WEST. Ends 12 Years of Group Activities as Fujii and Kotaki Draw Interest in Their Next Moves

Seven Members Stay With STARTO as WEST. Comes to an End

WEST. ended its group activities on September 30, 2026, closing a career that began with seven members in April 2014. All seven remain affiliated with STARTO ENTERTAINMENT, with individual talent activities continuing from October 1. The end of the group does not mean their departure from the entertainment industry or their agency.

The decision followed Ryusei Fujii and Nozomu Kotaki's August 30 announcement that they would leave WEST. STARTO announced the group's closing date on September 24, after discussions with the other five members about whether to continue, including the possibility of working as a group of five. That left six days between the final announcement and the end of group activities.

No farewell concert was planned, according to reports citing people involved. WEST. also withdrew from KAMIGATA EXPO PARK FES 2026, scheduled for October 31 and November 1. Planned appearances and campaigns were canceled, leaving fans without a final stage performance to mark the transition.

Attention is now turning to Fujii and Kotaki, known together as the Twin Towers, and whether they might eventually perform as a duo. Reports describe interest from record labels, but no joint music project, recording agreement or release date has been announced.

What STARTO Initially Confirmed

STARTO's August 30 departure announcement made a distinction between accepting the two members' decision and settling when it would take effect. The company said Fujii and Kotaki had requested to continue their activities in a new form, and that it had accepted their wishes after numerous discussions.

The available passages from the August 30 statement set out the departures and the decision to accept them:

We wish to inform you that our contracted talents Ryusei Fujii and Nozomu Kotaki will be leaving WEST."

"In response to their wishes, we have held repeated discussions with the members, but we have decided to respect both members' wishes and accept their decision.

STARTO ENTERTAINMENT, the agency representing the members, explained why it was announcing their departure before deciding its timing:

We have decided to inform you of this before officially deciding on the timing of their departure.

The statement said coordination with relevant parties was continuing. It also confirmed that Fujii and Kotaki would remain with the company and that discussions about WEST.'s activities were continuing with the other five members. At that stage, neither an immediate departure date nor the end of the group had been settled publicly.

The September announcement resolved that uncertainty. In its statement reproduced in reports, STARTO said Daiki Shigeoka, Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, Tomohiro Kamiyama and Takahiro Hamada had discussed the group's future direction with the company. They considered continuing with five members before concluding that WEST.'s group activities should end.

The full September 24 statement reads, in translation:

Report Regarding WEST.

STARTO ENTERTAINMENT Inc. (headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Katsuaki Suzuki; hereinafter 'the company') announces that WEST. will end its group activities on September 30, 2026.

Since the August 30, 2026 announcement that Ryusei Fujii and Nozomu Kotaki would leave WEST., the company and the five members, Daiki Shigeoka, Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, Tomohiro Kamiyama and Takahiro Hamada, have held repeated discussions about WEST.'s future form of activity and the direction it should take, including the possibility of continuing activities as five members.

As a result, taking into account the activities and directions each wishes to pursue going forward, the five members and the company have concluded that WEST. will end its group activities on September 30, 2026.

We apologize to the fans who have supported WEST. and to all those involved who have supported the group for the time it has taken to convey this announcement and for the concern and anxiety this has caused.

From October 1 onward, Daiki Shigeoka, Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, Tomohiro Kamiyama, Ryusei Fujii, Takahiro Hamada and Nozomu Kotaki will remain affiliated with the company and continue their respective talent activities.

The company will continue to support all seven as they pursue their respective activities.

We once again express our heartfelt gratitude to the fans and all those involved for the tremendous support and warm encouragement they have given WEST. since its debut in 2014.

We ask for your continued support for Daiki Shigeoka, Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, Tomohiro Kamiyama, Ryusei Fujii, Takahiro Hamada and Nozomu Kotaki.

That sequence matters. The August announcement concerned two departures; the September decision concerned the future of the entire group. The latter followed a separate discussion about what the remaining members wanted to do, rather than a previously announced plan to dissolve WEST.

