Info:Name:Tomohisa Yamashita
Nicknames:Yamapi
Birthday:April 9, 1985
Height:5'6"
Weight:100 lbs
Bloodtype:A
Birth place:Chiba, Japan)
Occupation:...hmmm occupation huh? Well, Yamapi is employed by Johnny's Jimusho and he's one of the more popular members. Sabrina's Johnny's Site!(a great fan site with info on everything you want to know about Johnnys)
Tokyo Classifieds(The Tokyo Classifieds has an article in it's "Big in Japan" section on Johnny's Jimusho)
Well first of all, I have to say that I am NOT a Johnny's Juniors fan. I mean, just look at the costumes that they make these kids wear! Sheesh (-_-); The whole concept behind Johnny's freaks me out, i.e. a talent agency that recruits nothing but bishounen and teaches them how to sing, dance, etc so that they can be in boy bands and TV shows. While that doesn't seem like such a bad idea on the surface (I'm a bishounen fan of course ^_^), what I don't like about Johnny's is the way that they market their talent. They make them wear stupid, revealing clothing and their productions, whether it's a TV show or a concert, are always so gaudy that it makes me wanna puke (O_o). Before I talk about how much Yamapi looks like Yuki (or vice-versa), I'll give you some info on Johnny's Juniors.
Johnny's Juniors (aka Johnny's Jimusho) was founded in the 1960's by Johnny Kitagawa. The actual corporation, Johnny's Entertainment, recruits young boys/men between the ages of 10-20 and tries to mold them in to superstars. Johnny's Juniors is basically a group or a pool from which the company creates it's highly successful musical groups.These "Juniors" sing/dance as backup for the groups that have already "made it" while waiting for their chance to be a part of a musical group too.Since the '60s, Johnny's has made a name for itself by producing successful boy bands and you'll probably recognize the names: SMAP, TOKIO, V6, Kinki Kids and Arashi. Johnny's Entertainment really is an empire in that the junior's careers don't end with the musical groups, they have their own TV shows too (ex.SMAPxSMAP) and individual members are often cast in dramas and commercials.
Since all of the juniors are more or less bishounen, Johnny's Juniors quickly became just as popular as the musical groups and so they too have their own concerts (Yamapi sings?!) and they have a slew of TV shows where the more popular Juniors act, do stupid stunts, etc. It wouldn't be so bad if the juniors weren't marketed the way that they are. Very often, you'll see them parading around in see-through costumes and they're often made to take hentai-ish photographs, which sucks because they're all pretty young. To make matters worse, old men and women sometimes frequent their concerts and buy their photobooks (Ewwww). I once saw a news segment that covered a Johnny's Juniors concert and their was this woman in her 40s holding a fan with Takizawa Hideaki's picture on it! I mean, c'mon, Takki may be cute, but he's 19!!! (Yada.)
Now that that background info is out of the way,I'm going to gush about how cute Yamapi is and how much he looks like Yuki-kun! I don't think Takaya-sensei has ever told her fans who the furuba characters are modeled after, but if you look at pictures of Tomohisa Yamashita (below), you'll definitely see a strong resemblance. I mean, just look at the face, the hair... O_o It's Yuki-kun! The pix of Yamapi with the sunflowers reminds me of a lot of Yuki and how he likes to garden. And what about that pix of Yamapi in a girl's seifuku? Even though the design is different from the one in the manga, it still reminds me a lot of that pix of Yuki in a girl's uniform in volume 4 (?).
