There was mixed news for fans of the popular all-male Japanese group Arashi on Tuesday. The good news is that the five members will finally be performing together again next spring after being on hiatus since December 31, 2020. The bad news is that the reunion will be short-lived. In May of next year, the group will officially disband.
“For about a year and a half now, the five of us have regularly gotten together to discuss the idea of working as Arashi again,” said the group in a post on its official social media accounts and fan website. “However, it was not easy to find an answer to how to do this, as the environment surrounding us has changed, in addition to each of our individually changed circumstances compared to before.”
Arashi Spring Tour: Priority to Current Fan Club Members
Arashi surprised its fans in January 2019 when its members announced that they planned to temporarily stop performing together. A year and a half earlier, the group leader, Satoshi Ohno, informed the other members that he wanted to leave. On New Year’s Eve in 2020, they performed their last live-streamed concert together before the hiatus. It was held without a live audience due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Next year’s shows are certain to sell out. According to the group’s official X page, new applications for fan club membership will be temporarily suspended so that priority for tickets can be given to current fan club members. At present, Arashi is unable to give any specific details about the spring 2026 tour as discussions are ongoing.
About Arashi
Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Johnny & Associates announced the group’s debut via a press conference on a cruise ship. Five trainees from Johnny’s Jr. division of the agency — Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya and Jun Matsumoto — were chosen as members. The boy band’s first single, “Arashi,” was a major hit. It sold more than 1 million copies by the end of its chart run.
In January 2001, Arashi released its debut album, Arashi No.1 Ichigou: Arashi wa Arashi o Yobu!, which debuted at number one on the Oricon chart. It was the group’s best-selling album until the release of All the Best! 1999–2009, the world’s best-selling LP in 2019 with 3.3 million copies sold globally. Arashi has also received the “Artist of the Year” award from the Recording Industry Association of Japan a record six times.
