On January 11 and 12, Japanese boy group Naniwa Danshi held their first-ever concert in Korea at INSPIRE Arena. The stop in Seoul was part of their first international tour, +Alpha, which kicked off in Taiwan last year on November 30, moved to Korea in January, and will wrap up in Hong Kong at the end of the month. Alongside the concert was a pop-up store at the Hyundai Seoul open for a limited time only from January 5 through 15. This marked the first visit by an artist from STARTO ENTERTAINMENT—or its predecessor Johnny & Associates—to Korea in 13 years, since Koichi Domoto came in 2011. So, just who is this Naniwa Danshi that recently visited Korea?

Naniwa Danshi consists of seven members: Joichiro Fujiwara, Daigo Nishihata, Kazuya Ohashi, Kyohei Takahashi, Ryusei Onishi, Shunsuke Michieda, and Kento Nagao. As of 2024, STARTO represents 35 different artist groups, including groups that debuted more than 15 years ago like KinKi Kids, NEWS, and Hey! Say! JUMP. But Naniwa Danshi is overwhelmingly popular, rivaling even these groups that have been in the game a long time. Naniwa Danshi’s debut single, “Ubu Love,” was released on November 12, 2021 and sold 500,000 copies on its first day, a number that reached 706,000 by the end of its first week. It went on to sell over 750,000 copies overall, going triple platinum according to the Recording Industry of Japan’s certification scheme. To top that off, the dance version of the song’s music video hit 100 million views on YouTube on December 29, 2023—exactly 777 days after their debut.

And the group’s momentum shows no signs of slowing. Their digital single “Arigato Kokorokara/YUKI 100%,” released this past November 22, hit number two on the Oricon’s weekly Digital Singles Chart as of December 2. Meanwhile, the group’s official fan club, Nanifam, had over 950,000 members in 2024.

Kansai Johnny’s Jr. stars on the rise
It might seem like Naniwa Danshi’s ascent to success must have been smooth and easy, but their journey to debut was anything but. The predecessor of STARTO ENTERTAINMENT, Johnny & Associates, operated a kind of trainee system called Johnny’s Jr. This was further divided regionally into (Tokyo) Johnny’s Jr. and Kansai Johnny’s Jr., with Naniwa Danshi hailing entirely from the latter. Compared to the Tokyo branch, Kansai is smaller in scale and receives less support overall—so much so that trainees from the Kansai side have described their situation as akin to surviving on barren land.

Not surprisingly, the number of groups debuting out of Kansai Johnny’s Jr. is markedly miniscule. Previously, the only ones were SUPER EIGHT (previously known from debut as KANJANI∞) in 2004 and, 10 years later, WEST. (previously Johnny’s WEST) in 2014. Then, in 2021—another seven full years later—Kansai finally greenlit the debut of another new group: Naniwa Danshi.

In 2018, before Naniwa Danshi’s debut, SUPER EIGHT members Tadayoshi Okura and You Yokoyama stepped eagerly into the role of producers for Kansai Johnny’s Jr., aiming to support newer groups who lack resources compared to Tokyo. Tadayoshi Okura, in particular, played an active role in Naniwa Danshi’s debut, assisting with everything from choosing the members to organizing the debut process.

Thanks to this support, Naniwa Danshi gradually built a dedicated fanbase in their earlier iteration as a Kansai Johnny’s Jr. subunit from 2018. In January the following year, just two months after getting their start, all four of the Kansai branch’s concerts at the Osaka-Jo Hall were sold out. The first time the subunit held a tour by themselves, from late 2019 through early 2020, they had to add extra shows to accommodate 125,000 total attendees. And it didn’t stop there: By 2021, the year they officially announced their CD debut, Naniwa Danshi was already touring arenas. So just what is it about Naniwa Danshi that gets fans so excited about them?

Naniwa Danshi will forge their own path
Historically, groups from Kansai Johnny’s Jr. largely stuck to an owarai image—a form of Japanese comedy—in line with the idea of Osaka as the contemporary center of a regional form of comedy. SUPER EIGHT’s debut song, “NANIWA IROHA BUSHI,” gives a good sense of what this entails. It borrows from enka, a popular genre of Japanese music similar to Korean trot, and asks listeners to lay their everyday worries aside and to sing and dance instead. WEST. followed a similar path, with their performance of their debut song, “EEJANAIKA,” for the YouTube channel THE FIRST TAKE giving a good idea of the direction they took.

