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Masaki Aiba (相葉 雅紀, Aiba Masaki ^?, born December 24, 1982) is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, television personality and radio host. Along with Jun Matsumoto, Kazunari Ninomiya, Satoshi Ohno and Sho Sakurai, Aiba is a member of the Japanese boy band Arashi, who is under the management of Johnny & Associates.

Biography

Born in Chiba, Japan, Aiba has a younger brother who is four years younger.^[1] Prior to joining Johnny & Associates, Aiba saw a program called I love SMAP on television and saw his future seniors SMAP playing basketball.^[2] Since he wanted to play basketball with them, he sent in the application to join Johnny & Associates himself, without exactly knowing what the agency specialized in until the day of auditions.^[2] Aiba became a Johnny's Jr. in August 1996 at the age of 13.^[3]

During the earlier years following Arashi's debut, Aiba was appointed the "Image Leader" of Arashi.^[4] In 2002, Aiba was hospitalized after fainting due to a collapse of one of his lungs and was forced to stop playing the saxophone due to the operation he had to undergo.^[5][6]

Recording career

Johnny's Jr.

When Aiba joined Johnny & Associates, he was a member of temporary Johnny's Jr. units such as M.A.I.N. and B.B.B. with fellow Arashi members Matsumoto and Ninomiya and Johnny's Jr. member Toma Ikuta, and B.A.D. with Ninomiya before the formation of Arashi in 1999 in which Aiba was the fifth and last member to be recruited into Arashi.^[2]

Arashi

On September 15, 1999 aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii, it was announced that a new Johnny's group named Arashi, the Japanese word for storm, would make their debut on November 3, 1999. Their debut single, "Arashi", was used as the image song for the 8th World Cup of Volleyball hosted by Japan in 1999 and the group served as special supporters for the competition.^[7] The single went on to become a major hit, selling 557,430 copies in its first week^[8] and almost a million copies by the end of its chart run.^[9]

Acting career

Aiba began acting in a 1997 stageplay based on an American coming of age film called Stand by Me with the other members of M.A.I.N.^[10] Within the same year, fellow M.A.I.N. member Matsumoto and Aiba made their drama debut together playing children struggling to survive in a city without any adults in the drama Bokura no Yūki: Miman Toshi (ぼくらの勇気, Our Courage: Miman City ^?). After the announcement of the formation of Arashi in September 1999 and their position as image characters for the 1999 Volleyball World Cup competition, all five members starred together for the first time in the volleyball-centered short drama V no Arashi.

In 2002, he made his motion picture debut in Pikanchi Life is Hard Dakedo Happy (ピカ☆ンチ Life is HardだけどHappy, Pikanchi Life is Hard But Happy ^?) as the lead character and subsequently reprised his role in the 2004 sequel Pikanchi Life is Hard Dakara Happy (ピカ☆☆ンチ Life is HardだからHappy, Pikanchi Life is Hard Therefore Happy ^?). The group would once again come together in 2007 to star in their third movie together entitled Kiiroi Namida (黄色い涙, Yellow Tears ^?) with Aiba acting as an aspiring singer in the 1960s.^[11]

Although Aiba was featured in a number of dramas such as Mukodono 2003 (ムコ殿2003, The Son-in-Law 2003 ^?) and Yankee Bokō ni Kaeru (ヤンキー母校に帰る, Drop-out Teacher Returns to School ^?), he became more known for his appearances in variety shows instead and went on to focus on stage productions after Yankee Bokō ni Kaeru.^[12]

On August 2, 2009, it was announced that Aiba would not only act in his first drama series in nearly six years but also star as the lead actor for the first time.^[12] Entitled My Girl, the first episode was broadcast on TV Asahi on October 9, 2009.^[13]

Other ventures

Since October 5, 2001, Aiba has his own radio show named Arashi Aiba Masaki no Rekomen! Arashi Remix (嵐・相葉雅紀のレコメン!アラシリミックス ^?), which currently broadcasts on JOQR.^[14] Aiba was appointed a Field Navigator for the Japan Cup Gymnastics 2009 in July 2009.

Variety shows

In 2004, Aiba became a regular on Ken Shimura's variety show Tensai Shimura Dōbutsuen (天才！志村どうぶつ園, Genius! Shimura Zoo ^?), in which he interacts with various wild animals with other regulars such as Mami Yamase, comedian Sayaka Aoki and tarento Becky. On July 20, 2009, Aiba held a television special entitled Aiba Masaki's Summer Science Lab & Mystery Sports Special.

Filmography

References

External links

• Arashi's Official Site (Japanese)
• DramaWiki
• Masaki Aiba at the Internet Movie Database