Koichi Domoto

 is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, television personality, voice actor. Along with Tsuyoshi Domoto (with whom he has no blood-relation), he is a member of the duo KinKi Kids, who holds the Guinness World Records for having the most consecutive No.1 singles since debut and the most consecutive years with a Japanese No.1 single, and is one of the top 20 best-selling artists of all time in Japan.
Although Domoto also actively works as a television actor and host, he is most famous for his musical "SHOCK" series, which he participates as the lead actor and director at the same time. "SHOCK" series started at the Tokyo Imperial Theatre in 2000, making him the youngest Zachō (chairman and lead role) and the first idol to perform at Imperial Theatre. With more than 1800 performances, "SHOCK" series is now the most-performed musical and the second most-performed theatre in Japan. In 2018, he starred in musical "Knights’ Tale" directed by John Caird as well.
Career.
Born in Ashiya, Hyōgo, Japan, Koichi joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates at the age of 12 after his sister sent in his application without his knowledge. Koichi and his bandmate Tsuyoshi Domoto first worked together as back-dancers for Hikaru Genji, who were holding a concert at Yokohama Arena, and has since then been partnered up for magazine photoshoots, music acts and drama projects. The duo eventually made their debut in 1997 with a double release of a single "Garasu no Shōnen" and an album "A Album", both of which went on to sell over a million copies.
Theatre.
In 1993, Koichi played in his first stage in SMAP's "ANOTHER." As early as in 1994, he expressed his enthusiasm of musical, saying that his dream was to "play in musicals that have singing, dancing and acting" in an interview. In 1997, he played in the stage "kyotokyo" with many others from Johnny & Associates. He managed to star as the lead (or Zachō in Japanese) in musical "MASK'99" in Nissay Theatre in 1999.
In November 2000, Koichi played the lead role in musical "MILLENNIUM SHOCK," becoming the youngest Zachō and also the first idol to play the lead at Tokyo Imperial Theatre. Since then, SHOCK series has continued to perform every year. The title was changed to "ショー劇・SHOCK, SHOCK is Real SHOCK" and "Shocking SHOCK" in the following years but had the similar story"." In 2005, it was revised to "Endless SHOCK" and the story was changed completely. Koichi started to participate as the director and composed several songs since this year. In April 2008, the long-running musical "Endless SHOCK" was awarded the Grand Prize of the 33rd Kazuo Kikuta Drama Awards for theatre. In January 2012, "Endless SHOCK" was performed at Hakata-za in Fukuoka, which was the first time for the musical to be performed in places other than Tokyo. On March 21, 2013, "Endless SHOCK" welcomed its 1000th performance, making it the forth theatre to reach 1000 performances in Japan. It was also brought to Umeda Arts Theatre in Osaka in September 2013. After its 1408th performance on October 26, 2014, "Endless SHOCK" overtook Matsumoto Hakuō II's Japanese version of "Man of La Mancha" to become the most-performed musical and the second most-performed theatre with single lead-starring in Japan. On April 2020, Koichi alone was awarded the Grand Prize of the 45th Kazuo Kikuta Drama Awards for his achievement for leading "SHOCK" series for twenty years, becoming the youngest single winner of this award. "SHOCK" series reached its 1800th performance on February 12, 2020.
Koichi has also participated in some other theatres. In November 2010, he played in stage "Shichinin no Samurai" produced by Kansai Yamamoto, which was an adaptation of "Seven Samurai". From July to September 2018, he starred as Arcite in John Caird's musical "Knights’ Tale," which was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Two Noble Kinsmen," at Imperial Theatre. Since 2019, Koichi took over the position of director of another musical DREAM BOYS produced by Johnny & Associates and played by his junior colleagues. 
The premiere of "MILLENNIUM SHOCK" in 2000 at Imperial Theatre was very controversial since it was also the first time a theatre from Johnny & Associates to be performed there. It was believed that idols were unqualified to stand at the most famous and important theatre in Japan, let alone playing the lead at the age of 21. However, "SHOCK" gradually becomes one of the most important musicals at Imperial Theatre and one of the representing Japanese original musicals. In 2018, Koichi played the lead in "Endless SHOCK" and "Knights’ Tale" from February to March and from July to August respectively at Imperial Theatre, becoming the fourth person in history and the first person in 26 years to play a lead for four months in a year at Imperial Theatre. After the success of "SHOCK," several other stages from Johnny & Associates and musicals starred idols from other companies started to be performed at Imperial Theatre, and Koichi is credited for broadening the career of musical actors for idols. 
Acting.
