<figure id="attachment_321715" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 683px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321715"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6f5cd46d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/af5172ecf7c87818c9a07eb4f5a02aac.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321715" class="wp-caption-text">Ishikawa, captain of the Japanese men&#8217;s team, defeated Brazil, which had won three Olympic gold medals in the past, for the first time in 30 years in the Nations League (Photo: Kyodo News)</figcaption></figure>
<p>The Volleyball World Cup, which will determine Japan&#8217;s qualification for next year&#8217;s Paris Olympics, will begin in September at the Yoyogi Daiichi Gymnasium in Tokyo (women&#8217;s: September 16-24, men&#8217;s: September 30-October 8). Like other sports, the World Cup is held once every four years, and has been held in Japan since 1977.</p>
<p>From 1995 to 2007, a Johnny&#8217;s idol unit sang the theme song for seven consecutive tournaments, and also served as an official supporter of the tournament, serving as the stage for the unveiling of their &#8220;major debut. Starting with V6 in 1995, followed by Arashi in 1999, NEWS in 2003, and Hey! Say! JUMP in 2007, they also served as special supporters of the Spring High School Volleyball Tournament. However, within Fuji Television, which has been in charge of TV coverage since 1977, it is said that a &#8220;line away from Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; is rapidly emerging for the September tournament, which will be held at the Paris Olympics.</p>
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<h3>The &#8220;World Cup Volleyball&#8221; was a symbol of the &#8220;honeymoon relationship&#8221; between Johnny&#8217;s and Fuji Television.</h3>
<p>A veteran reporter in charge of amateur sports revealed, &#8220;The World Cup Volleyball is held once every four years.</p>
<p><strong> The World Cup Volleyball, which is held once every four years, is a major event in which the entire Fuji Sankei Group, including Fuji Television Network, is involved. Until now, we have continued to tie up with the Johnny&#8217;s office, but it seems that there is a voice within Fuji Television saying, &#8216;We don&#8217;t need to rely on them anymore for this tournament.</strong></p>
<p>The World Cup begins in September, just over two months away. In the past, PR events for the World Cup have always been held at summer events in Odaiba, Fuji TV&#8217;s home turf. The Johnny&#8217;s idol unit, which will serve as the mascot for the tournament, will also take part in the PR event to add to the festivities. Fuji Television&#8217;s &#8220;FNS 27-Hour TV&#8221; (July 22-23) will return after a four-year absence, and will be one of the best PR events, but at this point, there are no plans to promote the World Cup with talent from the Johnny&#8217;s agency. However, at this point, there are no plans to promote the World Cup by Japanese entertainment personalities from the Johnny&#8217;s agency.</p>
<p><strong> There is, of course, no possibility that the decision will be made suddenly just before the tournament. The matter with Johnny&#8217;s is not something we can decide on our own. However, as of now, I think that comedians Chidori and Kamaitachi, who serve as MCs for this program, may promote the World Cup, but I have not heard that idols from Johnny&#8217;s agency will promote the tournament on 27-hour TV.</strong></p>
<p>Fuji Television, which has been broadcasting World Cup volleyball since 1977, reached a turning point in its coverage of the 1995 tournament. It was the beginning of a partnership with the Johnny&#8217;s office to promote the World Cup on a large scale. It was Fuji Television that came up with the idea. The reporter mentioned above continued, &#8220;In 1993, the World Cup was being held in Tokyo.</p>
<p><strong> The popularity of volleyball was being pushed aside by the J-League soccer league that started in 1993, and Fuji Television wanted to attract a new fan base, so they approached the Johnny&#8217;s office.</strong></p>
<p>The person who organized the idol unit that debuted there was the late Mr. Janney Kitagawa, who has been in the middle of the sexual violence scandal that has been reported daily. The V6, Arashi, and others debuted from this stage, creating an era. A Fuji Television alumnus revealed, &#8220;A V6 member who made his debut at this event said, &#8216;V6 is the most popular group in the world.</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;V6&#8221; was the name of the unit that came out of this tournament, and it was named after the letter V in the word &#8220;Volleyball. For the next tournament in 1999, Johnny&#8217;s sent Arashi, who became a national idol. When their event was over before the game, many people got up from their seats and left without watching volleyball.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>The person who was most enthusiastic about this trick was the late Yasutaka Matsudaira, then president of the Japan Volleyball Association.&#8217; He was the coach of the men&#8217;s national team when Japan won the gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and with the backing of the association, the pipeline between the Johnny&#8217;s office and Fuji Television grew thicker every year.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="The &quot;problems&quot; that the Johnny's's office is facing"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_321716" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1280px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321716"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="29e9f272"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/50b172270be54c6f16379fbae117d3ba.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321716" class="wp-caption-text">After the breakup of V6, Yoshihiko Inohara became president of an affiliate company of Johnny&#8217;s s. (Photo by Saki Hotta)</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Beyond Johnny&#8217;s? The best-looking male representative is born.</h3>
