Johnny's vs SMAP Long Battle - The Chronology
First of all, I hate this picture. They make it like it's a dispute between SMAP & Arashi. Arashi is innocent. They don't know anything, SMAP's battle with the agency has been going on since before Arashi members were born! Lol, okay, that's an exaggeration, since before Arashi made their debut might be correct^^
It has always been Johnny's vs SMAP, really. I want to say, this is Mary&Julie vs Micchi battle. But I believe, SMAP, especially 2Tops (Nakai & Kimura) aren't innocent. They're in this together with Micchi. So I will call this battle "Johnny's vs SMAP."
These are all just fans' speculations and theories based on TV shows, radio, magazine articles, etc. Please keep that in mind. No one can guarantee these are the true things that really happen. Only those who are directly involved and God knows what's truly going on.
THE BEGINNING
Until SMAP had its break, Johnny's Jimusho had this cosy pattern of "debut -- instant stardom -- peak (maximum 3 years, say) -- decline -- disbanding -- leave the office peacefully/stay on with a salary and do what work you get given/get kicked out." Most obvious example is Hikaru Genji's history.
However, SMAP was formed in 1988 and debuted in 1991. It took them 3 years to have their debut single. It was rumored that no recording company was interested in signing them until Victor decided to give them a chance, but their CD sales figures were dreadful, and it was rumored the Jimusho meant for them to disband at the beginning of 1994 and let TOKIO debut. SMAP has a very strong bond with each other since their debut, so I can imagine SMAP's frustration when they heard the Jimusho was gonna make them disband.
But at the end of 1993, Iijima Michi made her last, desperate, big effort and got Takuya a job which was, one of the main roles in FujiTV getsuku drama, Asunaro Hakusho and it finally gave SMAP their big break. So Jimusho delayed TOKIO's debut and packed in SMAP's schedule for all it was worth, believing that it was a flash in the pan and would not last. SMAP, especially Takuya's face appeared in almost every magazines between 1994 and 1995. He was on some quiz show almost every week. By the revised calculation, 1995 was supposed to be SMAP's peak. Then comes 1996. No one thought SMAPxSMAP could last more than one or two seasons.
SMAP's popularity persisted and they became fixtures, institutions. So the usual pattern of "one group gone, next group debuts" was broken, and TOKIO debuted in 1995, and the rest followed. But SMAP was always there, at the top of their profession, refusing to budge.
SMAP and Micchi's success was beyond the Jimusho's expectation.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM
I believe in 1994-1995, everything went so well for SMAP and the Jimusho has finally started treating them as their most beloved children. However, apparently SMAP has a firebrand called Kimura Takuya. Takuya started notice things has been done wrong in the Jimusho. Be it all the absurd unwritten rules or the fact they are paid a pittance although their popularity has peaked. Takuya could not abide what he saw as unfair exploitation and infringement of human rights. Fact, he also thought nothing of the Jimusho's idea of what an idol star should pretend to be, and admitted in public to everything from masturbating to having a steady girlfriend (Shingo followed his step and mentioned he has a girlfriend in 1997 radio). The Jimusho warned him a couple of times, but he didn't listen. On the contrary, Takuya got so angry and started thinking of leaving the agency. Takuya's father established a company and his first photobook was published under his father's company, without any involvement from Johnny's Jimusho. This is fact. And it has caused big problem with the agency. Izumiya Shigeru, a veteran artist who was close to Takuya back in 1995, once mentioned in a radio (few years later after it happened), that Takuya asked Nakai's opinion about leaving the agency in Music Station backstage. Nakai answered "Your popularity will just be something temporary if you do that. Don't get carried away. Cool your head and think of it again calmly," But Takuya still couldn't accept the fact that they are paid a pittance no matter how many works they've done. And so all six of them and Micchi, united and expressed their protest toward the Jimusho about their pay share.
This is something that goes mouth-to-mouth among fans, so this might not be true at all. But this is what I heard.
SMAP is under contract to Johnny's Jimusho. SMAP is EMPLOYED by them. This is where Japan's system differs from that of US etc. The office secures work for SMAP, negotiates contracts, and make sure that the members do their job. It also controls the members' copyright and publicity rights. Each member of SMAP is paid a monthly salary, plus commission based on the actual work they have done. The fee for group work is paid to Jimusho, Jimusho takes a larger percentage, and pays all six of them equally out of the smaller percentage. As for individual work, they didn't get any commission at all. They objected and after a long negotiation, they reached an agreement. Since then, for group work Jimusho:SMAP gets 50:50. For individual work, Jimusho takes a small percentage and hands over the rest of it to the individual.
BREAKING MORE RULES
The next member who caused trouble was Mori Katsuyuki. Mori's dream since childhood was to be an autoracer. In May 1996, Mori quit and he said that this is his own will. However there were rumors among fans that at the end of 1995, Mori took autoracing test without the Jimusho's approval and Jimusho got very angry about it and decided to kick him out, actually he had no intention to quit although he took the test, in the beginning. He was planning to do both, SMAP and autoracing. But the Jimusho was so angry already and maybe told him he had to choose one. My theory is, Mori took the test in a light mood, just to test his own skill. Maybe he was thinking that he will decide when the result comes out. But Jimusho busted him even before the result was out and he got confused. The result, he passed the test and he made up his mind that he has to quit anyway. Maybe that's why Nakai said he kept persuading him to change his mind about quitting, because Nakai knew Mori didn't intend to quit in the beginning, but because the Jimusho told him to quit. And then Jimusho forbid all SMAP members to attend Mori's retirement press conference, but Nakai didn't listen and attend the presscon.
