| Kazukiyo Nishikiori | |
| Native Name: | 錦織 一清 |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Birth Date: | 22 May 1965 |
| Birth Place: | Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
| Agent: | Freelance (2021–present) Johnny & Associates (1977–2020) |
| Module: | |
is a Japanese theatre director and actor. He is currently a freelancer. Until 2020, He belonged to the Johnny & Associates and was a member of the boy band Shonentai. Born in Tokyo. His best-known theatre performance is Fall Guy, in which he starred in 1999, and his best-known theatre direction is Ode to Joy, in 2018.
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.[1] His father worked for a company that printed album cover of phonograph record and his mother was a nurse.[2] 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.[2] He was so athletic that when he was a kindergartener he could naturally do backflips while playing in his sister's primary school gym. Therefore, when he was a child, he wanted to become a physical education teacher in the future.[2] In Edogawa, their family initially lived in an apartment without a bath.[1] He loved the local folksy atmosphere and liked to go to the Sentō, a public bath, with his friends, even after his family moved to a rental house with a bath.[3] 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.[1] His sister was a fan of Johnny's Four Leaves and Hiromi Go, who were active on TV at the time.[4] 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.[1] Nishikiori had no dance experience, but he danced as he saw fit. However, there was one step he just couldn't do, and when he was frustrated, Johnny Kitagawa appeared and told him "You are a genius." He later said it was the first and last time he had ever been freely praised him by Kitagawa.[5] 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.[6] 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.[5]
As a trainee, Nishikiori appeared as an actor in an educational film Good-bye My Dog Rocky in 1978. The film was a short film about a boy who lives with and raises a guide dog from puppy to ten months of age before parting with him.[7] [8] 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.[9] 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.[1] Nishikiori was particularly friendly with Higashiyama and they sometimes went to the movies together. After their time as trainees, he formed Shonentai with Higashiyama and Uekusa in 1982. Initially a back-up dancer for Masahiko Kondo and Toshihiko Tahara. Shonentai appeared on singing shows, singing hit songs by other singers of the time, and even gave concert performances five times a day.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]
On December 12, 1985, Shonentai made their record debut with Kamen Butokai.[13] Nishikori has a well-balanced combination of singing, dancing, and acting abilities, and Kitagawa described him as "a masterpiece of Johnny's."[14] He was also the leader of Shonentai because he was older and had a longer performing career than the other members.[14] After his debut, he began to appear on television singing shows, and when he wore flamboyant costumes, such as sequined elastic wrapped around his head, he sometimes worried that he might lose friends if his local friends saw this.[15] Their debut song "Kamen Butokai" is said to have been reworked many times before its completion,[16] 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,[17] but was adopted as a catchy phrase that was pleasant to the ear.[18] 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.[19] 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. In order 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.[20] Later, he became known for telling jokes in interviews.[21]
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. His co-stars were all stars, including veteran actors Isao Bito and Tokuma Nishioka, so he was under a lot of pressure.[22] In the TV series, he played the lead role for the first time in 1988 in In the Night Sky After the Bath. As Shonentai became popular, he began to work on more and more movies and TV series, but he says he preferred working in the play rehearsal hall with the cast and crew on the stage work to working on a film, where the actors are often shot separately, and he thought that might be his true calling. Then, in 1995, he began to concentrate on theater work when he began working as a theatre director parallel to appear as an actor in the musical Playzone by Shonentai.[22]
Nishikiori said that he has two mentors, and that his mentor in show creation and his starting point as a director was Johnny Kitagawa. And in theatre direction, he said he was strongly influenced by Kohei Tsuka.[23] They both said they always watched the actors offstage and gave detailed instructions to them, which was common to both of them. Kitagawa was not concerned with reality in his stage productions and always pursued entertainment, and said, "I am the one who creates the fads," and he never followed the trends. The plays he created in this way were always interesting and never out of date. This way of thinking had a strong influence on Nishikiori.[24] 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.[25] 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.[23] Nishikiori is said to have been recognized by Tsuka as "the second generation of director Kohei Tsuka," and after Tsuka's death, he was hired as the first person from outside the company to direct and teach workshops at Tsuka's theater company, Kita-ku AKT Stage in 2016.[26] 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.[11] Although the Botchan Theater is a small regional theater in Shikoku, it is the only theater in Japan that stages self-produced musicals for a full year, and has attracted a total of 900,000 people since its opening in 2006. In 2018, Ode to Joy won the Family Musical Award at the 2018 All About Musical Awards.[11] This production was performed again at the Bocchan Theater as well as in Tokyo in 2019.[27]
