The Thai Johnny's, first Thais in a big foreign agency

Before kpop agencies scouted for talent in Thailand, Japan's top agency, Johnny & Associates, in 2004 recruited the top Thai idol couple of the moment, GOLF & MIKE.

Few know, and it is even curious that a company that is currently seen as something "archaic" had this type of initiative more than 16 years ago.

GOLF & MIKE even formed a unit with Yamashita Tomohisa, aka Yamapi, a former NEWS member, called GYM (GOLF-YAMAPI-MIKE).

These young Thai idols even went so far as to release singles under the label "Johnny's Entertainment", so I think it's fair to say that they were the first Thais to reach a large foreign agency, before any K-pop idol.

Quote from nakajima-yuto

Wow, idk this. I know some of hafu Johnny's like Kusama Richard Keita, or Masuda Ryo (pakistani).

Yes, Johnny's has some mixed idols, like Marius Yo (Sexy Zone), Raul (Snow Man), Jesse (SixTONES), but this case is more curious, since they literally recruited a group of 100% foreign idols who were already established

Quote from nakajima-yuto

I know majority half western members, even those Jr Iranian twins (idk of they're still in agency) but seriously full foreigner?

That looks like Akanishi in gokusen era, so it's quite old, I didn't really watch Johnny's contents on this era (except maybe Takizawa Kabuki), no wonder I don't know this Thai boy. It's such a shame he didn't made it to debut as a full group

Talk about Marius, he took hiatus this year due to health issue....poor kid

Yes, they are 100% Thai, they were under the most important agency in Thailand, GMM Grammy, when they arrived in Japan they did not even handle the language well