TOKIO starter kit
EDIT 2022: given the (cw: assault) pretty horrible behavior of Yamaguchi, it's impossible for me not to feel conflicted as hell about TOKIO. On the other hand, most of these links are dead and it's kind of a time capsule anyway so I'm leaving the post, just, you know... editing that section. Sorry it took me so long to update, I haven't been able to make myself look back at this post until now.
Nagase has also left since then but like... it was not shocking that he just wants to ride motorcycles with his buds and toodle around on the guitar without grooming himself, so I just left his part as is.
OK, the following is pretty comprehensive. I'm a thorough and long-winded person. Also, it's full of youtube links, which will drive me crazy when they all get taken down. XD Lemme know if there's grammar mistakes or anything like that and. . . I can't think of anything good to say up here. Except - please! Link everyone you know to this post! :D Spread the TOKIO love!
So, it's been a while since I made this post, and a lot of the youtube and tudou links expired. I've gone through a lot of them and checked things out and updated them, but a bunch of them are untested and may or may not work. All the youtube links in the "Members" sections do work as of 7-7-08, though!
From left: Yamaguchi Tatsuya (bass), Kokubun Taichi (keyboards), Nagase Tomoya (vocals), Matsuoka Masahiro (drums), and Joshima Shigeru (guitar)
TOKIO are just ridiculous amounts of awesome. It's corny, but I'll say it - they've got heart. Seriously, there's so many things that make TOKIO special, and I will tell you what they are, but. . . they've got heart! Everything they do is done with the full force of their personalities behind it - and my god, do they have personalities. Real ones, that speak of real people behind them who think and feel and have genuine relationships with each other. Because TOKIO are friends. I know, I know, they're not slashy fun like other groups - for the most part, their fanservice consists of showing off their fantastic upper bodies as much as possible. But that's what's so charming about their friendships! They aren't trying to exaggerate them, or trick you into thinking there's maybe more. They're just a bunch of guys who get to work with people that they enjoy hanging out with. You can really tell that they have a lot of respect for each other, and they've all worked very hard together and it's created a pretty amazing bond.
They also get naked together. And then discuss it on the HEY!x3 Telephone Box (link is to subs! :D).
Phone: By the way, are there times you get naked?
Yamaguchi: Um, that. I think all of us would without being drunk.
Phone: All of you...?
Yamaguchi: Yes. It's like a uniform. Being butt naked.
Phone: Butt naked is TOKIO's uniform!!
Also, they all lived together in the apartment of Shounentai's Higashiyama, who is my HERO. And role model. That man lived the dream. (Video also available, but friends-locked, here, hopefully you'll want to join that comm later. Almost all the rest of the links are not locked, unless otherwise noted.)
Anyway, in addition to an overall sense of them being fairly genuine, they're also sexy. And they're sexy men. I love androgyny as much as the next person, but there's nothing wrong with shoulders that you can build a house on, I'm just sayin'.
And they're talented. This is not a term I use lightly. They're like a real band, guys. Drummer, bassist, keyboards, guitar, vocals. And they play the instruments on the albums. Nagase has an awesome rock-ish sort of voice and Leader is a genuinely good guitarist and Mabo just rocks out way too hard on the drums, it's amazing, and Yamaguchi is actually the definition of bassist and. . . I don't know much about keyboards but Taichi dances back there and it's so adorable. As far as I can tell, they did the Question? thing and played the music for performances of other groups before their debut. There are concert clips of tiny!TOKIO doing this for SMAP, it makes me so happy. Anyway, in an MC once, Mabo says, "My friends came to watch and told me 'Wow, you can play the drums.' We can actually play instruments, so we would like everyone to not forget that we are a real band."
Just a few links, because I can't go any further without linking to a few important TOKIO introduction stuff:
Love You Only is their debut song. It's really special. At this point it's only special because Nagase consistently performs it in hotpants, but it's a song that has a lot of meaning for both TOKIO and their fans.
See? This is the single most moving, beautiful video I have ever seen. Every time I watch it I'm filled with warm and squishy feelings.
This interview is extremely important, it's all the members being real people who've had real problems and have worked hard to be where they are now. Please read it!
TOKIO 3000 steps in London. Hilarious! I assume this is part of Tetsuwan DASH, their amazing incredible wonderful show, a segment in which the boys have to get out of London and back to a goal in Japan without taking over 3000 steps. They fall over a lot. But the funniest videos are the (woefully few) subbed ones, which I will link to but you have to, like, go places to get them and stuff.
Aaaaaaaand here's Taichi and Mabo making out.
Yamaguchi runs a marathon, Mabo cries. I cried too. So much TOKIO love! It's amazing. And you can download it and have it forever! Thank you so much to deepintoblue for uploading!
This PV summarizes everything that is good about TOKIO. The song (which, as far as I can tell, is called "boku no renai jijyo to daidokoro jijyou" but let me know if that's wrong) was written by Leader, and it was the theme song for MentoreG, one of TOKIO's TV shows (although I admit it's not my all-time favorite of their songs). The PV was directed by Mabo. Everyone is having a good time and being totally goofy and good-looking and loveable in a very comfortable way:
If that doesn't work, you can download it here, and I recommend that you do!
I haven't even scratched the surface of why they're awesome, though. So, uh, keep reading.
The Members, what they do and why they're so great!
Nagase Tomoya.
Birthdate: Nov 7, 1978
Height: 185 cm, 6'1"
Weight in 2001: 66 kg, 145 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 15
If you don't already love Nagase. . . I don't know where you've been. He's unbelievably sexy to the point where I sometimes look at his face and think "How can a human being look like that??" He's also 6'1". (There's a slim chance I'm just into TOKIO because I'm irationally amused by large heights and large height differences.) And he's got spectacular eyebrows. For reals.
But Nagase isn't all looks. He's also incredibly excited about life. Every single thing in this interview is amazing: he waits naked in the hotel rooms of his co-workers to welcome them back. Actually, he's naked a lot. Just a naked guy. Isn't that an excellent trait in someone so attractive? (Interview now available here with subs after joining.)
Nagase is likeable and cuddly and charming and immature and at one point says that no one ever accused him of being smart. Nagase also tends to laugh so hard he falls off chairs. He's easily amused and really upbeat. He's also apparently referred to a calf in english as "BEEF BABY." (MUST WATCH VIDEOS! Subbed interviews with Nagase on Domoto Kyoudai. More Nagase/Koichi slashy goodness can be found in this thread, if that's your thing.) Nagase is also sometimes called Tomo Baby, which is a really good nickname.
As if that wasn't enough, he's also just hardworking and talented - in addition to writing songs such as イメージ (Image, I believe), グルメファイター！ (Gourmet Fighter? I don't have the Romanized titles), and SONIC DRIVE, he also - well, I'll let him speak for himself:
I am director and editor of the DVD of TOKIO's live house tour. In the first place, I take stupid shots in my private life. Like wearing a soccer uniform to a batting center and head the baseballs that come flying towards me. Like that. And then I take that footage and play with it using on my computer with editing software. Because I talk about it I got asked if I want to try. I accepted without thinking about it much, but as long as I'm doing it, I wanted to make something good. . . From the beginning I asked the cameramen, "Don't get the members looking cool and showing off. Get the look where they're going to lose it." Just how far the members are into the music and instruments. There's a face when they are so abosorbed into their instruments that they don't care how their faces look. (from here.)
