Ninomiya Kazunari - Snarky Slacker with a Surprisingly Sensitive Side

Note from HK: Very sorry to all my readers, but a correction has been made to this post regarding the marital status of Nino's parents and his family background. I had previously written that his parents were divorced and that Nino lived with his mother and sister growing up "on the wrong side of the tracks." It has been brought to my attention that there are no first hand sources that state anything concrete about such things. So I have removed that part from this post. To read more about this clear-up in detail, please see this post. 

Now please enjoy the last of the member posts ^.^ Douzo!!


The big joke you'll hear over and over again about Ninomiya Kazunari is that he's looked like he's 17 since he was, well, 17.

Nino in Oct. 2013 (from the PARADOX PV)

See what I mean? Can you believe this guy is thirty? Physically, he's changed the least out of Arashi over the years. And really, Nino doesn't strike me as the type who would be really carefully taking care of his skin or body the way someone like Jun would. Yes, women over the world are green with jealousy at Nino's possession of the fountain of youth, but this is just such a typical Nino trait: to slack off and yet still achieve the best damn results in the end. We've learned to live with it. Sigh. But don't think for even a moment that Nino acts at all like a sweet teenage boy! He's Arashi's snarkiest sharp-tongued little brat, and will point out little mistakes or embarrassing moments of his bandmates on national TV quite frequently. And he gets away with it every time, too, because let's face it, the other Arashi members all know they'll never get the better of him in a battle of wits and therefore hold their peace. Naturally, Nino is very talented, and stands out in Arashi as a songwriter and a brilliant engiha actor. You know how sometimes people say Ohno sings way too well to be in an idol group? Well, you could also say that Nino acts way too well to be in an idol group! This is not to say that idols can't also be excellent singers or actors, but just that in Japan, where idols are expected to do so much (act, sing, dance, host, radio, etc.), it's almost expected that they should be more jack-of-all-trades than really good at one particular thing. But I'm glad that Arashi members are breaking the stereotype here. And Nino, boy, he sure is a character!

Nino in the 2010 Monster PV

Basics
Nino was born on June 17, 1983, making him the second youngest member of Arashi. Though the younger three (also known as the kaze trio) are all pretty much considered to be of the same generation since they were all born within a year of each other and joined the jimusho at a similar time (Aiba being a December baby and Jun being just two months younger than Nino). He joined Johnny's under the bribery of his mother, who was afraid he might hang out with the "wrong crowd" and decided that J&A was a more respectable after school activity. He admits to being a bit on the antisocial side throughout his childhood, but he made friends at Johnny's (the most notable one being the ever cheery Aiba, his train buddy), and became popular enough that Johnny selected him for debut after just three years in the agency. Nino has an older sister. Nicknames: the most prevalent one is Nino, and he's been called that since elementary school. Occasionally, someone (or himself) will refer to him as Kazu or Kazu-chan as a joke or gag, but Nino is probably the one with the least amount of nicknames. He is, of anything, the one who calls the other members by unique nicknames the most; he calls Jun J, calls Ohno Samii, calls Aiba Aiba-shi...

Appearance

All Arashi members are beautiful, but Nino is a very soft sort of beauty. His eyes are not as big and piercing as Sho's or Jun's, but they are very pretty in their own gentle way. They aren't warm like Ohno's eyes or doe-like like Aiba's, but when coupled with that thin pout of his, Nino somehow looks utterly and irresistibly like a puppy. And yes, the producers do take advantage of Nino's puppiness at times. Just watch that episode of Nino on TSD where he plays with puppies and you'll see what I mean. I'm also pretty convinced that all of Yamada Taro Monogatari was just one big videospam of A) Nino's puppy face and B) Sho's disinterested (but very hot) senpai look. Nino's lips are another hallmark feature of his face. They're thin and when he smiles his upper lip curls up to reveal a slightly protruding upper jaw, which makes him look just that little bit younger and more pouty. I love Nino's lips; I honestly think they, along with Ohno's, are the prettiest man-lips I've seen. I love the way they curl, I love the way they'r so delicate and spread thinly over his nice straight teeth when he smiles. And ho shit that Nino pout! It's right up there with the Riida pout in terms of irresistibility. Since Nino favors long-ish hairstyles, and is the shortest at 165 cm, and has these adorably short stubby fingers that can somehow still play amazing piano and guitar, he's pretty much (looks-wise) the "cute one" in Arashi. Just look at him! Who can argue that? Also, he's got a distinct mole on the right side of his chin. A beauty mark? I think so!

