is a Japanese

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

duo ''( kombi)'' consisting of Hiroshi Shingawa (品川祐) and Tomoharu Shōji (庄司智春) who have featured in a number of television shows. They are employed by

Yoshimoto Kogyo is a major Japanese entertainment conglomerate. It was founded in 1912, Osaka, as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai (comedy) talent, produci ...

, and are mainly active in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. They graduated from Tokyo

Yoshimoto NSC The Yoshimoto New Star Creation, commonly called NSC or Yoshimoto Academy, is the comedy school established by Yoshimoto Kogyo in Japan. History There are currently two campuses, the original ''NSC'', established in 1982 in Osaka and the Tokyo br ...

's 1st generation class and are referred to as Shinasho for short.

Members

* Hiroshi Shinagawa (品川祐), Born April 26, 1972 in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

. Plays the '' boke''. He is also active as a writer and director, with 5 feature films, a television drama series and music videos. * Tomoharu Shōji (庄司智春), Born January 1, 1976 in

Ōta, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward located in Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is often called Ōta City. , the ward has an estimated population of 716,413, with 379,199 households and a population density of 12,048.65 per ...

(Grew up in

Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki is one of the seven wards of the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the ward had an estimated population of 216,826 and a density of 5,530 persons per km2. The total area was . Kawasaki-ku has the home to the second largest Kore ...

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. Plays the ''

tsukkomi The following glossary of words and terms (generally of Japanese origin) are related to ''owarai'' (Japanese comedy). Many of these terms may be used in areas of Japanese culture beyond comedy, including television and radio, music. Some have be ...

''. His wife is the former

Morning Musume , formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an ...

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

Miki Fujimoto (born February 26, 1985), professionally known by her birth name of , and nicknamed Mikitty, is a Japanese actress and former pop singer. After failing the audition to join girl group Morning Musume with the fourth generation members, Fujimoto de ...

. One of Shoji's signature gags is shouting out his wife's nickname ''Mikkity'' very loudly.

Life and career

The duo met each other as the first class of students at the

Tokyo and promptly formed the unit in 1995. As of 2019, Shinagawa Shoji is the only remaining comedy duo with both members from the 1st generation class of NSC Tokyo. Initially, the duo decided to name their unit ''Orange Juice'', but decided upon ''Shingawa Shoji'' after being unable to come up with a creative name. Shinagawa Shoji appeared multiple times on various comedy focused variety shows in the late 90s, but did not achieve recognition until 2000, when they appeared on the variety show ''Warai no Jikan'' (わらいのじかん) hosted by industry veterans

Hitoshi Matsumoto , commonly known as , is a Japanese film director and one of Japan's most popular comedians and TV hosts. He is one half of the comedy duo Downtown alongside Masatoshi Hamada. Like Hamada, Matsumoto was born and raised in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefe ...

(

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

) and

Koji Imada is a Japanese musician, comedian, ''tarento'' and TV presenter. His talent agency is Yoshimoto Kogyo. In the mid-1990s, Imada paired with the acclaimed Japanese record producer Towa Tei under the stage name Koji 1200. He released two albums an ...

. Additionally, around that time, they flourished as the

hypeman A hype man, in hip hop music and rapping, is a backup rapper and/or singer who supports the primary rappers with exclamations and interjections and who attempts to increase the audience's excitement with call-and-response chants. The hype man's in ...

before studio recordings for shows such as

Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ ''Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ'' was a Japanese music variety show on Fuji Television hosted by the comedy duo Downtown, which consists of Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada. It is a very popular show with comical hosts who like to pick on thei ...

and

London Hearts , formerly known as and , is a Japanese variety television show hosted by London Boots Ichi-go Ni-go and Hiroiki Ariyoshi on TV Asahi. It focuses on creating comedy by taking Japanese comedians and television personalities out of their normal b ...

. From 2001, the group repeatedly entered

M-1 Grand Prix , formerly known as , is an annual Manzai competition planned by Shinsuke Shimada and run by Yoshimoto Kogyo. The supporter Asahi Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts live throughout Japan via All-Nippon News Network. it is the most prevalent m ...

every year, but were unable to make the finals until 2005. By that time, they had gained traction in the industry as regulars on television. Although they placed 4th in the finals, their performance was well received and highly praised by some of the judges such as

Shinsuke Shimada is a Japanese comedian and television presenter. In 1991 he directed the film ''Kaze, Slow Down''. On August 23, 2011, Shinsuke Shimada announced his retirement after admitting to extensive ties to the yakuza, Japan's organized crime. The yakuza ...

.5th M-1 Grand Prix (2005) (

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions ...

). Broadcast 2005-12-25. Starting in 2006, Shinagawa and Shoji had major conflicts with each other, which almost resulted in the disbandment of the duo. As Shingawa increased his involvement in other entertainment activities such as novel publication and film directing, the relationship between them worsened to the point of a fist fight during a recording of

Mecha-Mecha Iketeru! was a popular Japanese variety show, shown on Fuji TV. The first episode aired on 16 October 1996 and the last episode aired on 31 March 2018. The hosts of the show were the owarai duo Ninety-Nine ( Takashi Okamura and Hiroyuki Yabe). The show ...

, when the duo went on to advertise for Shingawa's film. Although the duo did not break up and their relations bettered in later years, both Shinagawa and Shoji became more involved in their personal careers rather than as a duo. With a lot more separate appearances on various television programs. Currently, the duo appears together sometimes. In 2018, the duo became MCs of their own show (Mirai-kei Idol TV on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

) for the first time in 15 years, but the majority of their work is still solo.

Media

This list consists of only media appearances made by the duo when they appear together as Shinagawa Shoji.

Current programs

* (

, 2018–) MC * (

AbemaTV Abema (, stylized as ABEMA) is a Japanese live TV streaming website owned by the entertainment company, AbemaTV, Inc. that provides over-the-top media services to customers in Japan. The website primarily acts as an online television network, ...

, 2017–) - Semi-regular * (

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

) - Irregular * (TV Asahi) - Irregular

Commercials

Acom is one of Japan's largest consumer loan companies, (or ''sarakin''). The name "Acom" stands for Affection, Confidence and Moderation. The company was founded by Masao Kinoshita, who was later replaced by his eldest son Kyosuke Kinoshita, the curr ...

(2005–2006) * uno (

Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world and ...

, 2007)

References

External links

Official Profile on Yoshimoto Kogyo
{{Authority control Japanese comedy duos Comedians from Tokyo