A member of the duo WaT along with Wentz Eiji.

CV

• Childhood
  • Teppei grew up in Osakayama City, Osaka. In Middle School, he played guard for the school basketball team. He started playing the guitar in Middle School.
• 2001
  • He enters Osaka Prefectural Nagano Senior High School. Joins the Folk Music Club (there are about 20 members in total). At that time, his gym teacher was Hiroshima Sadakazu, who had been a sub-referee in the 2005 FIFA WORLD CUP.
  • He wins the 14th Annual "JUNON SUPER BOY CONTEST." Gets hired by Burning Productions. 
• 2002
  • He moves to Tokyo that spring. Enters Horikoshi Senior High School  
  • He starts up a singing duo with Wentz Eiji, another member of his production company. They begin to have live street performances. The two of them met just as Teppei was entering the production company. Teppei was told then, "There's a boy the same age as you who plays the piano and the bass. What if you became friends?" Then, he was introduced to Wentz, who had already joined the production company. Other than Wentz, there were no other actors in the company of the same age.
  • He makes his debut as an actor in the drama Tentai Kansoku.
• 2004
  • In April, he and Wentz make their indies debut as WaT with the release of the single "Sotsugyou TIME."
  • He graduates from Horikoshi Senior High School. (Other graduates of the same year include Yamashita Tomohisa from NEWS, Tanaka Kouki from KAT-TUN, Kitayama Hiromitsu of Johnny's Jr., Shirota Yuu from D-BOYS, Sakai Ayaka, Ootsuka Chihiro, and Kawashima Ai.) 
• 2005
  • On July 18, his first photo book "first letter from TEPPEI" is released. He has a fan meeting for the release and about 3,000 fans show up.
  • In August, WaT sign a contract with Universal Music and in November their first single, "Boku no Kimochi," marks their major label debut. The song makes it to second place in the Oricon ranking. 
  • He appears in the 56th Annual NHK Kouhaku Gassen with Wentz, for WaT. It has only been two months since their debut, giving WaT a place in history as the newest band ever to appear on the program.
  • His first movie, "Dare ga Tame ni," is released.
• 2006  
  • Acts as an official supporter of the 2006 World Volleyball Championships (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist award at the 43rd Annual Golden Arrow Awards (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist of the year award at the 20th Annual Japan Golden Disc Awards (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist award at the 39th Annual Best Hit Song Festival (WaT). 
  • Wins a special award at the 39th Annual Japan Yuusen Awards (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist award at the 48th Annual Japan Record Awards (WaT).
  • Appears for the second year in a row in 57th Annual NHK Kouhaku Gassen (WaT).
  • His second movie, Love Com, is released July 15.
  • On October 15 his second photo book "kiss me, kiss me," is released. 10,000 fans gather at his fan meeting.
• 2007
  • Debuts his solo music career with the single "Kimi ni Okuru Uta" (The theme for the Morinaga's Aloe Yogurt.)

About Teppei

• Height: 167 cm  Weight: 54kg　　
• Shoe size: 26.5cm
• He has a birthmark that is 2cm in diameter on his left butt cheek.
• When he was a child, he got paid for watering the plants in his apartment building.
• He is nearsighted, and for that reason when he's working must wear contacts, and at home he must wear glasses. He wore glasses from his first year of middle school, and switched to contacts in his second year of middle school. He also has a problem with having dry eyes so must often use moisture eye drops.  
• He has confidence in his abs. When he starred in the drama Water Boys 2 (Fuji Television), he was told "you're not good at swimming, but you have great abs."
• He can withstand tickle attacks to his feet.
• In the last round of the JUNON SUPER BOY CONTEST, his guitar string broke, but he didn't complain and played the Kobukuro song "Tetsu" anway.
• In the 2005 Kouhaku Uta Gassen, his guitar string broke as well. This time, the microphone stands also fell over (for 9 seconds) but he didn't let it interfere with the performance and kept on singing.
• He writes on his official home page blog every day (except for a short period in 2002 in which he was too busy with work). Because of this. and also when he meets fans at the fan meetings, people have the impression that he is kind and sincere.
• He has the reputation for being very serious about his work while at the same time being very humble and polite to others. Because of that, he is very highly respected by his co-stars. Two examples of this are entries from the cast of Water Boys 2 on the official home page blog as well as comments made by Ikeda Tetsuhiro, Teppei's co-star in Iryuu.  Also, when they met for the first time at the Kouhaku Uta Gassen, Nakai Masahiro also said that Teppei was very polite. So did Sakai Masaaki on Chuuboo desu yo!
• He prefers to be gentle and is a pacifist. He learned this as a child when he took karate, but also talked about how he hated having disputes with other children and would cry, so eventually he stopped having them.
• When he was in elementary school, he was called "Koike," "Koicchi," and "KoiQ." He only started to get called "Teppei" from the time when he moved to Tokyo (from JUNON).
• When he had graduated from middle school, Teppei was confessed to by a girl who had been in his class. They started to date, but after a little bit, Teppei began to question, "do I really like this girl or not?" He thought it would be bad of him to date her since he didn't have any feelings for her, so after one week, he broke up with her. In that time, he listened to the song "Orange" by SMAP every day.
• According to Teppei, his personality is, "basically serious but sometimes I like to do things at my own pace, which gets me into trouble."
• According to himself, he's been told by others that he's not pure. It seems that when he does fight he gets very dark-tempered. On the other hand, others think that this is a sign of his purity in itself.
• According to Wentz, the real Teppei is very rough and boyish, unlike the cute image that he has on television.
• Teppei got 9th place in the 2007 Favorite Actors Ranking.

Likes and Dislikes

• His favorite foods are sushi and Shoyu Ramen. His least favorite foods are melon, watermelon, and sweet cream. The reason he hates watermelon is because of the seeds.
• He likes girls which are nice and that everyone likes. He likes girls which are different in public than they are in private.
• His has fetishes for the collarbone and nails.
• His favorite Chinese character is "徹 (tetsu)," which is the first character in his name.
• He likes the Hanshin Tigers but can only name two or three of the members.
• The first alcohol he had to drink when he was 20 was called "potato shochu." His favorite alcohol is "Awamori" (Okinawa style liquor). This is also one of Wentz's favorites.
• However, he's not very strong against liquor, and it seems that after he drinks, he gets tired and sleeps easily. Also, when he gets drunk, he becomes bratty.
• He hates pajamas.
• It seems that after he drinks alcohol, he eats beef jerkey.
• He loves nature. He painted he room that he moved into when he first came to Tokyo green.
• He loves boxer briefs.

Habits, Skills, Interests, etc.

• He started to get interest in middle school after hearing Yuzu's "Kairo." He was moved by the fact that he could get so happy by just listening to one song. The first CD he bought by himself was Yuzu's "Yuzuman no Natsu" (JUNON).
• He has the habit of both fixing his hair and tends to stick his tongue out slightly while he does so.
• The dish that he's best at making is "Chicken in Cream Sauce."
• He's okay with heights. (On the other hand, Wentz Eiji is terrified of heights.)
• He often takes pictures of the moon and the stars with his digital camera. When he shows the pictures he takes to Wentz, Wentz never gives him a response.
• He's left handed. (He used to be right handed, but he wanted to be like his father, who is left handed, so he always copied off of his father's way of doing things.) However, things like playing guitar, bowling, and calligraphy he does with his right hand.
• He's weak against people touching the hollow of his collarbone. He also doesn't like when people rest their chin on his shoulder. Teppei says that when people put their chin on his shoulder, he becomes so limp that he can't stand up. His little brother often did this to him.
• He wants to get married at around age 30.
• Though he doesn't appear as such, he's got quite a big stomach and can eat a lot. 
• Because he grinds his teeth and has terrible sleep posture, he tends to be more boisterous when he's asleep than when he's awake. Once he actually drop-kicked Wentz when they were sleeping next to each other.
• While he was shooting Water Boys 2, he also had people complain about his sleep posture and teeth grinding.
• He didn't know that women can get facial hair until he was informed of so by the JUNON staff in 2006.
• He's good at magic tricks. He practices them at home by himself.
• In high school he was a member of the Folk Music Club. When he moved to Tokyo he had to give it up, but he continues to keep contact with everyone in that club. When he came back to Osaka for New Years, all of the members got together at his house and sung him Happy Birthday on the guitar.