Nino is known as an incorrigible gamer, once spending over 24 hours in his room playing video games. I bet he was super excited to be endorsing Nintendo!Perhaps because of his inner otaku-ness, he has a slightly slouching posture, and an old injury to his left hand has also made his muscles there weak to the point where he can't do sports like rowing or even hold a mic for extended periods of time (he changes hands frequently at the 3-hour long Arashi concerts). He has also complained of aches in his back, so in that sense, he's more of an ojisan than Ohno or Sho! Nino needs to get out there and work those stiff shoulders more. We, as fans, want him to be dancing to Ohno's choreography well into his forties, but he has mentioned that he doesn't particularly like to exercise, only doing it when he needs to lose weight for a role. He's shown off his "one-pack" abs at least twice on Arashi variety shows. For some reason, Nino always gets the most outrageous outfits from the staff when they're on their VSA. Perhaps he's just the one member who is easiest to coerce into wearing just about anything? Because MatsuJun once also gave him a ridiculous holey sports jacket which he wore as pajamas. See below.

A random sampling of the brilliant works of Nino's wardrobe staff. The holey jacket
in the upper middle pic was a present from Arashi's resident fashionista Jun. 

Personality 

Who, me? 

Snarky, witty, and with not a small mean streak, Nino is an unpredictable card in shows and concerts. You never know when he's going to grope Ohno's ass or slyly suggest Jun to do something embarrassing. He's been fast friends with Aiba since, like, forever, but that doesn't mean he won't smack the tallest Arashi when he wants to draw attention to his baka-ness. And Sho being Captain Failboat is just sweet icing on the cake for the evil Neen. Yes, Nino may look like the most innocent Arashi, but he's actually the sauciest minx of them all. Having literally spent most of his teens and all of his twenties (and what looks to be the rest of his life) with the other four, he's obviously got no problems molesting/teasing them on national TV; but the Nino Mean Streak doesn't stop there! Ninomiya Kazunari has, on many occasions, given Arashi's guests and colleagues a fair verbal spanking too. Like when he cuts over Morisanchuu's Oshima-san excessive MatsuJun-fangirling with a pointed remark, or when he smirkingly makes a suggestive comment about Ogura-san's perverted thoughts. Sometimes, he doesn't even need to use words to abuse people, like when he silently, and slowly, pushed TKO's Kinoshita-san down out of the cameraman's view when they were both set to be commanders for Pinball Runner on VSA. I can certainly see why Nino likes playing magic tricks as a hobby, because the guy's a walking house of mirrors; you just never know when an insult is going to be reflected your way!

Within Arashi, Nino is very definitely firmly on the side of the tsukkomi (the "straight man" as opposed to the boke, who is the "idiotic role" in Japanese manzai). He is very rarely on the receiving end of Arashi jibes, and usually when that happens, it's pretty obvious that he was set up for it by the staff (like the routine where Sho would make fun of Nino's outrageous VS Arashi outfits). Usually, Nino is the first to point out any shortcomings of his bandmates with due glee. Not even the stoic Jun has escaped his sharp squinty eyes! Of course, that's all because Nino is just too clever to let the others catch a hold of his Achilles heel. He isn't daydreaming like Ohno or baka like Aiba, he's not vain like Jun or fail like Sho... So basically, he appointed himself the right to make fun of everyone else, and hilarity ensues.

Who better to endorse JCB than penny-pinching Nino?

But that really doesn't mean that Nino doesn't have a few adorable faults like his bandmates. For one, he loves gaming. He's the otaku of the group, and if Aiba doesn't drag him out to play baseball or Ohno push him to practice dancing, I do believe his exercise level will be close to sedentary. For seconds, Nino loves money. Oh yes, he's quite a gold-hoarder, and the number one thing he loves to do with his money is to put it in a savings account. You heard me. One of Japan's five top idols is a stingy Scrooge when it comes to spending. He's even admitted to avoiding dinners with his juniors because he didn't want to have to pay for the meal; he only goes when he can find a "sponsor" (aka a person with even more seniority than him). On Utaban, Aiba revealed that when he and Nino go out to eat with juniors, he ends up being the one paying the bill; in fact, all Arashi members revealed that the first time they saw what Nino's wallet looked like was 8 years after their debut. He loves money so much that he exchanges his big bills for smaller bills so his wallet can feel fatter (haha!). And when Arashi had to speed-count bills for a challenge, Nino looked both happy and confident as he stepped up for his team. Because by now, the entire world should know that no one counts money better than Ninomiya Kazunari.

