The December issue of MORE featured an interview on ‘15 years of Arashi’. The members talked about their best moments as a group as well as individuals. 

When asked, “In these 15 years, have you seen any changes in your members after being together all the time?”

Sho-kun said, “Aiba used to be a crybaby but nowadays I don’t see him cry so much." 

Aiba replied, "I try not to cry in front of people. Actually recently I have started crying in public again…”

To which Ohno-kun added, “But you keep crying at unexpected times…like when you lost the Babanuki game (on Bet de Arashi) and cried. I was shocked." 

Aiba-chan explained, "It just welled up.” Nino mocked him, “Because of that? That’s scary!”

At this point, MatsuJun said, “Sho-kun’s 'gap’ becomes wider each year. Like how he would be a newscaster and MC for large events, but still be dancing and singing at the same time. He’s flexible like that. However, if you watch VS Arashi you’ll notice that his body is getting less flexible each year. ”

Sho-kun laughed, “Yeah, I’m becoming a piece of junk.” At which pointed Nino added, “I see him stretching in the dressing room all the time." 

Ohno-kun then talked about MatsuJun, ”MatsuJun’s looks changed. He’s shining now as much as ever, but when he was 19 or 20, he was very sharp. Now it feels like he’s settled down. Like hes found himself. That’s why he’s shining now.“

Lastly, the members talked about Nino. Aiba said, "My relationship with Nino hasn’t changed at all, so it’s hard to say." 

The interview commented, ”Nino has the image of always smirking on the sidelines by himself, but recently it seems like he has become more straightforward.“ Upon hearing that, all the members burst out laughing, and Sho-kun commented, "He’s quite a rebellious one." 

Nino said, "We’re that kind of group, ” to which Sho-kun added, “The four of us would give him all the overwhelming reassurance he needs." 

”Arashi is a kind group,“ Nino said. 

Sho-kun added, "Nino has always been doted on by his senpai, but nowadays he is also getting better at taking care of his juniors." 

Nino finished by laughing and commenting, ”I have become an adult.“ 

Ohno Satoshi’s drama “Shinigami-kun” DVD and Blu-ray released on November 5 both ranked on Oricon Chart for the week of November 17. The DVD came in at 2nd place on the Weekly DVD Ranking and the Blu-ray came in at 3rd place. Furthermore, both versions topped their respective weekly chart for the Drama category. 

Congratulations to our talented riida!　

The 11/20 issue of Josei Seven talked about the relationship between TOKIO and Arashi. On Nov 2, all five Arashi members attended TOKIO’s 20th Anniversary concert to support their senpai. In private, MatsuJun and Taiichi-kun are Futsal buddies, while Aiba and Gussan went surfing together and are drinking buddies. Meanwhile, many Arashi members look up to their favorite ‘Matsunii’ (Matsuoka). 

In a recent interview, leader Ohno revealed, “The first time I went on stage was at TOKIO’s first Budokan live. I even slipped and fell during one song.” TOKIO has been Arashi’s 'big brother’ figure for as long as they have been in Johnny’s. 

It is well known among Johnny’s fans that they have a strict senpai-kouhai relationship, and the senpai will often give the juniors their old clothes in boxes and treat them to meals, etc. They also often receive outfits from their Senpai. When Arashi first debut, they inherited many of TOKIO’s costumes. For example Nino would often get Joshima’s clothes, and they will often have fringe. MatsuJun used to get Nagase’s costume, so he had a lot of shorts. 

Sometimes they even keep their senpai’s style. An industry insider revealed, “Sakurai-kun got Yamaguchi-kun’s costumes, so he never had sleeves. Because of Yamaguchi-kun’s style, Sakurai still keeps his sleeveless style till today. Also, because they were similar in built, Ohno would often get Kokubun-kun’s clothes.”

In summary, the clothes passing go like this: 

Kokubun - Ohno

Joshima - Nino

Gussan - Sakurai

Nagase - MatsuJun

Naturally Aiba would have gotten most of Matsuoka’s clothes. However, because they were made for Matsuoka, they were always too big, and had to be altered for Aiba.

In the latest issue of magazine ‘TV Pia’, Sho and Matsujun discussed Hawaii together. They were first asked about the upcoming broadcast on their 'free time’ in Hawaii. 

Sho-kun said, “I was happy that we got free time. It was like me doing whatever I wanted to do, only with a camera around. In the trailer they showed Ohno-san bawling right.”

On that, MatsuJun said, “I glanced at Ohno-san and saw that he was on the verge of tears, so I said, ’Don’t hold back. When you feel like crying, just cry.’ I keep saying it and in the end he really cried." 

When asked about their roles when travelling abroad, MatsuJun said, "Sakurai-san will be our scheduler.” On the other hand, Sho-kun said, “We’ll plan about a week in advance. MatsuJun can cook so he’ll be in charge of buying groceries and cooking." 

On the December issue of magazine ‘with’, Aiba talked about his ideal type and how he wants to spend Christmas. He said that his ideal type is “Someone who knows me well, and understands even if I don’t say everything.”

On the other hand, because his birthday falls on Christmas eve, he wants to spend his birthday with the Arashi members. Aiba said, “We’ll be like 'Cheers’! (drink together) We’re all really busy, but please save the 24th for me!” He added, “In the future if I have children, I want to dress up as Santa and give out presents”.

On Nov 2, TOKIO held the final stage for their 20th Anniversary Concert. During the encore, vocalist Nagase Tomoya gave a sneaky grin and said, “This is the finale of our 20th anniversary tour. We’re not going to let you go home just yet! We’re very happy that our friends have come to join us. It seems to be their 15th anniversary too!" 

Nagase shouted, "We love you! Arashi!” and all five Arashi members dressed in TOKIO’s concert T-shirts went up the stage from the audience. MatsuJun congratulated TOKIO on their anniversary while the other members shouted things like “TOKIO IS THE BEST!" 

On top of that, other Johnny’s members such as Ikuta Toma, Ueda and Nakamaru from KAT-TUN, members of Hey!Say!JUMP and other Johnny’s Jrs. also took the stage. It was the grandest of the grandest finale. 

Happy 20th Anniversary TOKIO!

On the latest broadcast of TBS’s “Academy Night”, Kanjani8’s Okura Tadayoshi talked about Ninomiya Kazunari’s acting. 

The two idols had previously acted together in the movie ‘Ooku’ in 2010 and Okura considers Nino one of his senpai actors that had influenced him greatly. 

He said this about Nino, “I don’t know how he switches on. He can chat around up to right before the scene starts, and then once we start filming, he goes into acting immediately. I really don’t know how he does it. How did he even get into the mood…If it’s me, when they call out that it’s time to start, I’ll tell myself, 'all right, let’s do this!’ or something. Ninomiya-kun doesn’t do anything of that sort. It was great experience (acting with him).”

In welcoming their 15th anniversary, Arashi has once again refreshed chart records with their 13th original album ‘The Digitalian’ released on October 22. The album sold over 660,000 copies in its first week and topped the Weekly Album Ranking charts for the week of 11/3. This is their 12th consecutive album and 13th in total to have topped the Oricon charts. 

Since 'Iza, Now" in 2004, the group has topped the Oricon charts consecutively for 11 years. The only other group that has achieved this is EXILE (2003-2013). 

Most No. of Consecutive Years of Chart-Topping Albums (Male Artists):

1. Arashi: 11 Years (2004-2014)

2. EXILE: 11 Years (2003-2013)

3. B'z: 8 Years (1996-2003)

The Tokyo Drama Award is given out to works that are not only high in quality, but are also fit for their respective markets and sell well commercially. These dramas were commended for their marketability to the global audience. This year marks the 7th year the award is being given out.

Ohno Satoshi’s 24-hour TV special drama ’Kyou no Hi ha Sayonara’ was also commended at the award ceremony under the non-serial drama category. The drama was selected for its touching content and Ohno’s acting. Producer Kawano who produced this drama commented, “Because this drama was aired during a show like 24-hour TV, I think it was really able to send a message about life. It isn’t very dramatic but it’s about depicting what life truly is about and having people think about life.”

In the 11/3 issue of entertainment magazine Only Star, the publication’s annual segment this ‘Favorite Artist Ranking Selected by 20,000 Fans’ was revealed. This is the 11th year since the start of the segment and Arashi has topped the ranking 5 years in a row since 2010. 

The popular group has refreshed their own record of topping the chart the most no. of times as well as the most no. of consecutive times. In contrast to previous years, this year there are more comments commending Arashi's music quality. 

Member Sakurai Sho commented, “I am really thankful to hear about this every year. Even though we’re not aiming for the top spot, we’re still happy know that everyone is supporting us.”

As fans would know, Arashi members always go out together for meals after their concerts. This time after their 15th Anniversary concert in Hawaii, the band also went for a splendid dinner party on the 19th. The restaurant they went to is said to be one that celebrities frequent in Hawaii. 

The restaurant is a members-only place and they store fresh ingredients from Japan in the underground storage of a department store. The store itself is decorated with Picasso originals and feature wines from the collections of the likes of Marie Antoinette and Napoleon. It features a highly luxurious fusion style cuisine on its menu.  

Joining Arashi’s dinner party were KAT-TUN’s Kamenashi Kazuya (28) and Kanjani8’s Okura Tadayoshi (29) who both watched the concert that day. Kame said that KAT-TUN would love to perform overseas, while Tacchon joked that he wanted to be Arashi as well. 

Matsujun led the toast on behalf of Arashi, and started with, “At first we disliked the name Arashi, but…” According to an industry source present, “As expected of Arashi’s ‘general producer’…he made a really great speech.”

After their concert ended successfully on the 20th, they stayed behind to film various TV programs. However, as the concert was over, they were able to relax a little and some members took time to swim in the ocean, etc. 

The exact article from Tokyo Sports states that:

“Sakurai Sho is currently dating Horikita Maki”. 

The newspaper claims to have gotten control of several pieces of evidence and will publish them on their next issue. The newspaper claims (without citing sources) that Sakurai has brought Horikita to Johnny’s parties and introduced her as his “girlfriend” outright. 

Netizens have mostly reacted to it as a joke and have said things like, “if it’s Tokyo Sports, it’s probably OK because it’s probably not true." 

Until they hand us solid evidence, it’s hardly convincing that this is more than a stunt to gain publicity. Going against the son of a member of the Cabinet? Tokyo Sports is just waiting to get shut down…

OriSuta interviewed Aiba and Chinen after the latter filmed for Aiba’s program ‘Aiba Manabu’

– What are your thoughts?

Chinen-kun: I was really excited (laughs). It feels very natural. It’s like…I got to have fun with Aiba-kun, so it’s naturally just fun. 

Aiba-chan: We didn’t really take too much care and it wasn’t like a program. I don’t even really know when the cameras were on and off anymore. 

Chinen: It was like playing with the Onii-san next door. 

Aiba: Isn’t it nice to go out somewhere in the morning? I hope we can do that with other guests too. 

Chinen: I want to go on location filming. Next time I want to come even if I have no promotions. 

Aiba: Yeah, come anytime (laughs).

– After working with Aiba-san, how many % of your love for Ohno-san went to Aiba-san? 

Chinen: I like Ohno-kun so no percentage or anything went to Aiba-kun (laughs)

Aiba: But, we got to talk more than you did with Riida right (laughs)

Chinen: Yes.

Aiba: Take it easy ne. That’s great!