With problems after problems that SMAP caused, and behaviors that went against the Jimusho several times, SMAP and Micchi were finally put in a separate box than the rest of Johnny's.
In the past, there were actually other dissatisfied and rebellious talents in the Jimusho. One of Hikaru Genji ex-members mentioned in a recent article, that the Jimusho he was once belong to, fooled/cheated him. He had never work under any other agency so the media concluded that he definitely meant Johnny's.
So there had been malcontents in the past. However they all got kicked out. None of them were as popular or widely known or money-making or strongly bonded group as SMAP. Jimusho couldn't kick out SMAP. They know the financial loss would be huge. So, Jimusho let SMAP stay in the agency, but treated them differently. SMAP never appear together anymore with the other popular Johnny's groups back then, such as, Kinki Kids, TOKIO, V6. SMAP's success owes a lot to Iijima Michi's abilities as a manageress. All the other groups are run by Julie Kitagawa, Johnny's niece. So it is easy for the other groups' work and projects to be mixed and matched, whereas, in order to get SMAP's cooperation, it's almost like a negotiation with another agency. And like I said in my previous entry before, perhaps, one of the reasons was that they couldn't afford another mini-SMAP running around in the agency, going against them.
Also according to long-time fans, they certainly do not spend any money on publicity for SMAP. According to the ad agents, when Let It Be (SMAP's single in 2000) was about to be released, they were told to do it on a shoestring budget although that finally did make for an unusual and amusing ad. Rumors also say SMAP's concert total fee comes from sponsor and not from the Jimusho.
When Takuya was hounded by the press about his marriage, the Jimusho left him to face everything alone, not even sending staff to guard him, which is weird, considering it is standard procedure.
Back then, only SMAP's songs that were not released under Johnny's recording labels, JE and J-Storm. But besides SMAP, Matchy is with Sony Music, V6 and T&T songs are under Avex. The rest of Johnny's groups are under JE and J-Storm labels. I'm not sure of the particular reason for Matchy, V6 and T&T, though.
THE START OF "J-DREAM"
SMAP's 2003 single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" sold over 2.57 million copies and became the 9th best-selling single of all-time in Japan. For the whole year of 2004, they didn't release any single at all. And in 2005, suddenly, Johnny's Jimusho established another affiliated company called "J-Dream" with Johnny as the president and Iijima Michi as the director. J-Dream is the one and only company affiliated to the Jimusho that has Iijima Michi's name as the Director. It was stressed publicly to the media that J-Dream is a movie production company, it is not a management company. It mainly deals with SMAP's widescreen movies' production, management and rights. Starting 2009, it also deals with movies starring the talents under Iijima Michi's management: Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone, Yamashita Tomohisa and Johnny's Jr.
Micchi was once interviewed about this company and said "SMAP still belong to Johnny's Jimusho, although J-Dream is now established," probably because many media and fans misunderstood that this company is a form of SMAP/Micchi's separation from the Jimusho.
This is just fans' theory, but we're wondering if the success of SekaiHana finally gave them enough power to negotiate in the bigger scale than in the mid-90s? Did they have a contract dispute after SekaiHana and J-Dream was the result of the negotiation? They were supposed to release Susume as their 36th single in 2004 but that never happens, so SMAP didn't release any single in 2004 but that could also be because Shingo was busy with Shinsengumi.
"J-DREAM" IS THE BIG PROBLEM
This is the main topic related to the Shuukan Bunshun interview. I will quote everything Mary said about J-Dream.
Mary "Have you checked out Iijima's company? Do you know who are the directors there?"
Q "Johnny-shi is the president. Iijima-san is the director."
Mary "This is another problem, y'know, Iijima-san. Don't you think it's better if you fire Johnny? I mean Johnny doesn't get any salary (from J-dream), and he has never seen the documents either. He has never been to the company too! I'm telling you, Iijima! If Johnny never go to that company, then you better fire him. But all of you never respond to this. It is the first time I'm seriously yelling at Iijima-san. Why must I have a dispute with an employee? That itself is incredibly rude. Please watch your words. How rude you are to me. Regarding Iijima, I guess it is due to the lack of my management skill. That's why everyone misunderstand. If my daughter and Iijima are going against each other, then I can only tell Iijima to leave. Because Iijima is not my child. I will say this in front of you all. *to Iijima* Please let Johnny quit (your company). Because it bothers me. Johnny doesn't even know that he's the president of that company. I don't want to say this without Iijima's presence. If it happens, then I will call all SMAP members and we all will have a talk about this. That's just how big this problem is."
There was a rumor about J-Dream. That it is Micchi's empire and no one even Johnny or Mary ever set foot in that company and see any documents. Mary just proven that the rumor is true.
Okay Mary said some bizarre things and I will try to analyze every single sentence she said when the topic was still "J-Dream."
"This is another problem, y'know, Iijima-san."
So she doesn't like the idea of J-Dream.
"Don't you think it's better if you fire Johnny? I mean Johnny doesn't get any salary (from J-dream), and he has never seen the documents either. He has never been to the company too! I'm telling you, Iijima! If Johnny never go to that company, then you better fire him."
"Please let Johnny quit (your company). Because it bothers me. Johnny doesn't even know that he's the president of that company."
This is the most bizarre thing she said. It's so weird that Mary can say Johnny doesn't know anything about himself being the president of J-Dream. How can that happen? It's like saying Micchi established J-Dream without Mary and Johnny's approval. Or is that really the case?
