Sho Sakurai of “Arashi” “Snow Man” “Meguro Ren” was “inundated with criticism” and “corrected” the information.

Blog Update Caused an Unexpected Uproar

Sho Sakurai (44) of “Arashi” updated his blog on the member site “FAMILY CLUB web” on January 15. He said that as a result of the uproar on social networking sites, he had to change the text of his blog.

Sakurai’s personal page “Otonoha” on the “FAMILY CLUB web” is regularly updated on the 15th of each month. In the first blog uploaded on the 15th this year, he opened up about how he had received New Year’s greetings at the beginning of the year from junior members such as Meguro of Snow Man.

Speaking of Meguro, at the New Year’s Eve live “COUNTDOWN CONCERT 2025-2026 STARTO to MOVE” (commonly known as “Cowcon”) by STARTO ENTERTAINMENT artists held at Tokyo Dome on December 31, ’25, “Arashi” The song “Still…” by “Arashi” was covered.

In the “Shuffle Medley” corner, where members from different groups collaborated for one night only, Yoshitaka Hara (30) from “timelesz”, Kento Nagao (23) from “Naniwa Boys”, Kaito Nakamura (28) and Kaito Matsukura (28) from “Travis Japan”, and Ken Kojima (26) from “Aetos! group’s Ken Kojima (26).

Sakurai said he received a message from Meguro saying that he and Hara “sang together” at “Cowcon. Meguro and Hara joined the group at the same time and were together in a group called “Space Six” when they were juniors. Sakurai watched the full-length version of “Cowcon” on Netflix, which started on January 7, and wrote that he was moved to see the two who used to dance behind “Arashi” singing a rap song he had written.

Speaking of “Arashi,” the tour “ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2026 ‘We are ARASHI'” held from March 13 to May 31 this year will mark the end of its activities. Perhaps in preparation for the last tour, Sakurai was recently looking back at old concert footage. He said, “Oh, wow! Meguro was with us at “Japonism”! he thought to himself.

After many twists and turns, Meguro made his CD debut as a member of Snow Man in January 2008. Meanwhile, Hara, who had been acting on his own after Space Six broke up in October of the same year, auditioned to become a new member of timelesz and became a member of timelesz in February ’25.

During “Still…” at Cowcon, there was a scene where Meguro and Hara looked at each other and sang together, and Hara seemed to be moved by the fact that he was singing on the same stage with Meguro, his close friend. Perhaps Sakurai felt that this interaction between the two was “emo” and wrote, “This is the essence of the countdown we organize. It’s the real thrill of it.

Controversy over the “Still…” production

However, this was met with sharp criticism from some fans. As mentioned above, “Still…” was performed not only by the two members but also by a total of six members, including Nagao and others. However, viewers who watched the live broadcast of “Cowcon” on “FAMILY CLUB online” voiced their doubts about the performance featuring “Haramegu,” saying, “The other four looked like back-up dancers and I felt sorry for them, They felt that the other four were like background dancers,” and other negative comments were made.

Sakurai, however, praised “Still…” for its controversial treatment of Meguro and Hara. Furthermore, it turned out that he had written incorrect information in “Otonoha.” Meguro did not participate in the “ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2015 Japonism” tour of “Arashi” in 2003, rather “Travis Japan” Nakamura, who was also a member of this “Still…” selection, was the back-up dancer.

Sakurai did not mention Nagao, Nakamura & Matsukura, and Kojima, who sang “Still…” in his blog,

Sho-chan, I was disappointed that you didn’t care about any of the other four except for Harameguro. It made me sad. Meguro wasn’t even in “Japonism”.
[Joon] I cry because he wrote a blog that seems like he never expected the headliner to be a certified back-up dancer for that production. And Sho, it was Kaito who was in “Japonism”. ……
If you are going to mention the back-up for “Japonism”, you should mention Kaito, not Haramegu. As an Arashi fan, it’s sad. …… I thought Meguro was on Arashi’s tour since “Are You Happy?” in the first place.
It’s egregious to write about Meguro, who wasn’t on the “Japonism” tour, and ignore Kaito, who was backing him up.

The comments were unrelenting.

Sakurai’s blog was later updated to include Meguro’s part, with the tour title changed to “ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2016-2017 Are You Happy? The tour name was incorrect, and a sentence was added: “We will correct it. We apologize for the mistake. Sakurai’s response was met with positive comments, such as ‘very disciplined’ and ‘very Sho-chan’.

Sakurai’s mistake, which had been made before the group’s big stage performance, had drawn the ire of various fans. However, since he admitted his mistake and immediately apologized, the flames did not continue and he succeeded in following up on his mistake.