On December 31, 2020, he left Johnny & Associates and became freelancer.[28] 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.[29] [30] Kitagawa, whom he had been able to consult about anything about his work, had passed away, 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. He preferred to continue working in the field, so he was not interested in working as an office executive like Hideaki Takizawa or Yoshihiko Inohara, who were being talked about at the time. He said that since he was almost 60 years old, he wanted to be independent and do what he wanted to do. Nishikiori also compared this big company to a ship and said that as a crew member of this big ship, when he wondered if there would be room for him in the future, he decided to quit thinking that there would not be.[31] 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.[29] In September 2021, he and Uekusa launched the YouTube channel "Nicky and Kacchanel",[32] and the following year, they held a dinner theater.[33] In April 2021, Nishikiori launched his official fan club, Uncle Cinnamon Club, and in 2022, he founded Uncle Cinamon Inc.[34] The reason why it is Cinnamon is because in Japanese, Cinnamon is also called Nikki, which is similar to his nickname.[35] In 2022, Nishikiori acted for the first time in five years in Salaryman Night Fever, a play he wrote and directed.[2] The reason for focusing on office workers was that when he used to perform in Yurakucho about 20 years ago, the audience was mostly women, and his old local friend asked him, "Is there any theater that we can go see more casually?"[36] 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.[36] In an interview with 2023, Nishikiori had been working in show business and doing the singing and dancing he loved, but after he turned 40, he was not sure if it was contributing to society, and considered retiring from his job. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, he said that seeing Wahaha Honpo, a comedy troupe, doing their best to make the audience laugh made him decide that this was the only thing he could do, and that he would continue to do this work.[37] 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.[37]
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 Cinamon Records and his new single Cafe Uncle Cinnamon and Song for you were released simultaneously on October 29, 2021. This was his first solo release in about 27 years, and the first since he left the institute.[38] 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.[33] [39] In 2023, he launched a new project "Funky Diamond 18 (Funky Diamond One Eight)" with Papaya Suzuki, a classmate of his high school,[40] and released a mini album Primemax on July 12, followed by a nationwide live tour Live Tour 2023 Primemax in four cities throughout Japan.[41]
In October 2023, Nishikiori said about Johnny Kitagawa's sexual abuse scandal led to the closure of Johnny & Associates, as one who was once in the company, he expressed that while he finds Kitagawa's sexual abuse disappointing, he still considers Kitagawa to be his own mentor. He said that if the public would allow it, he would like to carry on only the good things he received from him in the future.[42]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Good-bye My Dog Rocky | A boy | Leading role | |
| 1991 | ! | Keisuke Tsujikawa | [44] | |
| 1993 | The Last of the Lion Kings | Tomohiro Eguchi | Starring with Show Aikawa | [45] |
| 1994 | Terry Bogard | [46] | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Tōge no Gunzō | Ichigaku Shimizu | Taiga drama ep.22, 27, 29–31, 38, 41–45, 47 | [47] |
| 1987 | In the Night Sky After the Bath | Tatsuyoshi Matsui | Leading role | [48] |
| 1991–1993 | Yotaro Otani Mystery Drama Special | Detective Norio Muraoka | 4 special dramas | [49] [50] [51] [52] |
| 1992 | Ganryujima Kojiro and Musashi | Ukon Sugiyama | New year SP drama | [53] |
| Pole Position! Dear my love | Kosuke Kashiwagi | [54] | ||
| 1993 | Hotel Doctor | Namihiko Hayama | [55] | |
| 1993, 1994–1995 | Stray Doctor, Your Life Entrusted to Me! | Toji Kobayashi | 1 SP drama and 1 season | [56] |
| 2004 | Art Theater Spring Fireflies | Hikaru Sugawara | Leading role | [57] |
| 2004–2007 | Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari | Yasushi Kikukawa | 2 seasons | |
| 2006 | The Dreaming Grapes: A Woman Who Reads Books 8; Maki's Matchmaking | Yoshiro Takase | [58] | |
| 2009 | Special News Reporter: Kohei Kamon's Murder Report | Kohei Kamon | Leading role | [59] |
| 2013 | Worst Graduation Ceremony | Tatsuhiko Nomura | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Golden Boy | Joe | Sound Coliseum MZA, Mielparque Tokyo | Leading role |
| 1989–1990 | The Sting | Johnny Hooker | ||
| 1993 | Mrs. Chatterley's Lover | Mellers Mori Ban | Nissay Theatre | |
| Lady, Be Good! | Dick Trevor | Aoyama Theatre | ||
| 1995 | The People of the Pier | Baptiste the Clown | Imperial Theatre | |
| 1996 | Scarlet | Father Coram | Imperial Theatre | |
| 1997 | The Tale of Genji
