fans used over the last ~2 years to convey messages of thanks and support. Their lawyer faxed this to news outlets: It is impossible to measure how much the warm words of support from fans helped [Goro, Tsuyoshi and Shingo]. Their highest priority was to convey their feelings of gratitude to fans.
  • Photos are uploaded to OjaMAP’s official Twitter account of Shingo and Tsuyoshi’s filming.
  • Goro, Tsuyoshi and Shingo are reunited with their former SMAP manager who is a super star in her own right!

September 24th

And after that point, things kind of slowed down for a little bit.

Honestly, after the 22nd so much happened I don’t remember a lot of it because I didn’t get much sleep due to all the excitement. There’s actually so much more like the amazing responses from the guys’ lawyer and dissecting the entire Atarashii Chizu site and logo.

But really? The biggest thing for me was that deep down inside, I feared that all SMAP members would all go their separate ways. I fell in love with SMAP as a group. I enjoy each of them more when they are together. I have no problem admitting that even my favorite member is more entertaining when partnered with any of the others.

So Atarashii Chizu? A fan club for the three of them? It told me that they aren’t going separate ways and that they will be together for the long run. The way it was set up, the way it was launched, it feels like it was meant for all of SMAP. It didn’t only give hope to fans once more, it’s giving a new home for SMAP to come together again.

Thank you guys for doing that. It really helped change my worry into excitement.

This post was updated to reflect the correct dates.

Tsuyoshi Hugs from Uso no Sensou!

The feature I most look forward to in drama box sets for Tsuyoshi are the ‘crank up’ special features! Crank up means filming has finished, flowers are given to the actors, and Tsuyoshi usually hugs his co-stars. He totally looks like he’s a good hugger!

Sadly, Tsuyoshi wasn’t around for the final scenes for a number of the main actors. But here’s a roundup of those he did hug!

Continue reading “Tsuyoshi Hugs from Uso no Sensou!”

Uso no Sensou #2 Reaction – No They Didn’t!!

Welcome to the 2nd in the Uso no Sensou reaction series! This will cover the… 2nd episode! Or NO THEY DIDN’T episode.

Spoilers all around for up to the 2nd episode of Uso no Sensou.

This reaction series isn’t meant to be a episode summary, but rather ranting and raving about parts of the episode I enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy.)

Continue reading “Uso no Sensou #2 Reaction – No They Didn’t!!”

Uso no Sensou #1 Reaction – The Lie That Started It All

January 10th brought the start of the much anticipated winter drama – Uso no Sensou!

I’m not sure why others were looking forward to it, but I was ready for Tsuyoshi Kusanagi to be on my screen!

I always have high hopes for dramas. I get super invested and want the best and usually get let down. But after the first episode…. and 2nd… and 3rd… okay, after all the episodes that have aired so far, I’ve not felt let down at all. The drama has been great and has surpassed my expectations on a regular basis. And after some encouragement and help, I’m putting up English subtitles here.

And since English subtitles are now available, I feel like I can rant and rave about the series without having to do a detailed summary!

So SPOILERS for the first episode of Uso no Sensou, starring the typically adorable (but totally not this time) Tsuyoshi Kusanagi!

This reaction series isn’t meant to be a episode summary, but rather ranting and raving about parts of the episode I enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy.)

(Though, since it is the first episode, I’ll touch on the more important characters first.)

Koichi Ichinose – Our Protagonist

Our protagonist, Koichi Ichinose, is a con artist haunted by his past. He can’t forget his family being murdered before his own eyes. If that wasn’t bad enough, once he woke up from a two week coma, he wasn’t able to leave the hospital until he lied and said his own dad had killed his family.

And that really was the lie that started everything. It led him to be the con man he is today and set him on the path to get revenge against those responsible for murdering his family.

"If this world is nothing but lies, I'll become one of these liars."
Koichi Ichinose

They showed the murder of his family many times during the episode, revealing more each time. It was shocking they showed the stabbing of his mom and little brother… But once they finally revealed the flashback to him in the hospital, being forced to lie and say his his dad killed his family…. I almost cried. (I would’ve cried if I hadn’t already put on my makeup for work.)

Haruka Tokura – Partner in Crime

Haruka Tokura
Haruka Tokura

Haruka is Koichi’s partner. We don’t learn too much about her except she’s got attitude and is willing to get her hands dirty. After all, she got Dr. Igarashi to stab Koichi. That’s also got to take a lot of trust on both sides of the partnership to do that.