Also, he acts his little heart out in some of the most amazing dramas of our time. He often plays characters who are part spaz, part bad-ass, but mostly spaz. Or part spaz, part sweetheart. I highly, highly recommend My Boss, My Hero (with Tegoshi and Koki) and Tiger and Dragon, in which someone extremely smart and kind cast him opposite Okada Junichi, who is also one of the most sexy men in JE but is one of the shortest! Hilarity ensues! Anyway, I also recommend Yan Papa and Mukodono (with Aiba, in which Nagase plays this guy who is also this guy) and for a different feel, Ikebukuro West Gate Park (with Yamapi).
I just found his Hanamaru Café appearance. Hopefully those of you who understand Japanese will enjoy it, it looks totally awesome!
Mabo on Nagase.
Subbed Shounen Club Premium appearance!
Nagase with other small children.
Matsuoka Masahiro, aka Mabo.
Birthdate: Jan 11, 1977
Height: 181 cm, 5'11"
Weight in 2001: 65 kg, 143 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 17
For the sake of honesty, I have to admit I have a Mabo bias. I adore them all, but he managed to sneak into first place. He's the drummer. So he's all back there being manly and just. . . ::whimpers:: Just watch this live clip in which he's topless, cos he does that a lot. He also wears glasses very very often. (And looks amazing in them)
And. . . he's directed all of their PVs since ding-dong in 2002. Which is sexy. It's not just a "Let's let him experiment" or anything. Or maybe it was, but now he's proved himself so that Johnny's has genuinely entrusted him with all of the PVs for the group. I find that incredibly awesome and amazing. My instinct is to assume the boys have no artistic control, so every time I find out that they're in charge of, say, the set lists for concerts or something, it amazes me. And then TOKIO, they write their songs, they play their instruments, and they direct their PVs!!
Also, as the director of the PVs, Mabo is the one who thinks "Hmm, I guess the fans would like to see us with thin, wet shirts sticking to our muscular, muscular bodies." He is a good person and we should all be extremely grateful. And you should join tokio_suki to see him in action.
He often has bizarre hair that he manages to make look good, not just acceptable but actually good, just by dint of his incredible, relentless Mabishness. He's just got presence, I don't even know. Part of the time, he's this deep, artistic, intelligent person, and part of the time he's totally spazzing it out with the rest of his bandmates, probably leading them into more spazzery.
He wrote the music for and had the lead role in a play called Jailbreakers, and maybe some other artistic imput cos he can do that sort of thing. He talks about it here, which you'll be able to read as soon as you join the community. Anyway, he sings in it even though he's insecure about his singing ability, which I think is cute. (Unless he's drunk at karaoke, then he sings his heart out.)
Mabo is also probably most likely to crossdress, and to sort of freakishly work it, just like he freakishly works everything else he does. Sometimes he makes out with his bandmates (sorry, it's the same video linked to above). Sometimes he cuddles them.
Mabo is an excellent cook. Leader says, in a concert report, "Every time, for the last day of the tour, it's become a custom for Matsuoka to bring his homemade curry, but this time he also brought motsunikomi and the curry was really good too. He must have been so busy with his drama, I don't know how he did it."
Mabo acts as well. I like to call his shows Drabos, cos I'm silly like that and Drabo is a good word. I've only seen Yaoh, but it's SO AMAZING. He plays a host who's the underdog because he tries to be sort of genuine even as he seduces women out of their money (OH MY GOD it's like real life) but he also wants to become the BEST HOST EVER so the show is all about him trying to be really appealing to women and also being heroic and solving women's problems.
Mabo does a flip. I know it's short, but it's awesome!!
The story of Happy Birthday, the song Mabo wrote for Taichi and TOKIO.
Kokubun Taichi.
Birthdate: Sept 2, 1974
Height: 167 cm, 5'5" (eee, Taichi & Yamaguchi are so short and Nagase & Mabo are so tall - they're an incredibly awkward group to photograph together!)
Weight in 2001: 53 kg, 143 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 19 (almost 20)
Taichi is. . . a pixie. I know there are a lot of cute, cute boys in Johnny's but Taichi is actually the cutest. I don't have words for how cute he is. He's sweet, and smiley, and silly and also hosts more TV shows than anyone ever.
Here's a Taichi story from luxvesperis that I found adorable: Yesterday Taichi bragged about how his typing skillz are improving and he's typing faster on his computer than his keitai. And his keitai, named Takakura Ken, somehow found out and had a hissy fit and decided to not work. So today Taichi apologized to Ken-san.
The thing about Taichi is he's surrounded by all these sort of strikingly handsome, well-built, studly men (I've been known to say that Taichi could set up housekeeping on the shoulders of any of his bandmates except Leader) and he's just so relentlessly sweet and tiny and endearing. He's chipper and happy and has the brightest smile EVER.
If you haven't already watched the Love You Only fan thing at the 10th Anniversary Concert, do that now. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. I have never seen anyone look more sweet than Taichi does in that video and it breaks my heart with it's beautiful happy joy.
Taichi knows everyone, he talks to everyone, he's always taking his juniors out to dinner. Arashi's Nino likes to get free meals out of him. Also, even though I think it's adorable that he's pretty much referred to by his given name, I get sort of a kick out of it when people call him by his family name. Kokubun-kun is really fun to say!
He writes the most adorable little jwebs, which will be findable as soon as you dip your toes in the fandom and are so worth reading. In fact, he writes them so diligently and so sweetly that they've been made into a book! In which there's a whole section about him hanging out with V6's Inocchi and, I assume, the two of them being cheerful and talkative and sociable together.
They almost blew him up once. Maybe more than once, actually!
And he's a sentimental, weepy drunk. Who tries to inspire his fellow members and then is moved by how hard everyone works.
Taichi loves soccer with a passion and tries to play it on the set of every PV they film. If they have to film indoors he gets sad that he can't play soccer.
Apparently, on their most recent HEY!x3 appearance, "Taichi said that if one of the other member's privates was lying on the street in Shibuya, he'd be able to identify the owner." (that's another luxvesperis story. Join to_ki_o and read her great translations!)
Cos they're all nudists.
Fantastipo Making Of, in which Taichi is happy and jokes around with everyone and seems to make Domoto Tsuyoshi enjoy himself a little bit.
Taichi snuggles a lucky guest. On MentoreG.
Taichi birthday montage.
Yamaguchi Tatsuya.
EDIT 2022: I'm leaving the text I'd written for Yamaguchi in 2008 because it shows how super wrong I can be about people! Warning for assault but he "forcibly kiss(ed) a girl of secondary school age" in 2018. It's just.... real bad and I'm just not here to make any sort of excuses. It sucks and it sucks extra b/c was he this kind of guy the whole time and did the other members know about it. Where I am in 2022 is that I still love their music and I still love DASH and I do still have a soft spot for the other members, especially Mabo, but it's not the same.
Birthdate: Jan 10, 1972 (what the hell, he's practically just a year younger than Leader, but he looks about 20 years younger. Best skin ever Y/Y?)
Height: 5'6"
Weight in 2001: 58 kg, 128 lbs; possibly 63 kg, which would be sexy, but I couldn't follow the video and it got removed from Youtube. Sadditude.
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 22
Number of children: one so far!
I said this above, but I seriously think of Yamaguchi as the archetypal bassist, and bassists are just inherently sexy. He's so stoic, and cool, and chill, and manly, like bassists should be. Super, duper manly. I dwell on this a bit, because, my god. And he sings back-up and sometimes lead vocals, and has a voice that works really well with Nagase's, it's sort of sweet and clean where Nagase's is not.
