Akanishi Jin leaving KAT-TUN
 

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/4347/00004w6kjw1.jpg

So it's official, Akanishi Jin is leaving the most popular japanese band at the moment, KAT-TUN. From today on, he's not a member of the band. "Official" rumor says it's because he wants to learn English in a foreign country (propably USA), other rumors say it's because of his arguments with Kamenashi or because the Johny's Entertainment company wants to get rid of him. He's the only member of KAT-TUN that didn't have any work recently (no drama etc.) though he's the most popular member (along with Kamenashi). He's known as the most talented singer and dancer of the band, he also starred in dramas like anego or Gokusen 2.

There will be an official letter with the official reason later. Rumors say that Jin himself will appear on the TV to tell his fans the reason. I don't believe that much though.

KAT-TUN's future name without the A (Akanishi) is unknown. But they're going to continue without him.. new single without Jin is going to be released in December.

These news appeared on many today's title pages and made a lot of people shocked and sad.

I will truly miss him because he's my biggest idol ever. His voice is angelic and so is his character. Let's just hope he's happy.. and maybe he'll go solo one day. Such amazing and unbelievable talent shouldn't be wasted.

EDIT: OFFICIAL NEWS

It has been decided that Akanishi Jin (KAT-TUN) is going to study abroad. For the present, he will stop all activities.
We apologize to the fans and everyone involved for the sudden announcement. It has barely been a year since KAT-TUN debuted and they are still newcomers, Akanishi's wish to study abroad has been postponed so far. But in respect of his strong wish to be an exchange student while he is still young, he has been permitted to study abroad for half a year. As it is also possible that his studies might take a longer time than that, it is yet unclear when he will return.
[Further apologies]
KAT-TUN will continue with five members. We hope for your understanding.
To support Akanishi in his devotion to his studies, there is no plan to publicly announce where he will study.

credits for translation: riccichan

I will miss him too. I love ha-ha :( I wish he did more solo work... And I hope he does more solo work in the future

Aw.

That sucks. Nowpeople will only watch Kame. LOL

KAT-TUN = win. KT-TUN = wtf.

Exactly.. sorry KT-TUN.. but they're nothing without him :(

TUTNK. :D

That's funny..

but I can't smile at the moment. :cry

Does this mean he's splitting from Johnny's? Or is a solo career possible?

We're waiting for the official letter..

but IMO this is the end. Oh my.

My condolences Lucy.

:(

KT-TUN
"T-T" in KT-TUN
lol sad band...

Will it officially be KT-TUN after this? Or no news yet?

^simple fan speculation. I personally think there just gonna keep calling themselves kat-tun anyhow.

Wow... sad. :(

I hope for you, Lucy, that he will start a solo career. I think that his fan base is large enough for him to be able to do more or less anything he likes now.

I don't think it'll be like he'll be gone from the surface of earth :/.

They'll still be KAT-TUN.

Martin: Well.. we won't hear about him at least for half a year. That is sad, ne. Yeah.. I so so so hope for his solo career.

If the one you love left you'd be sad too. And no, I'm not ashamed that I actually love an idol.

Based on this: http://www.johnnys-net.jp/artist/inf..._oshirase.html

Jin is on hiatus for 6 months (or possibly longer) while he studies english abroad. I don't think he's officially gone forever, but KAT-TUN will be continuing activities without him.

The thing I'll miss most is Jin's "peace of cake" and other jinglish. :)

Well, the artist as we, or Lucy, knew him, definately is dead.

He's left KAT-TUN, and for at least half a year he won't be an artist or do anything in the spotlight it seems.

I think he'll be pretty dead for those 6 months.

I didn't see that coming, certainly not when they've just become the new "it" boys in Japan. Hopefully he'll be returning after this hiatus, but if he doesn't I think there are more than enough Juniors to choose from to be his replacement.

Since Jin's leaving and NEWS is currently suspended, YamaPi could join KAT-TUN.

They could be KYT-TUN or NYK-TUT :P

Haha..

that's right, I wouldn't be suprised if that actually happened. YamaPi is like everywhere.

