, known mononymously as Yuto (; ), is a Japanese rapper and dancer. He is a member of the South Korean boy group
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
Yuto was born on January 23, 1998, in Nagano, Japan. He is the youngest of a family of three children with one sister and one brother. He got interested in K-pop since he was in grade 4 elementary school. After seeing K-pop groups such as
TVXQ
TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!; , ), known as Tohoshinki in Japan, is a South Korean pop duo formed by SM Entertainment, composed of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin.
Originally a five-member boy band which also consisted of members Kim Jae-joong, Hero ...
and
Girls' Generation
Girls' Generation (), also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piec ...
together with his sister on television, he was fascinated with their vocal skills, synchronized dance, and visual.
In an interview with BuzzFeed Japan, he said "I was not interested in music. I was the type who don't listen to music, and just played sports such as baseball and soccer. However, when I heard about K-pop for the first time, I got attracted and after that, gradually being more into it." After becoming a middle school student, he became a K-pop fan. He danced to K-pop choreography with friends together and uploaded choreography videos to the internet. Later, he applied to the global audition opened in Japan by a Korean entertainment company when he was in grade 2 middle school. However, he was rejected because he was too young. During the reading session set in the morning in his middle school, he studied Korean and imitated dancing while watching K-pop videos. People around him recognized his affection for K-pop. In the graduation article collection of his middle school yearbook, he wrote "I want to become a big star." He was the school baseball and soccer player and a member of dance club which he would perform on stage for his school festival every year.
At 15 years old, he moved to Korea after persuading his parents several times. He aimed to be the first Japanese male K-pop " utmy skills was completely insufficient." During his trainee days, Yuto's grandfather had passed away. However, he continued his practice with his grandfather's encouragement letter. Yuto trained for years as a trainee before debuting with Pentagon.
Pre-debut and ''Pentagon Maker''
Yuto was a former
JYP Entertainment
JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1997 by Park Jin-young, J. Y. Park. Operating as a record label, talent ...
trainee. He passed "Cube Star World Audition" global selection and became a Cube trainee in 2014. In 2015, Yuto participated in 2015 Idol Star Athletics Ssireum Basketball Futsal Archery Championships. At the championship, Yuto teamed with Goaldae-Sliga alongside Doo-joon and Yoseob of Beast, and Roh Ji-hoon, and took the gold medal in the men futsal.
In 2016, Yuto joined as survival candidate in a South Korean television reality program ''Pentagon Maker'', hosted by Cube Entertainment and co-produced by Mnet. Though he was initially in the bottom four in the first elimination, he was save in the ninth week after performing "Young" (Prod. by Dok2) with his team. On July 9, "Young" was released on various online music sites. In episode 9, week 10 of ''Pentagon Maker'', Yuto performed
Block B
Block B () is a South Korean boy band managed by KQ Entertainment, and consists of seven members: Taeil, B-Bomb, Jaehyo, U-Kwon, Park Kyung, Zico, and P.O. Block B has received several accolades, including nominations for seven Golden Disc ...
's "Very good" alongside Jinho and Wooseok for the 3 vs 3 vs 3 match, where the confirmed member were selected as unit leaders and each team includes the elimination candidates including Yuto. As a result of the final mission, Yuto's team won first place in the unit performance. Thus, he was excluded from the candidate for elimination after completing his Pentagraph and joined as Pentagon's 6th member. Before the group officially debuted, Yuto made his first cameo on Yeo One's web drama ''Spark'', alongside fellow Pentagon members Hui, E'Dawn and Wooseok.
2016–present: Debut with Pentagon and solo activities
On October 10, 2016, Yuto officially debuted as a member of
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...
with their first extended play ''Pentagon''. He is the lead rapper and lead dancer in the group. Less than two months later, Yuto participated in Pentagon's second
extended play
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
'' Five Senses''. He co-wrote the song "Engine", making this his first Pentagon's song after debuting as a Pentagon member. In 2017, he made a cameo in the drama '' Hello, My Twenties! 2'' with his bandmates as a member of Asgard. On September 24, Yuto challenged his first role as the MC for Japan-Korea 10th Anniversary KMF2017 which was held at
Yokohama Arena
is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...
. In 2018, Yuto co-hosted 69th Sapporo Snow Fest 10th Anniversary K-POP FESTIVAL 2018 along with Monsta X's Hyungwon and Target's Woojin. The MCs were selected for being born in a year in which the Olympics took place, Yuto was born in 1998 during Nagano Winter Olympic. In June 2021, Yuto began hosting his own bimonthly segment on Mnet Japan's program ''Mnet BANG!''.
In early 2023, Yuto became the co-host of the
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.ONF's U. On October 9, it was announced that he had left Cube Entertainment alongside fellow Pentagon members Yeo One, Yanan, Kino, and Wooseok. By the end of the month, he had signed with RINK Entertainment, moving his activity base to Japan.
Yuto will release his first single ''Dat Girl'', featuring the lead single "Dat Girl" and three other songs, on December 13.
Personal life
Yuto has expressed his fondness towards
Shinee
Shinee ( ; ; ; stylized as SHINee) is a South Korean boy band formed by SM Entertainment in 2008. The group consists of four members: Onew, Key (entertainer), Key, Choi Min-ho, Minho, and Taemin. Originally a five-piece band, Jonghyun died on ...
's song "
Lucifer
The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology.
He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...
" in many of his interview. He also confessed that his role model is Taemin from the same group. Yuto is known to have a low-tone voice especially during rapping.