A Seven Member Identity From the Beginning

WEST.'s attachment to its seven member lineup began before its recording debut. At a Tokyo Dome concert spanning December 31, 2013, and January 1, 2014, Nakama, Kiriyama, Shigeoka and Kotaki announced that they would make their CD debut as four members.

Hamada, Kamiyama and Fujii joined the announced lineup in February 2014. The members had appealed directly to their agency to expand the debut group, making the eventual seven member formation part of WEST.'s founding story rather than simply a later personnel change.

They debuted as Johnny's WEST. on April 23, 2014, with "Ee Ja Nai ka." The group changed its name to WEST. in October 2023, but retained the same seven members throughout its recording career.

This history helps explain why ending as seven carries particular weight for fans. Continuing as five would have preserved the name, but changed a lineup that the members had themselves sought before debut. The final decision kept that original lineup intact through the end of group activities. It does not, by itself, establish that every member understood the decision in exactly the same way.

The Dates That Shaped the Final Chapter

The group's closing month followed more than a decade of releases and increasingly large performances. Its career milestones show the scale of what ended, while the final dates show how quickly the public transition unfolded.

• April 23, 2014: The seven members made their recording debut as Johnny's WEST. with "Ee Ja Nai ka."
• March 2015: The group won New Artist of the Year at the 29th Japan Gold Disc Awards.
• December 24 and 25, 2016: WEST. held its first solo dome shows at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
• July 2022: The group began its first dome tour, visiting three venues, including Tokyo Dome.
• October 2023: The group adopted the name WEST.
• March 2024: The anniversary album AWARD was released, alongside a tour covering nine locations and 33 performances.
• October 2025: The group hosted WESSION FESTIVAL 2025, its first outdoor festival.
• December 31, 2025, into January 2026: WEST. held its first solo countdown concert at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
• August 30, 2026: Fujii and Kotaki announced their planned departure.
• September 15, 2026: WEST.'s withdrawal from KAMIGATA EXPO PARK FES 2026 was announced.
• September 24, 2026: STARTO announced that group activities would end on September 30.
• October 1, 2026: All seven members continued individual talent activities with STARTO.

The departure announcement and the closing date were separated by one month. Within that period, fans first faced uncertainty about the lineup, then the cancellation of a forthcoming festival appearance, and finally confirmation that the group would not continue.

Refunds and the Absence of a Farewell Stage

KAMIGATA EXPO PARK FES 2026 was the clearest practical consequence identified in the August statement. STARTO said tickets would be refunded because WEST. could not perform as seven members. The festival's October 31 and November 1 dates fell after the eventual end of group activities.

The company explained the refund decision in its August 30 statement:

Since it will be difficult for WEST. to perform as a group of 7, we will be issuing refunds for tickets.

STARTO said further details about appearances and refund procedures would be announced later. That statement did not provide a refund deadline or a complete application process, so ticket holders should not treat it as a full set of instructions.

The lack of a farewell concert became a separate focus of disappointment. Reports described fans struggling with the short interval between the closing announcement and September 30, particularly because all seven members were staying with the same agency.

Remaining under one agency, however, does not establish that a final concert was feasible or agreed upon. No detailed official explanation for the absence of a farewell performance is given in the statements described here. What is established is that no such stage was planned, rather than that a particular member prevented it.

Why Fujii and Kotaki Are Drawing Attention

Fujii and Kotaki's next activities are attracting interest partly because they already have recognizable careers beyond WEST. Their Twin Towers nickname reflects their tall stature, and both have a following built around their appearance and performance work.

Fujii has taken several starring roles during the year of the group's closure. Kotaki has starred in two stage productions and taken on a musical, giving him experience in performance settings where acting, singing and sustained live delivery can meet.

Kotaki's theater record also includes the Haruko Sugimura Award at the Yomiuri Theater Awards for his leading performance in the 2020 production of The Elephant Man. That recognition is a concrete achievement behind the interest in his future stage work, rather than simply an expectation based on his popularity as an idol.

