Identity of a Japanese 7-member boy group that came out to conquer the world during BTS’ military hiatus
A 7-member boy group under the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates made their dream major debut.
On Oct 28th, Travis Japan (Toraja) released their digital single “JUST DANCE!” simultaneously around the world.
Travis Japan was formed in 2012. They signed a contract with Capitol Records, a major American record label, in 2022.
In Japanese, “Tora” means tiger. Their debut date, Oct 28th, 2022, is Tiger Day in Year of the Tiger, which is said to be the lucky year of the tiger that comes once in 36 years in Japan.
Travis Japan is famous as a group that continued their active activities with group dance as their main weapon.
Travis Japan, who appeared on Japanese media outlet TBS’ Countdown TV (CDTV), successfully completed the performances “JUST DANCE!” and “Yume no Hollywood”.
The members wore costumes that reflected each person’s image color and performed their debut stage with all their might.
Their relay dance video, a K-pop idol content released on YouTube, is also a hot topic.
However, perhaps because of their nervousness, some netizens responded, “I think their group dance didn’t match well on the debut stage”, “Their tune looks too unstable”…
There were also opinions such as “It looks too similar to BTS‘ costume concept” and “Music video and photo shoot locations are too similar to Korean idols.”
Meanwhile, Maeda Koki, a former idol trainee in Japan, exposed the sex scandal of the president of his former agency, sparking controversy.
YouTuber FocuSON reported on a past interview of former 7 MEN Samurai (under Johnny’s Jr.) member Maeda Koki.
Maeda Koki said that Johnny Kitagawa, the founder of Johnny & Associates, frequently asked male trainees to have sex with him as a bait for debut.
He shocked everyone by claiming, “Johnny was gay. Some trainees wanted to have sex with him. The decision to debut was made by Johnny Kitagawa.”
This content has been exposed several times in Japan since the 1980s. After a long trial, the Supreme Court of Japan ruled in 2004 that homosexual acts had been committed.
However, it does not seem to have been a big issue until now due to Johnny & Associates’ strong influence.
Source: Insight
