Produce 101 Japan () is a 2019 Japanese reality competition show, co-produced by Yoshimoto Kogyo and CJ E&M. It is a spin-off of the South Korean Produce 101 franchise. The show follows 101 contestants with the intention of producing a permanent eleven-member boy group.
It premiered on September 25, 2019, on TBS. The first episode was rerun on the streaming platform GyaO! the following day, which also broadcast the remainder of the show every Thursday at 21:00 JST (GMT+9). The finale was aired on December 11, 2019, on TBS at 19:00 JST (GMT+9).
The final top eleven contestants debuted as the permanent boy group JO1.
Concept and production On April 11, 2019, it was announced that Lapone Entertainment, a management company co-founded by Yoshimoto Kogyo, CJ E&M, and MCIP Holdings, would produce a Japanese version of the South Korean idol survival show Produce 101 with the intention of debuting an internationally active, eleven-member boy group in 2020. The final group's members, name, and concept would be selected by the viewers, referred to as . The show had a budget of several billion yen and was one of the largest Japanese television productions.
Applications for the show were accepted from April 11 to May 31, 2019. All male Japanese residents aged 16 to 30 years old who were not tied to any talent agency at the time of application and had completed compulsory education were eligible to apply, regardless of previous experience or nationality. Successful applicants were called back for a first round of auditions, which were held on June 15 across seven cities in Japan: Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Okinawa. During the second screening, which took place from July 13 to July 15, the final 101 contestants were selected. In total, 6,000 people auditioned for the show.
In August, the chosen constestants were sent to a training camp in Paju, South Korea. Several episodes were shot there as well before the production returned to Japan.
In light of the Mnet vote manipulation investigation, the production committee stated in November 2019 that they were not affiliated with the Korean production team and had a separate voting system, with votes analyzed by a group of third-party lawyers. Following the departure of South Korean contestants Kim Hee-cheon, Kim Youn-dong, and Jeong Young-hoon, the production committee issued a statement explaining that the contestants were eligible for the show, as they were living in Japan at the time, and that their mandatory military service was not a reason why they left. In addition, they issued an official warning to viewers not to spread malicious rumors about the contestants on social media.
Promotion and broadcast On September 1, 2019, all 101 trainees were revealed at a press conference held at Osaki Bright Core Hall in Tokyo. Two days later, the music video for the show's theme song "Tsukame (It's Coming)" (Japanese: , ) was released, with Ren Kawashiri serving as the center. The same day, profiles for all contestants were published on the official website.
The series premiered on September 25, 2019, on TBS, and a day later on GyaO!, where all twelve episodes were subsequently aired for free. The final episode was once again broadcast by TBS on December 11, 2019. Prior to the show's airing, two contestants had dropped out, leaving 99 trainees to compete on the show. Contestant Kenya Hata later dropped out of the series before the show was broadcast.
Cast The show was presented by Hideyuki Yabe and Takashi Okumura of the comedy duo Ninety-nine, who had previously hosted the Asayan talent competition series in 1999.
Vocal trainers Hidenori Sugai Sayaka Yasukura
Dance trainers A-non Warner
Rap trainer Cypress Ueno Bose
Contestants
Color key Final members of JO1 Contestant eliminated in the final episode Contestant eliminated in the third elimination round Contestant eliminated in the second elimination round Contestant eliminated in the first elimination round Contestant left the show
101 Contestants
Rankings
The top 11 contestants, which determined the members of the final group, were chosen through popularity online voting at Produce 101 Japan GyaO! homepage and audience's live voting. The results were shown at the end of each episode.
For the first and second voting period, viewers were allowed to select 11 trainees per vote. During the third round, the system changed to 2 trainees per vote and added votes from Softbank Line Friend. For the final round, the system changed to one trainee per vote and added live online votes.
