Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori, the three former members of the iconic Japanese boy band <a href=”/artist/5878944/smap/chart”>SMAP</a>, announced that they will be appearing in a 72-hour uninterrupted live webcast on Abema TV starting Nov. 2, the day before the beginning of a long weekend in Japan.
The three ex-members <a href=”/articles/news/7469571/j-pop-icons-smap-sports-music-assemble-people-to-break-up-johnny-associates”>left their former talent agency</a> earlier in September and recently launched an official fan site under their new management. The livestream will be their first online appearance in any form, as their former agency has a strict no-Internet policy.
The trio will also launch their official social network accounts on the same day. All three will be on Twitter to interact with fans during the webcast and following the webcast; Katori will be active on Instagram; Inagaki will blog; and Kusanagi will be on YouTube to “let it all hang out” in their respective platforms.
Trending on Billboard
The three stars are already breaking the Japanese internet even before their online debut. Reactions to the news of the trio’s appearance in the three-day live stream — the longest uninterrupted live webcast for Abema TV, as well — have totaled approximately 160,000 times at press time, and the video announcement for the program was viewed over 430,000 times in four hours after its release.
Watch the video announcement here:
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/7dCgQZg9dQ8″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>