A Beginner's Guide to Johnny's vol. 2 Part 16: NEWS

For the Introduction of the series go Here

So let's get into this group!

Who Are NEWS?

NEWS are a 3 membered group who actually started out as a 9 membered group and have been through alot. They will go into their 20th anniversary next year!

History of NEWS

The 9 of NEWS ed Johnny's inbetween 1996 and 2002 and they were all scattered between diffrent groups and units. Then on September 10th 2003 then Johnny's annouced a countdown to a new group which would be released in 5 days and so on September 15th it was revealed that the new group will be called NewS and debut on Novenber 7th of the same year. Their group name was said to mean "North, East, West and South" and later on the spelling was changed to NEWS.

So on November 7th the 9 , Koyama Keiichiro, Masuda Takahisa, Kato Shigeaki, Nishikido Ryo, Yamashita Tomohisa, Moriuchi Takahiro, Uchi Hiroki, Kusano Hironori and Tegoshi Yuya, debuted with their single "NEWS Nippon" which was also used for the World Cup of the Volleyball Championship.

Then in Decmeber of the same year the member Moriuchi Takahiro left Johnny's and pursued his own musical career.

In 2004 they then released 希望~Yell~(Kibou ~Yell~) which is considered their major debut. In the same year Uchi Hiroki needed to stop all his activities due to pulmonary pneumothorax which is a condition that causes holes in the lung and so he was hospitalized and operated. He then returned later that year for their next single Teppen.

However in 2005 Uchi was caught drinking underage and was suspended from all his activities and put into a trainee position which is separate from jrs.

The group then continued as 7 and released their next single "TEPPEN" as 7 . In 2005 they also released their first album "touch"

Then in the beginning of 2006 Kusano was also caught drinking underage and all his activities were suspended and he left the agency.

The finished their "NEWS spring tour" of that year and in May 1st 2006 they went in hiatus.

On December 30th of 2006 it was annocued that NEWS would be part of the Johnny's countdown that was supposed to be held on December 31st going into January 1st 2007. And so 6 membered NEWS made their first appearance.

Their first single release after their hiatus was "星をめざして" (Hoshi wo Mezashite) and was used for the japanese dub of the movie "Happy Feet". Then they released, on November 7th, one of their most popular songs "weeeek".

In the same year they also held their first live in Taiwan. In 2008 then theh held their first dome concert taking place on January 9th and 10th and it was part of their "NEWS COCNERT TOUR Pacific 2007-2008". From that point onwards they would always have some sort of concert at tokyo dome.

In 2009 they were chosen to be the main personalities of the 24 hour Television on NTV.

In 2011 it was then suddenly annouced that Nishikido Ryo and Yamashita Tomohisa would leave the group but continue their activities in Johnny's. The reason for Nishikido was that he was actually in two groups when he debuted NEWS and the Kansai group Kanjani8 and according to the offical statement the conflicting schedule made it hard to keep activities in both groups so he left NEWS. For Yamashita Tomohisa he wanted to presue his solo activities. Therefore NEWS would become a 4 membered group. However NEWS decided to go on hiatus again in the same year.

Then on April 15th a countdown appeared on the Johnny's website which has an outline of each member was a day later put on a special site and the countdown continued to countdown until April 18th when it 0:00:00 and a special broadcast of Koyamas radio show started where his guests where the other 3 and they reveled a best of album. That best of album was the on June 13th released "NEWS Best" album. And on July 18th they released their 1st single as 4 "Chankapana" and

Then in 2013 NEWS celebrated their 10th anniversary with an album titled NEWS and concerts in the Tokyo Dome.

In 2014 NEWS were tasked with doing the theme song for the Fifa world cup 2014 which wal later released a "ONE -for the win-".

Then in 2016 NEWS were again tasked with being the main personalities for the 24 hour Television on NTV. The following year Koyama was also the main personality of the 24 Hour Television alongside Sakurai Sho and Kamenashi Kazuya.

Also in 2017 NEWS released their album "NEVERLAND" which would be their first album of the NEWS album line which each first letter of the album would be one letter of the group name so the first "NEVERLAND" started with N. The following year 2018 would be their 15th anniversary year it was annocued that there would be a dating sim game called "NEWSに恋して"(NEWS ni koishite). Then they released their next album "EPCOTIA". However on June 7th it was revealed that Koyama Keiichiro and Kato Shigeaki were at a drinking party together where also a minor was present. This minor had stated that she was 20 and was drinking with them. This incident made Kato Shigeaki apologise on national tv and Koyama went into a hiatus. This hiatus lasted until their 15th Anniversary Live "Strawberry" which was held in August 11th and 12th. NEWS ended the year with their EPCOTIA Countdown concert.

