<figure id="attachment_333684" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-333684" style="width: 1134px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1b5d7b03"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/09/12d632860630370131fbc44bc041f849-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-333684" class="wp-caption-text">Is Kimura &#8220;special&#8221; for his longtime support of the office?</figcaption></figure>
<p> Takuya Kimura, the only one of the five members of SMAP to remain a member of Johnny&#8217;s, has been the focus of much attention as the group enters a new phase of its history.</p>
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<p> The other day, Johnny&#8217;s refuted a weekly magazine report on Kimura, saying that the report had &#8220;no basis in fact.&#8221; According to an entertainment writer, <strong>this was a clear example of the &#8220;special treatment&#8221; the agency is giving Kimura</strong>.</p>
<p> On September 7, the Johnny&#8217;s office held its first press conference in response to the sexual assault case involving the company&#8217;s founder, Janie Kitagawa. At that press conference, Keiko Fujishima Julie Fujishima, then president of the company, admitted that her uncle had sexually assaulted her, and apologized for it. She herself resigned and Noriyuki Higashiyama became the new president.</p>
<p> At a press conference held on October 2, he announced that the current Johnny&#8217;s&#8217;s office would change its name to &#8220;SMILE-UP.&#8221; as of October 17, and that it would deal only with compensation for the victims. A new agent company will be established and contracts will be made with each talent individually.</p>
<p> After both press conferences, Kimura&#8217;s Instagram postings were questioned.</p>
<p><strong> After the first press conference, Kimura posted a photo of himself in a salute pose and sent out the message, &#8220;show must go on! The message was criticized as &#8220;not reading the atmosphere&#8221; and &#8220;not taking the victims into consideration,&#8221; since the words were meant to imply that &#8220;the show must go on,&#8221; which is known as Mr. Janney&#8217;s motto. As a result, Kimura deleted the post.</strong></p>
<p> After the press conference in October, Kimura continued to post messages with a video of his dog walking and the message, &#8220;One step at a time, forward!　PEACE!　STAYSAFE! Takuya,</p>
<p><strong> But, Kimura-kun, that&#8217;s just a little too much.</strong><br>
<strong> I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;re at the stage of moving forward one step at a time, and I don&#8217;t think &#8216;PEACE&#8217; is a good idea either.</strong></p>
<p> I don&#8217;t think &#8216;PEACE&#8217; is a good idea, either.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The &quot;special treatment&quot; of Takuya Kimura"></div>
<p>Kimura is not paying attention to the current situation at the office and is beginning to develop an image as a &#8220;KY&#8221; person. Johnny&#8217;s is not letting him go, but is instead protecting him.</p>
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<p><strong> In the October 5 issue of &#8220;Shukan Bunshun&#8221; (Bungei Shunju), there is an article titled &#8220;Why Change the Company Name? Kimura was strongly opposed to Johnny&#8217;s changing its name,&#8221; under the headline &#8220;Kimura Betrays Johnny&#8217;s Escape. According to the magazine, Kimura is also thinking of becoming independent from the agency, and there were also reports that his wife, singer Shizuka Kudo, is consulting with Ikuo Suo, president of Burning, the &#8220;Don of the entertainment world. The same day, the Johnny&#8217;s office announced that it was going to ask the official company for help.</strong></p>
<p> On the same day, Johnny&#8217;s released a statement on its official website titled &#8220;Regarding some weekly magazine articles about our talent. The same day, the Johnny&#8217;s office released a statement on its official website titled &#8220;Regarding Some Weekly Magazine Articles on Our Talent,&#8221; denying the reports about Kimura, saying, &#8220;All the contents of the articles are untrue.</p>
<p> In addition, he explained, &#8220;Kimura has always been close to the hearts of those who have been affected by the incident and to the anxious talents and artists, actively consulting with his juniors and taking the initiative in urging our company to change its name in consideration of the feelings of those affected.</p>
<p> He also expressed his anger, saying, &#8220;We are very distressed that such an article appeared while we were planning to conclude an agent contract with a newly established company as soon as it was ready.</p>
<p> At this point, no official announcement has been made as to whether Kimura will sign a contract with the new company. However, the aforementioned comment confirms that Kimura will remain with Johnny&#8217;s. &#8220;Incidentally, the article also mentions that Kimura is still in the process of signing a contract with the new company,&#8221; said the reporter.</p>
<p><strong> The article pointed out that KAT-TUN&#8217;s Kazuya Kamenashi might quit the office as a junior member who would be affected by Kimura&#8217;s departure, and that SixTONES was also rumored to be transferring to Takizawa Hideaki&#8217;s company TOBE. However, the office did not refute these statements, but defended only Kimura. The &#8220;special treatment&#8221; was oozing from the article. Some fans of Johnny&#8217;s asked, &#8220;Are you going to deny the reports about other celebrities because they are true?　Or did you deny it because Takuya Kimura is special? Many of them were uncomfortable with the situation.</strong></p>
<p> Fans are watching with bated breath to see what path Kimura will take.</p>
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 Yusuke Kondo

 Takuya Kimura is under fire for the Bunshun report and his social networking posts. Even under such circumstances, Johnny's is thoroughly protecting Takuya Kimura. An entertainment reporter from a national newspaper analyzes the reason for this.

Johnny&#8217;s &#8220;Takuya Kimura&#8221; is given &#8220;special treatment&#8221; by the Johnny&#8217;s office&#8230;Thoroughly defended from the flames of the &#8220;weekly magazine report&#8221; and &#8220;KY instagram&#8221;.

Johnny’s “Takuya Kimura” is given “special treatment” by the Johnny’s office…Thoroughly defended from the flames of the “weekly magazine report” and “KY instagram”.

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