Family

• Teppei's family is made up of his father, his mother, him, and his younger brother. He looks up to his father a lot.
• His father picked the name Teppei from a comic book that he liked called "Ore ha Teppei (I am Teppei)." Also, he liked the character "徹 (penetrate / overcome)" and had the wish that his son would "become someone who could overcome anything."
• Teppei's got his mother's face. However, he's got his father's smile. The reason that his smiling face doesn't look like his mother's is because, according to Teppei, his mother looks worried all the time.
• Teppei's father is bold, and his mother is prone to worrying. Teppei's personality is more like his mother's.
• His mother likes cleaning. Because of this, she's thrown out some of Teppei's favorite Dragonball figures.
• He's so close with his younger brother (3 years younger) that they've never even had one fight. Teppei often gets advice about work from his brother over the phone.
• The actor Kyoumoto Masaki is his uncle on his dad's side. However they are not blood relatives.
• Teppei's aunt (his mother's older sister) was an actress in the Takarazuka Opera. Her roles were female roles.  
• When Teppei first moved to Tokyo, his whole family came with him, a 10 hour trip by car. They helped him unpack and stayed at his apartment with him for a couple days.
• Teppei bought his mom earrings with his first paycheck.
• When Teppei was debating whether or not to actually move to Tokyo or to just travel to Tokyo each time for work, his father slapped him on the back and said, "If you're going to go for it, go all the way!" 
• Teppei often tells his mom, "Be careful for the wrinkles around your eyes when you laugh!" Also, he wrote a note to his mom during the time of the release of "Bokura no Love Story" which said, "If you get more wrinkles around your eyes because of me, don't hate me."

Most Important Thing

• The most important thing in the world to Teppei is Wentz Eiji (Teppei revealed this on a TV Show that airs locally in Osaka, Chichin Puipui).

Favorite Entertainers

• Fukuyama Masaharu. This is the musician that Teppei strives to be like. They first met at the 2006 FNS Music Festival (Fuji Television). Later, on his own radio program, Fukuyama said that Teppei was a "nice young man."
• Hamasaki Ayumi. He's a huge fan of Hamasaki and often goes to her concerts. He says that her lyrics are great.
• Kobukuro. Teppei first mentioned them the time that he appeared on Sekiguchi Hiroshi no Tokyou Friend Park II in regards to a question. He had his first meeting with Kobukuro at a photo shoot for JUNON magazine. Teppei played them WaT's song "Bokura no Ibasho" and in response, Kobukuro played their song "YELL." Teppei was so moved by the song that he cried. That time, Teppei vowed, "someday I want to write a song good enough to make people be moved the way that those two can."  He loves them so much that he once was walking while reading the lyrics card for their album "ALL SINGLES BEST" and was so into it that he walked too far and got lost. He's also gone together with Kobukuro member Kobuchi Kentarou to see a Billy Joel concert.
• Yamazaki Masayoshi. After they both appeared together on Music Station (Television Asahi), Teppei told Yamazaki in the dressing room, "I've loved you for forever!"  That time, he took a picture with Yamazaki but at that time, Wentz pretended to drop the camera and made Teppei think he really broke it.
• Maeda Tomohiro. They appeared together on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ (Fuji Television). It seems that, like Teppei, Maeda also likes to perform magic tricks.

Qualifications

• Driver's License.
• Second Level Small Ship License (up to 5 Tons). (He's driven a boat on a shoot for JUNON.) 
• Second Level Abacus.
  

Tears

• He cried at WaT's indies debut event (from JUNON).
• At WaT's television premiere on Music Station (Television Asahi) he was so happy he cried while he sang.
• When his drama Gokusen was launched, he cried more than anyone on the cast.
• He watched the series finale of Water Boys 2 with his family at home. He was the only one that cried.
• At his middle school graduation, he sang SMAP's song "Orange" and cried. However, all of the people around him didn't cry at all.
• One time at Karaoke, Wentz sang Ozaki Yutaka's song "I LOVE YOU" so enthusiastically that it made Teppei cry.
• He saw the movie Crayon Shin-chan Arashi wo Yobu Mo-retsu! Otona Teikoku no Gyakuryuu he was so moved by the love of the family in the movie that he sobbed, and kept crying all night by himself (from JUNON).
• While watching the last episode of his friend Hayami Mokomichi's drama Tokyo Tower, he was so moved that he cried (reported by Teppei on his own blog).

On Location Stories

• Up until now, his most difficult work has been the drama Water Boys 2. At that time, six days a week were devoted to filming the show and one day was devoted to synchronized swimming practice, which was extremely difficult. Until the show started filming he couldn't swim, so he had to practice by him
• For WaT's second single, "5 senchi," there's a scene in the music video where WaT go snow boarding. Before shooting the music video, Teppei only had three hours of experience with the sport.
• For WaT's third single, "Hava Rava," they went to shoot the video at Kujuukurihama and had to spend the night at a private inn. He got in the vacation mood and began to tell ghost stories to Wentz, who hates ghost stories. However, at that time Teppei really thought he saw a ghost and became really scared, grabbing for Wentz's hand. That night, the two of them slept together in the same futon while holding each others' hands (from a talk on Minisute).
• In the filming for their movie My favorite girl, Teppei had a fight scene with Wentz. In that scene, Wentz was supposed to pretend to hit Teppei, but got carried away and accidentally really punched Teppei in the head. 

Television

• When he appears on television he usually speaks the standard dialect. However, lately he's been using a little bit more of his Kansai dialect. When he speaks to Wentz, it's always in Kansai dialect.
• For his character in Dragonzakura, Teppei had to put pink highlights in his hair. Because of this, there was an explosion of fans who also put pink highlights in their hair.
• On the Feb. 11, 2006 episode of COUNT DOWN TV, it was discovered that the place that Teppei used to live when he first came to Tokyo was Higashinakano. They went to a favorite restaurant of Teppei, called "大盛軒 (Oomoriken)." Until that day, Teppei had thought that the restaurant was called "大成軒 (Taiseiken)" and Wentz had never corrected him. That was the place where WaT's standing position was decided (when looking at them: Wentz on the left, Teppei on the right) because the restaurant is so small and if they sat the other way, their elbows bumped into each other.
• On the July 27, 2006 episode of Tunnels no minasan no okage deshita (Fuji Television) Teppei faced off against Ooizumi You in the corner "Shin Kuwazu Kirai Ouketteisen." He was very bitter that Ooizumi guessed that his hated food was watermelon on the first try.
• On the Feb. 12, 2007 episode of Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, Teppei did a magic trick for Maeda Tomohiro, who called him "very talented." 

 
Acquaintances

• He has gone to the hot springs with the siblings Saitou Shouta and Saitou Keita seems to be quite good friends with them in private. He was in the drama Water Boys 2 with Keita. Both Keita and Shouta call Teppei "Te-chan."
• He's friends with all of the members of the Gokusen 2005 cast. In particular, Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Hayami Mokomichi and Koide Keisuke.
• Teppei is friends with Hiro from Yasuda Dai-Circus and the two of them go out to dinner together.
• From the time that they starred together in Iryuu, Teppei has gone to actor Kitamura Kazuki for advice regarding career moves. Kitamura also names "Koike Teppei" as one of his friends who is an actor.
• Yamamoto Yusuke is Teppei's junior from the JUNON SUPER BOY CONTEST as well as other JUNON photo shoots, and they're also good friends.