In 2019 they released the third album in the NEWS series titled "WORLDISTA".

In the beginning of 2020 they released their last album in this series "STORY" on March 4th 2020. Then on May 15th it broke thay Tegoshi Yuya had broken lockdown role and then on the 26th he was suspended from all his activities. Then shortly before his suspension was lifted Tegoshi decided to lawyer up and on June 19th left Johnny's and NEWS. He had shortly before lockdown expressed the desire to leave the agency and had conveyed it to the in March as well that he would leave after the STORY tour was over but he obviously didn't.

From that point onwards NEWS were 3

In 2020 then Masuda Takahashi was the main personality for the 24 hour television along side a group of other Johnny's.

Then the 3 released their first single as 3 together on December 23rd. this single was their first triple single and it was named "ビューティフル/チンチャうまっか/カナリャ"(Beautiful/Chinchaumakka/kanarya). They also wanted to hold their story tour online however Kato and Koyama contracted Covid shortly before and it has to be cancelled. But then in spring 2021 they were finally able to hold their Story tour with an audience and also held a livestream on Johnny's online net.

The now in 2022 they are preparing to hold their next live tour "Ongaku" and will release their new album "音楽" on August 17th. this will be the first album with them as 3 .

The

First we have Koyama Keiichiro (小山慶一郎) or kei-chan who was born on May 1st 1984 and is the leader of NEWS and the oldest member. His member colour is purple.

He ed Johnny's in 2001 after his older sister sent his application to the agency.

He is mainly known to be the leader of NEWS and also a MC for several tv shows and he also once was a News caster for the news show news every which airs on NTV from monday to friday~

Besides that he is quite soft and has a huge sweet tooth with probably eclaire being the first people think of the sweets he likes. Then also he loves his and always shares their good parts~

He also really loves cats and has his own song dedicated to his cat which ed away a few years ago which was named "Nyanta" the song also has the same name. He did get a kitten named milk a bit after nyanta ed away. Nyanta got to be 19 years old and actually followed Koyama almost the whole time he was in Johnny's.

He and other of NEWS also have quite the cautions for social issues especially for Koyama it's how single mothers are treated that is rooted in that his own mother became a single mom when Koyama was in elementary school due to their parents divorcing.

Kato Shigeaki (加藤シゲアキ/加藤成亮) or Shige was born on July 11th 1987 and ed Johnny's in 1999 with his mother sending the application. His member colour is purple~

Shige is the first writer in Johnny's and his debut novel Pink to Grey was made into a movie starring Nakajima Yuto and Suda Masaki. Recently he was also nominated for the Akutagawa Award. This is one of the most important Japanese literature prizes!

For his style of writing I would say it's very descriptive and you can imagine everything very well however his books are not translated into english and I only recommend them if you're an N2 level :sweat_smile:

He is also like Koyama very aware of social issues and also takes time to learn them.

When it comes to his hobbies he loves fishing and will often go and catch also Tuna for example.

Masuda Takahisa (増田貴久) or Massu was born on July 4th 1986 and ed Johnny's in 1998 with his sister, mother and his sisters friend sending his application to Johnny's. His member colour is yellow

He is in charge of the costumes of NEWS's concerts and in general fashion is something he loves. Besides that he also really likes food especially gyoza~

Massu seems to be quite reserved at first but actually does have a more funny and random site to him.

Former

First for the former we have Moriuchi Takahiro (森内貴寛) or better known as Taka from ONE OK ROCK. But his beginning in the entertainment industry was in Johnny's when in 2001 he decided to Johnny's and then in 2003 he debuted with NEWS but left the same year. He had no member colour since they were not as common when they debuted.

Actually his parents Mori Shinichi and Mori Masako are both also famous singer and he is their oldest son with being born on April 17th 1988.

Uchi Hiroki (内博貴) was born in September 10th 1986 and he was a member of both NEWS and Kanjani8 until 2006 however he was already suspended in 2005.

He is nowadays mainly a stage play actor under Johnny's and he will get his own part so I won't go into him further~

Kusano Hironori (草野博紀) was born on February 15th 1988 and he ed Johnny's in 2001.

After his suspension he enrolled in design university and after he left Johnny's in 2008 he founded his own band named Poregead whuch existed until 2018.

Nishikido Ryo (錦戸亮) was born in November 3rd and ed Johnny's in 1997. He was part of the first generation kansai Johnny's Jr and in 2002 got into the jr group Kanjani8 and stayed in that group even when he debuted in NEWS. He then left NEWS in 2011 and then continued in Kanjani8 until 2019 when he left Johnny's and now has his solo career. He had the member colour blue in NEWS.

