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Japan Aghast 

Over pop Star’s 

Naked Blunder

by Isabel Reynolds

April 23rd, 2009

REUTERS

Media helicopters 

hovered overhead and 

photographers camped 

out in front of Japan’s 

top talent agency on 

Thursday after one of 

television’s cleanest-cut 

stars was arrested for 

public indecency.

.

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi 

of the pop group SMAP 

was found drunk and 

naked in a public park 

in Tokyo in the early 

hours of the morning, 

his agency said 

in a statement. 

He was alone and shrieking 

at the top of his voice, 

media reports said.

.

“What’s wrong 

with being naked?” 

he demanded of a police 

officer who tried to question 

him after receiving a complaint 

about the noise, 

Kyodo news agency said.

.

Kusanagi, 34, 

shot to fame almost 20 years 

ago as a member of SMAP, 

the popular boy band whose 

five members have gone 

on to monopolize Japanese 

TV screens in everything 

from drama to variety and 

even cookery shows.

.

The slender Kusanagi 

is seen as perhaps the most 

serious of the five, known 

for his acting skills and 

fluency in Korean, 

which brought him fame 

in South Korea.

.

“He has such a clean image,” 

one woman told commercial 

broadcaster TBS. 

“He doesn’t seem like 

that kind of person.”

.

But Thursday’s incident 

risks damaging the 

commercial juggernaut 

of SMAP, 

whose members, 

especially heart throb 

Takuya Kimura, 

are popular with advertisers.

.

Corporations including 

Toyota Motor Corp. 

said they were pulling 

commercials starring 

Kusanagi.

.

Even Communications 

Minister Kunio Hatoyama 

expressed anger, 

because the actor was 

the face of a government 

campaign to get the public 

to switch to digital television.

.

Kusanagi’s agency, 

Johnny & Associates, 

a big name in the 

Japanese entertainment 

world, issued an apology.

.

“We apologize deeply 

for the trouble and worry 

caused to everyone, 

especially his fans,” 

the agency said in 

a faxed statement, 

adding that it would make 

a further announcement 

on Kusanagi’s future career.

.

Tokyo police declined 

to comment on the case.

.

.