Tatsuro Yamashita, whose Johnny’s sex-abuse issue has sparked a controversy, talks about his honeymoon with Johnny’s. What are the sales of his songs so far?

Singer/songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita (70) spoke on his TOKYO FM radio program “Yamashita Tatsuro Sunday Songbook” for about seven minutes about the sexual assault of the late Mr. Kitagawa, founder of the Johnny’s office.

The incident began when Kiyoshi Matsuo, 55, a music producer at Smile Company (SC), the music production company to which Yamashita belongs, announced on his Twitter account that his contract with SC had been terminated because of his comments on the sexual assault issue.

Yamashita commented on the termination of his contract with Matsuo, “My one-sided criticism based on speculation was one of the reasons for the termination. The reason is by no means the only reason,” he explained with a hint of implication, and then revealed that he and Mr. Matsuo have been estranged for the past several years.

He further claimed that he was “unaware” of Mr. Janney’s sexual assault. However, he also stated that his “respect for Mr. Janney’s achievements has not changed,” and praised Mr. Janney’s achievements, which drew criticism on the Internet. Fans voiced their disappointment.

However, the sales figures of the Johnny’s films that Yamashita has been involved in so far indicate that he cannot be negative about Johnny’s. “Yamashita, who debuted in 1975, has been a member of Johnny’s since 1975, and he has been a member of the Johnny’s team since 1975.

Yamashita debuted in 1975, and his biggest hit was “Christmas Eve,” released in 1983. The record for the number of consecutive years the song has been in the Oricon Weekly Top 100 singles chart, which has stood since 1987, was broken at the end of last year for an unprecedented 37 consecutive years, and sales exceeded 1.9 million copies (according to Oricon), making it an enduring classic.

Many other refreshing summer songs, such as “Heron,” “Sayonara Natsu no Hi” and “High Pressure Girl,” are well known to many people, and although there are no songs that can be called big hits, the band has a long-standing and deep-rooted fan base. However, that situation has changed drastically with the business with Jazz,” said a music industry insider.

Yamashita’s first involvement with a song for a Johnny’s talent came through the contacts of Kosugi Riuzo, 75, former president of SC and president of a Johnny’s affiliate company.’ He first became involved in composing and arranging the music for “High Teen Boogie” (’82), which became the title of a movie starring Masahiko Kondo, 59, who retired from Johnny’s at the end of April 2009.

60.The song sold 60,000 copies, which was a “tailwind” for Kondo, who was already a popular singer at the time.

In 1997, he composed and arranged KinKi Kids’ debut song, “Glass Boy,” which became a big hit, selling 1,793,000 copies. Kinki’s third single “Roller Coaster Romance,” for which he also wrote the music, also became a hit, selling 945,000 copies. He has also composed songs for Shonen-tai, NEWS, and others. The annual royalties from his own songs must be substantial, but those from Johnny’s must be just as big.

In addition to providing music, the group’s songs have also been tied up in films in which Johnny’s talents have appeared. RIDE ON TIME” (1980) was used in the drama “GOOD LUCK! (’03, TBS), and “Zutto tomo sama” (’08) was used as the theme song for the drama “Roses no nai hanaya” (’08, Fuji TV), starring Shingo Katori (’46).

Also, his new song “Sync Of Summer” (released on July 26) has become a topic of conversation as it was used as the commercial song for “Kirin Beverage Afternoon Tea,” an on-air commercial starring Ren Meguro (26) of Snow Man.

Yamashita’s wife, singer/songwriter Mariya Takeuchi (68), also belongs to the same SC as Yamashita, and the hit Arashi song “Resurrection LOVE” (’16) was a joint work by the couple, with lyrics written by Takeuchi and music composed and arranged by Yamashita. Like Yamashita, Takeuchi’s songs have been used as theme songs for dramas featuring Johnny’s talent, and Johnny’s is a business partner that brings huge profits to SC.

Since SC is now almost a “family company” of Johnny’s, Yamashita had no choice but to firmly express his views.