Japanese Boyband – NEWS

Japanese entertainment scene is filled with many new faces, and some of them really made it out big. More and more rooms were made for these new faces to excel and prove themselves worthy of idol hood. But that doesn’t mean they are forgetting bands that have existed for so long. As a matter of fact, most big bands in Japan have their own loyal fans and concerts stands and sits were always full. They are practically already millionaires.


Boy bands are alive and kicking in Japan. NEWS is not entirely a new boy band face around. Bound under Johnny’s Entertainment They are indeed one of the most successful boy bands around in Japan and extremely famous among teenagers and young adults. Its name is an acronym for North(N), East(E), West(W) and South(S), simply because I think it consist of members not from the same districts and an implication that they are ready to ‘rule’ the whole of Japan with their music.
NEWS was formed in 2003 and originally consist of nine members but one member left in 2004 and later another 2 members were suspended from the group from controversy over underage drinking and now, NEWS continues with six members till today:-

NEWS Members Profiles

Yamashita Tomohisa (Born on9th April 1985)
Yamashita Tomohisa or more popular with the name Yamapi in Japan among teenagers and young adult can be categorized as the most popular one in the group. Not only as a singer, but as a capable actor and model. He’s been in numerous hit Japanese dramas like Buzzer Beat, Kurosagi and Code Blue, in Japanese movies and commercials as well, making him one of the top artistes around.

Nishikido Ryo (Born on 3rd November 1984)
Probably the most hardworking member of NEWS. Nishikido Ryo is also a member of KANJANI8, another boy band from Johnny’s Entertainment. He’s also a highly potential actor. Originated from Osaka, Nishikido really enjoy good food and is also very popular among Japanese girls due to his cute character.
Keiichiro Koyama (Born on 1st May 1984)
The weekly Shounen Club show host, Keiichiro Koyama excels as a MC. He’s been in a few dramas, but not as many as other members except for Shigeaki Kato. Koyama’s family runs a Ramen restaurant in Tokyo which is often visited by his fans.

Takahisa Masuda (Born on 4th July 1986)
Takahisa Masuda has a great voice and is very skillful in dancing. He did a lot of acrobatic acts during NEWS concerts and currently has been doing a lot of solo acts. He’s been in few dramas as well and popular with his funny character.
Yuya Tegoshi (Born on 11th November 1987)
The youngest among all NEWS members and probably the cuddliest among all members. Yuya Tegoshi has a very nice and soothing voice which won him a lot of fans and compliments. He’s been very active acting and promoting some of his solo songs.

Shigeaki Kato (Born on 11th July 1987)
Shigeaki Kato is perhaps the least popular as individual but he’s got lot of fans as a NEWS member. So far, he’s only active as member of NEWS and hasn’t done much acting or anything on his own. He’s got a funny and blur character which makes him just as interesting as other members in the group.

NEWS Profile and History

Their first ever concert was NEWSnow Concert: NEWS’ Concert in 2004. They had even released a promotional single ‘NEWS Nippon’ which was used as the theme song for the World Cup of Volleyball Championships in Japan. NEWS has many singles which had top the Oricon, the radio hits chart in Japan. NEWS’s first album, Touch was sold more than 160 000 copies in the first week of its release in 2005.

In January 2006, NEWS was reduced to six members after Hironori Kusano and Hiroki Uchi was charge for underage drinking and consequently suspended indefinitely and even been demoted to trainees. On May 1, 2006, after NEWS finished their “NEWS Spring Tour“, the group went on hiatus for a while before making a comeback on December 30, 2006 after announcing that they would make their return at Johnny’s Concert Countdown 2006-2007 as a six-member group and has been very active until now.

Ever since then, they had produced a lot of number one hit singles on the Oricon chart and on November 7, NEWS simultaneously released their seventh single, “Weeeek” and their second album, Pacific. Both releases debut atop of their respective charts with “Weeeek” selling 263,000 copies in its first week and Pacific selling 196,000 copies in their first week. This marked the tenth in Oricon history that an artist had both their single and album debut atop the charts simultaneously. After that, they went on a nationwide tour – NEWS Concert Tour Pacific 2007-2008, from December 15, 2007 to January 27, 2008 and the concert was done at the Tokyo Dome for the first time. For Japanese artist, to be performing at Tokyo Dome meant a lot and its considered as a big accomplishment.

NEWS continued to release quite a number of singles and album and the recent one was ‘Sakura Girl’ which was released on March 2010.