Where Is He Now? The 14-Year-Old Idol Who Became A Convicted Criminal
A once-promising idol, who was scouted at just 13 years old walked away from the spotlight and turned to crime. How did his life change so drastically?
Goto Yuki‘s rise to fame began in 1999 when he was scouted by the Japanese entertainment company Harmony Promotion while attending his sister’s event. Yuki’s sister Goto Maki was, at the time, a member of the popular Japanese girl group Morning Musume. In 2000, 14-year-old Yuki debuted as a rapper and one-half of the co-ed duo EE Jump.
Though EE Jump was a success, trouble was brewing behind the scenes. Yuki’s vocal skills were reportedly criticized by the group’s staff, and friction between him and EE Jump’s management came to a head during promotions for the group’s 2001 single, “Iki na Rhythm!” An argument with EE Jump’s female manager about the group’s grueling schedule ended with Yuki physically assaulting her and fleeing from the hotel he was staying in at the time. This marked the first of Yuki’s scandals.
That same year, 15-year-old Yuki was also allegedly assaulted by Wada Kaoru, the chief of Harmony Promotion, after Wada caught him and Yuki’s alleged secret girlfriend–former Morning Musume member Ichii Sayaka–leaving together in a taxi. The incident, which Yuki would personally speak about many years later, in a 2021 interview, allegedly resulted in Wada punishing Yuki by suspending his idol activities for three months.
Yuki returned to EE Jump in 2002, but his comeback was quickly overshadowed by tabloid photos of him drinking underage at a cabaret club. Yuki refused to agree to his agency’s terms–informing the agency about his whereabouts every time he left his home–and instead decided to retire from the entertainment industry. EE Jump disbanded in April 2002, three months before Yuki’s 16th birthday.
Five years after his retirement, 21-year-old Yuki was arrested for committing a robbery, along with two accomplices, who were 18 and 19 at the time. They had stolen 80 reels of electric cable worth approximately 1 million yen ($6,573 USD) from a construction site in Edogawa, Tokyo. This crime landed Yuki–the robbery’s ringleader–in prison for five and a half years.
Where is Goto Yuki now? After his release from prison, Yuki released a memoir, Sange: Gomaki no Otōto to Yobarete (lit. Repentance: They Call Me Gomaki’s Little Brother), in 2013. The book included personal details about his life, including his relationship with his famous sister, their parents’ deaths, and his tumultuous time in the spotlight.
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Since then Yuki has occasionally appeared as a guest on internet talk shows and television as well as opened his own YouTube channel. He has competed in boxing matches and regularly posts content with his friends, family, and coworkers on social media.
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Unfortunately, Yuki’s robbery scandal also affected his sister Maki, who later became embroiled in her own controversy.
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