<figure id="attachment_344957" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-344957" style="width: 2149px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="17dc38c9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/987eb9c956bc6f5cca29dbda04bb984c.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-344957" class="wp-caption-text">He responded sincerely to each question in the interview.</figcaption></figure>
<p> What did &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In &#8220;Playback Friday,&#8221; we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we will look back at the &#8220;J-firing direct hit,&#8221; which appeared in the November 1, 2001 issue 10 years ago! Sei Tanaka: &#8216;I was a spoiled brat&#8230;'&#8221; We will report on the following article from the November 1, 2001 issue, which appeared 10 years ago.</p>
<p> In early October 2001, a fax was sent to the media, stating that the contract with &#8220;KAT-TUN&#8217;s&#8221; Sei Tanaka (then 27) had been terminated as of September 30. We caught up with Tanaka on his cab ride home from an outing to find out how he was feeling about his resignation from Johnny&#8217;s s and KAT-TUN.</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Playback! Tanaka&#8217;s true feelings revealed in the direct interview: &#8220;It&#8217;s a place I loved very much.</span></h3>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I&#8217;ve been here for more than 10 years. &#8230;&#8230; It was a place I loved very much.</span></p>
<p> Tanaka, a former member of KAT-TUN, was effectively fired by his Johnny&#8217;s sibling agency at the end of September. The &#8220;place he loved&#8221; is none other than &#8220;KAT-TUN.</p>
<p> What do you think about your dismissal this time?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Tanaka: &#8220;Well, I have caused a lot of trouble in the past, so it can&#8217;t be helped. &#8230;&#8230;</span></p>
<p> ─ Who do you mean by &#8220;caused trouble&#8221;?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The office, the members, the fans, and my family. I guess I was spoiled myself. The office protects me and the members protect me. There were also fans who said they liked the fact that I didn&#8217;t look like Johnny&#8217;s, and I was spoiled by that.</span></p>
<p> ─ What do you think was the main reason that triggered your dismissal?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> What do you think was the main reason for your dismissal? I guess there were too many areas where I didn&#8217;t follow the rules.</span></p>
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<p> ─ ─ &#8220;KAT-TUN&#8221; will become a four-member group (Note: Jin Akanishi left in &#8217;10). &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I can only think of &#8216;thank you&#8217; and &#8216;I&#8217;m sorry&#8217; to the members. As for work, I have respect for the members, so I think the four of them will be fine. In fact, I would be happy if people say that &#8220;KAT-TUN&#8221; is more successful than before because of Tanaka&#8217;s departure. I am really sorry to all the fans, but I hope you will continue to support KAT-TUN.</span></p>
<p> Tanaka&#8217;s tone, which could be taken as a farewell, was clear as he said that he has no contact with the members. However, he is not optimistic about his future after leaving &#8220;KAT-TUN.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" If I can do something little by little, even if it&#39;s in the negative..."></div>
<p>─ Do you plan to continue performing in the future?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I would like to do something little by little, starting from the negative. However, as far as acting is concerned, it is not so easy just because I want to do it. If that is the case, I think I will start with music.</span></p>
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<p> ─ ─ Do you have confidence in your ability to work as an individual, not as KAT-TUN, but as Sei Tanaka?</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I want to reassure my parents, and my younger brothers are also in the entertainment business and respect me, so I want to get back to that position. I am anxious, but I still feel that I have to do it. After all, I have only known the entertainment industry since I was 12 years old. &#8230;&#8230;</span></p>
<p> Although his agency&#8217;s only explanation for terminating his contract was that he had repeatedly violated the agency&#8217;s rules, there are many ways in which he has inconvenienced those around him in the past. He has had many problems with women, has a shaved head and full body tattoos, and has a completely un-idol-like appearance, as well as leaked photos. He also became a problem when he performed live concerts and ran a bar without telling his office.</p>
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<p> At the time, Tanaka expressed his positive feelings for his parents and younger brothers, but you know how far he has fallen since then. In 2005, he was caught red-handed for marijuana possession. Although the charges were dropped at the time, in January 2010 he was convicted of possession of methamphetamine and dangerous drugs in Nagoya City and sentenced to one year and eight months in prison with a three-year suspended sentence.</p>
<p> In November, he was also arrested for extorting 10,000 yen from a female acquaintance the previous year (the charges were later dropped).</p>
<p> Tanaka is said to be currently living in a residential support facility while going to the hospital to get clean. What would he think if he were to see what he said back then?</p>
<figure id="attachment_344958" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-344958" style="width: 2316px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5776c8db"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/11/098f830539e70df31ef81d745ab5ed3d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-344958" class="wp-caption-text"> Tanaka was performing live without the permission of the office, even though he was not a member of &#8220;KAT-TUN. He also had many other &#8220;problematic behaviors,&#8221; such as leaked photos of his tattoos and his private parts.</figcaption></figure>


 Sota Shima, Keisuke Nishi

 In this issue of Playback, we take a look back at what this magazine reported 10, 20, and 30 years ago. In this issue, we report on the November 1, 2001 issue, when Johnny's fired Sei Tanaka gave a direct interview to this magazine.

Playback ’13] Johnny’s Fired! Sei Tanaka tells this magazine about his apology to the members and fans, and his reemergence.

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