He also surfs. A lot. And is pretty good at it. He's often tan and he almost always has spiky hair and his face is square and his shoulders are square and he has the most ridiculously sexy arms EVER and because he's a good person, he tends to wear tank tops. I love short, burly men. I'm always like "No, tall and thin is better" but then I always get attracted to short and wide. Not that Yamaguchi is wide. Just, like, he could bench me. And all my furniture. Except he still has a sweet little baby face and adorable smile and fabulous smile crinkles! And he's even more topless than Mabo.
Yamaguchi isn't one of the main talkers, so whenever he does jump into the silly with his adorable little smile, it's sort of surprising and even more charming than normal. He doesn't give a feel of "I'm too cool to do your wacky stuff but you pull me in anyway," it's more like "I'm so chill, I'll do wacky stuff when I feel like it and sit here and be really hot and smile a lot otherwise." But when he's wacky, he's fully wacky. He's not half-assedly wacky.
In TOKIO portion of the subbed HEY!x3 Johnny's SP, which now you're going to have to go back and watch again now that you're interested in those TOKIO guys, Yamaguchi shows a series of photographs of his day in which he consistently comes up with lame reasons to take off his shirt. It's beautiful.
Yamaguchi, among other things, has a show that he hosts with a bunch of crossdressers and extremely gay men. It's called OneeMANS, and it just became a primetime show, I believe. He and Aiba had a cute showdown on it once, as far as I can tell (I made that clip and I cut out almost all the reaction shots from the gay men which is why it skips - you're not missing any Yamaguchi or Aiba! But if you can understand what they're saying, it's probably annoying. Full episode uploaded by adfirmatiosg and available at her community here, albeit locked). Anyway, basically Yamaguchi is ridiculous manly (did I mention that already? XD) so the combination of him and many extremely effeminate men is entertaining.
Actually, he and Aiba seem to have some kind of thing going, in which they appear on each other's shows (on the same network, i guess?) and Yamaguchi gives Aiba a hard time. I think he also took Aiba and Jun out surfing at least once? AMAZING. He also gave Ohno a hard time when Ohno was on OneeMANS, too.
I'm sorry, I just. . . I want Yamaguchi to be my husband. Doesn't he seem like he'd take such good care of you? I have this whole mental theory that when he, Taichi, and Mabo were living with Higashiyama, he made a deal with Higashi to protect the other two: Higashi doesn't make the moves on Yamaguchi's sweet, innocent, young, attractive bandmates, and Yamaguchi agreed that the three of them would give Higashi massages, and Yamaguchi won't crush Higashiyama with his manly strength.
I've also been informed that he has several different colored pairs of striped socks which is just so cute I can't even believe it and I'm trying to picture it and my heart feels warm and squishy.
Since I first made this pimp post. . . Yamaguchi got married!! :D And had a baby with his wife! All the marriage announcement articles have been graciously translated, and here's a little info about the birth. She's a lady he's been living with for the past four years and was dating for several years before that. IT'S SO AWESOME AND EXCITING! Yaaaaaay for Papaguchi!! :D Yaaaaaay for the first of the tokiobabies! :D
His Shounen Club Premium appearance.
His marriage is announced! (sorry that the sound goes off, it drives me crazy too - so worth it though!)
Being all hot and muscly.
Joshima Shigeru, aka Leader.
Birthdate: Nov 17, 1970
Height: 170 cm, 5'7"
Weight in 2001: 56 kg, 124 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 23
LEADER!! Seriously, Joshima is the single most likely Leader to be referred to as Leader. Arashi fans think Ohno gets called Leader fairly regularly? He does not. Not even if you count in when they call him Captain. Sakamoto also, I'm fairly certain doesn't have the same consistency of Leader. That is, Joshima. Except you will almost never hear Joshima. TV hosts call him Leader! I think his mother probably calls him Leader.
Anyway, I adore him. I really, really do. Although I shouldn't and it's been bothering me. XD At first I liked him because he's so incredibly funny, but not in a Kanjani8 witty sort of way, more in a "he's the most tragic person ever so it's hilarious" sort of way. Leader will outstrip anyone you know at making people laugh when he doesn't mean to. I don't even know where to start.
I linked to Nagase's Oshareism interview above, because he's so awesome in it, but I think my favorite part of that is the Leader mentions: Ueda: Moving on. Oh. From TOKIO's Leader. Joshima-san.
Fujiki: Laughter...
Nagase: It's amazing to get laughs just from a name.
Ueda: I'm jealous of that.
Nagase: Yeah me too.
and later:
Ueda: Well, more information from Leader.
Nagase: Yes. OK.
Ueda: Leader has it good. Why is it that we just have to say his name and people laugh?
Nagase: It's not fair, is it?
Seriously, this is. . . perhaps the best summary of Leader ever.
I also want to quote this Recommen summary by ttthhbbbtt:
Next week’s ranking is “celebrities who don’t look their age.”
Yoko says how the other day while he was watching TV, Kokubun Taichi was on some show and they showed his age (33). Yoko+Hina both think that he doesn’t look 33 at all, not even 30. Everyone in TOKIO too don’t look their age… but.
Yoko : I think Leader matches his age.
Hina : Maaa, only Leader.
And, because I couldn't resist, I uploaded this little clip of Tegoshi's SCP from newshfan's subs, because it sort of made my life:
There are so many others: in Leader's own SCP, when they showed clips of him as a junior, all the clips were of him messing up the dances. In the "boku no renai jijyo to daidokoro jijyou" music video, which is embedded above, there's a scene where everyone jumps off a ledge and he falls off it, and then later everyone does gymnastics and he does a sad little somersault and sort of falls over. The Hey!x3 hosts are totally with me on this, and I think have actually told him he's not a Johnny's. Heck, I even saw a post where someone had scanned all the pictures from a pamphlet or something - except for his! They were like "Hmm, it looks like I left someone out accidentally! Whoops!" and I was dying with laughter. Even Leah Dizon is with me: watch her name everyone in TOKIO except. . . guess who?
Actually, you can get the same effect just by filming the faces of everyone in the group and then ending on Leader's face. XD
So, yeah. At first i just loved Leader because of this particular quality of his. He was so sad and ridiculous and it just makes people laugh and makes me happy. But now I've realized I genuinely love him. He's. . . actually adorable. Like, his little voice and the way he says things? And he is genuinely a good Leader. He meets with people from the company and works really hard for TOKIO. And he's an awesome guitarist! I mean, where Yamaguchi has the ideal bassist type, Leader is sort of the opposite of the flashy, sexy lead guitarist - but don't let that fool you, he's an excellent musician! And he writes really lovely songs, such as the one for which the PV includes him falling off a rock. So now I have genuine, actually respect and affection for him.
And I made another collage to show that he does sometimes look nice and normal! :)
It's. . . just watch it.
He's silly at the Ashita wo Mezashite filming.
Birthday post I made for him, even though I feel slightly masturbatory linking to it! Picspam and more Leader Legends.
OK, guys, are you interested? Now that I've got your attention, I want you to download Koi no Yokan. It is my favorite video in fandom. It makes me laugh so hard! They're incredible. Just go download it, you'll thank yourself later.
Music.
TOKIO make good music. Their music is easily my favorite of all the Johnny's groups, although that doesn't really say much. But I wouldn't say I like their music if I didn't really think it was good. In fact, many of my favorites are the songs they write themselves, and were my favorites even before I knew the guys wrote them. Seriously, so impressive. Wikipedia refers to it as "power pop," which is a great phrase and a pretty good description. They have much more of a rock feel than any other group - although I would hesitate to call them a rock band.
I highly recommend getting Harvest. It's such an amazing album and they wrote almost all the songs on it. I'm not going to really get uploading, but you can hear some of the songs here. And I uploaded one of their older singles, Kanpai!! cos I sort of really like it. XD It was used for beer commercials. It's really good for walking to, but the good parts aren't really in the CM.
