<figure id="attachment_296472" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-296472" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5bcaf3c4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/02/f86e3963064e1c76715f32c0e49e5bcf.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-296472" class="wp-caption-text">Hikaru Ota of Bakusho Mondai, whose comments on the radio have become a topic of conversation.</figcaption></figure>
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<p> On November 13, NHK announced the contestants for the 74th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen to be broadcast on New Year&#8217;s Eve. Due to the sex-abuse issue by the late founder, Johnny&#8217;s Kitagawa, not a single artist from &#8220;SMILE-UP.&#8221; (former Johnny&#8217;s office) was selected. In response to this, Hikaru Ota of Bakusho Mondai mentioned on his radio program that &#8220;all the former Johnny&#8217;s&#8221; had been eliminated. He cited former SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, who left the agency six years ago, which drew the ire of netizens.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The former Johnny&#8217;s are regulars at Kohaku, and last year, six groups participated: KinKi Kids, Kanjani Eight, King &amp; Prince, Snow Man, SixTONES, and Naniwa Otoko. This will be the first time in 44 years, since the 30th (1979), that no former Johnny&#8217;s talent will compete,&#8221; said an entertainment writer.</span></p>
<p> When the topic of this year&#8217;s Kohaku was discussed on the radio program &#8220;Tuesday JUNK Bakusho Mondai Carboy&#8221; (TBS Radio) broadcast on January 14, Ota said, &#8220;There will be no former Johnny&#8217;s, right? Ota remarked, &#8220;No ex-janitors, right? He added, &#8220;It&#8217;s so blatant, NHK too. You guys have been talking a lot about &#8230;&#8230;. I really wonder how you are doing this!　I think you guys are so blatant about it,&#8221; he said as a viewer.</p>
<p> He also mentioned the fact that Kusanagi, who used to be a member of Johnny&#8217;s, appears in the NHK TV series &#8220;Boogie Woogie,&#8221; which is currently airing, and said, &#8220;Is Kusanagi in &#8216;Boogie Woogie&#8217;?　It&#8217;s like, &#8220;Kusanagi is in &#8216;Boogie Woogie&#8217;? If you appear first, you get to appear in the NHK program.　I like Kusanagi, too. Well, I like Kusanagi, too. I like Kusanagi, too. I like &#8216;New Map&#8217; too,&#8221; he said with a laugh.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Former SMAP members Kusanagi, Inagaki, and Katori left Johnny&#8217;s on September 8, 2005. On the 22nd of the same month, they launched a joint official fan site, New Map. Although they clearly state that they are &#8220;not a group,&#8221; they are also developing activities under the name &#8220;New Map&#8221; as a collective name for the three members.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> On the other hand, Bakusho Mondai has been closely associated with SMAP since the group&#8217;s days, and Ota directed and wrote the script for &#8220;Hikari e, Koru&#8221; (To the Light, We Go), a short omnibus film starring Kusanagi, in which &#8220;New Map&#8221; appeared. In April of this year, Bakusho Mondai was a guest on the educational variety &#8220;Waruiko Atsumare&#8221; (NHK E-television), a regular program of &#8220;Shinarui Chizu&#8221; (New Map)&#8221; (aforementioned entertainment writer).</span></p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Fans of Kusanagi have mixed feelings about Ota&#39;s comments."></div>
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<p>Considering their past relationship, Ota probably does not have a bad impression of the &#8220;New Map&#8221; side or Kusanagi. Netizens are also critical of NHK&#8217;s decision to cut off &#8220;Johnny&#8217;s&#8221;. However, there were more than a few who sympathized with Ota,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s right to mention the name &#8220;New Map&#8221; here. It&#8217;s a shame.</span><br>
<span class="strongInContent"> It&#8217;s unfortunate.&#8221; &#8220;It&#8217;s not right to bring up a program that has nothing to do with Kohaku and ask, &#8216;Is Kusanagi OK? It doesn&#8217;t make sense.</span><br>
<span class="strongInContent"> NHK did the casting, and it&#8217;s not Kusanagi&#8217;s fault or New Map&#8217;s fault. What&#8217;s the point of saying &#8220;Kusanagi is fine&#8221; just because he left the office first?</span></p>
<p> What&#8217;s wrong with Kusanagi and &#8220;New Map&#8221; just because he left the office first? Ota has been defending the former Johnny&#8217;s and former president Keiko Fujishima Julie Fujishima, Johnny&#8217;s niece, on TV and in other media since the sexual assault issue became a major issue.</p>
<p> For example, on the August 6 broadcast of &#8220;Sunday Japon&#8221; (TBS), in pursuing the truth about the sexual assault, he questioned, &#8220;Does Ms. Julie herself have the mentality to deal with this? He also expressed his personal opinion, saying, &#8220;First of all, we need to take care of Julie-san&#8217;s mental state so that she can maintain the mental state to be able to do such things and look at the situation calmly.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In response, former House of Representatives member Taizo Sugimura argued that if Julie did not have the mental strength to endure this problem, then she should resign as president. Therefore, some SNS users pointed out that &#8220;Ota&#8217;s defense of Johnny&#8217;s is also &#8216;blatant'&#8221; regarding his radio comment.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Ota has publicly stated that he is a fan of Takuya Kimura, so perhaps he is trying to protect the agency to which he belongs.</span></p>
<p> How does Kusanagi feel about being named by Ota? &#8230;&#8230;</p>
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 Not a single artist from "SMILE-UP." (former Johnny's office) was selected for this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen. Bakusho Mondai Ota's comment about it has become a topic of conversation among fans.

Bakushobun Mondai &#8220;Ota&#8221; bitterly criticizes the members of the Kohaku Shows&#8230; &#8220;blatantly&#8221; defends the former Johnny&#8217;s.

Bakushobun Mondai “Ota” bitterly criticizes the members of the Kohaku Shows… “blatantly” defends the former Johnny’s.

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