ALL ABOUT MORIMOTO RYOTARO

ALL ABOUT MORIMOTO RYOTARO

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. He entered Johnny & Associates as a trainee on October 12 and was later put in Johnny's Jr group JJ Express alongside Daiki Arioka, Yuya Takaki, Yuto Nakajima, and Kei Inoo, all of whom would be future bandmates in Hey! Say! JUMP.

Hey! Say! JUMP 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.^{[citation needed]}

Morimoto also has a younger brother Shintaro Morimoto who belongs to another Johnny's Entertainment group as a Johnny's Jr. called Snow Prince Gasshoudan, created for the movie of the same name.