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SMILE-UP, Inc. (株式会社SMILE-UP., Kabushiki gaisha Sumairu Appu), formerly known as Johnny & Associates, Inc. (株式会社ジャニーズ事務所, Kabushiki gaisha Janīzu Jimusho), is a Japanese talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which manages groups of male idols known as Johnny's (ジャニーズ, Janīzu). Until 2019, it was infamous for its strict policies involving their foreign distribution of music, as well as their strict control and influence on its members.

In the wake of continuing sexual abuse allegations directed against Kitagawa, who died in 2019, his niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima, stepped down as president in September 2023. In October 2023, new president Noriyuki Higashiyama announced plans to create a new company for managing its talent, while the current Johnny & Associates will be reformed for the purpose of compensating sexual abuse victims and be renamed SMILE-UP. effective October 17.

On December 8, 2023, STARTO ENTERTAINMENT was revealed to be the successor to SMILE-UP. as the agency housing curreny talents.


Current Groups[]

History[]

Johnnys

Johnny & Associates, Inc

1962–1989[]

In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group called Johnnys. However, it was not until 1968 did he see his first real success with Four Leaves. 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, 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.

1990–2009[]

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. Another reason was that the nominations would cause competition between Johnny's groups and other nominees.

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. 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. In 1997, the agency started its own record label "Johnny's Entertainment".

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.

2010–present[]

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

On September 18, 2011, it was revealed that Johnny Kitagawa has been presented with two Guinness World Record awards. Thus making him one of the most successful music producers in the world. The first award he received is for the ‘most No.1 singles produced by an individual’. He has accumulated an astounding 232 chart-topping songs (between 1974 to 2010). The second award is for the ‘most concerts produced by an individual’. Between 2000 to 2010, Johnny produced 8,419 concerts. He has produced shows for some of the top groups in JE, the concerts have an estimated attendance of 48,234,550.


Release[]

Debuted Group/ Soloist[]

Debut Artists Members Leader Disbanded Fanclub name
1962 Johnny's 4 Maie Hiromi 1967 -
1967 Four Leaves 5 - 1978 -
1973 Go Hiromi Solo - left the agency -
1975 LITTLE GANG 2 - 1976 -
1980 Tahara Toshihiko Solo - left the agency -
1980 Kondo Masahiko Solo - - -
1981 Shibugakitai 3 Yakumaru Hirohide 1988 -
1983 The Good-Bye ? - already disbanded -
1985 Shōnentai 3 Nishikiori Kazukiyo - -
1987 Hikaru GENJI 7 Oosawa Mikio 1994 became Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5 -
1987 Otokogumi 4 - 1993 -
1990 Ninja ? - already disbanded -
1991 SMAP 6 ® 5 Nakai Masahiro left the agency -
1994 TOKIO 5 Joshima Shigeru - -
1994 Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5 5 - 1995 -
1995 V6 6 Sakamoto Masayuki 2021 -
1997 KinKi Kids 2 - - -
1999 Arashi 5 Ohno Satoshi - -
2002 Tackey & Tsubasa 2 - 2018 -
2003 NEWS 9 ® 8 ® 7 ® 6 ® 4 ® 3 Koyama Keiichiro - -
2004 Kanjani8 8 ® 7 ® 5 - - -
2006 KAT-TUN 6 ® 5 ® 4 ® 3 - - Hyphen
2006 Yamashita Tomohisa Solo - left the agency -
2006 Tegomass 2 - 2020 -
2007 Hey! Say! JUMP 10 ® 9 ® 8 - - -
2010 NYC 3 - - -
2011 Kis-My-Ft2 7 Kitayama Hiromitsu - -
2011 Akanishi Jin Solo - left the agency -
2011 Sexy Zone 5 ® 4® 3 Nakajima Kento - Sexy Lovers
2012 A.B.C-Z 5® 4 - - -
2013 Yamada Ryosuke Solo - - -
2014 WEST. 7 Shigeoka Daiki - -
2018 King & Prince 6 ® 5 ® 2 - - Tiaras
2020 SixTONES 6 Jesse - Team SixTONES
2020 Snow Man 9 Iwamoto Hikaru - -
2021 Naniwa Danshi 7 Ohashi Kazuya - Nanifam
2022 Travis Japan 7 Miyachika Kaito - TraJa-TAN

Temporary/ Special Units[]

