is a Japanese singer as member of Hey! Say! JUMP

Hey! Say! JUMP

Hey! Say! JUMP is a ten-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. The name Hey! Say! refers to the fact that all the members were born in the Heisei period and JUMP is an acronym for Johnny's Ultra Music Power...

. He is under the management of Johnny & Associates

Johnny & Associates

is a talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962. Johnny & Associates trains and promotes groups of male idols, collectively known as , in Japan.-1962–1989:...

. He is the youngest boy in the group.

Career

On August 12, 2004, when he was 9 years old, Morimoto appeared on the variety show Ya-ya-yah, where his audition for Johnny and Associates was aired along with Ryosuke Yamada

Ryosuke Yamada

is a Japanese tarento, actor, singer, dancer, and a member of Hey! Say! JUMP. He is under the management of Johnny & Associates and currently resides in Kanagawa Prefecture.-Career:...

. He entered Johnny & Associates as a trainee on October 12 and was later put in Johnny's Jr group JJ Express alongside Daiki Arioka

Daiki Arioka

is a Japanese actor, tarento and singer as well as member of Hey! Say! JUMP. He is under the management of Johnny & Associates. He was born in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture.- Career:...

, Yuya Takaki, Yuto Nakajima

Yuto Nakajima

is a Japanese actor and dancer, as well as a singer from the group Hey! Say! JUMP .-2004: Joined Johnny's Entertainment :Nakajima joined Johnny's Jr. on March 28, 2004, in his 5th year of elementary school...

, and Kei Inoo, all of whom would be future bandmates in Hey! Say! JUMP.

Hey! Say! JUMP

Hey! Say! JUMP

Hey! Say! JUMP is a ten-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. The name Hey! Say! refers to the fact that all the members were born in the Heisei period and JUMP is an acronym for Johnny's Ultra Music Power...

 debuted on September 21, 2007 and was met with critical success. However, Morimoto's involvement came to an abrupt halt when on June 28, 2011, Japanese entertainment magazine Shunkan Josei published a story revealing that Morimoto smoking underage. Images from the issue shows him smoking at 14 in January 2010 and at 15 in May 2010. Johnny's Entertainment quickly issued a public apology and planned to suspend all of Morimoto's activities indefinitely.

Morimoto also has a younger brother Shintaro Morimoto

Shintaro Morimoto

Shintaro Morimoto is a japanese actor and singer. He is under the management of Johnny & Associates.- Career:...

 who belongs to another Johnny's Entertainment

Johnny & Associates

is a talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962. Johnny & Associates trains and promotes groups of male idols, collectively known as , in Japan.-1962–1989:...

 group
as a Johnny's Jr.

Johnny's Jr.

is a part of Johnny & Associates that focuses only on boys who have not yet officially debuted either with a unit or as a solo act. The juniors are mostly younger than 30, with the exception of Sano Mizuki.- A.B.C-Z : is a part of Johnny & Associates that focuses only on boys who have not yet...

 called Snow Prince Gasshoudan, created for the movie of the same name.

Stalking & robbery incident

On June 16, 2009, Morimoto was robbed by a 17-year old fan who had followed him on multiple occasions for a period of six months, leading Morimoto's parents to consult police the past December. Morimoto was ambushed by the fan on the way home from work at the train station, and agreed to talk with him in a nearby restaurant with the intention of asking the fan to stop his behaviour. After being threatened by the suspect that he had a knife, Morimoto tried to contact his parents, leading to his phone being robbed and the suspect fleeing. The suspect was found and arrested at three the next morning by Kanagawa police at the train station after he called Morimoto's back-up phone to arrange another meeting and the call was traced. The issue received widespread press coverage as it is one of the more serious incidents of stalkings of idols known in Japan's recent history, in that it involved a weapon. The suspect is believed to have slight mental issues that are in need of addressing. The stalker also appears to have been quite well known among Hey! Say! JUMP

Hey! Say! JUMP

Hey! Say! JUMP is a ten-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. The name Hey! Say! refers to the fact that all the members were born in the Heisei period and JUMP is an acronym for Johnny's Ultra Music Power...

 fans as the stalking had been a well known fact. Morimoto's agency has asked fans to please honour the official and unofficial rules set down by the fan clubs as they support their idols.

Smoking incident

On June 28, 2011, photos of Morimoto smoking underage were leaked onto the Internet. The following day, in response to the scandal, Johnny's Entertainment issued a statement of apology and planned to suspend Morimoto from all of his activities indefinitely.

Variety shows

• The Shōnen Club
• Hyakushiki
• Bakushō Hyappun Terebi Heisei Families (爆笑100分テレビ!平成ファミリーズ) (14 October 2007 - 2008)
• Jikuukan Sedai Batoru Shōwa x Heisei Sho wa Hey! Say! (時空間☆世代バトル 昭和×平成 SHOWはHey! Say!) (2008 - March 2009)
• Yan Yan Jump

Music videos

• Seishun Amigo (Shuji to Akira) (2005)
• Fever to Future (GYM) (2005)

External links

• Johnny's Net
• Hey! Say! JUMP official website