"But all of you never respond to this."
The Japanese words were "Demo, sore wo anata-tachi ni "ii, warui" to iwareru koto nai desu yo ne" it can be literally translated as "But none of you tell us whether it's "good or bad" to do that", I'm taking this as follows. Mary have asked Micchi to not let Johnny get involved in that company several times, but Micchi never gave a proper response.
One more thing, "anata-tachi"?? I knew it. Micchi is not alone in this. And I don't see any other strong allies Micchi has, besides SMAP who are like her own children.
"It is the first time I'm seriously yelling at Iijima-san. Why must I have a dispute with an employee? That itself is incredibly rude. Please watch your words. How rude you are to me. Regarding Iijima, I guess it is due to the lack of my management skill. That's why everyone misunderstand. If my daughter and Iijima are going against each other, then I can only tell Iijima to leave. Because Iijima is not my child."
Suddenly she's talking about the faction war again? I thought we're still in the context of "J-Dream"? Unless... Mary does see J-Dream as a form of opposition against the Jimusho? I have the impression that Mary feels incredibly threatened by the existence of J-Dream.
"If it happens, then I will call all SMAP members and we all will have a talk about this."
THIS! I thought this is about Julie vs Micchi? Or Mary vs Micchi? Why does Mary think she has to call over all SMAP members? J-Dream is something established by Iijima Michi herself, no? Or... maybe not. This sentence makes me think that SMAP has authority/control over J-Dream, equally with Micchi. Which means J-Dream is built by SMAP members' investment? *gasp* Nooooooo..... Really?
Is it possible that J-Dream is a joint venture between SMAP and Jimusho where both parties chipped in money to fund its operation when it was first formed? Mary and Johnny clearly have no control over J-Dream whatsoever. There must be something that prevent Johnny and Mary from messing with J-Dream, some serious stuffs like a contract that specifically said they cannot take an active role in the company. And if Mary wants Johnny to resign or pull Jimusho out of the company, she has to talk to SMAP first. This is like when two parties agree to enter in a joint venture. There usually is a clause in the contract that if a party want to pull out, it has to inform the other investors within how many days and so on.
But ... If Johnny and Mary never see any documents and even Johnny himself (as Mary said) doesn't know a thing about him being the president, then Johnny or Mary might have never invested any money in J-Dream. Micchi can't be a single investor, either. So it has big possibility that SMAP members are the investors. And the reason why Micchi aren't letting anyone see the company's documents, most probably because SMAP members' names are listed as the Board of Directors. It is something that definitely cannot go public, if it's true. Because if it's really true that SMAP members are the directors of J-Dream, then it almost mean they belong to another company that is not invested by Johnny's Jimusho at all, and that is a big no no. Thus, Micchi keeps all the documents confidential. Mary might not know for sure but she might sense this already. That's why she's talking about calling over all of SMAP members to discuss about it?
If any of this speculation is true, then ...
First of all, the possibility that if Johnny's name is erased from the position of president of J-Dream, it means J-Dream will cut ties with Johnny's Jimusho. Which means, Iijima Michi no longer an employee to the Jimusho? That's what Mary wants?
I have worked in a Japanese company before and from what I know, in Japanese working industry, when a superior thinks one employee is useless or doesn't want to see that employee work in the company anymore, it is either : 1) that employee is transferred to a small town branch; or 2) bully, corner, and hurt the employee's pride to make him/her feel frustrated and so he/she willingly hand over resign letter
From the way I see it, that is exactly what Mary was trying to do with this interview, besides declaring to the whole galaxy that her daughter is the successor. She tried to make Iijima feel terrible, to make her feel like quitting.
Alot of fans are very mad with what Mary said who was practically saying that SMAP is no longer a useful asset for Johnny's Jimusho. But what if SMAP is indeed no longer useful for Jimusho? I mean, what if the latest agreement between Jimusho and SMAP, Jimusho only gets a very small percentage of SMAP's works, and most of the money goes to J-Dream? If that's really the case, then no wonder if Mary thinks SMAP is not worth for the Jimusho anymore. They don't get much profit from SMAP works. But I guess that's just fair, cause they didn't want to provide any money for SMAP's singles promotion and concerts since 1996.
But maybe that's why Mary feel so angry with J-Dream. She feel that the Jimusho doesn't need any more money from SMAP if they only get a small percentage. Especially, they have another money-making group called Arashi, now. But as long as SMAP and Micchi doesn't want to leave the Jimusho, Mary can't kick them out, she's frustrated, thus the public lecture toward Micchi, was one of her efforts to make them quit the Jimusho.
Why won't SMAP leave Jimusho? If SMAP leave the agency, SMAP will lose the rights to their group's name. Another opinion says, they can easily buy the rights. So it's not just about the name's rights. If our speculation right, that Julie is really incompetent, then Michi definitely won't leave the Jimusho after Johnny and Mary are gone. It seems the only one who is constantly putting down Micchi now is Mary. And the TV station staffs are afraid of Mary, not Julie. So without Mary around, Micchi will be even more powerful than she currently is, inside and outside the Jimusho. So she definitely won't budge from her current position.
I dunno, I have a feeling that there are more reasons on why SMAP/Micchi refuse to leave Jimusho, despite all the horrible treatments they received from the Jimusho. I don't exactly know what they are, but there must be more ...
