Marching J attracted almost 390,000 fans over three days
Crowds at Harajuku, April 3
The 3/11 disaster relief project which featured SMAP and every talent at Johnny’s & Associates had attracted 389,000 fans over its three-day period, reports the Japan Press Network, TV Asahi, Oricon, and News 24 (1 & 2).
It has been reported “Marching J” had attracted 101,000 fans on April 1, 127,000 fans on April 2, and 161,000 fans on April 3.
On Sunday, SMAP made an appearance at Marching J’s stage outside the Yoyogi Dai-ichi Taikukuan, Harajuku for the second day in a row, and thanked their fans for their efforts.
“I think your thoughts right now will reach thousands of people,” said Shingo Katori.
“This is the last time we’ll be collecting donations from Yoyogi [Dai-ichi Taikukan] but I hope you all keep an eye on the situation for a longer period of time,” said Masahiro Nakai.
“To show my gratitude to you all,” said Tsuyoshi Kusanagi before he did a back flip.
The group also performed their hit numbers “世界に一つだけの花 (Sekai ni Hitotsu dake no Hana)” and “夜空ノムコウ (Yozora no Mukou)” in a cappella in front of the crowd.
It has been reported Nakai had been singing softly compared to the others.
“I didn’t want to cause trouble…,” he said, making the crowd laugh.
Donations on Sunday started half and hour early, and so the event ran from 9:30am to 6pm. Johnny’s talents who appeared on April 3 were:
- Noriyuki Higashiyama
- Koji Uchiumi
- Atsuhiro Sato
- Kenichi Okamoto
- SMAP
- V6’s Masayuki Sakamoto, Hiroshi Nagano, Go Morita, Junichi Okada, and Ken Miyake
- Arashi’s Masaki Aiba, Jun Matsumoto, and Satoshi Ohno
- NEWS’ Keiichiro Koyama, Shigeaki Kato, Takahisa Masuda, Yuya Tegoshi
- Hey! Say! JUMP
- Toma Ikuta
- Tomoyuki Yara
- Shunsuke Kazama
- Jun Hasegawa
- Hiroki Uchi
- Kis-My-Ft2
- B.I.Shadow
“Marching J” gave Higashiyama the chance to see some old friends like Koji Uchiumi.
“I can’t remember the last time we met. How’ve you been?,” he said.
It has also been reported Keinchi Okamoto and his son Keito Okamato (Hey! Say! JUMP) appeared on stage together for the first time to give families in the crowd some advice.
“I’ve heard there are a lot of families here today, please be careful not to let go of your children’s hands. Have fun,” Kenichi Okamoto said.
Johnny's fans lining up at Harajuku just before 3pm, April 3
* Photo thanks to Mainichi Shimbun and the Japan Press Network.
MomoEdgewood's Mediawatch 
Thanks again for your hard work… otsukaresama deshita!
Not to be picky though, but I think your spell check may have auto-corrected Toma’s name to “Tome”. 🙂
@Althea:
ARRRRGH!!! Darn auto-correct…
Thanks!
Momo xoxo
I hope I was there. As Daisempai’s fan, It must be great to see Shonen Tai, Otokogumi and Hikaru Genji on the stage.
Thank you for the news.
@BBB:
You’re welcome!
I’m still trying to find a chance to see Higashiyama-san, he is so cool.
Momo xoxo
aww! massu went on the last day!
this project of Johnny’s is a success. it’s actually nice to know lots of people supported it. 🙂
thank you for keeping us updated on what happened during those 3 days! 🙂
@joan:
Shhh, don’t remind me Massu went yesterday, even if I was expecting it.
No worries 🙂 Glad you liked it.
I hope all the fans supported it, I heard some stories from fans that they saw some people pass the donation box without donating 😦
I just hope they had a really really good reason for not donating.
Momo xoxo
keeping my mouth shut 😀
i saw some from videos i’ve watched. some fans are just passing by the donation box without donating something…. i hope they didn’t just go there to see their idols. that’s just too lame ;.;