I went to Nippon Budokan expecting to celebrate 4U.’s 15th anniversary.
This was actually my first-ever 4U. concert. I knew them and had seen their performances before, but I had never experienced a full 4U. live show or been surrounded by their Otomodachi.
I definitely did not expect my first one to involve watching four almost-40-year-old men hanging above the Budokan, discover in real time that they were finally making their CD debut, and then cry together onstage.
But by the end of the night, I realised that maybe this was the “most 4U.” 4U. introduction I could have possibly had.
On August 13, 2026, 4U. held their one-night-only Ichiyokagiri no 15 Shūnen LIVE “I♡You 3939 desu” at Nippon Budokan. I have been to many STARTO concerts, but the atmosphere at this one just felt different.
It started before the show even properly began.
At around 6:25 p.m., we suddenly heard the four members’ voices through the speakers. At first, I thought they were casually testing their microphones backstage. Then I realised they were actually reading the pre-show announcements themselves.
Of course, something as simple as explaining the concert rules became unnecessarily complicated because they kept interrupting and arguing with each other. The audience was already laughing and clapping before the lights had even gone down.
Then they told us to start the “4U. call”.
“4U.! 4U.! 4U.!”
And suddenly the entire Budokan was chanting.
That audience energy became one of my favourite discoveries from my first 4U. concert. With 9,000 people in attendance, the Budokan is certainly not tiny, but somehow everything felt incredibly close. The Otomodachi, as 4U. call their fans, were LOUD. People screamed, laughed, replied, and took part in everything.
I have been to plenty of STARTO concerts, but this was genuinely one of the most enjoyable audience atmospheres I have experienced. And as a first-timer, it did not take long to understand why 4U. have managed to build this kind of relationship with their fans over a decade and a half.
The opening video showed photographs of the members when they were young before going through their history as 4U.. Then the four appeared in white for “Everything 4 You”.
From there, it was basically impossible to predict what would happen next.
“4EVER 4U.!!!!” was already complete chaos, in the best possible way, with the Juniors joining them onstage. Later, the trainees lined up to introduce themselves one by one. There was something adorable about seeing these young performers sharing the Budokan stage with four men who had once spent years standing behind their own seniors.
Then, “Daijoubu sa” unexpectedly got me.
The song is essentially telling you, “It’s okay. Everything will be all right.”
Maybe it was the atmosphere, or maybe it was knowing how long these four had been doing this, but I suddenly felt like they were patting me on the back and saying, “You’re fine. Keep going.”
Yes, I got a little teary.
This would not be the last time.
4U. Finally Learned How to Fly
One thing became very clear throughout the concert: 4U. know exactly how to control an audience.
Matsuzaki in particular was hyping everyone up with the kind of energy that reminded me of Sho Sakurai’s famous “Choushi wa dou da?” concert calls. At one point, he shouted “BUDOU!” and demanded that everyone answer “KAN!” loudly enough to be heard along the Hanzomon Line.
Then came “Call & Response 4U.”, which was one of the most ridiculously fun parts of the night.
Each member had his own action for the audience to copy. Fukuda jumped. Tatsumi waved from side to side. Koshioka shook his hips. Matsuzaki, naturally, had his own bizarre contribution.
Suddenly, we were doing a wave around the Budokan.
Suddenly, the penlights had to be switched off.
Then six Juniors were acting in the middle of the venue.
At some point I genuinely thought: What song is this? What is happening? I cannot keep up!
And, somehow, it became emotional.
The message was about continuing to pursue your dreams and never giving up. Old footage showed the members trying to “fly” at a previous concert using hanging standing banners. Actually singing while flying had apparently remained one of their dreams.
So at Nippon Budokan, they finally did it.
All four of them flew above us.
Why was I getting emotional during a song that had been complete chaos approximately two minutes earlier?
That is a question I cannot answer.
They then proceeded to conduct an MC while hanging in the air, because apparently simply achieving their dream of flying was not enough. They even opened a photo opportunity while suspended above the audience.
Eventually they came down to drink some water.
Then they went back up.
Koshioka, who had been terrified of the flying from the beginning, looked increasingly stressed.
And while they were still hanging there, the conversation turned to the mysterious countdown that had been appearing on 4U.’s social media.
They revealed that the countdown was not only leading up to the Budokan concert. It was also connected to “CD for you”: 4U. were apparently going to release some kind of CD.
At that point, the group seemed to understand it simply as finally getting a CD of their own. After all, five years earlier they had literally sold an empty CD case as concert merchandise, hoping that someday they would have something to put inside it.
So yes, a CD was coming.
But then another announcement appeared.
Wait. They’re Actually Debuting?!
This was not just a CD release.
4U. were officially making their CD debut on 11 November 2026.
And that was the part they did not know.
The audience exploded, while the four members looked genuinely stunned. After 15 years as 4U., they were finding out about their own official debut at the Budokan, together with their Otomodachi.
Messages arrived from people who had been part of their long career, including Tsuyoshi Domoto, 20th Century, Sho Sakurai and Masaki Aiba.
Eventually, the four hugged.
And amid all the shock and emotion, Matsuzaki said:
「夢叶うよ！Don’t give up！」(Yume kanau yo! Don’t give up!)
“Dreams do come true! Don’t give up!”
After everything that had happened that night, it was difficult to imagine a more appropriate thing to say. They had just fulfilled their dream of flying above the Budokan, and now, without even knowing it was coming, another dream they had carried for years had finally come true.
For anyone familiar with 4U.’s history, the announcement felt almost surreal. Five years ago, they had sold that empty CD case with the idea that maybe someday they would finally have a disk to put inside it. They had even talked about eventually handing out CDs at the Budokan.