IIJIMA'S FACTION
Besides SMAP, groups/talents under Micchi now are Yamapi, Kis-my-ft2, Sexy Zone, ABC-Z, and Johnny's Jr. However I have a feeling that back in 2009, KAT-TUN was once managed under Micchi due to the big number of KT members' appearances in SMAP's shows. KATTUN was a guest in SMAPxSMAP New year special 2010. Kame was in Takuya's drama BRAIN. Ueda was in Nakai's drama KONKATSU. Taguchi was in Shingo's drama KOCHIKAME. I don't know what happened but seems like Julie decided to take them back XD
I'm sorry to say, but from some facts I gathered, it seems like these groups are receiving the same treatments as how SMAP and Micchi had all these times. There might be some mistreatments happened in Iijima's faction, but it is possible that Micchi is not responsible for everything that happened. We have to remember that Iijima Michi is just an employee of Johnny's Jimusho. Her task is to manage and think of ways how to sell the talents she's in charge of. She doesn't have any authority to suspend talents due to misbehavior nor she have authority to decide who can debut and who can't.
Recording labels. Jimusho have two recording labels: Johnny's Entertainment (JE) and J-Storm. JE was started in 1997 specially for Kinki Kids. The artists who are under JE now are Shonentai, Kinki Kids, NEWS, NYC, Nakayama Yuma, and Johnny's West. Jimusho also started J-Storm in 2002 for Arashi. It was rumored that Johnny's Jimusho was mad at Pony Canyon (Arashi's former recording label) for signing W-inds, who at that time was considered Arashi's direct competitor. So they pulled Arashi out of Pony Canyon and and started J-Storm. Artists who are under J-Storm now are TOKIO, Arashi, KAT-TUN, Hey!Say!JUMP, and Kanjani8.
As for the talents under Iijima Michi: Yamashita Tomohisa - Warner Music Group, Kis-my-ft2 - Avex, Sexy Zone & A.B.C-Z - Pony Canyon. Yes, none of Micchi's talents gets the Jimusho's label. And Micchi even signed them to Pony Canyon that was once considered as Jimusho's enemy. Yamashita used to be under JE label but he moved to WMG in 2011, around the time he left NEWS and was assigned to be under Micchi.
As I said before, the Jimusho didn't send any staff to guard Takuya when he was hounded by the press. It means, the Jimusho doesn't give much protection to SMAP. And after what happened to Yamapi, I'm starting to believe, every talent under Micchi's management will suffer the same treatment. Akanishi Jin, Nishikido Ryo, and Yamapi caused troubles in Roppongi. They had a fight with common people, a girl took picture of that moment with her phone and one of them broke the girl's phone. The girl filed a report about this. And the three were in big trouble. Yamapi once made a statement that he didn't break the phone. But then a few weeks later, Yamapi made a public apology and he is now suspended, I believe. The media were wondering why Nishikido Ryo didn't come out and apologize together. It was rumored that Ryo who initiated the fight, Jin and Yamapi tried to calm him down. But whoever initiated and whoever destroyed the phone, they were in it together, I couldn't believe they let Yamapi apologize alone to public. The media was making assumption that this is because Yamapi is under Micchi's management.
Many Julie's talents caused scandal and it only came up on rumor articles, none of them really made apology press conference and rarely get suspended for it (an exception of a few cases). Kusanagi Tsuyoshi's case back in 2009, could easily be covered up with the Jimusho's power, imho. But nooo... the Jimusho "had to" let the public and media blew it out of proportion.
Also the Jr, Sexy Zone members, Kis-My-Ft2 members and Yamapi's widescreen movies are under J-Dream's management now. I'm pretty sure these boys get the same pay system as SMAP too, but they get mistreatments in change of that.
So to Yamapi, Kisumai, Sexy Zone, Jr, I think SMAP would say "Welcome to the club! It's gonna be tough on you boys, but it's definitely gonna be fun" lol XD
One thing I'm sure of. SMAP and Micchi will not let Yamapi, Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone, ABC-Z, Juniors turn as failures. Because these boys' failure means SMAP/Micchi's failure. They can't afford to lose the game, especially these time around. Nakai worked so hard for Kis-My-Ft2 thinking ways on how to sell their charm. Shingo worked so hard to educate Yamapi in variety shows and he also directed Yamapi's concert. They have to successfully educate their kouhai-s under Micchi, to gain acknowledgement from the Jimusho, to avoid any more drama. NOT TO win over Julie's faction.
CLOSING WORDS
If Micchi-Nakai-Takuya are really scheming something, I'm sure they have all the talents' best interests at heart. Especially Nakai, he just wants all the talents to unite, nothing else. Maybe if Mary and Julie keep their reign, the Jimusho will definitely split up. If Micchi can take over, then all the talents can unite, like how Nakai wants it.
I wonder what Mary thinks if she knows about Nakai inviting all Johnny's boys from both Julie's and Micchi's factions for a drink together? Or maybe she already knows and realized that all of "her kids" are in good terms with Nakai?
I'm just thinking that Mary would go hysterical again if she knows Nakai is in very good terms with Arashi. Arashi is Mary/Julie's current ultimate weapon to go against SMAP. I can imagine their fear that Nakai might influence Arashi to be the 2nd SMAP. I guess, that's why they don't let Arashi meet SMAP much lol.
In my opinion, the key to this faction war is Julie. If Julie is anything like her mother, then I think SMAP/Micchi won't stay quiet and definitely gonna do something about this discrimination. Unless, they choose to see the Jimusho destroy itself. However if Julie and Micchi's relationship are really, really good like sisters then they can avoid any more drama.
