On the Eve of the Birth of SMAP: The Real Strength of “Shonen-tai” and “Hikaru Genji,” the Fulfillment of Janie Kitagawa’s Ideal

The “end point” of Janie Kitagawa’s dream

It took them a total of four years from the time they started as back-up dancers in 1981 until their debut in “The Masked Ball”. The trio had acquired overwhelming dance skills through a long period of intense training. It is said that Janie Kitagawa called Shonen-tai “a group of masterpieces.

The other is Hikaru Genji. Hikaru Genji combined two groups from different generations, Hikaru and Genji. Above all, their style of singing and skating on roller skates took people by surprise.

The origin of this style was the British musical “Starlight Express,” which was performed on roller skates. Hikaru Genji debuted as a campaigner for the play’s Japan tour. Their debut song was “STRAIGHT.

Hikaru Genji became the most popular Johnny’s group in history, and in 1988 won the last Record Award in the Showa era with “Paradise Ginga”.

Hikaru Genji was the top idol group as a stage attraction and glamorous attraction, while Shonen-tai was a three-member group that boasted overwhelming dance skills. With these two groups, Janie Kitagawa’s long-held dream of shining on stage as dancing boy idols was fulfilled.

However, the achievement of a goal is also the end of a dream. There was nowhere more to go. The motion of the ellipse, torn in two, converges on a single point and closes cleanly as a circle. The motion stops.

At …… that moment, another new and unexpected point begins to secretly gestate. Young boys dancing on skateboards in the background of Hikaru Genji’s glamorous stage. They would be called the Skate Boys, and over time, members would be selected, and eventually a new name would emerge.

–SMAP.

In the next article, “[Also with Johnny’s’s Disqualified Persons] The Identity of What “Drove and Abandoned” SMAP Right After Their Debut,” we will look back at the factors that plagued them during SMAP’s long underachieving years.