entertainment

SMAP to begin nationwide tour July 31

36 Comments

Popular all-male J-pop group SMAP will begin an all-Japan tour on July 31. The upcoming tour will be their first national string of performances since 2008 and will mark their 20th national tour overall.

The tour will begin in Hokkaido at Sapporo Dome, with the final performance scheduled for Tokyo Dome on Sept 19. SMAP will perform 19 times at five major venues throughout Japan.

According to recording studio Victor the tour is expected to draw more than 1 million fans. If so, this will set a record.

SMAP appears regularly on several television shows weekly, and individual members appear in everything from commercials and billboard ads, to movies and solo projects.

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if there is one japanese band i cannot stand, it is these clowns

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They must need the money...

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God, I wish they would just disappear already

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Oh comon, you all want tickets for this tour :P

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And yet another round of poor taste, shallow content and talentless fools let loose upon the world. SMAP is the worst. A shining example of the horrid tripe that is J-pop.

Before I get spammed, I am equally unhappy about current US pop.

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I still take SMAP over PUFFY and both been polluting the music-waves for many years.

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Of course the tour is "all Japan". These no-talent bores could not draw a decent number of fans anywhere else. Like most J-Pop "artists".

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Japan has always been a country for tours of failing bands or bands that want to recover their former glory.

Just open Metropolis and see who has concerts here(both japanese and foreign).

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I have always hated SMAP and all of the other Johnny's boys, Johnny seems to have more power than Yamaguchi Gumi. Is there a TV show without a Johnny's member in the cast? A bunch of talentless eyesores if you ask me!

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Saw this on the news. All these guys are tone deaf. How can people listen to them?

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I've been in Japan for quite a long time and it has always mystified me as to why SMAP are so popular. Of all the members I think Takuya Kimura is the only one who can actually sing quite well and dance too. All the other members are just awful. However, I do think that they have been much better in their other endeavours like the SmaSma TV show and the various TV dramas that they have all appeared in.

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One last hurrah I guess?

All the SMAP-hate here makes me sad! I think they're charming actually. Can't sing, but... still charming. I still prefer Arashi though.

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Jeez JT...always with the worst news you can possibly dig up about Japan. Why not post some good news for once instead of tragedies like this?

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As "variety entertainers" you have to admit they all have talent to some degree.

I get a laugh out of Tsuyoshi on Pussuma.

Nakai is an experienced MC on a variety of TV shows and more enjoyable to watch than most other owarai-geinin who have similar gigs.

Kimutaku is the most talented without a doubt. He can act better than most (doesn't mean he is great though), can actually play an instrument, sings in tune, and according to most reports, is actually a really humble, down-to-earth guy.

And let's not forget Shingo. Oh Shingo, you cheeky boy...

I don't like Goro.

As a group of singers though... well let's just say I'd rather go to a Milli Vanilli concert.

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papa -- the fact that you know all their names scares me. You and mama smurf did to get out more.

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I've been here 12 years mate. If you've been here any longer than 5 years and still don't know their names, you need integrate into Japanese society a bit more. Every Japanese person knows their names :)

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Are those numbers correct JT? 19 concerts with total attendance over 1 million? I have trouble imagining they could average almost 53,000 per show so I checked a japanese report on the tour and it said that the idea of the tour is that SMAP will be the first Johnny's group to play to over 10,000,000 fans in their total career. They are forecasting they will clear 10,000,000 at the final show in the Tokyo Dome. Again, this is over a 20 year career.

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I Agree with everybody here. These guys are the worst in Johnnys.

Especially Nakai. They were talking on this interview once that on a live show, they either cut or lower the volume on his mic so that he doesn't disturb the music. I don't know if they said this as a joke, but it sure sounded real!

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SMAP are truly terrible but that doesnt matter in Japan as long as they are loud and say a few new things it will suffice; being tone deaf really wont hold them back on tour

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Unfortunately when I read this headline I assumed the story was about the far more interesting "SMAP," the Soil Moisture Active and Passive mission which NASA will undertake in 2015. But that would be too good to be true, so I thought perhaps it was a traveling seminar discussing Simple Mail Access Protocol, the email delivery system and recent updates thereto. Oh well, one can dream can't he?

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Reading all these comments I see why Korean pop is so popular there.

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Wonder if anyone noticed that SMAP is Pams spelled backwards. The Pams were a popular US group of girls in the 50's and 60's. So they spell it backwards and make an all guy group. Not very original if you ask me.

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papa -- thanks, but I'll pass on your suggestion. If knowing the names of the SMAP members is your yardstick on how "integrated" someone is to Japanese society, I think we have much different tastes.