Some of the following links are streaming links that no longer work. All the downloads should be fine. Sorry, I can't bring myself to figure out what's good or not anymore. XD Almost all the PVs are available either at tokio_suki or its forum, or you can ask me. tokioteatime is a great resource as well, especially for performances. Also, if you want streaming links, you can go to this TOKIO music playlist that I assembled.
A lot of their older PVs are entertaining just cos they're so ridiculous, but here are a few of the ones where I love the song as well - all directed by Mabo!
do! do! do! PV. Possibly my favorite TOKIO song.
Honjitsu, Mijukumono PV. Awesome song that really grew on me after more listens. For download.
Mr. Traveling Man PV. Apparently, this PV is what happens when they just give Mabo free reign and allow him to create whatever he wants. XD
Sorafune PV. You should already have heard this at some point! It's fab. For download, with subs!
Ambitious Japan subbed. Totally awesome PV, Nagase in particular looks super hot. Great song, theme song for the Shinkansen!
Live performance of the same. Yamaguchi and Mabo are particularly hot here.
Nagase singing Image, one of the songs he wrote for Harvest.
Love You Only is TOKIO's debut song. I mentioned it early on, but to be honest, I sort of love it, and love watching performances of it. Here are all the different versions I could find:
First performance I saw of the song. I was just starin' at the hot pants. I thought other performances would have to have more normal costumes.
The PV, very ridiculous and old and amazing!! (For download here after joining.)
Another early performance. I was so wrong about the costumes.
10th Anniversary Live.
2004 Performance, for download.
2004 PV.
Nifty montage that I really like.
Special gig version, with subtitles!
Fans at 10th Anniversary Concert. I already linked this, but I'm linking it again.
TV.
TOKIO has two shows that I know of, MentoreG and the Tetsuwan DASH. Neither of them are subbed, that I can tell, and MentoreG is a talk show with guests and everything, so while it seems entertaining and I'm sure it's totally awesome cos they do it, I don't have much to say on the subject. DASH, on the other hand, is amazing. And I'll tell you what, guys, it's really easy to watch without subtitles.
I'm just going to quote other people's descriptions and explanations. Click the links cos I had to shorten them a little. XD
yumenoko, from here.
"Tetsuwan DASH is the single show that has most impressed me with Japan, period. Over all these years I have seen so much of the country (thanks to their self made Solar Car which is still making its way around the perimeter of the country one complete time, as is that goal), and the onsen epis (they break into teams to see who can visit the most onsens in a single day before the time is up), the bento epis (same M.O.), or the 10,000 steps epis, where they start in another country and wear pedometers and have to make it back to the gaol in Japan in less than 10,000 steps. Also, the early epis with the cheapest bentos (where we all learned really fast that Mabo is an a-fucking-mazing cook and can buy all he needs for the oishii-est home made bento for like 700 yen) and my absolute fave of them all, the attempt about 7 years ago to find methods to wake up Nagase, the guy who they all agreed was the latest to make morning shoots."
And here is luxvesperis's explanation, because as far as I'm concerned you can't talk about DASH too much. From here.
"Tetsuwan DASH is a show that started out in late night with TOKIO doing all sorts of crazy experiments. . . It moved to prime time and became an hour show a while ago and one of the projects was to get the name "DASH" on official maps. A "village" had the least number of requirements, so they held an election for a mayor (ended up being the rubber ducky, whole nother story with that), bought some land, built the first building and started to grow stuff. After a while, it was no longer about getting "DASH" on the map, but about doing things the old fashioned way. Now they have a whole goat family, grow their own kind of rice, grow various fruits and vegetables, made a flag using cotton and natural dyes also grown in the village, made a kiln and a forge and now have made their own pottery and farm tools, have even made glass using sand in the village. And that's just a handful of what they've done. All of it is with the support of local people (the actual location is not available to the public) and professionals in the respective fields, but TOKIO do the main grunt work."
These days DASH can be obtained fairly regularly at tokio_suki, which is too fab for words, and the incredible tokioteatime is all round a great place to go for TOKIO shows. Here are a few other links to get you started:
Special with Kanjani8. Totally awesome!!
This seems to be from a special and is like a bit of a highlight reel. I'm sorry. About the second clip they use. I was disturbed too. XD This seems to be another clip from the same show, in which they race lots of stuff.
Here is a playlist that seems to consist primarily of clips from the two shows, MentoreG and DASH.
Video clips.
It's really hard to search for TOKIO videos on youtube. So, because I'm a good person, I did a massive TOKIO youtube collection project, and created playlists with every single TOKIO video I could find on youtube, gathered and sorted. And then. . . I did it again, because my account got suspended. D: Actual playlists here. I still can't believe I redid all that. You can also try looking at the videos of this person (TOKIO starts here) and this person (TOKIO starts here - she's got loads of V6 and other senpai groups, but as far as I'm concerned TOKIO is worth wading through them, even if you aren't interested in that.) Although I've recently noticed stuff disappearing from tudou too, which sucks, so I don't know if those will work anymore.
As above, many of these clips won't work, although the downloads should be fine. And, again, just ask if you see something you really want to watch. And some of them do work, I think, so it's worth trying!
2022 playlist links b/c youtube changed its link formatting:
9/36 clips working
6/20 show content working
5/27 "other" working
18/116 all videos working
Here are a selection of videos that I find the most entertaining, to get you started:
Young TOKIO in Hawaii. So adorable, Mabo is topless, Nagase pulls himself into a really impressive backflip, and they're all just SO CUTE.
Twist and Shout. That's right, like the Beatles. Nagase's english is total win.
Doitsumo koitsumo PV. It belonged here rather than the music section because it's hilarious. This PV mixes disco with kendo. And Nagase looks freakishly good in the disco suit. What is that? Not Mabo's idea, this was before he got the job.
Minna de WAHAHA. Another ridiculous PV from before Mabo started directing, in which they yodel. (surprisingly, this video was still there as of 7-7-08!)
Taichi wakes up Nagase. Young Nagase with lots of long hair and lots of exposed body and it's awesome.
TOKIO Rangers. Awesome!! With translation here! Translation starts at 1:08, as far as I can tell.
Adult Ceremonies. I get a real kick out of watching them interact with their juniors. Also, Nagase is on the whole other side of the fence. XD Mabo was the next year and he looks super hot.
12th Birthday TOKIO montage. I'm not normally someone who gets enthusiastic about montages, but all the clips in here are so fabulous! Really worth a watch.
Subbed stuff.
As a consolation for the defunct streaming links from the original post, I am not able to edit in. . . subtitle links! :D When I first did this, there weren't enough to make this worthwhile but now there are!! At the moment, there are two great places where you don't need to join anything to get glorious hilarious subbed TOKIO videos!
The subs of enshinge@lj and ohmiya-sg@lj. (Currently two of my favorite fandom contributors)
The subs of newshfan@lj.
Also, the comm has the occasional subbed thing that isn't by either of the two above. That should be most of the stuff out there.
OK, I've given you all I can. Now I must send you out on your own into TOKIO fandom. The two livejournal communities are the best places to start, but if anyone knows of other great forums or websites, please let me know! For now, just head on over and join up at to_ki_o and tokio_suki if you haven't already! Also, it didn't exist when I first made this post, but tokioteatime is definitely the place to be these days - chock full of delicious juicy TOKIO! Also, it's clearly the JE community with the best name. For those of you who are clubbox capable, this seems to be a good place for downloads? I don't really know. . . The LJ comms are definitely worth joining, though!
