Sho Sakurai

Sho Sakurai (櫻井 翔) (born January 25, 1982) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, news anchor, host and former radio host.

He is a member of the boy band Arashi.

Sakurai has a younger sister, Mai (舞) (b. 1986), who is a journalist for Nippon TV, and a younger brother, Shu (修) (b. 1994).

Sakurai attended Keio Yochisha Elementary School, an affiliated elementary school of Keio University.

From age three to ten, he did many extracurricular activities, including kendo, swimming, football, oil painting, calligraphy, and scouting.

He began music lessons in early childhood, starting with the electric organ at age three and switching to piano in fourth grade.

From fourth grade to sixth grade, he played trombone for his school's brass band.

He also played trumpet and attended cram school.

He joined a local football club after developing a strong interest in football during the J.League boom in 1993.

He wanted to play for a professional team and at one point considered studying abroad in Brazil to become a professional footballer.

He played football until his second year of junior high school.

Sakurai began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates in 1995 at the age of 13.

In 1995, when Sakurai was thirteen years old, he sent an application to the talent agency, Johnny & Associates, and started activities as a Johnny's Jr.

Sakurai is the designated rapper of Arashi and, although he had written rap lyrics (known to fans as Sakurap) for some of the group's earlier releases under the pen name "Show", his first major contribution was for the A-side song "Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono".

While not the first artist from Johnny's to take on rapping, his breakthrough made it easier for his juniors to rap as well, despite being idols.

According to Taichi Kokubun of Tokio, ex-KAT-TUN member Koki Tanaka (田中 聖) began to rap because of him.

About seven years after his debut as a singer with Arashi in 1999, he became a newscaster in 2006, appearing in the news program News Zero every Monday.

Unlike the other members, who made their major acting debut on stage, Sakurai made his debut on television in Arashi's volleyball-centered short drama V no Arashi (Vの嵐) in 1999.

In 2001, he took part in his first drama series called Tengoku ni Ichiban Chikai Otoko 2 (天国に一番近い男 – 教師編) with Masahiro Matsuoka as his teacher.

His role as a student with two conflicting characters won him Best Newcomer in the 5th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Awards.

In 2003, Sakurai was given his first lead role in the drama Yoiko no Mikata (よい子の味方).

He portrayed Taiyō Suzuki (鈴木太陽), a man who strives to prove himself capable of being a nursery school teacher.

Despite already having an established career with Arashi by the time he graduated from high school, Sakurai went on to attend Keio University, graduating with a Bachelor of Economics degree in March 2004.

In fact, he was a pioneer among all Johnny's, being the first to graduate from University, inspiring others to pursue higher education.

He became the first member in Arashi to hold a solo concert called The Show in 2006.

Sakurai was also a part of a special group with his Kisarazu Cat's Eye World Series co-stars that same year.

Specially formed to promote the movie, they released the movie's theme song "Seaside Bye-Bye" (シーサイドばいばい) as a single on October 25, 2006.

With bandmate Kazunari Ninomiya, he co-starred in the manga-based comedy drama Yamada Tarō Monogatari in 2007.

In 2008, he was appointed the official newscaster for the news coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing on NTV.

For his work as an actor, singer and newscaster, Sakurai became one of the recipients of GQ Japan's Men of the Year award in 2009.

His father is Shun Sakurai, former vice-minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Sakurai was born in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, and grew up in Minato, Tokyo, the oldest of three children.

His father, Shun Sakurai (桜井 俊), is a former government official who served as Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Vice President of Dentsu Group.

Sakurai had a small guest appearance on the final episode of the drama My Girl in 2009, which was bandmate Masaki Aiba's first starring role in a serial drama.

That year, he also had a brief appearance on bandmate Satoshi Ohno's comedy drama series Uta no oniisan, as himself.

Sakurai co-wrote the lyrics of six songs on the August 2010 Arashi album Boku no Miteiru Fūkei.

These songs are "Movin' On," "Mada Ue o", "Taboo" (Sho Sakurai solo), "Let Me Down," "Sora Takaku", and "Summer Splash!".

In February 2022, KAT-TUN announced the release of their digital single "Crystal Moment", as the theme song for NTV's coverage of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the rap lyrics were written by Sakurai.

One year later, Sakurai was announced by KAT-TUN'S Ueda as a co-writer for two songs he would be singing in his solo concert in January 2024.

On January 9, 2010, Sakurai co-starred with the other members of Arashi in the human suspense drama special Saigo no Yakusoku.