<figure id="attachment_334920" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-334920" style="width: 5472px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4fd67884"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/e8a96267593680db28a06b9d3fe7c788.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-334920" class="wp-caption-text">Higashiyama told the talent leaving the office that he wanted to support them</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>All the names of Johnny&#8217;s will disappear</strong>.&#8221;</p>
<p> On October 2, at 2:00 p.m., Johnny&#8217;s held a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo in response to the sexual assault issue by Mr. Kitagawa. The conference was attended by Representative Director and President Noriyuki Higashiyama (57), President and CEO of Johnny&#8217;s Island Yoshihiko Inohara (47), legal counsel Yutaka Kimeda (56), and Chief Compliance Officer Masayuki Yamada. Former president Keiko Fujishima Julie (57) was not present.</p>
<p> At the beginning of the meeting, Higashiyama apologized again for the series of problems and began his &#8220;vision for a fresh start at Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; by saying.</p>
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<p> In <strong>order to show our determination to completely part ways with Mr. Kitagawa, we will change our company name to &#8220;SMILE-UP.&#8221; (Smile-Up.) as of October 17.</strong> I <strong>know that some people may feel uncomfortable with the word &#8220;smile,&#8221; but we believe that it is the social responsibility of the &#8220;SMILE-UP.&#8221; company to first provide support and compensation to those who have suffered as quickly as possible</strong>.</p>
<figure id="attachment_334919" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-334919" style="width: 5343px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1d97ddd9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/929d75e16c926ef894e940191458ef91.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-334919" class="wp-caption-text"> After the name change, Mr. Julie will remain a 100% shareholder of the company.</figcaption></figure>
<p> As for the former Johnny&#8217;s, the company will be closed down after completing compensation for the victims. The management and development of talents will be handled by a newly established company (the name of which will be decided through public solicitation by the fan club).</p>
<p> At the press conference held on September 7 to announce the appointment of the new president, Higashiyama said, &#8220;We are <strong>not thinking of changing the name of the company, Johnny&#8217;s.&#8221; Less than a month later, he said, &#8220;We are not thinking of changing the name of the company, Johnny&#8217;s</strong>. Less than a month after this statement, the company name was suddenly changed.</p>
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<p> At the press conference, Inohara read a letter written by Julie, who was not present, on behalf of Higashiyama. In his letter, Mr. Julie mentioned that his uncle, Mr. Kitagawa Janney, and his mother, <strong>Mary</strong>, held absolute power. She would get mad and beat me to death if I even slightly disagreed with her. She also revealed that she had been diagnosed with panic disorder in the past, but the assembled reporters showed their disbelief, <strong>saying</strong>, &#8221; <strong>You have to be here today.</strong><strong>&#8230;&#8230;</strong><strong>&#8220;</strong> &#8221; <strong>I had a question I wanted to ask Ms. Julie. &#8230;&#8230;</strong> The press conference was attended by about 300 reporters.</p>
<p> About 300 members of the media gathered for the press conference, but it was not only the four speakers who were the center of attention. Some reporters relentlessly pursued Higashiyama, breaking the rule that anyone with a question must raise his or her hand and each person is allowed to ask only one question. This rule-less behavior caused a furor at the press conference. Entertainment reporters and cameramen responded with comments such as, &#8221; <strong>Shut up already!</strong> The <strong>moderator should be in charge!</strong> and &#8220;The moderator needs to get on with it!</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The &quot;pressure&quot; that the media received after the press conference"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_334918" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-334918" style="width: 5472px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="aaade500"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/f9150ef08aed774cc5157cce64714857-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-334918" class="wp-caption-text">Hearing the angry shouts of the reporters, Inohara at one point quieted them down by saying, &#8220;Let&#8217;s calm down.</figcaption></figure>
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<p> At the press conference on September 7, Higashiyama stated clearly that his <strong>office would not exert pressure on the media in the future</strong>. However, the &#8220;pressure&#8221; still remains.</p>
<p><strong> After the press conference on September 2, I applied for an interview at an event to be held in early October, in which Johnny&#8217;s&#8217;s talents will appear. However, the person in charge of the PR company that was in charge of the event said to me, &#8220;The weekly magazine will not be invited this time.</strong><strong> However, the PR company in charge of the event refused to allow me to participate, saying, &#8216;Weekly magazines are not invited this time. Until now, some weekly magazines and other &#8220;non-participating media&#8221; were not allowed to participate in events featuring Johnny&#8217;s talent. Even under the new system, this has remained the case. It is not clear whether it was the Johnny&#8217;s office that refused to allow us to cover the event, or whether it was a discovery by the person in charge who was in between the two. However, the structure that has been in place for many years to control the media will not disappear so easily,&#8221; said a reporter for a weekly magazine.</strong></p>
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<p> When asked about the talents who are leaving the company at this press conference, Higashiyama assured that &#8221; <strong>there is no pressure on my colleagues</strong>. As long as the &#8220;pressure&#8221; on the media is alive and well, the future of the new company remains uncertain.</p>
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 Kazuhiko NAKAMURA

 Johnny's held a press conference at a Tokyo hotel at 2 p.m. on Oct. 2 in response to the sexual assault allegations against the company.

Despite the fact that he said he would never pressure anyone&#8230; the &#8220;pressure&#8221; the media received after Johnny&#8217;s&#8217;s press conference.

Despite the fact that he said he would never pressure anyone… the “pressure” the media received after Johnny’s’s press conference.

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