Maybe you should teach him english? ^^

thats cool he wants to further his knowledge..too bad he is leaving though

yeah, i'm pretty upset with news. :\ even though i'm a Kame fanatic, Jin was one of the first Johnny's i was exposed to.

all we can do is wait (...i hate waiting. i've been waiting for Hiroki Uchi of NEWS/KANJANI8 to come back for a year and a half now). i wonder how this will effect upcoming KAT-TUN events and their popularity. from what i've read, their single's been pushed back to December.

gah. i swear, lucy. when i saw the thread title, i almost died right there. before reading that he was going on hiatus and not leaving for real, i mean.. really, i love jin.

i mean.. i had tears running down my face and hoping he's not gone forever. i didnt even want to click the thread for some reason.. well.. at least he's leaving for a while so that he can study, which is a good thing.

okay, ill just shut up now. blah.

I wonder if this is just a cover up for something larger within JE...

grrr. I can't stand this!
Two of my respected idols announced "to be on hiatus" in the same month.
Yukari Goto from AAA and now Jin...-_-''.

According to Santos's blog, there's also rumour about him and Berryz Kibou's Chinami going out...


http://santoslove.exblog.jp/tags/lolicon/#5856294

there will be a lot of fans that will get dissapointed with this decision

Arguments with Kame? Aren't they supposed to be super closed?

Awww. I feel sad for you Lucy! I know how much you love him!

The situation is sort of like DBSK no? I heard Changmin left for a while because he wanted to study in college... or something like that.

Obviously :P.

I think this "studying abroad" thing is a lame excuse. It's weird all those Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin fighting rumours, then their manager quit and now Jin. I think it's some intern problem or something.

I'm pretty sure that the "get-rid-of-him"-part of the whole thing is just a rumor, tabloid crap or whatever.

If he's leaving he probably has very valid reasons and I'm 100% sure Johnnys are reluctant on letting him go, he's a big money magnet.

Gosh, I'd love to of course ^^

I am still dead, honey. We just have to wait and keep loving him because he'll come back one day! Well.. he has to.. please.

That's what I thought at first too.. but I'm not sure atm.

They used to be very close.. but now it's definitely not what it used to be.
Yeah.. I am sad that I won't hear about him for a while.. but.. I think he can be happier like this - to have some private life, to learn, to go out without being screamed at..

It definitely is weird. No one knows why Jin didn't have any activity lately. The company is reliable for his work and he was totally jobless! The question is if he didn't want any work and he just really wished to study (that seems weird) or if the company doesn't like him = no job. In Jin's case there is a problem that as he says - he just does what he wants and JE really hates this kind of behaviour. He also tends to say what he thinks.. so only a stupid argument with Johny could cause some problems..

OK, so my friend, who lives in Japan for 4 years, explained me a social phenomenon in Japan called "honne" and "tatamae".

Let me quote Wikipedia on that
What does that mean? Japanese are ALWAYS using tatemae. My friend told me that japanese people know exactly when it is tatemae but it's very hard for a gaijin to know it for sure and even after 5 years living in Japan, she sometimes isn't sure if it's tatemae. One she asked her japanese colleague how was the college-work she was doing and the colleague told she was still at the start and she wasn't sure of theme of her paper yet. When she told that to her good japanese friend, her friend said "duh! That's obviously tatemae. The girl is probably working on the paper for months and is already at the end".

Sometimes isn't sure if some things are tatemae and she has to ask to her japanese friend but she said it was OBVIOUS the Akanishi Jin excuse (studying abroad) and the Yukari excuse (health problems) are just tatemae and she said those cases are like when some MoMosu member went on "hiatus" to study fashion and the truth was that she actually was three-month pregnant.

it's not really a Japanese-only phenomenon, it's an Asian habit. Modesty and politeness, if only on the surface.

After all, it's not an Asian practice hanging out dirty linen to dry in public.

But I really do hope he has a way back into the business, though if he goes on to succeed in other areas in future that wouldn't be too bad either.

It's more of a korean and japanese tradition. Chinese people aren't like that, for example.

Some news..

JE announced that Jin will return propably after half a year.
But Jin himself said (press conference) that he doesn't know if he will return! "It depends what will happen."

You can download the translated press conference here. (He looks very hot there. ^^)

It might be a publicity stunt?

But he's probably going :/.

I can't blame the guy if it's not his dream to be a member of JE forever. Sure it's sad to see KAT-TUN reduced to KT-TUN, but having to follow JE's rules and traveling and working with the same guys day after day while really wanting to study abroad. I think he's being sincere about his reasons for leaving; I don't think it's a stunt. "I am punch" video, anyone?

