Japan’s Idol Crisis of the Century Averted as Boy Band SMAP Confirms It is NOT Disbanding

While the Mandarin speaking countries and Korea spent last week chattering about the Tzuyu snowballed political brouhaha, Japan was oddly absent from the fray because it had its own near national crisis to deal with. Thankfully it appears to be crisis averted, so let’s take a look back at what went down in the span of 7 days. Last week J-ent was thrown into the biggest tizzy since god remembers when due to the reliable gossip leak that all was not well in Johnny’s kingdom and the biggest boy band in Japanese history SMAP may be disbanding. Quelle horreur!

The whole thing started because SMAP’s long time manager, who has been feuding with two directors within Johnny’s, resigned her position and was leaving the agency. That would be fine but for news that four out of five SMAP members were leaving with her, and for the record it was the four not named Kimura Takuya. But SMAP isn’t just a KimuTaku one man affair even if he’s the most prominent member of the group, there’s also Inagaki Goro, Nakai Masahiro, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, and Katori Shingo. After nearly a week of radio silence from the group, all five appeared somber and serious on their TV show SMAPxSMAP and released official statements denying the disbandment and bowing low to apologize for making so many people worried and upset.


Comments

Japan’s Idol Crisis of the Century Averted as Boy Band SMAP Confirms It is NOT Disbanding — 12 Comments

    • Are those wax figures in Hello Kitty coats or is it really them but photoshop was applied liberally? The poses do not help either.

      But I have to say that those are the cutest outfits I’ve seen on a ‘boyband’. Makes me want to use it as wallpaper. 🙂

    • Yes, the fact that they are still called a “boy band” makes me LOL. They are not as geriatric as the Rolling Stones, but they are all well into their 40’s now. I am amazed that they have lasted so long; they are good at skits and chit-chat but their singing and dancing is fairly pedestrian and their acting skills not consistent. Their continuing success, evidenced by this latest hysteria, mystifies me.

  1. I’m still confused, so are they not leaving Johnny’s or are they still leaving but not disbanding. They said KimuTaku gave them the opportunity to apologize to Johnny, so…

    • well,thats the question that j-netizen was asking.SMAP practically didnt state whether they r together or not.people in japan r crazy last night.SMAP even trending in worldwide tweet and their program, SMAPXSMAP even recorded more than 37%.they may not as popular as they were before but they definitely still powerful.

  2. I was definitely a huge fan of smap back in the day. I still watched kimura- san’s latest drama last year – following it weekly. While I don’t really watch much smap x smap except when they have someone I am interested in on as a guest. I admit their skits were hilarious. I liked that part of variety. And also their games. It’s been at least 2 years since I last saw one.

    Not sure if they are disbanding but such is life. The fact that they as a group is still relevant even though not as popular is quite amazing.

  3. hi ms K.
    I wonder why you haven’t post about the lastest news of this case.
    are you waiting this to conclude first?
    well, the discussion here is always fun so I kinda anticipating it

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