Reaction to the Shunkan Bunshun interview
I was speechless with the opening statement of the interview.
"The next president will be my daughter Julie. If you want to oppose that then take SMAP with you and get out right now!"
And I am just so curious if this was really the exact words or was this how the author interpreted it or I don’t know at all. All I just know is that I am so SPEECHLESS and couldn’t manage to pick my brain after reading the article. Moreover, while reading the article, I felt pain and disappointment. Pain for how Iijima was treated and disappointment for how Ms. Mary Kitagawa was. In my opinion, the words that was said towards Iijima was just too much, but I understood why Mary Kitagawa was like that. She is a mother and like any other mother, they will protect their child no matter what. Also, she wants to badly stop this crazy rumors about the factions within the agency. But reading the entire article, there might be no faction in the agency but definitely there is a barrier between artists handled by Iijima and Julie respectively. And this “barrier” is perhaps what is more the appropoate word compared to “faction”.
Regarding the Julie being the “candidate” President, I think the issue is very common among companies where the “outsider” executive has accomplished more compared to the blood-related executive. Well, this kind of argument can always be seen in dramas and I find this issue a normal issue. After all, it can’t be denied how successful Iijima has been in regards to her artists even when there has been huge changes that the fans doesn’t agree, yet they still stand strong and has a lot of projects whether as group or individually.
I also understood her intentions when she called Iijima in the meeting so that hearsays will stop and what Mary Kitagawa will be saying will directly be said to Iijima and not just passed along. Though, I think her anger got the best of that intention and treated Iijima unfairly especially when there was so many watching. Moreover, I more curious on what was going through the mind of Iijima as the meeting went through, I mean it can’t be denied that she was clearly embarrassed in front of those reporters. And that words, and I quote
"Well, they can't dance, no?"
Right in front of Iijima, who had practically raised SMAP, Mary had this to say to our reporter.
"I mean, (even if they appear together) SMAP can't dance, no? Can't you not see the difference in dancing between different talents? It would be rude if you were to write about that. In the eyes of the kids who can dance, (SMAP) can't dance."
Only the empress could utter words with such immensity behind them. And Iijima couldn't offer a rebuttal.
Even Bunshun found it quite troubling. And I felt so bad for SMAP and Iijima and also perhaps to the reporters who were there. I couldn’t imagine how awkward the atmosphere is.
And so the next part of interview was then the “faction”. Where I wasn’t convinced at all, I get it that SMAP is not the highest in top order of Johnny’s but Mary Kitagawa and iijima wasn’t able to clearly explain why the artists of Iijima has less show together with the artists handled by Julie. There was no concrete explanation on why there was “less interaction” between SMAP and Arashi and the rest of the artist. Iijima also pointed out the scheduling conflicts, couldn’t the T stations themselves do some greatly effort to ensure that two big artists in Johnny can be placed onto one show or so?! I don’t know if I am just naïve or blind with facts but I am just not convinced at all. But more than the ‘faction wars’ I am more convinced with the fact that there is a barrier among artists in Johnny. This barrier might be done by management, agency, TV stations or even the fans themselves but nevertheless, the questions still remains
“will there be a chance that more than the year-end shows, will SMAP and Arashi guest each other in their respective shows or perhaps work on the same project/drama perhaps?”
I would love to see KimuTaku and MatsuJun in one drama though.
Yet as this interview ends I love how she ended her interview, and I quote:
"I'll answer you if you'd only ask, but I will also get angry at things that anger me. It's possible that Iijima might have thought 'What on earth!' when I said 'I'll make you resign right now', I don't know. But if those sorts of rumors exist then Iijima should make herself scarce. And you should be interviewing Iijima first before you come to me. That's what you would call 'order'."
Which is true, they really wanted answers they should have asked Iijima first then perhaps there is more clarity to this ‘faction wars’ and also this awkward interview didn’t exist at all.
