A concert by popular Japanese boy band Arashi at the National Stadium in Tokyo, the main venue for next summer's rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, was streamed to a global audience Tuesday ahead of the group's planned suspension of activities from the year-end.

Five-member Arashi, one of Japan's most successful groups with many hit songs to their name, prerecorded the concert without fans present at the new stadium, which was completed in 2019 for the games originally slated for this year.

The National Stadium in Tokyo. (Kyodo)

"It's amazing to be able to perform in the new stadium," Arashi's Jun Matsumoto said during the concert with fellow band members Satoshi Ono, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba and Kazunari Ninomiya.

Public broadcaster NHK had tapped them to play a role in the broadcaster's coverage of the games.

Supplied photo shows Arashi at the National Stadium in Tokyo. (Kyodo)

The group, which debuted in 1999 under the management of Johnny & Associates Inc., one of Japan's powerful entertainment agencies, have become a household name not only for its music -- with many of their singles having topped weekly music hit rankings in the country -- but also for their stints in dramas, movies and variety shows, among others.

Their "5x20 All the BEST!! 1999-2019" was the best-selling album globally in 2019, selling about 3.3 million copies and overtaking the albums of famed U.S. artist Taylor Swift and popular South Korean pop group BTS, according to a global music industry group.

During the paid online concert streamed on Nov. 3, which marked the day their first CD debuted in 1999, they performed their hit single "Arashi" and other popular tunes such as "Happiness."

Arashi also performed one of their most recent songs, "Whenever You Call," an all-English song written by American singer-songwriter and Academy-winning artist Bruno Mars.

With the songs chosen by fans, the concert was one of the trending topics on social media. A documentary about the group is also being shown on Netflix.

Arashi announced in January 2019 that they planned to suspend their activities at the end of 2020.


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Popular Japanese boy band Arashi to suspend activities at end of 2020