--thanks to noonew for letting me include some of your thoughts!
It has always been Johnny's vs SMAP, really. I want to say, this is Mary&Julie vs Micchi battle. But I believe, SMAP, especially 2Tops (Nakai & Kimura) aren't innocent. They're in this together with Micchi. So I will call this battle "Johnny's vs SMAP."
These are all just fans' speculations and theories based on TV shows, radio, magazine articles, etc. Please keep that in mind. No one can guarantee these are the true things that really happen. Only those who are directly involved and God knows what's truly going on.
THE BEGINNING
Until SMAP had its break, Johnny's Jimusho had this cosy pattern of "debut -- instant stardom -- peak (maximum 3 years, say) -- decline -- disbanding -- leave the office peacefully/stay on with a salary and do what work you get given/get kicked out." Most obvious example is Hikaru Genji's history.
However, SMAP was formed in 1988 and debuted in 1991. It took them 3 years to have their debut single. It was rumored that no recording company was interested in signing them until Victor decided to give them a chance, but their CD sales figures were dreadful, and it was rumored the Jimusho meant for them to disband at the beginning of 1994 and let TOKIO debut. SMAP has a very strong bond with each other since their debut, so I can imagine SMAP's frustration when they heard the Jimusho was gonna make them disband.
But at the end of 1993, Iijima Michi made her last, desperate, big effort and got Takuya a job which was, one of the main roles in FujiTV getsuku drama, Asunaro Hakusho and it finally gave SMAP their big break. So Jimusho delayed TOKIO's debut and packed in SMAP's schedule for all it was worth, believing that it was a flash in the pan and would not last. SMAP, especially Takuya's face appeared in almost every magazines between 1994 and 1995. He was on some quiz show almost every week. By the revised calculation, 1995 was supposed to be SMAP's peak. Then comes 1996. No one thought SMAPxSMAP could last more than one or two seasons.
SMAP's popularity persisted and they became fixtures, institutions. So the usual pattern of "one group gone, next group debuts" was broken, and TOKIO debuted in 1995, and the rest followed. But SMAP was always there, at the top of their profession, refusing to budge.
SMAP and Micchi's success was beyond the Jimusho's expectation.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM
I believe in 1994-1995, everything went so well for SMAP and the Jimusho has finally started treating them as their most beloved children. However, apparently SMAP has a firebrand called Kimura Takuya. Takuya started notice things has been done wrong in the Jimusho. Be it all the absurd unwritten rules or the fact they are paid a pittance although their popularity has peaked. Takuya could not abide what he saw as unfair exploitation and infringement of human rights. Fact, he also thought nothing of the Jimusho's idea of what an idol star should pretend to be, and admitted in public to everything from masturbating to having a steady girlfriend (Shingo followed his step and mentioned he has a girlfriend in 1997 radio). The Jimusho warned him a couple of times, but he didn't listen. On the contrary, Takuya got so angry and started thinking of leaving the agency. Takuya's father established a company and his first photobook was published under his father's company, without any involvement from Johnny's Jimusho. This is fact. And it has caused big problem with the agency. Izumiya Shigeru, a veteran artist who was close to Takuya back in 1995, once mentioned in a radio (few years later after it happened), that Takuya asked Nakai's opinion about leaving the agency in Music Station backstage. Nakai answered "Your popularity will just be something temporary if you do that. Don't get carried away. Cool your head and think of it again calmly," But Takuya still couldn't accept the fact that they are paid a pittance no matter how many works they've done. And so all six of them and Micchi, united and expressed their protest toward the Jimusho about their pay share.
This is something that goes mouth-to-mouth among fans, so this might not be true at all. But this is what I heard.
SMAP is under contract to Johnny's Jimusho. SMAP is EMPLOYED by them. This is where Japan's system differs from that of US etc. The office secures work for SMAP, negotiates contracts, and make sure that the members do their job. It also controls the members' copyright and publicity rights. Each member of SMAP is paid a monthly salary, plus commission based on the actual work they have done. The fee for group work is paid to Jimusho, Jimusho takes a larger percentage, and pays all six of them equally out of the smaller percentage. As for individual work, they didn't get any commission at all. They objected and after a long negotiation, they reached an agreement. Since then, for group work Jimusho:SMAP gets 50:50. For individual work, Jimusho takes a small percentage and hands over the rest of it to the individual.
BREAKING MORE RULES
The next member who caused trouble was Mori Katsuyuki. Mori's dream since childhood was to be an autoracer. In May 1996, Mori quit and he said that this is his own will. However there were rumors among fans that at the end of 1995, Mori took autoracing test without the Jimusho's approval and Jimusho got very angry about it and decided to kick him out, actually he had no intention to quit although he took the test, in the beginning. He was planning to do both, SMAP and autoracing. But the Jimusho was so angry already and maybe told him he had to choose one. My theory is, Mori took the test in a light mood, just to test his own skill. Maybe he was thinking that he will decide when the result comes out. But Jimusho busted him even before the result was out and he got confused. The result, he passed the test and he made up his mind that he has to quit anyway. Maybe that's why Nakai said he kept persuading him to change his mind about quitting, because Nakai knew Mori didn't intend to quit in the beginning, but because the Jimusho told him to quit. And then Jimusho forbid all SMAP members to attend Mori's retirement press conference, but Nakai didn't listen and attend the presscon.