Wentz

• The first time he met Wentz, he though he'd have to speak in English so he practiced his English. However when they met, Wentz spoke perfect Japanese. Also, due to extreme nervousness, Teppei didn't talk hardly at all, and when he did, it was in polite language. Teppei's first impression of Wentz was that he "had such a beautiful face" and "I thought his eyes were so pretty." Also, after they ate gyoza, Wentz gave Teppei some gum, so Teppei thought that Wentz was so kind.
• Teppei calls Wentz "Ei-chan."
• According to Teppei, Wentz is his life partner (he said so in a magazine interview). In another magazine he said "With Wentz we don't even need to speak. That kind of friend is so rare."
• He's honestly very good friends with Wentz, and they often go over to each other's houses, go to see movies, or go out to eat together. Also, during the time when they were doing their live street concerts, they borrowed each others' clothes.
• Teppei has said "(because our personalities are so different) If we had gone to the same high school, we would never have been friends."
• On a 2004 episode of Chichin Puipui, Teppei was asked "what's something you like to touch?" He replied "Ei-chan's earlobe." When Wentz got upset at this answer, and tried to say that Teppei had never touched his earlobe, Teppei said back calmly, "I touch it when you're asleep. You didn't notice, right? You always fall asleep before me."  
• From 2005, he started subscribing to Asahi Newspaper. He said it was because he liked the commentaries. However, from that same month, Wentz started his own series of articles, called "Wentz Eiji no Lucky Punch" for the Yomiuri Newspaper. So, Teppei also bought the Yomiuri evening paper.    
• For four years in a row, they spent Christmas, traditionally a holiday that couples spend together, with just the two of them. The first year they took purikura together in Shinjuku. The second year they ran together, just the two of them, in a full marathon. The third year, the two of them ate Hamburg steaks together at a high class restaurant. The forth year they spent together shooting for the movie Love Com.
• When he's writing lyrics for a love song, he always imagines, "if it were Wentz..." and tries to think about how Wentz would feel, too.
• Teppei doesn't like the fact that Wentz goes on vacations alone. When they talked about it on the show Gekka Ongaku-dan, he said with a very displeased expression, "he leaves me all alone and goes."
• Wentz shocked Teppei when he said "okay, I'm going to go to the hot springs by myself. I'll be back." (And on a side note, Teppei shocked Wentz when he said "When I see Ei-chan's face I feel calm," to which Wentz replied, "I don't know what you mean.")
• Teppei's objective for 2006 was "Going on a trip together Ei-chan" (from an episode of Sakigake! Ongaku Banzuke in 2006). He said he's like to go to the hot springs in Hakone or go snow boarding. He was going to visit Eiji on the set of Gegege no Kitarou in Kyoto when he was on the way home to Osaka, but in the end he ended up by himself, and also surrounded and groped by a group of students.  
• Teppei would like to take Wentz fishing. However, because Wentz has no interest in fishing, he always turns Teppei's offers down (from an episode of Hanamaru Cafe).
• When asked "If one of you was a girl?" they both answered "We would date each other" (from an episode of Music Fighter).
• When they had just finished a JUNON shoot and Wentz was about to go to another work, Teppei went to see him off, and with a big smile on his face, gave him a copy of his second photo book, kiss me, kiss me (from Platinum JUNON Secret Stories).
• During the editing of the "5 senchi" music video, Teppei suddenly had a terrible pain in his stomach. Even though it was pouring rain out, Wentz took him to the hospital, and because Teppei was in too much pain, listened to what the doctor had to say. On the way home, he bought foods for Teppei to eat, like jello and salad.
• Once, when Teppei was making music at his place together with Wentz, Wentz got hyper and started jumping up and down on Teppei's bed while playing the guitar. A strange noise came from the bed, and Teppei called out, "cut it out!" Wentz did, but after a while Teppei came back from what he was doing and sat down on the bed. It broke, and Teppei blames that on Wentz, saying, "It was my partner's fault."

Body of Works 

Television Dramas

• 2002 - Tentai Kansoku (Fuji Television) ... Yamada Noboru
• 2003 - Okaasan to Issho (Fuji Television) ... Koyabakawa Naoki
• 2003 - Anata no Jinsei Ohakobishimasu! (TBS) ... Kogure Yoshimatsu
• 2003 - Yankii Bokou ni Kaeru (TBS) ... Murase Motoya
• 2004 - Water Boys 2 (Fuji Television) ... Iwata Iwao
• 2004 - Devision1 (Fuji Television) ... Komiya Yuu (guest star, episode 8)
• 2005 - Gokusen 2005 (Nihon Television) ...  Takeda Keita
• 2005 - Dragonzakura (TBS) ...  Ogata Hideki
• 2005 - Oniyome Nikki (Fuji Television) ... Sawamura Ryousuke
• 2006 - Iryuu -Team Medical Dragon- (Fuji Television) ... Ijyuuin Noburu

Movies

• 2005 - Dare ga Tame ni ... Young Yamagisih Tatsuya
• 2006 - Love Con ... Ootani Atsushi (*first lead role)
• 2006 - My Favorite Girl-the movie- ... Igarashi Hayato

Variety Television Shows

Shows that he appeared on in the past as a regular:

• Ame ni mo Makezu (Fuji Television)

Guest appearances:

• All Star Kanshasai (TBS)
• Quiz Presen Variety Q-sama!! (Television Asahi)
• CHIMPAN NEWS CHANNEL (Fuji Television)
• Sui10! Wannai R&R (Fuji Television)
• Vanilla Kibun (Fuji Television)
• Haneruno Tobira (Fuji Television)
• Warette ii tomo (Fuji Television)
• Tunnels no mina-san no okage deshita (Fuji Television)
• Lion no gokigenyou (Fuji Television)
• Ou-sama no Branch (TBS)
• Shinshun kakushi geitaikai (Fuji Television)  

Music

• Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ (Fuji Television)
• Gekka Ongaku-dan (TBS)
• Utaban (TBS)
• Music Station (Television Asahi)
• POP JAM (NHK)
• Music Fighter (Nihon Television)
• Michami no meikyoku 100sen kokoro ni nokoru ai no ikkyoku "Ano toki kiita, utatta no ha konna uta" (Nihon Television)
• Gekkan Melodix! (Television Tokyo)
• Music Express (BS2)

CM

• 2006 - Public Company USEN (Web Distrubution) "GyaO" (with Wentz Eiji)
• 2006 - Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. "Mentholatum Acnes" (with Wantanabe Rinko)
• 2006 - Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. "Mentholatum Acnes" (with Okamoto Rei)
• 2006 - Morinaga Milk Industry "Aloe Yogurt"
• 2007 - Morinaga Milk Industry "Akai Aloe Yogurt"

Anime

• 2006 - Crayon Shin-chan "Love Love Kon Special" (Television Asahi) ... Ootani Atsushi

Discography
Singles

1. "Kimi ni okuru uta" (released Feb. 14, 2007)
2. "My brand new way" (released April 25, 2007) 

Literature

Photo Books

• 2005 - first letter from TEPPEI (July 15)
• 2006 - kiss me , kiss me (October 13)

 Magazines

• 2007 - Bessatsu Margret (in the February issue is a special comic called "Koike Teppei Story -Bokura no Ibasho-")  

Other Regular Appearances

• JUNON
• Myojo

 
Sources
Japanese Wikipedia

A member of the duo WaT along with Koike Teppei.


CV

• 1989
  • Modeling debut (age 4).  Called the "Angelic Young Boy," he appeared in a variety of magazines and commercials.
• 1995
  • Stars in the Gekidan Shiki version of the musical Beauty and the Beast as Chip (age 9).
  • Stars in the NHK children's show, Tensai Terebi-kun and Tensai Terebi-kun Wide as a regular cast member.
  • Appears in the 46th Annual NHK Kouhaku Gassen as a back dancer for Moritaka Chisato.
• 1998
  • Appears in the 49th Annual NHK Kouhaku Gassen as a back dancer for Nishida Hikaru.
• 2000
  • After 5 years as a regular, he finishes his run on Tensai Terebi-kun.
  • Gains popularity after he appears in the Coca Cola commercial "Mori no Mizu da yori ~Beautiful Boy Version."
  • Briefly retires from the entertainment industry. 
• 2001
  • Enters Nihon University Sakuragaoka High School. Resumes career in the entertainment industry.
• 2002
  • Plays the role of Mori Ranmaru in the NHK Historical Drama Toshiie Tomatsu. Begins appearing on variety television (age 16).
  • Makes a singing-songwriting duo with Koike Teppei. Begins doing street performances.
• 2004
  • Graduates from Nihon University Sakuragaoka High School. Releases the indies single "Sotsugyou TIME" (WaT).
  • Cast in his first lead announcing job in the variety television show Pretty Kids (until March 2005).
• 2005
  • Has his first lead role in a drama in the afternoon drama Tadashii Renai no Susume. His passionate love scenes with an older woman and his kiss with another guy become gossip.
  • Has his major label debut under Universal Music with the single "Boku no Kimochi" (WaT). 
  • Appears in the 56th Annual NHK Kouhaku Gassen, this time as a musician with WaT. It has only been two months since their debut, giving WaT a place in history as the newest band ever to appear on the program.
• 2006
  • Becomes a main regular member in the famous shows Ainori and Ponkicki (both on Fuji Television). He's also a semi-regular member on a number of other shows.
  • While in France, he was scouted by the French high fashion magazine "Jalouse." Makes his debut as a world model.
  • Acts as an official supporter of the 2006 World Volley Ball Championship (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist award at the 43rd Annual Golden Arrow Awards (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist of the year award at the 20th Annual Japan Golden Disc Awards (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist award at the 39th Annual Best Hit Song Festival (WaT). 
  • Wins a special award at the 39th Annual Japan Yuusen Awards (WaT).
  • Wins the best new artist award at the 48th Annual Japan Record Awards (WaT).
  • Appears for the second year in a row in 57th Annual NHK Kouhaku Gassen (WaT).
• 2007
  • First lead role in a feature film in the movie Captain Tokio.
  • Throws the first pitch at the Pro Baseball Pacific League game "Seibu v. Rakuten."
  • Lead role in the movie Gegege no Kitarou.
  • Debuts his solo music career with the single "Awaking Emotion 8/5" (The theme for the movie Gegege no Kitarou)

