Light and Shadow of a Kingdom — Male Idols and Johnny's

So far this series has traced Japanese idol culture mainly through female idols. Yet over those same sixty years, another great current ran alongside. Young men who sing and dance, sending tens of thousands of fans into a frenzy — a style that now looks self-evident was, in Japan, built up by one particular figure and his agency.

That kingdom reigned over the entertainment world for a long time. The groups it sent forth became the national stars of their eras, and it changed the very shape of television, music, and the stage. But as vast as its light was, there was a shadow that for a long time was never faced directly. This piece tries, as honestly as it can and only within the range of facts that were reported and acknowledged, to trace both the achievements and the grave problem that the agency itself later admitted. Placing consideration for those who were harmed above all else, it does not stray into sensation or speculation.

A Kingdom That Began with a Baseball Team

The story’s starting point was, surprisingly, a place unconnected to show business. Johnny Kitagawa was a Japanese American born in California, said to have come to Japan after the war and worked at the American Embassy in Tokyo. He gathered the boys of his neighborhood and formed a baseball team. The team’s name was, indeed, ‘the Johnnys.’

The turning point is said to have been the film ‘West Side Story,’ which he watched together with the boys. Moved by figures who captivated audiences through song, dance, and youth itself, they began practicing dance. In 1962, four members of that baseball team formed a singing and dancing group called ‘Johnnys,’ and in 1964 Johnny & Associates was established.

The ideal raised here shaped the half century that followed. Not mere singers, not mere actors, but performers who sing, dance, and act — ‘talents who can both sing and dance’ were to be raised. This idea, modeled on American show business, was something the Japanese entertainment world of the time did not yet have.

The Half Century That Established a Style

The influence this agency had on Japanese entertainment is of an undeniable scale. Four Leaves, Hiromi Go, the Tanokin Trio, Hikaru Genji, SMAP, Arashi — era by era it sent national stars into the world, and each time it updated the ‘mold’ of the male idol.

SMAP, for instance, not only sang but drew laughs on variety shows, took leading roles in dramas, and even hosted cooking programs. The idol no longer shut himself inside the world of song but ranged across the entire field of entertainment. This model of crossing boundaries was passed down to the groups that followed.

In stage production, too, the agency built a world of its own. Flying through the air, dropping water like a waterfall, moving giant sets — productions that prioritized scenes out of a child’s dream over numbers or common sense carried audiences off into the extraordinary. The style now widely seen at home and abroad, in which male idols in large groups present meticulously choreographed performances, can be said to have had its prototype polished here.

A Shadow Long Left Unspoken

At the same time, it is reported that allegations concerning sexual abuse surrounding this agency and its founder had existed for some time. In the past there were reports in weekly magazines, and accounts in which some of the facts were contested in court, yet for a long time society as a whole did not face the matter head-on.

The situation shifted greatly in 2023. That year, the British public broadcaster BBC aired a documentary pursuing the allegations of sexual abuse by the founder. Following this, people who had once been with the agency spoke of their harm in press conferences under their real names and faces, and testimony given by name came one after another. This became the catalyst for the reality of long-running, wide-ranging harm — and the question of why news organizations had long stayed silent — to be taken up greatly in Japanese society.

Why did it stay hidden for so long? In the reporting, deference to an agency of immense influence and the difficulty of raising one’s voice are pointed to again and again as the background. An environment in which those who had been harmed could speak with peace of mind had not been prepared on society’s side — this very point is spoken of as one of the core issues.

The Day the Agency Admitted It

In August 2023, a ‘Special Team for Recurrence Prevention’ of outside experts, set up at the agency’s request, made public an investigation report. The report is said to have concluded that it could be established as fact that the founder had repeatedly committed sexual abuse, widely and over a long period.

In response, the agency held a press conference in September of that year, admitted as an agency that sexual abuse had occurred, and officially apologized. Stating that the cause lay with the perpetrator himself and with the agency’s structure, it is reported to have set out a policy of working toward compensation for victims and the prevention of recurrence.

Afterward, the agency changed its name to ‘SMILE-UP.,’ announcing a policy of devoting itself to the work of compensating victims and then closing the business once compensation was complete. The management of talents is reported to have shifted to a form carried out by a newly established separate company, ‘STARTO ENTERTAINMENT.’ The kingdom that had reigned over the entertainment world for more than half a century thus greatly changed its form, in a way that left its own name behind.

The vastness of the light, and the depth of the shadow. Both were part of the road Japan’s idols have walked. The center of the dazzling stage is not the only place idols are found. Before long that scene would branch out into countless smaller, closer places. An age in which fans and icons faced one another at a closeness never seen before was near at hand. The world of idols would grow still more diverse and close at hand.