Keiichiro Koyama

Koyama was born in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, as the youngest of two children. His sister is Miki Fujiwara, who is a culinary expert and YouTuber.

On an episode of "NEWS na Futari", Koyama revealed that he suffered from domestic abuse from his father as a child, which led to his parents' divorce when he was in 5th grade.^[1]

In 2007, he graduated from Meiji University's department of History and Geography with a degree in Oriental History.^[2]

Upon entering Johnny's Entertainment on 21 January 2001, Koyama started out with the unit B.A.D. which stands for Beautiful American Dream. His second unit as a junior was B.B.D. which at first stood for Bad Boys Dancing, but was later changed to Best Beat Dancing. In October 2001, he was chosen as a member of Domoto Koichi's project, J-Support, later changed to K.K.Kity, alongside future fellow NEWS members Hironori Kusano and Shigeaki Kato. It was in this unit that Koyama started out as an announcer for shows such as the Ya-Ya-yah Show, and made hosting a part of his talents.

He is the oldest member of NEWS, which debuted in September 2003,^[3] and is often seen as the mother figure of the group.

Koyama had his own radio show called "K-chan NEWS" that was broadcast every Wednesday from April 5, 2005 to March 27, 2024 by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting.^[4] The show regularly featured segments with listeners participation, such as reading fan letters or roleplaying situations sent in by fans with the radio guests.

From 2006 until March 2011, he hosted NHK's popular TV variety show Shounen Club (Boys Club) alongside KAT-TUN member Nakamaru Yuichi. The pair shared the screen 6 years later in Fuji TV's variety special program "Otasuke JAPAN", which aired on June 14, 2017.^[5]

Koyama learned sign language to interact with hearing-impaired children when he hosted NTV's "24 Hour TV" telethon in 2009, obtaining a test level 4.^[3]

He could be seen as a newscaster on NTV's "News Every", from 2010 until 2018.^[6]

He also occasionally participated in dramas, such as Fuji TV "Ns' Aoi" and "0-gōshitsu no kyaku",^[3] as well as guest starring in his bandmate Yamashita Tomohisa's drama Kurosagi. He played Takasugi Harumi in the drama adaptation of Takasugi-san's Obento, which was aired on NTV from October 3 to December 5, 2024. This is his first leading role in a drama series.^[7]

Koyama opened a personal Twitter on March 17, 2023^[8] and an official website on February 22, 2024.^[9] A YouTube channel and TikTok account was created on Jan 8, 2025.^[10] He has produced and starred in his own short-length drama exclusive on YouTube called "BUTLER"

On April 23, 2025, Koyama released a single called "CHOIYAMA", as part of the "CHOIYAMA Project".^[11] He also held fan meetings "CHOI Gathering" in Tokyo and Osaka.^[12] A fan meeting in Shanghai was also held on July 26, 2025.^[13]

On 8 June 2018, Koyama's entertainment career was halted. He attended a party where he gave an underage girl alcohol. The drinking age in Japan is 20 years old, and while she said she was 20 and legally able to drink, it was later discovered that she was in fact 19 years old.^[14] Koyama appeared on "News Every" on June 7 to make a public apology, in which he explained that he was not aware of the woman's real age, but acknowledged his behavior was still inappropriate and would take a break to reflect on himself.^[15] This scandal put his entire career on hold, including his entertainment activities with Johnny's Entertainment and his job as a newscaster for the program "News Every".

As of 27 June 2018, Koyama has resumed his entertainment activities. In December 2018, Koyama left the program "News Every."

Koyama met AAA's Misako Uno through friends, and started dating by fall 2022.^[16] Koyama didn't deny the relationship when interviewed by Bunshun.^[17] According to acquaintances (and as reported by Bunshun), both had been sharing their living spaces, semi-cohabitating, with the previous approval of family and agencies,^[16][17] having plans to marry by the end of 2024. Koyama announced the registration of his marriage to Uno on 12 March 2024, birthday of Uno's beloved father, who died in January 2023.^[18] The couple announced the birth of their first child (gender undisclosed) on 6 June 2025.^[19]

Koyama is fond of cats. He had a cat named Nyanta for 19 years and dedicated a song by the same name to the cat after its death. He now has a cat named Milk.^[20] He also writes a column for the cat magazine Neko Biyori.^[21]