About Eiji

• The second child of a German-American father and a Japanese mother. He has very pale skin and hazel green (also have been called weak tea color, green, and gray-blue) eyes. However, since he was born and raised in Japan, and his only language is Japanese, he has developed a complex about his foreign appearance. Also, he is secretly self-conscious of the fact that he has pink nipples.
• The "Ei" of "Eiji" apparently comes from Segawa Eiko (a famous singer).
• He has a beauty that anyone can appreciate but prefers to have people focus on his comedian side.  
• From a small age, he has had perfect manners and perfect usage of polite-speech, which caused the producer of the historic drama he appeared in, as well as others like Imada Kouji, to remark that his mastery of the Japanese language is "perfect" and "spot on."
• He has been courted and given love confessions by countless numbers of men. It also seems he's had times where he was approached by men who thought he was a women, and in the magazine "Funny Stories that Really Happened" there was a report from a male reader who had approached him by accident. Also, he has been frequently been called out to by host club workers.
• His close friends and his fans call him "Ei-chan." On Ainori, he gets called "Wenty."
• Because his parents both worked when he was little and he spent most of his time at his grandmother's house, he loves traditional Japanese food.
• His favorite foods are udon, unmilled rice, mentaiko, botan shrimp, nattou, cake, etc. In particular, he has called udon the "most delicious food in the world." His least favorite foods are scallops, the konbu seaweed in oden.
• His favorite alcohols are Awamori (Okinawa-style liquor) and Koshu (aged sake). When he gets drunk, he gets loud and cheery, but it's also been reported that he'll start off on very serious, heart-felt speeches.
• He's afraid of heights and also doesn't like bugs. His weak point is his neck. He can swim almost 50 meters without taking a breath (because he doesn't know how to swim and breathe at the same time).
• When he's sleeping, it seems that he's completely still and quiet, like he's charging. Also, because he has low blood pressure, he has a very hard time waking up, and doesn't breathe at all, which makes him look like he's dead (according to Teppei).
• He has said he loves children and after he gets married, he wants four. He thinks that in the future, he'll be strict on his children. Also, he loves animals and keeps both a cat and a dog.

Personality

• Unlike his appearance, he's a young person who has the maturity of an old person.
• His personality is that of someone who is cheerful, kind, and likes to laugh and talk, but reportedly at home he is surprisingly quiet and basically a pessimist. Also, he does not do well when he gets complimented and is actually a really shy person.
• According to Teppei, he's "talkative, mature, and really shy."  When Teppei compares him to an animal, it's either a falcon (always looking out for himself and whatever is around him) or a Siberian husky (because of the eye color and outward appearance).
• He is gentle and doesn't usually get angry (only about once a year). However, when he does get angry, it seems he's very scary.
• From his producers and co-stars, he is often called "polite," "serious," and "smart" and also has a stoic side. Also, it's often said that he's good at "reading a situation" (this is a reason why he gets many movie and drama offers). His co-star Miwa Akihiro has said of him, "He pretends like he's stupid but in reality he's very clever. He's not a dummy."
• It's not often talked about, but he has a surreal way of thinking. This was talked about in his Tensai Terebi-kun years and also by actor Itou Seikou.
• Unlike his image, which is that he's a very open person, he is actually secretive. During interviews, when the topic shifts to something deeply personal, he tends to skillfully use metaphors and similes to avoid answering the questions directly.
• He has pronounced himself an "M (masochist)."
• On Ainori, for some reason he often gives feminine opinions. Because of this, he often gets made fun of by both Imada and Hisamoto Masami.
• Sometimes his way of thinking or his gestures are girlish.
• He hates the phrase "Summer Love." According to him, "I don't understand the meaning of a love that would end in one summer."
• Though he doesn't seem to be conscious of it, it seems he often says "miracles don't happen by chance." In the theme song for the World Volleyball Championships, there's even a line that says "miracles just don't happen by chance." He has said things like "miracles happen because you try hard" and "people who don't try hard don't get miracles, people who don't try hard aren't lucky," both on television and in news articles. Because of that he's a hard worker, but he hasn't directly said so himself. However, he's been called  "the silent worker" (in JUNON).

Interests

• From fifth grade he has practiced moxibustion.
• He loves music.
• He always carries a book in his bag with him. Lately he's been reading a book by Oota Hikari.
• He loves baseball and is well known for being a fan of the Seibu Lions. Also, it seems that his grandfather runs a batting center.
• In 2007, he threw the first pitch of the season for the pacific league in the game "Seibu v. Rakuten." About two years before in August of 2005, he wrote in his personal blog things like "I want to play baseball," "I love Seibu so much," and "From now on, I'll do my best to get shown at the first season of the game," and finally his wish was able to come true. Wentz, who has gone to so many games since he was a child, so the number "230" that he wore on his uniform when he threw the first pitch was actually the train fare that he had to pay to go one way from his house to the baseball stadium.
• He had the dream of becoming an NBA player and from elementary school to high school, he was a member of his school's basketball club. In high school he became swamped with showbiz work and had to give up playing, but after that he joined a private club team. He was also in both the baseball club and the gymnastics club in elementary school.
• He loves all sports and keeps up on them all, from baseball to sumo.
• In the winter, he goes with selected friends to snowboard, and it seems he's quite skilled at it.
• He is a huge fan of the pro-golfer Miyazato Ai and on television and magazines is often throwing out her name. According to him, he just wants to show how much he respects her. On the segment of the show Tunnels no Minasan no Okage Deshita, "Shin Kuwazu Kirai Oukettesen" (aired January 11, 2007), he pleaded that if he won the competition, he would get Miyazato's mail address. However, the result of the show was a tie. Despite that, though, it seems that Miyazato gave her acceptance and told him her mail address.
• He is a Dragonball maniac and on an episode of Downtown DX he faced off against fellow maniac Enari Kazuki with a Dragonball trivia quiz, flooring their co-stars and the audience members with their knowledge.   Also, on an episode of IQ Supli that he appeared in, he was mad because there was a Dragonball animation in which both Imada and Ishizuka Hidehiko made cameos and he did not.

Family

• His family consists of a father, mother, a brother who is 5 years older than him, and him. Other than Wentz, his other family members can all speak English.
• Wentz's parents didn't teach him English because "he is growing up in Japan" and also they "didn't want him to learn both languages only half way."
• His father is German-American and his eyes are green. His parents met right after his father had come to Japan, as they worked in the same company, and were soon married.
• Because his father only spoke English at that time, his mother went to ECC for English classes, and she became so good at English that she's won awards for it.
• Wentz's older brother looks very Japanese, and when the two of them are together, no one thinks that they are brothers. However, because he studied at ECC, he became fluent in English and has even studied at university in America. They are extremely close and Wentz loves his brother very much.
• When his father scolds him or his expression seems like he will, it seems that Wentz automatically answers "Yes... Yes..." in English.
• He has said "I can't find the 'speaking English' gene."
• Other than Wentz, all of his family members have birthdays where the number of the month is the same as the number of the day. (His mother's birthday is July 7, his brother's birthday is Feb. 2.) Because of that, Wentz's mother wanted to have Wentz be born on October 10, but in the end he came two days early. It seems that Wentz is disappointed that he wasn't born on October 10.
• Because both of his parents worked, Wentz spent a lot of time with his grandmother. She calls him "Ei-san."
• At his own apartment, he keeps a dog called Ozawa-kun. It's named after Ozawa from the member of the comedy duo, Speedwagon. It seems that the other member of Speedwagon, Itoda, bought a puppy for Ozawa as a present for moving into a new place, but that Ozawa actually hates dogs, and so gave Ozawa-kun to Wentz. He regularly calls him "Oza-kun." The breed of the dog is Wire Haired Miniature Dachshund.
• He also keeps a cat, Nana, at home. She was an abandoned cat that Eiji found when he was a kid, and in the beginning, he tried to keep her on his head (of course, he eventually gave up).

