<figure id="attachment_351453" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-351453" style="width: 3643px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5343aaae"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/12/9dba79fd34f255747e925fe53d75e65c-2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-351453" class="wp-caption-text">They are both young (&#8217;03 photo)</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 popular at the time. This time, we bring you &#8220;Johnny&#8217;s Jr. &#8216;KAT-TUN&#8217; Sei Tanaka and Yuu Abiru&#8217;s &#8216;friendly school leaving&#8217; scene,&#8221; which appeared in the December 26, 2003 issue 20 years ago.</p>
<p> In 2003, &#8220;KAT-TUN,&#8221; which had not yet officially debuted, was the most popular Johnny&#8217;s Jr. group, and Sei Tanaka (then 18) was active on stage and in dramas. Yuu Abiru (then 17), who was working as a TV personality, made her CD debut the previous year with the idol unit &#8220;Licca. It was around this time that her talk on variety shows was beginning to gain popularity. Tanaka was a year senior to Abiru in high school. This magazine captured them &#8220;going off to school together.</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> At a bus stop, not caring about their surroundings: &#8230;&#8230;</span></h3>
<p> In fact, the previous summer, a two-shot photo of the two of them getting along with each other had already been leaked to fans, and rumors that they were dating were whispered. Eight months before this article, this magazine also reported their &#8220;date at Shibuya Izakaya&#8221; (May 2 issue). At that time, both of their agencies denied that they were dating, but it seems that they were still very close.</p>
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<p> The article at the time described their relationship as follows.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> One day during the final exam period in December, Yu Chan (Sr. 2) was sitting at a bus stop near his school when Seikun (Sr. 3) came to him. He placed his bag on Yu-Chan&#8217;s lap as if he were leaving it with his girlfriend, and then invited her to stand nearby and whisper to each other. Later, when he returned to the bench, he brushed Yu-Chan&#8217;s bangs and began to tease her about her thinning eyebrows, saying, &#8220;Let me see your eyebrows. No!&#8221; Yuu-Chan hid her face with a purple scarf.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> But she was not to be outdone. Pointing at Sei-kun&#8217;s eyebrows, which were shaved with vertical stripes in the style of the Adidas line, she said, &#8220;What are you doing? and started to &#8220;fight back. They flirted with each other, paying no attention to their surroundings, and eventually got into a cab together, including a friend.</span></p>

<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The &quot;love triangle&quot; of Tanaka, Yamapo, and Abiru"></div>
<p>The two attended a private high school in Tokyo that was famous for its performing arts course. In the same grade as Tanaka, there were Tomohisa Yamashita, Hiromitsu Kitayama, Yu Shirota, and others, as well as Yu Aoi and Aya Ueto (who dropped out) among the female students, and they were known as the &#8220;golden generation.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Although the students in the performing arts course had no contact with students in other courses, they seemed to socialize across grade levels within the same performing arts course. Yuu Abiru, who was a year below Tanaka, is said to be the &#8220;most beautiful woman in the history of the school,&#8221; and there is a &#8220;legend&#8221; that Tanaka and Yamapo fought over her. It is said that the two did not get along well with each other until later due to a grudge they had at that time.</span></p>
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<p> Tanaka and Abiru were lovebirds at the time, but it seems that their relationship did not last long. In 2004, Abiru was reportedly in love with ISSA of DA PUMP, and in 2007, she was reportedly in love with Tanaka&#8217;s classmate, Yamapa.</p>
<p> Tanaka finally made his debut in &#8220;KAT-TUN&#8221; in &#8217;06 and became popular as a somewhat unconventional Johnny&#8217;s idol, but he was fired from Johnny&#8217;s office in September &#8217;13 because he was too &#8220;unconventional. He then continued his music career, but after repeated arrests for marijuana and methamphetamine, he is now reportedly an employee at a support facility for recovering drug addicts.</p>
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<p> In 2002, Abiru announced her marriage to martial artist Saiga Kizaemon. Their first daughter was born the following year, but they divorced in &#8217;19. Initially, Saiga had custody of the daughter, and although Abiru appealed to the court to change the custody, it is believed that the daughter is still with Saiga. In the meantime, in February &#8217;22, Abiru gave birth to their second child. The father of the child is an ordinary man, and she is not planning to enroll him.</p>
<p> Even though the two have grown up and are plagued with various complicated problems, they had such an innocent high school life.</p>

<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" More &quot;lovey-dovey&quot; shots of Tanaka and Abiru"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_351450" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-351450" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9bbf1cfb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/12/8d79ede70656e834466897144d349685-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-351450" class="wp-caption-text">Tanaka brings Abiru, who was sitting on the bench, close to him and they have some kind of a private conversation.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_351451" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-351451" style="width: 1951px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0b8c22ee"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/12/30227a85fbee8f4fec276dc8e9bb0bb7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-351451" class="wp-caption-text"> Abiru is holding Tanaka&#8217;s bag.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_351454" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-351454" style="width: 1960px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6da27553"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/12/01a2b521919da2b37dda55d4dc4a26d5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-351454" class="wp-caption-text"> The two look at each other and talk. They are in the middle of their youth.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_351452" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-351452" style="width: 1551px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1b38152d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/12/ce7c7981db7a594f22f54f66280919e5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-351452" class="wp-caption-text"> Tanaka teases Abir&#8217;s eyebrows as she tries to cover her face with her scarf in embarrassment.</figcaption></figure>
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 In this issue of Playback, we take a look back at what this magazine was reporting 10, 20, and 30 years ago. In this issue, we report on the lovey-dovey scene between popular idols Sei Tanaka and Yuu Abiru, who were both high school students at the time, while leaving school.

Playback ’03] Sei Tanaka and Yuu Abiru – Popular High School Idols Make Out After School

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