ABOUT ARASHI Arashi (�, Japanese for storm), is a Japanese five-member boy band under Johnny & Associates. They made their debut in September 1999 in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The group ...

ABOUT ARASHI
Arashi (�, Japanese for storm), is a Japanese five-member boy band under Johnny & Associates. They made their debut in September 1999 in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. The group was signed to the Pony Canyon record label from 1999 to 2001, (which released their first singles (A-RA-SHI to Jidai) and their first album, ARASHI ICHIGOU: Arashi wa Arashi wo Yobu) before they transitioned forward to Johnny's Associates-powered J-STORM record label in 2002, producing their future singles and future albums until today.

This group is widely known across Asia. On the day of their first single "A・RA・SHI"'s release, more than 80,000 fans showed up to attend their debut event. Since their debut, the group has released 18 singles, including "HADASHI no Mirai (Barefoot Future)" and "Jidai (Generation)" and 8 albums. Their debut single, "A・RA・SHI (Storm)" was a major hit, attracted many people and sold almost one million copies. Arashi releases a wide range of music, including hip hop.

MUSICAL CAREER
In November 2006, Arashi became the first group from Johnny's Entertainment to perform an individual concert in South Korea. The concert was decided due to the fact that about 1500 Korean fans gathered at the Incheon International Airport during Arashi's Jet Storm press conference tour.

The Jet Storm Tour which aimed to promote their newest album, Arashic, covered Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea, all in one day on July 31, 2006.


ARASHI MEMBERS

Arashi is composed of

* Satoshi Ohno (大野智, Satoshi Ohno)
* Sho Sakurai (櫻井翔, Sho Sakurai)
* Masaki Aiba (相葉雅紀, Masaki Aiba)
* Kazunari Ninomiya (二宮和也, Kazunari Ninomiya)
* Jun Matsumoto (�本潤, Jun Matsumoto)

Satoshi Ohno, the oldest member of Arashi, is the reluctant "leader" of the group after winning against Sho Sakurai in a round of rock-paper-scissors with the other members on a Japanese variety show. The exact same pattern of him unwillingly 'winning' against Sho has been seen repeating many times ever since. He is the oldest person in the group and Ohno sings the lead vocals. Although he has stated that he wanted to avoid becoming the leader the most, Arashi members have once stated in an interview that Ohno is a new-age idol, who leads his group by not leading at all. Aside from leading the vocal work, he is known as the best dancer and as the one who has the greatest control when it comes to singing in Arashi. Back when Arashi first debuted and before he was elected leader, Ohno was told by Johnny's to be the "Dance Leader". He choreographs several of their dance moves, which the other members sometimes find quite hard to follow. Other artistes from the same company openly expressed their admiration for Ohno's dancing; among them are Imai Tsubasa of the duo Tackey & Tsubasa, Kokubun Taichi of TOKIO, Yuuri Chinen of the newly-debuted group Hey! Say! JUMP, and other juniors. He is also one half of the Arashi skit duo Ohmiya SK, partnering Kazunari Ninomiya. Out of all the members, he has appeared in the fewest dramas, preferring to do stage plays or focus on his art. He performed his first solo concert on January 29, 2006. He became the first artist in Johnny's who held an art exhibit, which was entitled, "Freestyle".

Sho Sakurai sings most of the rap parts (known to fans as "Sakurap"), the lyrics of which he also writes. Sakurai was the first in the group to perform in a solo concert, The Show, on January 14, 2006. He is currently a Monday co-host of NTV's News Zero, on which he became the first idol to host an election special and was chosen as the main caster for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Sakurai is arguably the best-educated member of the group, having graduated from Keio University, the Japanese equivalent of an Ivy League school. During the early years after Arashi's debut, Sho was appointed by the Johnny's to be the "Study Leader". Although he lost in a round of rock-paper-scissors, hence excusing him from being the group's leader, the other four of Arashi have made many remarks that Sakurai is the one who possesses leadership qualities.

Masaki Aiba is the tallest member of the group, with a distinctive breathy voice. He was once hospitalized after fainting due to the collapse of one of his lungs and was forced to stop playing the saxophone due to the operation he had to undergo. Aiba interacts with various wild animals as a co-host of the TV show, Tensai! Shimura Doubutsuen. He also excels in sports, especially basketball. He has been known to have considerably short attention span and often jumps between topics during talks and interviews, thus earning himself his reputation as the endearing, flaky member of Arashi. Sometimes Aiba makes some mistakes with Japanese, particularly in reading kanji. He can be seen making various reading mistakes in talk shows and live performances. During the earlier years following Arashi's debut, Aiba was appointed the "Image Leader" of Arashi.

Kazunari Ninomiya is the first member of the group to crossover to American films as he starred in Clint Eastwood's critically acclaimed Japanese language film, Letters from Iwo Jima. Along with bandmate Jun Matsumoto, he is one of Japan's leading young actors and have been said to be able to "act with his eyes". Ninomiya stated that he is left-handed but has been forced to write with his right hand by his parents when he was a child. He plays the guitar, piano, composes songs and write lyrics. However, he is usually seen with a game console in hand instead and had publicly admitted that he was an otaku when he was an elementary school student. During Arashi's early years, Johnny's appointed Ninomiya as the "Performance Leader".

Jun Matsumoto is the youngest member of Arashi. Matsumoto is known for his starring roles in dramas such as Bambino, Hana Yori Dango, Hana Yori Dango 2, Kimi wa Petto, and Gokusen. He is the first Japanese male to grace the cover of Marie Claire Japan. Ohno has labeled him the "concert master" because of his take-charge attitude and attention to detail during their live performances. During the years after their debut, he was appointed by the Johnny's as the "Comedy Leader". By now he has more or less lost the comedic image and has even gained the nickname DoS from the other members (S standing for 'Sadist' and Do means 'extreme' in Japanese Kanji). Jun is one of the three idols who are considered elites in the Johnny's because he was called to join the company by Johnny Kitagawa himself, without having to go through auditions.

Aside from their music careers, Arashi members have also appeared in movies, special variety programs, commercials, stage plays, and various television dramas. Currently, they are also the hosts of two variety programs, Arashi no Shukudai-kun and Himitsu no Arashi-chan as well as a game show, VS Arashi.

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