Now, five years later, they were standing, or rather hanging, inside that very venue and discovering that the CD they knew was coming actually meant something much bigger.
They were officially debuting.
The date makes the whole thing even better: November 11 is the birthday of Tatsumi’s mother.
And then there is their age.
Koshioka and Matsuzaki will already be 40 when the single arrives, while Fukuda and Tatsumi turn 40 in November, giving them an average debut age of 39.5.
They will become the oldest debuting group in the agency’s history.
They joked that if they celebrate their 15th debut anniversary someday, they will already be 55.
Please let it happen.
There is, however, one catch.
To continue beyond their debut single, 4U. and their Otomodachi have been given a task: either the debut song’s music video reaches one million views within a year of its release, or the single sells 50,000 copies.
If they fail both, the contract for subsequent releases becomes void.
Koshioka was already confident that they would complete it, although his solution was very Koshioka: his parents are rich, so maybe he could just ask his father to buy a lot of CDs.
Whatever works!
Nobody Does Chaos Quite Like 4U.
Somehow, after discovering their entire career had just entered a brand new chapter, they still had a concert to finish.
And the second half reminded me just how bizarrely versatile 4U. are.
The DJ Zaki senior-song medley was pure nonsense.
During “Daite Señorita”, Matsuzaki appeared with a dumbbell for “tsuyoku, tsuyoku”. During “Yoru no Umi”, he became the moon. Koshioka and Tatsumi became Shuji to Akira for “Seishun Amigo”, while Matsuzaki became… a mobile phone.
Then Koshioka and Tatsumi transformed into Tackey & Tsubasa for “Yume Monogatari”.
But among all the jokes was “Oh!!”, accompanied by old footage from a Tackey & Tsubasa concert. It was the first song the four had performed together as 4U..
Once again: why did the ridiculous part suddenly become emotional?
Later, “Haunted House”, “Scandalous” and “Viper” reminded everyone that underneath all the comedy are four extremely experienced performers who can switch immediately into something cool and mature. Tatsumi also played guitar during “Rock the Show”.
They really can do everything.
In fact, when describing what kind of group 4U. are, their answer was essentially just that: a group that can do anything. Singing, dancing, manzai, whatever you need.
「続けてよかった」 — “I’m Glad We Kept Going”
Then came the ending messages.
Tatsumi talked about his memories with each member and how happy the four of them were.
Koshioka reflected on finally performing at Nippon Budokan, something they could never have imagined 15 years ago. Even though they had suddenly become a debuting group, he promised they would not change.
Then Fukuda tried to speak.
He said, “Thank you.”
And immediately:
“I can’t!”
He started crying.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Fukuda went to each of the other three members one by one and hugged them, until eventually all four were in tears.
「続けてよかった。」(Tsuzukete yokatta.)
“I’m glad we kept going.”
That one hit hard.
Fukuda later reflected on what those words meant. Continuing for so many years naturally meant there had been stress and difficult periods along the way. But they continued anyway.
And now they are debuting.
Not that they see debut as the ending. For them, it is a new beginning.
Their final song, “Kimi ga Ite Kureta”, could not have been more appropriate. After everything that had happened that night, a 15th-anniversary song about the people who had stayed beside them hit especially hard.
So, What Does a Debuting 4U. Dream About Now?
Apparently, plenty.
Tatsumi wants them to perform concerts in all 47 prefectures of Japan.
Matsuzaki took the idea in a slightly different direction. If 4U. are going to remain idols who feel close to their Otomodachi, why not perform in all 23 wards of Tokyo too?
Nationwide domination and extremely local Tokyo domination. Both sound about right.
Tatsumi also realised one small but meaningful thing about their debut:
“We can finally sing our own songs at karaoke.”
The other three immediately agreed.
When the topic turned to longevity, Tatsumi pointed to THE ALFEE as an example of the kind of group he would like 4U. to become: one that simply keeps going.
And perhaps that is the most fitting dream for them.
They call their fans Otomodachi, literally “friends”, because they value that sense of closeness. Koshioka wants to continue seeing new sights together with the people who have supported them. Fukuda wants them to make more memories together.
Tatsumi hopes 4U. can be the kind of idols who make someone think:
“4U. are working hard, so I’ll work hard too.”
And Matsuzaki?
His message was wonderfully straightforward.
They will continue to be 4U.
At the end of the night, they asked everyone to scream “BUDOKAN!” one more time before leaving us with:
“3939 desu!”
Thank you, thank you.
In the end, I went to Nippon Budokan expecting to simply have fun at my first 4U. concert. And I definitely did. I laughed, screamed and spent a good portion of the night wondering what on earth was happening.
What I did not expect was to leave the Budokan reflecting on my own life, the choices I have made and the dreams I am still chasing.
Maybe that is what stayed with me most about this concert. After 15 years, 4U. finally stood at the Budokan, fulfilled their dream of flying, and discovered that another dream they had carried for years was finally coming true.
Matsuzaki said:
「夢叶うよ！Don’t give up！」(Yume kanau yo! Don’t give up!)
“Dreams do come true! Don’t give up!”
And later, with tears flowing, Fukuda said:
「続けてよかった。」(Tsuzukete yokatta.)
“I’m glad we kept going.”
Maybe dreams do not always happen when or how we expect them to. Sometimes, apparently, they take 15 years.
And somehow, somewhere between all the laughter and chaos, 4U. reminded me not to give up on mine.
— Written by Carla for Dumpling Box.
Check out more from 4U. on their various social media accounts!
YouTube | Line Account | X (Official English STARTO account)
Yuta Fukuda Instagram | Yudai Tatsumi Instagram | Yuki Koshioka Instagram | Yusuke Matsuzaki Instagram