Johnny & Associates

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Johnny & Associates, Inc. (株式会社ジャニーズ事務所, Kabushikigaisha Janīzu Jimusho^?), formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, is a talent agency that trains and promotes groups of male idols in Japan.

The first group Johnnys debuted in 1962, but their debut was before Western boy band movement. The agency was originally formed to train Japanese broadway theatre actors for musicals similar to West Side Story, when Japanese authority hated Japanese new musical movements, especially the rock and roll music.^[1]

Masahiko Kondo's song "Orokamono" won the grand prix award at the 29th Japan Record Awards in 1987. Hikaru Genji's song "Paradise Ginga" also won the grand prix award at the 30th Japan Record Awards in 1988. The agency produced even rock band Otokogumi. Otokogumi's debut single "Day Break" was released in 1988.

In recent times, however, they have rejected the nominations of Japanese awards. One of the reasons was that their band Ninja's music genre was categorized as "rock/pops" in the 32nd Japan Record Awards in 1990, though Johnny & Associates thought that its music genre was "enka/kayōkyoku".^[2] Another reason was that the nominations could make competitions between Johnny's groups.^[2]

After debuting the talents, Johnny's & Associates would then arrange for them to be signed to record labels such as J Storm, Johnny's Entertainment or labels owned by other companies such as Avex Trax. Regardless of the labels the groups are assigned to, the members and their respective groups would still be bound to their talent agency, Johnny's & Associates.

Artists

Debuted groups/ soloist

• 1962: Johnnys
  • Label: Teichiku Records
  • Members: Hiromi Maie, Osami Iino, Teruhiko Aoi
• 1967: Four Leaves
  • Label: CBS Sony
  • Members: Kouji Kita, Takashi Aoyama, Toshio Egi, Masao Orimo
  • Former Members: Nagata Eiji
• 1973: Hiromi Go
  • Label: CBS Sony
• 1975: Johnnys Junior Special
  • Label:
• 1980: Masahiko Kondo (solo)
  • Label: Sony Music Japan
• 1981: Shibugakitai
  • Label: CBS Sony
  • Members: Toshikazu Fukawa, Masahiro Motoki, Hirohide Yakumaru
• 1983: THE GOOD-BYE
  • Label: Victor Music Industries
  • Members: Yoshio Nomura, Yashisa Soga, Hachirou Kaga, Kouichi Etou
• 1985: Shōnentai
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Kazukiyo Nishikiori, Katsuhide Uekusa, Noriyuki Higashiyama
• 1987: Hikaru Genji
  • Label: Pony Canyon
  • Members of Hikaru: Koji Uchiumi, Mikio Osawa
  • Members of Genji: Kazumi Morohoshi, Hiroyuki Sato, Junichi Yamamoto, Akasaka Akira, Atsuhiro Sato
• 1987: OTOKOGUMI
  • Label:
  • Members: Shoji Narita, Kazuya Takahashi, Kenichi Okamoto, Koyo Maeda
• 1990: Ninja
  • Label:
  • Members: Susumu Yanagisawa, Naoto Endou, Shin'ya Masaki, Nobuhide Tagaki
  • Former Members: Shiga Yasunobu, Furukawa Eiji
• 1991: SMAP
  • Label: Victor Entertainment
  • Members: Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Goro Inagaki, Shingo Katori
  • Former members: Katsuyuki Mori
• 1994: TOKIO
  • Label: J Storm
  • Members: Tomoya Nagase, Masahiro Matsuoka, Taichi Kokubun, Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Shigeru Joshima
• 1995: V6
  • Label: Avex Trax
  • Members of 20th Century: Masayuki Sakamoto, Hiroshi Nagano, Yoshihiko Inohara
  • Members of Coming Century: Go Morita, Ken Miyake, Junichi Okada
• 1997: KinKi Kids
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Koichi Domoto, Tsuyoshi Domoto
• 1999: Arashi
  • Label: J Storm
  • Members: Masaki Aiba, Jun Matsumoto, Kazunari Ninomiya, Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai
• 2002: Tackey & Tsubasa
  • Label: Avex Trax
  • Members: Hideaki Takizawa, Tsubasa Imai
• 2003: NEWS
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Tomohisa Yamashita, Ryo Nishikido, Keiichiro Koyama, Takahisa Masuda, Shigeaki Kato, Yuya Tegoshi
  • Former Members: Hiroki Uchi, Hironori Kusano, Takahiro Moriuchi
• 2004: Kanjani8
  • Label: Imperial Records
  • Members: You Yokoyama, Subaru Shibutani, Shingo Murakami, Ryūhei Maruyama, Shota Yasuda, Ryō Nishikido, Tadayoshi Ōkura
  • Former Members: Hiroki Uchi
• 2006: KAT-TUN
  • Label: J-One Records
  • Members: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda, Yuichi Nakamaru
• 2006: Tegomass
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Yuya Tegoshi, Takahisa Masuda
• 2007: Hey! Say! JUMP
  • Label: J Storm
  • Members of Hey! Say! Best: Kota Yabu, Yuya Takaki, Kei Inoo, Hikaru Yaotome, Daiki Arioka
  • Members of Hey! Say! 7: Keito Okamoto, Ryosuke Yamada, Yuto Nakajima, Yuri Chinen, Ryutaro Morimoto

