According to the Asahi Shimbun website, Johnny Kitakawa (real name Kitakawa Kuro), founder and president of the famous Japanese artist agency " Johnny Kitakawa ", which led the development of the Japanese entertainment industry, died of illness on the 9th at the age of 87.
Kitakawa was admitted to the reporters outside the hospital
On the afternoon of June 18 this year, Kitakawa fell down at his home in Shibuya, Tokyo and was rushed to the hospital by an ambulance. Then, most of the J artists, including Takizawa Hideaki , Higashiyama Kino , Nakayumasahiro , King & Prince, and Jr., who have not debuted, went to the hospital to visit. On July 1, Johnnys confirmed that Kitakawa was hospitalized because of dissociated cerebral aneurysm rupture and submembrane hemorrhage.
9 On the night of the 9th, former idol group SMAP member Kimura Takuya updated his Sina Weibo at 11:51 Japan time, expressing his condolences to Kitakawa: "Johnny Sang, I have been leading the way until now, I hope you can have a good rest. Takuya". It is reported that Takuya Kimura is also the first artist under the Johnniez Office to release the memorial news.
Why did Takuya Kimura post on Weibo to commemorate Kitakawa? It turns out that he was also an early member of SMAP, a subsidiary of Johnniez.
The most handsome Takuya Kimura
Jennis President Johnny Kitakawa is a man who creates many miracles and mystery. He is the common grandfather of thousands of fans. He has built the entire Johnny idol empire. Takuya Kimura, Yamashita Tomohisa , Arashi, Kazuya Kazuya... These familiar Japanese male stars are all artists under Johnnys.
Will the death of a great dream-creating figure cause entertainment shock in Japan and even Asia or the dissolution of an entertainment empire?
The death of the star-making genius has attracted great attention from artists and has also brought hidden worries from several fans.
Star-making genius - Johnny Kitakawa
01 Star-making genius - Johnny Kitakawa
Kitakawa was born on October 23, 1931. He was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. His father was the host of the American branch temple of Takayama Shinyan Sect of Japan's Buddhist Takayama Shinyan Sect. The Kitakawa family has four children in total, and he ranks third. His eldest sister, Mary, is currently an associate director of the Johnniez firm (her daughter Julie is also an associate director), and her second brother was a NASA scientist but died in the 1980s. In 1933, Kitakawa returned to Japan with his parents and lived in Osaka for a short time. But after the war, the father sent all his children back to the United States, and Kitakawa had been spending his youth in Los Angeles.
After returning to Japan, Kitakawa wants to enter the entertainment industry. In 1950, Kitakawa participated in a concert held by Mikawada Haruhi Kawada in the United States, and initially demonstrated his talent in entertainment planning. In 1955, after graduating from the Japanese University of Sakura, Kitakawa formed a band himself. Although it was later disbanded, he accumulated a lot of experience from it. In 1962, Kitakawa was deeply moved after watching the American musical and dance film "The Story of the West" and made up his mind to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry. In the same year, a 30-person baseball team was formed, and four boys were selected. The boy group and company, with his English name "Johnny's", was officially established. Because Johnny’s pronunciation is close to “Jennis” in Japanese, his company is generally translated as “Jennis Firm” in the Chinese circle.
Kitagawa likes to personally select his artists. Johnniez only signs male artists. Because the girl group operation is not ideal, Johnniez later became the most famous boy group idol firm in Japan. Moreover, each combination of Johnnies has its own different characteristics, and almost every combination can become popular.
From 2000 to 2011, Kitakawa produced a total of 8,419 concerts, which was recognized as "the person who produced the most concerts in the world" by the Guinness World Records. At the same time, between 1974 and 2010, the firm's more than 40 groups won a total of 232 championship singles, and was recognized as "the person who produced the most championship singles in the world". Currently, Guinness is also the producer of "the most champion single artists in the world". Kitakawa's death also represents the end of an era.
A mark of an era
02 Dream-making empire - Johnny Dream Factory
02 Johnny's office was established in 1962. There are many talents, such as Kondo Masahiro , Higashiyama Kiyu, former SMAP members Nakazuo Masahiro, Kimura Takuya, popular group "Ran", TOKIO, level 8, Kingamp; Prince and many other well-known male idol stars are artists under Johnny.
