<figure id="attachment_339537" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-339537" style="width: 1712px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2616bac0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/10/f980efc53296045255c9985bb6d6f090.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-339537" class="wp-caption-text">Kazunari Ninomiya (left) and Junichi Okada announced their independence from the former Johnny&#8217;s</figcaption></figure>
 Kazuya Ninomiya of &#8220;Arashi&#8221; has left &#8220;SMILES-UP.&#8221; (former Johnny&#8217;s) as of October 24.
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 Former V6 member Junichi Okada also announced that he would leave at the end of November, but Ninomiya was the first to take the lead. Needless to say, this is due to the late founder Janney Kitagawa&#8217;s sex-abuse problem, and Ninomiya said in a statement
 After the first press conference at the office, a lot of things started to happen to my activities, and to be honest, I got scared too.&#8221;
 He expressed that
 As for the future of &#8220;Arashi,&#8221; which fans are concerned about
 I know there are some people who are worried that Arashi will disappear, but I will continue to be Arashi from tomorrow onward,&#8221; she explained.
 But I will continue to be Arashi from tomorrow onward,&#8221; he explained. The group went on hiatus on December 31, 2008.
 I will continue to be a part of Arashi as long as there will always be Arashi, so when Arashi resumes its activities, I will be with them.
 Fans were relieved to hear this.
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 Still, the &#8220;Ninomiya shock&#8221; is still great, and there is a possibility that other talents in the group will follow suit.
 SMILE has hinted to some reporters that they will &#8220;re-sign&#8221; Ninomiya, and it seems that they want to avoid further turmoil, but according to a person in charge of entertainment at a sports newspaper, &#8220;Okada-san and Ninomiya-san&#8217;s contract with SMILE will not be renewed.
 According to a person in charge of entertainment at a sports newspaper, &#8220;It is said that Toma Ikuta, who can work as an actor like Okada-san and Ninomiya-san, is the default choice. Among the Arashi members, Sho Sakurai and Masaki Aiba, who are often used in commercials, are also in doubt.
 He pointed out. In contrast, Matsumoto Jun
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&#8220;Since he was on the &#8216;management&#8217; side within the former Johnny&#8217;s, he may be able to help with the restructuring of the business,&#8221; he surmised.
 I guess that he will help in the revitalization of the business.
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 SMILE will be haunted by the name &#8220;former Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; for the foreseeable future. As of the 17th of this month, the company dropped the &#8220;Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; sign and changed its name to &#8220;SMILES-UP.
 The new company has parted ways with Mr. Johnny&#8217;s, but it continues to be called the &#8220;old Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; office, which is meaningless,&#8221; said Mr. Okada, who has many sponsors, as well as Mr. Kurokawa, a former director of the company. This is probably why Mr. Okada, who has many sponsors, and Mr. Ninomiya, who is looking to expand overseas, did not like it. In the end, the reality is that no matter how far they go, they will always be called the &#8220;old Johnny&#8217;s.&#8221; (A reporter from a sports newspaper)
 In November, the company plans to launch a new company to receive the talents belonging to the company, and the name of the company is open to the public. Although Keiko Fujishima Julie remained as representative director of SMILE, which specializes in compensation, she will be completely eliminated from the new company, and Noriyuki Higashiyama is expected to take over as president. How will the public and the media judge this?
 Mr. Higashiyama is the president of the new company, which is the same as SMILE, so the new company is perceived as a &#8216;new company separated from the former Johnny&#8217;s.'&#8221; &#8220;The new company will not retain any vestiges of Johnny&#8217;s, but will be a new company with the same image as SMILE,&#8221; said Mr. Higashiyama. It is impossible to treat the company as a completely new company without leaving any vestiges of Johnny&#8217;s. The agency has been working on the matter behind closed doors to get the old Johnny&#8217;s office to leave the new Johnny&#8217;s office.
 The agency is behind the scenes requesting that we not use such terms as &#8220;former Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; as much as possible, but I think it will be very difficult to do so.
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 A major factor in the series of sexual assault issues was that national clients recognized Mr. Janney as &#8220;a sexual abuser who will remain in history&#8221; and wanted his name erased. In response, the company decided to change its name and establish a new company, but it is still referred to in the media as the &#8220;former Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; office.
 The &#8220;Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; sign was too big. 
The only way to get rid of this image is for SMILE to finish its compensation business and to create a new trend from the new company.
 The first thing to do is to see how the new company, which will be announced in November, will turn out. There is also the question of whether Mr. Higashiyama can remain as president. It may not be a positive start to the new company.
 Depending on the outcome, there may be a new exit following Okada and Ninomiya.

 Yusuke Kondo (both photos)

 Kazuya Ninomiya of "Arashi" became independent from the former Johnny's s office. The agency has suggested the possibility of an "agent contract," but behind the scenes, two "leading men" have left, along with Junichi Okada. ......

Even though they asked underwater not to use it&#8230; Junichi Okada and Kazuya Ninomiya did not like the name &#8220;old Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; office.

Even though they asked underwater not to use it… Junichi Okada and Kazuya Ninomiya did not like the name “old Johnny’s” office.

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