*HiStOrY*
Johnny's Entertainment is a company found by Johnny H. Kitagawa in the 1960's. Mr Kitagawa was born in California and moved to Japan, where he started a baseball team called The Johnnies. in 1963. When they went to see "West Side Story" they became a dancing group.
Johnny's Jr. started. It is a starting ground for boys to debut in groups after they turn 20. The Jr. dance backup for the main groups.
Mr Kitagawa then created the popular group The Four Leaves.
Hiromi Go joined at the age of 15 and went on to became an extremely popular Japanese celebrity. He has released 58 albums so far, and he is the number one selling solo male Jpop artist in Japan.
Hikaru Genji, consists 7 boys, formed in the 80's. Its members included Morohoshi Kazumi, Satoh Atsuhiro, Akasaka Akira, Uchiumi Kohji, Ohsawa Mikio, Satoh Hiroyuki, and Yamamoto Junichi. Genji was known for
their harmonious singing and performing while wearing roller skates. Due to fighting among the
members, Hikaru Genji disbanded in 1995. Former members Akasaka Akira and Sato Hiroyuki are still popular celebrities in Japan.
Shounentai came out in 1982. This group have 3 members. Nishikiori Kazukiyo, Higashiyama Noriyuki, and
Uekusa Katsuhide. Shounentai is the oldest group that is still active and they put on a
different 'Playzone' musical every year.
In 1985 Kitagawa created a 6 member subgroup of Johnny's Jr., Shounen Ninja, who were Yanagisawa Susumu, Nakamura Nobutoshi, Shiga Yasunobu,
Endo Naoto, Masaki Shinya, and Takagi Nobuhide. Nakamura Nobutoshi left thegroup in 1988 to join Cha-Cha, and
a Heikeha member, Furukawa Eiji, replaced him. Their first single was released in 1990
and their name was changed to Ninja. Shiga and Furukawa left Ninja in 1994 and the group remained with four members. Ninja is no longer
performing now.
Takashi Sorimachi joined Johnny's Jr. and was a member of Heikeha. He also backdanced for Hikaru Genji. He became a model when he was 16. Sorimachi became popular
after acting in the drama Beach Boys.
Mr Kitagawa created the Tanokin Trio. They were the only 3 solo artists to come out of the company, but the three performed concerts
together. Motoki Masahiro(Mokkun) was a backdancer for them. He and two others were put into the group Shibugakitai who released their debut single
'Nai Nai 16' in 1982. The group split up in 1988. Mokkun is now a famous actor in Japan.
The Skateboys were an 11-member subgroup of Johnny's Jr. who roller-skated and danced backup for Hikaru Genji.
The members were Katori Shingo, Kimura Takuya, Nakai Masahiro, Inagaki Goro, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Mori Katsuyuki,
Shigeru Joshima, Taichi Kokobun, Masahiro Matsuoka, Kojima Hiromu and Yamaguchi Tatsuya.
In 1988 Mr Kitagawa formed the 6-person group, SMAP, from half of the Skateboys.
The name SMAP stands for Sports Music Assemble People. The members were Katori, Kimura, Nakai, Goro,
Kusanagi and Katsuyuki. SMAP's first single was released in 1991 and they became
a huge success. Later, Mori Katsuyuki left the group and became an auto racer. SMAP is
now the most famous music group in Japan.
Kimura Takuya is known to be one of the best actors in Japan and has acted in
many dramas and movies. He recently shocked many people by announcing at a SMAP
concert that he was going to marry singer Kudo Shizuka and she was already 3 months pregnant! Most members of Johnny's groups do not marry
until they retire, and some fans were afraid Kimura would be fired by Mr Kitagawa for breaking the
rule. But other less popular Johnny's members had gotten married while still performing.
Kimura is a big money maker for Kitagawa and he will not fire him easily so Kimura has used his influence to get better benefits for all of
Johnny's member.
Shingo Katori has also made a name for himself as an actor in many dramas and recently did a solo project called Shingo Mama. Shingo dresses up as a
woman from the 1950's and sings and dances to a catchy 50's style rock song. The chorus contains the phrase 'oha' which is a shortened form of
'ohayo'(good morning). Now, many young Japanese use 'Oha' to greet one
another.
Nakai also acts in many dramas. The whole group has acted together in
dramas as well. SMAP has its own TV show called SMAP X SMAP, a variety program that has been running continuously for several years.