Credits to Shunkan Bunshun and also to the Livejournal User who translated the article
acidae for sharing in the community say_it_again for translating it :))
"The next president will be my daughter Julie. If you want to oppose that then take SMAP with you and get out right now!"
And I am just so curious if this was really the exact words or was this how the author interpreted it or I don’t know at all. All I just know is that I am so SPEECHLESS and couldn’t manage to pick my brain after reading the article. Moreover, while reading the article, I felt pain and disappointment. Pain for how Iijima was treated and disappointment for how Ms. Mary Kitagawa was. In my opinion, the words that was said towards Iijima was just too much, but I understood why Mary Kitagawa was like that. She is a mother and like any other mother, they will protect their child no matter what. Also, she wants to badly stop this crazy rumors about the factions within the agency. But reading the entire article, there might be no faction in the agency but definitely there is a barrier between artists handled by Iijima and Julie respectively. And this “barrier” is perhaps what is more the appropoate word compared to “faction”.
Regarding the Julie being the “candidate” President, I think the issue is very common among companies where the “outsider” executive has accomplished more compared to the blood-related executive. Well, this kind of argument can always be seen in dramas and I find this issue a normal issue. After all, it can’t be denied how successful Iijima has been in regards to her artists even when there has been huge changes that the fans doesn’t agree, yet they still stand strong and has a lot of projects whether as group or individually.
I also understood her intentions when she called Iijima in the meeting so that hearsays will stop and what Mary Kitagawa will be saying will directly be said to Iijima and not just passed along. Though, I think her anger got the best of that intention and treated Iijima unfairly especially when there was so many watching. Moreover, I more curious on what was going through the mind of Iijima as the meeting went through, I mean it can’t be denied that she was clearly embarrassed in front of those reporters. And that words, and I quote
"Well, they can't dance, no?"
Right in front of Iijima, who had practically raised SMAP, Mary had this to say to our reporter.
"I mean, (even if they appear together) SMAP can't dance, no? Can't you not see the difference in dancing between different talents? It would be rude if you were to write about that. In the eyes of the kids who can dance, (SMAP) can't dance."
Only the empress could utter words with such immensity behind them. And Iijima couldn't offer a rebuttal.
Even Bunshun found it quite troubling. And I felt so bad for SMAP and Iijima and also perhaps to the reporters who were there. I couldn’t imagine how awkward the atmosphere is.
And so the next part of interview was then the “faction”. Where I wasn’t convinced at all, I get it that SMAP is not the highest in top order of Johnny’s but Mary Kitagawa and iijima wasn’t able to clearly explain why the artists of Iijima has less show together with the artists handled by Julie. There was no concrete explanation on why there was “less interaction” between SMAP and Arashi and the rest of the artist. Iijima also pointed out the scheduling conflicts, couldn’t the T stations themselves do some greatly effort to ensure that two big artists in Johnny can be placed onto one show or so?! I don’t know if I am just naïve or blind with facts but I am just not convinced at all. But more than the ‘faction wars’ I am more convinced with the fact that there is a barrier among artists in Johnny. This barrier might be done by management, agency, TV stations or even the fans themselves but nevertheless, the questions still remains
“will there be a chance that more than the year-end shows, will SMAP and Arashi guest each other in their respective shows or perhaps work on the same project/drama perhaps?”
I would love to see KimuTaku and MatsuJun in one drama though.
Yet as this interview ends I love how she ended her interview, and I quote:
"I'll answer you if you'd only ask, but I will also get angry at things that anger me. It's possible that Iijima might have thought 'What on earth!' when I said 'I'll make you resign right now', I don't know. But if those sorts of rumors exist then Iijima should make herself scarce. And you should be interviewing Iijima first before you come to me. That's what you would call 'order'."
Which is true, they really wanted answers they should have asked Iijima first then perhaps there is more clarity to this ‘faction wars’ and also this awkward interview didn’t exist at all.
Credits to Shunkan Bunshun and also to the Livejournal User who translated the article
acidae for sharing in the community say_it_again for translating it :))