Johnny’s Office Is in Danger of Being Dismantled, While Scandals Continue to Unfold Causing a Number of People to Leave

Johnny’s held a press conference on September 7 to discuss the sexual assault case against the late founder, Mr. Kitagawa, and since the company did not change its name, a number of commercial sponsors of its talents have pulled out. The company announced that it would pay huge amounts of compensation to the victims of sexual assault, while the agency would pay all of its income to individual talents without compensation for one year. The office is likely to face an even more critical situation in the future, as revenues are expected to plummet.

Former president Julie Fujishima (57) handed over the presidency to Noriyuki Higashiyama (56), but he still owns 100% of the company’s stock. Eventually, he will be driven to the point where he will have to sell it.

“Not only Higashiyama, but also the president of the subsidiary, Yoshihiko Inohara (47), attended the press conference on August 7. Before the press conference, Higashiyama revealed that he had communicated his readiness to become president at a dinner with not only Inohara but also Takuya Kimura (50) and Tokio’s Taichi Kokubun (49). It is likely that the office will be managed jointly by the four of them, and they must be preoccupied with the future of the office,” said the entertainment desk of a sports newspaper.

Higashiyama’s Shonentai, Kimura’s SMAP, Kokubun’s TOKIO, and Inohara’s V6 were the mainstays of Johnny’s in the 1980s and 1990s, and they must have deep feelings for the office. They must have deep feelings for the office. However, in contrast to their predecessors, the talents of the groups that debuted in the 2000s are taking it easy in their current predicament.

First, on August 9, Daigo Nishihata (26) of “Naniwa Boys,” who was scheduled to be the main personality of Nippon TV’s charity program “24 Hour TV” later that month, was reported on the news site “Bunshun Online” to have had a “secret meeting” with Natsuyasu Adachi (24), an announcer at Yomiuri TV, a Nippon TV affiliate, dressed as a woman. The same site also reported on June 6, this month that the two had a “secret meeting” in which they were “dressed as women”. On August 6, the same website also reported a secret meeting between Kenta Nagao (21), also of Naniwa, and former popular sexy actress Yua Mikami (30), with the added “bonus” of suspicions that Kennaga Senga (32) of Kis-My-Ft2 had been two-timed by Mikami with Nagao.

On August 18, following a series of reports about the past behavior of Issei Kanazashi (19), Yuto Nasu (21), and Ryuga Sato (20), all members of “Bishonen,” a Johnny’s Jr. group aiming to make their CD debut, all members posted apologies on their official website. Kanazashi’s LINE communication with a high-class cabaret club girl in Tokyo, whom he was believed to be dating, and other information were leaked. A video taken by Sato of Nasu throwing cream puffs at a wall in his dressing room was spread on the Internet and criticized.

And to add insult to injury, a LINE exchange allegedly sent by Rinne Sugata (25) of the Jr. group “7 MEN Samurai” to a lounge girl in Tokyo was leaked on the Internet.

The series of scandals has greatly discouraged the guesses of the respective groups. Since the issue of Mr. Janney’s sexual assault has been under close scrutiny since early this spring, it is against the law for the talents belonging to the group to cause problems in their private lives.

It is fatal to the Jr. group that got into trouble under these circumstances where it is difficult to debut a CD even for free. However, it seems to me that the members who caused the problems do not have much awareness or sense of crisis.

What was brought to light here was the overwhelming “temperature difference” between the older members, such as Higashiyama and Inohara, who have been in the group for a long time, and the younger members, who are a generation apart in age.

It seems that the talent in their 40s or older and the younger generation, especially those in their 20s or younger, have very different “feelings” toward Mr. Janey,” he said. The “Shonen-tai” (boys’ band), which Mr. Janney himself produced, paying attention to their every move, is another story, but as the office has grown larger and the number of talents has increased, his involvement has probably diminished.

One veteran Johnny said of the younger generation, “When we were that age, we were always so nervous about our seniors that we couldn’t even talk to them. Today’s youngsters are very confident from the start and talk a lot. I feel a generation gap in that respect. Since this is an office with a long history, there is probably a generation gap that has developed, as there is in most companies in the world. If things continue as they are, an unprecedented office dismantling crisis may cause a number of people to consider leaving the company.”

It is precisely because this is now the time for the talents to turn in the same direction that they belong to, or the revitalization of the office will be difficult.