Junichi Okada

Music career

In the summer of 1995, Okada participated in Johnny's Pre-School, part of the NTV program Tensai, Takeshi no Genki ga Deru Terebi (天才・たけしの元気が出るテレビ!!). He passed the audition and joined Johnny & Associates at the age of 14. After being in Johnny's for only a short period of three months, he made his debut as the youngest member of the idol group V6. Unlike the rest of the members in the group, he did not have much experience as Johnny's Jr. The first time that he had been on a music program was only after the debut of V6. Their debut song was "Music For the People".

Okada can play the guitar, as well as the piano. His mother is a piano teacher. His voice is in the middle range, and hence his solos usually include slower ballads. Later in his career as member of V6, he was given longer solo songs, such as "Way of Life".^[2] He also revealed that during V6's 2008 concert Vibes, he was directing most of the lightning, staging, and costumes.^[3]

Acting career

Dramas

Besides being known as a member of V6, Okada is an accomplished actor in movies and dramas, playing the lead in many of them. In a Shounen Club Premium interview on May 7, 2009, he revealed that it was the Japanese drama Kisarazu Cat's Eye that caught the attention of viewers and directors, and made them aware of his acting ability.^[3] The success of the drama led to the making of two movie sequels, Kisarazu Cat's Eye: Nihon Series and Kisarazu Cat's Eye: World Series. His other notable dramas include Tiger & Dragon, a comedy drama about rakugo, a form of Japanese comedy acted only by one person telling that story.^[4] and SP (also known as Security Police), an action suspense drama about a team of security police bodyguards in charge of protecting important people in the government. With Shinichi Tsutsumi as his co-star, the drama drew in overall ratings of 15.35% despite its Saturday 11:00 p.m. (JST) time slot;^[5] its special episode broadcast in 2008 also received a viewership rating of 21.5%.^[6]

After several years of "drama hiatus", Okada played the main character, Kuroda Kanbei, in the January 2014 NHK historical drama, Gunshi Kanbei (軍師官兵衛). Kanbei was a man of ambition who served as the chief strategist under Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Sengoku period.^[7]

Movies

He made a big leap in his movie career with Tokyo Tower in 2005. In the movie he portrayed a young college student torn between his love for a lady twenty years his senior and the views society has on these kinds of relationship.^[8] After that came Hana, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. In the movie, Okada portrayed Sōza, a samurai uninterested in killing his enemy and focused on what he could do today to be a better person instead. The movie earned him a nomination for the Blue Ribbon Awards, but he declined this nomination.^[9] Nevertheless, he was awarded the Ishihara Yujiro New Actor Award at Nikkan Sports Film Award for his role in Hana.^[10] Later, he was involved in movies such as Flowers in the Shadows, portraying a young man in debt because of pachinko,^[11] and Otonari (おとなり), an unconventional love story between two neighbors who have never met each other and only follow the other person's life through the sounds they hear from the other side of the wall.^[12]

In 2012, Okada played the role of Shibukawa Shunkai, an astronomer who invented the Jōkyō calendar used for many decades, in the movie Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer, directed by Yōjirō Takita.^[13] The director has previously won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures, in 2009.^[14] Later that year, it was announced that Okada would appear in another film set for a spring 2013 release, The Eternal Zero, directed by Takashi Yamazaki. The film follows the journey of a kamikaze pilot named Kyuzo Miyabe, a man described as a coward who volunteered to die for his country.^[15]

Okada is known for being reserved. He does not meet with many people within the agency.^[16] In an interview on Shounen Club Premium, Okada said that when he was little, whenever his name was called up to read something in class, he would feel like vomiting and purposely avoided school on those days. Within V6, he was also the most quiet person. He enjoys carpentry and has carved wooden bears for children.^[17]

He married actress Aoi Miyazaki on 23 December 2017.^[18] In May 2018, it was announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child. He is the fourth member of V6 to be a father.^[19] It was announced via fax message that their son was born in October 2018. ^[20]

During the Johnny's press conference celebrated October 2, 2023, comments were said about his leaving the office in November. Office vice-president and former V6 co-member Yoshihiko Inohara asked for discretion, and to wait for an official comment by the person himself.^[21][22] The news was confirmed the same day. Okada would be leaving Johnny's on November 30.^[23]

In 2010, Okada had reported in a press conference that he is certified to teach Jeet Kune Do and Kali in Japan, the latter was used by him as his main martial art when the SP series was filmed.^[24] Trained under USA Shooto instructor Yorinaga Nakamura.^[25]

While filming for The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill, Okada trained for a fight scene using jiu-jitsu. He continued training under jiu-jitsu artist Tomoyuki Hashimoto (CARPE DIEM), getting a brown belt in 2022. Okada participated for the first time in a public match in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) World Master 2023 in Las Vegas, USA, on 31 August 2023, in the Master 3 Brown Belt Light Featherweight Division,^[26][27] winning his first round, but losing on the quarterfinals against Andrew Steve Slackta.^[28][29]

Film

TV dramas

Television animation

Other television

Japanese dub

• Junichi Okada at IMDb
• Junichi Okada official website (in Japanese)
• V6 official website (in Japanese)
• Profile at Johnny's net (in Japanese)