It was stated at the end of PLAYZONE that the current schedule for the boys were empty and that they did not know what the upcoming months had in store for the boys. Members of Shounentai also said in a message on the official website for the play that they hoped both boys would be able to leave the trainee title in the end of September, when the play ends. Handwritten letters were sent to their fans announcing their return to the stage. and Chinen Yuuri in Shounentai's musical PLAYZONE 2007. Later that year, it was announced that Uchi and Kusano would be appearing alongside M.A.D. After almost a year long hiatus, NEWS released a single, Hoshi wo Mezashite, as the theme song for the Japanese release of Happy Feet in which Tegoshi Yuya was the voice of the main character, 'Mumble'. According to fans and websites, the rank 'trainee' is lower than the position of a junior. In January 2007, it was announced that Uchi Hiroki and Kusano Hironori would be returning as 'trainees'. On December 30th, 2006 it was announced that NEWS would be returning as a 6 member group, and would be appearing on Johnny's Countdown 2006-2007. During the time of their suspension, the members each had their own activities the duo Tegomass was created with Tegoshi and Masuda, while Yamashita performed alongside Golf and Mike in the unit GYM for the womens volleyball tournament 2006. The group was expected to return in 2007 with all 8 members. However in May 2006, the group was temporarily suspended from further group activities, so that they could reflect on the misdeeds done by some of its members. For a short term NEWS performed with only six members and they released the single Sayaendou / Hadashi no Cinderella Boy. In early 2006 Kusano Hironori, 17 at the time, was also accused of drinking but when questioned about it, he denied the accusation but still decided to withdraw out of his own accord.
Uchi Hiroki, 19 at the time, was caught drinking in public while underage and was suspended from the agency. That year also marked their first member loss since December 2003. In 2005, the unit did a collaboration with KAT-TUN and Junior units in the SUMMARY of Johnny's World. Since both boys frequently moved between the two units, NEWS was often featured with only the 6 kanto members. Even though the boys debuted with NEWS, they did have a second debut with their Kansai unit Kanjani 8 later that year. The unit highlights the connection between Kanto and Kansai Johnny's with two members, Nishikido Ryo and Uchi Hiroki, being Kansai Juniors.
He is currently working with AMUSE as part of the band ONE OK ROCK. The member count at the time of their official debut was at 8, with Moriuchi Takahiro leaving the unit and Johnny's Entertainment entirely in December 2003. This single Kibou ~Yell~, became their official debut single and debuted at number 1 on the Oricon charts and also finished the year in the 13th position. At the time, the unit was only formed to promote the women's volley ball tournament, hence why their single NEWS Nippon was not their official debut single, but because of the popularity of the unit, they had another single released on May 2004. Their first single, NEWS Nippon, which was released in 2003, was only available in limited edition at Seven Eleven stores. and several smaller groups in September of 2003. The original nine members of NEWS were handpicked from the larger group of Johnny's Jr. NEWS stands for the four compass directions: North, East, West and South.
NEWS (also seen as News and NewS) is a Johnny's Entertainment group composed of six members (formerly nine).