Ro's Recz

Arashi’s Diary Voyage is a 24 episode (and counting) documentary about the Japanese group Arashi. Arashi means storm in Japanese, and the group first debuted in 1999 in Hawaii (such a long time ago). There are 5 members in the group, and it had been this way for the past 21 years until they decided to take a hiatus after 2020 ended. Their hiatus is a reason they wanted to make a documentary, as they wanted to be able to share their stories with fans all around the world.

I had heard about Arashi a little bit before, as they are one of, if not the biggest musical group in Japan. However, I did not know any of their songs, nor anything about their backstory before watching it. As someone who knew very little about Arashi, I can say that the show is definitely watchable even for non-fans. While I am sure that the majority of people who watched the show are Arashi fans, they do a good job of making Arashi’s Diary Voyage watchable for any type of person.

In Arashi’s Diary Voyage, they show everything from how their concerts are produced to how their music is made to their goals for the future. It is a super interesting and wide-ranging series, and it really feels like a behind-the-scenes look at Arashi. If you watch the entire series, you will definitely know each of the individual members, as well as their roles within the group.

While my favorite of the group is Jun Matsumoto, all of the Arashi members seem very cool and down to earth. They just seem like relatively normal Japanese guys in their late 30s, even though they have done so many amazing things since their debut. While J-Pop and Arashi have not reached anywhere near the heights of K-Pop groups like Blackpink and BTS, they are trying to expand outside of Japan; therefore, if you are interested in learning more about the group or Japan in general, I think watching Arashi’s Diary Voyage is a great use of time!