Fifteen years ago today, a boy band from Japan had their debut performance on a cruise ship in Hawaii. The group consisted of five guys: Ohno Satoshi 大野 智, Sakurai Sho 櫻井 翔, Aiba Masaki 相葉 雅紀, Ninomiya Kazunari 二宮 和也, and Matsumoto Jun 松本 潤. They were just scrawny little boys at the time, (between 16-19 years old) but they have matured into some seriously sexy men.
Arashi at debut, September 1999 (L-R: Ohno Satoshi, Matsumoto Jun, Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, Sakurai Sho.)
Arashi: photoshoot for their 2013 CD, “Love” (L to R: Matsumoto Jun, Sakurai Sho, Ohno Satoshi, Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari)
The title of their debut song was also their group name: Arashi 嵐, meaning “storm.” I haven’t found video of their actual debut performance online, but I did manage to find a grainy LQ version of the A.RA.SHI PV on Facebook. Just clickety click the pic below to watch it… They were so adorable back then!
Arashi in the video for A.RA.SHI, Nov 1999.
Some of the guys weren’t all that interested in debuting as singers at that particular time, but for some reason, they stuck with it, and I’m sure glad they did.
Anyways…
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, ARASHI!
I hope to enjoy your music for another 15 years! Maybe THIS will be the year I finally get to see you perform live… Trust me, I’m working on it! ❤
Purple Line 