After joining Johnny & Associates, Koichi played his first role in movie "200X Nen Shō" in 1992 and first role in drama "Aiyo Nemuranaide" in 1993. From July 1994 to September 1994, Koichi and his bandmate Tsuyoshi appeared in drama "Ningen Shigaku", which had a peak rating of 28.9% on its final episode. In 1994 and 1995, he starred as the main male role in move "Ie Naki Ko" and the drama "Ie Naki Ko 2", which had a rating of 31.9% on its final episode. He gained unprecedented popularity through these works even though he had not formally debuted as KinKi Kids. From January to March 1996, he played Ginrō in drama "Ginrō Kaiki File: Futatsu No Zunō Wo Motsu Shōnen", which had an average rating of more than 20%. He also starred together with his bandmate Tsuyoshi for their second drama together in "Wakaba No Goro" in 1996. 
On August 23, 1997, Koichi starred in his first drama after debut in "Yūki To Iu Koto", as a special drama corner of NTV's annual telethon "24-Hour Television," in which KinKi Kids were also appointed as the main host. The drama had a rating of 26.3%, becoming the highest rated "24-Hour Television" special drama at the time, and it is still the second highest one until now. From October to December 1997, Koichi and Tsuyoshi starred in their third drama together called "Bokura no Yūki Miman City." Since then, Koichi starred in one drama every year, which all received relative high ratings. He shifted his focus to musicals after starring in "Remote" from October to December 2002, where he won the best supporting actor in the 35th Drama Academy Award. 
In 2006, Koichi starred in his first drama in four years as the lead in "Kinō Kōen," which was part of TV special "Tales of The Unusual 2006 Autumn Special Drama." In July 2007, Koichi starred as the lead in a drama entitled "Sushi Ōji!," where he played the role of a martial artist training in the art of sushi. In addition, the sequel movie "Ginmaku Ban Sushi Ōji!: New York e Iku" was released on April 19, 2008. It was his first movie appearance since the 1994 movie "Ienaki Ko". 
On March 7, 2015, Koichi played Kazumi Ishioka in his first drama in nearly eight years in "Tensai Tantei Mitarai Nankai Jiken File: Kasa o Oru Onna," which was an adaptation of Soji Shimada's Detective Kiyoshi Mitarai Series. On September 13, 2015, he played Minamoto no Hiromasa in "Onmyōji." To commemorate the 20th anniversary of KinKi Kids, the sequel of 1997 drama "Bokura no Yūki Miman City" starred Koichi and Tsuyoshi was broadcast as a special drama "Bokura no Yūki Miman City: 2017" in NTV, where Koichi played the same character as before. 
Music.
In the early days after KinKi Kids debuted, Koichi had several solo songs credited as KinKi Kids in their albums. Although his bandmate Tsuyoshi made his solo debut in 2002, Koichi did not make one until 2006 since he focuses more on musicals. He held his first solo concert tour in 2004, mainly performing his solo songs in group albums and songs from SHOCK. On January 11, 2006, he released his first CD album "Koichi Domoto「Endless Shock」Original Sound Track," but was not regarded as his solo debut. The album peaked in Oricon and became the first musical soundtrack album to reach No.1, winning the Soundtrack album of the year in 21st Japan Gold Disc Award. He made his official CD debut on July 12, 2006, with a release of single "Deep in your heart/+MILLION but -LOVE," followed by the release of album Mirror on September 13, where all songs were composed by himself. 
On April 30, 2008, Koichi released a new single "No More" under the name of "Tsukasa Maizu", the character he played in "Sushi Ōji!," as the theme song of the movie "Ginmaku Ban Sushi Ōji!: New York e Iku." His second single "Ayakashi" was released on July 29, 2009. On September 1, 2010, Koichi released "BPM", his first solo album in four years. Koichi released his first DVD/Blu-ray single "INTERACTIONAL/SHOW ME UR MONSTER" on June 10, 2015, followed by his fourth solo album Spiral on July 8. On April 19, 2017, the second original soundtrack of his musical "Endless SHOCK" was released.
Koichi wrote his first song in KinKi Kids's music variety "LOVE LOVE Aishiteru" in 1997"," where they were required to learn guitar and write songs. Since then, he wrote a great number of songs, mainly devoted to the group, his solo work and musical "SHOCK." He composed several No.1 winning singles for KinKi Kids and himself, such as "Suki ni Natteku Aishitteku" (2000), "Deep in your heart" (2006), "Family~Hitotsu ni Naru Koto" (2010) and "Topaz Love" (2018). In 2002, Koichi wrote the lyrics for and composed KinKi Kids' single "solitude~Honto no Sayonara~" , which was also the theme song for his drama "Remote," under the pen name "K.Dino", while the true identity was not revealed until 2003"." The single also reached No.1 in Oricon and won the best theme song in the 35th Drama Academy Award. The song "Ai no Katamari" of KinKi Kids he composed in 2001 was voted as the most loved song by fans in an official voting held for creation of KinKi Kids's 10th anniversary compilation album "39" in 2007. He is the composer or lyricist for nine songs among the 17 songs currently used in his musical Endless SHOCK. Koichi has also provided songs for other artists from Johnny & Associates, such as NEWS, Hideaki Takizawa, and the musical DREAM BOYS. 