<figure id="attachment_335561" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-335561" style="width: 800px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d18396f1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/93cafdd60f58305b645c7fed677e9bb1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-335561" class="wp-caption-text">The three members of New Map. Their activities are going well.</figcaption></figure>
<p> On October 2, the second press conference of Johnny&#8217;s was held to announce the new organization.</p>
<p> The current Johnny&#8217;s office will be renamed &#8220;SMILE-UP.&#8221; and become a company specializing in relief and compensation for victims. It has since been decided that the company will close down once all compensation is completed. A new entertainment agency will then be established, but the new agency will consist of two main entities: the talent who belong to the agency and the talent who will sign an agent contract, and the name of the agency will be decided by soliciting applications from fan club members.</p>
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<p> Specific compensation for the victims will also begin in November, which probably means that the &#8220;Janney Kitagawa sexual assault issue&#8221; has made a start toward resolution.</p>
<p> At this press conference, the number of people who have contacted the contact point set up outside the company was revealed, and as of October 2, when the Johnny&#8217;s office announced the number, there were 478 people. The number is expected to continue to increase. In this situation, attention is being paid to the departure of the current talents, but at the same time, attention is also being paid to the comments of those who have left Johnny&#8217;s, the so-called &#8220;quitting Johnny&#8217;s. The focus of attention is on the former SMAP members. The focus of attention has been on the former members of SMAP. Naturally, the media is trying to find out what they have to say,</p>
<p><strong> The names of Akanishi Hitoshi, Tegoshi Yuya, and Yamaguchi Tatsuya have been mentioned, but the names of Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Inagaki Goro, and Katori Shingo of &#8220;New Map&#8221; have not been mentioned at all. They are now working freely, escaping the spell of Johnny&#8217;s.</strong></p>
<p><strong> It is said that their momentum will soon surpass that of the Johnny&#8217;s era. The media probably does not want to provoke them unnecessarily. It&#8217;s just a silly thing to ask,&#8221; said a reporter for a women&#8217;s magazine.</strong></p>
<p> (A reporter for a women&#8217;s magazine) &#8220;They seem to have half given up on the idea. One reason is that they were not deeply involved with the late Mr. Janney Kitagawa, the late Mr. Mary Kitagawa, or even Keiko Fujishima Julie. Another reason seems to lie with Michi Iijima, the head of CULEN, the entertainment agency to which New Map belongs.</p>
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<p> Although &#8220;SMAP&#8221; has become a national idol group and a representative group of Johnny&#8217;s, they did not become popular immediately after their debut like other groups that are popular today. There was a time when they were &#8220;burdened&#8221; by the office.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" President Iijima&#39;s &quot;management skills&quot; are too good to be true."></div>
<p>SMAP, like other talents, was produced by Mr. Janney and made its CD debut in 1991, three years after its formation.</p>
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<p><strong> The sales were the lowest for a debut single since the start of the agency at 150,000 copies. &#8220;It is unthinkable for a Johnny&#8217;s group today, but there were very few people at the concerts. The office was struggling with how to market the group. In other words, they were left alone. They were not given any proper promotion and were transferred to a different company in the middle of the period, without a manager.</strong></p>
<p><strong> Seeing their plight, Mr. Iijima, who was working as a desk clerk at the office, raised his hand and said, &#8220;Please let me do it. She went to work on the sales pitch on her own, without the help of the office. As a result, she succeeded in getting them cast in variety shows and trendy dramas that Japanese idols had been unable to enter. From there, SMAP&#8217;s popularity soared.</strong></p>
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<p> In other words, they are what they are today entirely thanks to Mr. Iijima. If they owe anything to Johnny&#8217;s, it is the fact that they were allowed to belong to the office and make their debut.</p>
<p><strong> The members of &#8220;New Map&#8221; are now sought after for TV, movies, magazines, commercials, and various events. Now that they cannot use Johnny&#8217;s talents, the media does not want to anger Mr. Iijima. Her power now exceeds that of Johnny&#8217;s. She is also known to have tremendous contacts in the TV industry and the business world, and I get the impression that she is using every means at her disposal to skillfully protect them from the media so that they are not swallowed up in the whirlpool of turmoil,&#8221; said a former executive at a well-established entertainment company.</strong></p>
<p> The fact that they have been able to make a successful comeback and pretend to be unaffiliated with the current Johnny&#8217;s office is all thanks to President Iijima. The three former SMAP members must now feel once again that it was a great decision to follow her. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Click here to see the treasured photos of the three &quot;New Map&quot; members!"></div>
<figure id="attachment_335563" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-335563" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="47800121"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/c2734128b54dd82271cbfec2ba6338c7.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-335563" class="wp-caption-text">Shingo Katori (&#8217;21) filming for a drama series</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_335564" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-335564" style="width: 1280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8cda2e90"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/646e96974ae4b47f12bbe758fc276533.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-335564" class="wp-caption-text"> Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (&#8217;18) appearing in the NHK TV series &#8220;Boogie Woogie&#8221;.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_335565" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-335565" style="width: 3000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="06a840d4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/4f3921bf8d57ce60fc22c6704f2b1477.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-335565" class="wp-caption-text"> Goro Inagaki during the filming of the movie &#8220;Shogeki&#8221; to be released in October (January &#8217;23).</figcaption></figure>


 Yusuke Kondo (Shingo Katori, Goro Inagaki) and Ichiro Takatsuka (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi)

 The media has been paying close attention to the statements of the "resigning Janis" in the wake of the sexual assault by Janie Kitagawa, but the three members of "New Map" have remained "uninvolved" in the issue. There was a big "wall" in the way of the office's president, Mr. Michi Iijima...

New Map&#8221; continues to make great strides despite the &#8220;irrelevance&#8221; of the Johnny&#8217;s issue, thanks to President Iijima&#8217;s skillful &#8220;guiding tactics.

New Map” continues to make great strides despite the “irrelevance” of the Johnny’s issue, thanks to President Iijima’s skillful “guiding tactics.

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