# Junki Kono

Junki Kono (河野 純喜, Kōno Junki, born January 28, 1998) is a Japanese singer and actor. He debuted as a member and vocal leader of the Japanese boy band JO1 in 2020, after placing ninth in the first season of Produce 101 Japan. He hosted NHK Educational TV's Hangul! Navi (2022–2023) and was featured in SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]'s single "Outsiders" in 2022.

## Early life

Junki Kono was born on January 20, 1998, in Nara, Japan. Kono was an active child who played football for his local Heguri Football Club. In 2018, he played for Horyuji Football Club as their midfielder and won the Kansai qualifying round of the 25th National Club Team Football Championships on September 9.
Kono is a graduate of Doshisha University's Faculty of Policy Studies. While attending university, he worked part-time as security in a concert venue, where he realized that he couldn't give up on his dreams of becoming a singer.
Alongside his native Japanese, Kono is learning Korean.

## Career
### 2019: Produce 101 Japan

After graduation, Kono was job hunting and had received an offer, which he turned down to participate in Produce 101 Japan, a reality competition show that's a spin-off of the South Korean Produce 101 franchise. In September 2019, Kono auditioned for the show as part of the audition group Six Packs. The show ended in December, where he finished in ninth place with 159,057 votes.

### 2020–present: Debut in JO1 and solo activities

After undergoing training in Korea, Kono debuted in JO1 through their debut single, Protostar, which was released on March 4, 2020, under Lapone Entertainment. In December, he appeared on The First Take, performing "Infinity" and "Voice" from Protostar and the group's first studio album, The Star. His performance soon started trending on Twitter, and on January 13, 2021, Kono released an acoustic version of both songs as digital singles.
In April 2022, he had a regular role as a student on NHK-E's Hangul! Navi [ja], a Korean learning show. In May, Kono co-wrote the song "Touch!" for JO1's second studio album Kizuna, and was featured alongside bandmate Sho Yonashiro on SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]'s single "Outsiders", the ending theme song of the anime Fanfare of Adolescence.
In 2023, Kono co-wrote the song "NEWSmile" for JO1's third studio album Equinox. It was used as the theme song of the morning news show Mezamashi 8 [ja]. On August 22, it was announced that Kono and bandmate Keigo Sato would be the MCs of the two-episode television program Case Study - Forbidden Love Experiment, a part of the channel segment Tuesday NEXT! [ja] on Fuji TV.
In 2024, Kono was announced as a cast member of TBS Television's show Love It! [ja]. The cast is collectively known as the Love It! Family, and he appeared every Thursday from April to June. On June 10, Kono was cast in the drama My Girlfriend's Child, which was broadcast on Kansai TV and Fuji TV from June 25. The drama is based on the eponymous manga series by Mamoru Aoi, with Kono playing the role of Iida Tomohiro, a second-year high school student and classmate of the main character. On December 29, Kono was cast as the narrator of the Netflix and Prime Video distributed entertainment program The Comedy Dual.
In 2025, Kono did the Japanese dub for the role of Jonathan in the film Snow White.

## Discography
### Singles

| Title | Year | Peak chart position | Album |
| Title | Year | JPN Hot | Album |
| "Infinity" (無限大) (from The First Take) | 2021 | — | Non-album singles |
| "Voice" (君の声) (from The First Take) | 2021 | — | Non-album singles |

### As a featured artist

| Title | Year | Peak chart position | Sales | Album |
| Title | Year | JPN | Sales | Album |
| "Outsiders" (SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] feat. Junki Kono and Sho Yonashiro of JO1) | 2022 | 25 | JPN: 2,709 | V |

### Songwriting credits

All song credits are adapted from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers's database, unless otherwise noted.
Key :
* Indicates single release
List of songs, showing featured performers, associated album, credited lyricist(s), and year released :
| Title | Year | Artist | Album | Lyricist | Lyricist | Ref. |
| Title | Year | Artist | Album | Credited | With | Ref. |
| "Touch!" | 2022 | JO1 | Kizuna | | Jinli (Fullbloom) | |
| "NEWSmile" | 2023 | JO1 | Equinox | | Syoya, Sukai, Sho, Shosei | |
| "Love All Star" | 2024 | JO1, INI, DXTeen | Non-album release | | Sky, Hiromu, Koshin, Ken | |
| "Lemon Candy" | 2024 | JO1 | Hitchhiker | | Yuki Kokubo, Yhel, Jung Yong-hwa | |

## Filmography
### Television

List of television programs, with release year, role and note :
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
| 2019 | Produce 101 Japan | Contestant | Finished 9th |
| 2020 | Colorful: Warau no Chikara de 77 Oku Saisei | Host | |
| 2022 | Short Program | Wataru Matsumura | Lead role; anthology series |
| 2022–2023 | Hangul! Navi [ja] | Student | Cast member |
| 2023 | Tuesday NEXT! [ja] | Host | On August 29 and September 5 |
| 2024 | Love It! [ja] | Himself | Cast member |
| 2024 | My Girlfriend's Child | Iida Tomohiro | |
| 2024 | The Comedy Dual | Narrator | |

### Japanese dub

List of Japanese dubbing works, with release year, role and note :
| Year | Title | Role | Voice double | Ref. |
| 2025 | Snow White | Jonathan | Andrew Burnap | |