Yuki Goto talks about his “fate” with Friday and his 10 years after his release from prison

I hope this book will help young people who are delinquents, like myself, to read this book and get back on their feet and say, ‘I don’t want to be like this.

Yuki Goto, 36, a former member of “EE JUMP,” said. His autobiography, “Outlaw Philosophy (Rules): How to Struggle in Life without Rails” (Kodansha BC), will be published on September 1. He is the younger brother of Maki Goto, 36, a former member of Morning Musume。 He made his debut in the entertainment industry in 2000 as the younger brother of Maki Goto (36), and retired two years later. In 2007, Goto was arrested for stealing copper wire from a construction site and spent five years in prison.

Goto and “Friday” have an unshakable connection. As a junior high school student, Goto was reported drinking in the VIP room of a cabaret club in Kabukicho, which resulted in his retirement from the entertainment industry.

At the time when I was photographed, I was completely unaware of the seriousness of the situation. I entered the entertainment industry because of my older sister, and I wasn’t conscious of being aware of my activities. I probably didn’t think anything of it.”

Goto continued down the wrong path. She went out at night with local friends and repeatedly committed theft “like a thrilling game. In 2007, this magazine caught wind that “Goto was about to be arrested,” and began to interview him. Goto, who recognized the car of a news crew waiting to capture him, chased the crew around in his car and threatened them by hitting them in the windshield with a wooden sword. The police were called to the scene, and nearly 10 police cars were called to the scene.

I was seriously thinking of dragging the reporter out of the car. I had retired from show business, and I thought the magazine was stalking my sister and her family, so I was really pissed off. But it was me that Friday was after. I had no idea that I was being investigated to the point that it would leak to the press. I sensed that an arrest was imminent and decided to turn myself in, confiding my guilt to my family.”

Goto’s life changed in the prison where he spent his early twenties, where he fell as far as he could. He endured bullying from inmates, and in the gaps between the routine of his life, he became absorbed in studying for the Chinese and English proficiency tests, and vowed to reform himself.

Immediately after his release from prison, he was seen as a complete outlaw, and one after another people came to him with offers of underhanded work, such as, ‘Can you prepare a cell phone under the name Tobashi (a fictitious name)? There was even an offer to do an adult video for 300 million yen. I did not accept these offers because I felt first and foremost for my family, who had caused me so much trouble. Also, the people I was misbehaving with stopped sending me even a single letter after I was arrested. There was a time when I was “out of prison” after I was released, but I wanted to look back at them, and that was one of my motivations.

Ten years have passed since he carried the cross. Currently, he works for an air-conditioning company run by Chizuru’s father, who remarried in 2003, and is actively engaged in his personal life through YouTube and other media. He actively posts his personal life on YouTube and other media, and has announced his return to show business for the first time in 20 years.

I’ve atoned for my sins, but to most people I’ve lived an outlaw’s life,” he said. But I think there are things I can do because I am such a person. My goal is to become a person who can provide a place where young people who have lost their way can start over. Of course, to today’s youth, I am just an old man. It’s all part of the process. I am now at a turning point in my life, and I will continue to work on how I can be seen as Yuki Goto, rather than as Gomaki’s younger brother.

I took a detour. But he is able to atone for his crime because he is an outlaw.

Click here to pre-order and purchase “Philosophy of Outlaw: How to Struggle in Life without Rails”!

From the September 2, 2022 issue of FRIDAY