Most images are from boys_paper, with a few from this forum and a few from scattered parts of the internet that hopefully it won't be a problem for me to use.
Nagase has also left since then but like... it was not shocking that he just wants to ride motorcycles with his buds and toodle around on the guitar without grooming himself, so I just left his part as is.
OK, the following is pretty comprehensive. I'm a thorough and long-winded person. Also, it's full of youtube links, which will drive me crazy when they all get taken down. XD Lemme know if there's grammar mistakes or anything like that and. . . I can't think of anything good to say up here. Except - please! Link everyone you know to this post! :D Spread the TOKIO love!
So, it's been a while since I made this post, and a lot of the youtube and tudou links expired. I've gone through a lot of them and checked things out and updated them, but a bunch of them are untested and may or may not work. All the youtube links in the "Members" sections do work as of 7-7-08, though!
From left: Yamaguchi Tatsuya (bass), Kokubun Taichi (keyboards), Nagase Tomoya (vocals), Matsuoka Masahiro (drums), and Joshima Shigeru (guitar)
TOKIO are just ridiculous amounts of awesome. It's corny, but I'll say it - they've got heart. Seriously, there's so many things that make TOKIO special, and I will tell you what they are, but. . . they've got heart! Everything they do is done with the full force of their personalities behind it - and my god, do they have personalities. Real ones, that speak of real people behind them who think and feel and have genuine relationships with each other. Because TOKIO are friends. I know, I know, they're not slashy fun like other groups - for the most part, their fanservice consists of showing off their fantastic upper bodies as much as possible. But that's what's so charming about their friendships! They aren't trying to exaggerate them, or trick you into thinking there's maybe more. They're just a bunch of guys who get to work with people that they enjoy hanging out with. You can really tell that they have a lot of respect for each other, and they've all worked very hard together and it's created a pretty amazing bond.
They also get naked together. And then discuss it on the HEY!x3 Telephone Box (link is to subs! :D).
Phone: By the way, are there times you get naked?
Yamaguchi: Um, that. I think all of us would without being drunk.
Phone: All of you...?
Yamaguchi: Yes. It's like a uniform. Being butt naked.
Phone: Butt naked is TOKIO's uniform!!
Also, they all lived together in the apartment of Shounentai's Higashiyama, who is my HERO. And role model. That man lived the dream. (Video also available, but friends-locked, here, hopefully you'll want to join that comm later. Almost all the rest of the links are not locked, unless otherwise noted.)
Anyway, in addition to an overall sense of them being fairly genuine, they're also sexy. And they're sexy men. I love androgyny as much as the next person, but there's nothing wrong with shoulders that you can build a house on, I'm just sayin'.
And they're talented. This is not a term I use lightly. They're like a real band, guys. Drummer, bassist, keyboards, guitar, vocals. And they play the instruments on the albums. Nagase has an awesome rock-ish sort of voice and Leader is a genuinely good guitarist and Mabo just rocks out way too hard on the drums, it's amazing, and Yamaguchi is actually the definition of bassist and. . . I don't know much about keyboards but Taichi dances back there and it's so adorable. As far as I can tell, they did the Question? thing and played the music for performances of other groups before their debut. There are concert clips of tiny!TOKIO doing this for SMAP, it makes me so happy. Anyway, in an MC once, Mabo says, "My friends came to watch and told me 'Wow, you can play the drums.' We can actually play instruments, so we would like everyone to not forget that we are a real band."
Just a few links, because I can't go any further without linking to a few important TOKIO introduction stuff:
Love You Only is their debut song. It's really special. At this point it's only special because Nagase consistently performs it in hotpants, but it's a song that has a lot of meaning for both TOKIO and their fans.
See? This is the single most moving, beautiful video I have ever seen. Every time I watch it I'm filled with warm and squishy feelings.
This interview is extremely important, it's all the members being real people who've had real problems and have worked hard to be where they are now. Please read it!
TOKIO 3000 steps in London. Hilarious! I assume this is part of Tetsuwan DASH, their amazing incredible wonderful show, a segment in which the boys have to get out of London and back to a goal in Japan without taking over 3000 steps. They fall over a lot. But the funniest videos are the (woefully few) subbed ones, which I will link to but you have to, like, go places to get them and stuff.
Aaaaaaaand here's Taichi and Mabo making out.
Yamaguchi runs a marathon, Mabo cries. I cried too. So much TOKIO love! It's amazing. And you can download it and have it forever! Thank you so much to deepintoblue for uploading!
This PV summarizes everything that is good about TOKIO. The song (which, as far as I can tell, is called "boku no renai jijyo to daidokoro jijyou" but let me know if that's wrong) was written by Leader, and it was the theme song for MentoreG, one of TOKIO's TV shows (although I admit it's not my all-time favorite of their songs). The PV was directed by Mabo. Everyone is having a good time and being totally goofy and good-looking and loveable in a very comfortable way:
If that doesn't work, you can download it here, and I recommend that you do!
I haven't even scratched the surface of why they're awesome, though. So, uh, keep reading.
The Members, what they do and why they're so great!
Nagase Tomoya.
Birthdate: Nov 7, 1978
Height: 185 cm, 6'1"
Weight in 2001: 66 kg, 145 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 15
If you don't already love Nagase. . . I don't know where you've been. He's unbelievably sexy to the point where I sometimes look at his face and think "How can a human being look like that??" He's also 6'1". (There's a slim chance I'm just into TOKIO because I'm irationally amused by large heights and large height differences.) And he's got spectacular eyebrows. For reals.
But Nagase isn't all looks. He's also incredibly excited about life. Every single thing in this interview is amazing: he waits naked in the hotel rooms of his co-workers to welcome them back. Actually, he's naked a lot. Just a naked guy. Isn't that an excellent trait in someone so attractive? (Interview now available here with subs after joining.)
Nagase is likeable and cuddly and charming and immature and at one point says that no one ever accused him of being smart. Nagase also tends to laugh so hard he falls off chairs. He's easily amused and really upbeat. He's also apparently referred to a calf in english as "BEEF BABY." (MUST WATCH VIDEOS! Subbed interviews with Nagase on Domoto Kyoudai. More Nagase/Koichi slashy goodness can be found in this thread, if that's your thing.) Nagase is also sometimes called Tomo Baby, which is a really good nickname.
As if that wasn't enough, he's also just hardworking and talented - in addition to writing songs such as イメージ (Image, I believe), グルメファイター！ (Gourmet Fighter? I don't have the Romanized titles), and SONIC DRIVE, he also - well, I'll let him speak for himself:
I am director and editor of the DVD of TOKIO's live house tour. In the first place, I take stupid shots in my private life. Like wearing a soccer uniform to a batting center and head the baseballs that come flying towards me. Like that. And then I take that footage and play with it using on my computer with editing software. Because I talk about it I got asked if I want to try. I accepted without thinking about it much, but as long as I'm doing it, I wanted to make something good. . . From the beginning I asked the cameramen, "Don't get the members looking cool and showing off. Get the look where they're going to lose it." Just how far the members are into the music and instruments. There's a face when they are so abosorbed into their instruments that they don't care how their faces look. (from here.)
Also, he acts his little heart out in some of the most amazing dramas of our time. He often plays characters who are part spaz, part bad-ass, but mostly spaz. Or part spaz, part sweetheart. I highly, highly recommend My Boss, My Hero (with Tegoshi and Koki) and Tiger and Dragon, in which someone extremely smart and kind cast him opposite Okada Junichi, who is also one of the most sexy men in JE but is one of the shortest! Hilarity ensues! Anyway, I also recommend Yan Papa and Mukodono (with Aiba, in which Nagase plays this guy who is also this guy) and for a different feel, Ikebukuro West Gate Park (with Yamapi).
