Former SMAP “Shingo Katori” and Kis-My-Ft2 “first collaboration” after leaving Johnny’s…an industry taboo broken.

Former SMAP member Shingo Katori will appear on the November 16 broadcast of the major music program “Best Hit Song Festival 2023” (Yomiuri TV/NTV), which will also feature Kanjani Eight, Kis-My-Ft2, and Naniwa Boys from SMILE-UP. (former Johnny’s Office) will also appear, and the “first collaboration” with Katori, who left the office in 2005, has become a hot topic.

Until now, it has been taboo in the industry for talents from the former Johnny’s office (now Smile Up) and those who left the office to perform together, so they have never performed together. Therefore, fans of SMAP and Kis-My-Ft2 seem to have a universal feeling that they will both appear on the same program.

After the breakup of the group at the end of 2004, Katori, along with former SMAP members Goro Inagaki and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, left Johnny’s (at the time) on September 8 of the following year. On the 22nd of the same month, the three established a joint official fan site, New Map.

Currently, Inagaki and Kusanagi’s main focus is on acting, while Katori is more active as an artist, especially in the singing and artistic fields. As a singer, he has distributed singles under the name “Shingo Katori” and released albums in 2008 and 2010. This year, he surprised music fans by collaborating with K-pop artist SEVENTEEN on the song “BETTING” (released on January 17).

Katori will perform the song at “Best Hit Song Festival 2023,” which will be broadcast live for three hours from Osaka Castle Hall on November 16, according to an article in the Sports Hochi dated November 2. According to a source, preparations are underway for a special one-night-only dream stage, and it will be interesting to see if there will be a “joint performance.

The report added, “I have the impression that in a normal music special program, each artist is introduced and sings a song after communicating with the MCs. The “Best Hit Song Festival 2023” will be held in the same place as the “Best Hit Song Festival 2023,” and I wonder if Katori and the former Johnny’s talents will be side by side or if there will be any scenes involving them. …… Expectations are high for the show.

And the fans of SMAP and Kis-My-Ft2 are already excited. In the past, the members of the two groups frequently appeared together in variety shows and dramas, and “until SMAP broke up, they had a ‘master-disciple’ relationship,” according to a former entertainment writer. That’s why the social networking sites are so busy with the news,

I’m so happy to see Kisumai and Katori together!
Shingo-kun and Kismai on a show together is exciting!
I can’t wait to see Katori and Kiss Mai together!

The other day, Toshiya Miyata, a former member of the Kabuki drama “Kismai,” was asked to comment on the show. Also, there was a miraculous development the other day when Toshiya Miyata responded to Katori’s show on his personal X (formerly Twitter). It turns out that Katori will be a guest on “Seiyu to Yoru Asobi” (November 3 broadcast), an on-air program on the internet TV station ABEMA. On that day, voice actors Tomokazu Seki and Nobuhiko Okamoto will be the MCs for the episode, and at midnight on October 28, Okamoto wrote, “Shingo Katori is a guest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” he posted on X.

To this, Miyata responded, “Woooooo! Wooooooooo ！！！！ I’ll definitely watch it: ！！！！” Miyata replied, “I’ll definitely watch it. In fact, Miyata wrote during the broadcast, “Shingo Katori is on ‘Seiyu to Yoru Asobi’! That’s soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Seki-san and his brother Nobuhiko look like they’re having fun!!!” he tweeted his thoughts excitedly.

Meanwhile, some fans were wondering if Hiromitsu Kitayama, who is not currently a member but graduated from Kis-My-Ft2 at the end of August this year, was wearing an item related to Katori.

Katori has been the director of a brand called JANTJE_ONTEMBAAR with stylist Tomoki Yuma since ’18. We have a store in Marunouchi, Tokyo, and we also sell several products through our online store.

On October 28, Kitayama posted a photo of himself drinking an iced coffee on his official Instagram page, and the design on the chest of the black T-shirt he was wearing was slightly visible. Fans on SNS then pointed out that the T-shirt resembled the brand’s “J_O ORIGINAL T-shirt MONOGRAM-POCKET”. Indeed, the distinctive mark in white is very similar.

Kitayama has also appeared as a “barter” in the dramas “Yuka na Kanojo” (Fuji TV, broadcast in 2001) and “One Thousand Trillion Yen Ransom” (Fuji TV, broadcast in 2003), both of which starred Katori. It is not known if the T-shirt is really the “JANTJE_ONTEMBAAR” T-shirt, or if it is the real one, how Kitayama got it, but it must have been a happy event for those who support both parties.

Now that the former Johnny’s office (now Smile Up) and the post-exit talents have been able to perform together, we may soon be able to see them perform together with Katori and Kitayama, who also left the Johnny’s office.