It has been about five months since the breakup of TOKIO. NTV cites compliance violations as the reason for the decision to suspend the broadcast of Taichi Kokubun’s “The! DASH! DASH!” on June 20 of this year, citing compliance violations. Only five days later, on June 25, TOKIO announced its dissolution. TOKIO, which had continued for 31 years, came to an abrupt end. Image: Taichi Kokubun, the man who triggered TOKIO’s breakup.
Kokubu was thrown out by the president of Nittele, who said, “I am perplexed.
Although Mr. Kokubu, who had been in the middle of a series of turmoil, continued to remain silent while suspending his entertainment activities, his attorney held a press conference on October 23 and revealed that Mr. Kokubu had filed a petition for human rights relief with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. In response, the president of NTV held a regular press conference on October 27 and expressed his reluctance to have a dialogue with Kokubu’s side. DASH! DASH! DASH!”, a relationship between Kokubu and NTV that had been a honeymoon, was now exposed as a deep rift between the two. Since the beginning of the turmoil, Kokubu has not appeared publicly or made any comments of his own, but today, November 26, he held a press conference in Tokyo for the first time. Dressed in a black suit and black tie, Mr. Kokubu and his attorney bowed deeply and apologized, saying, “First of all, I would like to express my sincere apologies to the people I have hurt by my actions.
We have a connection, and I believe our ties will probably never be severed.”
Meanwhile, his ally Masahiro Matsuoka, with whom he had shared many hardships as TOKIO, has frequently expressed his feelings toward Kokubu through the media. It was on June 27, two days after the breakup, that Mr. Matsuoka appeared before the media. After finishing a rehearsal for a performance in which he was to play the lead role, he appeared alone in front of a crowd of reporters and gave a 20-minute interview on short notice. On that day, Matsuoka expressed his feelings toward Kokubu as follows. He has been reflecting on the situation intensely, and he is probably at the bottom of the abyss. He has a strong sense of responsibility. I’m sure I’ll get scolded for this, but I have a connection with (Kokubu-san) and I don’t think we’ll ever break our ties. If we were to break off our relationship, I wouldn’t be able to give him a good beating (laugh). The “bumping off” remark was, of course, a loving joke to Kunibun, and although he did reprimand him, Matsuoka defended him with a smile at times.