The Nishina Family – Antagonist, BFF and Love Interest?

The Nishina family is made up of Kozo (father), Akira (oldest son), Takashi (middle child) and Kaede (youngest daughter).

Koichi suspects that Kozo Nishina is the man behind the murder of his family, but he has no proof. Plus, Kozo Nishina is pretty hard to get to. So Koichi works to get closer to him using the family, beginning with both Akira and Kaede.

Akira Nishina

Akira isn’t the best businessman and runs a Nishina Corporation subsidiary after his own brother demoted him. Koichi is able to Facebook stalk Akira and make friends with him and offer his business consulting to land Akira a new contract all rather quickly. Akira totally takes to Koichi. Who wouldn’t?

Kaede Nishina

Kaede Nishina is an emergency care doctor. She stumbles upon a man getting hit by a bicycle, and offers her help as a doctor. This man is Koichi, of course.

She’s promoted as the love interest, but I’m very glad she kept her guard up and called Koichi on his lie when he said he had no idea who hit him on the bicycle. He played it off as his ex-girlfriend hitting him because they had talked about breaking up.

Takashi Nishina

Takashi Nishina. Our main antagonist. Well, so is Kozo Nishina, but we don’t see much of him this episode.

Takashi is instantly suspicious of Koichi. It kind of makes sense. The man is offering his brother business advice, and since he can’t trust his stupid brother, why’d he trust Koichi? I mean, Koichi is like this superhero consultant with this amazing background… Can’t be too cautious there.
And then for him to find out that Koichi just happens to have been in contact with Kaede too?

Sure, he’s kind of a jerk that is probably too distrustful. But since we know what Koichi is after, he isn’t in the wrong…

Vengeance of the Week – Koichi Ichionose vs Dr. Igarashi

I actually feel the revenge story of the week wasn’t that important. What was revealed was important – Koichi’s past and Kozo Nishina’s and other’s involvement, but Dr. Igarashi wasn’t as important as those things. He did stab Koichi, I guess?

And since Igarashi hired under aged prostitutes in Thailand, I didn’t feel at all bad for him getting destroyed. Farewell!

Favorite Bits

The Opening!

Since SMAP traditionally does Tsuyoshi’s FujiTV drama songs, I was really worried about what would happen for Uso no Sensou.

I was so surprised and pleased that the powers that be went with an instrumental for both the opening and ending. The opening is POWERFUL and simple and quite elegant.

Revenge. Justice. Happiness. Love. Dream. Success. Ambition. Money. Regret.

I still get excited each week when this plays.

Uso no Sensou OP - Tsuyoshi Kusanagi up close
Uso no Sensou opening – Tsuyoshi Kusanagi up close
Uso no Sensou Opening Title
Uso no Sensou Opening Title

This Scene

No comment.

This scene speaks for itself. No need for further comments.

First Ichinose/Igarashi Confrontation.

When Koichi just walks up to Igarashi in the parking lot, asking him if he remembered the boy he tried to kill 30 years ago… I was shocked Koichi revealed his true identity that soon. He flat out said who he was and asked Igarashi why his family had been murdered.

Igarashi’s reaction showed him scrambling to just think of how to reply. But once he composed himself… his response, the (fake) disbelief that Yoichi/Koichi is still lying about what actually happened 30 years ago, was cold. Then he went on with a condescending tone… I was so angry for Koichi.

Igarashi being condescending to Koichi.
“You’re still telling that lie?” Dr. Igarashi being condescending to Koichi.

After Koichi somewhat regained his composure, he responded in turn with the same line. Even after 30 years, Igarashi is still lying about what really happened… If I hadn’t already been sold on that scene, I would’ve been with that line.

Koichi not buying Igarashi's lies.
“Even after 30 years, you’re still telling that lie?” Koichi not buying Igarashi’s lies.

Koichi vs Takashi at the Party

The attitudes of both these men when going against each other… Entertaining.

(It’s even doubly entertaining to once again see Tsuyoshi going up against men taller than him. 😂)

When Takashi finds out that Koichi also knows Kaede, he flips. I totally wanted to translate the scene where Koichi thanks her for the other day to ‘thank you for the other night’, but I didn’t. (But it totally could’ve been interpreted that way and I still regret not translating it that way.)

The Pool Scene.