From the remaining half of the Skateboys, Mr Kitagawa formed the group TOKIO in 1990.
The members were Joshima, Kokobun, Matsuoka, Kojima and Yamaguchi. Tomoya Nagase joined and Kojima left
in
1994. They are different from all of other Johnny's groups because each member plays an instrument and their music is more of a rock style. Nagase does vocals, Matsuoka does drums, Kokubun plays keyboard, Yamaguchi plays
bass, and Joshima plays guitar. TOKIO was also a success. The members also act in various dramas.
In 1993 the group KinKi Kids was formed. KinKi Kids was unique, because it only had two
members. It was the smallest group formed by Johnny yet. The members are two good friends who were born in the same city and even share
the same last name. They are Domoto Koichi and Domoto Tsuyoshi. Domoto is an unusual last name so it is even stranger.
They are call Kinki Kids because they came from the Kinki region of Japan. People from this region can speak a dialect,
Kansai, so they are the first Kansai Johnny's group. Their first single was released in 1997. KinKi Kids
is very popular and recently it has been rumored that since they have had 12 consecutive
singles go number one, they will be listed in the Guinness Book of Records (the previous record
was 5 consecutive number one singles.)
The group V6 was formed in 1995. The V stands for victory. This group is
special because it is further subdivided into two three-person groups Coming Century and
20th Century. The members are Miyake Ken, Okada Junichi, and Morita Go (Coming Century) Nagano Hiroshi, Inohara Yoshihiko, and
Sakamoto Masayuki (20th Century). Coming Century, Kamisen for short, is made up of members born in 1979-80. Okada(Tsuyoshi's
best fren) was never
even a Jr. when he was asked to join V6. 20th Century, Tonisen for short, is
made up of members born from 1971-76. Sakamoto and Nagano had already retired from
Johnny's Jr. and were called back to join the group. Their first single was released in 1996. V6 performs songs and concerts together, but Kamisen and Tonisen also perform their own
songs and have their own concerts.
In 1998, J-Friends started. J-Friends is a combination of the members of V6, Tokio and KinKi Kids. They
sing together and have released a few singles.
The newest Johnny's group Arashi was formed in 16th September 1999. They released
their first single in the same year they were formed. The members of Arashi
are
Sho Sakurai
, Ninomiya Kazunari, Masaki Aiba, Matsumoto Jun and Ohno Satoshi.
It was rumoured that Hideaki Takizawa was supposed to be in Arashi but he was too popular. So,
Satoshi joined instead.
Anyway, Johnny's Jr. became popular enough so Mr Kitagawa thought
they could hold their own concerts. The first concert video, Sugao 1, was released in 1997. Now the Juniors even get their own original songs which they perform on TV shows and in
concerts but they still do not release CDs. Releasing CDs and debuting is probably the only difference
between Johnny's Jr. and the other groups. Currently Johnny's Jr. is consist of about
100++ boys age 10 to 20 years old. The older ones are more popular.
Currently in Johnny's Jr., the most popular one is definitely Takizawa Hideaki( Takky
just turned 20 and has been the
leader of the Johnny's Jr. since he was about 16. Tsubasa Imai is the 2nd
leader. Mr Kitagawa announced recently that he will debut Takky as a solo artist when he turns 20 and Tsubasa as a solo when he turns 20.
Fans were happy for them but they were also upset. Takky n Tsubasa are best friends and they have been hoping of debuting together. Many fans are
sending letters to
Mr Kitagawa, asking him to debut them as a duet. This is one of the strangest problems
Mr Kitagawa ever had.
Mr Kitagawa had other problems also. In 1988 Kita Koji from the Johnny's group The Four Leaves published a diary, which detailed his
sexual molestation by Mr Kitagawa and other idols. Then in 1996, Hiramoto Junya also accused
Mr Kitagawa, claiming he had witnessed boys being raped in the dormitory. Now,
Mr Kitagawa is powerful enough to stop any bad press. V6's Morita Go was also accused of raping an
actress, but he was never convicted.
There was also an incident in 1999 known as the 'Friday Incident' in which four
juniors were caught smoking and drinking at a party and there were pictures to prove it. Despite the
popularity of Hamada Kazuo and Osaka Shunsuke, they were fired from Johnny's Jr. along with Omi Kazuki and Anazawa Masahiro. Fans were
shocked and upset. Osaka joined another company and is still active in the entertainment buisiness.
