Johnny & Associates

In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys.[2] Six years later, Four Leaves, a boy band created by the agency, became successful.[2] Since then Kitagawa has formed a number of successful acts, such as solo artist Masahiko Kondo, whose song, "Orokamono" (愚か者, Fool), won the 1987 Japan Record Award,[3] and Hikaru Genji, the first Johnny group with three singles on the Japanese Oricon yearly chart in 1988.[4]

During the 1990s Johnny & Associates began declining nominations from the Japan Record Awards and the Japan Academy Awards, partly due to a dispute about the musical genre of one of their groups at the 32nd Japan Record Awards.[5] Another reason cited was that the nominations would engender competition among Johnny groups[5] and with other nominees.[6]

In 1997 the agency founded a record label, Johnny's Entertainment.[1] Also, a New Year's Eve countdown concert is held live on Fuji TV from the Tokyo Dome since 1996 known as Johnny's Countdown Live with a different theme each year.

In 2006, Oricon sued journalist Hiro Ugaya when he was quoted in a Cyzo magazine article suggesting that the company manipulated its statistics to benefit certain management companies and labels (specifically, Johnny & Associates. Ugaya condemned the action as a strategic lawsuit against public participation,[7] and it was later dropped by Oricon with no charges filed against the journalist.

In 2007, temporary Johnny's Jr. group, Hey! Say! 7, broke a record as the youngest male group to ever top Oricon charts, with an average age of 14.8 years. Later that year, Hey! Say! JUMP broke a record as the largest group to debut in Johnny's history, with ten members. By 2008, Johnny & Associates was known as the "top 3" recording artist companies.[8]

Headquarters in Minato, Tokyo (1998–2018)

On November 19, 2010, Masahiko Kondo received the Best Vocal Performance award at the 52nd Japan Record Awards; Kondo was the first Johnny recipient since Ninja refused to perform live at the 1990 awards.[9] After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami Johnny & Associates cancelled or postponed 18 concerts, including shows by Tomohisa Yamashita and Tackey & Tsubasa. Generators, trucks and 2,000 litres (530 US gal) of gasoline which would have been used at the concerts were donated to the relief effort.

The agency began a fundraising project, Marching J, for the Tōhoku earthquake victims; its first event was held on April 1–3, 2011. Hey! Say! JUMP, SMAP, Tokio, KinKi Kids, V6, Arashi, Tackey and Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani8, KAT-TUN and Johnny's Juniors participated in the fundraiser, which included talk sessions and a cappella performances.[10] The agency planned to hold one fundraiser per month for a year. The next event, a baseball tournament featuring Johnny's Jrs., was held on May 29.[11] On September 18, 2011, Kitagawa received Guinness World Record awards for the most number-one singles (232) and the most concerts (8,419 from 1974 to 2010) produced by an individual. His shows have been attended by an estimated 48,234,550 people.[12]

In 2018, Johnny & Associates, who had been previously known for strictly controlling access to their acts,[13] established a YouTube channel for their trainee groups, Johnny's Jr.[14] In January 2019, Hideaki Takizawa was named the president of a new subdivision of the company called Johnny's Island, where he will manage and oversee the debut of trainee group Snow Man.[15] After Kitagawa's death on July 9, 2019,[16] his niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima was made the new president of the agency, while Takizawa and Suguru Shirahase became the vice presidents and Kitagawa's older sister, Mary Yasuko Fujishima, became the executive director.[17][18]

Johnny & Associates exercise strict control over all information about their talents, to the point where photographs were initially not posted on their official website and silhouettes were used to represent them on official websites of their acting projects.[2][13][19][8] In addition to this, Johnny & Associates do not use social media due to their talents' blogs and photos offered on a paid subscription basis through their official fan club website, Johnny's Web.[20] In 2011, Johnny & Associates began posting photos of their talents on their official website.[21] On January 31, 2018, Johnny & Associates lifted their photo ban completely and allowed the press to photograph and post images of their talents.[22] In the same year, Johnny & Associates launched a YouTube channel for Johnny's Jr.[14]

In 1988, former Four Leaves member Koji Kita alleged in his book Dear Hikaru Genji that he had been propositioned by Kitagawa and that Kitagawa operated a casting couch.[2] In 1996, former Johnny Jr.'s member Junya Hiramoto alleged in his book All About Johnnys that Kitagawa shared the boys' communal dormitory and insisted on washing their backs at bath time.[2] In 2001, Shukan Bunshun ran a series of similar sexual harassment allegations along with claims that Kitagawa had allegedly forced the boys to drink alcohol and smoke.[2][19] Johnny & Associates sued Shukan Bunshun for defamation, and in 2002, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Kitagawa, awarding him ¥8.8 million in damages.[2][19] In 2003, the fine was lowered to ¥1.2 million on the basis that the drinking and smoking allegations were defamatory, while the sexual harassment claims were not.[19] Kitagawa filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Japan, but it was rejected in 2004.[23]

For years, Johnny & Associates has been suspected of having connections with the mass media to produce extensive and favorable coverage on the company, its acts, and Kitagawa, while reducing coverage on anything perceived to be a threat to their image and sales.[13] On July 18, 2019, Johnny & Associates was investigated by the Fair Trading Commission for potentially violating the Anti-Monopoly Act due to accusations of pressuring the media to reduce coverage on Atarashii Chizu, a group made up of former SMAP members Shingo Katori, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Goro Inagaki. Despite lack of hard evidence, Johnny & Associates received a warning.[24][25][13]

Trainees are known as Johnny's Jr., who perform on Johnny's related variety shows and as backup dancers for the agency's groups.[27][28]

Project groups

• Nobuhiro Aoyama
• Keiichi Miyoshi (1982–1991)
• Mizuki Sano[41] (1991–2019)