Johnny & Associates Inc. might by no means recapture the affect it wielded inside Japan’s leisure trade because of the scars left by the sexual abuse perpetrated over many years by its late founder, even after on Monday asserting a reputation change and revealing a brand new company will likely be created.
As strain from sponsors mounts within the wake of the scandal, the company’s performers are anticipated to be much less incessantly seen on tv, one thing that might proceed for a while as company purchasers additional scrutinize the agency’s response and reform efforts.
With performers from the company recognized extensively as Johnny’s being sidelined, the door has opened for different Japanese performers to lift their profiles, leisure trade watchers imagine.
But the scandal and restructuring of Johnny’s doesn’t need to be fully damaging for Japanese pop music, often known as J-pop, and the nation’s leisure trade, mentioned Mamoru Nishiyama, affiliate professor at J.F. Oberlin University, who makes a speciality of promoting and advertising and marketing.
“Those with ability, including former junior members of Johnny’s who were robbed of the chance to debut, can (now) compete fairly in a normal manner,” he mentioned.
Despite the South Korean equal, referred to as Ok-pop, having an enormous increase in worldwide reputation on the again of celebrity group BTS, Nishiyama doesn’t imagine J-pop will fall additional behind.
“Japanese idol groups are a genre still unique in overseas markets and there are solo Japanese musicians who are doing well. It depends on how they are produced,” Nishiyama mentioned.
In a press convention Monday, Johnny’s mentioned it will arrange a brand new agency to handle its performers, whereas the present firm will change its identify to “SMILE-UP.” and dedicate itself to offering redress to the victims of sexual assault by the founder Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019.
The news concerning the agency’s inner reforms will likely be thought of by some as a step ahead, however whether or not new followers will likely be gained is determined by if and when tv channels and magazines, the company’s essential promotional channels, will once more solid Johnny’s entertainers, analysts mentioned.
“Media appearances of Johnny’s performers are set to be restricted for the time being,” mentioned Noboru Saijo, a mass communications professor at Edogawa University who has penned a e book about Johnny’s performers.
The company has lengthy loved an enormous presence within the Japanese leisure trade, with a PIA Research Institute 2022 J-pop field workplace report exhibiting that six out of the highest 10 teams had been managed by Johnny’s, with the performers placing on a complete of 206 live shows within the 12 months at venues attracting some 4.08 million followers.
The company’s widespread entertainers had been previously used extensively in commercials and commercials by Japanese corporations. A survey by Tokyo Shoko Research confirmed that 226 corporations in Japan did enterprise with Johnny’s and its affiliate corporations, of which 80 had gross sales of over 10 billion yen ($67 million).
But because the scandal surfaced, a number of corporations resembling Suntory Holdings Ltd., Japan Airlines Co., and Nissan Motor Co., which have promoted their wares with Johnny’s entertainers, have mentioned they won’t work with the company till it addresses the allegations sufficiently.
Saijo mentioned whereas the state of affairs going through Johnny’s entertainers is “severe,” different expertise companies now have a chance to compete with the leisure behemoth.
“Broadcasters are also under pressure from the public to review their long-term relationship with Johnny’s entertainers which involved prioritizing their casting for music programs and TV dramas,” he mentioned.
Seven-member Japanese boy group BE:FIRST took its probability final month when it appeared for the primary time on widespread TV program Music Station, a significant achievement for a non-Johnny’s group. The TV Asahi program has up to now usually featured Johnny’s performers closely, apparently on the expense of rival acts.
“The recent moves among Johnny’s idols to increasingly pursue overseas markets amid the success of South Korean boy band BTS could also face further challenges with foreign entertainment companies looking negatively on sexual harassment,” Saijo mentioned.
Johnny’s performers have began to have some success on the worldwide stage.
The seven-member group Travis Japan lately made a splash when its debut single ranked fifth on Billboard’s Global chart in 2022, whereas Sho Hirano left Johnny’s boy band King & Prince earlier this 12 months, saying he needed to work abroad.
Industry watchers mentioned, even earlier than the scandal, that Johnny’s members had been going through headwinds in attracting new followers attributable to younger folks watching much less TV, which has historically been the company’s essential avenue to draw eyes.
Saijo mentioned the brand new administration workforce might want to discover a option to appeal to new followers at a time when the corporate’s expertise can have lowered entry to broadcast media.
Even if it struggles to win new followers, the hordes of current Johnny’s diehards are anticipated to stay loyal because of the long-standing bonds created with performers over many years, different analysts mentioned.
The company will be capable of depend on income from official Johnny’s-run fan golf equipment and gross sales of merchandise and CDs, with the fan base unlikely to dwindle in the meanwhile, they mentioned.
“The core fans are expected to stay and they may actually throw more support behind performers in solidarity with ‘overcoming this crisis together’, but the challenge for the new management is whether they can expand the fan base,” Nishiyama mentioned.
“The lack of media appearance opportunities could encourage members to leave the agency, taking their respective fans with them, in the largest threat to Johnny’s,” he mentioned, including the company might must shift focus to social media, adopting the enterprise mannequin that has been so profitable for BTS.
It was solely in November 2019 that Arashi grew to become the primary Johnny’s entertainer to launch songs on-line globally, in distinction to Ok-pop teams like BTS which have had legions of followers on social media for years.
A lady in her 30s from the Philippines who has been an avid fan of Arashi since 2008, feels folks like her are in a “complicated position” in drawing the road between supporting performers whereas having “so much doubt” concerning the agency even with a brand new construction.
She added coping with the present state of affairs is “more difficult” for an abroad fan given the “international standards of cancel culture” through which offenders are punished extra severely within the public eye than they’re in Japan.
Despite the challenges of being an Arashi supporter now, she has invested a lot it will be troublesome to surrender on her fandom. “I think it’s too late for that,” she joked.
May Masangkay contributed to this story.
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