The potential musical appeal of a duo rests on contrast. Fujii's voice is described as low and sensual, while Kotaki is known for a powerful upper range. Those qualities could give a joint performance different vocal textures, although no recordings or announced repertoire establish how a new unit would sound.

Reports describe record labels watching the pair closely, and fans hoping they will work together. No labels are named, and there is no confirmed bidding process or contract. A Twin Towers unit remains a possibility attracting attention, not an announced successor to WEST.

A Catalog That Reached Beyond Singles

WEST. leaves a substantial recorded catalog: 24 physical singles, 11 studio albums, one best of collection, more than 40 official music videos and one digital single. The physical singles and studio albums alone account for 35 releases, before counting the collection and digital single.

The group's stage career expanded alongside that output. Its first tour in 2015 covered six locations and 16 performances. The March 2024 anniversary tour covered nine locations and 33 performances, three more locations and more than twice as many shows as that first tour.

The 10th anniversary year also included a July 2024 dome tour across three venues. These milestones place the closure in context: WEST. was ending after years of large venue performances, not after a career limited to its early debut success.

Its later projects also brought the full lineup together outside conventional music releases. All seven starred in the film Ura Shain, released in May 2025. The first hosted outdoor festival followed that October, and the first solo countdown concert took place at the turn of 2026.

Industry interest in Fujii and Kotaki therefore comes after a career that established WEST. as both a recording group and a live act. The reported regard for the group's music helps explain the attention, but it cannot predict whether either member will pursue a solo recording career or a shared project.

Personal Changes Are Not an Established Cause

The final announcements arrived during a period of personal change for several members. Four of the seven were reported to be married, a majority of the group. Kiriyama announced his marriage in January 2025, and Kamiyama announced his in October that year.

Shigeoka and Hamada also announced marriages, with Shigeoka additionally announcing the birth of a child. Reports differ on the timing: one places their announcements on September 9, 2026, while another places them in August 2026. The accounts agree on the marriages and the child's birth, but the dates should not be treated as settled.

There is no established causal link between those family developments and the end of WEST. The agency's explanation focused on discussions about future activities and the directions the members wanted to pursue.

Accounts of the members' personal statements also differ in tone. Some reporting describes Fujii and Kotaki discussing differences between the idol careers they had envisioned and the group's activities. Another account describes affectionate reflections on the members' years together.

The members' statements were published through STARTO's FAMILY CLUB Web subscription service. Without reproducing those full statements, neither descriptions of tension nor descriptions of affection should be stretched into a definitive account of their private relationships. Differences over professional direction can coexist with attachment to the people involved.

What Is Confirmed About the Next Chapter

The firmest commitment concerns agency affiliation. Shigeoka, Kiriyama, Nakama, Kamiyama, Fujii, Hamada and Kotaki all remain with STARTO and continue individual talent activities. The company said it would support each of the seven as they pursued their respective work.

Individual activity does not automatically mean seven solo music careers. Acting, theater, television and music may form different parts of each member's work, but the closing announcement did not set out a complete schedule or a shared plan for what follows.

Fujii and Kotaki's existing acting and stage achievements give their next moves particular visibility. The other five members also continue their careers, rather than leaving entertainment with the group. No announcement establishes a replacement group of five.

The unanswered questions are specific: whether Fujii and Kotaki will form a unit, whether either will announce a recording deal, and what projects each of the seven will undertake next. No dates for those decisions or announcements are given. WEST.'s closure is confirmed; the musical partnership attracting attention remains unconfirmed.

Key Points

• WEST. ended group activities on September 30, 2026, after debuting in April 2014.
• The closing decision followed Fujii and Kotaki's August 30 departure announcement and discussions about continuing with five members.
• All seven remain affiliated with STARTO and continue individual talent activities from October 1.
• No farewell concert was planned, according to reports citing people involved.
• WEST. withdrew from KAMIGATA EXPO PARK FES 2026, and STARTO announced ticket refunds.
• The group released 24 physical singles, 11 studio albums, one best of collection and one digital single.
• Interest in a Fujii and Kotaki duo has been reported, but no unit, recording agreement or release date has been confirmed.