Subgroups / Temporary units

• 1998: J-Friends
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: TOKIO, KinKi Kids, V6
• 2000: Secret Agent for the drama 'Heisei Meoto Jawan'
  • Label:
  • Members: Noriyuki Higashiyama, Ryo Nishikido
• 2005: Toraji-Haiji for the movie 'Fantastipo'
  • Members: Tsuyoshi Domoto, Taichi Kokubun
• 2005: Shuuji to Akira for the drama 'Nobuta wo Produce'
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Kazuya Kamenashi, Tomohisa Yamashita
• 2006: Kitty GYM as Women Volleyball Suporter
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Hiromitsu Kitayama, Kei Inoo, Shota Totsuka, Hikaru Yaotome, Golf, Tomohisa Yamashita, Mike
• 2007: Trio the Shakiin for the drama 'Kuitan'
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Noriyuki Higashiyama, Go Morita, Kenta Suga (not a Johnny's member)
• 2007: Hey! Say! 7 as Women Volleyball Suporter
  • members: Ryosuke Yamada, Yuto Nakajima, Yuuri Chinen, Daiki Arioka, Yuya Takaki
• 2008: Matchy with Question? for the anime 'Naruto'
  • Members: Masahiko Kondo, Daijiro Yonemura, Yoshihiro Yodogawa, Kazuyori Fujiie, Akun Igo, Daisuke Ishigaki
• 2009: The SHIGOTONIN for the drama 'Hissatsu Shigotonin'
  • Members: Noriyuki Higashiyama, Masahiro Matsuoka, Tadayoshi Ōkura
• 2009: NYC boys as Women Volleyball Suporter
  • Label: Johnny's Entertainment
  • Members: Ryosuke Yamada, Yuri Chinen, Yuma Nakayama, Kento Nakajima, Fuma Kikuchi, Hokuto Matsumura, Yugo Kochi

Special Group

Members of groups, who already disbanded are put together

• J-STARS
  • Members: Keniji Okamoto from OTOKOGUMI, Koji Uchiumi from Hikaru Genji, Atsuhiro Sato from Hikaru Genji

Johnny's Jr. units

Johnny's Jrs. are trainees who have yet to debut. They would often perform their seniors' songs on variety shows such as The Shōnen Club as "training". They also serve as back up dancers for groups that have already debuted.

• A.B.C-Z
• B.A.D.
• BOYS
• B.I. Shadow
• Hey! Say! 7 West
• Hip Hop JUMP
• Jr.BOYS
• MA
• Kis-My-Ft|Kis-My-Ft.2
• Butoukan
• M.A.D.
• Question?
• FIVE
• Veterans
• Ya-ya-yah
• Little Gangs
• THEY Budou
• Mis Snow Man
• Yuma Nakayama w/B.I.Shadow

Females and the Jimusho

In the 1980s, females were accepted into the agency and through JOHNNY'S Junior Special as a side project called Orange Sisters. The five females (Yoshitake Kayoko, Sakai Tae, Emil Seres, Andrea Nilsson and Yoshikawa Kiyomi) were considered as Female Juniors, yet nothing happened with the unit. Today, there has not been a single woman accepted into the agency since then.

See also

• List of record labels
• Hadaka no Shounen
• Shounen Club
• Shounen Club Premium
• List of when Johnny's joined the Johnny's-Jimusho

References

1. ^ "J-Pop's dream factory". The Guardian. 2005-08-21. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/aug/21/popandrock3. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
2. ^ ^{a b} (Japanese) "キムタクが日本アカデミー賞辞退". Nikkan Sports. 2006-12-20. http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/cinema/p-et-tp1-20061220-132636.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 

External links

• Official Japanese Website (Japanese)
• Official Johnny's Asia Website (Chinese) (Korean)