Smap to attend a Softbank promotion event.

It's not unusual to see the five members of SMAP together, as they all appear on their weekly show "SMAPxSMAP." But when they got together yesterday at Akasaka Sacas in central Tokyo for a Softbank Mobile PR event, it was their first collective press conference since promoting a concert tour in 1999. And it was their first sponsor promotion event as a group in 20 years.

SMAP have been helping Softbank hock their phones and services in a series of commercials this year. And the latest television CM was filmed last month in New York, where member Katori Shingo was performing in the first ever original Japanese theatrical production to debut off-Broadway.

Smap member comeback confirmed

SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (34) is set to make his return to show business near the end of this month. Kusanagi was arrested last month for public indecency, after being found naked and drunk in a Tokyo park late at night, but prosecutors chose not to take the matter to court.

Kusanagi's first order of business is a recording on May 28 for the June 1 episode of "SMAP x SMAP." It will be followed by a taping later that night for "Bokura no Ongaku," which will air the next day. On May 29, Kusanagi will make his first actual reappearance on TV, as a guest on the live broadcast of "Waratte Iitomo!"



Fuji TV also revealed that before the incident, Kusanagi had already been tapped to star in the summer drama series "Ninkyo Helper." The show is described as a "nursing comedy," in which Kusanagi plays a gangster who winds up helping tend to the elderly. "Ninkyo Helper" will start in July and air on Thursday nights at 10:00pm.