Twenty Twenty (unit)

Twenty Twenty (stylized as Twenty★Twenty) is a temporary Japanese idol group unit from Johnny & Associates that consists of 75 members from 15 Johnny's groups that have made their official debut, including V6, Arashi, SixTones, and Snow Man. The unit was formed as a way to contribute in helping curb the spread of Coronavirus. This is the third temporary group from the agency (after J-Friends and Marching J) formed as part of a charity project.[1][2] Their original song titled "Smile" was written by Mr. Children's Kazutoshi Sakurai and produced by Hideaki Takizawa.[3]

History

Background

In 2013, president Johnny Kitagawa announced his idea of forming a new unit for the Tokyo Olympics consisting of 2 groups of 20 members each, a total of 40 members, chosen from among Johnny's Jr.'s 700 members, during an event at the Imperial Theater in Marunouchi, Tokyo, called "Johnny's World Thanksgiving". The group, tentatively called "2020" (referred to as "Toni Toni"), would be prepared from then on, until their CD debut at the beginning of the Olympic Games.[4][5]

Twenty Twenty in 2020

Since the Olympic Games got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of the Olympic unit was scrapped. A new version of Twenty Twenty would be born. This time, it wouldn't be formed by Johnny's Jr. members, but by members from groups that had already debuted.[6] The chosen name would take a new meaning after the passing of Kitagawa the year before, as this new unit would adopt the name left by him. Takizawa asked Sakurai to create a song for the group.[7] Johnny's charity project Smile Up! Project, had already started with several activities carried out by members of the various groups that would form the unit, to help out during the crisis. The song would be a part of them.

The single "Smile" is to be released in digital form on June 22, and on CD on August 12.[8][9]

Participants
GroupMembersNote
V6Masayuki Sakamoto
Hiroshi Nagano
Yoshihiko Inohara
Go Morita
Ken Miyake
Junichi Okada
KinKi KidsKoichi Domoto
Tsuyoshi Domoto
ArashiSatoshi Ohno
Sho Sakurai
Masaki Aiba
Kazunari Ninomiya
Jun Matsumoto
NEWSTakahisa MasudaYuya Tegoshi absent[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
Shigeaki Kato
Keiichiro Koyama
Kanjani EightYu Yokoyama
Shingo Murakami
Ryuhei Maruyama
Shota Yasuda
Tadayoshi Okura
KAT-TUNKazuya Kamenashi
Yūichi Nakamaru
Tatsuya Ueda
Tomohisa Yamashita
Hey! Say! JUMPRyosuke YamadaKeito Okamoto absent[lower-alpha 3]
Yuri Chinen
Yuto Nakajima
Daiki Arioka
Kei Inoo
Hikaru Yaotome
Yuya Takaki
Kota Yabu
Kis-My-Ft2Hiromitsu Kitayama
Kento Senga
Toshiya Miyata
Wataru Yokoo
Taisuke Fujigaya
Yuta Tamamori
Takashi Nikaidō
Sexy ZoneKento NakajimaSou Matsushima absent[lower-alpha 4]
Fuma Kikuchi
Shori Sato
Marius Yo
A.B.C-ZRyosuke Hashimoto
Fumito Kawai
Shota Totsuka
Ryoichi Tsukada
Koichi Goseki
Johnny's WestJunta Nakama
Takahiro Hamada
Akito Kiriyama
Daiki Shigeoka
Tomohiro Kamiyama
Ryusei Fujii
Nozomu Kotaki
King & PrinceSho HiranoGenki Iwahashi absent[lower-alpha 5]
Ren Nagase
Kaito Takahashi
Yuta Kishi
Yuta Jinguji
SixTONESYugo Kochi
Taiga Kyomoto
Juri Tanaka
Hokuto Matsumura
Jesse
Shintaro Morimoto
Snow ManTatsuya FukazawaHikaru Iwamoto absent[lower-alpha 6]
Daisuke Sakuma
Shota Watanabe
Ryota Miyadate
Ryohei Abe
Koji Mukai
Ren Meguro
Raul

Notes
  1. Yuya Tegoshi was originally planned to participate; but was caught on "going out unnecessarily" during the restriction period and his participation was cancelled.[10]
  2. Tegoshi ended his contract with Johnny's Entertainment on June 19, 2020.
  3. Keito Okamoto has been absent from entertaintment-related activities since September 2018 for pursuing his study in America.[11]
  4. Sou Matsushima has been suspending his entertainment activities to focus on treatment of panic disorder since 2018.[12]
  5. Genki Iwahashi has been suspending his entertainment activities to focus on treatment of panic disorder since 2018.[13]
  6. Hikaru Iwamoto was caught on 2017 scandal where he's drinking with underage present and has been refrained from group activities.[14]

References
  1. "Johnny's Smile Up! Project Announcement". johnny-associates.co.jp. July 24, 2018. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  2. "Forming a Unit for a Limited Time「Twenty★Twenty」Notice regarding the Beginning of Production of Charity Song "smile" (Songwriter: Kazutoshi Sakurai)". johnny-associates.co.jp. May 13, 2020. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  3. "15 Johnny's groups form unit Twenty★Twenty for a limited time". TokyoHive. Archived from the original on May 23, 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  4. "ジャニーズが２０２０年五輪招致応援ユニット！２０人×２、年内お披露目". hochi.yomiuri.co.jp (in Japanese). March 18, 2013. Archived from the original on March 17, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  5. "ジャニーズで史上最大ユニット結成　Ｔｗｅｎｔｙ・Ｔｗｅｎｔｙ" (in Japanese). March 19, 2013. Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  6. "ジャニーズ版Ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｗｏｒｌｄだ　期間限定ユニットＴｗｅｎｔｙ★Ｔｗｅｎｔｙ結成". サンスポ・コム (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  7. "櫻井和寿、ジャニーズと初コラボ　総勢76人の期間限定ユニット『Twenty★Twenty』にチャリティーソング提供". jomo-news.co.jp (in Japanese). May 13, 2020. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  8. "Johnny's special unit "Twenty ★ Twenty" announces charity song "smile" release details". Arama! Japan. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  9. "Johnny's & Associates' charity song 'smile' release date determined". Tokyohive. June 16, 2020. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  10. "Johnny & Associates cancels Tegoshi Yuya's participation in charity project unit "Twenty★Twenty"". Arama! Japan. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  11. "Okamoto Keito to take a break from Hey! Say! JUMP to study in the US by September". Arama! Japan. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  12. "Sexy Zone member Matsushima Sou goes on hiatus due to panic disorder". Arama! Japan. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  13. "King & Prince Iwahashi Genki suspends activities due to panic disorder". Arama! Japan. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  14. "ＳｎｏｗＭａｎ岩本照が活動自粛　未成年と飲酒報道". 日刊スポーツ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
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