He is actually also a very well known actor and up until 2019 had been starring in one drama at least once a year and through that and his activities in NEWS and Kanjani8 was known as the most overworked Johnny's in the second half of the 2010s and personally I believe that was also a part why he chose to leave NEWS.

He plays the guitar in his solo activities now but also had been playing the guitar in Kanjani8's band parts.

Nishikido also writes the majority of his songs by himself.

He also is a scardycat and can be quite cute for example he said to become taller he must eat yakisoba and rice so that he can become 170cm.

Yamashita Tomohisa (山下智久) or Yamapi was born in April 9th 1985 and ed Johnny's in 1996. His member colour was red. He left NEWS in 2011

He is probably one of the most well known Johnny's period and he is probably also very well known to be an actor but he also has his solo singing career.

He actually also left Johnny's in 2020 and has been in his own since then.

Although he left Johnny's he will get his own part since he did have quite an impact on the Johnny's fandom so more in him on a later day.

Tegoshi Yuya was born on November 11th 1987 and ed Johnny's in 2002. His member colour in NEWS was pink.

He left NEWS in 2020 and now is pursuing a solo career.

His hobby is soccer.

Tegomass

Tegomass were a duo comprised of Masuda Takahisa and Tegoshi Yuya which took up activities in 2006 when they had their first hiatus and their debut single "Miso Soup" is probably the most known song of theirs. Their debut event was held in Sweden in 2006.

They were active until 2015 however only disbanded when Tegoshi left Johnny's.

My Song Recommendations

太陽のナミダ(Taiyou no Namida)

Here

さくらガール(Sakura Girl)

Here

チャンカパナ(Chankapana)

Here

EMMA

Here

BURN

Here

Regular Shows

Koyama Keiichiro's Regular Shows

よんチャンTV(Yonchan TV)

This is like a lifestyle and news magazine on MBS so it's a local Kansai Show and this one actually has mutiple regular Johnny's so you will see this one in parts!

It revolves mainly around the Kansai area and you might get to know some shops, foods or places to visit.

Koyama is a Monday regular

Taichisan

Taichisan is a Tokai TV limited show that airs every Sunday at 12 pm and is a lunch time show that showcases diffrent restaurants.

Koyama is a regular on the show.

Barairo Dandy

Barairo Dandy is a lifestyle and news magazine on Tokyo MX that airs every from Monday to friday on 8:30 pm. Koyama is only a sometimes regular for mondays so it's best to check if he appears if you're interested in it~

Kato Shigeaki's & Koyama Keiichiro's Regular shows

NEWS no Zenryoku Making

This is Shige's and Koyama's regular show and this is a DIY show where NEWS make things together with guests. This show airs in TBS every Friday at 00:50.

Masuda Takahisa's Regular Shows

Guru Gury Ninety nine (Gurunai)

Guru Guru Ninety Nine or just Gurunai is a variety show on NTV and it has alot of diffrent segments that do include alot of guessing most of the time. Massu is a regular in their gourmet corner which will always make you hungry and surprised how much many of the items are~

It airs on Thursday on 8 PM.

NetaPare

Netapare is a Fuji TV comedy show where actors, musicians or other celebrities are invited who love to laugh.

This show airs at 11:40 pm each friday on Fuji TV.

Regular Radio Shows

Kchan NEWS

this Koyama's solo radio show! In this he takes listeners males, has interviews with guests and reports on locations shoots he did~

This Radio show airs every Tuesday on 24:04 to 24:30.

Masuda Takahisa Master Hits

This is Massu's solo radio show that airs in Sunday at 22:30 pm in bayFM.

Here he plays songs but also fans can send in letters and he talks about it on radio.

Masuda Takahisa & Nakamaru no Masumaru Radio

This is Massu's and KAT-TUN's Nakamaru Yuichi's Radio show in either RNC, RKK MRO Radio depending which area you are in and will air on either Wednesday, Thursday or Friday ar 11:30 pm to midnight. This is a radio show where together with an announcer they do talk about what comes to mind to them at the point of the recording

SORASHIGE BOOK

and the last Radioshow on this list Shige's solo radio show on FM Yokohama that airs on Su days at 11:00 pm to 11:30 pm.

This is similar to the other solo radio shows his own and he answers fan male and just talks about what he likes to~

Now to where to find other fans and find more stuff and Informations:

News-Jpop

And

KoyaShigedake

And for where to follow the :

The current NEWS and Uchi only have JWeb for their personal blogs

On Instagram

For Taka: @10969taka

For Kusano: @hironorikusano

For Nishikido: @ryonishikido_official

For Yamapi: @tomo.y9

Okay and that is it!

If you have any more questions about this group please let me know!~

That's it!~ :v: 🏼

Next up: Kanjani8