Sho Sakurai


Sho Sakurai is a Japanese singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, news anchor, host and former radio host. He is a member of the boy band Arashi.
Sakurai began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates in 1995 at the age of 13. About seven years after his debut as a singer with Arashi in 1999, he became a newscaster in 2006, appearing in the news program News Zero every Monday. In 2008, he was appointed the official newscaster for the news coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing on NTV. For his work as an actor, singer and newscaster, Sakurai became one of the recipients of GQ Japan's Men of the Year award in 2009. His father is Shun Sakurai, former vice-minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
WWW Official Site

Early life

Sakurai was born in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, and grew up in Minato, Tokyo, the oldest of three children. His father, Shun Sakurai, is a former government official who served as Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Vice President of Dentsu Group. Sakurai has a younger sister, Mai, who was a journalist for Nippon TV, and a younger brother, Shu. a rugby player.
Sakurai attended Keio Yochisha Elementary School, an affiliated elementary school of Keio University. From age three to ten, he did many extracurricular activities, including kendo, swimming, football, oil painting, calligraphy, and scouting. He began music lessons in early childhood, starting with the electric organ at age three and switching to piano in fourth grade. From fourth grade to sixth grade, he played trombone for his school's brass band. He also played trumpet and attended cram school. He joined a local football club after developing a strong interest in football during the J.League boom in 1993. He wanted to play for a professional team and at one point considered studying abroad in Brazil to become a professional footballer. He played football until his second year of junior high school.
Despite already having an established career with Arashi by the time he graduated from high school, Sakurai went on to attend Keio University, graduating with a Bachelor of Economics degree in March 2004. In fact, he was a pioneer among all Johnny's, being the first to graduate from University, inspiring others to pursue higher education.

Career

In 1995, when Sakurai was thirteen years old, he sent an application to the talent agency, Johnny & Associates, and started activities as a Johnny's Jr.
On April 10, 2024, Sakurai posted, via Starto Entertainment's website, his opening a website of his own, as a means of contact point for job requests and inquiries. He commented on the news program "News Zero", in which he appears as Monday night support newscaster since 2006, that he did it as a part of the expansion of activities, as well as of his agent contract with the agency.
On May 9, 2024, he served as navigator for Morinaga's press conference for their health and beauty item Passienol. Sakurai not only led the talk session, but also provided commentary on his use of the product.
During an audio live stream held for fan club members in April 2025, he revealed that he was planning to make his official blog "Otonoha" into a book. The paid blog articles have been available through the Family Club web, a smartphone site, since April 2008, but there was a limit to the number of back issues that could be viewed. Although the contents of the book have not been revealed at this time, there is a possibility these past articles could be reprinted.

Music career

Sakurai is the designated rapper of Arashi and, although he had written rap lyrics for some of the group's earlier releases under the pen name "Show", his first major contribution was for the A-side song "Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono". While not the first artist from Johnny's to take on rapping, his breakthrough made it easier for his juniors to rap as well, despite being idols. According to Taichi Kokubun of Tokio, ex-KAT-TUN member Koki Tanaka began to rap because of him.
He became the first member in Arashi to hold a solo concert called The Show in 2006. Sakurai was also a part of a special group with his Kisarazu Cat's Eye World Series co-stars that same year. Specially formed to promote the movie, they released the movie's theme song "Seaside Bye-Bye" as a single on October 25, 2006.
Sakurai co-wrote the lyrics of six songs on the August 2010 Arashi album Boku no Miteiru Fūkei. These songs are "Movin' On," "Mada Ue o", "Taboo", "Let Me Down," "Sora Takaku", and "Summer Splash!".
In February 2022, KAT-TUN announced the release of their digital single "Crystal Moment", as the theme song for NTV's coverage of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the rap lyrics were written by Sakurai. One year later, Sakurai was announced by KAT-TUN'S Ueda as a co-writer for two songs he would be singing in his solo concert in January 2024.
It was announced on January 9, 2025, that Sakurai would be included on the song "come again *Reloaded" in M-Flo's new "M-Flo loves..." series' album "Superliminal", scheduled to be released on February 18.

