by Xiang Xiang Liew

Created on: December 17, 2009   Last Updated: December 18, 2009

In a stadium that had once housed the 1964 Summer Olympics, seven million fans screamed their hearts out as five distant figures clad in metallic silver glided through the whitening blue sky, 30 meters above ground. Arashi (which means “Storm” in Japanese), one of the most popular and long-lived boy bands in Japan, were celebrating their 10th anniversary by going boldly into a space where only two other music bands had gone before: the National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Throughout the three day performance, fireworks raced across the rim of the stadium and giants jets of water shot up into the night sky, reminiscent of an Olympic opening ceremony, as the five members of Arashi sang and danced, five tiny pinpricks lost in the middle of a vast ocean of pinpricks.

“We will stir up a storm throughout the world!”

Ten years ago, on a cruise ship in Hawaii, five teenagers – Ohno, Sho, Aiba, Nino, and Jun – made this promise as their agency announced the formation of a new group called Arashi. In the video of the event, all five boys look, if not nervous, rather ill at ease, as if they have taken on skins that don’t really fit. Their hair is untidy from the wind, and Aiba stumbles over his words as he makes the vow. Of the five boys, Ohno and Nino in particular didn’t want to be there. Both of them had wanted to quit the agency. Ohno wanted to do art, and he figured that dancing and singing was something he could do as a hobby anyway. Nino wanted to focus on a career in acting. The only reason Ohno went along with his agency’s wishes was because he thought that such a group wouldn’t last long anyway – the average life expectancy of a new idol group is a few months to about a few years – and yet, ten years later, Arashi is still going as strong as ever.

“Ten years ago, I never imagined I would be standing here [in the National Olympic Stadium],” Ohno says at the end of the highly successful concert. He pauses, fiddling with the waistband of his pants, before making a brave attempt at continuing his sentence. He gets a few syllables into it before his voice breaks. He looks down, biting his lip as if trying not to cry, and for a few moments all the audience can hear from his mike is uneven breathing. Then he scratches his head and gives a soft, embarrassed laugh. The fangirls go crazy.

 And perhaps that’s a perfect example of why Arashi are so popular. Fans just connect with

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