Masaki Aiba, left, and Sho Sakurai (Images provided by Johnny & Associates)

       "Extraordinary double announcement," "marriage announcement," "Aiba-kun," "non-celebrity women" and other words trended on Twitter on Sept. 28 immediately after Sho Sakurai and Masaki Aiba, members of the hugely popular Japanese boy band Arashi, revealed their respective marriages.

       Many posts mixed celebration with lamentation, and it appears some fans were still perplexed by the news.

       One comment read, "I was emotionally prepared, thinking it would come one day, but now it's here I feel very lonely." Another wrote, "How much good karma did they get in their previous lives to be able to marry Arashi members?" A separate post read, "Finally, they're married. Plus, they're so close they announced their marriages at the same time!!"

       TV stations broke the news with headlines such as "Sho Sakurai & Masaki Aiba Marriage Announcement," which seemingly led many to mistakenly assume the two men had married each other. One person wrote that they were "confused to death."

       Arashi went on hiatus at the end of 2020. Sakurai, 39, and Aiba, 38 revealed news of their respective marriages via the group's official fan club website and elsewhere.

       (Mainichi)

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