 He first played tambourine during Tokio's early performances as SMAP's background dancers.Just prior to Tokio's debut, the band's rhythm guitarist, Hiromu Kojima, left the band and was replaced by Tomoya Nagase.In 1997, Nagase collaborated with American R&B group 3T to record the Japanese version of Eternal Flame, which was used as the theme song for the Japanese drama D×D, in which he starred.