Arashi perform last concert after 27 years together
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Arashi performed their final concert on May 31, ending their 27-year history that made them into a household name in Japan.
PHOTO: ARASHI/X
TOKYO – Pop idol group Arashi performed their final concert on May 31, ending their 27-year history that made them into a household name in Japan, with their success going beyond music and spawning drama and TV variety shows and a fan base in Asia.
Appearing at a packed Tokyo Dome, the five-member boy band kicked off their performance with the upbeat song Love Rainbow (2010), with Jun Matsumoto telling a cheering crowd: “Arashi has come back.”
The group took a hiatus after a virtual concert at the end of 2020 and returned in the spring of 2025.
With the venue flooded with penlights in the members’ signature colours, the group performed 33 songs without an encore, from popular tunes such as Love So Sweet (2007) and Happiness (2007) to ones such as Truth (2008) that showed off their dancing skills.
While entertaining fans with their repertoire, which included their November 1999 debut single Arashi and Whenever You Call (2020), their first all-English song, written by Grammy winner Bruno Mars, they also engaged in their usual banter.
Satoshi Ohno, 45, the group’s leader and main vocalist, addressed fans, saying: “Today marks the end of our activities, but the Arashi that we have created together will continue to live on.”
He joined Matsumoto, 42, and their bandmates – Masaki Aiba, 43, Kazunari Ninomiya, 42, and Sho Sakurai, 44 – to cap the show with their latest single Five (2026).
Following the concert on May 31, Ohno left the Starto Entertainment agency, formerly known as Johnny & Associates, a powerhouse noted for fostering a pool of male idols.
At the weekend, throngs of fans flocked to the dome, where the group’s concert tour, We Are Arashi, across five major cities wrapped up. Many were seen taking photos and videos of an installation showcasing the Arashi logo with the words “We Are Arashi”, with a long line of more than an hour for a closer photograph.
In May 2025, the band announced they would come together again for one final concert tour, which started in March in Sapporo and took them to Nagoya, Fukuoka and Osaka for a total of 15 shows.
Almond, a fan since 2009, flew from the Philippines to watch the group perform in Nagoya in April, recounting: “I started crying during the first song. It made me feel really nostalgic and happy.”
“I love Arashi’s group dynamic and how they all balance one another,” Almond said. Another long-time fan from the Philippines, Yam Lee, said they have “remained very relatable and down-to-earth”.
While Arashi became one of the most successful idol groups, their road to stardom was not easy, and their breakthrough came after Matsumoto starred in the teen romance drama Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) in 2005.
Other members also broke new ground, with Sakurai becoming a newscaster and Ninomiya appearing in American director Clint Eastwood’s film Letters From Iwo Jima (2006), while Aiba was active on variety shows and Ohno recognised for his work as an artist.
Fans at home and abroad, including in Thailand and Indonesia, expressed their gratitude and sadness online regarding the end of Arashi’s activities, calling them an “icon” and a “legend”. The members were in their teens when the group were formed in September 1999.
Arashi had performed at noted events such as the celebration of the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito in 2019. KYODO NEWS