I just found his Hanamaru Café appearance. Hopefully those of you who understand Japanese will enjoy it, it looks totally awesome!
Mabo on Nagase.
Subbed Shounen Club Premium appearance!
Nagase with other small children.
Matsuoka Masahiro, aka Mabo.
Birthdate: Jan 11, 1977
Height: 181 cm, 5'11"
Weight in 2001: 65 kg, 143 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 17
For the sake of honesty, I have to admit I have a Mabo bias. I adore them all, but he managed to sneak into first place. He's the drummer. So he's all back there being manly and just. . . ::whimpers:: Just watch this live clip in which he's topless, cos he does that a lot. He also wears glasses very very often. (And looks amazing in them)
And. . . he's directed all of their PVs since ding-dong in 2002. Which is sexy. It's not just a "Let's let him experiment" or anything. Or maybe it was, but now he's proved himself so that Johnny's has genuinely entrusted him with all of the PVs for the group. I find that incredibly awesome and amazing. My instinct is to assume the boys have no artistic control, so every time I find out that they're in charge of, say, the set lists for concerts or something, it amazes me. And then TOKIO, they write their songs, they play their instruments, and they direct their PVs!!
Also, as the director of the PVs, Mabo is the one who thinks "Hmm, I guess the fans would like to see us with thin, wet shirts sticking to our muscular, muscular bodies." He is a good person and we should all be extremely grateful. And you should join tokio_suki to see him in action.
He often has bizarre hair that he manages to make look good, not just acceptable but actually good, just by dint of his incredible, relentless Mabishness. He's just got presence, I don't even know. Part of the time, he's this deep, artistic, intelligent person, and part of the time he's totally spazzing it out with the rest of his bandmates, probably leading them into more spazzery.
He wrote the music for and had the lead role in a play called Jailbreakers, and maybe some other artistic imput cos he can do that sort of thing. He talks about it here, which you'll be able to read as soon as you join the community. Anyway, he sings in it even though he's insecure about his singing ability, which I think is cute. (Unless he's drunk at karaoke, then he sings his heart out.)
Mabo is also probably most likely to crossdress, and to sort of freakishly work it, just like he freakishly works everything else he does. Sometimes he makes out with his bandmates (sorry, it's the same video linked to above). Sometimes he cuddles them.
Mabo is an excellent cook. Leader says, in a concert report, "Every time, for the last day of the tour, it's become a custom for Matsuoka to bring his homemade curry, but this time he also brought motsunikomi and the curry was really good too. He must have been so busy with his drama, I don't know how he did it."
Mabo acts as well. I like to call his shows Drabos, cos I'm silly like that and Drabo is a good word. I've only seen Yaoh, but it's SO AMAZING. He plays a host who's the underdog because he tries to be sort of genuine even as he seduces women out of their money (OH MY GOD it's like real life) but he also wants to become the BEST HOST EVER so the show is all about him trying to be really appealing to women and also being heroic and solving women's problems.
Mabo does a flip. I know it's short, but it's awesome!!
The story of Happy Birthday, the song Mabo wrote for Taichi and TOKIO.
Kokubun Taichi.
Birthdate: Sept 2, 1974
Height: 167 cm, 5'5" (eee, Taichi & Yamaguchi are so short and Nagase & Mabo are so tall - they're an incredibly awkward group to photograph together!)
Weight in 2001: 53 kg, 143 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 19 (almost 20)
Taichi is. . . a pixie. I know there are a lot of cute, cute boys in Johnny's but Taichi is actually the cutest. I don't have words for how cute he is. He's sweet, and smiley, and silly and also hosts more TV shows than anyone ever.
Here's a Taichi story from luxvesperis that I found adorable: Yesterday Taichi bragged about how his typing skillz are improving and he's typing faster on his computer than his keitai. And his keitai, named Takakura Ken, somehow found out and had a hissy fit and decided to not work. So today Taichi apologized to Ken-san.
The thing about Taichi is he's surrounded by all these sort of strikingly handsome, well-built, studly men (I've been known to say that Taichi could set up housekeeping on the shoulders of any of his bandmates except Leader) and he's just so relentlessly sweet and tiny and endearing. He's chipper and happy and has the brightest smile EVER.
If you haven't already watched the Love You Only fan thing at the 10th Anniversary Concert, do that now. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. I have never seen anyone look more sweet than Taichi does in that video and it breaks my heart with it's beautiful happy joy.
Taichi knows everyone, he talks to everyone, he's always taking his juniors out to dinner. Arashi's Nino likes to get free meals out of him. Also, even though I think it's adorable that he's pretty much referred to by his given name, I get sort of a kick out of it when people call him by his family name. Kokubun-kun is really fun to say!
He writes the most adorable little jwebs, which will be findable as soon as you dip your toes in the fandom and are so worth reading. In fact, he writes them so diligently and so sweetly that they've been made into a book! In which there's a whole section about him hanging out with V6's Inocchi and, I assume, the two of them being cheerful and talkative and sociable together.
They almost blew him up once. Maybe more than once, actually!
And he's a sentimental, weepy drunk. Who tries to inspire his fellow members and then is moved by how hard everyone works.
Taichi loves soccer with a passion and tries to play it on the set of every PV they film. If they have to film indoors he gets sad that he can't play soccer.
Apparently, on their most recent HEY!x3 appearance, "Taichi said that if one of the other member's privates was lying on the street in Shibuya, he'd be able to identify the owner." (that's another luxvesperis story. Join to_ki_o and read her great translations!)
Cos they're all nudists.
Fantastipo Making Of, in which Taichi is happy and jokes around with everyone and seems to make Domoto Tsuyoshi enjoy himself a little bit.
Taichi snuggles a lucky guest. On MentoreG.
Taichi birthday montage.
Yamaguchi Tatsuya.
EDIT 2022: I'm leaving the text I'd written for Yamaguchi in 2008 because it shows how super wrong I can be about people! Warning for assault but he "forcibly kiss(ed) a girl of secondary school age" in 2018. It's just.... real bad and I'm just not here to make any sort of excuses. It sucks and it sucks extra b/c was he this kind of guy the whole time and did the other members know about it. Where I am in 2022 is that I still love their music and I still love DASH and I do still have a soft spot for the other members, especially Mabo, but it's not the same.
Birthdate: Jan 10, 1972 (what the hell, he's practically just a year younger than Leader, but he looks about 20 years younger. Best skin ever Y/Y?)
Height: 5'6"
Weight in 2001: 58 kg, 128 lbs; possibly 63 kg, which would be sexy, but I couldn't follow the video and it got removed from Youtube. Sadditude.
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 22
Number of children: one so far!
I said this above, but I seriously think of Yamaguchi as the archetypal bassist, and bassists are just inherently sexy. He's so stoic, and cool, and chill, and manly, like bassists should be. Super, duper manly. I dwell on this a bit, because, my god. And he sings back-up and sometimes lead vocals, and has a voice that works really well with Nagase's, it's sort of sweet and clean where Nagase's is not.
He also surfs. A lot. And is pretty good at it. He's often tan and he almost always has spiky hair and his face is square and his shoulders are square and he has the most ridiculously sexy arms EVER and because he's a good person, he tends to wear tank tops. I love short, burly men. I'm always like "No, tall and thin is better" but then I always get attracted to short and wide. Not that Yamaguchi is wide. Just, like, he could bench me. And all my furniture. Except he still has a sweet little baby face and adorable smile and fabulous smile crinkles! And he's even more topless than Mabo.
