Some say, “It’s just like a big announcement…” A clear reason why “SMAP-ism” lives on even after the inexcusable breakup drama.

The conflict that Kimutaku was facing

Since the truth of the breakup is not told by the individuals themselves, we can only speculate. In January of the previous year, Merry Kitagawa gave an interview in the Shukan Bunshun. It was a series of out-of-the-ordinary statements (Merry was 88 years old at that time). She called manager Michi Iijima on the spot and told him, “If you want to confront me, I will ask you to leave today, even if you take SMAP with you. You should quit. She also told him that the next president would be her daughter, Keiko Julie.

Iijima was then removed from SMAP and left Johnny’s in January 2016. Yes, this was the month of the apology by the members and others in “SMAP✕SMAP,” which was also called a public execution, and was probably due to the fact that SMAP’s foster father, Michi Iijima, was cut off by the office.

By the looks of the apology conference and his position, Takuya Kimura became something of a villain. Other than him, the other four members left Johnny’s. Inevitably, Kimutaku, who had been the most popular person by leaps and bounds, was seen as a traitor who abandoned his friends.

But in his defense, it was Takuya Kimura who most strongly wanted SMAP to survive. But ……. At the time, Kimura was the only one married with a wife and kids. His position was different from the other four.

When SMAP was formed, Shingo Katori was 11 years old. He was just a child. They were abandoned children, and it was Sanchi Iijima who saved them. He would never have been able to abandon them.

I would like to point out one more major characteristic of the SMAP group.

In August 2001, Goro Inagaki was caught red-handed. He was suspected of attempting to start his car in a no-parking zone in Tokyo, ignoring a female police officer who asked him to show her his license. Inagaki refrained from performing for five months.

In April 2009, Kusanagi was also arrested. He was reported for being drunk and naked in a park in Tokyo. He was charged with public indecency. He was released the next day and the charges were dropped, but he was forced to refrain from performing for a little over a month.

Both Inagaki and Kusanagi apologized on “SMAP✕SMAP” when they returned to work. The other four members bowed their heads together. It would be unprecedented for two members of a nationally popular idol group to be caught red-handed. It was a major incident, widely reported, and the group’s very survival was at stake.

This, for example, is a major difference from the following popular group, Arashi. Arashi, as one might expect, has never made any arrests or been involved in any outstanding scandals. They are an honor student group. SMAP, however, is an honorary group.

Yes, the members of SMAP make mistakes and fail. They are not perfect. They are imperfect …… ordinary human beings. Just like us. And so they sincerely apologize. The members bow their heads together for the sake of their fellow members. We accepted it. No, we felt closer to that attitude, and we loved SMAP much more than before.