Ai Kanda Shares Frustration with a System in the Entertainment Industry

Questions about the system unique to the entertainment industry

In less than two months, I will turn 45. Rounding up, I’ll be 50—a veteran woman. My life is already more than half gone. As I face my declining physical strength and deteriorating body, I’ve started to focus on how to make the time left in my life meaningful. That, above all, seems to be the most important thing.

The catalyst for this change was my mother, who will turn 75 this year. Two years ago, when we went to New York together, I was shocked at how much her stamina had declined. My mother, who used to insist on joining me on every schedule with her, despite the circumstances, was exhausted by the second day of the trip and spent the entire third day resting in the hotel. When she told me, “I’m staying in today. You go ahead,” I suddenly had a terrifying thought about my mother’s death, something I had never imagined. The fear was overwhelming. And I realized that I needed to travel with her as much as I could, while she could still endure long flights, or else I would regret it in the future.

Since then, I’ve started to question a certain system in the entertainment industry, and now, I am really upset about it. That system is holding a reservation.

A holding reservation refers to an uncertain situation where a TV station requests an appearance on a program but the booking isn’t finalized. The recording is real, but after the request, there might be cancellations due to factors like the balance of gender and age of the cast, or the program might already have a main celebrity in mind, and you are merely a backup until their schedule is confirmed. There are various reasons for a holding reservation.

Regardless of the reason, when an entertainer is put on a holding reservation, they cannot schedule personal plans or take on other jobs. They wait for the final confirmation while studying the details of the program. If they are no longer needed for the recording, the TV station contacts them with a please cancel message. This typically happens right before the recording date, leaving no time to take on other jobs. Family and friends have already made plans, making it hard to spend time with them, and there is no compensation for the time set aside for the recording.

I only learned about this system after becoming a freelancer. It’s like when a company makes a plan to produce a product with company A, but then decides to go with company B instead, and tells them to pretend the plan never happened. This would never happen in a regular business setting.

At first, I was shocked, but over time, I realized no celebrity openly criticizes this system. There were even programs that made it a joke, so the sense of discomfort gradually faded. Eventually, I became influenced by the attitude that if you don’t like it, quit! or only those who want to keep working can survive! and I began to think, “This is the entertainment world! If you become popular enough, you won’t have to deal with holding reservations!”

Who is responsible for the bad customs?

But since the example trip two years ago, that thinking has changed. On one occasion, my mother had to endure a trip she wanted to take because I had a temporary hold on her. It would have still saved my mother if it had been a real decision, but it turned out to be a bust. After many such occurrences, I finally reached the peak of my anger and said, “You take the limited time of a person’s life too lightly! My anger reached its peak.

In this day and age, when people recognize the rights of workers and the importance of their private life, what do you think of the provisional seizure system? After all, entertainers earn a lot of money, so why should they put up with it? If I don’t like it, should I refuse the temporary foreclosure itself? Or is it my fault for not being needed?

Ah, yes. To all the entertainment agencies, it is also your fault that tentative seizure is necessary. Have you ever procrastinated on an appearance request from a TV station by responding ambiguously, “I’ll try to adjust,” instead of responding immediately? This is so that when a job offer with more favorable conditions comes in at the same date and time, you can accept that job, right? Let’s not do that. When you end up attending that recording, the other entertainers who are temporarily held up are going to be blown out of the water. Don’t be greedy and genuinely take the jobs in the order in which you receive the requests. Wouldn’t you agree?

Television encourages a healthy relationship between employers and employees by reporting news of how they work. I don’t feel that the world of television is the most messed up place to work. That’s how I feel.

Aika Kanda / Born in 1980, Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from the Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics at Gakushuin University, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003. She left NHK in 2012 and became a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows and is currently a regular host on the daytime talk show Poka Poka (Fuji TV).

★ Her first book, Oudou tte iu michi, doko ni toottteimasu ka? (Where Does the Road Called the Royal Road Lead?), based on this series, is now on sale to great acclaim!

From the April 18, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”