Acting career

Drama

Unlike the other members, who made their major acting debut on stage, Sakurai made his debut on television in Arashi's volleyball-centered short drama V no Arashi in 1999. With bandmate Kazunari Ninomiya, he co-starred in the manga-based comedy drama Yamada Tarō Monogatari in 2007. Sakurai had a small guest appearance on the final episode of the drama My Girl in 2009, which was bandmate Masaki Aiba's first starring role in a serial drama. That year, he also had a brief appearance on bandmate Satoshi Ohno's comedy drama series Uta no oniisan, as himself. On January 9, 2010, Sakurai co-starred with the other members of Arashi in the human suspense drama special Saigo no Yakusoku.
In 2001, he took part in his first drama series called Tengoku ni Ichiban Chikai Otoko 2 with Masahiro Matsuoka as his teacher. His role as a student with two conflicting characters won him Best Newcomer in the 5th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix Awards.
In 2003, Sakurai was given his first lead role in the drama Yoiko no Mikata. He portrayed Taiyō Suzuki, a man who strives to prove himself capable of being a nursery school teacher. After Yoiko no Mikata, Sakurai took up many drama specials and mini-dramas until 2005. He even acted in a NHK late-night drama series called Tokio, in which each episode lasted for fifteen minutes each.
Although there was no release of dramas, movies or stageplays from Sakurai in 2008 due to his involvement with the Olympic Games in Beijing and Arashi's concert tours, 2009 saw his first lead role in a drama series since Yoiko no Mikata in 2003.
In 2009, in the drama The Quiz Show 2 with You Yokoyama, he portrayed an amnesic host of a live TV quiz program. He portrayed Yukio Tomizawa, a 28-year-old life insurance salesman who is caught up in a building hijack. Sakurai appeared in the docudrama special Kobe Shimbun no Nanokakan on January 16, 2010. He portrayed Tomohiko Mitsuyama, a real photo reporter who worked for the Kobe Shimbun and helped keep the newspaper running without interruption despite the damage inflicted from the Kobe earthquake.
On January 17, 2010, TBS aired the first episode of Sakurai and Maki Horikita's comedy drama Tokujo Kabachi!!.
On August 18, 2011, it was announced that Sakurai would be starring in a Fuji TV drama in the Fall season. The drama Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de is based on a bestselling novel published in 2010 by author Higashigawa Tokuya. Sakurai co-starred with actress Keiko Kitagawa. The drama aired starting in October. On January 26, 2012, it was announced that Fuji TV would produce a drama special for Nazotoki... to be aired on March 27. Sakurai played the lead role of Kageyama again, while Kitagawa reprised her role of Reiko Hosho. The drama special was filmed at Okinawa. A second special and a movie were released in August 2013
On January 25, 2012, TBS announced a three-night drama special Blackboard – Teachers Waging The Battles of Their Times, which aired in early April. Sakurai starred on the first night as a junior high school teacher who lost his right arm by war and struggled the change of moral after the war. His co-star was Yuko Oshima of AKB48.
In January 2023, Sakurai appeared in his 5th drama with NTV, after Yoiko no Mikata, The Quiz Show 2, Saki ni Umareta Dake no Boku and Nemesis. Captured Hospital is about a hospital suddenly occupied by an armed group wearing demon masks. Sakurai plays a detective, currently on leave of absence, who confronts the criminals, in the action-packed suspense drama. A second installment of the series aired in 2024, this time with the building captured being a newly opened airport. In May 2025, a third installment was revealed to be released in July.

