Kuwabara’s “behavior” in leaving RADWIMPS made Noda lose his patience. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

Kuwabara’s “behavior” in leaving RADWIMPS made Noda lose his patience.

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Members of RADWIMPS at the production report conference for the movie “Weather Child” in July ’19. From left, Yusuke Takeda, Akira Kuwahara, and Yojiro Noda. On the far right is director Makoto Shinkai (Photo/Kyodo)

Comments suggest “amicable withdrawal,” but…

On October 17, the official website of the popular band “RADWIMPS (RAD)” announced that guitarist Akira Kuwabara (39) has left the band. The site explained the reason for his departure: “After more than 20 years of activities together, the members have gradually developed differences in their ideas and thoughts, and after repeated discussions, we have come to this conclusion.

Before Mr. Kuwabara left, RAD consisted of three members: vocalist Yojiro Noda (39), bassist Yusuke Takeda (39), and Mr. Kuwabara. Tomofumi Yamaguchi, 39, a drummer, has been on a leave of absence since September 2003 due to a worsening of a neurological disorder called focal dystonia. Kuwabara’s departure came as a surprise. It must have been a disappointing news to their fans, as they will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of their major label debut next year.

When Kuwabara announced his departure, he and the members of RAD released comments. Kuwabara said , “The life that I have led with the members for more than 20 years is my treasure. Noda said, “I am truly grateful that I have been able to play music with them since I was 15 years old. I will continue to support Kuwabara’s life from now on as well,” he said. On the surface, his comments seemed like an “amicable withdrawal,” but it seems that the two did not have such a peaceful relationship.

His behavior was unbearable.

Mr. Noda had been gradually growing angry with Mr. Kuwabara’s behavior over the past few years, and it seems that he had finally run out of patience. It seems that Mr. Kuwabara was also upset with him for leaving the group.

The cracks between the two began to show when she started dating Mr. Garcie (53), whose revealing videos shook the entertainment world for a while. He called Kuwabara “KWA” and was a close friend whose name appeared regularly in the exposure videos. According to Mr. Gershey, Ms. Kuwabara co-owned a bar in central Tokyo with a certain actor who was a close friend of Mr. Gershey’s, and they hid this fact from Ms. Noda. When Mr. Noda heard about this from an acquaintance, he was furious.

From Mr. Kuwabara’s point of view, he may have thought that he earned less money than Noda, who received royalties from his singing and songwriting, and that it would not be a problem for him to invest in a side business. However, the bar was not just a bar, but a very dangerous bar where celebrities gathered night after night, and women attended by Mr. Gershey would also come and go. It is no wonder that Mr. Noda was angry with Kuwabara, who had a wife and child but was repeatedly playing with women.

To top it all off, Kuwabara’s affair with a 20-something model was revealed in “Bunshun Online” in September ’21. He was forced to suspend his activities until October 2010. At that time, Noda reportedly threatened Kuwabara not only to suspend his activities but also to leave the group, but there was another incident during the hiatus that further angered Noda.

In June 2010, the main event of the martial arts event “THE MATCH 2022” held at the Tokyo Dome was a big match between a kick boxer, Tenshin Nasukawa (26), and a kick boxer, Takeru Takemasa (33), who was a good friend of Kuwabara. Mr. Kuwabara, who was on hiatus at the time, was, of course, stationed at ringside and appeared on the live broadcast as if nothing had happened. Mr. Noda was reported to have said to those around him, ‘Of course, that’s not right.

Reacting to the revelation of her former adulterous partner

On the 18th, the day after Kuwabara’s withdrawal announcement, model Raimu Taya (27), whose name was withheld in the Bunshun report on the affair, revealed in a video by an exposing YouTuber that she was Kuwabara’s adulterous partner and that they had been having an affair for about 4.5 years. In response to Taya’s revelation, Kuwabara confessed on his Instagram on March 26 that he had been single for a long time! and that she was divorced. He also emphasized, “I’m not having an affair anymore! but this only served to make him look bad. Incidentally, Taya’s contract as an exclusive model for the fashion magazine “Merveille,” where she worked as a model, was cancelled after she exposed the affair.

Although Ms. Kuwabara has not revealed the timing of her divorce, it appears that Ms. Noda was also dissatisfied with the fact that she did not take care of her family and even divorced him. After leaving the band, Kuwabara-san immediately started a business reselling vintage T-shirts. In the past, when RAD visited Southeast Asia on tour, Kuwabara hoarded as many as 100 T-shirts, and Noda complained on SNS, “As a fellow member, I hate it,” which further disappointed many fans.

On October 24, it was announced that Kuwabara had become an ambassador for Time Ticket’s live entertainment business. He plans to engage in new creative and other activities through TikTok LIVE. At the very least, we hope that he will live up to the expectations of his fans in the future.

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