Junki Kono

Junki Kono is a Japanese singer and actor. He debuted as a member and vocal leader of the Japanese boy band JO1 in 2020, after placing ninth in the first season of Produce 101 Japan. He was featured in Hiroyuki Sawano|SawanoHiroyuki's single "Outsiders" in 2022 and the Japanese voice dub for Jonathan in Snow White.

Early life and education

Junki Kono was born on January 20, 1998, in Nara, Japan. As a child, he played football for his local Heguri Football Club. In 2018, he joined Horyuji Football Club as a midfielder. That same year, their team won the Kansai qualifying round of the 25th National Club Team Football Championships on September 9.
Kono graduated from the Faculty of Policy Studies at Doshisha University. While attending university, he worked part-time as a security staff member at a concert venue, an experience that reinforced his desire to pursue a career as a singer.
Alongside his native Japanese, Kono is learning Korean.

Career

2019–2021: ''Produce 101 Japan'' and debut with JO1

After graduation, Kono was job hunting and had received an offer, which he turned down to participate in Produce 101 Japan, a reality competition show that's a spin-off of the South Korean Produce 101 franchise. In September 2019, Kono auditioned for the show as part of the audition group Six Packs. The show ended in December, where he finished in ninth place with 159,057 votes.
After undergoing training in Korea, Kono debuted in the resulting group JO1 on March 4, 2020, through the release of their first single Protostar under Lapone Entertainment. In December, he appeared on The First Take, performing an acoustic version of "Infinity" and "Voice" from Protostar and the group's first studio album, The Star. Both performances were released as digital singles on January 13, 2021.

2022–present: Solo activities and acting debut

In April 2022, he had a regular role as a student on NHK-E's ', a Korean learning show. In May, Kono co-wrote the song "Touch!" for JO1's second studio album Kizuna, and was featured alongside bandmate Sho Yonashiro on Hiroyuki Sawano|SawanoHiroyuki's single "Outsiders", the ending theme song of the anime Fanfare of Adolescence.
In 2023, Kono co-wrote the song "NEWSmile" for JO1's third studio album Equinox. It was used as the theme song of the morning news show '. On August 22, it was announced that Kono and bandmate Keigo Sato were cast as MCs of the two-episode television program Case Study - Forbidden Love Experiment, a part of Fuji TV's program slot '.
In 2024, Kono was appointed as a cast member of TBS Television's show ', where he appeared every Thursday from April to June. From June to September, Kono played Iida Tomohiro in the drama My Girlfriend's Child, which was broadcast on Kansai TV and Fuji TV. The drama is based on the eponymous manga series by Mamoru Aoi, where Tomohiro is one of the main character's classmates. On December 29, Kono was cast as the narrator of the Netflix and Prime Video distributed entertainment program The Comedy Dual.
In 2025, Kono did the Japanese dub for the role of Jonathan in the film Snow White. Kono co-wrote the JO1 digital single "Be Brave!" for the live action adaptation of Bad Boys.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As a featured artist

Songwriting credits

All song credits are adapted from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers's database, unless otherwise noted.

	Indicates single
	Indicates a non-commercial release