Shingo Katori

Shingo Katori (香取 慎吾) is a Japanese actor, singer, television host, radio personality.

He was the youngest member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy band in Asia.

After five of the other band members auditioning individually from 1986 through 1987, in autumn 1987, twenty boys, from ages ten to seventeen, were put together into a group called The Skate Boys, which was initially created as backup dancers for a famous boy band, Hikaru Genji.

In 1987, at age 10, Katori auditioned for Johnny & Associates, a Japanese talent agency that recruits and trains young boys, preteens to teens, to become singers and members of boy bands.

In April 1988, producer Johnny Kitagawa chose six out of the twenty boys to create a new boy band and named them "SMAP".

In 1988, he made his acting debut in a television series, Abunai Shonen III, along with his band members.

After several supporting roles, in 1996, he landed his first major role in a drama television series, Tomei Ningen, which became a massive success.

From October 1998, Nakai and Katori launched their own variety program, SataSma, which was created and aimed towards younger viewers and families.

Katori starred in a segment titled, "Shingo Mama's Secret Breakfast", where Katori would cross-dress into a character called "Shingo Mama", and visit houses to cook breakfast for children instead of their mother, allowing her to sleep in and rest in the morning.

Katori started to use the phrase, "Ohha", a pun for "Ohayo", meaning "good morning", during the segment as his trademark phrase, which soon became a popular word used among children.

Shingo Mama, the lovable character Katori played, and the phrase "Ohha", became a social phenomenon.

As a result, SMAP incidentally brought in kindergartners and preteens to their fan base.

On 16 August 2000, Katori released a single, "Shingo Mama's Oha Rock", as Shingo Mama, which reached number one on the charts with over 1,200,000 physical copies sold and became a social phenomenon.

In December 2000, the trademark phrase "Ohha", used by Katori, won the Ryukougo Taisho, an annual traditional event of announcing words that describes that year.

From 2000 to 2001, Shingo Mama promoted the use of Ohha as part of a Ministry of Education campaign to encourage family communication.

He has also starred in many high-rated television series, such as Hito ni Yasashiku (2002), Saiyuki (2006), and Bara no nai Hanaya (2008).

In 2004, he starred in NHK's Taiga drama, Shinsengumi!.

He is also a member of the Mitani Crew, a core group of actors that Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani tends to use in his work.

In 2021, Katori starred in TV Tokyo's drama entitled Anonymous: Keishicho ”Yubisatsujin” Taisakushitsu. This was his first lead role on a TV Tokyo drama series, as well as his first broadcast drama series after five years.

He also performed the main theme for the series, entitled "Anonymous (feat. WONK)", and released it on both digital storefronts and streaming platforms on February 1, 2021.

After the group's disbandment on 31 December 2016, Katori has been pursuing his solo career.

He left Johnny & Associates on 9 September 2017, together with two other SMAP members, Goro Inagaki and Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and entered CULEN, a Japanese talent agency.

On 22 September 2017, they launched a new project, "atarashiichizu" ("新しい地図", meaning "New Map") as their common fan site, supported by various Japanese leading creators.

Since then, Katori has been extending his activities also into artistic fields.

Katori was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa and moved to Tokyo to pursue his career.

He has one younger brother.

On January 1, 2020, Katori released his first solo album, entitled "20200101".

The album features songs written by Katori, as well as collaborations with artists such as TeddyLoid, BiSH, Kreva, Kishidan, and Scha Dara Parr, and more.

The album is said to be a celebration of the year 2020, with both the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics were scheduled to be held during that year.

In 2021, Katori held his first solo concert entitled "Sakura Saku Rekishi Aru Meijiza de 20200101 ni Wani Wa Waiwai Katori Shingo", at the Meiji-za from April 4, 2021, to April 29, 2021.

Katori also live streamed the last day of the concert on the streaming platform AbemaTV.

Katori's second solo album entitled "Tokyo SNG" was released on April 13, 2022.

Inspired by numerous styles of jazz, from standard style to big band jazz, Katori wished to evoke the feeling of hearing "jazz in a tuxedo".

He also contributed to writing some of the songs on the album, such as the titular "Tokyo SNG", "Kongaragatte", "Shingopation", and "Catharsis", to name a few.

The album also features collaborations with WONK, Atarashii Gakko!, and the Zazen Boys.

On January 3, 2023, it was announced that Katori would be collaborating with popular K-Pop group Seventeen for a brand new song entitled "BETTING", to serve as the theme song for fellow ex-SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi's latest drama, War of Traps.

Katori had met the group the year prior, leading to them collaborating on a song together.

BETTING was co-produced by Katori, PLEDIS Entertainment producuer Bumzu, and SEVENTEEN member Woozi.

Katori serves as the main vocal on the track, performing alongside SEVENTEEN's Mingyu, Jeonghan, and Seungkwan.

It was released on streaming platforms on January 17, 2023.