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It's got nothing to do with taste. It's about knowing what the average Hanako or Taro on the street knows, and I'm willing to bet the majority of the younger generation knows their names, just like older generation Westerners can name John, Paul, George and Ringo, regardless of whether or not we are Beatles fans (sorry, can't think of a recent equivalent to the Beatles). I hate to compare SMAP to the Beatles, but as far as their impact on the Japanese entertainment industry goes, one has to admit it larger than that of any other Japanese celebrity in recent times.

Of course we are free to ignore them, but when a Japanese person starts talking about a new drama with Kimutaku, or a special guest they saw on Smap Bistro, and you are forced to reply "who is kimutaku?", then, well, they'll put on a "I can't believe you don't know who Kimutaku is!" face of utter bewilderment.

I can't believe I'm defending SMAP here. I think there's something wrong with my coffee.

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papasmurf I'm here for the rescue. Yes, if you've been in Japan for at least a decade (I've been here since late 80's) you can't help but no each SMAPer. Shingo, Goro, Kimutaku, Nakai and the nude park guy have been in countless commercials, drama, variety shows and MCs on numerous occasions. One of the most popular drama viewed in Japan was “Long Vacation” with Kimutaku. Nakai is a hot item for hosting telethons and end of year variety shows (man he can't sing!). In their heyday there was not a channel on TV that at least one of them was on, not to mention SMAPxSMAP is still going strong.

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SMAP's manager is Johnny Kitagawa.

Kitagawa has been churning out sub-par plastic pop since the sixties. And though females are the target audience for his stable of emasculated girlie-boys, Johnny has long boasted he prefers to work with lithesome lads because they are "easier to handle," if you know what I mean.

SMAP are the stars in Johnny's crown. The fact that they are as vocally gifted as five salary men in a karaoke box hasn't prevented them from achieving a depressing level of media saturation in their home country.

Their fame reflects the low expectations of the Japanese public as well as the fact that 'talento' and commodification go hand in hand in the land of the falling yen.

If there's one thing SMAP aren't about, it's music.

The band will whore themselves - at Johnny's insistence, I'm sure - for any company that will throw money at them.

Samsung, Toyota, Nintendo, Nike, Pocari Sweat, Sky Perfect TV, Canon, ECC, Proctor and Gamble, BOSS Coffee and Nudy cosmetics are just some of the advertisers who have forked out for their purty (vacant) visages.

The group have even released a soft drink called Drink! SMAP!, simultaneously installing themselves in the dual role of product and pusher as they creepily urge fans to swallow their celebrity juice.

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They still exist for so many years, up and down, what a milestone! You go men...

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LOL @ papasmurf...love the posts! And you are so right...even if one abhors them, they are so ubiquitous that you can't help but know their names and have no idea how that information ever got in your head because you certainly didn't seek it out!! It only took me about 2 months before I knew who each one was...still trying to figure out how that happened...

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simultaneously installing themselves in the dual role of product and pusher as they creepily urge fans to swallow their celebrity juice.

There is something inherently creepy in the way your phrased that.

Intentional, no doubt...

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Gotta hand it to Koko... he's right. As far as singing and entertaining... Arashi is better.

Which isn't really saying much, but still...

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"I get a laugh out of Tsuyoshi on Pussuma." ... and I got a laugh out of the phrase "Tsuyoshi on Pussuma", just writing it made me smile again.

I've got a friend who has hung out with these guys a few times and said they don't even like each other. I guess if my life was one endless concert/event/promo/video/C.M./guest appearence/show (which I'm forced to do by some corporate exec that pockets 9/10ths of the profits) with the same four guys I'd eventually want to strangle them too. They just look burnt out now and are doing an increasingly bad job of trying to hide it.

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i don't know, i'm into jrock which i think means good music with good artists and or musicians. internationally, they are a lot more popular... the likes of X Japan, L'Arc En Ciel, Miyavi to name a few... tho some friends are into jpop... like smap, kattun, kanjani 18, arashi.... i've watched dramas and movies of takuya, nakai, tsuyoshi and goro (have not watched shingo's), endorsements, etc... and they are good... but definitely not in music, please..

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Awwwww ! . . . (I like SMAP, but the comments are pretty funny.)

Unfortunately when I read this headline I assumed the story was about the far more interesting "SMAP," the Soil Moisture Active and Passive mission which NASA will undertake in 2015...

: D

I guess if my life was one endless concert/event/promo/video/C.M./guest appearence/show (which I'm forced to do by some corporate exec that pockets 9/10ths of the profits) with the same four guys I'd eventually want to strangle them too...

: P

Wonder if anyone noticed that SMAP is Pams spelled backwards...

. . . http://www.johnnys-net.jp/j/artists/smap/disco/_popup/pop_pamS.html ...

They still exist for so many years, up and down, what a milestone! You go men...

I agree.

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Nevertheless, SMAP is still popular and has many fans. Good for them.

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It's good they've stopped saying "boy band" about them. Nothing left of "boys".

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