Following Arashi's hiatus, Ohno had been absent from the public eye, except for a minimum of messages transmitted via the other members. In late April 2024, he provided an interview to a Post Seven reporter, in which he talked about meeting with the others at late night to talk, given the other's busy schedules. Among the things he talked about was Arashi's newly opened company and Ninomiya's independence from Smile-Up. He barely spoke about the hiatus and totally evaded the question of his commercial businesses opening around Miyakojima, Okinawa, including a hotel and a bar. Ohno has been investing in real estate since 2017, with plans to build a tourist resort. Of these, he said "I don't want to talk about it because it's private". He also talked about learning to drive. He said that it wasn't because of his needing to drive to Miyakojima, but because he felt it was time he learned, since, before, he had to rely on others to take him wherever he needed to go. About the return of activities as Arashi, Ohno said that nothing has been decided yet, not even a return concert that was rumored to be held in Spring next year. On February 28, 2026, in a post by
Starto Entertainment, it was announced that Ohno would leave the agency the same day of Arashi's end of activities, May 31, 2026. In a letter, also shared by Starto, Ohno thanks everyone involved during all the years of his career, including the members (of Arashi) and the fans, who have been supporting him since the beginning. He did not mention retiring from entertainment, but he did point out that after the last concert, he would like to do what he can at his own pace, being true to himself.
Music career Before his music debut with Arashi, Ohno wanted to resign from Johnny & Associates. However, then-president
Johnny Kitagawa asked him to help out with a song recording and to pack up for a trip to Hawaii, which turned out to be the place where the press conference announcing the formation of Arashi was held. With Ohno at the age of at the time, Arashi was officially formed on September 15, 1999 and made their
CD debut on November 3, 1999. Since much of his trainee days were spent in Kyoto, he was the least known member during Arashi's early days. Although his music career is primarily with Arashi, he had a solo concert called
3104 (which can be read as his name
Satoshi in Japanese) in 2006 and in 2009, became the first and only member in Arashi to release a solo single. It was a soundtrack for his drama
Uta no Onii-san titled by
Yano Kenta starring Satoshi Ohno. Ohno also provided the vocals to the insert song , which was released as a single on July 7, 2010 for the drama
Kaibutsu-kun and sold around 59,000 copies on the first day.
Choreography Ohno's work as a choreographer began in 2004 for his solo "Top Secret" during Arashi's
2004 Iza, Now Tour, and in 2006 for the group. Since then, he has done numerous solo and group dances, some of his notable group choreography including "
Zero-G", the live performance for "
Bittersweet", the interlude for the "
Kokoro no Sora" music video, "
Tsunagu", and "
Do You...?".
Acting career Stage In 1997, Ohno was a cast member of
Kyo to Kyo with
Musical Academy (MA) leader Shingo Machida and continued to act in other stage productions such as
Koichi Dōmoto's Mask and Shōnentai's
Playzone after
Kyo to Kyo was over. Since then, he has done a number of stage plays such as
True West with
Masahiro Matsuoka and
West Side Story with bandmates
Sho Sakurai and
Jun Matsumoto. The series that Ohno starred in spanned from 2003 to 2008, consisting of , , , and . In
Tensei Kunpū, Ohno portrayed a man named Kaoru Kazamine who was accidentally sent back to the
Edo period of Japan through a system malfunction.