With problems after problems that SMAP caused, and behaviors that went against the Jimusho several times, SMAP and Micchi were finally put in a separate box than the rest of Johnny's.
In the past, there were actually other dissatisfied and rebellious talents in the Jimusho. One of Hikaru Genji ex-members mentioned in a recent article, that the Jimusho he was once belong to, fooled/cheated him. He had never work under any other agency so the media concluded that he definitely meant Johnny's.
So there had been malcontents in the past. However they all got kicked out. None of them were as popular or widely known or money-making or strongly bonded group as SMAP. Jimusho couldn't kick out SMAP. They know the financial loss would be huge. So, Jimusho let SMAP stay in the agency, but treated them differently. SMAP never appear together anymore with the other popular Johnny's groups back then, such as, Kinki Kids, TOKIO, V6. SMAP's success owes a lot to Iijima Michi's abilities as a manageress. All the other groups are run by Julie Kitagawa, Johnny's niece. So it is easy for the other groups' work and projects to be mixed and matched, whereas, in order to get SMAP's cooperation, it's almost like a negotiation with another agency. And like I said in my previous entry before, perhaps, one of the reasons was that they couldn't afford another mini-SMAP running around in the agency, going against them.
Also according to long-time fans, they certainly do not spend any money on publicity for SMAP. According to the ad agents, when Let It Be (SMAP's single in 2000) was about to be released, they were told to do it on a shoestring budget although that finally did make for an unusual and amusing ad. Rumors also say SMAP's concert total fee comes from sponsor and not from the Jimusho.
When Takuya was hounded by the press about his marriage, the Jimusho left him to face everything alone, not even sending staff to guard him, which is weird, considering it is standard procedure.
Back then, only SMAP's songs that were not released under Johnny's recording labels, JE and J-Storm. But besides SMAP, Matchy is with Sony Music, V6 and T&T songs are under Avex. The rest of Johnny's groups are under JE and J-Storm labels. I'm not sure of the particular reason for Matchy, V6 and T&T, though.
THE START OF "J-DREAM"
SMAP's 2003 single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" sold over 2.57 million copies and became the 9th best-selling single of all-time in Japan. For the whole year of 2004, they didn't release any single at all. And in 2005, suddenly, Johnny's Jimusho established another affiliated company called "J-Dream" with Johnny as the president and Iijima Michi as the director. J-Dream is the one and only company affiliated to the Jimusho that has Iijima Michi's name as the Director. It was stressed publicly to the media that J-Dream is a movie production company, it is not a management company. It mainly deals with SMAP's widescreen movies' production, management and rights. Starting 2009, it also deals with movies starring the talents under Iijima Michi's management: Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone, Yamashita Tomohisa and Johnny's Jr.
Micchi was once interviewed about this company and said "SMAP still belong to Johnny's Jimusho, although J-Dream is now established," probably because many media and fans misunderstood that this company is a form of SMAP/Micchi's separation from the Jimusho.
This is just fans' theory, but we're wondering if the success of SekaiHana finally gave them enough power to negotiate in the bigger scale than in the mid-90s? Did they have a contract dispute after SekaiHana and J-Dream was the result of the negotiation? They were supposed to release Susume as their 36th single in 2004 but that never happens, so SMAP didn't release any single in 2004 but that could also be because Shingo was busy with Shinsengumi.
"J-DREAM" IS THE BIG PROBLEM
This is the main topic related to the Shuukan Bunshun interview. I will quote everything Mary said about J-Dream.
Mary "Have you checked out Iijima's company? Do you know who are the directors there?"
Q "Johnny-shi is the president. Iijima-san is the director."
Mary "This is another problem, y'know, Iijima-san. Don't you think it's better if you fire Johnny? I mean Johnny doesn't get any salary (from J-dream), and he has never seen the documents either. He has never been to the company too! I'm telling you, Iijima! If Johnny never go to that company, then you better fire him. But all of you never respond to this. It is the first time I'm seriously yelling at Iijima-san. Why must I have a dispute with an employee? That itself is incredibly rude. Please watch your words. How rude you are to me. Regarding Iijima, I guess it is due to the lack of my management skill. That's why everyone misunderstand. If my daughter and Iijima are going against each other, then I can only tell Iijima to leave. Because Iijima is not my child. I will say this in front of you all. *to Iijima* Please let Johnny quit (your company). Because it bothers me. Johnny doesn't even know that he's the president of that company. I don't want to say this without Iijima's presence. If it happens, then I will call all SMAP members and we all will have a talk about this. That's just how big this problem is."
There was a rumor about J-Dream. That it is Micchi's empire and no one even Johnny or Mary ever set foot in that company and see any documents. Mary just proven that the rumor is true.
Okay Mary said some bizarre things and I will try to analyze every single sentence she said when the topic was still "J-Dream."
"This is another problem, y'know, Iijima-san."
So she doesn't like the idea of J-Dream.
"Don't you think it's better if you fire Johnny? I mean Johnny doesn't get any salary (from J-dream), and he has never seen the documents either. He has never been to the company too! I'm telling you, Iijima! If Johnny never go to that company, then you better fire him."
"Please let Johnny quit (your company). Because it bothers me. Johnny doesn't even know that he's the president of that company."
This is the most bizarre thing she said. It's so weird that Mary can say Johnny doesn't know anything about himself being the president of J-Dream. How can that happen? It's like saying Micchi established J-Dream without Mary and Johnny's approval. Or is that really the case?
"But all of you never respond to this."
