Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori, three former members of the ultrapopular boy band SMAP, will leave their management company, Johnny & Associates, in September, the agency said.
Contracts with Inagaki, 43, Kusanagi, 42, and Katori, 40, will expire Sept. 8, Johnny & Associates said. It will be the day before the 26th anniversary of the debut of their first song on a CD, "Can't Stop!! — Loving —" which was released on Sept. 9, 1991.
The trio told the agency's management that they did not want to renew their contracts. No information about SMAP's former leader, Masahiro Nakai, and the fifth member, Takuya Kimura, was given, but media reports said they will remain with the agency.