In his childhood, he was so poor that he did not have a telephone…New president, Noriyuki Higashiyama: “Other seniors give me their favorite products,” surprisingly showing his true face to his junior colleagues.

At a press conference held by Johnny’s on October 2, President Noriyuki Higashiyama, 57, said,

We will be an agent company, which will make individual contracts with the companies of the talents we wish to work with. They will not be tied down to a company, but will decide for themselves where and in what direction they would like to work. We will utilize the producing and management functions.

and announced the establishment of a new agent company that will be in charge of talent management and other aspects of the talent. Each talent or group will establish its own office or company, and the new company will sign an agent contract. As for the younger talent, he said, “It will not be in an agent format,

“Young talents can also belong to the new company

He also revealed that the president of the new company will be the president of the new company. Higashiyama will be the president of the new company, and Yoshihiko Inohara (47) will be its vice president.

During the press conference, Higashiyama described his retirement from show business as “giving up on my dream. He also stated that he would like to stay in the limelight until he is 90 years old, but how many of his junior members will follow him in his new role as president of his new agency?

To be honest, I have not heard that Higashiyama is well-liked or respected by his juniors. Higashiyama-san may sum up his juniors and say, “They are wonderful,” but I have rarely seen him mention their names and talk about close episodes with them.

So said a female fan in her late 50s who has been following Johnny’s for many years. Furthermore, she said that she heard many negative stories among the fans, but what kind of a senior was Higashiyama really like…?

Scouted by Mr. Janney’s “Kinpachi Sensei, are you watching?

It is a well-known story that Higashiyama’s entrance into Johnny’s was not through an audition but a direct scouting by the late Mr. Kitagawa, who was working with his mother at NHK’s hair salon in Shibuya and got tickets to an open recording of “Let’s Go Young” when he was 12 years old.

On the way home, he was waiting at a traffic light at the scramble intersection with four of his friends when Mr. Janney, who was driving by, asked him, “Are you watching Kinpachi-sensei? Higashiyama answered, “Yes, I am,” and was asked, “Well, can you give me your phone number? Higashiyama replied, “Yes, I’m watching it,” to which he asked, “Well, can you give me your phone number?

Later, Mr. Janney visited Higashiyama’s house and invited him to have Chinese food in Yokohama, but Higashiyama’s younger sister vomited in his car and their plans were abruptly changed. It is well known that Mr. Janney scouted Higashiyama again after he went to the office with a box of sweets to apologize, and Higashiyama joined the Jr.

In a talk variety show, Higashiyama later revealed that in his childhood he could not have enough to eat and that he lived in such extreme poverty that he had to go to his neighbors to borrow a landline phone because he did not have one at home. It is a well-known story that Toyama became a successful member of a boy band and spent his early twenties in lounges, but this may have been a “reaction” to his childhood.

(A veteran reporter for a women’s weekly magazine) However, at the core of his personality, he was very serious about money.

It is a custom in Johnny’s for senior members to give their favorite things to junior members…

When the members go to the “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen” and the “Johnny’s Countdown Concert” broadcast on Fuji TV, the senior members give out New Year’s gifts to the junior members. Some of the talents said, “I try not to meet the juniors,” but I have not heard many people say that they received such gifts from Higashiyama-san, even at such occasions.

Speaking of receiving gifts from seniors, there are also clothes, shoes, and accessories. It is a jinx that if a person receives a purse from a successful senior in the entertainment industry, that person’s junior will eventually sell as well.

In the case of Johnny’s, that means high-brand clothes, shoes, and accessories such as “Chrome Hearts,” “Crescent Luna,” “Justin Davis,” and “Goro’s,” which have become well-known because of what they wear, and Takuya Kimura’s “Goro’s.

The senior members who are known for their fashion sense and are successful at the same time, such as Kimura, KAT-TUN’s Kazuya Kamenashi, and Kis-My-Ft2’s Yuta Tamamori, give an unusual amount of clothes, shoes, and accessories to their juniors who have performed with them or come to visit them at home.

However, we do not hear of such episodes in the case of Higashiyama. Higashiyama, who likes to wear conservative fashion for his age, does not seem to have any juniors who beg him to give them to them, and Higashiyama may know this.

How many of Higashiyama’s juniors will really follow him?

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