Yamaguchi isn't one of the main talkers, so whenever he does jump into the silly with his adorable little smile, it's sort of surprising and even more charming than normal. He doesn't give a feel of "I'm too cool to do your wacky stuff but you pull me in anyway," it's more like "I'm so chill, I'll do wacky stuff when I feel like it and sit here and be really hot and smile a lot otherwise." But when he's wacky, he's fully wacky. He's not half-assedly wacky.
In TOKIO portion of the subbed HEY!x3 Johnny's SP, which now you're going to have to go back and watch again now that you're interested in those TOKIO guys, Yamaguchi shows a series of photographs of his day in which he consistently comes up with lame reasons to take off his shirt. It's beautiful.
Yamaguchi, among other things, has a show that he hosts with a bunch of crossdressers and extremely gay men. It's called OneeMANS, and it just became a primetime show, I believe. He and Aiba had a cute showdown on it once, as far as I can tell (I made that clip and I cut out almost all the reaction shots from the gay men which is why it skips - you're not missing any Yamaguchi or Aiba! But if you can understand what they're saying, it's probably annoying. Full episode uploaded by adfirmatiosg and available at her community here, albeit locked). Anyway, basically Yamaguchi is ridiculous manly (did I mention that already? XD) so the combination of him and many extremely effeminate men is entertaining.
Actually, he and Aiba seem to have some kind of thing going, in which they appear on each other's shows (on the same network, i guess?) and Yamaguchi gives Aiba a hard time. I think he also took Aiba and Jun out surfing at least once? AMAZING. He also gave Ohno a hard time when Ohno was on OneeMANS, too.
I'm sorry, I just. . . I want Yamaguchi to be my husband. Doesn't he seem like he'd take such good care of you? I have this whole mental theory that when he, Taichi, and Mabo were living with Higashiyama, he made a deal with Higashi to protect the other two: Higashi doesn't make the moves on Yamaguchi's sweet, innocent, young, attractive bandmates, and Yamaguchi agreed that the three of them would give Higashi massages, and Yamaguchi won't crush Higashiyama with his manly strength.
I've also been informed that he has several different colored pairs of striped socks which is just so cute I can't even believe it and I'm trying to picture it and my heart feels warm and squishy.
Since I first made this pimp post. . . Yamaguchi got married!! :D And had a baby with his wife! All the marriage announcement articles have been graciously translated, and here's a little info about the birth. She's a lady he's been living with for the past four years and was dating for several years before that. IT'S SO AWESOME AND EXCITING! Yaaaaaay for Papaguchi!! :D Yaaaaaay for the first of the tokiobabies! :D
His Shounen Club Premium appearance.
His marriage is announced! (sorry that the sound goes off, it drives me crazy too - so worth it though!)
Being all hot and muscly.
Joshima Shigeru, aka Leader.
Birthdate: Nov 17, 1970
Height: 170 cm, 5'7"
Weight in 2001: 56 kg, 124 lbs
Age when TOKIO debuted in 1994: 23
LEADER!! Seriously, Joshima is the single most likely Leader to be referred to as Leader. Arashi fans think Ohno gets called Leader fairly regularly? He does not. Not even if you count in when they call him Captain. Sakamoto also, I'm fairly certain doesn't have the same consistency of Leader. That is, Joshima. Except you will almost never hear Joshima. TV hosts call him Leader! I think his mother probably calls him Leader.
Anyway, I adore him. I really, really do. Although I shouldn't and it's been bothering me. XD At first I liked him because he's so incredibly funny, but not in a Kanjani8 witty sort of way, more in a "he's the most tragic person ever so it's hilarious" sort of way. Leader will outstrip anyone you know at making people laugh when he doesn't mean to. I don't even know where to start.
I linked to Nagase's Oshareism interview above, because he's so awesome in it, but I think my favorite part of that is the Leader mentions: Ueda: Moving on. Oh. From TOKIO's Leader. Joshima-san.
Fujiki: Laughter...
Nagase: It's amazing to get laughs just from a name.
Ueda: I'm jealous of that.
Nagase: Yeah me too.
and later:
Ueda: Well, more information from Leader.
Nagase: Yes. OK.
Ueda: Leader has it good. Why is it that we just have to say his name and people laugh?
Nagase: It's not fair, is it?
Seriously, this is. . . perhaps the best summary of Leader ever.
I also want to quote this Recommen summary by ttthhbbbtt:
Next week’s ranking is “celebrities who don’t look their age.”
Yoko says how the other day while he was watching TV, Kokubun Taichi was on some show and they showed his age (33). Yoko+Hina both think that he doesn’t look 33 at all, not even 30. Everyone in TOKIO too don’t look their age… but.
Yoko : I think Leader matches his age.
Hina : Maaa, only Leader.
And, because I couldn't resist, I uploaded this little clip of Tegoshi's SCP from newshfan's subs, because it sort of made my life:
There are so many others: in Leader's own SCP, when they showed clips of him as a junior, all the clips were of him messing up the dances. In the "boku no renai jijyo to daidokoro jijyou" music video, which is embedded above, there's a scene where everyone jumps off a ledge and he falls off it, and then later everyone does gymnastics and he does a sad little somersault and sort of falls over. The Hey!x3 hosts are totally with me on this, and I think have actually told him he's not a Johnny's. Heck, I even saw a post where someone had scanned all the pictures from a pamphlet or something - except for his! They were like "Hmm, it looks like I left someone out accidentally! Whoops!" and I was dying with laughter. Even Leah Dizon is with me: watch her name everyone in TOKIO except. . . guess who?
Actually, you can get the same effect just by filming the faces of everyone in the group and then ending on Leader's face. XD
So, yeah. At first i just loved Leader because of this particular quality of his. He was so sad and ridiculous and it just makes people laugh and makes me happy. But now I've realized I genuinely love him. He's. . . actually adorable. Like, his little voice and the way he says things? And he is genuinely a good Leader. He meets with people from the company and works really hard for TOKIO. And he's an awesome guitarist! I mean, where Yamaguchi has the ideal bassist type, Leader is sort of the opposite of the flashy, sexy lead guitarist - but don't let that fool you, he's an excellent musician! And he writes really lovely songs, such as the one for which the PV includes him falling off a rock. So now I have genuine, actually respect and affection for him.
And I made another collage to show that he does sometimes look nice and normal! :)
It's. . . just watch it.
He's silly at the Ashita wo Mezashite filming.
Birthday post I made for him, even though I feel slightly masturbatory linking to it! Picspam and more Leader Legends.
OK, guys, are you interested? Now that I've got your attention, I want you to download Koi no Yokan. It is my favorite video in fandom. It makes me laugh so hard! They're incredible. Just go download it, you'll thank yourself later.
Music.
TOKIO make good music. Their music is easily my favorite of all the Johnny's groups, although that doesn't really say much. But I wouldn't say I like their music if I didn't really think it was good. In fact, many of my favorites are the songs they write themselves, and were my favorites even before I knew the guys wrote them. Seriously, so impressive. Wikipedia refers to it as "power pop," which is a great phrase and a pretty good description. They have much more of a rock feel than any other group - although I would hesitate to call them a rock band.
I highly recommend getting Harvest. It's such an amazing album and they wrote almost all the songs on it. I'm not going to really get uploading, but you can hear some of the songs here. And I uploaded one of their older singles, Kanpai!! cos I sort of really like it. XD It was used for beer commercials. It's really good for walking to, but the good parts aren't really in the CM.
