Yukio Mishima’s Suggestive Works Echo Johnny’s Abuse Scandal

The Fate Connected by the Great Director

 

In the previous article, titled “The Hidden Father and the Unknown Connection of SMAP Who Built Johnny’s Kingdom with Strong Ties to Political and Financial Circles,” the role that Taisuke Fujishima played in the former Johnny’s Office was examined.

The connection between Yukio Mishima and Johnny & Associates lies in Taisuke Fujishima, who was Mary Kitagawa’s husband and a junior to Mishima at Gakushuin.

In fact, there is another connection.

It is Yukio Ninagawa.

A representative director of Japan, he passed away in 2016 at the age of 80, three years before Johnny Kitagawa’s death.

During their lifetimes, the two had a close friendship. Johnny Kitagawa, who rarely appeared on television, made only one radio appearance. It was on NHK Radio’s program “Yukio Ninagawa’s Crossover Talk,” which aired in 2015, the year before Ninagawa’s death. This was the first time Johnny Kitagawa’s voice was publicly broadcast, creating quite a stir.

Ninagawa launched Takuya Kimura into the theater at the age of 17 and has employed many of Johnny’s talents in his productions. One of the results was a 2011 stage play.

It was a project titled “Mishima Double.”

The concept was to simultaneously perform two of Yukio Mishima’s works with the same cast.

Mishima was said to be more skilled as a playwright than as a novelist, particularly in his later representative works.

These are “Madame de Sade” and “My Friend Hitler.”

Mishima regarded both works as a perfect pair.

“Both consist of three acts, with the former featuring six female characters and the latter four male characters, centered around Sade and Hitler, who represent monstrous figures from the 18th and 20th centuries, respectively.”

Marquis de Sade is the infamous sexual pervert who is the origin of the terms sadism and masochism. Hitler, of course, was the dictator of Nazi Germany.

Ninagawa brought both of these protagonists to the stage simultaneously.

He cast Noriyuki Higashiyama and Toma Ikuta as the leads.

Casting Hidden Intent

At the time, Higashiyama was 44 years old and well-known as “Higashi” from the idol group Shonentai.

Ikuta, on the other hand, was 26, a young Johnny’s talent who stood out for primarily working as a solo actor—an unusual career path in Johnny’s agency.

This casting choice was indeed bold, with veteran actor Jiro Hira joining the ensemble as well.

First, let’s discuss “My Friend Hitler.”

The setting is June 1934, in the Chancellor’s office in Berlin. Hitler, now 45, has risen to the position of Chancellor. Above him is President Hindenburg, who is elderly and bedridden, with Hitler on the brink of consolidating his absolute power. At this point, Hitler orchestrates the infamous “Night of the Long Knives,” a purge in which he eliminates internal Nazi threats in a single night. On his right is Ernst Röhm, the head of the Stormtroopers, and on his left, the socialist Gregor Strasser. After engaging in dialogue with both, he ultimately cuts off both the left and right wings.

Hitler’s final line in the play:

“Politics must take the middle path.”

It’s a deeply ironic line: cutting off both the right and the left to follow the middle path is, in fact, the route to unifying the state under a dictatorship.

In this production, Toma Ikuta played Hitler, while Noriyuki Higashiyama portrayed Röhm. This casting choice was surprising—one might have expected the senior Higashiyama to take on the lead role of Hitler.

In fact, Mishima disliked Hitler and was more sympathetic towards Röhm. The play’s title, “My Friend Hitler”, actually reflects that Röhm is the true focus of the story.

Röhm was Hitler’s close friend from their younger military days, deeply devoted to and trusting in him—only to ultimately be killed by that very friend.

Suddenly, it hits me.

A person who overlaps with Johnny Kitagawa.

Koki Higashiyama took on the burden of Johnny Kitagawa’s sins during his lifetime, becoming the president of the former Johnny’s Office and retiring from showbiz.

I see! This time, after rereading “My Friend Hitler,” I was horrified.

Ernst Röhm, who loved and believed in the monstrous Hitler and lost his life, perfectly overlaps with Koki Higashiyama, who believed in and loved the monstrous sexual abuser Johnny Kitagawa and lost his career—the two figures align precisely!

The correspondence is so striking that I couldn’t help but exclaim.

No, that’s not all.

Let’s take a look at The Marquis de Sade’s Wife.

The play features only six women, including the Marquis de Sade’s wife, her sister, and their mother. The Marquis himself does not appear until the very end, yet the women talk incessantly about him.

The lead role of Renée is played by Tokuyama Yoshiki, while Ikuta Toma plays her sister, Anne. The two, who wore Nazi uniforms in My Friend Hitler, are now in drag, complete with blonde wigs and ladies’ dresses. The impact is overwhelming.

The Marquis de Sade is a pervert. He deceives a prostitute into eating bonbons laced with aphrodisiacs, strips her naked, and whips her. He was pursued by authorities for repeated acts of abuse and was ultimately imprisoned.

The chaste wife, Renée, continues to believe in her husband and patiently waits for him. Renée’s mother advises her to divorce him, saying that he is a monster. However, Renée does not follow her mother’s advice.

Eventually, her mother accuses Renée of participating in the feast where Sade exposes and whips several naked boys and girls, committing acts of sexual abuse.

Upon reading that part, I broke out in a cold sweat.

Ah, so that was it.

I realized the secret message hidden in the play and its cast.

Yes, this perverse Sade… is none other than Johnny Kitagawa!

At this point, I can’t think of it any other way.

The essence captured by Mishima.

If the sadistic figure who abuses minors is Johnny Kitagawa, then the character of Renée, who continues to trust and admire him until the end, resembles Toshiyuki Nishida. 

Members of earlier groups like the Tanokin Trio and Shibugaki-tai, as well as the two companions from the Shonen-tai, have all left the agency. Even Hideaki Takizawa, who was appointed as the successor, is no longer present.

And so, he is the only one left. In the castle of Johnny’s, which represents the Marquis de Sade, only the chaste wife, Toshiyuki Nishida, stands there.

Johnny Kitagawa must have seen this play during his lifetime. Did he notice the hidden message? The director Yukio Ninagawa, who devised such a devilish scheme, is truly terrifying. (During the performance of this ominous play, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred.)

The conclusion of this play is even more suggestive.

The wife, who has waited quietly for many long years, receives news from the housekeeper. Finally, the Marquis de Sade has come outside the door, having just been released from his prison.

But…

Renée: “Return him. And let me say this: ‘The Marchioness shall never meet again.'”

This is the closing line. Then, these words echo:

“I believe this is the most foolish event in human history… What I’m doing is an atrocious act. I no longer have much love… At least for me, I have completely lost what I truly consider love.” (Toshiyuki Nishida, press conference on his appointment as the new president, September 7, 2023)

The Marchioness Renée decides to renounce secular life and enter a convent.

Similarly, Toshiyuki Nishida vows to dedicate the rest of his life to atonement work, having cut off his entertainment career.

I want to ask the writer who penned such a prophetic play, born 100 years ago:

“Yukio Mishima, who was Johnny Kitagawa?”

In the next article, “[Playing with a Boy’s Feelings…] The ‘Terrible Ascendancy’ that Intersected the ‘Fates’ of Janney Kitagawa and Yukio Mishima,” I will discuss the strange fates of Janney Kitagawa, Yukio Mishima, and Taisuke Fujishima, who were united by their “ascendancy.