Shingo Katori

 is a Japanese actor, singer, television host, radio personality. He was the youngest member of SMAP, the best-selling boy band in Asia. 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.
Early life.
Katori was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa and moved to Tokyo to pursue his career. He has one younger brother.
Career as a pop star.
Music.
In 1987, at age 10, Katori auditioned to enter Johnny & Associates, a Japanese talent agency that recruits and trains young boys, preteens to teens, to become singers and members of boy bands. 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 April 1988, producer Johnny Kitagawa chose six out of the twenty boys to create a new boy band and named them "SMAP".
Acting.
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. 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.
Shingo Mama.
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.
Artistic career.
"I’ve always loved painting for as long as I can remember," he said in an interview in his first book of illustration collection. He thinks he came to like painting because of the family background (his further was an art dealer). Katori displayed his artistic talent also at SMAP's concerts. He became in charge for staging of the concert tours, beginning from "super.modern.artistic.performance" (2008) through "We are SMAP" (2010) and "Gift of SMAP" (2012) until "Mr. S – saikou de saikou no CONCERT TOUR" (2014).
Katori has been creating and engaged in various artworks and projects: