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The story
Masahiro Matsuoka, formerly of TOKIO, spoke on his NACK5 radio show about his admiration for former Hikaru Genji member Atsuhiro Sato, who was celebrating his birthday that day. His comments — “Watching Hikaru Genji is what got me into this industry” and “I still remember the thrill of having him call my name” — sparked a wider discussion about Hikaru Genji on 5ch. Users exchanged views on how the group’s popularity stalled just a few years after their explosive debut, comparisons with SMAP (who were active around the same time), and the way the Johnny’s talent agency operated back then.
Masahiro Matsuoka: “I still remember the thrill of having that person call my name” — reveals the senior idol he admired
Masahiro Matsuoka (49), formerly of TOKIO, appeared on NACK5’s “Masahiro Matsuoka’s Colorful Saitama Frontier” (airing Sundays at 7:00 AM), broadcast on the 30th, where he spoke about a senior idol he looked up to.
The conversation turned to former Hikaru Genji member Atsuhiro Sato, who was celebrating his birthday that day.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Hikaru Genji were massively popular but then just vanished after a few years.
Did they fall out of favor with Johnny [Kitagawa, the agency head] or something?
1988.10: Hikaru Genji "Tsurugi no Mai" [Sales: 610,000 copies]
1988.12: Koji Kita, "To Hikaru Genji"
1989.02: Koji Kita, "To Hikaru Genji – Again"
1989.03: Hikaru Genji "Chikyuu wo Sagashite" [Sales: 470,000 copies]
1989.04: Koji Kita, "To Hikaru Genji 3"
1989.06: Koji Kita, "To Hikaru Genji – Final Warning"
1989.07: Hikaru Genji "Taiyou ga Ippai" [Sales: 690,000 copies (kept up appearances by releasing 7 different jacket covers to encourage multiple purchases)]
1989.09: Koji Kita, "Farewell!! To Hikaru Genji"
1990.02: Hikaru Genji "Kouya no Megalopolis" [Sales: 260,000 copies]
1990.05: Hikaru Genji "Little Birthday" [Sales: 240,000 copies (peaked at #2, breaking their run of consecutive #1s since debut)]
Hikaru Genji's decline came down to the impact of Koji Kita's tell-all books
Re: #26
It was the end of Best Ten and other music countdown shows.
That's just how '80s idols were.
SMAP, who quietly built up variety shows, dramas, and solo work in the shadow of Hikaru Genji's popularity, ended up ruling the industry — that comes down to their manager's talent.
Clever move.
That's because he joined as a backup dancer for the newly formed SMAP.
He wasn't exposed enough to become someone you'd admire.
They're probably just about the same generation.
Kokubun used to be in SMAP, right?
SMAP branched out into variety shows and started selling each member's individual personality,
carving out a path to stay active even into their 40s — that really was a great achievement.
And it was Iijima [their manager] and the SMAP members themselves who built that, not Johnny or Mary [Kitagawa].
Mary never accepted it and ended up breaking SMAP up.
Variety shows have always been essential to Johnny's.
Even back in the original "Johnnys" era they did variety, with shows like "Johnnys Seven Show."
Tanokin's "Zenryoku Toukyuu" was a thing,
and Shibugakitai's "Let's Go Idol" was a variety show too
that even did comedy skits.
Both Tanokin and Shibugakitai had multiple movies as well.
He's had a long life after Hikaru Genji, and from what I can tell he's kept steadily doing stage work without any weird scandals — that must be tough.
I think he was around the age you'd graduate college.
Kind of like retiring right around the age his regular classmates were entering the workforce.
It's aimed at kids, but it's a great song full of dreams.
It was an NHK theme song.
That's because there were so many kids [in the talent pool].
Younger ones kept coming up one after another, so turnover was intense.
The only song I really remember is "Taiyou ga Ippai."
My older sister used to act all grown-up and say she liked Osawa, but I remember her admitting she actually liked Kaa-kun [Sato Atsuhiro's nickname].
Of course I know the Nintama Rantarou theme song too.
Yeah, guess that's how it'd go.
If Moroboshi had been in SMAP, then character-wise, Nakai might not have made the cut.
There's a chance Nakai and Moroboshi could've been swapped.
Nakai in Hikaru Genji, Moroboshi in SMAP.
SMAP's generation had a bigger population, and then the birthrate dropped fast afterward, so idols from that generation started sticking around longer. Even gravure idols now keep going into their 30s and 40s.
Back in the day the lineup churned dizzyingly fast within a single year, and even the Dragon Quest games came out at an insane pace.
As the youth population shrank, culture stopped being youth-centered — nowadays businesses mainly target people in their late 30s to 50s.
It was an era when TV reigned supreme and Johnny's reigned supreme, so there was no real competition.
Even within the agency there were few groups, so there were no rivals.
Nakai has talked about this himself.
Though nobody was thinking that way back then.
And that's with the youngest of the group.
Osawa is quite a bit older.
The leader is the same age as Moroboshi, lol
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Hikaru Genji debuted in 1987 and scored hits like “Taiyou ga Ippai,” but their sales plummeted sharply around 1990. Thread posters point to the end of music countdown shows and the impact of former member Koji Kita’s tell-all books as contributing factors, but it’s worth noting these are just some of the theories that have circulated since that era, not an officially confirmed cause. Meanwhile, SMAP, formed around the same time, is often held up as a contrast — they expanded into variety shows and remained front-line stars even into their 40s. That said, moving into variety TV wasn’t unique to SMAP; Johnny’s had already been using that approach since the days of the “Tanokin Trio.” Some view the real backdrop as broader shifts in the media landscape at the time — the end of the golden age of music countdown shows and structural changes in the entertainment industry driven by the declining birthrate — rather than a strategy specific to SMAP. Matsuoka’s personal reflections on Atsuhiro Sato and the broader 5ch discussion about Hikaru Genji’s decline and comparisons with SMAP are, strictly speaking, separate topics, and keeping that distinction in mind makes the thread easier to follow.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Masahiro Matsuoka: “Watching Hikaru Genji is what got me into this industry, I admired them” / “I still remember the thrill of having him call my name”.”
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