In the early days of his business, Johnnys Business successfully launched a group of singers including Yumi Goto. And in the 1980s, the company ushered in a huge turnaround. The 7-member boy group "Genji" (often translated as Genji in Chinese) successfully attracted a large number of fans with a performance that had never been available at that time, while skating and dancing. In the 1990s, Kitakawa successfully launched the longevity group SMAP, which has developed in many fields such as singing, acting, and hosting. Immediately afterwards, male idol groups such as Tokio, V6, Kinki Kinds, Arashi, Taki Yuyi, NEWS, Kant8, KAT-TUN, HEY SAY JUMP, King Prince, etc., came out and all achieved huge market successes. Johnniez also became Japan's leading star-making empire. Including the trainee system, the "personality" of idols, the development of multiple appearances in addition to singing, regular concerts, and other practices in the entertainment industry today, Japan, South Korea and even China, have been somewhat influenced by Kitakawa and Johnnies.
Take SMAP as an example to see the Star-making path of Johnniez.
SMAP was founded in 1988 and officially debuted as a CD in 1991. It consists of five members: Masahiro Nakazuki, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagawa, , Goro Inagawa, , , , , and Shingo Kasu. As of 2016, SMAP has been active in the Japanese entertainment industry for 28 years.
"SMAP×SMAP" premiered on April 15, 1996 and lasted for 20 years and 9 months. It is the only fixed program that all five members participated in. Over the past 20 years, the average viewership of 919 episodes has been 18.1%. The highest ratings in history are that Goro Inagaki, who was reflecting on the arrest incident in 2002, started his artistic activities again, with ratings of 34.2% in the current period. In addition, the five people who were reported to the dissolution rumors on January 18, 2017 apologized to the audience, with a rating of 31.2%.
Jennis Firm has always been known for its strict copyright management and fan club system. There are many remarkable points that the media can see:
A. It has been insisted on the "East Japan Earthquake Relief Fund Recruitment" for 5 years. During the 5 years, whenever members gather together to record songs, the public welfare notice will be continuously recorded.
B. The lecture on complying with laws and regulations by Johnnis's firm requires all artists to attend
C. On May 20, 2019, due to fans' influence on traffic order around him. Hey!Say!JUMP announced the cancellation of the performance
03, which has been popular for 26 years. SMAP
03 cannot be ended - Kitakawa and Johnnis' influence
Kikagawa and his Johnnis firm are dedicated to managing artists. Although they were weak at the beginning, with years of unremitting efforts, the new artists trained by the firm finally began to emerge and were out of control.
Jenniss's firm was previously managed by Kitakawa Grandpa and his niece Keiko. With the rapid development of the Internet environment, its system is also being adjusted. For example, Johnnies once strictly prohibited publishing photos of its artists online on the grounds of protecting the portrait rights of artists. However, since April 2016, Johnnies posted some images of its artists on the video website Youtube, and since April 2017, it has allowed artist promotional photos to be published on social media. In November 2017, the TV series "ReBORN" starring WEST, a subsidiary of Johnniez, was promoted to more than 190 countries and regions around the world through the American film and television company Netflix. The lifting of portrait rights is an effort made by Japan's Johnnies to adapt to the new era and is obvious to all.
However, the strict management system of Johnniez and the company's contempt for overseas markets have become increasingly out of place in recent years. At the same time, as Kitakawa's age grew, rumors of "abdication" were heard everywhere, and the struggle for "successors" within him also took place for many years. It is said that the Johnniez firm is divided into three major factions, one of which is led by SMAP agent Mitochi Iijima, responsible for Kis-My-Ft2 and Sexy Zone, etc.; the other faction is controlled by Keiko Fujima, which controls Arashi and Guan8, etc.; as for KinKi Kids, V6, Taki and Yi, it is directly managed by Kitakawa.Faction struggle also led to the forced disbanding of the Sky Group SMAP in 2016, causing an uproar.
In August 2018, Japanese media said that Kitakawa named Hideaki Takizawa as his successor. Taki and Yi, who had stopped their activities for more than a year in September, announced their dissolution. Hideaki Takizawa officially took office as the president of Johnny's Island, an affiliate of Johnny's Island in early 2019, mainly responsible for the cultivation of 300 Jr. and the discovery of newcomers. In order to allow Hideaki Takizawa to succeed, Kitakawa once recognized him as his adopted son, which was really hard work.
Now that Kitakawa has passed away, the open and secret struggles within Johnny may be further clear. However, Kitakawa's personal pioneering contributions to the entertainment industry will always be recorded in history!
Kitakawa is gone, what he can't take away is his legend
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