A Salute to Jun Matsumoto

This has nothing to do with traveling, but I've been sucked headfirst into the world of Japanese television for the past year and a half, and so I wanted to share that in a way that wouldn't be embarrassing (because I usually am about my fangirling). And just in time for the end of my favourite J-actor's birthday, I present thirteen of my favourite Matsujun moments. There were a lot, but I narrowed it down by a. which ones stuck out the most to me b. what represented him most and c. whether or not I could find the clips online XD

The Best of Jun Matsumoto (in no particular order)

1 Yabai Yabai Yabai

Matsujun's solo from "Time," Arashi's 2007 album. This solo marks the birth of the (in?)famous "MJ Walk," in which Jun, suspended by wires, walks upside down on a beam high above the stage in Tokyo Dome (after giving the illusion that he is walking on invisible stairs). Then he drops down a hundred feet, bounces back up and flies around for another minute and a half before touching down onstage and breaking into his song and dance, which includes another famous MJ Walk - namely, the moonwalk. Jun is often compared to Michael Jackson, either lovingly or mockingly, and this performance (among others, especially after Jackson's death) shows that he is definitely in on the joke.




2 Sirius

A song from "Dream A Live," Arashi's 2008 album. A sweet ballad, it is also probably Jun's best vocal performance. To those who say he can't sing, I rebut that he is capable of expelling air from his lungs and through his larynx in the form of tones and words (and thus he is technically able to "sing") and hold this as an example.

... but this is pretty much all I've got.



3 Jun meets Janet

Janet Jackson's appearance on Utawara, a show that Jun used to cohost. Being a huge fan of Michael Jackson, it would make sense that he's a huge fan of MJ's imouto. I love this because it shows that even Jun is capable of fangirling (and fangirl he does, especially after Miss Jackson tells him his eyes look like her nephew's). I'm a huge Jacksons fan so it's awesome that someone I fangirl over regularly has something in common with me.


Watch Matsujun meets Janet Jackson in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

4 Don't make J angry

Throughout their career, Arashi has taken care of animals, senior citizens, the environment, and children (among other things). Jun is famous for being short-tempered... so what does an idol do when he's faced with annoying children and a camera in his face? He's got a reputation to uphold, you know.

Also, I will never not laugh when he gets hit by the ball. There's a longer version where he gets kicked in the face by a little girl, but I can't find it anymore.



5 Jun vs Jin

Jun has a very, very, very sharp tongue, and is one of the more formidable products of the boyband factory Johnny's. One of his favourite targets is his junior (and alleged drinking buddy), Jin "Bakanishi" Akanishi. These two always go head-to-head in popularity polls and it's fun to see Jun dig his perfectly manicured claws into poor Jin.

I'm Team Jun all the way, and I think he won all three rounds.



6 Jun's perfect body

A beautiful figure rising out of the sea; very "Birth of Venus" (or Baywatch, even if Jun's too scrawny to run with Hasselhoff and company). Jun really, really loves the sea - he apparently surfs - and it shows in his lean dancer/swimmer's body. He might be a bit too skinny for Western standards, but I covet his lanky figure. Also, Sho and Ohno choking on their own tongues trying to pronounce "perfect body" is hilarious.



7 Kaze no mukou e (Music Station)

Being Johnnys, Arashi are regular guests on the Japanese program "Music Station" (three guesses as to what the show's about). Their performances on this show are pre-taped, beautifully staged and professionally done (both on the part of Arashi and the show editors) but the boys can't help but have a little fun with the performance. The best part at 1:35-1:45 - pure Jun, given his diva reputation.



8 M no Arashi

A segment in "D no Arashi," one of Arashi's old shows, in which the goal is to get Jun to yell "mendokusai" ("bothersome"). Here, each member harrasses Jun at a concert by forcing him to do tasks. Nothing's particularly strenuous or embarrassing, but the point is to annoy the crap out of Jun because he's the baby of the group and they love him in a twisted way (especially Nino, that little brat).



9 Ideal bad boy

A guest on "Arashi no Shukudai-kun" is asked to provide her ideal guy, and she says "an irritated, wild, white-shirted guy"... which makes up about 80% of all the roles following the name "Jun Matsumoto" in a Japanese film or TV show. (Even when he's playing himself.) But for most J-pop-culture fans, it all boils down to one word: Domyouji.



10 Singing in different styles

Masaki Aiba, one of Jun's bandmates, has a knack for creating hilariously stupid and stupidly hilarious games (a lot of which actually resemble acting or voice exercises that I've done). Here, the object of the game is to sing a mundane Japanese phrase (anything from "I'm sorry" to the narration of a soccer game) in a given style. Jun sings the news operatically at 1:50-2:30, proving that he actually has decent power and pitch if he'd stop being so damned nasal in songs.

But then again, he is in a boyband.





11 A.Ra.Shi with blindfolds

Arashi's very first song, which they have performed for ten years under every circumstance from charity telethons to sold-out audiences at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium. They could do this blindfolded... and that is exactly what they do. I'm sure Jun knows it just as well if not better than the others, but his headphones kept playing the song even when everyone else's were delayed. Whether that was intentional or not, it caused him to stick out painfully (and hilariously).

Also, for you old school fans, the boys wore their infamous see-through plastic suits for this song at Kokuritsu. Because there's no better way to spend Matsujun's birthday than singing and dancing A.Ra.Shi in the same see-through plastic suits worn for the official debut. During a storm.


12 Storm on the Seven Seas of Rhye

Another vintage Arashi show, "G no Arashi," in which the boys take on all sorts of high jinks. Here, they create an "air band" - instead of jamming to just air guitar like most people, they add air keyboards, air drums, and a lipsyncing Freddie Mercury (the perennially funny Satoshi Ohno) and proceed to perform - costumes, lights and all - in front of an audience.

Can I just add that Jun shredding on Brian May's blistering solos is really, really sexy? Even with the tragic Domyouji outfit (permed hair, leather pants, leopard-print coat and no shirt) and an imaginary guitar.


This clip disabled embedding, but it's worth checking out because it

begins with Matsujun's "audition" - love his O guitar

face. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCcRVi2LJq4

13 Kimi Wa Petto, episode 8 (part five)

This was the role that endeared me to Jun; although everyone who watches Gokusen (and ends up a Jun fan) crushes on him, I didn't really fall for him till watching this show. I've been trained in dance since the age of seven, so Momo's dance scenes always strike a special place in my heart. Also, he's adorable as Momo - who wouldn't want those beautiful puppy-dog eyes staring at them all the time? - and the marked difference between Momo and Takeshi attests to Jun's potential as an actor (he was nineteen when he did this, and it was his second real lead role).

Being that he is a dancer, his sometimes unnerving thinness actually works to his advantage here - he is ethereal and beautiful as Perseus, and his angular body is suited to modern dance. As is my own less-than-angular body, which is why modern dance is AWESOME.



Bonus: Smile episode 1 - Vito's arrest

Embedding is disabled here, but I wanted to stick this in at the end to give a different side of Jun - some people didn't like his performance as Vito, especially with all the crying involved, but I thought he did really well, and I am proud that he took on the role of a Filipino guy (one of us!!) and had the balls to appear in a show that faced the issue of Japanese racism head-on even when he is one of the most heavily marketed faces of modern Japan himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoDgfyIwv4g