<p>However, the Johnny&#8217;s s office, which has sent idol units to seven consecutive World Cup tournaments, is also suffering from a &#8220;talent shortage. Each tournament, the agency has been unable to produce enough talents to send to the World Cup as a &#8220;teenage idol unit. In the &#8217;11 and &#8217;15 tournaments, Sexy Zone performed for two consecutive tournaments, and in the &#8217;19 tournament, Johnny&#8217;s WEST, which had already made its debut, performed the tournament theme song.</p>
<p>Just at the same time, the Volleyball Association was also concerned about the weakening of the men&#8217;s national team.&#8217; The men&#8217;s team failed to qualify for two consecutive Olympics, in London in 2012 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2004.</p>
<p><strong> We have compiled a list of young, talented, and good-looking players for the Tokyo Olympics, where they can compete without qualifying,&#8221; said a volleyball journalist.</strong></p>
<p>In addition to Yuki Ishikawa and Akihiro Yamauchi, who were students at Chuo University at the time and were considered the &#8220;next four,&#8221; Yuji Nishida and Ai Takahashi (Ran) were selected to form the mainstay of the current Japan national team. The reason for the focus on &#8220;good-looking&#8221; players in addition to their abilities is that association executives have witnessed the enthusiasm of fans for Johnny&#8217;s idols at the World Cup, which is held once every four years. A volleyball association executive revealed, &#8220;That&#8217;s why we are so determined to support the dying men&#8217;s team.</p>
<p><strong> That is why popular players were absolutely necessary for the dying men&#8217;s national team. Of course, we did not choose any of the players based on their faces alone (laughs).</strong></p>
<p>Ishikawa, now the captain of the national team, played in the Italian Serie A League, where the main players of each national team competed, when he was a student at Chūō University.</p>
<p><strong> At the time, we allowed him to participate not only in the Italian league but also in intercollegiate competitions, so that he could show the skills and power he had honed in his home country in Japan.</strong></p>
<p>Ishikawa, who turned pro after graduating from Chūōgaku University, went on to play for three teams in Italy and is now an integral part of the Japanese national team.</p>
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<p>Furthermore, Ai Takahashi is another player who has been trying out for overseas clubs while still in college. Not only did she contribute to the defeat of three-time Olympic gold medalist Brazil at the ongoing Volleyball Nations League (VNL), but her good-looking appearance attracted an unusually high number of solo SPs in the volleyball world during the VNL tournament in the Philippines.</p>
<p>Takahashi herself said, &#8220;The mood in the Philippines was extremely welcoming. （I couldn&#8217;t leave my hotel room, so I went to Starbucks with the SPs. (Laughs). The crowd cheered at the venue, so it was like I was competing at home (in Japan).</p>
<p>The departure from Johnny&#8217;s is also supported by the following story from a person involved in the tournament.</p>
<p><strong> About 80% of the advance tickets for the men&#8217;s competition have already been sold. There are huge numbers of people waiting in line for men&#8217;s tournament merchandise at the venues in Japan.</strong></p>
<p>The men&#8217;s team has the momentum to become the Volleyball Association&#8217;s &#8220;dollar box&#8221; for next year&#8217;s Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, it has just been reported that the United Nations Human Rights Council will soon visit Japan to conduct an investigation into the sexual assault by former Johnny&#8217;s president, Janie Kitagawa (who will die in 2019). The &#8220;honeymoon&#8221; relationship that lasted for 28 years has clearly reached a turning point.</p>
<h4>V6 members&#8217; recent activities</h4>
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<figure id="attachment_321718" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2089px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321718"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="67f84b01"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/e58ec427b18216cd3ae566778a6a4840.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321718" class="wp-caption-text">Junichi Okada (photo by Yusuke Kondo)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_321722" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321722"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7d10b2c3"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/eca1e0a91142f54852d80244e3442418.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321722" class="wp-caption-text">Go Morita (Photo by Keisuke Nishi)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_321719" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321719"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6d1b13f1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/ba1233552925d7f25dba79c6b5c49237.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321719" class="wp-caption-text">Masayuki Sakamoto (Photo by Keisuke Nishi)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_321721" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321721"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6c5a3e97"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/d76bd779c19f650cdedd035b605d934c.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321721" class="wp-caption-text">Ken Miyake（Photographed by Ichiro Takatsuka)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_321723" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3605px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-321723"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c744edf9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/07/b616e20aa1ba2f3394ce5c70824283cd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-321723" class="wp-caption-text">Hiroshi Nagano (Photo by Yuri Adachi)</figcaption></figure>


 For seven consecutive tournaments since 1995, idols from Johnny's agency have played a role in promoting the World Cup Volleyball Tournament to be held in September. However, there have been calls for a "departure from Johnny's" within Fuji Television, which has continued to broadcast live coverage of the event.

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