Now, I’m not sure how realistic the actual stab reaction is… and I thought the graceful fall backwards into the pool was too pretty…
So it sounds like I hate the scene. But no. I loved it. Here’s why:

  1. Koichi’s hand trembling as he reaches for the knife that he’s just been stabbed with. I didn’t catch it at first, but when I finally did, I was impressed.
  2. Haruka walking away after Koichi gets stabbed. The sound of her heels and her expression. The moment you knew for sure it was all planned.
  3. Koichi’s narration as he’s floating in the pool and bleeding out. The lack of background music. The shot of his blood in the water. The line, ‘Using my own lies, I’ll show you hell’ as he closes his eyes. Perfect.
  4. Koichi’s unconscious smile after getting stabbed and pulled out of the pool. It got a bit cheesy, but the first moment you caught that smirk it was like daaamn.
Haruka after Koichi is stabbed.
Haruka walking away after Koichi is stabbed.
Koichi definitely will show them all, especially if he’s willing to get stabbed as part of a con.

What were they thinking?

The Standing Outside in The Rain Waiting Scene

Koichi Ichinose standing out in the rain like an idiot.
Why are you standing out in the raining in January? Are you an idiot?

I… don’t really know what to say about this scene. Except, why?

Koichi, you couldn’t have predicted Kaede wouldn’t have been able to meet with you… You just wanted to give her the ring.You could’ve waited inside!

And Kaede, why didn’t you send this guy to get his head checked out? I mean, either this guy is insane for waiting in the rain to give you a ring after having only just met you…. or he’s got some ulterior motive and is trying way too hard  to impress. I mean, he could’ve waited outside and at least stood under covering… There was a lot of it around!

Was it supposed to be touching?? More like red flag! Red flag!

Koichi Ichinose giving ring to Kaede
Dirty fingernails…. Oh, no, we’re supposed to be looking at the ring.

Oh yes, and look at Koichi’s dirty fingernails. In commenting on the episode, Tsuyoshi’s biggest complaint was that no one told him his nails were dirty! I really would’ve thought he’d have complained about waiting out in the rain in freezing weather or even having to fall into a pool in January, but I guess he’s a good sport?

Random Comments

  • Koichi’s New York office costs $70. Um. It isn’t too hard to research lease rates, so I’m going to pretend they meant $700. It’s still ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as $70.
  • Koichi hiding under Dr. Igarashi’s desk. Was it supposed to be a sexy pose? Tsuyoshi can play anything I guess.

    Uhhhhhhhh?
  • When Akira and Takashi fight, Akira pulls the ‘you didn’t always used to be this way’ kind of card. Takashi reacts badly, asking him who did he think made him that way? Who indeed.
  • After Takashi tells Koichi and Akira that he’ll be checking the Harvard graduate list to vierfy that Koichi Ichinose did indeed graduate from there… Akira asks Koichi if he’ll be okay. Like he somewhat suspected that Koichi wasn’t telling the truth??

Final Thoughts & Rating

What exactly is Koichi Ichinose willing to do to get his revenge? He got stabbed on purpose… So what next? What exactly will he do to get revenge against those responsible for the murder of his family?

4.5/5 macaws. For a first episode with a lot of set up, it moved surprisingly fast and didn’t waste too much time. Sure, it didn’t need to be a 2 hour special, but there were a lot of great moments to make up for some of the less impressive scenes and length.

SMAP’s “Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana” is a triple million seller on Oricon top charts

After the disbanding uproar in January, SMAP fans bound together and began a purchasing campaign for Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana, SMAP’s best selling single. The goal was simple: reach 3 million on Oricon top charts. In order to get there though, over 400,000 new singles would have to be purchased.

To put that into perspective, in 2015, only the top 17 singles sold over 400,000 CDs. A majority of those belong to the AKB48-family and all of them had multiple versions. Multiple versions meaning fans are likely to purchase 2-5 different versions of the same CD for small bonuses.

CDs, let alone a single version of a CD, do not sell 400,000 copies in a year any more. New SMAP singles are lucky to even hit half that amount, even with multiple versions.

That’s why I personally thought it was an impossible goal. It didn’t stop me from purchasing SekaiHana CDs while in Japan back in May, even before the disbanding announcement. Fans knew something was wrong and we all wanted to show our support somehow. If we could get triple million for SMAP’s anniversary? That’s just a small way to show that we love them.

After Johnny’s Entertainment, in very poor taste, released SMAP’s disbanding announcement during Japanese holiday weekend and the 2016 Olympics, SMAP fan’s resolve on strengthened. We were going to hit 3 million on the Oricon top charts.

