Snow Man is a Japanese idolboy band formed by Johnny & Associates in 2012. The group was previously a sub-unit of Johnny & Associates' pre-debut trainee group, Johnny's Jr. The group's activities focused on acrobats and stage play. Along with SixTONES, Snow Man made their official debut on 22 January 2020. The group's simultaneous debut marks the first time for two groups to debut on the same day in Johnny's history.
History
The group was predeceased by Mis Snow Man, a unit formed in 2009 that consists of 9 people. The group has been active in stage play series Takizawa Kabuki since 2010. Among them, a unit consists of Tatsuya Fukuzawa, Daisuke Sakuma, Shota Watanabe, Ryota Miyadate, Hikaru Iwamoto, and Ryohei Abe was later formed on May 3, 2012. The group's new name, Snow Man, was first announced when the six men stood in the stage of Takizawa Kabuki 2012, when letters suddenly appeared on the big screen behind them. The group's name was officially announced both to them and audience as a surprise. While active as back dancers for Tackey & Tsubasa, Kis-My-Ft2, A.B.C-Z, and other senior groups, they also regularly appeared in stage plays Dream Boys and Takizawa Kabuki, and from 2015, Shonen-tachi and its movie version. Since all of them are good at acrobatics, they are sometimes referred as "the craftsman group" and are often nominated by seniors in Johnny's as "Johnny's Jr. members they want to have as back dancers." While has been always described as "the best dancer among Johnny's Jr." since their formation in 2012 and despite their appearances in theater, the group couldn't get the chance to get a debut, leading to its member to "having a thought of leaving several times." In January 2019, Raul from Shonen Ninja, Ren Meguro from Uchuu Six, and a member from Kansai Johnny's Jr. Koji Mukai, was added as new members. While the original 6 members accepted the decision as "they wanted to protect the group," they also felt that the "even if whole group has gone, we just want to realize our dream as Snow Man," and "the only way to get rid of this problem is this." In March 2019, the group, along with 11 other Johnny's Jr. groups become a part of Island TV, a website that provides video streaming exclusive for Johnny's Jr. members. The group's debut was first announced by Takizawa, who is told by Johnny Kitagawa in his hospital bed in June 2019. Debuting at the same time as SixTONES, the announcement was officially announced in Johnny's Jr. 8.8 Matsuri ~Tokyo Dome kara Hajimaru~ concert on August 8, 2019. They also "graduated" from Johhny's Jr. official YouTube channel and officially opened their own YouTube channel on December 25, 2019.
Post debut
On February 1, 2020, the group marked their first overseas appearance in Japan Expo Thailand 2020. Their Asia tour titled Snow Man ASIA TOUR 2D.2D in Kanagawa Prefecture, Osaka, and Tokyo, as well as overseas lives in Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, and Taipei had to be cancelled due to COVID-19. In March, the group received their own television show titled Sore Snow Man ni Yarasete Kudasai. The show's decision was revealed as a surprise to Snow Man through their YouTube channel in February 2020. The shows first ran from March 25, 2020 on TBS. However, later in the same month, Hikaru Iwamoto was reported to be taking a break from the group's activities after a Japanese magazine Friday published a report of him drinking at love motel in 2017. Through Johnny's apology post, it was written that Iwamoto confirmed that an underage woman was among those present. The rest of 8 members also made their apology in their appearance at the live music program CDTV Live! Live! on the same day as the reported news. On July 1st, Johnny's net and Johnny's web announced that Iwamoto will be back to resume his activities. In April, the group performed an opening theme song for the anime Black Clover titled "Stories." In May, Snow Man was announced to be a part of Twenty★Twenty, a temporary unit consisting of 75 talents that have debuted in Johnny's, to perform a charity song. The unit was formed to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The song, titled "Smile", is written by Kazutoshi Sakurai and is produced by Takizawa. A movie version of stage play Takizawa Zero was announced in late May with members of Snow Man in the main roles. The movie was announced to be released in less than a year. This marks Snow Man's post-debut first main role in a movie.