Maybe he'll come back, maybe not, but I say, "Good luck, Jin!" :)

I'm very sure it isn't that's just a excuse.

Did anyone saw the press conference? He didn't know what language he was going to study and he didn't know if he was going to do the homestay program. Well, basically, he didn't knew anything about "studying abroad".

And then when this morning TV show reporter asked: "there are this very strong rumor that you're going out of the group because you're marrying a mixed-race girl. That's the truth, right?" and he got VERY nervous (even more than during the rest of the press) and he said: "that's my personal life, no comments about that".

Weird.

I think that he can't say much about his studying program..

And then when this morning TV show reporter asked: "there are this very strong rumor that you're going out of the group because you're marrying a mixed-race girl. That's the truth, right?" and he got VERY nervous (even more than during the rest of the press) and he said: "that's my personal life, no comments about that".

Woah? Do you have youtube link?

Do you live in Japan? :|

I'm not sure what press conference andre2907 means, but this is from one as well:

Reporter: "When did you decide you wanted to go on an exchange?"
Akanishi: "I've thought about this since I was 17 or 18."
Reporter: "What will you be doing?"
Akanishi: "I'm interested in linguistics, not only in English, but also in the language of various other countries. I can't say yet."
Reporter: "There's no connection to some trouble with a relationship?"
Akanishi: "No, nothing like that."

the rest can be found here: http://community.livejournal.com/kat...18.html#cutid1

Now that does seem very strange. After all, you wouldn't leave a group that sells CDs by the millions and gets all sorts of HUGE endorsement deals unless you were absolutely sure of your plans afterwards would you?

It definitely feels more than a little fishy now.

I don't know if it's that one, but maybe it isn't, because the press conference I'm talking about, according to my friend, was only aired two times, both in Fuji TV: yesterday on Sutamen and today morning Tokudane.

English-speaking manfan living in Japan 'Santos' has this to say:
http://santoslove.exblog.jp/

WOW. That's CREEPY.

I don't think it's fishy. I believe Jin. I think you have to know him to say if it's fishy or not.. he has a special character - he always does what he wants. Everyone says that about him and he even sings it in his song. If he feels like studying, he'll do it.
About selling milions of CDs.. Jin said he doesn't like showbiz. He's there only because of his friends and singing.

Same thing here. I doubt there's anything fishy in this.. There might be a controversy in the end, but, Jin's still young, he has time to study.

Lol. He really is dating a nippo-brazilian called Rina.

The original news is from Uwasa (uwasa.up.md, in Portuguese):

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f60/maik2006/aka2.jpg
The news come from the "geinoukai" part of the news shows Tokudane.

The mixed race girl he is dating (the nippo-brazilian) is called Rita:
http://www4.airnet.ne.jp/tsuyoshi/mt...mages/rina.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f60/maik2006/aka4.jpg

Rina is a model and speak fluent japanese and portuguese. She spent 1/3 of her life in Japan and 2/3 in Brasil. Akanishi was already tired of his aidoru life and the love/hate relationship with the fans because they're are responsable to make the artist popular and respected at the same time they can make his life a living hell. And his serious relationship with Rina, who is 4 years older, made him realize the world is bigger than Japan.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f60/maik2006/aka3.jpg
He was tired of his life being controlled by Johnny's, paparazzi and insane fans who always wants to know who he is dating, if he is drinking or smoking, what he bought...

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f60/maik2006/aka5.jpg
Him nervous on the press conference.
__

And the japanese press initially believed she was a mixed-race girl, but now they are very relieved to know she is actually a brazilian-born-japanese (yeah, they don't like mixed-race people).

And all the things he said (about the fans, he realizing the world is bigger than Japan) is supposedly from his management.

So much tabloids.

Do you actually know what he said in the press conference, or do you base your 'knowledge' about what his thoughts and opinions are on the articles on uwasa?

The girls is really cute.

I have those interviews, and I will re-upload them (this weekend) for anyone who wants them, but I do not remember anything about Rina in there.

They were only asking him things like: "Where are you going?" "What language will you study?" and such.

I don't see what the problem is if Jin really would want to go marry that girl. After all, it surely is his studies that are causing him to leave. He did, after all, want to go be an exchange student since he was 18 or so.