Young Wentz

• Born October 8, 1985. When he was born, his hair was so blond that it was almost white, and it seems that as he's grown up, it's gotten darker and darker.
• Because he was blond when he was young, he got called names like "Blond Foreigner," "Non-Japanese" and was often pointed at. He has had experiences of being highly prejudiced against due to his foreign looks, as well as the fact that he was working in the entertainment industry.  Keeping in mind that he also doesn't speak English, it can be seen that the conflict between who he is inside and what he looks like on the outside has given him quite a complex. When asked about this he hardly ever talks about it, instead answering cheerfully, "no matter what I do, this is how I am, so it can't worry about it." However, when asked the question "Are you bad at receiving compliments about your face?" he answered, "Sometimes I think... how can I get people to stop judging me by what I look like on the outside? I'd better improve my inside," so one can understand that he really does feel that conflict. It can be assumed that Wentz's passion to be known as a "comedian" came from this conflict. At age 19, he said, "The complex became my weapon. We don't know what can come to fruition in this life." 
• In first grade, because of people looking at him, he became conscious that he was different. "I'm an American..."  In third grade, when his English classes started, to bury the gap between how he looked and who he was, he studied English very, very hard. By forth grade, he realized he had absolutely no ability at all. "I can't speak English..."  However, in sixth grade, though before then he'd always get laughed at when people noticed he was studying English, and he'd get upset when people talked about his foreign looks, he suddenly reversed his opinion. He was able to smile about it, thinking "my outside appearance is yummy," and moving on.
• In Elementary school, he'd put kids who he wanted to be friends with in a head lock.
• Even from a young age he had the inclination to reject English, and when someone would say "hello" to him in English he'd answer back "konnichiwa" in Japanese. He doesn't know himself why this is, and says, "I think my parents were also bewildered."
• According to his mother, from the time he was small he loved to talk, and spoke well. In elementary school, he told his mother, "I want to be the center of the family!"
• Though they weren't tasty, as a habit he ate bugs when he was little. When his father saw that, he was surprised and angered, and said "Eiji, ate, firefly!" But because of the lack of fluency, Wentz couldn't understand (however, he did understand from his father's expression that he was mad, so he stopped eating bugs).
• Though they were strict on his older brother, Wentz's parents raised him under the principle of laissez faire. Also, once when his parents were mad at him and locked him out of the house, he doesn't know what he was thinking, but he took a nearby toy and smashed the glass so he could get back inside. Because of this, his parents were dumbfounded and thought "he's a little bit of a strange boy," but at the same time, they stopped being mad at him.
• In fifth grade, one day Wentz found out from a friend that on that day there'd be an abacus test at school. Because he hadn't studied, he escaped from the class room. Though he went straight home, when the school noticed that he'd disappeared, they called his mother at work, exclaiming, "Your son's been kidnapped!" There became quite a commotion.
• When he was in school, he got called "Stance" as a mean nickname (others include things like "Wentz-chester sauce")
• At a baseball game, because he was not a regular on the team, he sat out on the bench. At that time, the other team misunderstood why he was there and said, "They've got a foreign supporter on their team!" They were scared and thought that Wentz was the team's secret weapon.
• From first grade until sixth grade, he had one-sided affections for the same girl. In middle school, he thought he'd confess his love to her, but before he could, the girl transferred schools. (After she transferred, he got a letter from the girl saying "I liked you," so it was actually mutual feelings.)
• In his first year of high school, he gets hemorrhoids. The source of these hemorrhoids is unknown, but Wentz said, "I have them in the five o'clock position.
• He liked to trap himself in the space between the bed and the wall.

Work

• First work as a model at age 4. Began his work in the entertainment industry. Worked for the company "Sugar & Spice."
• After first appearing in many magazines and commercials, he was cast onto the hugely popular children's television show, Tensai Terebi-kun (he was a regular on that show for five years).   
• His mother was not a stage mom so there were many times where he went to work by himself on the train.
• Appeared in the "First Annual Dandy Elementary Schooler Contest" on the show Tunnels no Sei de daradara Ikasete!
• After he finished Tensai Terebi-kun (age 14), he was quickly scouted by Johnny's Entertainment but for the reasons "I hate dancing" and "I like comedy" he turned the offer down. Also, the production company he had been working for went out of business, so he also retired temporarily. For one year, he lived a normal life. After that (age 15), he got an offer from his current production company. On a side note, Burning Productions took him up at the request of Go Hiromi, who had been keeping track of Wentz's activities.

 
Studies

• He loves horses, and had seriously considered going to jockey school. (In his elementary school graduation album, he wrote that he wanted to be a jockey.) However, in his three years of middle school, he grew 30 centimeters, so he had to give up. 
• He did very well at school, and in high school he managed to rank as high as 8th out of 400 students. He loves language arts and math, and in particular he has said he finds Chinese literature interesting. Unfortunately, though, he has a very difficult time with English, and even failed some English tests. On the first English test he took in high school, though, because of his outward appearance, some students sitting around him copied off of him. When their results were bad, he said it was "divine punishment" because of cheating.
• He once had a part time job at Man to Man, the cram school that he also used to go to. He tutored in language arts and math.
• In his high school's cultural festival, he was on the action committee, in charge of setting up lights for the stage. He really loves to use his hands and construct things.
• He is the creator of a new method of studying, which he calls "naked studying." He felt that his desk was too tall, and couldn't properly concentrate, but at the same time, if he studied on the floor or in bed, he always fell asleep. So he began to study in his living room after everyone else in his family went to bed. Unfortunately, because it was late at night, he'd fall asleep too. That's why he thought about doing naked studying. He said that the reasons he decided to go naked were, "because I didn't know when my family would wake up, I had to stay alert," "when it was winter, it was cold and so I couldn't fall asleep," and "it was natural and the information just went into my head." (From an episode of Sanma! Odoru Goten!! he was on when he was 17 years old.)
• In his last year of high school, on the day of the practice for the graduation ceremony, he cried by himself. In his third (final) semester of school, he had been very busy with work and hadn't been able to attend very much, and that day had been his first attendance in a long time. Because of that he was afraid of his classmates and if they would make fun of him, but the fact that they hadn't changed at all and treated him as a good friend, mixed with the fact that he was sad about having to separate from them, he cried. However, at the actual ceremony, he didn't cry at all.

 
Comedy Career

Character

• Other than his handsome looks, Wentz has the natural inclinations of a showman, so much so that he'll even show off his butt for the sake of getting a laugh. For this reason, it's said that he holds a position close to that of a young comedian. Also, because of that, it's also rumored that other young comedians are very intimidated by him.
• With his exotic half-Japanese beauty and because he has such a varied career since his late teens, he is going down an unprecedented road in the entertainment world as a multi-faceted entertainer. 
• In an overwhelming amount of the variety programs he's on, in terms of talking his base character is that of a weak and masochistic person. He often cries, displays impatience, and has big reactions to things. Along with this, he sometimes shows his more surreal side as well.
• His knowledge and reverence for comedy is great, and he recognizes that his love for it comes from many famous people such as Akashiya Sanma, Sekine Tsutomu and Imada Kouji. Also, it seems that television producers have taken notice of his ability to assess himself and his sense of how to make people laugh, as when there is a position open for a young funny guy in a television show, he is often written at the top of the list of people that fit the description (broadcasting author Ebi Katsuya).
• He tapes and watches all of the television shows in which he has appeared. He likes to check what of the things he said during the taping were cut and which were used for the program. He analyzes the comment choices so that he can improve, and has so much aspiration it's almost scary (broadcasting author Ebi Katsuya).
• He's often scolded, "Why that much," or "You're going off on a tangent," or "Where are you going with this, Wentz?" but despite that, he doesn't worry about changing his topic of conversation.

His Comedy Master, Yamazaki Housei

• The person he respects the most is Yamazaki Housei. He has a student-teacher relationship with Yamazaki, and it's reported that every year they go together to the Sumidagawa fireworks display. They met when they appeared together on NHK's Tensai Terebi-kun, was very influenced by him, and has admired him from that time on. 
• In the time when Wentz had temporarily retired from the entertainment industry (see the section "Work" in the section about his childhood), when the two of them went together to the fireworks display, Yamazaki was frank with Wentz about the fact that he was going to get married. It seems that out of anyone, Wentz was the first one he told, and also said "There's a baby in my wife's tummy. You're like my son, so when the baby is born, you'll have a baby sister."  Wentz was so moved by those words that he decided he wanted to go back into the entertainment industry. Wentz said "If it wasn't for master [Yamazaki], I wouldn't be here today." It is apparent that Yamazaki's influence on Wentz is very big. (This information comes from an episode of Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ.) 
• From Yamazaki, he was taught, "If you're ever in trouble, just use a big voice" (also, "if you're stuck, sing a song," etc.).
• His admiration for Yamazaki isn't just in words. Yamazaki's influence is also seen in a variety of Wentz's facial expressions.
• However, because to him Yamazaki "exists as a god" and he cannot often meet him directly, Wentz cites that he has other people who teach him face to face, like Imada Kouji, Miyasako Hiroyuki, and Shinagawa Hiroshi.

The Tensai Terebi-kun Years

• Starting in forth grade, in his 5 years as a regular on NHK's Tensai Terebi-kun, he co-starred together with such stars as Dachou Kurabu, Kya~in, and Yamazaki Housei.
• During his run on the show, though he wasn't yet a comedic character, he did gain much more popularity than his other cast members, enough that people would wait for his appearances. However, while he contained a naive innocence, he would sometimes make surprisingly tepid, surreal statements, and was very different than most children. When asked about how Wentz was at that time, Yamazaki Housei answered, "while he was a child, he could see everything very objectively."
• When asked by a small child about why, in a mini-series within Tensai Terebi-kun called "Kyuumei Senshi Nano Saber," the real life scenes switched to animation, he answered, "It's a problem of money and acting ability."
• In his fifth and final year he was invited by Jimmy Mackey to go out to eat with some international friends, but he didn't go. When asked on the television show why he didn't, he answered with teary eyes, "It's because I can't speak English."
• There was a Tensai Terebi Musical with the plot of a half-Japanese who could only speak Japanese. When defending himself, his character's line was, "Well it's because I was born and raised in Musashino!"
• In a project called "Okay, Cheese!" where he had to go to Taiwan, even though Wentz talked in Japanese the whole time, he kept on getting joked at by an old Taiwanese guy who loved Japan, who said over and over, "Speak Japanese!"

