KAT-TUN” members opened their personal SNS…the surprising reason why their manager had stopped them until now.

KAT-TUN, a three-member group from Johnny’s s, celebrated the 17th anniversary of its CD debut on March 22 this year, and this year the members have opened personal social networking sites one after another, attracting attention in many directions for their unique posts. In particular, Tatsuya Ueda and Yuichi Nakamaru’s accounts “have gained support from people who were not interested in Johnny’s,” according to an idol magazine editor.

Among the members, Kazuya Kamenashi was the first to start an Instagram account. In his first post on January 1 this year, he commented, ‘Happy New Year 2023. As of April 26, he had 903,000 followers, but his “fan-oriented” content, such as his smiling face, stands out.

Ueda then started an Instagram on February 14. On the same day, when she live-streamed the event, she said, “I wanted to do an insta-live. I wanted to communicate with everyone. She also confessed that she had wanted to start an Instagram for a long time, but her manager had given her the nod because of her “language” problem.

Ueda also talked about his “How to beat Johnny’s” series that he updates on Stories. For example, when asked about “how to beat” King & Prince’s Shiyoh Hirano,

He said, “I go up to him in a friendly manner and say, ‘Your abs are amazing, aren’t they?’ Then I bite him on his abs with all my might, and when he cries out in pain, I kick him with a soccer ball.”

He explained. This sly move, which was Ueda’s idea, was a big hit with his followers.

On March 9, TV personality Huwa-chan revealed on Twitter, “When I told KAT-TUN’s Ueda-san that the story of how to beat him on Instagram has become a hot topic, he was upset that the expression was so violent that it was erased from the official site. Since he is going his own way, he has been appreciated by netizens as well, saying, “He has good taste and is funny,” and “I’m not a fan, but I watch Ueda-kun’s Instagram because his Stories’ question-answering is interesting. With 667,000 followers (as of April 18), Ueda has fewer followers than Kamenashi, but he has the edge in terms of entertainment value.

Nakamaru launched Twitter and Instagram on March 22, the 17th anniversary of his debut. He has 464,000 followers on Insta and 485,000 on Twitter (as of April 26). One of the most distinctive features of Twitter is its usage. On March 22, he said, “I started Twitter. No, I have started. From now on, I will tweet about my progress toward manga publication and my daily complaints,” he posted for the first time. He uploaded an image showing that he had created a private account in the past and that he had been using Twitter since October 2010.

It should be noted that Nakamaru has a dream of becoming a manga artist, and he seems to be training hard to publish his manga. When he expressed his passion for manga on Twitter, the famous manga editor Shihpei Hayashi, who has worked on many hit titles such as “SPY x FAMILY” and “Chainsaw Man” (Shueisha), said, “I am a manga editor!　I would be happy to work with you if you like!” (dated March 24), sending a love call to him.

On April 3, when Nakamaru asked for advice on how to draw people, the reply column received many comments from Twitter users who were probably not Japanese fans. Furthermore, Nakamaru has completely mastered Twitter, trying out the live voice function, Space, and entertaining Johnny’s lovers by throwing “Johnny’s Big Comedy” at them. Nakamaru-kun is very good at using Twitter,” and “I have seen a new side of Nakamaru-kun on Twitter, and his image has changed in a good way,” were some of the positive comments on the Internet.

Unfortunately, at this stage, Kamenashi’s growth potential cannot be felt, but could Ueda and Nakamaru’s SNS be the catalyst that brings new fans to KAT-TUN, now in its 17th year since debut?