Kazukiyo Nishikiori

is a Japanese theatre director and actor. He is a freelance.

Until 2020, he belonged to Johnny & Associates and was a member of the boy band Shonentai.

He is best known for starring in Fall Guy (1999) and for directing Ode to Joy (2018).

History Childhood (1965–1977) Nishikiori was born in 1965 in Setagaya, Tokyo, and moved to Edogawa, Tokyo when he was two years old due to his father's work. Edogawa is an area known as Shitamachi and is located in the eastern part of Tokyo.

His father worked for a company that printed album cover of phonograph record and his mother was a nurse. He was sickly and weak, so his father bought records with the company's employee discount and played him a lot of music when he was often absent from school, and his mother raised him to take good care of his health. However, he said his body naturally became stronger as he played freely outside. As a child, his father often took him not to amusement parks but to yose, horse racing and Keirin. He enjoyed seeing the many unique adults there. In July 1977, when Nishikiori was in the sixth grade, his sister sent his resume to Johnny & Associates and he took the audition. At the time, before the Tanokin Trio broke through, Johnny's was in a slump and only seven or eight people showed up for the audition.

He passed an audition and joined the Johnny & Associates. Katsuhide Uekusa, a member of Shonentai, later said that when he first met Nishikiori, others introduced him as a genius. Nishikiori did backflips so lightly in front of the onlookers that the others began practising backflips frantically, imitating him. At the time, Kitagawa knew that he wanted to be a physical education teacher in the future, but he did not specifically tell him to become a celebrity, he just took him to various movies and shows. He said that because he started his career as an actor, he initially wanted to be a film star, as did several senior members of Johnny's.

At Johnny's, he met Noriyuki Higashiyama and Katsuhide Uekusa, who would later form Shonentai. Higashiyama had a shaved head and looked like Masao Ohba, a boxer active at the time, while Uekusa was impressive because his family was wealthy and he had an oilcloth red bag, as if he was already a celebrity.

They gradually gained popularity even before their debut. At the time, Kitagawa scolded him for caring only about fashion and appearance, and told him to hone his performing skills more. Prior to their debut, Shonentai were given the opportunity to perform at Bloomingdale's, a department store in New York City. The experience of singing and dancing in front of an audience of different languages and cultures made him determined to further improve his performing skills.

At the end of 1984, Nishikiori made a direct appeal to Mary Fujishima, Kitagawa's elder sister, at the 1984 year-end party for Johnny's, asking her to let him make his debut, even if it was on a flexi disc. Then six months later he was informed that their debut had been confirmed.

Debut as Shonentai (1985–2020) On December 12, 1985, Shonentai made their record debut with Kamen Butokai. Nishikori has a well-balanced combination of singing, dancing, and acting abilities, and Kitagawa described him as "a masterpiece of Johnny's." He was also the leader of Shonentai because he was older and had a longer performing career than the other members.

Their debut song "Kamen Butokai" is said to have been reworked many times before its completion, and the phrase "Tonight ya ya ya... tear" at the beginning of the song was invented by Nishikiori. He was known for coming up with different ideas when working on new songs. It has no particular meaning, but was adopted as a catchy phrase that was pleasant to the ear. The phrase "Wakachiko" in their second single "Decameron Densetsu" (The Legend of Decameron) also has no particular meaning, but he liked Japanese band called Spectrum at the time, and was inspired by their debut song, in which they say "Wacchikon" during the interlude.

Nishikiori is currently known for telling amusing stories and jokes, but according to him, he was not an interesting person at the time of his debut and was scolded by Kitagawa, who said, "Your stage banter is not fun. To entertain the audience not only with cool singing and dancing, but also with talk, he says he honed his talk skills by referring to Kenji Sawada, who was a popular with his singing and talking at the time. Later, he became known for telling jokes in interviews.

As an actor After his debut, he worked as an individual actor in parallel with his group activities as Shonentai. In 1988, he played a boxer in the lead role of Golden Boy, a play that originated in the United States.

In the TV series, he played the lead role for the first time in 1988 in In the Night Sky After the Bath. They both said they always watched the actors offstage and gave detailed instructions to them, which was common to both of them.

Nishikiori first became interested in Kohei Tsuka when he was in high school and read one of Tsuka's books and he saw the film Fall Guy, one of Tsuka's best-known works. He awakened his interest in theater, and he staged and directed this theatre production at his high school's school festival.

