Johnny’s Jimusho is finally making another move into Asia. Five-member group Arashi (which means Storm) announced after finishing their Japan tour at the Yokohama Arena yesterday that are to be the first Johnny’s artists to play a solo concert in South Korea. They will play two shows at the Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul on November 11 and 12. The dates will follow their first overseas shows later this month in Taipei, Taiwan (September 16/17), Guangju, South Korea (Sept. 22) and Bangkok, Thailand (October 7), but the shows in Guangju will be a collaboration with Korean artists. Arashi visited Korea at the end of July to promote the tour, and hundreds of local fans turned out to catch a glimpse. The Asia tour comes 22 years after Kondo Masahiko (42) played in Hong Kong at the height of his career as one of the biggest Johnny’s idol stars. It marks another step forward in Korea’s opening up to Japanese artists. Until 2000, they were not allowed to play venues holding more than 2,000 people. In the summer of that year, Chage & Aska became the first performers to play a major show, and have since been followed by such top names as Tube and Amuro Namie. In January 2004, the ban on Japanese-language CDs was lifted, further boosting interest in J-pop artists. But to date, the only Johnny’s artists to play in Korea have been V6, who took part in collaborative events.