And because Nino is just that sassy, he's also built up a reputation of not using the appropriate honorifics when addressing his senpais. Tut tut tut, Nino. Such rudeness would never come out of the sweet lips of Sho or Jun, the good two shoes. But Nino leaves out the "-san" suffix when talking to members of Johnny's senpais like TOKIO or V6, and calls some elder comedians directly by their first names. And he frequently forgets to append his sentences with the polite "desu" or "masu." To add oil to the fire, his tongue sometimes "slips" and he'll address a senpai with "omai" (a very casual for of "you"), which of course is just fodder for comedic bursts of rage from the offended party. Nino's lack of proper manners has led to his nickname of "brat"  in the English-speaking fanbase, and it's certainly caught the attention of the Arashi programming staff, as there was a SP of ANiShi where comedians pointed out each member's faults, and of course, Nino's was "not being polite to senpais." At least Nino had the grace to look moderately embarrassed in that episode.

The Ohmiya crotch-grab on Mago Mago Arashi.

Nino's brand of sassy is cute, really really cute, and not obnoxious at all like some other artists. It's probably because his teasing nature was nurtured from way back in his junior days. I'm pretty certain that his first target was probably Aiba, since they hung out together all the time. In fact, Johnny-san himself referred to Aiba as "the Aiba-guy that is always with Ninomiya" when selecting Aiba for debut. I wouldn't be surprised if Nino also gave a young Jun his fair share of teasing when they formed MAIN too. After debuting, I think Nino started testing out his boundaries with senpais by breaking all boundaries with Ohno, who was a definite daisenpai while they were all Jrs. Naturally, Ohno went along with it because he's passive Ohno. So Nino touched him, all over. I mean, he even grabbed poor Ohno's crotch just for laughs on a Mago Mago episode once! Ohno seemed to sort of enjoy it, to be honest (and really, why would anyone, man or woman, refuse a crotch grab by Nino?)  Emboldened, Nino really let his sassiness flourish over the years. In D no Arashi, he was the prankster with his Ni no Arashi segment, where he pulled pranks on his bandmates. Remember when he coughed up fake "blood" onto the sheets to scare Ohno? That worked; Ohno's mouth had never opened wider. And that time at the concert when he got everyone in the audience to chant "Nino Nino Nino!" instead of "Arashi Arashi Arashi!" for the encore? The look of shock on Sho's face gave me a pretty good laugh. One thing I really love about Nino is his self-assured cockiness, like when he introduces himself to guests as "the handsome one" or "the mote one." Oh yes, Nino likes to act like he's god's gift to women at times. It's damn cute on him. In fact, everything he does is pretty cute, now that I think about it.

Still, Nino is not mean all the way through. Like Jun, he is really just a little puddle of putty deep deep down. Because how else could he come up with heartbreaking ballads like "Niji"? Not to mention the super cute song dedicated to his mother in the LOVE album that just came out. He's a guy who really cares about the people closest to him, and I can only imagine how much he loves his family in moments when he's off camera. Nino cares a lot about his bandmates, too. When he was at the Berlin Film Festival to promote his Hollywood movie Letters from Iwo Jima, he specifically told the press that he was just a "guy that is a part of an idol group. [we] sing and dance together." instead of just introducing himself as an actor. He also got extremely homesick during his month-long stay in Los Angeles for the filming, and thought of Arashi a lot during this time. Later, in 2007, he revealed that when he spent that one month abroad in Hollywood, he was feeling lots of doubts because he wasn't sure if he would be able to rejoin Arashi after this (I don't know why he would think that since that was a one-time project, unless Johnny was pushing him to the American fanbase and wanted to line up more projects for him). Though we're probably never going to know the inner workings of the people that decided Nino's career directions at the time, I'm glad that they decided to let him remain with his precious Arashi. In his own subtle way, he puts Arashi first before himself. Like Aiba, he wrote an emotional letter to Arashi, and expressed how thankful he was to have them and how much he appreciated them. Now, know that Nino is not a person who expresses his emotions easily. The other members all say that he rarely cries, and rarely says "mushy things" like Aiba. Even during shows, he's usually more interested in making everything a funny joke than in making a serious atmosphere. So it was pretty surprising to the rest of Arashi when they saw him take the stage with the letter, and of course, tears were shed as well.

