Make Believe Mailer Vol. 30: Power Outage
Japanese news programs focused the majority of their Friday coverage on the historic meeting between North and South Korean leaders...but also made room for the biggest domestic story of the week. The scandal swirling around TOKIO member Tatsuya Yamaguchi doesn't impact geopolitics in anyway, but does reflect the fledgling #metoo movement in Japan, as while as being a classic case of celebrity intrigue that has dominated headlines for decades in Japan.
There's one other angle to look at the story, at least from a music business / media perspective. University of Tokyo Associate Professor Jason G. Karlin tweeted this to me after I posted a link to the original NHK story, and he's completely on point — a scandal like this, even as recent as five years ago, easily could have been swept under the carpet. Yamaguchi's talent agency is Johnny & Associates, one of the most powerful talent agencies in Japan. Well, they at least used to lay claim to that title.
Two of the four horsemen of Johnny's current apocalypse
Johnny's talent have been embroiled in scandals before, but the agency has been able to keep their performers out of the spotlight for the most part thanks to their power in the greater Japanese media landscape. W. David Marx's guide to the jimusho system lays out why this would happen — it's all about that access. For decades, Johnny's could use the threat of not allowing their talent to appear on popular music programs and dramas as a means of leverage. They managed the biggest male performers in Japan after all — they could set the rules (and, in the zombie-fied world of magazine publishing, this still holds true — this year's least disliked Johnny's performer according to a magazine is...nobody!).
The dissolution of SMAP changed everything...or at least dramatically sped up the inevitable. First off, it was such an entertainment scandal that it couldn't be hidden away. But more importantly, when three members of Johnny's flagship act stepped away and eventually flourished through their own methods, it marked the moment when a lot of mainstream media realized Johnny's grip on entertainment wasn't what it used to be. They learned a truth that's been bubbling up for a few years now — the traditional modes of power in Japanese entertainment are breaking down.
Read the linked Marx piece again, and note the heavy focus on TV. While television remains important, its status as a be-all-end-all has weakened significantly in recent times. Ready for this twist? The internet has fragmented the entertainment industry. The ex-SMAP members tapped into it, and looking at Japanese entertainment in 2017 shows how old methods of promotion are collapsing. Before, agencies used shows like Music Station as a way to create hits. Last year, the artist singing the biggest hit went on that show well after it blew up on YouTube. Johnny's itself has basically admitted this too with their YouTube channel. An agency that once wielded power completely is now turning to another platform to regain relevancy — that's as close to a white flag as you'll get.
These long-running connections haven't broken apart completely, but it's in motion, and now media companies that once would have deferred to powerful agencies like Johnny's don't, because they just aren't as powerful. And when the entertainers a media entity could once count on to deliver ratings starts drying up, scandals involving them are bound to perform even better. And that's what has turned Yamaguchi's sexual assault case into a story rivaling Korean peace in Japan — Johnny's just isn't what it used to be, and the media landscape is responding accordingly.
News And Views
Need more proof traditional platforms are breaking apart? Fischer's, a YouTuber group, performed on Music Station this week, and have come out the most buzzed unit of the week. We're through the looking glass, people.
Utada Hikaru is coming back with a new album this summer, and a tour later in the year.
This week in articles written in Japanese that I saw shared on Twitter a bunch — this one, about streaming sites in Japan. Times like these, I wish I had the Japanese level to read something quickly, rather than take a long time and mostly just end up making flashcards.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of April 16, 2018 To April 22, 2018
Want to know one place where Johnny's groups are still embraced with open arms? The Oricon Charts! KAT-TUN tops the single side with "Ask Yourself," and I have to ask myself...why is this sub-rate EDM slop being deployed now???
Perfume's GAME (33 1/3)
My entry in the 33 1/3 Japan series is out now! Get a copy at Bloomsbury or Amazon. This week in The Japan Times, I wrote about how NHK is trying to set the pace for Japanese culture ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo — and their opening salvo, at least with music, starts Perfume. I've seen Perfume's more high-tech shows before, but this "Reframe" event was probably their most visually stunning to date...and it made me remember how shows around the time of GAME were quite low-tech, at times featuring the three members dancing around with light sticks that looked Target grade. And now they are creating this, and could very realistically be seen as a contender to open the Olympics. Which I'm obviously rooting for.
Look At Me!
I wrote about BTS and how it is helping Japanese acts. I have a strict "don't look at Japan Times comments" rule, but I heard from my editor it was mostly people writing "of course BTS are big, Koreans are genetically better than the Japanese." The web was a mistake.
Two for Bandcamp Daily -- wrote about Trekkie Trax and Xinlisupreme.
Blog highlights: Monari Wakita, Buddhahouse, Pink Neon Tokyo.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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