Tsuka's this theatre production had been performed since 1980, and Nishikiori played the lead role of Ginshiro in 1999, and again in 2000 and 2006. During this time, he was under the tutelage of Tsuka and was deeply influenced by him. Nishikiori directed the musical productions Ode to Joy and Setouchi Koshinkyoku at the Botchan Theatre, Tōon city, Ehime Prefecture, for two consecutive years starting in 2018.

2021 Leaving Johnny's, independence On December 31, 2020, he left Johnny & Associates and became freelancer. Since then, he has been active as a theater director and an actor. The major reason he left Johnny's was the death of Johnny Kitagawa in July 2019. Kitagawa, whom he had been able to consult about anything about his work, had died, and the company became a very large company with several hundred people, unlike when Nishikiori was young and it was a small company with a few dozen people.

Although they did not discuss it, Katsuhide Uekusa, another member of Shonentai, also left the Johnny's at the same time, triggered by Kitagawa's death. and the following year, they held a dinner theater.

In April 2021, Nishikiori launched his official fan club, Uncle Cinnamon Club, and in 2022, he founded Uncle Cinnamon Inc. The reason why it is Cinnamon is because in Japanese, Cinnamon is also called Nikki, which is similar to his nickname.

In 2022, Nishikiori acted for the first time in five years in Salaryman Night Fever, a play he wrote and directed.

After COVID-19 pandemic, he also became interested in contributing to society. He said he wanted to create a production that would cheer up office workers of his age who commute on crowded trains every day, are made sarcastic remarks by their bosses, and are kept at a distance by their daughters when they go home.

He said he became independent after his idol days and wanted to compete as a theater director in a place where no one knew who he was, and that he is now closer to his original self when he lived Shitamachi and before he entered show business.

Musical activities Since leaving the Johnny's, Nishikiori has been freely performing music without being restricted to a group. In 2021, he began his solo music career, launching the independent label Uncle Cinnamon Records and his new single Cafe Uncle Cinnamon and Song for you were released simultaneously on October 29, 2021. In 2022, he and Uekusa held a dinner theater in Tokyo and Osaka, where they entertained the audience with songs from the Shonentai era and a talk mixed with jokes between the two. In 2023, he launched a new project "Funky Diamond 18 (Funky Diamond One Eight)" with Papaya Suzuki, a classmate of his high school, and released a mini album Primemax on July 12, followed by a nationwide live tour Live Tour 2023 Primemax in four cities throughout Japan.

Awards and nominations Year Work Award Category Result Ref. 2018 Ode to Joy All About Musical Awards Family Musical Award

Filmography Films Year Title Role Notes Ref. 1978 Good-bye My Dog Rocky A boy Leading role 1991 ! Keisuke Tsujikawa 1993 The Last of the Lion Kings Tomohiro Eguchi Starring with Show Aikawa 1994 Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture Terry Bogard

