Takuya Kimura, also known as "Kimutaku", is a Japanese actor, singer, and radio personality. He is regarded as a Japanese icon after achieving success as an actor. He was also a popular member of SMAP, one of the best-selling boy bands in East Asia. A 1996 television drama series, Long Vacation, in which he landed his first lead role, became a massive success, creating a phrase called the "Lon-bake phenomenon". He was given the title, "The King of Ratings", as his subsequent television series continued to generate high ratings and each show became a social phenomenon as it aired. Five of his works are ranked in the 10 best-viewed TV drama series in Japan, the highest of which is his 2001 drama series, Hero. He also starred in blockbuster films, including Love and Honor, Hero and Howl's Moving Castle .
Career
Music
In 1987, at age 15, Kimura auditioned to enter Johnny & Associates, a talent agency that recruits and trains young boys, preteens to teens, to become singers and members of boy bands. After five of the other band members auditioning individually from 1986 through 1987, in autumn 1987, twenty boys, from ages ten to seventeen, were put together into a group called The Skate Boys, which was initially created as backup dancers for a famous boy band, Hikaru Genji. In April 1988, producer Johnny Kitagawa chose six out of the twenty boys to create a new boy band and named them "SMAP".
Acting
In 1988, Kimura made his acting debut in a television series, Abunai Shonen III, along with his band members. After appearing in several television series, he first attracted attention after landing a role in a high-rated television series, Asunaro Hakusho, in 1993. The scene where he hugged his co-star Hikari Ishida from behind became popular in Japan and a man hugging a girl from behind was later named "asunaro daki", meaning "asunaro hug". From 1994, men in Japan started copying his fashion and style, as clothes and fashion items became instant hits, the thick, black-rimmed glasses he wore in Asunaro Hakusho, being one of them. The phenomenon was collectively called the "Kimutaku syndrome". He won the Ishihara Yujiro New Artist Award for his performance in Shoot, in which he made his screen debut. He first landed the lead role in Long Vacation in 1996. The series, which aired every Monday night, saw massive success and was the highest-rated program that year, thus becoming a social phenomenon. Media stated that, "women disappear from the city on Mondays", pointing out the large viewership and how intoxicating the show was for women in Japan. After Kimura playing a young pianist, there was a rapid increase of young men who started taking piano lessons. The cultural impact and influences of the show is commonly referred to as the "Lonvaca phenomenon". This was also a breakthrough for Kimura as an actor and helped him gain recognition and a more broad fan base. In 2000, he starred in a television series, Beautiful Life, which became a massive hit, with the final episode marking above the 40% household share rating and becoming the highest-rated program for that slot. In 2001, Kimura starred in Hero, which became the all-time highest-rated television series in Japan and the only program in history to have all episodes mark above the 30% household share rating. Subsequent television series, such as Good Luck!!, Pride and Engine, also generated high-ratings. Five of his most successful television series, Hero, Beautiful Life, Love Generation, Good Luck!!, and Long Vacation are ranked in the top ten highest-rated television series in Japanese history. In 2004, he played a supporting role in a Cannes-nominated film 2046, and walked the red carpet of Cannes Festival for the first time. He also played the title role of Howl's Moving Castle as a voice actor in 2004. He was the lead actor in Love and Honor. Although he was nominated for numerous prestigious awards for Love and Honor, including the Japan Academy Award, his agency, Johnny & Associates, declined all nominations, though some organizations still announced him as the winner, such as the Tokyo Sports Film Awards, headed by Takeshi Kitano and Cinema Junpo. Earning over 40.3 billion yen, the film became the biggest hit for director Yoji Yamada during his four-decade career, as well as becoming the biggest box-office earner in Shochiku's history.
Television
As a member of the boy band SMAP, he used to co-host a weekly variety show SMAPxSMAP for 20 years until December 2016 and they welcomed a number of international celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and Lady Gaga as well as Japanese guests. He has also showed up in other shows as an actor occasionally. He hosts an annual TV variety called Santaku with comedian Sanma Akashiya in new year since 2003, but in 2017 it was broadcast in April due to the official disbanding of the band on New Year's Eve.
