Family Connections.

I love to analyze things. I also love knowing little things that most people don't notice. The latter probably comes back to the fact that I love being able to surprise people. Maybe it's because I like being pleasantly surprised myself.

One recent surprise was when I noticed while looking through a Myojo magazine is that one of the photographers for the magazine was Okamoto Kenichi, HSJ's Okamoto Keito's father. I know he had done a photo shoot for Hey! Say! JUMP's calendar but I did not realize that he was a professional photographer.

I guess I never bothered to question too much about what happens to those who quit JE. For the younger ones it's easy to guess that they continue on with school. I know when I was learning about the various JE groups that SMAP had a member leave to become a race car driver and that Shounentai was still active, though usually with just stage plays and musicals. For daisenpai groups like Otokogumi, which Okamoto Kenichi was a part of, and Hikaru Genji I just knew they weren't around anymore and that a few of the members were still with JE but like Shounentai just did plays and musicals.

But going back to the Okamotos, I couldn't help but think how it must be for Keito being able to go to work with his dad. He seems to smile more brightly in the photos that his father takes, which makes sense as he must feel much more relaxed with him than a stranger. And I'm sure his dad is happy to spend time with his son and be able to be there to be a part of his career. I'm sure he has a lot of advice to give to Keito and the other members of HSJ.

It does seem strange that JE already has a father & son that have both debuted with them and no brothers. Especially considering there are several siblings in JE like the Morimoto brothers (Ryutarou and Shintarou), the Yamashita brothers (Shoon and Reon) and recently Tanaka Koki's little brother Juri joined which gives JE another pair of brothers. Of course with the large amount of Juniors that are just back dancers that we learn nothing about there could be more.

I guess it will be only a matter of time before there will be brothers who have both debuted. I have the feeling it may be the Morimoto brothers that get that honor as Ryutarou has already debuted and Shintarou gets a lot of attention. Though I will find it rather funny if Shintarou's debut group is the next volleyball group. Especially if Uekusa Yuta gets picked for that group too as he was the other Junior with Keito that joined and had a father as a daisenpai, Uekusa Katsuhide of Shounentai.