TV series (selected) Year Title Role Notes Ref. 1982 Tōge no Gunzō Ichigaku Shimizu Taiga drama ep.22, 27, 29–31, 38, 41–45, 47 1987 In the Night Sky After the Bath Tatsuyoshi Matsui Leading role 1991–1993 Yotaro Otani Mystery Drama Special Detective Norio Muraoka 4 special dramas 1992 Ganryujima Kojiro and Musashi Ukon Sugiyama New year SP drama Pole Position! Dear my love Kosuke Kashiwagi 1993 Hotel Doctor Namihiko Hayama 1993, 1994–1995 Stray Doctor, Your Life Entrusted to Me! Toji Kobayashi 1 SP drama and 1 season 2004 Art Theater Spring Fireflies Hikaru Sugawara Leading role 2004–2007 Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari Yasushi Kikukawa 2 seasons 2009 Special News Reporter: Kohei Kamon's Murder Report Kohei Kamon Leading role 2013 Worst Graduation Ceremony Tatsuhiko Nomura 2002 Charlie Girl Joe Studhome Aoyama Theatre, Chunichi Theatre, Umeda Arts Theater 2004 Cabaret Emcee Tokyo Globe Theatre, Zepp Osaka 2007 Ed's Ball Gonpei Yamamoto Misono-za, Meiji-za 2008 Rose's Dilemma Gavin Clancy Le Theatre Ginza, Umeda Arts Theater 2009 Okawa Watari Ginji Chunichi Theatre Leading role 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 New Year Takizawa Revolution Special Appearance Imperial Theatre 2010 New Year Revolution of Life Special Appearance Imperial Theatre Guys & Dolls Nathan Detroit Theatre Creation 2010, 2011 Debt Collector Oharu Oishi Kuranosuke Meiji-za, Misono-za, Osaka Shochikuza 2013 Atami Murder Case Detective Chief Inspector Denbei Kimura Minami-za (Oyama Kintaro role only on July 19 and 20) 2014 It runs in the family – Don't call me Papa Doctor David Mortimer PARCO Theater Leading role 2015 2015 New Year's Johnnys' World Special Appearance Imperial Theatre 2016 Otafuku Story Sadajiro Meiji-za, Hakata-za 2017 Lady's House Tobe Meiji-za 2022 Salaryman Night Fever (Regional Tour) President Osaka Shochikuza 2023 Salaryman Night Fever (Tokyo Tour) Homeless people Mitsukoshi Theater 2023–2024 Fall Guy The final part: Ginjiro Passes Away Doctor Ikebukuro Theater Green Big Tree Theater 2024 Ah, Friends From The Same Era A superior officer, etc. Mitsukoshi Theater, Minami-za