Film

In 2002, Sakurai made his motion picture debut in Arashi's first movie together, Pikanchi Life Is Hard Dakedo Happy. He portrayed Chu, a yankee who dropped out of high school after an incident involving his teacher and the girl he had a crush on. In 2004, he reprised his role for the sequel of Pikanchi Life Is Hard Dakedo Happy, Pikanchi Life Is Hard Dakara Happy. In 2007, all the members of Arashi co-starred in their third movie together, Kiiroi Namida, with Sakurai playing the role of an aspiring writer. In 2014, in a third installment of the Pikanchi movies, called Pikanchi Life Is Hard Tabun Happy, Sakurai reprises his role, now as an adult Chu, who has settled down and started a family.
In 2002, in the drama Kisarazu Cat's Eye, he took on the role of Bambi, a college student who becomes part of a burglar ring at the beckoning of his cancer-stricken friend Bussan to make his final days worthwhile. The drama would eventually span into two movie sequels entitled Kisarazu Cat's Eye: Nihon Series and Kisarazu Cat's Eye: World Series in 2003 and 2006 respectively.
While training for a rowing competition with the rest of Arashi on their variety show Mago Mago Arashi in 2005, Sakurai filmed his first starring movie role in the manga-based live-action film Honey and Clover. He portrayed the mellow Yūta Takemoto.
By the end of 2007, it was announced that he would star as Gan-chan in the Takashi Miike movie Yatterman, which was not released in theaters until the beginning of 2009.
It was announced on June 8, 2010, that Sakurai would co-star with Aoi Miyazaki in the novel-based movie Kamisama no Karute, released in theaters in 2011. It would be the first time Sakurai portrayed a doctor. A sequel for the movie, Kamisama no Karute 2 hit theaters in 2014. In the first movie, Dr. Ichito Kurihara was struggling with work life in a countryside hospital on the alert 365 days a year. In the sequel, his struggles between family life and work life are accentuated when Ichito's friend from college, also a physician, Tatsuya Shindo, comes to Ichito's hospital from Tokyo.
On June 4, 2012, the movie version of the popular drama Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de was announced. Sakurai once again portrayed the sharp-tongued mysteries-solving butler Kageyama, co-starring with Kitagawa Keiko. The plot of the movie is a murder case that happens on a luxurious cruise ship. Besides set filming, the production team also filmed overseas in Singapore where they boarded the luxurious cruise ship SuperStar Virgo for onsite filming. The movie completed filming by end of July 2012 and was scheduled for release on August 3, 2013, in Japan. The International Gala Premiere was held in Singapore on July 27, 2013, at Marina Bay Sands, where about 2,000 fans from Singapore, Thailand and other countries in the region were treated to face-to-face interactions with the main cast of Sakurai and his fellow cast members, Keiko Kitagawa and Shinai Kippei. Director Masato Hijikata also graced the occasion. Selected fans got to watch the movie premiere with the cast and director in the Sands Theatre, and were treated to a 20-minute Q&A session with the actors and director after the movie screening.In Tokyo, an event took place on July 17, with the main and some additional cast and the director. The Singapore premiere of the movie was scheduled for August 22, 2013, with a special Fans' screening by Golden Village cinemas on August 14, 2013, while in Taiwan it would be released on August 9 and in Hong Kong on September 20.

Commercials

Hosting and coverage duties

Radio

From October 5, 2002, to March 30, 2008, Sakurai hosted his own radio show called Sho Beat on FM Fuji.

Variety TV Show

Sakurai hosted his first solo MC program in 2014. The program, "Ima, Kono kao ga Sugoi", co-hosted with Hiroiki Ariyoshi, took over Arashi's "Himitsu no Arashi chan" spot when it ended. The pair continues hosting the "Sakurai Ariyoshi The Yakai" series.
Starting in January 2021, Sakurai hosts "1 Oku 3000 mannin no Show Channel", a new variety program substituting Arashi's signature program Arashi ni Shiyagare, which ended in December 2020. In September 2022, the program's format and name changed. "Zenkoku Chokusō News Variety no Show Channel" was a news–format program covering gourmet food, local stories, tourist information, etc. from all over the country. The program ended as a regular in March 2024, with a special episode with Sakurai and regulars Eiji Kotoge, Shinichi Hatori and, under the name "Show Channel otona no shakaikakengaku", with the team visiting different historical sites in Kyoto and Osaka. Two months later, the first individual episode aired, continuing the format of the last regular episode. The show has continued as individual episodes with the four traveling around Japan visiting historical and heritage sites.