Debut Artists Members Reason
1975 Johnnys' Junior Special ? -
1998 J-FRIENDS 13 charity group
2000 Secret Agent 2 Theme song for the drama 'Heisei Meoto Jawan'
2000 Shingo Mama Solo -
2001 Sakuraba Yuichiro Solo Theme song for the drama 'Mukodono!'
2001 MiMyCen 3 for the variety show 'MiMyCen!'
2001 GO Tarimo and Mini Curry Solo for the variety show 'Gakkou e Ikou!'
2002 Ya-Ya-yah 5 Theme song for the anime 'Nintama Rantarō'
2004 Hattori-kun Solo Theme song for the movie 'Nin x Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun'
2005 Toraji Haiji 2 Theme song for the movie 'Fantastipo'
2005 Shuuji to Akira 2 Theme song for the drama 'Nobuta wo Produce'
2006 GYM 3 Women Volleyball Suporter
2006 Kisarazu Cats Eye feat. MCU 6 Theme song for the drama 'Kisarazu Cat's Eye: World Series'
2007 Trio the Shakiiin 3 Theme song for the drama 'Kuitan'
2007 Hey! Say! 7 5 Theme song for the anime Love★Com
2008 MATCHY with QUESTION? 6 Theme song for the anime 'Naruto'
2009 The SHIGOTONIN 3 Theme song for the drama 'Hissatsu Shigotonin'
2009 NYC boys 7 Women Volleyball Suporter
2009 Ryo-san Solo Theme song for the drama 'Kochikame'
2009 Snow Prince Gasshoudan Theme song for the movie 'Snow Prince Kinjirareta Koi no Melody' (Snow Prince Melody of Forbidden Love)
2010 Kaibutsu-kun Solo Theme song for the drama 'Kaibutsu-kun'
2011 Ryo-san Solo Theme song for the movie 'Kochikame'
2011 A.N.JELL 4 Theme song for the drama 'Ikemen desu ne'
2012 THE MONSTERS 2 Theme song for the drama 'MONSTERS'

Artists[]

-Curent Debuted Groups/ Solo-[]

Debut Artists Members Leader Disbanded Fanclub name
1980 Kondo Masahiko Solo - - -
1985 Shōnentai 3 Nishikiori Kazukiyo - -
1991 SMAP 6 ® 5 Nakai Masahiro 2016 -
1994 TOKIO 5 Joshima Shigeru - -
1995 V6 6 Sakamoto Masayuki - -
1997 KinKi Kids 2 - - -
1999 Arashi 5 Ohno Satoshi - -
2002 Tackey & Tsubasa 2 - - -
2003 NEWS 9 ® 8 ® 7 ® 6 ® 4 ® 3 Koyama Keiichiro - -
2004 Kanjani8 8 ® 7 ® 5 - - -
2006 KAT-TUN 6 ® 5 ® 4 ® 3 - - -
2006 Yamashita Tomohisa Solo - - -
2006 Tegomass 2 - disbanded -
2007 Hey! Say! JUMP 10 ® 9 Yabu Kota - -
2010 NYC 3 - 2014 -
2011 Kis-My-Ft2 7 Kitayama Hiromitsu - -
2011 Akanishi Jin Solo - - -
2011 Sexy Zone 5 - - -
2012 A.B.C-Z 5 - - -
2013 Yamada Ryosuke Solo - - -
2014 WEST 7 Nakama Junta - -
2018 King & Prince 6 ® 5 ® 2 - - Tiaras
2020 SixTONES 6 Morimoto Shintaro - Team SixTONES
2020 Snow Man 9 Iwamoto Hikaru - -
2021 Naniwa Danshi 7 Ohashi Kazuya - Nanifam
2022 Travis Japan 7 Miyachika Kaito - TraJa-TAN

-Johnny's Jr.-[]

-Others-[]

  • Still in the agency after disbanding
  • From Hikaru GENJI:
- Sato Atsuhiro
- Uchiumi Kouji
  • From Otokogumi:
- Okamoto Kenichi
- Nakai Masahiro
- Kimura Takuya
  • Quit from the group
- Uchi Hiroki
  • Actor
    • Ikuta Toma
    • Kazama Shunsuke
    • Yara Tomoyuki
    • Hasegawa Jun
    • Sano Mizuki
    • Hamanaka Bunichi

Former Artists / Groups[]

Already Debuted[]

  • Johnny's
  • Four Leaves
  • Go Hiromi
  • Tahara Toshihiko
  • Shibugakitai
  • THE GOOD-BYE
  • V6
  • From Otokogumi:
- Maeda Kouyou
- Narita Shouji
- Takahashi Kazuya
  • From Hikaru GENJI:
- Oosawa Mikio
  • From Hikaru GENJI / Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5:
- Morohoshi Kazumi
  • From Hikaru GENJI / SAY・S:
- Satou Hiroyuki
  • From Hikaru GENJI / Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5 / SAY・S:
- Yamamoto Junichi
  • From Hikaru GENJI / Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5 / SAY・S / AKIRA & KOHJI:
- Akasaka Akira
  • Ninja
- Mori Katsuyuki
- Moriuchi Takahiro
- Uchi Hiroki
- Kusano Hironori
- Yamashita Tomohisa
- Nishikido Ryo
- Tegoshi Yuya
  • From Kanjani8:
- Uchi Hiroki
- Shibutani Subaru
- Nishikido Ryo
- Akanishi Jin
- Tanaka Koki
- Taguchi Junnosuke
- Morimoto Ryutaro
- Okamoto Keito
- Marius Yo
- Iwahashi Genki
- Hirano Sho
- Kishi Yuta
- Jinguji Yuta

Before Debuting[]

See Johnny's Jr. page.

