| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music, entertainment |
| Founded | June 1962 |
| Founder(s) | Johnny Kitagawa |
| Headquarters | 8-11-20 Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan 107-0052 |
| Products | Music, entertainment |
| Services | Music, entertainment |
| Subsidiaries | Johnny's Entertainment J Storm J-One Records |
| Website | Johnny's net |
Johnny & Associates, Inc. (株式会社ジャニーズ事務所 Kabushikigaisha Janīzu Jimusho) is a talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962. Johnny & Associates trains and promotes groups of male idols, collectively known as "Johnny's" (ジャニーズ Janīzu),[1][2] in Japan.
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In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group called Johnnys.[2] However, it was not until 1968 did he see his first real success with Four Leaves.[2] Since then, Kitagawa has formed many successful acts such as solo artist Masahiko Kondo, whose song "Orokamono" (愚か者 Fool) won the Japan Record Award at the 29th Japan Record Awards in 1987,[3] and Hikaru Genji, which became the first Johnny's group to achieve the rare feat of having three top-selling singles on the Japanese Oricon yearly charts in 1988.[4]
Beginning in the 1990s, Johnny & Associates adopted a policy that they would decline the nominations of awards from organizations such as the Japan Record Awards and the Japan Academy Awards partly due to a dispute with the accurate music genre of one of their groups in the 32nd Japan Record Awards.[5] Another reason was that the nominations would cause competition between Johnny's groups[5] and other nominees.[6]
1991 saw the debut of SMAP and their expansion into many other areas of entertainment such as hosting their own regular television and radio shows, appearing in commercials and acting in dramas and movies.[7] Due to their omnipresence on television, SMAP gained popularity and their 2003 single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" (世界に一つだけの花, "A Flower Unlike Any Other in the World") sold over 2.57 million copies and became the ninth best-selling single in Japan.[8] In 1997, the agency started its own record label "Johnny's Entertainment".[1]
In 1999, the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun ran a series of articles alleging that adolescent boy clients of the agency had been sexually abused and coerced into drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. In response, Johnny's agency sued the magazine's publisher, Bungeishunjū. In 2002, the Tokyo District Court awarded the agency ¥8.8 million in damages from the publisher. Bungeishunjū appealed the decision to the Tokyo High Court. The high court reduced the damages to ¥1.2 million, concluding that the allegations of sexual exploitation were true, but that the reports of drinking and smoking were defamatory.[9]
On November 19, 2010, Masahiko Kondo was elected as the winner of the award for the "Best Vocal Performance" at the 52nd Japan Record Award, becoming the agency's first winner of awards from the Japan Record Award in 20 years since Ninja, which rejected a live performance for an award in 1990.[10]
On February 28, 2011, it was reported that Johnny's Entertainment had lifted the picture ban on their official website. Johnny’s Company is known to be the most strict company of not allowing any of their Johnny’s celebrity pictures in any sites. But recently, pictures of Johnny’s celebrity has appeared at their own site “Johnny’s net“. From the tab “Artist”, you can choose the Johnny’s artist you want to see and click “Profile” to go to the profile page. Though the pictures are small, they definitely have pictures of the artist from Smap, Arashi, V6 to Hey Say Jump on the pages.[11]
In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that has devastated much of northern Japan, Johnny's Entertainment has cancelled or postponed 18 of its upcoming concerts including those of Yamashita Tomohisa and Tackey & Tsubasa. Power generators and transporter trucks as well as two thousand litres of gasoline that would have been used at the concerts have instead been donated to the relief effort. Johnny's Entertainment members Takizawa Hideaki, Imai Tsubasa and Nakayama Yuma travelled with the trucks to see the disaster areas first hand. A manager at the company has announced the intention to release a charity single which is expected to involve every act signed with Johnny's Entertainment.[12]
It was announced on the 29th that Johnny’s Company is going to start a new charity project called “Marching J“, a fundraising project for the Touhoku Earthquake victims. The first part of the project will start as an event which will be held from April 1 through April 3. From the company, SMAP, Tokio, Kinki Kids, V6, Arashi, Tackey and Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani8, KAT-TUN, Hey! Say! JUMP and some Johnny’s Juniors are going to participate in this first event. The first event will be held at Tokyo, in front of the first Yoyogi gymnasium. The event included talk sessions as well as small a capella performances.[13] Groups will take turns according to their schedule and will have a talk session in front of the fans, also calling out for donations for the earthquake victims. The Johnny’s Company is planning to have an event once each month and is planning to continue this once a month event for an year. The next event is planned to be held on May 29, a baseball tournament event played by Johnny’s Juniors.[14]
On September 18, 2011, it was revealed that Johnny Kitagawa has been presented with two Guinness World Record awards, making him one of the most successful music producers in the world. The first award is for the ‘most No.1 singles produced by an individual’. He has accumulated an astounding 232 chart-topping songs (1974-2010). The second award is for the ‘most concerts produced by an individual’. Between 2000-2010, Johnny produced 8,419 concerts. He has produced shows for many of his groups; the concerts have an estimated attendance of 48,234,550.[15]
Johnny & Associates' major bands and artists are subjected to Johnny's Family Club or Johnny's Artist Circle.
The trainees of Johnny & Associates are collectively called Johnny's Jrs., and they have yet to debut. Jrs. typically perform both their own songs and the songs of debuted groups on variety shows such as The Shōnen Club as "training" and serve as backup dancers for the agency's debuted groups. Recently some groups released their works while remaining as trainees and they also sometimes collaborated with non-Johnny's Jr. debuted artists.
Debuted Jr. units and collaborations
2002: Ya-ya-yah (Kota Yabu, Naoya Akama, Shoon Yamashita, Taiyo Ayukawa, Hikaru Yaotome, Masaki Hoshino)
2007: Hey! Say! 7 (Ryosuke Yamada, Yuto Nakajima, Yuri Chinen, Daiki Arioka, Yuya Takaki)[20]
2008: Matchy with Question? (Masahiko Kondo, Daijiro Yonemura, Yoshihiro Yodogawa, Kazuyori Fujiie, Akun Igo, Daisuke Ishigaki)
2009: Yuma Nakayama w/B.I.Shadow (Yuma Nakayama, Kento Nakajima, Fuma Kikuchi, Hokuto Matsumura, Yugo Kochi)
2009: NYC boys (Ryosuke Yamada, Yuri Chinen, Yuma Nakayama, Kento Nakajima, Fuma Kikuchi, Hokuto Matsumura, Yugo Kochi)
2009: Snow Prince Gasshōdan (Shintarō Morimoto, Shintarō Kishimoto, Reia Nakamura, Kei Kurita, Yūya Ōtsuka, Tatsuya Horinouchi, Aoi Okada, Yūki Haba, Ryō Hashimoto, Mizuki Inoue, Aoi Chino)
2010: NYC (Ryosuke Yamada, Yuri Chinen, Yuma Nakayama)
2011: Sexy Zone (Sato Shori, Kento Nakajima , Fuma Kikuchi, Matsushima So, Marius Yo)
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