Nino also has his adorable fanboy moments. He loves the actress Takeuchi Yuko, who is older than him, but he's been a long-term fan of hers, stating in interviews that she would be his "ideal type" and that he really admired her unembellished tyle of acting. I bet he was super jealous when Jun got the star as Takeuchi-san's love interest in Natsu-Niji. When Takeuchi guested on VS Arashi as a part of the drama team, Nino actually dressed up in a suit and held a bouquet, waiting for her arrival. It was quite comical and sweet at the same time. The thing you have to realize is that even though Nino has the sharpest tongue of the all (a factor that contributes much to his success in his new Nino-san variety show), he is really quite a nice guy and the "mean streak" is part-nature, part just an exaggerated show for the comic effect to please us devoted fans. He is known to be a pretty private person, but fan reports of Nino encounters have all been very positive, and no matter how tired he gets, he's always professional and willing to put in that extra bit of effort (and sacrificing some precious sleep!) to do a tiny Q&A or video message to reach out to the fans. He can also be pretty humble, like when he met game designers at Nintendo (haha of course, Nino).

Nino doesn't know how he does it,
but he can do pretty much any role.

Talents
Nino's number one talent (apart from teasing Arashi bandmates) is his acting. He rarely boasts about it, but he has been in a Clint Eastwood movie as a lead role for Letters from Iwo Jima, a critically acclaimed work. Nino's acting was highly praised by even Roger Ebert; just watch the movie and you'll know what I mean. Obviously, the script itself was really good to begin with, but Nino's delivery was so heartbreaking and realistic at the same time. It's a movie that made me cry, and made Aiba, Jun and Ohno cry. Nino is known to be an engiha, or in plain English, an actor who is actually skilled at acting (as opposed to many actors in Asian dramas who are acting because they are idols or singers and therefore employed because their presence brings in ratings for TV stations; and just to clarify, I actually think that while the other Arashi members may have started out as idol-actors, they have quickly matured and are quickly becoming engiha, especially Jun, who can take diverse roles and has proven in several cases that he can act them all out realistically. The only Arashi I'd say is less developed in acting is Aiba, but I don't think that's a cause for worry, since Aiba has plenty on his plate without adding dramas into the mix at the moment). Nino is, above all, really good at realism. Sure, he can do the typical J-dorama with the exaggerated comedy and waterworks (watch Yamada Taro, Ryusei no Kizuna or Stand Up!), but he is most in his element when asked to simply portray a real, everyday character with complex motivations, self-conflicts, doubts and hopes. In I Will Fly to the Sky in a Wheelchair and in Freeter Ie o Kau and in Pikanchi 1, he played these types of characters that are so relevant to a common person's life. There are so many other things he's acted in where he is just the epitome of realism. You feel like he's somebody that you could have known in your life. I don't know which part of his face or body he uses to act in particular, but he always manages to get all the emotions across with even the most minimal lines. When he plays melancholy, your heart will melt; and when he smiles his angelic smile, your heart will rejoice. He just has that same degree of fineness over his  emotional expression as Ohno has over his dancing body. Of course, he's had plenty of practice, appearing in dramas regularly even in his Jr. days. He's probably had the most dramatic experience out of all his bandmates. He's also been in the most movies, starring in the sci-fi action Gantz trilogy, as well as the period piece Ooku (where he plays a male concubine in a world where females/male roles are reversed; it's based off a really interesting concept), and there's also Platina Data, an action/thriller movie that just came out earlier this year. Nino's pretty good in action roles; when he scrunches up his brows and purses those thin lips, it really gives the perfect brooding but vulnerable genius look. Plus, he looks hot in fight sequences/holding a gun. I was also glad to see that he could very well hold his own presence in a period piece full of serious engiha actors in Ooku. Though I couldn't stop staring at his hair for most of the time (and I thought the script was too restrained and subtle to allow for character development, but overall, the movie was certainly a departure from the usual projects Arashi members undertake and I was intrigued by the premise of the plot).

From top left to bottom right: 1) Being puppy cute as Yamada Taro; 2) Being the vengeful big brother
in Ryusei no Kizuna; 3) Being the epitome of the self-absorbed youth these days in Freeter Ie o Kau;
4) Being a broke Showa era manga artist in Kiiroi Namida; 5) Being a gentle psychologist in Tengoku de
Kimi ni Aetara; 6) Being the kakoii action star in the sci-fi movie GANTZ. 