Charity Projects[]

-J-FRIENDS-[]

In 1997 J-FRIENDS was created to raise money for the education of children involved in the Kobe Earthquake of 1995. It contained the members of TOKIO, V6 and KinKi Kids. In 1998 they released their 1st single. Until their disbandment in 2003 they were able to release 6 singles and held some charity concerts and events. In the end they were able to donate 874.278.322 Yen.


2004 this agency held a charity baseball game in which some of its talents took part.

-Marching J-[]

2011 Japan was hit by 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. All concerts and musicals their talents were going to do that month were postponed. The power generators, transport trucks, and 2,000 liters of gasoline that would have been used for their concerts were used to help supply areas in the north of Japan. Trucks each holding tons worth of goods were sent to the north. On March 30th, it was announced that the agency will release another charity project featuring all Johnny & Associates talents to help raise money for the victims. The president of Johnny & Associates, Johnny Kitagawa, came up with the name Marching J with the 'J' standing for 'Japan' and 'Johnny's'. The meaning behind the word "Marching" is that it will be "the March we will not forget" and "let’s walk together toward the recovery". Besides he also stated, that he was planning to hold a charity event every month, with a part of the profit donated to disaster relief.

Their first activity was a fundraiser which was hosted in front of the First Gymnasium at the Yoyogi National Stadium from April 1st to the 3rd. The slogan of the event was use our energy without using electricity. On the 1st day, about 101.000 people came. While on the 2nd day it was about 127.000 people and on the 3rd day around 161.000 people were there.

On April 7th, it was announced that SMAP’s upcoming single, “not alone ~Shiawase ni Narou yo~”, will be released as a charity single as part of this project.

On May 29th they held a charity baseball game in Tokyo Dome participated by around 200 Johnny's talents. They were seperated into 2 groups, J-White and J-Red, with Kamenashi Kazuya as the captain of J-White and Takizawa Hideaki as captain of J-Red. Nakai Masahiro came as special guest and did the first pitching, after that he participated as a J-Red player. Katori Shingo also made a guest appereance and did the first batting, but didn't join the match. The game ended with 10-9 for J-Red. The MVP went to Kamenashi Kazuya from J-White and Sakamoto Masayuki from J-Red. After that they did a small live performance. About 45,000 fans came to watch the game.


On June 24th until 26th Arashi held a charity event at Tokyo Dome eith the title Arashi no "Waku Waku" Gakkou. The event contains of 5 shows. Each show was for about 2,5 hours. It was a show where each of them became teacher for 30 minutes and give a lecture [[1]] while entertaining the audiences. The event brought in 200.000.000 Yen of donation money.

On September 12th it was announced through Johnny's net, that starting September 15th Marching J SPECIAL MOVIE will be available to be viewed for 315 Yen per video, from which 200 Yen will be donated.

On March 11th, 1 year after the Tohoku earthquake, they held another fundraising at Tokyo Dome, titled Tohoku Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance Project [Marching J]/ Tokyo Dome. Around 173.000 fans came to this event. During this event they announced that they had raised a total of 826.553.991 yen ($10.020.051) and that those money will be sent towards children funds.

Guinness Record[]

KinKi Kids was listed in the 2002 edition of the reference book Guinness World Records for 'Most consecutive No.1 singles' (13 singles at that time). Since then the duo keep extending their record.

In 2011 Johnny Kitagawa, the president of the agency was given 2 Gunniess World Records, one for 'Most No.1 singles produced by an individual' with 232 singles (between 1974 to 2010) and another one for ‘Most concerts produced by an individual’ with 8419 concerts (between 2000 to 2010). His achievements, over a career commencing in 1962, have earned him the reputation as the most prolific "idol band" producer in the world.

On November 19, 2012, it was announced that Johnny Kitagawa has been certificated with his 3rd Guinness Record, this time for 'Most Number of Singers who have achieved the No. 1 position Produced by an Individual' with 35 artists.

Annual Musicals/Shows[]

  • PLAYZONE
  • SHOCK
  • Takizawa Enbujou
  • Shinshun Takizawa Kakumei
  • Takizawa Kabuki
  • SUMMARY

Owned Labels[]

  • Johnny's Entertainment
  • J-Storm

External Links[]

Template:Johnny & Associates

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