SMAP's Kusanagi Tsuyoshi arrested for loud drunken nudity

[doinkies]

SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (34) has been arrested for public indecency after causing a disturbance and running around naked in Hinokicho Park near Tokyo Midtown late on Wednesday night.

At around 3:00am on April 23, residents in that area notified police that a naked man was making a lot of noise in the park. Officers arrived to find a drunken Kusanagi, and after he refused to heed their warnings, they arrested him on the spot for public indecency. Kusanagi is said to have openly defied the officers, answering them with "What's wrong with me being naked?" According to police, a breath analysis test taken 5 hours after Kusanagi's arrest detected a BrAC of 0.8 mg/L, well over the legal limit.

Kusanagi has been part of the super-popular group SMAP since 1988. As he is one of the industry's biggest stars, the incident is likely to have a big impact. He is already being pulled from several advertisements, including commercials promoting Japan's transition to all-digital broadcasts by 2011.

One of the most recent reports says that he has lost his somewhat regular role on NHK's "PythagoraSwitch." Fuji TV will likely have the toughest decision to make, as Kusanagi is a regular on four of the network's popular shows.

Kusanagi also has a starring role with Yui Aragaki in the movie "Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta" (directed by Takashi Yamazaki). Filming has already wrapped up and the picture was scheduled for a September 5 release, putting distributor Toho in a difficult spot. TV Asahi is also considering their options, as it had planned to run some TV specials about the film on weekends from April 25 to May 18.

Source: Tokyograph

All I can think right now is  . Out of all the SMAP members I would think that Nakai Masahiro or Katori Shingo would be more likely to do this sort of stuff, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi always seemed very quiet and reserved and not the type to pull off such an epic fail. I don't know if Johnny's will kick him out of SMAP for this but I definitely bet he'll get suspended for a while...

[kosu]

I wonder what happened lol

[JFC]

Kusanagi? Totally did not expect this.

It's the being nekkid thing that's going to end up screwing him over.  If it had just been a case of him being publicly drunk, then it likely wouldn't be something to worry about. He's obviously a well-established figure in J-Ent, so I don't really believe that his long-term career will be in any danger (at most, a few ads that he was in would've gotten pulled and he would have had to do the public apology thing).

[doinkies]

Like I said, I think he'll get suspended for a while like what happened with Inagaki Goro, but he'll come back eventually. It could have been worse, he could have been caught doing something even worse than just going around naked and annoying people, and then he'd really get pwned even more (I heard Kusanagi is already a big drinker, and that he once injured another member while drunk - I didn't really know that stuff; I've never been a humongous SMAP fan)...
His clean-cut image will probably suffer though. The communications minister was pretty pissed off at him; he spent doinkloads of money on that digital transition campaign and now he has to find a new spokesperson quick...

There's already some netizens making jokes about the whole situation, even making T-shirts with "What's wrong with me being naked?" written on them 

And on mixi as well there are a lot of worried fans, some of them have sent emails to the communications minister even, and on the official boards for some of his shows like Pussuma, there's a lot of "Don't cancel Pussuma plz!!!! I love Tsuyopon and I hope he'll come back!!!!" type messages. There's also a Kusanagi support community on mixi with 2,104 members currently...

[Saburo]

what a harmonic convergence of bad luck.  If there's no cops involved then maybe there wouldn't be THAT much shit hitting the fan.

Whoopie-doo, someone's drunk in public.  Although the nekkid factor gives it a five-star ratings boost.  I'm surprised nobody was around to snap keitai pics.

[JFC]

There's already some netizens making jokes about the whole situation, even making T-shirts with "What's wrong with me being naked?" written on them 

Is it wrong that I want one of those T-shirts?

[zoolander]

Instead of calling the cops the party poopers should have lightened up and joined in on the fun!

and why would they drop him from his shows? I've seen much worse nekkid antics than that all the time on Japanese tv shows. Actually they should run with it and start a "What's wrong with me being naked?" comedy show. I think a concept like that pretty much writes itself.

[doinkies]

I wonder if it would have been different if he didn't try to resist the police...

Speaking of police, I found a Yomiuri article:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20090424-OYT1T00186.htm

It basically says that fans made tons of calls to the police agencies in Asakusa and Kasumigaseki complaining about them arresting Kusanagi.

[Mugen]

http://kotaku.com/5225222/japanese-singers-naked-drunk-rampage-in-saints-row-2


LOL

[THUNDERDUCK]

Now we'll never see the SMAP interview of the Korean F4   

[Pinkosa]

He made it on my local newspaper 

[JFC]

Shingo comments and apologizes (on behalf of the other SMAP members, I think).

スマステ　香取慎吾　草なぎ剛の謝罪


News reports and Kusanagi's apology press conference. Just a note, for some reason there's an english dub in this video, however whoever dubbed it didn't really bother to mute/remove the original Japanese dialogue.

★ 速報 ★　【SMAP草彅剛容疑者謝罪会見】

There are additional vids of the press conference. Click on the following link and go to the the "Related Videos" section on the YT page.
[noembed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRN5GggHbEQ[/noembed]

[kosu]

^ lol my left speaker is in Japanese, and the right is in English ..... I just turn off the right speaker lol

[doinkies]

An update:

No indictment for Kusanagi, quick return expected
Fri, May 1, 2009 (7:33pm EDT)
Tokyo prosecutors have reached a decision to not indict SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi. The conclusion came only eight days after Kusanagi was arrested for public indecency, when he was drunk and naked late at night in Hinokicho Park near Tokyo Midtown.

Prosecutors based the decision on the fact that Kusanagi exhibited remorse and had no prior offenses on record. The crime itself was one that normally does not result in arrest, but police had arrested Kusanagi after he resisted and refused to put his clothes back on.

Kusanagi has mostly remained at home since his release on April 24. He, his management, and other SMAP members have offered multiple public apologies. Although there have been lots of negative reactions among the press, politicians, and his corporate sponsors, his fans have largely been supportive, with one survey demonstrating that 92% of the public was sympathetic.

Following the incident, Kusanagi was quickly pulled from advertisements and his regular TV roles. According to his management at Johnny's Jimusho, Kusanagi will likely be coming back quickly based on the positive fan response. A decision will be made after discussions with all concerned parties, though no specific timeline has been set.

In particular, it has been stated that Takashi Yamazaki's movie "Ballad: Namonaki Koi no Uta," which stars Kusanagi and Yui Aragaki, will be released on September 5 as planned. PR for the film has currently been halted, but it appears that Kusanagi will soon be able to resume promotional activities.

Source: Tokyograph

Woohoo!

In other news, the communications minister apologized for his harsh remarks about Kusanagi but still replaced him with a cartoon deer mascot in the digital transition campaign. Naturally, netizens have been making funny manips and fanart of the new mascot. I particularly like the first, second, fifth, sixth, and eighth versions.

[JFC]

People will definitely be happy with this decision. Kusanagi's definitely got the "nice guy" aura going for him (at least in terms of the SMAP members), so it's not surprising that there's been a lot of fan support.

In other news, the communications minister apologized for his harsh remarks about Kusanagi but still replaced him with a cartoon deer mascot in the digital transition campaign. Naturally, netizens have been making funny manips and fanart of the new mascot. I particularly like the first, second, fifth, sixth, and eighth versions.

Those are neat.

[Rei-chan]

   I too did not expect this news from him   But well, I guess anyone can do anything when drunk 

I'm glad there were no bigger consequences for him.