"Hi Jakarta, we finally made it. We are here to express our gratitude to the fans in Jakarta because they have supported us for 20 years,"Jakarta (ANTARA) - Japanese boy band Arashi, meaning storm in Japanese, made its first stop in Jakarta on Sunday to meet and greet fans in Indonesia for the foremost time ever in its international tour since its 1999-debut.
"Hi Jakarta, we finally made it. We are here to express our gratitude to the fans in Jakarta because they have supported us for 20 years," Sho Sakurai, one of Arashi's members, stated at a press conference in Jakarta.
Jakarta was one of the four Asian cities that Arashi landed aboard its private jet for the two-day 20th anniversary tour on Nov 10-11. After Jakarta, the boyband will also make stops in Singapore, Bangkok, and Taipei.
A day before its arrival in Jakarta, Arashi belted out a performance at the celebration of the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace Plaza in Tokyo late on Saturday (Nov 9).
At the press conference as well as meet and greet session, the five-person boy band, comprising the lead singer Satoshi Ohno, Masaki Aiba, Jun Matsumoto, Kazunari Ninomia, and Sho Sakurai, also made several announcements to the fans that include its digital appearances in some social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Weibo, and TikTok.
The social media accounts are aimed at getting the fans closer to the boyband members, as they had already decided on a planned hiatus at the end of next year after the band’s 21-year career in the music industry.
Apart from its digital appearances, Arashi also plans to hold a concert at the Tokyo National Stadium on May 15-16 next year before the boyband takes a long break.
In this month, the boyband made an unprecedented move by releasing a single "Turning Up" through a digital platform. For the past two decades, the boy band had released only physical albums.
Since its debut in 1999 until 2018, Arashi had performed in at least 394 concerts that drew an audience of 13 million.
Apart from its massive success in music, each member of the Japanese boy band had also appeared in movies, dramas, variety shows, and commercials.
Masaki Aiba, one of the members, had played roles in several Japanese movies, such as "Boku to Shippo Kagurazaka", "Noble Detective", and "My Girl", while Satoshi Ohno had appeared on "The Most Difficult Romance", "Shinigami-kun", and "Maou".
Meanwhile, Kazunari Ninomiya was also known for playing a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's movie "Letters from Iwo Jima."
Translator: Nanien Yuniar/Genta Tenri Mawa
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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