Newscasts, documentary and informative series

In 2006, he became a newscaster for the NTV news program with newscaster and actress Mao Kobayashi. He continues co-hosting Monday's edition, with main newscasters Yumiko Udo and
On June 7, 2009, Sakurai was one of the main newscasters for a special program titled Touch! Eco 2009, which focused on environmental issues.
Sakurai has participated in specials. In 2007, he was chosen to participate in Zero x Senkyo 2007, a special program which focused on the 2007 House of Councillors elections. Sakurai became the first pop idol to host such a program. On August 30, 2009, he was appointed the navigator for the second part of Zero x Senkyo 2009, which covered Japan's 2009 general elections. On July 11, 2010, he took on the role of a navigator for the second half of Zero x Senkyo 2010, which focused on the 2010 House of Councillors elections. In 2012, he was part of the special, covering live from Tokyo Dome. On 2013 he hosted the second part of the special, with a focus on voter turnout. 2014's Zero x Senkyo was Sakurai's sixth NTV election coverage appearance, being navigator for the second part once again. Sakurai, 34 at the time, continued with the 2016 edition, now as co-host for the special program. This year's program covered the first time young adults from age 18-19 were given the right to vote. As promoter of the youth vote since 2006, Sakurai commented: "After 70 years... it will be a historic night for the younger generation". He continued as co-host for the 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022 elections. On October 15, 2024, his participation for the 2024 elections was confirmed, making it the 12th time as navigator and/or co-host. He continues as part of the NNN team covering the 2025 Japanese House of Councillors election in Japan, this time including a special campaign project called "Think before you vote: Is that true?", focused on stopping misinformation. The program talked about the influence social media has had on the information shared during election periods. Sakurai participates again in the 2026 Japanese general election as special commentator. Continuing with the project called "Think before you vote: Is that true?", this time's election campaigns are one of the shortest, with only 16 days, after the decision to disolve the House and Prime Minister Takaiichi's comments on Taiwan and its repercussions.
In July 2010, Sakurai traveled to Romania, Germany, and Russia to do a special report on world poverty for NTV's 24-Hour Television, which was broadcast on August 29, 2010. He interviewed former Soviet Union General Secretary and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev about nuclear disarmament and poverty.
Sakurai was chosen by Nippon Television Network of Japan as the main MC of their royal wedding special, "British Royal Family Prince William and Princess Kate". The special was aired on April 29, 2011, featuring video footage from the British Broadcasting Channel that covered the joyous occasion for the British royal family.
Sakurai appeared in 復興テレビ_みんなのチカラ3.11 aired on NTV on March 11, 2012, a special program to remember the one-year anniversary of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit North-eastern Japan in 2011, reporting from Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima, as part of the news reporting section shared by News Zero, News Every and Shinsō hōdō bankisha!.
On August 4, 2015, Sakurai and Akira Ikegami hosted the first episode of an NTV series called Sakurai Shō & Ikegami Akira Kyōkasho de manabenai. This first installment dealt with a look at the war 70 years after Japan's surrender, and the Japanese peoples understanding of it. A second episode aired on March 1, 2016. This one dealt with a historical look of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake 5 years after, primarily, and other disasters around the world such as eruptions, landslides, floods and typhoons, and how to deal with them and prepare in order to save lives. A new episode aired two years later, February 6, 2018. On this one, Sakurai and Ikegami talked about "Unexpected Japan", dealing with politics and its relationship to the Olympic Games, North Korea and the imperial family. A fourth installment of the series aired on May 4, 2020, where they talked about the "ultra difficult problems" facing Japan, like the coronavirus and all that happened around the pandemic, such as the closing of schools, delays in services and postponement of big events, like the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. On May 31, 2021, a 5th installment of the program aired. With the theme "clear and present danger", Ikegami and Sakurai, together with guests, talked about the ongoing investigation on coronavirus, its sequelae and the fight against it and new viruses. It also included a talk about new AI technology and the risk of it being misused and abused, like in drones, which could be used as weapons, and the so-called "Deepfake", in which false images are used to replace someone else in order to commit crimes, like fraud.
On March 17, 2019, Sakurai and NHK announcer Mayuko Wakuda hosted the first episode of the 4-part documentary "NHK Special 'Space Spectacle'", about the latest achievements in space exploration. The pair hosted all the series, which included topics like the Hayabusa2 mission, the search for Extraterrestrial life, black holes, and the mysteries of the origin of life on Earth and its possible start in outer space, with the last episode airing September 8, 2019.
On December 10, 2022, an NHK documentary called Design Museum Japan, hosted by Sakurai, takes a look at "design treasures" from regions all over Japan. Sakurai hosted again the special in December 2023. He repeated as navigator for the 2025 edition, aired this time on the educational channel of the NHK network.
On December 9, 2024, Sakurai was announced as messenger of a new project regarding the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the ending of World War II. The project called "We must not let the present become a prewar era" started in January 2025 on the Nippon Television network. Sakurai, together with anchor, is to host an August 2025 Bankisha program special on the project, regarding the "Doomsday Clock".
Starting in January 2025, Sakurai served as narrator for "Andō Tadao seishun talk", a program hosted by his long-time friend, Architect Tadao Ando, where Ando talks with leading figures from different areas.

