Yoshihiko Inohara

As a child, he lived in Asakusa, Tokyo, and grew up in an apartment complex in Shinagawa Ward.^[2]

His entry into the entertainment industry began when he watched the popular detective drama Seibu Keisatsu as a child and wished to work for Ishihara Promotions, to which the lead actor belonged.^[4] However, Ishihara Promotion was famous for making its actors eat a large meal,^[5][6] and he gave up Ishihara Promotion because he thought he couldn't eat a large meal, and chose to join Johnny & Associates.^[4]

Inohara sent his own resume to the Johnny & Associates when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school. Johnny's boy band Hikaru Genji was very popular in Japan at the time. A year passed, and when the invitation to audition came in the sixth grade, he went to the venue thinking he had totally passed the audition.^[7] Then there were about 100 applicants there who had practiced dancing, and he thought, "Oh no! I can't pass the audition." Inohara had written on his resume that he could do backflips, but he failed in front of Kitagawa and hit his head on the floor. Kitagawa got angry with him, saying, "You are a liar!".^[8] But then, while talking with Kitagawa, Inohara mistook the chewing gum that Kitagawa was about to eat for something he could have and said, "Thank you." Kitagawa then said, "It's not yours. But don't forget that brazenness," and he passed the audition. Inohara soon thereafter appeared as a back-up dancer at a Hikaru Genji concert.^[7]

In 1988, at the age of 12, he entered Johnny & Associates. Then he made his CD debut on November 1, 1995, as a member of V6 with the single Music for the people.

After his debut, in addition to being a member of the boy band V6, he personally hosted, mainly for the public broadcaster NHK and acted in detective dramas such as TV Asahi's Metropolitan Police Department Investigation Section 9 Series and Special investigation department 9 Series.

As of October 2023, he decided to continue with his artistic activities together with his administrative responsibilities in the agency.^[9]

On November 1, 2022, following Hideaki Takizawa's retirement as representative director of Johnny's Island (later Annex), it was announced that Inohara had been appointed president of the company as of September 26, 2022.^[10] Johnny's Island is a company that produces stage and live performances for trainees before their debut, and discovers and trains new talent.^[11] After that, he worked as a playing manager to nurture talent and trainees (junior) at the same time.^[12][13]

On October 2, 2023, at a press conference regarding the new structure of Johnny & Associates, Inohara announced that he had been appointed vice president of Smile-Up.^[14]

On December 8, 2023, Inohara was appointed COO (Chief operating officer) of the newly established company Starto Entertainment.^[15][16] He announced that he would be resigning as vice president of Smile-Up. (formerly Johnny & Associates) on the same date.^[17] On April 10, 2024, it was announced that his position changed from COO to CMO (chief marketing officer).^[3]

With the launch of Starto, it was announced that a new division for the training of young people would be established, and trainees formerly affiliated with Annex would also be affiliated with Starto.^[18] With the closing of Annex, Inohara, who was president of the company, had reportedly already resigned at the end of March 2024.^[19]

On September 28, 2007, he announced his marriage to Asaka Seto, an actress with whom he had been dating for some time.^[20] On November 1, 2021, V6 disbanded, leaving him only as a member of 20th Century and as a solo performer.^[21]

Inohara says that a particularly close friend is Masahiro Matsuoka, who was the same age as him, and that they have been best friends since they were both in elementary school up to the present day.^[22] When Inohara joined to Johnny's, Matsuoka had moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido and was living in a Johnny's dormitory. He and Inohara hit it off and often visited Inohara at the apartment complex where Inohara's family lived.^[23] When Inohara was appointed president of Johnny's Island in November 2022, Matsuoka was so pleased that he commented that he was proud to be his best friend.^[24]