The tabloids seem to draw their 'conclusions', like always.

Pretty obvious things they state, I have read those exact same words about other artists way too many times to even remotely take anything like those tabloids seriously.

He's leaving, he might be dating a girl, if he's leaving there's obviously something that isn't the way he wants it. Fans are unhappy and are willing to buy/read anything that has to do about him. The juicier, the more it'll sell. End of story?

^^ He didn't mentioned Rina on any press conference, obviously. And in Japan, the media already believe this is "confirmed news" and if it's really true, there's no exchange program, sorry.

(The original press conference was aired on Fuji TV shows like Tokudane and the guy who asked about the mixed race girl was actually from the Tokudane show. And Tokudane is considered a seriously gossip show, like with "reponsable" journalism. Of course I'm not in Japan, so I'm not sure if that's the fact. And Immel, are you sure you are used to the japanese press?).

Nothing to be sorry for, I couldn't care less about Akanishi :D. Although... Lucy... I care for her, and she might be sad :/.

Edited my post slightly.

Also, please understand I have nothing against you and all your information, what I'm against is the tabloids trying to sell their stories the way they do ... and so on. Nothing I say is aimed towards you.

I know, I'm just saying that because people sometimes don't know how the japanese media works. It's VERY different from the way the media from our side of the world work.

And anyway, I guess you're taking your own conclusion. No tabloid article was posted, so we don't even know what was the tabloid treatement for the story.

And anyway, Hazuki, don't worry. If that's really true, I guess he was really unhappy being an idol. I mean, with all the insane fans who don't let him date? Or with the paparazzi and Johnny's? It must be really hard. He wants freedom and he will be happier like that.

I thought that was where you got the information from, sort of, because I heard uwasa to be stated to be a tabloid page earlier, am I wrong?

No, no entire article was posted, but the way your post was written sounds like it's taken again from tabloid 'conclusions'.

I don't know though, you already explained the way Japanese media works pretty well in that other thread, if you remember, quite some time ago. I still always seriously doubt anything like this, anyway. And the reason it's brought up is because it sells, for a short while, then, in the long run, no one will care and it'll settle.

I also agree on the last part of your post, aimed at Hazuki. Don't worry :).

It is a website with news from the asian/japanese showbusiness. And the news piece wasn't taken from a tabloid but it was a report from what was said on the Tokudane, a morning variety/news show. The show was aired yesterday on Japan. Of course nothing is confirmed yet, but the japanese media is going crazy.

:thud

He kills me, really. :cry

But if he's happy without singing and happy with Rina.. he should keep it like that and never come back.

so sad, anyway good luck with whatever he wants to do

This is just sad news! Yes, I do find it weird that Jin is mysteriously leaving the group. He was my favourite member of KAT-TUN! argh! Oh well, thank god I was never really that obsessed over them. Anyway, I just can't believe that he's leaving....

oh well, i am not a great fan of them so it does not affect me

Is Rina living in Japan or Brazil? Sounds like they've been having a long distance relationship.

The western KAT-TUN fangirls refuse t to believe this but it's confirmed by his manager, btw. It's even on the supermarkets magazines.

Sweet generalization.

That's weird ne? At first they confirm he's going to study and then it's because of Rina? :o

Johnny's confirmed he was going to study. I don't think his current management is Johnny's.

How do you know that? :P

He read it.

Oh. :|

I get it.

I wonder just when his manager was like:
"Oh. Hi. He's not really studying ;D"

And supermarket magazines are a reliable source of information. :yes Just the other day one told me that a kitten committed murder and vampires DO exist.

I think the logical thing to do is wait the 6 months, or however long it takes, and see what happens with Jin. :)

Lol, why are you discussing about supermarket magazine? Obviously they aren't reliable sources. It's not like I get my news from reliable sources. My friend who is studying in Japan told me she was reading about this recently on the supermarket magazine, that's why I commented. Duh.

I think the reason he (and I, to an extent) reacted on it was that you used the word even, which, in a way, can give the wrong impression.

I'm not. I'm only pointing out that one shouldn't listen to hearsay.

Ah, that's how I took it as well.

oO..
OMFG!!! *cries*
KAT-TUN need you Jin..:(

Even though I'm not so much into KAT-TUN it's always sad when somebody leaves...