Sporting event coverage

In 2007, he was chosen as the main caster for Fuji TV's broadcast of the 2007 Volleyball World Cup, marking it the first time in eight years that he has been involved with the Volleyball World Cup. In 2008, Sakurai was a newscaster for the 2008 FIVB Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament and the main newscaster for the news coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing on NTV.
Sakurai was the special newscaster for the 2010 Winter Olympics news coverage on NTV with Shizuka Arakawa as the main newscaster. They repeated for the 2026 Winter Olympics. On May 13, 2012, NTV announced the appointment of Sakurai as the main caster for their coverage of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. It is Sakurai's third consecutive Olympic main caster appointment for NTV after 2008 Beijing and 2010 Vancouver. He was chosen, alongside his Arashi co-member Masaki Aiba, to host the NHK special program coverage for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, celebrated from July 23, 2021. With the appointment as the NTV caster for the Paris Olympics in 2024, Sakurai will have presented the event for the 9th time. As part of the hosting duties for NTV, Sakurai and guests Shinya Ueda and Sanma Akashiya share facts and memories about Japanese athletes in the Olympics, in the Paris Olympic special program Shin jijitsu! Orinpikku-mei bamen saikyō-kin medal award, airing July 22, 2024.
He has been covering rugby events, for both the local teams and for the Rugby World Cup and the Japan National Team, "Brave Blossoms". The NTV programs in which he has appeared covering rugby, including the sports section in News Zero, has had Arashi's song Brave, for which he wrote the rap, as background music. "I wrote it while thinking about all the players who will be fighting hard, like when they're in a scrum", he said about it. He appeared in the "100 days to go" event before the start of the Rugby World Cup 2019. Sakurai was named host of the NTV program "One Rugby", a monthly special that analyzed the matches for both the local games and for the World Cup. Sakurai was appointed "Japan Rugby Ambassador 2023" for the Japan Rugby team for the France Rugby World Cup. The new position was established by the Japan Rugby Football Union to raise awareness of the Japan Rugby National Team and build momentum for the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

Music events and programs

Telethon

Sakurai appears as main personality in NTV's 24-Hr TV for 6th time, 5 with Arashi and 1 by himself

Other events

Sakurai appeared in the closing ceremony of the Osaka Expo 2025 on October 13, 2025. His appearance together with that of Yumiko Udo resulted in many comments on SNS referring to the pair's former relationship as co-anchors in NTV's News Zero.

