The curtain has fallen on one of Japan\u2019s most beloved pop acts, as the five-member idol group Arashi held the final performance of its 26-and-a-half-year career on May 31 at Tokyo Dome.<\/p>\n
The group consists of leader Satoshi Ono, 45; Masaki Aiba, 43; Jun Matsumoto, 42; Kazunari Ninomiya, 42; and Sho Sakurai, 44.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Ono thanked the fans: \u201cThank you very much for supporting us for 26 and a half years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sakurai added, \u201cWe members will be walking our own separate paths, but we would be happy if you continue to watch over us warmly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concert marked the definitive end for the group, which debuted in 1999 and became a cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\n
After announcing a hiatus at the end of 2020, members pursued solo activities before reuniting for\u00a0the tour\u00a0announced last May as a way to express their gratitude to fans.<\/p>\n
The farewell tour kicked off in March and spanned 15 performances across the country, drawing\u00a0an estimated 490,000 fans.<\/p>\n
For its last show, the group performed a 33-song setlist that included its 1999 debut single \u201cA\u30fbRA\u30fbSHI\u201d and the latest release from March, \u201cFive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The curtain has fallen on one of Japan\u2019s most beloved pop acts, as the five-member idol group Arashi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[18697,1503,146,85,46,1437,43,9173],"class_list":["post-470268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-asahi-shimbun","tag-culture","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-japan","tag-news","tag-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}