And, because of that, some fans from other countries are dreaming of becoming a K-pop idol, too. Many have joined global auditions of K-pop agencies and became trainees in Korea. There are some K-pop idols who came from outside Korea and were K-pop fans. For example, Bam Bam from Got7, Yuqi, Minnie, and Shuhua from (G)I-DLE, Ten from NCT, and other foreign idols. As a foreigner, they must have a hard time adjusting to the culture of Korea that is different with their country. They also have to leave their family and friends back in their home country. Not to mention, they have a lot of classes to learn when they are trainees. The pain must be so real. So now, to give appreciation for the foreign idols, it’s time to discuss one of the non-Korean idols, Yoshi from Treasure! Let’s talk more about Yoshi, the talented idol from YG Entertainment’s new boy group, Treasure!
Treasure’s Yoshi’s Profile
Treasure is one of the K-pop groups that made a debut in 2020. During the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone feels upset and depressed. But, YG Entertainment made sure people would have Treasure to look forward to, the boy group that was introduced in 2019 and finally debuted in 2020. Treasure consists of 12 talented members. One of them is Yoshi or Kanemoto Yoshinori. Along with Yoshi, the 11 other members of Treasure are Hyunsuk, Jihoon, Junkyu, Mashiho, Jaehyuk, Asahi, Yedam, Haruto, Doyoung, Jeongwoo, and Junghwan. They debuted in August 2020 after releasing the song called “Boy.” As you can see from his name, Yoshi is Japanese. There are other Japanese members in Treasure, Mashiho, Asahi, and Haruto. So, Yoshi won’t feel too lonely even though his hometown is far away from Seoul. Let’s see the full profile of Yoshi down below! Full Name: Kanemoto Yoshinori Korean Stage Name: 요시 Japanese Real Name: 金本 芳典 Stage Name: Yoshi Nicknames: Soondingi, Kim Yoshi, Cute Yoshi, Pikachu, etc. Birthplace: Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe, Japan Nationality: Japan Occupation: Singer, idol Height: 179 cm Weight: 65 kg Birthdate: May 15, 2000 Zodiac Sign: Taurus Chinese Zodiac: Dragon Position: Lead rapper Blood type: A MBTI type: INFP Debut: 2020 Agency: YG Entertainment
Treasure’s Yoshi’s Facts
Yoshi has thick eyebrows and a sharp nose. Yoshi doesn’t have a favorite ice cream flavor. He said that he likes a lot of flavors of ice cream. Yoshi’s surname, Kanemoto, is used by Koreans in Japan who have the surname Kim. That’s why Yoshi’s nickname is Kim Yoshi. EBS News once covered a story at Yoshi’s middle school in Japan, Korean International School Middle School, where Yoshi was performing in a band. Even when Yoshi was young, his friends call him Kim Yoshi. Yoshi’s favorite Korean and Japanese word is “Rainbow,” niji in Japanese and mujigae in Korean. Yoshi’s older sister has a dog named Kerori. Since Yoshi hasn’t been home for a long time, he has no bedroom in his home.
Treasure’s Yoshi’s Pre-Debut
He is a Japanese boy who made his debut in Korea. Well, there are other K-pop idols from Japan too, so it’s actually not quite rare to see. But, every idol has their own story to tell, especially those who came from outside Korea. What’s something that made them want to debut as an idol? How young were they when they came to Korea for the first time? Well, Yoshi’s story is quite interesting, too. So, it’s time to see Yoshi’s pre-debut story to see how this young boy from Kobe turned into a young man from Treasure! Yoshi or, as you can see from his profile, Kanamoto Yoshinori was just a little boy from Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, before we knew him as Yoshi from Treasure. He was born on May 15, 2000. Some of you probably didn’t notice it before, but Yoshi is actually Korean-Japanese. He is of Korean descent, but he was born and raised in Japan. Yoshi lived in Kobe and spent his childhood until he became a teenager there. He lived with his mother and his three older sisters. Yoshi’s father passed away when he was in the 7th grade or in the first year of middle school. Even so, Yoshi remembered all the things about his father, such as the park that they often visited. As a child, Yoshi attended a Korean-Japanese school in his hometown where the students were a mix of Japanese-Korean, expatriates from Korea, and pure Japanese. It seems like Yoshi showed an interest in Korean culture since he learned Taekwondo too as a child. He joined a lot of Taekwondo competitions. Until he was in the third grade of middle school, Yoshi joined Taekwondo competitions and even wore a Korean flag. Eventually, Yoshi went to a YG Entertainment audition in 2016. He went to the same audition as Haruto. Yoshi then passed the audition and officially became a trainee in YG Entertainment starting in March 2016. By becoming a trainee, Yoshi had to move to Seoul and live a life as a trainee who is trained to dance, sing, and even attend language classes. All the schedules are very tight and numerous. He had to leave his hometown and go to a high school in Seoul. Thankfully, Yoshi’s Korean was good enough to survive. However, instead of attending a Korean high school, Yoshi had a GED high school test and passed!
Treasure’s Yoshi on YG Treasure Box
Yoshi started to live in Korea when he was 16 years old. It was such a young age, but he was a strong boy and survived. Even so, he wasn’t alone back. There were a lot of Japanese trainees and even foreign trainees in YG Entertainment. How do we know this? Well, it was all revealed on YG Treasure Box, the survival show which aired on JTBC starting from November 2018 until January 2019. The survival show had 29 male participants from YG Entertainment’s trainees who competed against each other to prove that they were worthy enough to be included in the line-up of YG Entertainment’s new boy group. The participants were divided into 4 teams, team A, team B, team C, and team J. The A, B, C teams had 7 to 8 Korean members. The J team had seven Japanese members. Let’s see the clips of Yoshi on YG Treasure Box!
Even though Yoshi’s appearances were beyond amazing, he didn’t make it to the final line-up of the debuting team, TREASURE. But, the fans loved him and other participants so much that YG Entertainment decided to form another group of 6 members that was called MAGNUM which included Yoshi, Yoonbin, Mashiho, Doyoung, Jihoon, and Asahi.
Treasure’s Yoshi’s Debut
The euphoria from YG Entertainment’s fans led them to form both Treasure and Magnum. But, the two groups were too full of talent to promote separately, especially when they were doing activities together as 13 members after YG Treasure Box finished. The fans loved their bond so much. So, instead of debuting 2 groups, in May 2020, YG Entertainment released the official statement that Treasure and Magnum will be debuting as one group called Treasure. However, another statement that YG Entertainment released was the fact that Ha Yoonbin won’t be included in Treasure since he will be focusing on solo music. So, the Treasure 13 that was going around the Internet changed to just Treasure. The group consists of Hyunsuk, Jihoon, Junkyu, Mashiho, Jaehyuk, Asahi, Yedam, Haruto, Doyoung, Jeongwoo, and Junghwan. Treasure released their first single called “Boy” on August 7, 2020. Let’s see the music video for “Boy” below!
They also released the dance version of “Boy” with the dance practice video. Let’s see how talented the boys are in dancing!
What do you think about Treasure’s debut era? They did great, right? Yoshi struggled a lot, and it’s good to see how he made it to be a K-pop idol!