New Top 11 Comeback to Top 11 + List of Top 11 contestants # Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 11 Episode 12 1 Ren Kawashiri Issei Mamehara (2) Issei Mamehara () Ren Kawashiri (1) Takumi Kawanishi (2) Takumi Kawanishi () Issei Mamehara (4) Ren Kawashiri (1) Issei Mamehara (1) 2 Takumi Kawanishi Ren Kawashiri (1) Ren Kawashiri () Issei Mamehara (1) Ren Kawashiri (1) Ren Kawashiri () Ren Kawashiri () Issei Mamehara (1) Ren Kawashiri (1) 3 Issei Mamehara Takumi Kawanishi (1) Takumi Kawanishi () Takumi Kawanishi () Shion Tsurubo (2) Shion Tsurubo () Shion Tsurubo () Shion Tsurubo () Takumi Kawanishi (3) 4 Tomoaki Ando Tomoaki Ando () Kim Hee-cheon (2) Kim Hee-cheon () Issei Mamehara (2) Issei Mamehara () Ruki Shiroiwa (9) Ruki Shiroiwa () Shosei Ohira (7) 5 Masahiko Imanishi Shion Tsurubo (2) Shion Tsurubo () Shion Tsurubo () Kim Yoon-dong (1) Kim Hee-cheon (1) Jun Uehara (7) Jeong Young-hoon (1) Shion Tsurubo (2) 6 Jun Uehara Kim Hee-cheon (4) Kim Yoon-dong (7) Kim Yoon-dong () Kim Hee-cheon (2) Kim Yoon-dong (1) Jeong Young-hoon (1) Takumi Kawanishi (6) Ruki Shiroiwa (2) 7 Shion Tsurubo Jun Uehara (1) Tomoaki Ando (3) Shosei Ohira (1) Jeong Young-hoon (1) Jeong Young-hoon () Tomoaki Ando (3) Tomoaki Ando () Keigo Sato (8) 8 Lee Min-hyuk Masahiko Imanishi (3) Shosei Ohira (1) Jeong Young-hoon (1) Shunya Osawa (1) Shunya Osawa () Sho Yonashiro (9) Jun Uehara (3) Syoya Kimata (2) 9 Jeong Young-hoon Shosei Ohira (6) Jeong Young-hoon (2) Shunya Osawa (2) Shosei Ohira (2) Junki Kono (1) Syoya Kimata (5) Kim Yoon-dong (1) Junki Kono (4) 10 Kim Hee-cheon Lee Min-hyuk (2) Yugo Miyajima (5) Yugo Miyajima () Junki Kono (5) Tomoaki Ando (1) Kim Yoon-dong (4) Syoya Kimata (1) Sukai Kinjo (6) 11 Shunya Osawa Jeong Young-hoon (2) Shunya Osawa (1) Tomoaki Ando (4) Tomoaki Ando () Shosei Ohira (2) Junki Kono (2) Shosei Ohira (2) Sho Yonashiro (1)
First voting period The first voting period took place between September 26 at 12 am and October 18 at 5:00 am (JST). The total number of votes accumulated was 33,847,705.
# Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Name Votes Name Votes 1 Ren Kawashiri Issei Mamehara Issei Mamehara Kosuke Honda 14,230 Ren Kawashiri 1,883,178 2 Takumi Kawanishi Ren Kawashiri Ren Kawashiri Naoki Ozawa 14,224 Issei Mamehara 1,848,191 3 Issei Mamehara Takumi Kawanishi Takumi Kawanishi Ryo Mitsui 13,185 Takumi Kawanishi1,771,861 4 Tomoaki Ando Tomoaki Ando Kim Hee-cheon Sho Yonashiro 4,151 Kim Hee-cheon 1,411,741 5 Masahiko Imanishi Shion Tsurubo Shion Tsurubo Masahiko Imanishi 4,120 Shion Tsurubo 1,238,146 6 Jun Uehara Kim Hee-cheon Kim Yoon-dong Shion Tokonami 3,217 Kim Yoon-dong 1,145,844 7 Shion Tsurubo Jun Uehara Tomoaki Ando Sho Fukuchi 3,178 Shosei Ohira 1,053,408 8 Lee Min-hyuk Masahiko Imanishi Shosei Ohira Tsubasa Takizawa 3,167 Jeong Young-hoon 905,412 9 Jeong Young-hoon Shosei Ohira Jeong Young-hoon Keigo Sato 3,141 Shunya Osawa 854,843 10 Kim Hee-cheon Lee Min-hyuk Yugo Miyajima Jun Uehara 1,175 Yugo Miyajima 835,565 11 Shunya Osawa Jeong Young-hoon Shunya Osawa Ren Kawashiri 1,138 Tomoaki Ando 798,477
Second voting period The second voting period took place between October 24 at 11:30 pm and November 8 at 5:00 am (JST). The total number of votes accumulated was 18,945,494.
# Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Name Votes Name Votes 1 Takumi Kawanishi Takumi Kawanishi 170,419 Takumi Kawanishi 1,149,244 2 Ren Kawashiri Ren Kawashiri 100,395 Ren Kawashiri 1,074,606 3 Shion Tsurubo Kim Hee-cheon 100,376 Shion Tsurubo 996,794 4 Issei Mamehara Shuta Urano 100,372 Issei Mamehara 962,252 5 Kim Yoon-dong Shunya Osawa 100,371 Kim Hee-cheon 823,022 6 Kim Hee-cheon Jun Uehara 100,300 Kim Yoon-dong 807,141 7 Jeong Young-hoon Issei Mamehara 20,407 Jeong Young-hoon 748,508 8 Shunya Osawa Sho Yonashiro 20,407 Shunya Osawa 705,067 9 Shosei Ohira Shion Tokonami 20,402 Junki Kono 661,099 10 Junki Kono Syoya Kimata 20,367 Tomoaki Ando 654,176 11 Tomoaki Ando Kosuke Honda 20,360 Shosei Ohira 543,768
Third voting period The third voting period will take place between November 14 at 11:30 pm and November 29 at 5:00 am (JST). The total number of votes accumulated was 8,356,702.
# Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Name Votes Name Votes 1 Issei Mamehara Minato Inoue 100,046 Ren Kawashiri 516,171 2 Ren Kawashiri Keigo Sato 20,041 Issei Mamehara 505,823 3 Shion Tsurubo Syoya Kimata 20,034 Shion Tsurubo 460,657 4 Ruki Shiroiwa Jun Uehara 20,031 Ruki Shiroiwa 448,795 5 Jun Uehara Tatsutoshi Miyazato 20,012 Jeong Young-hoon 383,463 6 Jeong Young-hoon Kaito Okano 20,006 Takumi Kawanishi 381,845 7 Tomoaki Ando Masanami Aoki 20,004 Tomoaki Ando 355,660 8 Sho Yonashiro Ruki Shiroiwa 70 Jun Uehara 354,058 9 Syoya Kimata Shion Tsurubo 35 Kim Yoon-dong 347,621 10 Kim Yoon-dong Shosei Ohira 30 Syoya Kimata 339,052 11 Junki Kono Shion Tokonami 24 Shosei Ohira 336,162
Result
The finale online voting period took place between December 5 at 11:00 pm and December 11 at 5:00 am (JST) and The finale was held on December 11 at 7:00 pm (JST), and open online voting period was broadcast live. The total number of votes accumulated was 3,242,751. Ninety-nine announced the unit boy group name, JO1.
# Episode 12 Name Votes Prefecture Audition Name 1 Issei Mamehara 261,583 Okayama Issei Mamehara 2 Ren Kawashiri 256,527 Fukuoka UN Backers 3 Takumi Kawanishi 252,885 Hyogo KSix 4 Shosei Ohira 220,594 Kyoto UN Backers 5 Shion Tsurubo 204,045 Shiga Sion 6 Ruki Shiroiwa 194,919 Tokyo Hangyaku no Prince 7 Keigo Sato 186,309 Aichi High-Steps 8 Syoya Kimata 171,205 Aichi Shachihoko Friends 9 Junki Kono 159,057 Nara Six Packs 10 Sukai Kinjo 157,373 Osaka Team Sky 11 Sho Yonashiro 140,003 Okinawa Six Packs
Discography Extended plays Title Details Peak chart positions Sales JPN HotJapan Hot Album:
JPN DigOricon Digital Album Chart: 35 Boys 5 Concepts Released: November 29, 2019 Label: Lapone Entertainment Formats: Digital download 3 2 JPN: 13,546
Produce 101 Japan — Final Released: December 12, 2019 Label: Lapone Entertainment Formats: Digital download 32 —
Singles Title Year Peak positionsSalesAlbum JPNHot 100Japan Hot 100:
JPN DigOricon Digital Single Chart:
"Tsukame (It's Coming)" 2019 42 — rowspan="6" "KungChiKiTa" 91 — 35 Boys 5 Concepts "Domino" 67 — "Happy Merry Christmas" 84 — "Black Out" 94 — "Yancha Boy Yancha Girl" 77 — "GrandMaster" 25 6 JPN: 10,454 Produce 101 Japan — Final "Young" 20 5 JPN: 10,759 "Sayonara Seishun" (Produce 101 Japan ver.) 47 11 JPN: 7,483 "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
Reception Ratings on TBS TitleOriginal broadcast dateTimeslot (JST)Average audience share (Kanto)PremiereSeptember 26, 20190:01 - 1:00 am2.6%Live FinalDecember 11, 20197:00 - 9:00 pm3.4%
Post-Competition JO1 released their debut single "Protostar" on March 4, 2020. Shion Tsurubo (5th) left the group on December 31, 2025 after a six-month hiatus due to suspicion of online gambling. Shosei Ohira (4th) left the group on May 31, 2026 after an indefinite hiatus due to rule violations.
Some trainees formed/joined with groups: Yugo Miyajima (12th), Shunya Osawa (13th), Tomoaki Ando (14th), Jun Uehara (20th), Jeong Young-hoon (21st), Kim Yoon-dong (22nd), and Kim Hee-cheon (35th) formed a boy group called Orbit under agency Dream Passport. They released their debut album 00 on November 11.