By contrast, Naniwa Danshi was the first group out of the Kansai branch to embrace the more ideal kirakira—or “sparkling”—idol aesthetic typically reserved for Tokyo-based groups. Not that they’ve shuffled off their (inborn?) comedic roots. Whether through in-house content or TV appearances, every member of the group throws themselves wholeheartedly into their humor, never afraid to be themselves. Even their albums have funny songs on them, which they even perform in concert sometimes. When it comes to their lead singles, though, they always choose songs that are upbeat, wholesome, and refreshingly youthful. When they make you laugh, they really make you laugh, but they are, after all, idols, shining as they sing sweet love songs onstage. And it’s this duality that is perhaps Naniwa Danshi’s greatest appeal and what sets them apart above all else.

And maybe one more thing: Unlike most groups, the members of Naniwa Danshi are all active in producing, directing, and managing their own group. Facing the challenges typical of Kansai Juniors, they naturally became actively involved in determining the direction of the group, including organizing their year-end performances.

Such experience was invaluable when it came time to organize their take on the long-running Johnny’s musical Boys—given the new title Shonen-Tachi Seishun No Hikari Ni, or Boys In the Light of Youth—in 2019, which they also starred in. Shunsuke Michieda took charge of actor and stage direction, Kento Nagao designed the costumes, and Ryusei Onishi made merchandise. Given that musicals within the Johnny’s Entertainment label are seen as milestones similar to the way debuts are, even appearing onstage is already a significant step, but Naniwa Danshi took it another step further by orchestrating the show themselves.

It’s likely that having a hand in running the group like this right from when they were Juniors is what has made them so deeply involved in shaping Naniwa Danshi’s image and direction. During the group’s tours, Daigo Nishihata has directed performances, and Joichiro Fujiwara, the oldest of the group and who has a knack for comedic timing, has written dialog for the parts between songs and made opening videos. Youngest member Kento Nagao, known for his flair in fashion, continues to design costumes, while Ryusei Onishi handles concert merchandise. The other members of the group have made their own contributions through writing lyrics, making choreography, and more.

This penchant for the self-directed approach has become central to who Naniwa Danshi is. It was unprecedented within the Johnny’s empire at the time for such a young, new group to take the lead on their own creative process. “For the direction here, I think we need to have our own opinion,” Joichiro Fujiwara explains of the move in the Fuji TV docuseries RIDE ON TIME. “I think that’s what will get conveyed to the fans and our bond will deepen. As much as I stand here as an entertainer and as a professional, I really care about that part.”

Naniwa Danshi is, in many ways, a truly unique group, the likes of which has never been seen before. Kento Nagao said Naniwa Danshi should forge their own path rather than following the thorny one already tread by groups that went before them, and it’s clear they’re doing exactly that.

We trust in the promise the future holds and keep moving forward
That’s not to say their path hasn’t had its share of obstacles. Everyone in the group spent a considerable amount of time as Juniors, having to wait, on average, nine years before debuting. Joichiro Fujiwara, the oldest of the group, spent a staggering 17 and a half years in Kansai Johnny’s Jr., even attending job fairs during his third year of university due to the lack of opportunities. And when Naniwa Danshi finally debuted after everything they’d been through, the group was faced with the harrowing global pandemic. They performed several times to empty rows of seats, while some shows on tour were postponed or canceled after the members contracted COVID-19. Despite all the challenges, though, they’ve never stopped becoming more and more popular. So why is that?

One thing’s for sure: Every member of Naniwa Danshi is undeniably talented. Naniwa Danshi brings Johnny’s back to its roots: handsome, highly skilled young men performing acrobatic choreography. When people think of groups that are following the Johnny’s-prescribed path, Naniwa Danshi comes to mind. In some respects, the group embodies Shunsuke Michieda’s hope of revitalizing Johnny’s (now STARTO).

Their aggressive push into the international market is noteworthy as well. Naniwa Danshi makes great use of social media, and YouTube in particular. Johnny’s historically placed strong restrictions on the use of sites like YouTube and Instagram, but that was all lifted on January 31, 2018. And it wasn’t long after that that Naniwa Danshi made their debut.
Perhaps not surprisingly, they’ve fully embraced social media, partnering with TikTok and creating an official Weibo account. Most notably, member Ryusei Onishi, who also makes merchandise for concerts, personally manages the group’s Instagram account, where he’s constantly engaging with their fans.

While getting ready for the group’s first arena tour in 2021, Daigo Nishihata, the group’s center, told the others that he wanted Naniwa Danshi to become a symbol of Japan’s idol groups. Three years later, has his wish come true? While it’s still too early to tell, one thing is certain: Naniwa Danshi is well on its way to representing Japanese boy groups on a global scale.