High School Years

• After his comeback to the entertainment world, he is cast in the NHK historical drama and the number of variety television shows that he appears in keeps increasing.
• At age 16, with his first appearance on Odoru! Sanma Goten!!, he was shocked because he was so nervous that he didn't speak a word. After the shooting, the manager felt bad and took him to the champon ramen restaurant, Ringer Hut, to eat. However, Wentz was still so shocked that he threw up the champon that he ate. That became a trauma, and though he always loved champon before, to this day he is unable to eat it again.
• At age 17, he discussed his hemorrhoids on Odoru! Sanma Goten!! Later, that discussion won him an award from the show. Moreover, because of that Wentz became a regular on the show, which caused the host of the show, Akashiya Sanma, to remark "On this show, he's our only heartthrob!" This was almost directly one year after he had the champon incident.
• On Odoru! Sanma Goten!! after it was revealed that his "master of comedy" was his beloved Yamazaki Housei, he said that he'd like to become an entertainer just like Yamazaki. To that, Akashiya Sanma replied, "You, you'd better think about that long and hard. With your good looks, you're already set."
• In the history of Odoru! Sanma Goten!! he was the only young, hot actor to be cast. Also, he was the only high school student (age 17) to ever be cast. About Wentz, Akashiya Sanma said, "Every day he comes completely prepared with things to say about the topics we'll talk about. He's excellent."
• On a program called Testing the Limits of the People of the World, he had a section where he had to wear different kinds of things and go into the pool without being stopped by a lifeguard. He successfully entered while wearing a professional swimming style racing suit, a woman's bikini, and traditional Japanese underwear. However, he was stopped from entering when wearing a wet suit and white brief underwear.
  

After High School

• By the time he graduates high school, he's appeared in over 100 television shows.
• He has gotten some confidence in his reaction shots, and aims at getting picked to do things such as going bungee jumping or entering a boiling-water bath. He studied a lot from a Dachou Kurabu DVD. His adult goal is to be able to become very good at giving reaction shots.  
• On an episode of Downtown DX, when Sekine Tsutomu was asked to name his rival, he said it was Wentz. He backed up his statement by saying "he's good at being an air-head," "his disposition is eerie," "he feels menacing to me." In his sleep, Sekine called out "W-Wentz!" and it said it really surprised his wife. (After that, Sekine often gave Wentz's name when he was asked about who his rivals were.)
• He is a member of the Comedian Bowling League. He won the right to participate in JAPAN CUP 2005, but because he was busy with shooting his afternoon drama, his spot went to the second place member in his bowling league, Hata Youku.
• He was told by the fortune teller Hosoku Kazuko "When you're 26, if you open a sports shop, it will prosper and you'll become rich."
• On the show Haneruno Tobira he went to a baseball stadium and squatted on the field in only his underwear. Like that he played a tambourine and stomped on the ground. Four months later, he dressed up like Francisco de Xavier, stripping down to his underwear again and kneeling on the ground, then doing a three-point hand stand.
• On a corner on Mecha x 2 Iketeru, called "Yabecchi Zushi," he ate sushi in his underwear. Later, he also was targeted in the feature "Mushi Ne o-KING" as the beautiful comedian, and had a stag beetle pinch both his nose and his nipple. He got the fifth best time, and in the end, while Ninetynine's Okamura Takashi teased his nipple, he screamed out the seemingly meaningless gag, "Abacus teacher!!" It can be noted that he was also wearing only his underwear that time, too.
• On Odoru! Sanma Goten!! he sited Wakatsuki Chinatsu as the variety talent who he considered  a rival. He exclaimed, "I don't know how many years it will take, but I will become more interesting than Wakatsuki Chinatsu!!" (She also said that he was her rival, and countered back, "I'll smash you!")
• On an episode of Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ it was revealed that Wentz was once a member of the famous group of entertainers in the group "Yamamoto's Army" (it's a group of people picked by Yamamoto Seiichi, of the former comedy duo Gakuraku Tonbo). However, once in the group, he quickly retired from it. Shouji Tomoharu, from the comedy duo Shingawa Shouji, called him a "traitor." However, Wentz claims that it was because, when he went eating with Yamamoto's Army and Mr. Yamamoto, all of the talking was about women, and not very interesting for him, because he had hoped that there'd be more talk about comedy.
• Once, when he slipped up during the filming of a television show and got depressed about it, Shinagawa Shouji's Shinagawa Hiroshi told him "You're an idol, so you shouldn't get so worried about it!" Wentz replied emotionally, "I don't want to want to fall into the trap of becoming a talent who just shows a normal-looking face the whole show and then goes home!"
• When he wrote a mail message to Shinagawa saying that he messed up, he got a reply saying, "Even if you say you messed up, it was just a little mess up, right?" In response to that, Eiji answered, preaching to Shinagawa, even though Shinagawa is older than him, "There's no such thing as a "little mess up" or a "big mess up!" A mess up is a mess up! Once you've thought about that, please fix your message and send it again."
• The first time he rode the New York subway, he got a metro card. He still carries it in his wallet, because he likes the English writing on the back. However, he does not understand what the writing means.

Adult career

• At age 21, he reported that his hopes for the future were "to keep on living" and "to have plenty of work to keep him occupied." 
• On WaT's first appearance on Kouhaku Uta Gassen, they had their microphones knocked down by a moving camera man. In that time, Wentz didn't lose his cool and kept singing without so much as a flinch. The audience, moved by this, clapped in time with the music, and eventually the microphones were returned to their original positions. When asked about this, Wentz says it's not really a good memory for him, but there was a lot of people who said because Wentz loves comedy, that the "comedy god fell down on him."
• In the 2006 WaT Live performance, Wentz played the character "Miyoshi," the guide of a suicide cult who dressed in a tight black body suit with a strange protuberance coming out of his head, and party glasses, who yelled out things like "Ah! Lick lick lick lick lick!" Much of this performance was adlib, and all of it drew laughs from the audience, which prompted Messenger Kuroda (Wentz's co-star from Barioku!) to exclaim on a radio show, "He's already a comedian!"
• He was cast for such popular shows as Ponkicki and Ainori. From Ponkicki, which is aimed at young children, to D no Gekijou, which is aimed at middle aged ladies, he stars in a broad range of show types. In Ponkicki, a children's show which also contains segments like Thomas the Tank Engine and the Yellow Prickles, he easily fit in with famous characters Gachapin and Mukku, becoming a popular character with children. Also, as he appears on Nounai Esute IQ Supli, a show popular among a wide age group, making him all the more popular.
• Mitani Kouki (a playwright, script writer, and actor) wrote an essay entitled "Wentz, Do Your Best! The Future of Japanese Comedy Depends on You!" Says Mitani, "I've never seen another entertainer with such a good sense of if he 'failed' or 'delivered' to get laughs in his own comments." (Taken from the November 9, 2006 Edition of Mainichi Newspaper in an article called "Mitani Kouki's Mundane Life.")
• At age 21, was rated number one in the goo online celebrity rankings "male celebrity with the most charming lips," "celebrity who seems the most likely to cry at his graduation ceremony," and "celebrity who I'd like to have as my junior."
• The nickname "Horaccho," which was given to him on Utaban (and is rumored to have come from a name given to Wentz by the neighborhood kids when he was younger), has shown up other places. This includes when he was cheering for the World Volleyball Championship, where people called out "Horaccho!" and had fans with the name written on it. He was also called "Horaccho" by Nakai Masahiro (who is one of the hosts of Utaban) during the 2006 Kouhaku Uta Gassen. At that time, Nakai was also acting as MC of the famous musical program. After WaT performed, Nakai called out, "Teppei-kun, Horaccho! Thank you very much!"
• In 2007, Wentz was selected to appear in the commercial for the underwear brand, B.V.D., which was launching a new brand new line called "B.V.D.® Body Gear." In that commercial, he appeared in a number of different colors of underwear while jumping around dramatically. Says Wentz, "the underwear curse was broken."