Other activities

Personal exhibition

"Sho Sakurai: Words for the Future", is Sakurai's first exhibition centered on his words, both as part of Arashi and as an individual, thought of since 2018, to convey his feelings and words expressed in different ways, like in the reinterpretation of his "Sakurap", and words shared in various media. It was held from April 14 to May 5, 2023, at the Roppongi Museum in Tokyo. A revised edition of the exhibition, called "Playful", started in Play! Museum, in Tachikawa, Tokyo, with venues around the country, starting on January 18, 2024, until April 14, 2024. A new edition of the exhibition opened in 2025, on February 22 in Osaka, March 15 in Nagoya and April 26 in Fukushima.

Writer

Sakurai participated in a corner in magazine in September 2010, becoming serialized under the name Sho Sakurai's Architecture Learning Trip in March 2011. Sakurai traveled along the whole country, meeting with famous Japanese architects. On August 21, 2025, it was announced that the series consisting in more than 150 buildings visited, and meeting architects the likes of Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Kengo Kuma, Terunobu Fujimori, SANAA, Shigeru Ban, Sou Fujimoto, Jun'ya Ishigami,, and many others, would be condensed in a book, under the name Sakurai Sho's Architectural Journey.. The book was released on October 21, 2025. Sakurai's book reached the second spot in the November 3, 2025, Oricon Weekly Book Ranking in its first week of sales, with nearly 14000 issues sold.
Sakurai wrote two articles for Newsweek Japan. The first one was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The second article was a two–parter on the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Both articles were written in 2021.

SNS

On April 2, 2025, Sakurai opened an with a video of his private trip to Ghana, posting in both Japanese and English. This is his first trip to the African country, and with this account he said he wishes to share more.

Personal life

On September 28, 2021, Sakurai announced his marriage through a letter he released in their fan club website.
Sakurai announced the birth of their first child on February 15, 2023, through official site. Date of birth and child's gender were not revealed.

Contributions

Music contributions

YearTitleTypeRef
2003"Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono"rap
2004"Pikanchi Double"rap
2005"Sakura Sake"rap
2006"Kitto Daijōbu"rap
2007"We Can Make It!"rap
2008"Step and Go"rap
2008"Kaze no Mukō e"rap
2009"Believe"rap
2012"Face Down"rap
2016"Daylight"rap
2019"Brave"rap
2019"Turning Up"rap
2019"A-ra-shi: Reborn"rap
2020"Party Starters"rap

YearTitleTypeRef
2003"Kimi ga Iinda"rap
2004"Gori Muchu"rap
2005"Futari no Kinenbi"rap
2006"Na! Na! Na!"rap
2007"Itsumademo"rap
2007"Di-Li-Li"rap
2007"Future"rap
2007"Still..."rap
2009"Tokei Jikake no Umbrella"rap
2010"Spiral"rap
2011"Boom Boom"rap
2011"Utakata"rap
2012"Futari no Katachi"rap
2014"Sync"rap
2017"Unknown"rap

YearTitleTracksTypeRef
2002Here We Go!rap
2003How's It Going?rap
2004Iza, Now!rap
20045x5 The Best Selection of 2002–2004rap
2005Onerap
2006Arashicrap
2007Timerap
2008Dream "A" Liverap

lyrics†
2009All the Best! 1999–2009rap

lyrics †
2010Boku no Miteiru Fūkeirap
2011Beautiful Worldrap
2012Ura Ara Manialyrics and arrangement †

lyrics ††
2012Popcornrap
2013Loverap
2014The Digitalianrap

lyrics†
2015Japonismrap
2016Are You Happy?rap
2017Untitledrap
20195x20 All the Best!! 1999–2019lyrics, rap
2020Reborn Vol.1rap
2020This Is Arashirap

Other solo songs

  • Pen no sasu kata e

Other

  • ギリスト！ LCDA-0084
  1. ギリスト！
  2. 光射す方へ

Books and magazine articles

  • Sakurai Sho no kenchiku o meguru tabi.
  • Newsweek Japan