| Kashiwagi | Imperial Theatre | |
| 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 | 42nd Street | Julian Marsh Jr. | Imperial Theatre, Chunichi Theatre | |
| 1999 | Carmen | Don Jose | ||
| 1999, 2000, 2006 | Fall Guy | Ginshiro Kuraoka | Kintetsu Theatre, Bunkamura, Aoyama Theatre, Theatre Brava | Leading role |
| 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 | (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 | |
| Year | Title | Notes | Theatre | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Playzone '95 King & Joker | Writer/Director/Starring as Champ | Aoyama Theatre, Festival Hall, Osaka | [60] |
| 2009 | Playzone 2009 Letter from the Sun | Writer/Director | Aoyama Theatre, Umeda Arts Theater | [61] |
| She Loves Me | Director | Theatre Creation | [62] | |
| 2011 | Kunio Yanagida and Kappa | Director | Fukusaki-cho Cultural Center, Hyogo | |
| 2012 | Teresa Teng's 60th Anniversary Koibito Tachi no Shinwa | Director | Mitsukoshi Theatre | [63] |
| Duet | Director | Theatre Creation, Umeda Arts Theater, Chunichi Theatre, Canal City Theater | [64] | |
| 2013 | The Odasaku | Director | Osaka Shochikuza, Shinbashi Enbujo | [65] |
| Atami Murder Case | Adapted, Director and Starring as Denbei Kimura | Sunshine Theater, Minami-za | [66] | |
| 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 | [67] | |
| Departure | Adapted and Director | Kabura Bunka Hall, Tomioka City, Gunma, Yamanashi Koranyi Bunka Hall, Fukushima City Public Hall, Shinbashi Enbujo | [68] | |
| Yokohama Jam Town | Original idea and Director | KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre | [69] | |
| 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 | [70] |
| Ah, Friends From The Same Era | Adapted and Director | Nippon Broadcasting System, Imagine Studio | ||
| Broken Love Compass | Director | Ginza Hakuhinkan Theater | [71] | |
| A.B.C-Z Theatre 2015 Sons of the Mushroom | Director | Nissay Theatre | [72] | |
| 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 | [73] |
| 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 | [74] | |
| The Great Gatsby | Director | Sunshine Theater, Nagoya Arts Center, ROHM Theatre Kyoto South Hall, Shin-Kobe Oriental Theater | [75] | |
| 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 | [76] | ||
| 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 | [77] | |
| 2017 | Santa, Kawaraban Seller | Adapted and Director | Nippon Broadcasting System, Imagine Studio | [78] |
| Cuckolded Sousuke | Director | Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall | [79] | |
| 2018 | Ode to Joy | Director | Botchan Theater, Awagin Hall Tokushima Prefecture Local Culture Hall, Tokyo Performance at Tiara Koto Main Hall | [80] |
| Case Book of Naniwa | Director | Osaka Shochikuza, Shinbashi Enbujo | [81] | |
| The Second Generation is Christian | Supervisor | Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall | [82] | |
| Grief7 | Director | Haiyuza Theater | [83] | |
| 2019 | Setouchi Koshinkyoku | Director | Botchan Theater | [84] |
| Grief7 Sin#2 | Adapted and director | Kinokuniya Hall | [85] | |
| 2020 | Salaryman Night Fever | Writer/director | Honjo Matsuzakatei Theater | |
| The Legend of Momotaro: A Demon's Requiem | Director | Botchan Theater | [86] | |
| Atami Murder Case; The Longest Spring | Script cooperation | Otsuka Man Theatre | [87] | |
| Poison and the Old Lady | Director | (Performances canceled) | ||
| 2021 | Shining Monster; Baku no Fuda [Shining version/Shadow version] | Director | CBGK Shibugeki! | [88] |
| Salaryman Night Fever | Writer/Director | Honjo Matsuzakatei Theater | [89] | |
| 2022 | Frankenstein
| Director | Kinokuniya Southern Theater Takashimaya, Cool Japan Park Osaka TT Hall | [90] |
| The Legend of Momotaro Okayama: Demon's Requiem 2 | Director | Tennozu Ginga Theater | [91] | |
| Poison and the Old Lady | Director | Shinbashi Enbujo, Misono-za, Kurume City Plaza The Grand Hall, Sapporo Doshin Hall, Osaka Shochikuza | [92] | |
| Hiryuden 2022; Love and Youth in front of the Diet | Director | Kinokuniya Hall | [93] | |
| Teihon: Atami Murder Case | Supervisor | Nakano Pocket Square Theatre Bonbon, Kobe Sannomiya Theater Eto, Nakano Pocket Square Theatre Momo | [94] | |
| Shining Monster 2nd step -Tengen-tsu- | Director | Asakusa Hana Theater | [95] | |
| 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 | [96] | |
| 2023 | Salaryman Night Fever | Writer, director, and performed as a homeless man | Mitsukoshi Theatre | [97] |
| Kano from 1931 2000 Kilometers to Koshien Stadium | Director | Botchan Theatre | [98] | |
| The Witch of the Hedge | Director | Osaka Shochikuza, Regional Tour (Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Shizuoka) | [99] | |
| Fall Guy The final part: Ginjiro Passes Away | Director and Performance as Doctor | Ikebukuro Theater Green Big Tree Theater | [100] | |
| 2024 | Ah, Friends From The Same Era | Director, Adapted, Performed | Mitsukoshi Theater, Minami-za | [101] |
| Atami Murder Case | Director | Shinsaibashi Kado-za | [102] | |
| Fall Guy The final part: Ginjiro Passes Away | Director and Performance as Doctor | Asakusa Hana Theater | [103] | |
| Carmen Returns Home | Director | Shinbashi Enbujō, Osaka Shochikuza, Sendai Denryoku Hall, Misono-za, Kagoshima Hozan Hall, Kumamoto Civic Center Sears Home Dream Hall | [104] | |
| Release date | Title | Format | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 21, 1994 | Legend of the Dawn | CD | Pony Canyon | Theme song for |
| 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 |