Acting Career

• At age 9, he made his acting debut as Chip in Beauty and the Beast.  He continued this job for more than a year and a half. To this day, Wentz loves the theatre and often goes to see plays and musicals.
• At age 16, he was cast in the NHK historical drama Toshiie Tomatsu as Mori Ranmaru. It was rare for such an unknown to be cast in such an important role, but at the time the producer said, "He's polite and uses proper Japanese very well. Added to that is the fact that he is handsome young man with an icy type of beauty. The number of scenes he had was limited but it seems he is often studied closely by other people who have played the role of Ranmaru since. For the role, he had to apply skin tone makeup and color contacts to hide his white skin and hazel eyes.
• He had the strong desire to play one of the popular action heroes in Kamen Rider, and even auditioned twice for the show. However, both those times, he did not get chosen. In 2005, his dream was granted as got a part in the special move Kamen Rider THE FIRST. He played an extremely important part in the movie, but was unfortunately not an actual hero.
• At age 19, he had his first leading role in the afternoon romance drama Tadashii Renai no Susume. In this drama, he had such notable scenes as a kiss with another guy and a romance with a woman old enough to be his mother.
• He had a one-cut role in the movie Love Con, which starred Koike Teppei as the male lead. For this small role, he played a cheer girl and had to put on woman's make up and do his hair up in pink bows.  He calls this character the "Dancing Yoshiko Teacher" but he is credited in the end credits as "Dogesa."
• In 2007, he had his first lead role in a motion picture with the film Captain Tokio.
• Also n 2007, he played the title character Kitarou, in the movie Gegege no Kitarou. Feeling stress over getting such an important role, he lost more than 10 pounds in the one month of filming.

Modeling Career

• At age 4, he made his modeling debut after being invited by a friend to go to the park. He was often called on because of his angelic, pure looks and appeared in many magazines as well as commercials for  famous products such as "Tinkerbell" and "Mori no Mizu da yori" (a brand of spring water). He was also chosen to model for LUNA SEA's music video "IN SILENCE."  The setting of the music video was a beach with dead crows. Apparently, he had to hold a real dead crow in his hand, which he he said, "was a tough experience for me because I'm not fond of birds."
• At age 14, he was chosen to be in a commercial for the spring water brand Mori no Mizu da yori, entitled "Mori no Mizu da yori ~Beautiful Boy version." The makers of that commercial went all around Asia, having auditions in Shanghai, Taiwan, Beijing, and Japan. The reason he was chosen out of so many was that "his eyes impressive." (The shooting of the commercial was in New Zealand.)
• In 2006, at age 20, he went to the Cannes Film Festival to promote the animated movie Brave Story. While there, on the way home from a party, he was scouted by a writer from the French high fashion magazine, "Jalouse."
  • His schedule was too busy and so he had to turn down the offer and return home, but a few days later the magazines' staff offered to fly to Japan to do a shoot. It seems that the clothes he was to wear, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, were lined up in one phone call. These brands are famous for denying the use of their clothes to a limited number of magazines, but because the magazine "Jalouse" is such a high level publication, they had no trouble getting the clothes at all.
  • The journalist who scouted Wentz, Alexandra Sénés, is also the editor-in-chief of the magazine, and has made models of such actors as Leonardo DiCaprio and Gael Garcia Bernal. About why she picked Wentz, Sénés said, "he as just as handsome as them [DiCaprio and Bernal] but he has the confidence that he's not just a pretty face, either. I've seen many people in my life, but I've never seen someone like him before."
  • At the time he was being scouted, Wentz was shocked, thinking maybe it was a joke, and answered gayly, "Hah hah, okay, okay!" This proceeded to confuse the interpreter, who wondered why he was answering so correctly to the French.
  • The day after his modeling had been announced, Wentz wrote in his online diary, "Now I've been given the honor of being able to appear in a good magazine, and from now, continuing onto my next jobs, I want to keep myself fresh and together." Because such serious words differed so much from his established comedic personality, he began to be seen as something of a mystery.
  • When the magazine was published, Wentz, unknown overseas, was given rave reviews. People said that in the four pages of his fashion spread he was "beautiful" and "proper looking." (As a side note, Hollywood actress Kikuchi Rinko of BABEL also appeared in this magazine.)

Music Career

• Started learning the piano at age 7 (however, he soon switched over to keyboard, which he used until he was in high school). At age 10, he started to play the bass. During WaT's street performances, he played the accoustic bass and the keyboard. He only started to learn the guitar at age 17.
• For WaT's 4th single, "Bokura no Love Story" he played the piano to accompany his own singing.
• He uses his piano (keyboard) to create songs, and it seems he does a lot of his composition in the bathroom. Songs like "Otonashi" from the album "Sotsugyo TIME ~ Bokura no Hajimari ~" was written in one trip to the bathrom.
• He is a huge fan of Mr. Children and THE YELLOW MONKEY. He also loves Kuroyume and L'Arc~en~Ciel. He is such a big fan of Mr. Children that he even owns the poetry book that the vocalist, Sakurai Kazutoshi, published. He also has a Mr. Children poster hanging on the wall of his room. As for THE YELLOW MONKEY, he says that he knows all of the performances on their DVD by heart. He idolizes the vocalist Yoshii Kazuya, and secretly boasts about the fact that they share the same birthday, October 8. He's also been to many of his concerts. In one of WaT's street performances, he covered the song "So Young" and also has all of his cellphone ringtones set to songs by Yoshii. On his own blog, Wentz often mentions things about Mr. Children and Yoshii such as "Today my beloved Mr. Yoshii will be on television," showing that he's a huge fan. He's an acquaintance of Yoshii, who once said on a radio program, "Someday I want to make him an erotic song to sing." Supposedly, when Wentz heard this, he got too excited to even speak. 
• It seems that he loves bands, and in his teens often went to live houses. The DJ K-tarou of the radio show Recommen! has commented "I saw him probably once a week at a live house."
• He says he likes what he likes. In 2006, he commented in both his blog in magazines that he loved the songs "Ketsui no Asa ni" by Aqua Timez and "Kitto Daijyoubu" by Arashi. When he talks about songs he likes, he says things like "I love it" and "It's such a good song" just like any regular fan.
• He owns an iPod but for some reason prefers to use his beloved Minidisc Player.
• Wentz teamed up with Gachapin and Mukku to sing (and dance to) the song "Lucky de Happy" for Ponkicki. The song was cheoreographed by Rakkii Ikeda.
• On April 25, 2007, Wentz made his solo debut with the theme song for Gegege no Kitarou, "Awaking Emotion 8/5."

WaT

• Since 2002, he has been working with Koike Teppei as the duo WaT.
• In 2004 WaT (which stands for Wentz and Teppei) made their indies debut. In 2005, they made their major label debut.
• The instruments he plays for WaT include: guitar, bass, keyboard / piano, and tambourine.
• Wentz is close to Teppei in real life, and the two of them often meet in private, doing things like going out to eat or going to the movies together.
• More than music, Wentz hopes that his future will travel down road of the comedic entertainment. However, he hates the idea of abandoning Teppei, so he will continue with WaT as long as Teppei wants. (Taken from WaT's November 2005 appearance on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ.)
• Just 2 months after their major debut, WaT was chosen to appear on Kouhaku Uta Gassen, making them the newest band to appear in the program's history. While waiting for their performance, Wentz did a head stand on the sofa in the waiting room. Also, just before the program started as everyone was walking to the set, he had a calming, friendly chat with Kitajima Saburou (a famous singer and actor). Kitajima kindly held him by the arm and said, "Let's go together!"
• It seems that as soon as Teppei finds out what fashion brands Wentz likes, Teppei goes to buy clothes from the same brand. Wentz doesn't like when their clothing brands overlap, though. So, he tries to keep the names of the brands he likes a secret from Teppei. (Taken from JUNON.)

Associates

• Most of the people that Wentz lists as his friends are comedians who are older than him. However, he's also mail friends with people like Matsuzaga Daisuke of the Boston Red Socks, so it is believed that he has a very broad network of friends.
• As they appear together in both Ainori and Nounai Esute IQ Supli, it seems that Wentz is also quite good friends with Imada Kouji in private. Wentz calls Imada "Oniisan [big brother]." On IQ Supli, they often talk about meeting together at the sushi restaurant next to the Fuji Television studios, "Sushikou." Also, there was an incident in which once, at Imada's house, Wentz made a mistake in separating the garbage and Imada got mad at him.
• He often gets advice from Shinagawa Hiroshi (Shinagawa Shouji) and Miyasako Hiroyuki (Ameagari Kesshitai) on what career choices he should make (reported on Hanataka Tengu). Because Miyasako is not only a comedian, but an actor as well, when Wentz was offered the part of a lead in his afternoon drama, he went to consult Miyasako about right away. 
• As both of them are big fans of the Seibu Lions, he is on very good terms with announcer Ogura Tomoaki. Ogura has invited Wentz both to his house and to the store which he owns, and it also seems that Ogura's wife absolutely loves him. Of Wentz, Ogura has said, "he's a very smart boy" and "I'd like to adopt him as my own son" (from Oshareism and Tokudane).  Also, they went together to the Seibu Dome to the Good Will Games.
• He has such a good flow with Ooizumi You that they are often labeled as a comedy duo, "WaO." They also are good friends in private and exchange joking emails in which they make fun of each other. About Wentz, Ooizumi has said "He's actually very clever" and "Even though we're far apart in age, for some reason it feels like we're not." The two of them worked together in both Brave Story and Gegege no Kitarou.
• He is supposedly on great terms with both the comedy duos Speedwagon and Unjash. When WaT had their major debut and Unjash's Kojima Kazuya first heard that Wentz was doing music, he was stunned. "Well, all he ever talks about when we go out to eat is comedy, you know?" said Kojima.  
• He's a rival with model and talent Wakatsuki Chinatsu, but it seems they're also pretty good friends. (On Wakatsuki's blog, she made a post about the 5 people she's secretly friends with, and Wentz was one of them.) He's also good friends with singer and talent Ken Naoko. They work together on D no Gekijou and also both appeared on the drama Kirakira Kenshuui.
• He is friends with actor Suetaka Tomu and goes to him for advice. They acted together on the drama Lion-sensei.

