Taichi Kokubun's compliance breach erased six shows, four ads and TOKIO

Taichi Kokubun — TOKIO member and host of Nippon TV's 'The! Tetsuwan! DASH!!' — was Japan's most ubiquitous television personality, ranked first by annual appearances six years running. On June 20, 2025, NTV's president held an emergency press conference: Kokubun had committed 'multiple compliance violations' and was suspended indefinitely, the acts never disclosed. The commercial response began the same day. Japanet Holdings, whose Japanet Takata retail brand he had fronted since 2009, pulled his commercials and a satellite program he appeared in, calling the situation 'deeply regrettable'.

Within days, media tallies reported his six regular television programs and four advertising contracts all stopped, and sports newspapers estimated his penalty exposure at 4 to 5 billion yen — one of the largest scandal bills in Japanese entertainment. On June 25, five days after the announcement, TOKIO itself was gone. The members wrote that regaining trust while continuing 'in this state' was impossible; the group disbanded after 31 years, and the company the three had run together wound down with it.

Kokubun spent the next eight months asking what he had done. He told a November 2025 press conference that NTV had never informed him of the violation's content; a human-rights petition to the bar federation was ruled unhandleable. On February 12, 2026, he met NTV's president, apologised and withdrew every claim; the network accepted his 'sincere attitude of reflection' and negotiations ended, his return still undecided. The same day, Japanet announced his successor as the face of Japanet Takata — a junior from his own talent agency.