Theater director, etc. Year Title Notes Theatre Ref. 1995 Playzone '95 King & Joker Writer/Director/Starring as Champ Aoyama Theatre, Festival Hall, Osaka 2009 Playzone 2009 Letter from the Sun Writer/Director Aoyama Theatre, Umeda Arts Theater She Loves Me Director Theatre Creation 2011 Kunio Yanagida and Kappa Director Fukusaki-cho Cultural Center, Hyogo 2012 Teresa Teng's 60th Anniversary Koibito Tachi no Shinwa Director Mitsukoshi Theatre Duet Director Theatre Creation, Umeda Arts Theater, Chunichi Theatre, Canal City Theater 2013 The Odasaku Director Osaka Shochikuza, Shinbashi Enbujo Atami Murder Case Adapted, Director and Starring as Denbei Kimura Sunshine Theater, Minami-za 2014 Atami Murder Case; Qualifying Trial Adapted and director Nippon Broadcasting System, Imagine Studio The Odasaku; Decadence of Love and Youth Adapted and director KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, Minami-za Departure Adapted and director Kabura Bunka Hall, Tomioka City, Gunma, Yamanashi Koranyi Bunka Hall, Fukushima City Public Hall, Shinbashi Enbujo Yokohama Jam Town Original idea and director KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre 2015 The Day They Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Adapted and director Theater 1010, Kitasenju, Minami-za, Hiroshima, Aster Plaza, Medium Hall, Kobe Bunka Hall, Medium Hall, Marinart Main Hall, Shizuoka, Kariya City Cultural Center, Aichi, Japan, Sunshine Theater Ah, Friends From The Same Era Adapted and director Nippon Broadcasting System, Imagine Studio Broken Love Compass Director Ginza Hakuhinkan Theater A.B.C-Z Theatre 2015 Sons of the Mushroom Director Nissay Theatre Jam Town the Live Composition and director Shibuya duo Music Exchange, Yokohama Thumbs Up 2016 Jam Town – A New Musical Original idea and director KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre Ah, Friends From The Same Era; Men in the sky who became winds Adapted and director Hakata Riverain Hall Cuckolded Sousuke Adapted and director Osaka Shochikuza, Fukuoka Momochi Palace, Kariya City Cultural Center, Aichi, Japan, Shinbashi Enbujo The Great Gatsby Director Sunshine Theater, Nagoya Arts Center, ROHM Theatre Kyoto South Hall, Shin-Kobe Oriental Theater The Beginner's Revolutionary Lecture: Hiryuden Director Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall Ah, Friends From The Same Era; Men in the sky who became winds Adapted and director Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall A.B.C-Z 2016 Cheering Shop Co.!; Oh & Yeah! Director Nissay Theatre Laughter on the 23rd Floor Director Kinokuniya Southern Theater Takashimaya, Hakuhinkan Theater, Artpia Hall, Youth Cultural Center, Kurume City Plaza The Grand Hall, Sankei Hall Breeze 2017 Santa, Kawaraban Seller Adapted and director Nippon Broadcasting System, Imagine Studio Cuckolded Sousuke Director Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall 2018 Ode to Joy Director Botchan Theater, Awagin Hall Tokushima Prefecture Local Culture Hall, Tokyo Performance at Tiara Koto Main Hall Case Book of Naniwa Director Osaka Shochikuza, Shinbashi Enbujo The Second Generation is Christian Supervisor Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall Grief7 Director Haiyuza Theater 2019 Setouchi Koshinkyoku Director Botchan Theater Grief7 Sin#2 Adapted and director Kinokuniya Hall 2020 Salaryman Night Fever Writer/director Honjo Matsuzakatei Theater The Legend of Momotaro: A Demon's Requiem Director Botchan Theater Atami Murder Case; The Longest Spring Script cooperation Otsuka Man Theatre Poison and the Old Lady Director (Performances canceled)2021 Shining Monster; Baku no Fuda [Shining version/Shadow version] Director CBGK Shibugeki! Salaryman Night Fever Writer/Director Honjo Matsuzakatei Theater 2022 Frankenstein; cry for the moon Director Kinokuniya Southern Theater Takashimaya, Cool Japan Park Osaka TT Hall The Legend of Momotaro Okayama: Demon's Requiem 2 Director Tennozu Ginga Theater Poison and the Old Lady Director Shinbashi Enbujo, Misono-za, Kurume City Plaza The Grand Hall, Sapporo Doshin Hall, Osaka Shochikuza Hiryuden 2022; Love and Youth in front of the Diet Director Kinokuniya Hall Teihon: Atami Murder Case Supervisor Nakano Pocket Square Theatre Bonbon, Kobe Sannomiya Theater Eto, Nakano Pocket Square Theatre Momo Shining Monster 2nd step -Tengen-tsu- Director Asakusa Hana Theater Salaryman Night Fever Writer/director/performer as President Sendai Denryoku Hall, Tokai Art Theater, Kanazawa Opera House, Toda City Cultural Hall, Fukuoka Suito Yanagawa Hakushu Hall, Osaka Shochikuza 2023 Salaryman Night Fever Writer, director, and performed as a homeless man Mitsukoshi Theatre Kano from 1931 2000 kilometers to Koshien Stadium Director Botchan Theatre The Witch of the Hedge Director Osaka Shochikuza, Regional Tour (Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Shizuoka) Fall Guy The final part: Ginjiro Passes Away Director and Performance as Doctor Ikebukuro Theater Green Big Tree Theater 2024 Ah, Friends From The Same Era Director, Adapted, Performed Mitsukoshi Theater, Minami-za Atami Murder Case Director Shinsaibashi Kado-za Fall Guy The final part: Ginjiro Passes Away Director and Performance as Doctor Asakusa Hana Theater Carmen Returns Home Director Shinbashi Enbujō, Osaka Shochikuza, Sendai Denryoku Hall, Misono-za, Kagoshima Hozan Hall, Kumamoto Civic Center Sears Home Dream Hall

Discography Single Release date Title Format Label Notes July 21, 1994 Legend of the Dawn CD Pony Canyon Theme song for Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture October 29, 2021 Cafe Uncle Cinnamon CD (maxi single) Uncle Cinnamon / Gotown Records October 29, 2021 Song for you 7inch EP Uncle Cinnamon / Gotown Records May 20, 2022 Stone of Glory (Will) Digital download Uncle Cinnamon Records Theme song for the stage play Hiryuden 2022 Love and Youth in Front of the Diet June 1, 2022 Stone of Glory (Will) Streaming only Uncle Cinnamon Records Theme song for the stage play Hiryuden 2022 Love and Youth in Front of the Diet

Album Release date Title Format Label Notes April 26, 2023 Kayo Style Collection CD Uncle Cinnamon Records Showa era pop song cover album

Concert Kazukiyo Nishikiori dinner show (2000 Tokyo, Osaka)

With Katsuhide Uekusa Kazukiyo Nishikiori and Katsuhide Uekusa presents their show & time "Song for you" (2022 Tokyo, Osaka)

Books Kazukiyo Nishikiori's Directing Theory (2022, Nikkei BP) Boy's Time Capsule (2023, Shinchosha) First autobiography