SekaiHana Miracles

The First Triple Million Announcement

While this article is about SMAP hitting triple million on the Oricon charts – there was another triple million Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana hit first. That being the RIAJ’s official triple million certification for units shipped.

The announcement came out on 9/9/2016, SMAP’s 25th debut anniversary.

The RIAJ announced all the new certifications on 9/9/2016, and it just so happened that SMAP’s Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana was among the new certifications.

A crazy coincidence, isn’t it?

SMAP’s ‘revenge’ against ‘SAY YES’

When SMAP debuted on August 9, 1991, they were the first Johnny’s group in history to not debut at #1. The #1 single at that time was Chage and Aska’s SAY YES. While SAY YES went on to be the #6 best selling single of all time, SMAP continued to not hit #1 on the top charts for sometime.

It would be impossible to imagine back in 1991, but on August 9, 2016, exactly 25 years after SMAP’s disappointing debut, SMAP would come to have the #6 best selling single of all time, taking the spot away from SAY YES.

Let me repeat that: on 9/9/2016, SMAP overtook the previous #6 best selling single of all time. The previous single being SAY YES by Chage and Aska. The very single that had prevent SMAP for debuting at #1 in 1991.

Another crazy coincidence? Or miracle?

Oricon’s newest Triple Million Seller

On 12/8/2016 (a SMAP member’s birthday), Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana sold enough CDs to reach 3,000,000 sales on the Oricon top charts.

A 13 year old single managed to sell over 400,000 copies within a single year.
The same single has now become the #3 best selling single of all time in Japan.
Next week, it’s likely that SMAP will have take the #1 record for number of weeks on the Oricon top charts.

This is all without promotion from the group or from Johnny’s.

Yes. This is real life here, not a drama. Even living through it, it’s hard to believe each time a new record has been broken.

Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana the latest Triple Million Hit

It’s been an amazing journey to triple million.
I don’t know what is next for us fans, but I know we’re not done. 💙❤️💗💛💚

Live Blog of SMASHIP with Nakai, Tsuyoshi and Shingo tomorrow!

Live blogging of TV Asahi’s SMAP variety special with Nakai, Tsuyoshi and Shingo is done! See below for the stream.

Also – Tsuyoshi’s song, beetle.

The three hour special covers the two days and one night bus tour they spend together without sleep or rest. They each came up with things they wanted the others to do – like watching a baseball game, squid fishing, and drawing. It’s going to be a blast to watch!

Iitomo Combi on Yorutamori

Iitomo Combi on Yorutamori
Iitomo Combi on Yorutamori!!

Iitomo combi on Yorutamori! I’m not sure if it was announced previously that Shingo and Tsuyoshi were also appearing… But from what I could tell, only Nakai was announced. What’s up lately with all these surprise appearances? First SmaStation and now this.

The episode started with just Nakai and then Tamori coming in. Talk continues for awhile, but it turns on Nakai invited a friend. He goes to look, thinking his friend may have gotten lost, and in comes Shingo-chan! A bit surprised to see Tamori.

Shingo's surprised to see Tamori
Shingo’s surprised to see Tamori

And it turns out Shingo also brought along a friend! A friend he left outside? Haha. It turns out to be Tsuyopon! Who is also surprised to see Tamori.

Tsuyoshi is also surprised to see Tamori
Tsuyoshi is also surprised to see Tamori

I will take this moment to go on and on about how handsome Tsuyoshi was looking in his snoopy tee. Maybe it’s the slightly shorter hair or maybe it’s the fact that it was his off day so he wasn’t full-on SMAP’s-Tsuyoshi that day. Regardless, he was looking mighty fine.

It turns out it was his day off and he was shopping in Harajuku when he got a call from Shingo.
Shingo claims that Tsuyoshi was angry for calling him on his day off and hung up.
Tsuyoshi claims that he wasn’t angry and that didn’t exactly happen the way Shingo put it. He was in Harajuku, it was crowded, and people were looking at him…

In perfect Tsuyoshi fashion, he would NOT shut up. Nakai had to play moderator to give Shingo a chance to tell his side of the story.

Nakai playing moderator to give Shingo a chance to talk
Nakai playing moderator to give Shingo a chance to talk

Tsuyoshi still kept talking though, so I couldn’t quite make out what Shingo’s side of the story was. But you can watch the exchange below yourself!