The Japanese words were "Demo, sore wo anata-tachi ni "ii, warui" to iwareru koto nai desu yo ne" it can be literally translated as "But none of you tell us whether it's "good or bad" to do that", I'm taking this as follows. Mary have asked Micchi to not let Johnny get involved in that company several times, but Micchi never gave a proper response.
One more thing, "anata-tachi"?? I knew it. Micchi is not alone in this. And I don't see any other strong allies Micchi has, besides SMAP who are like her own children.
"It is the first time I'm seriously yelling at Iijima-san. Why must I have a dispute with an employee? That itself is incredibly rude. Please watch your words. How rude you are to me. Regarding Iijima, I guess it is due to the lack of my management skill. That's why everyone misunderstand. If my daughter and Iijima are going against each other, then I can only tell Iijima to leave. Because Iijima is not my child."
Suddenly she's talking about the faction war again? I thought we're still in the context of "J-Dream"? Unless... Mary does see J-Dream as a form of opposition against the Jimusho? I have the impression that Mary feels incredibly threatened by the existence of J-Dream.
"If it happens, then I will call all SMAP members and we all will have a talk about this."
THIS! I thought this is about Julie vs Micchi? Or Mary vs Micchi? Why does Mary think she has to call over all SMAP members? J-Dream is something established by Iijima Michi herself, no? Or... maybe not. This sentence makes me think that SMAP has authority/control over J-Dream, equally with Micchi. Which means J-Dream is built by SMAP members' investment? *gasp* Nooooooo..... Really?
Is it possible that J-Dream is a joint venture between SMAP and Jimusho where both parties chipped in money to fund its operation when it was first formed? Mary and Johnny clearly have no control over J-Dream whatsoever. There must be something that prevent Johnny and Mary from messing with J-Dream, some serious stuffs like a contract that specifically said they cannot take an active role in the company. And if Mary wants Johnny to resign or pull Jimusho out of the company, she has to talk to SMAP first. This is like when two parties agree to enter in a joint venture. There usually is a clause in the contract that if a party want to pull out, it has to inform the other investors within how many days and so on.
But ... If Johnny and Mary never see any documents and even Johnny himself (as Mary said) doesn't know a thing about him being the president, then Johnny or Mary might have never invested any money in J-Dream. Micchi can't be a single investor, either. So it has big possibility that SMAP members are the investors. And the reason why Micchi aren't letting anyone see the company's documents, most probably because SMAP members' names are listed as the Board of Directors. It is something that definitely cannot go public, if it's true. Because if it's really true that SMAP members are the directors of J-Dream, then it almost mean they belong to another company that is not invested by Johnny's Jimusho at all, and that is a big no no. Thus, Micchi keeps all the documents confidential. Mary might not know for sure but she might sense this already. That's why she's talking about calling over all of SMAP members to discuss about it?
If any of this speculation is true, then ...
First of all, the possibility that if Johnny's name is erased from the position of president of J-Dream, it means J-Dream will cut ties with Johnny's Jimusho. Which means, Iijima Michi no longer an employee to the Jimusho? That's what Mary wants?
I have worked in a Japanese company before and from what I know, in Japanese working industry, when a superior thinks one employee is useless or doesn't want to see that employee work in the company anymore, it is either : 1) that employee is transferred to a small town branch; or 2) bully, corner, and hurt the employee's pride to make him/her feel frustrated and so he/she willingly hand over resign letter
From the way I see it, that is exactly what Mary was trying to do with this interview, besides declaring to the whole galaxy that her daughter is the successor. She tried to make Iijima feel terrible, to make her feel like quitting.
Alot of fans are very mad with what Mary said who was practically saying that SMAP is no longer a useful asset for Johnny's Jimusho. But what if SMAP is indeed no longer useful for Jimusho? I mean, what if the latest agreement between Jimusho and SMAP, Jimusho only gets a very small percentage of SMAP's works, and most of the money goes to J-Dream? If that's really the case, then no wonder if Mary thinks SMAP is not worth for the Jimusho anymore. They don't get much profit from SMAP works. But I guess that's just fair, cause they didn't want to provide any money for SMAP's singles promotion and concerts since 1996.
But maybe that's why Mary feel so angry with J-Dream. She feel that the Jimusho doesn't need any more money from SMAP if they only get a small percentage. Especially, they have another money-making group called Arashi, now. But as long as SMAP and Micchi doesn't want to leave the Jimusho, Mary can't kick them out, she's frustrated, thus the public lecture toward Micchi, was one of her efforts to make them quit the Jimusho.
Why won't SMAP leave Jimusho? If SMAP leave the agency, SMAP will lose the rights to their group's name. Another opinion says, they can easily buy the rights. So it's not just about the name's rights. If our speculation right, that Julie is really incompetent, then Michi definitely won't leave the Jimusho after Johnny and Mary are gone. It seems the only one who is constantly putting down Micchi now is Mary. And the TV station staffs are afraid of Mary, not Julie. So without Mary around, Micchi will be even more powerful than she currently is, inside and outside the Jimusho. So she definitely won't budge from her current position.
I dunno, I have a feeling that there are more reasons on why SMAP/Micchi refuse to leave Jimusho, despite all the horrible treatments they received from the Jimusho. I don't exactly know what they are, but there must be more ...