Some of the following links are streaming links that no longer work. All the downloads should be fine. Sorry, I can't bring myself to figure out what's good or not anymore. XD Almost all the PVs are available either at tokio_suki or its forum, or you can ask me. tokioteatime is a great resource as well, especially for performances. Also, if you want streaming links, you can go to this TOKIO music playlist that I assembled.
A lot of their older PVs are entertaining just cos they're so ridiculous, but here are a few of the ones where I love the song as well - all directed by Mabo!
do! do! do! PV. Possibly my favorite TOKIO song.
Honjitsu, Mijukumono PV. Awesome song that really grew on me after more listens. For download.
Mr. Traveling Man PV. Apparently, this PV is what happens when they just give Mabo free reign and allow him to create whatever he wants. XD
Sorafune PV. You should already have heard this at some point! It's fab. For download, with subs!
Ambitious Japan subbed. Totally awesome PV, Nagase in particular looks super hot. Great song, theme song for the Shinkansen!
Live performance of the same. Yamaguchi and Mabo are particularly hot here.
Nagase singing Image, one of the songs he wrote for Harvest.
Love You Only is TOKIO's debut song. I mentioned it early on, but to be honest, I sort of love it, and love watching performances of it. Here are all the different versions I could find:
First performance I saw of the song. I was just starin' at the hot pants. I thought other performances would have to have more normal costumes.
The PV, very ridiculous and old and amazing!! (For download here after joining.)
Another early performance. I was so wrong about the costumes.
10th Anniversary Live.
2004 Performance, for download.
2004 PV.
Nifty montage that I really like.
Special gig version, with subtitles!
Fans at 10th Anniversary Concert. I already linked this, but I'm linking it again.
TV.
TOKIO has two shows that I know of, MentoreG and the Tetsuwan DASH. Neither of them are subbed, that I can tell, and MentoreG is a talk show with guests and everything, so while it seems entertaining and I'm sure it's totally awesome cos they do it, I don't have much to say on the subject. DASH, on the other hand, is amazing. And I'll tell you what, guys, it's really easy to watch without subtitles.
I'm just going to quote other people's descriptions and explanations. Click the links cos I had to shorten them a little. XD
yumenoko, from here.
"Tetsuwan DASH is the single show that has most impressed me with Japan, period. Over all these years I have seen so much of the country (thanks to their self made Solar Car which is still making its way around the perimeter of the country one complete time, as is that goal), and the onsen epis (they break into teams to see who can visit the most onsens in a single day before the time is up), the bento epis (same M.O.), or the 10,000 steps epis, where they start in another country and wear pedometers and have to make it back to the gaol in Japan in less than 10,000 steps. Also, the early epis with the cheapest bentos (where we all learned really fast that Mabo is an a-fucking-mazing cook and can buy all he needs for the oishii-est home made bento for like 700 yen) and my absolute fave of them all, the attempt about 7 years ago to find methods to wake up Nagase, the guy who they all agreed was the latest to make morning shoots."
And here is luxvesperis's explanation, because as far as I'm concerned you can't talk about DASH too much. From here.
"Tetsuwan DASH is a show that started out in late night with TOKIO doing all sorts of crazy experiments. . . It moved to prime time and became an hour show a while ago and one of the projects was to get the name "DASH" on official maps. A "village" had the least number of requirements, so they held an election for a mayor (ended up being the rubber ducky, whole nother story with that), bought some land, built the first building and started to grow stuff. After a while, it was no longer about getting "DASH" on the map, but about doing things the old fashioned way. Now they have a whole goat family, grow their own kind of rice, grow various fruits and vegetables, made a flag using cotton and natural dyes also grown in the village, made a kiln and a forge and now have made their own pottery and farm tools, have even made glass using sand in the village. And that's just a handful of what they've done. All of it is with the support of local people (the actual location is not available to the public) and professionals in the respective fields, but TOKIO do the main grunt work."
These days DASH can be obtained fairly regularly at tokio_suki, which is too fab for words, and the incredible tokioteatime is all round a great place to go for TOKIO shows. Here are a few other links to get you started:
Special with Kanjani8. Totally awesome!!
This seems to be from a special and is like a bit of a highlight reel. I'm sorry. About the second clip they use. I was disturbed too. XD This seems to be another clip from the same show, in which they race lots of stuff.
Here is a playlist that seems to consist primarily of clips from the two shows, MentoreG and DASH.
Video clips.
It's really hard to search for TOKIO videos on youtube. So, because I'm a good person, I did a massive TOKIO youtube collection project, and created playlists with every single TOKIO video I could find on youtube, gathered and sorted. And then. . . I did it again, because my account got suspended. D: Actual playlists here. I still can't believe I redid all that. You can also try looking at the videos of this person (TOKIO starts here) and this person (TOKIO starts here - she's got loads of V6 and other senpai groups, but as far as I'm concerned TOKIO is worth wading through them, even if you aren't interested in that.) Although I've recently noticed stuff disappearing from tudou too, which sucks, so I don't know if those will work anymore.
As above, many of these clips won't work, although the downloads should be fine. And, again, just ask if you see something you really want to watch. And some of them do work, I think, so it's worth trying!
2022 playlist links b/c youtube changed its link formatting:
9/36 clips working
6/20 show content working
5/27 "other" working
18/116 all videos working
Here are a selection of videos that I find the most entertaining, to get you started:
Young TOKIO in Hawaii. So adorable, Mabo is topless, Nagase pulls himself into a really impressive backflip, and they're all just SO CUTE.
Twist and Shout. That's right, like the Beatles. Nagase's english is total win.
Doitsumo koitsumo PV. It belonged here rather than the music section because it's hilarious. This PV mixes disco with kendo. And Nagase looks freakishly good in the disco suit. What is that? Not Mabo's idea, this was before he got the job.
Minna de WAHAHA. Another ridiculous PV from before Mabo started directing, in which they yodel. (surprisingly, this video was still there as of 7-7-08!)
Taichi wakes up Nagase. Young Nagase with lots of long hair and lots of exposed body and it's awesome.
TOKIO Rangers. Awesome!! With translation here! Translation starts at 1:08, as far as I can tell.
Adult Ceremonies. I get a real kick out of watching them interact with their juniors. Also, Nagase is on the whole other side of the fence. XD Mabo was the next year and he looks super hot.
12th Birthday TOKIO montage. I'm not normally someone who gets enthusiastic about montages, but all the clips in here are so fabulous! Really worth a watch.
Subbed stuff.
As a consolation for the defunct streaming links from the original post, I am not able to edit in. . . subtitle links! :D When I first did this, there weren't enough to make this worthwhile but now there are!! At the moment, there are two great places where you don't need to join anything to get glorious hilarious subbed TOKIO videos!
The subs of enshinge@lj and ohmiya-sg@lj. (Currently two of my favorite fandom contributors)
The subs of newshfan@lj.
Also, the comm has the occasional subbed thing that isn't by either of the two above. That should be most of the stuff out there.
OK, I've given you all I can. Now I must send you out on your own into TOKIO fandom. The two livejournal communities are the best places to start, but if anyone knows of other great forums or websites, please let me know! For now, just head on over and join up at to_ki_o and tokio_suki if you haven't already! Also, it didn't exist when I first made this post, but tokioteatime is definitely the place to be these days - chock full of delicious juicy TOKIO! Also, it's clearly the JE community with the best name. For those of you who are clubbox capable, this seems to be a good place for downloads? I don't really know. . . The LJ comms are definitely worth joining, though!
Most images are from boys_paper, with a few from this forum and a few from scattered parts of the internet that hopefully it won't be a problem for me to use.