Body of Works

Variety Television Shows

Shows that he's currently appearing in as a regular:

• Nounai Esute IQ Supli (Fuji Television) semi-regular member
• Ainori (Fuji Television) as a commentator [since April 1, 2006] 
• D no Gekijou (Fuji Television) [since September 15, 2006]

Shows that he appeared on in the past as a regular:

• HEN (HAYAMI ENGLISH NETWORK) (Nihon Television)
• Tensai Terebi-kun, Tensai Terebi-kun Wide (NHK)
• Chikara no Kagiri Go- Gogo- (Fuji Television)
• Shuukan! Toku da~ne Kazoku!! (Nihon Television)
• F2, F2-X (Fuji Television)
• Pretty Kids (Television Asahi) * first time as a host
• Hanataka Tengu (TBS Television)
• Barioku! (Nihon Television) * host
• Ame ni mo Makezu (Fuji Television) * host (WaT and Jichou Kachou)
• Ponkicki (Fuji Television)

Television Dramas

• 1997 - Kyuumei Senshi Nano Saber (for NHK Tensai Terebi-kun) ... Battle Medical Staion Medical Officer Ogishi
• 2002 - Toshiie Tomatsu (NHK) ... Mori Ranmaru
• 2002 - Tentei Kazoku (Nihon Television) ... Tomoda Yuuki  
• 2002 - Gokusen (Nihon Television) ... Yuuki Masato (guest star, part 6)
• 2003 - Lion-sensei (Nihon Television) ... Furuta Shou
• 2003 - Fujiko Hemming no Kiseki (Fuji Television) ... Ootsuki Ulf (Ulf Hemming)
• 2004 - Aa, Tantei Jimusho (Television Asahi) ... Inaba Yuusuke (guest star, part 3)
• 2005 - Tadashii Renai no Susume (TBS) ... Takeda Hiroaki *first leading role
• 2006 - RONDO (TBS) ... Toda Masato (guest star, part 1 and 2)
• 2007 - Kirakira Kenshuui (TBS) ... Tachioka Ken  

Movies

• 2005 - Kamen Rider THE FIRST ... Mitamura Haruhiko
• 2006 - Brave Story ... Ashikawa Mitsuru
• 2006 - Love Con ... Dancing Yoshiko
• 2006 - My Favorite Girl-the movie- ... Odagiri Kaeru
• 2007 - Captain Tokio ... Furuta
• 2007 - Gegege no Kitarou ... Kitarou

Theatre

• 1995 to 1996 - The Gekidan Shiki Musical Production of Beauty and the Beast ... Chip 
• 2004 - WaT Entertainment Show 2004 ACT “do” LIVE Vol.1 "Untitled" 
• 2004 - WaT Entertainment Show 2004 ACT “do” LIVE Vol.2 "Yami no Kado"
• 2005 - WaT Entertainment Show 2005 ACT “do” LIVE Vol.3 "Anya no Karasu" and "Untitled"
• 2006 - WaT Entertainment Show 2006 ACT “do” LIVE Vol.4 "Suicide Store" and "IOUJIMA"
  

Commercials

• 1991 - FUJIFILM "Sharun Desu"
• 1992 - BANDAI "Thomas the Tank Engine"
• 1994 - Calpis "Calpis Kids"
• 1995 to 1997 - Tinkerbell "Tinkerbell Children's Clothing"
• 1997 to 1998 - Ajinomoto General Foods "Furifuri Shake"
• 1999 - TDK "TDK’S MD"
• 2000 - Coca Cola "Mori no Mizu da yori ~Beautiful Boy version"
• 2003 - UHA Confections "e-ma nodoame"
• 2005 - Public Company USEN (Web Distrubution) "GyaO" (with Koike Teppei)
• 2007 - B.V.D "B.V.D.® Body Gear"

CDs (Other than WaT)

• 1999 - NHK Tensai Terebi-kun Wide Uta no Tsumeawase "8cm"
• 2000 - NHK Tensai Terebi-kun Wide Tentere Ooiribukuro "Can do it!" and "Seikaijuu no Subete no Iro"  
• 2007 - "Lucky de Happy" [B-side to Koike Teppei's "Kimi ni Okuru Uta"] for Ponkicki 
• 2007 - "Awaking Emotion 8/5" [Debut Solo Single] the themesong for Gegege no Kitarou 

Music Videos

• 1996 - LUNA SEA "IN SILENCE"
• 2002 - MIKIKO "I wanna be…"
• 2007 - HiGE "Donuts ni Shisu" (from the Captain Tokio SOUND&MUSIC ALBUM) 

Other Regular Appearances

• Yomiuri Newspaper serialized articles "Wentz Eiji no Lucky Punch" (from October 1, 2005 to March 4, 2006)
• Duet
• JUNON
• Myojo

Sources
Japanese Wikipedia Article

From episode five on, the young people also got advice from an in-studio guest as well as 5 "life experts" (which changed every week but included people like a professor from Tokyo University, a Mountain Climber, a former government cabinet member, the owner of a snack bar, and 102 year old man). All together, along with WaT and Jichou Kachou, this gave ten suggestions of how to solve the problem. 


Regulars

Koumoto Jyunichi (河本準一) of Jichou Kachou (次長課長).
Inoue Satoshi (井上聡) of Jichou Kachou (次長課長).
Koike Teppei (小池徹平) of WaT.
Wentz Eiji (ウエンツ瑛士) of WaT.

For the first few episodes, the seating arrangement of the four regulars changed around, but finally settled on, from right to left, Koumoto, Koike, Wentz, and Inoue.

 
Episodes
tba.

Sources
Ame ni mo Makezu Official Homepage
Japanese Wikipedia

Ainori

Ainori (あいのり) [Officially named "Renai Kansatsu Variety Ainori (恋愛観察バラエティーあいのり)"] is a variety television program on Fuji Television that is broadcast every Monday from 11:00pm to 11:30pm (except in Aomori Prefecture, where it runs from 11:55pm to 12:25am on TBS). It is a Japanese romance variety show. It first aired on October 11, 1999. 

The concept of the show is simple: seven ordinary people, one pink van [known as the "love wagon"], and a trip around the world. As the participants in the show circumnavigate the globe, they make an effort to find true love. When one of the members wants to make a love confession to another member, they must "buy" two tickets back to Japan from the van driver and ask the member they like to return back to Japan to start a new life with them. If the other member accepts, the two share a kiss and leave the show together. If the other member doesn't accept, then the member who made the love confession must return to Japan alone. 

The show, though mostly footage of the members on their travels, is moderated by three hosts who get an opening talk, a talk about half-way through the show, and a talk at the end of the show.


Hosts

Hisamoto Masami (久本雅美) - from October 11, 1999.
Imada Kouji  (今田耕司) - from October 11, 1999.
Wentz Eiji (ウエンツ瑛士) - from April 10, 2006.
ex-host Katou Haruhiko (加藤 晴彦) - from October 11, 1999 to March 20, 2006.

As Hisamoto and Imada are both middle-aged people who both have been unable to marry, they bring a funny perspective to the show. Wentz, being young, was rumored to have been brought in to give a young person's perspective. It's interesting to note that Wentz often gives a "woman's" perspective when he comments, which causes him to look quite feminine. Because of this, he often gets made fun of by both Imada and Hisamoto.


Downloading

Ainori is available to download each week on the web torrent site, D-Addicts (direct link to Ainori search results). To download, you will need a Bit Torrent downloading client.


Sources
Ainori Official Homepage
Japanese Wikipedia
English Wikipedia

Shinagawa Hiroshi

Shinagawa Hiroshi (品川祐); Real name: Kataoka Hiroshi (片岡祐). Born April 26, 1972. He is a Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. comedian. He is the short-haired (or sometimes buzz-cut haired) member of Shingawa Shouji. He plays the funny-man and when he does comedy, he always stands on the left of his partner, Shouji Tomoharu. His height is 173.6cm. His bloodtype is A. 


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