Another of Nino's talents: songwriting and composing. He's written and composed a fair number of songs. certainly a lot of his solos, and even some group numbers like "Fight Song" and "Sketch," which he wrote with Sakurai. A lot of his solo compositions are ballads, and very emotional ones at that. "Niji" was the first really popular Nino ballad solo, and aside from the lyrics being both cute and heartbreaking, the melody was also simple but oddly easy to get stuck into one's head. I don't generally think that Nino has the most cultivated voice, and I sometimes find it too reedy or wavery for my liking (though he's been growing on me lately, so shhh!), but I genuinely enjoyed all of his solos. Somehow, even though they are power ballads, I don't think someone with a powerful voice like Ohno could have pulled it off better than Nino, simply because those songs needed Nino's raw emotion to really come to life. And seriously, Nino can conjure up quite some uumpfh into his voice sometimes and his range is on the high end, even though I still think he lacks precise pitch control. Still, his ballads, like "Doko ni Demo Aru Uta" and the continuation of "Niji," "Yappari Kimi Deshita" are all worth a listen. They're simpler instrumentally, meant for just Nino and a guitar or piano, but they have the tenderest lyrics and will melt you. Nino's also written more frivolous pieces like "1994*4##111," which is basically him going on full-on cute mode. Yes, beware of the 17-year-old face when he's consciously trying to act like a puppy, because your ovaries may actually burst. 

Nino in the Beautiful World concert 2011.

I don't think Nino is a particularly talented dancer. In fact, I might as well go ahead and say that he is maybe the weakest dancer in Arashi. I know Aiba gets ragged on a lot for forgetting dance moves and Sakurai gets chastised for not being flexible enough, and even Jun gets hate for his mollusc like way of moving (pssh! I think he dances just fine. Watch Love Situation or Wild At Heart videos if you still need convincing), but I actually think the three of them all look pretty good when they dance, because as long as the choreography is not insanely difficult, they manage to look pretty kakkoii pretty effortlessly. But Nino is, ahem, like a fifteen year old trying to dance like a sexy twenty year old when he did "Gimmick Game" at Arafes 2012. He's good at some kinds of dances, I guess. I liked his cuteness in "Himitsu" and "Troublemaker," but our dear Nino seems to be looser with his limbs than his bandmates when he dances sexier numbers, and the effect is just such that he looks a bit immature. That's not to say he isn't sexy, because oh my, he totally is, and I could devote a whole post to just talking about how sexy he is, but let's just say that he's sexier when he's being himself or when he's acting than he is when he's dancing. I will post one exception to that though: recently, I saw the performances of P.A.R.A.D.O.X. and I will admit that Nino is frickin' hot at twisting those hips; in fact, he was frickin' hot throughout that entire video, so perhaps the age of my abhorrence for Nino's dancing is crashing down to an end. Hmm.. now that I think about it, he looked pretty decent in "Face Down", too...  And he was quite a good hip hop dancer back in the early days of Arashi. He could spin and do those handstand thingies and flip. 

When Nino gets serious.

Nino also plays a lot of instruments. He can play the piano and guitar very well. His intro in "La Tormenta 2004" has a line about his guitar-playing in it, and he has played both instruments at concerts. But clearly, his afterschool activities weren't just limited to these instruments back in the day. He is a pretty big baseball nut, and not only follows it avidly (with Aiba), but also used to play it. He was quite good at it too. The best baseball player in Johnny's is said to be Kamenashi Kazuya, but Nino is a close second. He had formed a team with Aiba and some other friends to play baseball for fun, but I'm not sure if he still actively participates in those games. Aiba's talked about it on ANiShi a few times, but in certain interviews, both Aiba and Nino have said that they wish they could play baseball together again since it's been a while since they've done that. And sometime in the mid-2000's, Nino also picked up magic tricks as a hobby, often doing card tricks to entertain friends and Arashi members on sets and such. He is allegedly so good that he should really be charging money for his performances.

I'll end the Arashi member post series with some more pics of Arashi interacting with each other, because you can never have enough of rainbow and sparkles!

Contemplating... socks? on Arashi ni Shiyagare.

Aimiya try to placate Ohno, who's upset and playing the stern
Leader card because Sho isn't taking Falling Pipe seriously enough.

Everyone remembers when their faces were on a plane, right?
I was sad I didn't have the occasion to fly anywhere.

Even big boys like to dress up in bright colors and play with their fingers every once in a while.

Haha, I don't know how the tub concept related to the phone, but I applaud it.

Throwback to their silly-awesome Shukudai-kun days!

Well, I hope you feel more familiar with the five baka-awesome members of Arashi now!