Johnny's artists are featured in magazines every month. Every month, the same magazines feature new pictures of the same people. Of
course they have some other celebrities. Magazines that focus on Johnny's artists are Wink-Up, Myojo, Duet and Potato. Every month the front
cover of these magazines
will feature a Johnny's member or group of them. Although the magazines include pictures and information on other
groups, you will always see on the front cover SMAP, TOKIO, V6, KinKi Kids, Arashi
and Johnny's Jr. Usually you will also see the names of the more popular Juniors
You will also see Johnny's artist on TV shows. Television is like radio in Japan. Music Station is the most popular music TV program and they
have all the famous artists perform their new singles on them. Whenever a Johnny's group releases a new single, it is performed on Music
Station. Sometimes they perform the song on there even before you can buy it, and perform it more than once.
Juniors also perform on Music Station sometimes but they don't release singles. Each group hosts their own TV
shows and Johnny's Jr. has their own shows. SMAP has SMAP X SMAP, V6 has Gakko E Ikou, Viva Viva V6, and
Mimycen. Tokio has Mentore G.
KinKi
Kids has Domoto Kyoudai and Domoto Brothers. Koichi of KinKi cohosts the show Pop Jam, and Nakai Masahiro of SMAP cohosts Utaban.
Arashi has a new show call Mayonaka no Arashi. Johnny's Jr. shows are USO!? Japan, The Shounen Club, Hadaka no Shounen and The
Naked Boys. Arashi also appears on USO!? Japan.
They also have their own radio shows. They don't sing on them but they talk about things and answer write-in questions from the fans.
Arashi has
Arashi-on, SMAP has Ohayo SMAP and Stop the SMAP, and Johnny's Junior has Mayou naka no Shounen-tachi.
There is also the yearly musical done by Shounentai, which usually has some other Johnny's members in it. There are also other musicals that
Johnny's members appear in, like "Millenium Shock."
Every year there is a Johnny's Sports Event that is held in Tokyo Dome. It includes a lot of the
popular Juniors and Johnny's groups. They are divided into team red and team white. These two teams compete against
each other in various sports
activities and whoever wins the most points is the winner of the event. This event is televised and released on video.
Johnny's artists also perform their concerts. Johnny's Jr. has one concert every season at different locations in
Japan but they have never gone out of Japan. The groups have done concerts in Taiwan and Hong
Kong except Arashi because they are too new.
Johnny's groups tend to release a single every few months and at least one album per year. This is normal in the Japanese pop industry.
This is different from American artists who release maybe one album a year or so and once you've got the album there is nothing new to look forward to
for a long time.
Johnny's is known for having awful looking costumes. The traditional Johnny's outfits are pants with knee length long sleeved shirts, but they
have a wide variety of costumes. Mr Kitagawa also likes to use color block patterns such as white pants at the top with red legs from the
knees
down. I think the worst outfits I've seen are the black outfits with holes on
the shirts and feathers all over the shirts n pants which is wore by Arashi at
their 1st concert. I thought they look like chickens(haha). I don't know what Japanese people think of boys
and
pink, but it's not uncommon for them to wear any shade of pink. In magazines in which they dress in relatively normal attire or in concerts
where they wear special performing outfits. Probably some of the ugliest costumes are from way back in the early days and they just keep getting
reused.
Another thing Johnny's is known for is their back flips. It is common for a performance to include several boys flipping all around the
stage. Back in the days when V6 was popular it was a must for a Junior to be able to flip, but now it's not as necessary.
Johnny's shops are located in Shibuya, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto. These stores sell all kinds of Johnny's related merchandise, which
can't be obtained from any other place. They sell stationary, notebooks and other school supplies, stickers, collectible photos, t-shirts, and
posters, among other things. In 1998, Mr Kitagawa opened the first and only
overseas Johnny's shop in Hong Kong.
Johnny's groups and Johnny's Jr. keep growing in popularity all over Asia and are slowly being known in other countries as well.
Jpop is currently popular in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It is just starting to
become popular in places like Singapore, Thailand and other Asian countries. There
is a smattering of fans from all over the globe.
Johnny's groups and Johnny's Jr. are like a giant family. Being their fan and hearing about their activities, and watching their concerts bring
happiness to many people. The language barrier is broken down by their cute smiling faces, wonderful songs and enthusiasm
in whatever they do. I hope that Johnny's will continue to spread their magic into the
hearts of people all around the world.
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