IIJIMA'S FACTION
Besides SMAP, groups/talents under Micchi now are Yamapi, Kis-my-ft2, Sexy Zone, ABC-Z, and Johnny's Jr. However I have a feeling that back in 2009, KAT-TUN was once managed under Micchi due to the big number of KT members' appearances in SMAP's shows. KATTUN was a guest in SMAPxSMAP New year special 2010. Kame was in Takuya's drama BRAIN. Ueda was in Nakai's drama KONKATSU. Taguchi was in Shingo's drama KOCHIKAME. I don't know what happened but seems like Julie decided to take them back XD
I'm sorry to say, but from some facts I gathered, it seems like these groups are receiving the same treatments as how SMAP and Micchi had all these times. There might be some mistreatments happened in Iijima's faction, but it is possible that Micchi is not responsible for everything that happened. We have to remember that Iijima Michi is just an employee of Johnny's Jimusho. Her task is to manage and think of ways how to sell the talents she's in charge of. She doesn't have any authority to suspend talents due to misbehavior nor she have authority to decide who can debut and who can't.
Recording labels. Jimusho have two recording labels: Johnny's Entertainment (JE) and J-Storm. JE was started in 1997 specially for Kinki Kids. The artists who are under JE now are Shonentai, Kinki Kids, NEWS, NYC, Nakayama Yuma, and Johnny's West. Jimusho also started J-Storm in 2002 for Arashi. It was rumored that Johnny's Jimusho was mad at Pony Canyon (Arashi's former recording label) for signing W-inds, who at that time was considered Arashi's direct competitor. So they pulled Arashi out of Pony Canyon and and started J-Storm. Artists who are under J-Storm now are TOKIO, Arashi, KAT-TUN, Hey!Say!JUMP, and Kanjani8.
As for the talents under Iijima Michi: Yamashita Tomohisa - Warner Music Group, Kis-my-ft2 - Avex, Sexy Zone & A.B.C-Z - Pony Canyon. Yes, none of Micchi's talents gets the Jimusho's label. And Micchi even signed them to Pony Canyon that was once considered as Jimusho's enemy. Yamashita used to be under JE label but he moved to WMG in 2011, around the time he left NEWS and was assigned to be under Micchi.
As I said before, the Jimusho didn't send any staff to guard Takuya when he was hounded by the press. It means, the Jimusho doesn't give much protection to SMAP. And after what happened to Yamapi, I'm starting to believe, every talent under Micchi's management will suffer the same treatment. Akanishi Jin, Nishikido Ryo, and Yamapi caused troubles in Roppongi. They had a fight with common people, a girl took picture of that moment with her phone and one of them broke the girl's phone. The girl filed a report about this. And the three were in big trouble. Yamapi once made a statement that he didn't break the phone. But then a few weeks later, Yamapi made a public apology and he is now suspended, I believe. The media were wondering why Nishikido Ryo didn't come out and apologize together. It was rumored that Ryo who initiated the fight, Jin and Yamapi tried to calm him down. But whoever initiated and whoever destroyed the phone, they were in it together, I couldn't believe they let Yamapi apologize alone to public. The media was making assumption that this is because Yamapi is under Micchi's management.
Many Julie's talents caused scandal and it only came up on rumor articles, none of them really made apology press conference and rarely get suspended for it (an exception of a few cases). Kusanagi Tsuyoshi's case back in 2009, could easily be covered up with the Jimusho's power, imho. But nooo... the Jimusho "had to" let the public and media blew it out of proportion.
Also the Jr, Sexy Zone members, Kis-My-Ft2 members and Yamapi's widescreen movies are under J-Dream's management now. I'm pretty sure these boys get the same pay system as SMAP too, but they get mistreatments in change of that.
So to Yamapi, Kisumai, Sexy Zone, Jr, I think SMAP would say "Welcome to the club! It's gonna be tough on you boys, but it's definitely gonna be fun" lol XD
One thing I'm sure of. SMAP and Micchi will not let Yamapi, Kis-My-Ft2, Sexy Zone, ABC-Z, Juniors turn as failures. Because these boys' failure means SMAP/Micchi's failure. They can't afford to lose the game, especially these time around. Nakai worked so hard for Kis-My-Ft2 thinking ways on how to sell their charm. Shingo worked so hard to educate Yamapi in variety shows and he also directed Yamapi's concert. They have to successfully educate their kouhai-s under Micchi, to gain acknowledgement from the Jimusho, to avoid any more drama. NOT TO win over Julie's faction.
CLOSING WORDS
If Micchi-Nakai-Takuya are really scheming something, I'm sure they have all the talents' best interests at heart. Especially Nakai, he just wants all the talents to unite, nothing else. Maybe if Mary and Julie keep their reign, the Jimusho will definitely split up. If Micchi can take over, then all the talents can unite, like how Nakai wants it.
I wonder what Mary thinks if she knows about Nakai inviting all Johnny's boys from both Julie's and Micchi's factions for a drink together? Or maybe she already knows and realized that all of "her kids" are in good terms with Nakai?
I'm just thinking that Mary would go hysterical again if she knows Nakai is in very good terms with Arashi. Arashi is Mary/Julie's current ultimate weapon to go against SMAP. I can imagine their fear that Nakai might influence Arashi to be the 2nd SMAP. I guess, that's why they don't let Arashi meet SMAP much lol.
In my opinion, the key to this faction war is Julie. If Julie is anything like her mother, then I think SMAP/Micchi won't stay quiet and definitely gonna do something about this discrimination. Unless, they choose to see the Jimusho destroy itself. However if Julie and Micchi's relationship are really, really good like sisters then they can avoid any more drama.
--thanks to noonew for letting me include some of your thoughts!