Drama In 1999, Ohno made his TV drama debut in the volleyball-centered short drama , which was Arashi's first drama together. In 2008, Ohno was given his first starring role in the suspense drama
Maō. He co-starred with
Toma Ikuta and portrayed a two-faced lawyer who sought for revenge against the person who murdered his brother years ago. In 2009, he starred in his first comedy drama . With
Kanjani Eight member
Ryuhei Maruyama as his co-star, Ohno played a musician who unexpectedly becomes a singing character for a children's program after being dumped by his girlfriend, kicked out of his band, and labelled useless by his family. Ohno also took part in a television mini-drama project titled , which aired from October 2009 to April 2010 and starred a select number of different artists from Johnny's. Ohno was the lead actor in the first story of the project called , which ran for four episodes in total. The story was about a salaryman and a
club hostess visiting a strange "Room 0" that can reveal anyone's "grade" as a human being. In January 2010, Ohno co-starred with the other members of Arashi in the human suspense drama special . Ohno portrayed Satoru Mashiko, a 28-year-old employee of a cleaning company who is caught up in a building hijack. Beginning in April 2010, Ohno starred in the live-action adaptation of the
manga and
anime Kaibutsu-kun. Ohno played Tarou Kaibutsu, the prince of Kaibutsu Land who is ordered by the king to go to the world of humans for training as he is deemed unfit for the succession of the throne. He then reprised his role of Kaibutsu-kun for the
Kaibutsu-kun special which aired on June 26, 2010. Ohno also starred in the second story, , of the Fall 2010 special that aired on October 4, 2010. In October 2011, Ohno once again reprised his role of Kaibutsu-kun for another
Kaibutsu-kun special, leading up to the story of the 3D movie version. On January 3, 2012, Ohno starred in the drama special . He played the role of Shotaro Tarui, a freeter who can't forget his childhood dream of being a hero. However, he finds himself planning a fake kidnapping after he receives a request from the daughter of a boss of racketeers, played by co-star
Yui Aragaki. Beginning in April 2012, Ohno co-starred with
Erika Toda in his first
Getsuku drama, . He played the lead character, Kei Enomoto, an employee at a major security firm who has an obsession with keys and locks. Enomoto works with a pair of attorneys, solving mysteries that fall under the "locked room" genre, in which seemingly impossible crimes are committed. On August 24, 2013, Ohno starred in the drama special which aired as part of the annual
24 Hour Television telethon in Japan. Ohno plays a 29-year-old man named Kouta who is diagnosed with malignant lymphoma. Given three months left to live, he makes a resolve to accept his fate and face death properly. On January 3, 2014, Ohno reprised the role of Enomoto Kei for the Kagi no Kakatta Heya special. He also starred in the live-action adaptation of the manga
Shinigami-kun beginning in April 2014. Ohno portrayed Shinigami-kun (Shinigami No.413) whose job is to pronounce death to expected people and take their souls to the spiritual world. As a rookie reaper, he tends to make biased decisions towards the human side which always causes him to be reprimanded by his boss. Beginning in April 2016, Ohno starred in a drama titled . Ohno played Reiji Samejima, a company president in the hotel industry. Despite his success at work, he knows little about love. This romantic comedy follows Samejima as he pursues Misaki Shibayama, his very first love interest.
Film In 2002, Ohno made his motion picture debut in Arashi's first movie together, . He portrayed Haru, a bizarre high school student who gets swindled during his trip to
Harajuku. Two years later in 2004, Ohno reprised his role for the sequel . Ohno reprised his role as Haru once again in 2014 in a spin-off of the two previous films, titled . In 2007, the group came together once again to act in their third movie together, , with Ohno acting as an oil painter. In 2011, Ohno returned to the big screen starring as the lead actor in the film
Kaibutsu-kun the Movie. His character, Tarou Kaibutsu, is about to be crowned king, but is met with unexpected booing. Trying to escape to the human world, Tarou and his three henchmen accidentally find themselves in a place known as the Curry Kingdom where he is mistaken as a legendary hero. The cast went overseas to India to shoot parts of the film. He became the first member in Arashi to star in a 3D film. In May 2016 it was announced that Ohno would star as the lead actor in the summer 2017 film . The film illustrates the epic battle between the
Oda clan and the
Iga ninja. Ohno plays Mumon, an Iga ninja renowned to be a deadly assassin with unmatched battle strength, but who is also equally lazy and only seeks to earn money to make his wife, Okuni, happy. In preparation for the film, Ohno underwent intensive training in sword fighting. == Other ventures ==